The Bonding

The Bonding

By

Tom Horneman

Space shuttle commander Janet Shelby is lost in space after
her shuttle is destroyed and her crew killed. An interstellar trader, and
beastly looking alien, Tarku Zivok, saves her and takes her back to his planet.
Thus begins a relationship that will change both of their lives forever.

The
Bonding

by

Tom Horneman

           
The
summer day was like any other, a light breeze blowing, not a cloud in the sky,
and the children were playing in the backyard. Their dad was nearby assembling
a new swing set when a piercing scream from his daughter sent a chill up his
spine. “Daddy, daddy, look!” He jolted and spun around. The kids were
motionless, staring up at the sky. He looked up and the screwdriver slipped
from his hand and dropped to the ground. His mouth fell open as he stood gazing
at the ball of fire and smoke soaring
across
the
crystal blue sky. “What is it, daddy?”

           
Fifty
thousand feet above them the space shuttle Intrepid was blazing into the
atmosphere.

"Coming up on 50,000 feet,
Commander. Sink rate is steady at 4,000 feet per minute. ETA in twelve and a
half minutes."

           
"Thanks
Oliver. I'm low on the nose three degrees.
 
There, that should get it. Station reports please?"

           
"Bay
is secure - auxiliary power units up and running - computers and all
instruments are go."

           
"Thanks
Mike."

           
"Control
to Intrepid."

           
"Intrepid
- go ahead, control."

           
"Winds
are twenty knots at 260 degrees. You are cleared to land."

           
"Roger,
control. Winds twenty at 260 cleared to land."
 
Janet glanced over at Oliver. "Looks like we're about
to wrap up another one."

           
"Another
good one Commander," Oliver said. He pulled out a tissue and began wiping
the monitor. “Look at all the damned fingerprints. I don’t understand why
anyone has to touch them.” He looked over at her. She shook her head at his pet
peeve. “Seriously, why can’t they look and not touch?”

“Oliver, in case you hadn’t noticed,
we’re on reentry. Put the damned tissue away. Besides, I think they do it just
to mess with you.”

“Probably – assholes,” he muttered,
and added a little spit to the tissue.

Janet gave him a knowing glance.

"Okay, there, nice and clean.” He
stuffed the tissue back into his pocket. “As I was saying, it looks like a wrap
on another good mission, don’t you think?”

Captain Oliver Barnes was the First
Officer and a highly respected shuttle veteran. He had a fit six-foot frame,
short, brown hair, brown eyes and a round face. He loved to wear caps with the
names of his favorite soccer teams.

Over the years, the space program had
joint ventures with many countries. Oliver was from the United Kingdom,
originally London, but currently residing at Spacetown. He and Janet had been
on the same team for the last twenty missions. When she got promoted to
Commander, he got promoted as her first officer.

“Yes. I felt really good about this one.
Everything is set up for the completion next week," Janet said.

           
"It
has been a long haul, hasn’t it, commander? But the moon base is such a great
achievement. Imagine what we can do with it.”

She was looking in Oliver’s direction,
but staring past, almost through him. “Yes! The possibilities are endless.”

           
"Hey,
after next week we'll all have some vacation coming. You going anywhere?"
he asked.

"You bet! After the completion
ceremonies, Ron and I are jumping on a plane to St.Croix and do absolutely
nothing for two weeks, but lie in the sun and scuba dive. What about you?"

           
Oliver
had a smirkish grin. "Right, just lie in the sun and scuba dive, nothing
else?”

           
“Nothing
I’m going to tell you about.”

He
was still smirking. She smiled and raised her eyebrows.
 
“Pippa and I are going to Colorado for some hiking and
camping,” Oliver said. “I want to get away from the high tech and back to
nature for awhile."

           
"Sounds
great. We all need a little of that once in a while.” She looked at the
instruments, then out the window. “There's the runway. We're green for landing.
Gear down."

           
Oliver
moved the gear handle down and watched for the three lights to turn from red to
green. “Gear down and green for landing,” he remarked. Janet nodded without
taking her eyes from the instruments.

           
The
shuttle glided effortlessly to the ground at the hands of Lt. Colonel Janet
Shelby. Five feet, eight inches tall, with short brown hair, and a lean body
that she worked hard to maintain, she was the first woman commander in the
history of our space program, and a damn good one. Everyone respected her
abilities to handle a space shuttle and command a mission. She graduated at the
top of her class at the Air force Academy and immediately began her flight training.
Her dad, a retired veteran shuttle pilot, taught her to fly as soon as she was
old enough to handle a plane. With seven years as a fighter pilot and more than
twenty shuttle missions under her belt, she felt right at home behind the
controls.

           
In
her off time, she enjoyed flying, scuba diving and martial arts - a black belt
in Tai Kwon Do. She wasn't a bad piano player either. For a thirty-year old
woman, she had already done things that most people would never do in their
lifetime.

           
The
shuttle missions were a common event, so there wasn't a lot of hoopla upon
returning from one. Next week would be different, but this one was just
business as usual. There weren't large crowds waiting at the end of the trip,
like in the early days, seventy years ago. Two missions a week went back and
forth between the earth and the moon, while another one orbited. Nowadays, they
landed at Air force bases, usually Appleton in Arizona. It was all pretty much
routine.

