Infinite

Only Temporary- Part 3

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Cooper is sprinting out to the parking lot towards Rachel's car. He almost tackles Anne, but she yells at him and gestures towards her clothes. To my surprise, he actually sets her down and gives her a big hug. If I were to ask him not to knock me over because I was in a nice suit, he would still toss me into a mud puddle.

I jog over quickly as Rachel gets out of the car. She looks stunning, I've never seen these clothes before. She smiles widely at me as she brings me in for a hug.

"You look incredible. Are these new?" I say to her as I give her a quick kiss on the lips. She has some of her hair put back so you can see her earrings.

"Yes, thank you, you don't look too bad yourself in your uniform." She places a hand on my chest and grins mischievously. I laugh and swing her around so she's at my side.

"Alright you two turtle doves, are you ready?" Cooper asks as he picks Anne up around the waist and carries her inside. He's carrying her under his arm like a basketball.

"Cooper, put me down!" she's yelling at him and playful hitting his stomach. He doesn't listen and continues on. Rachel begins laughing next to me as we follow them inside. It's never boring with Cooper around, that's for sure.

I reach down and grab Rachel's hand to guide her to the field where the test is being held.

"How was the rest of your day?" I ask her. "How was it having Anne around?" She smiles and shares stories from her day as we walk, but I have trouble following the details.

She's probably just tired, it's the end of the work week.

She starts to mention something about her principal having her baby and getting a temporary replacement, but we arrive at the field before she can finish.

"Alright, you and Anne are going to be here." I lead Rachel to a small open building in the field.

It's one of the view sites we use whenever we perform demonstrations out here for investors. It has a large glass window that's impenetrable in case any debris makes it this far out past the site. Cooper and I give them safety goggles and noise canceling headphones.

"Can you hear me?" Cooper yells as loud as he can.

I cover my ears and shove him. Anne giggles and shakes her head no. I give Rachel another quick kiss on the lips before I head over to the control station with Cooper.

It's about the same distance away from the test site as the open bunker, just on the left side. This bunker is also open on the sides and has a larger glass viewing window. The sky behind the field is bright blue, and there's not a cloud in sight.

"Alright crew, let's get ready," Tran says through our headsets as he gets in front of the control panel.

"FIVE!" I look out into the field at the space habitat. It's a metal structure that's about ten feet long and is rectangular in shape.

"FOUR!" We need to blow it up to collect a specific data point. That data point tells us whether or not the material is going to perform under space applications.

"THREE!" I look over at Rachel and Anne. They're staring out into the field.

"TWO!" I turn my attention back to the habitat.

"ONE!" Tran presses the button and the center of the structure starts to expand into an explosion. The ground rumbles as a cloud of tan dust fills the air. Debris from the habitat is scattered across the field. The dust starts to settle against the ground and everyone begins cheering. A long piece of white paper is spilling out of the machine with the measurements from the explosion.