           
“Okay
everyone,” Janet announced over the PA. “Secure your areas and let’s get the
hell out of here. I see that Airman Peavy already has the bus waiting.”

           
The
ground crew pulled the stairs up to the door and opened it, letting the fresh
air rush in. Oliver spread his arms and breathed in deeply. “I love the smell
of fresh air. It beats the hell out of the recirculated crap that we’ve been
breathing.”

           
“Amen
to that,” Janet replied.

           
Janet
was always the first one off the shuttle and the last one onto the bus. “Hello
Airman Peavy. How are you today?”

           
The
driver was Airman First Class Jonathan Peavy. “Just fine Commander. How was the
flight?”

           
“Very
good, Peavy. Thank you for asking.”

           
Peavy
put the bus in gear and headed for the debriefing room at the admin building.
For a group of highly trained, professional astronauts, they were as wild as a
bunch of kids riding a school bus, joking around, getting loud and throwing
things. Peavy shook his finger at them. “You all need to sit down and shut up,
or I’m going to stop the bus and kick some astronaut ass.” He looked over at
Commander Shelby and winked. “With the exception of you, Ma’am.”

Janet smiled at him. This was their
normal behavior after each mission, a kind of tension relief. They all replied
in unison, “Yes sir, Mr. Peavy, sir,” then continued with their horseplay.

           
Peavy
stopped the bus in front of the admin building, and the crew sauntered off
one-by-one, still joking around.

“Thanks for the ride, Peavy,” each one
said as they stepped down. This was always the first stop after a shuttle
mission, for the usual post flight debrief.

           
They
entered the debriefing room, and each one greeted Major Seiger, as they found a
seat around the large table and dumped their butts into a chair.

           
“Hello,
Major,” Oliver cheerfully greeted as he walked

in
.

           
“Hello,
Oliver.” The Major stood at the head of the table waiting for everyone to get
quiet. He didn’t have to tell them to shut up. Once they sat down, they knew
the routine and what he expected.

           
Major
Ron Seiger, a veteran shuttle commander, was the debriefing officer. He had a
well built six-foot
one inch
frame, wavy black hair,
cut to Air force regulations, blue eyes, and a square jaw that defined his
handsome face. He had a reputation for being a kick ass and take names kind of
guy, but was well respected by anyone who knew him. When it came to piloting a
fighter plane or a shuttle, he was among the best. As with everyone on the
shuttles, he was a career Air Force man, joining right out of college and
working his way up.

           
He
winked at Janet as she walked into the room. “Hello Commander.”

She returned the gesture with a small
grin. “Hello Major.” She walked to a seat near the head of the table, always
reserved for the shuttle commander.

The debrief
was short; Ron touched base on a few of
the experiments the team had accomplished and had a brief question and answer
session.

“Well folks, as you know, next week we
will complete phase one of the moon base. The year 2055 will long be remembered
as the year that we stepped off of our world and made the first dwelling on the
moon, and all of your names will forever be part of this historic event. There
are a lot of preparations to be done over the next week, but I know that you’re
up to the task. I’ll be riding along to film each of you conducting your
duties. I’m very proud of all of you, and I’m thankful to be a part of this
team.”

Oliver blew his nose and acted like he
was wiping away a tear. “Damn, Major. That was beautiful. It made me want to
cry.” Then he snickered.

           
“Okay,
that’s a wrap,” Ron said. “Everyone enjoy your days off and we’ll see you back
here for the next run. Stay out of trouble,” he said, pointing to Oliver.

           
Oliver
pretended to be surprised. “What?”

           
Ron
kept shaking his finger at him. Oliver looked around the table. Everyone else
was also shaking their fingers and smiling.

           
“Hey!
I’m not the only one in here you know,” Oliver protested.

           
“Yeah!
But you’re the only one in here who likes to get into trouble,” Ron replied.

           
“I
resemble that remark,” Oliver quipped, getting up from the table in a proper
British fashion. “It’s just that some of us are prudes and some of us are not.
I am not!
 
Besides that, it’s
called rest and relaxation at the local pub.”

           
Everyone
laughed as they got up and left the room, with Oliver following behind. He
looked at Janet. “Are you coming, Commander?”

           
“I
have a couple of questions for Major Seiger.”

           
Oliver
smiled and winked at her. “Uh huh,” and closed the door as he walked out.

           
Ron
leaned against the table with his arms crossed, looking very macho. "Hey
lady, are you doing anything special for dinner tonight?"

           
"That
depends on what you have in mind."

She walked over to him. His eyes quickly
moved up and down her sleek body. Even in her astronaut coveralls she looked
damn good.

"How about some Chinese cuisine, a
good movie and a very
thorough
massage?" he asked.

           
She
reached out and began to straighten his tie. "What time?"

           
"Six?"
he shrugged.

           
She
pulled on his tie, bringing his face up to hers and moved her lips close to
his, but only whisked them by, barely brushing them against his, leaving him
with his mouth hanging open.

           
"Don't
be late," she murmured in a sultry voice as she flipped his tie up into
his face and walked away. She blew him a kiss over her shoulder.