It is the day after the party and you are starting to write down stuff for the report for Danny. At least it's only good things you have to say. You have decided to write about the performance of the Ariane five first. You are glad that it is only positive things you can think of. You are interrupted by the clatter of cutlery. You decide to check if it's your dad.
"Let me," You round the corner to see your dad trying to make coffee with a severe hangover. You get a cup of coffee organised.
"Sorry I had a bit too much. It's just my daughter went to space," The fatherly pride is coming out again. It makes you smile. You are glad that your dad respects your choice of becoming an astronaut. You also get some tea ready for yourself.
"That's true. Anyway, I have a report to write," You respond as you head back to your desk. You know it is going to take you a while to finish. You place the tea down and you start typing away. There is a knock on the door. You don't bother answering because your dad will have it under control.
"Mike I need to talk to Lilly," It's Neil. It would be good if he could help you with the report. Maybe Neil helping will cut the time it will take.
"Follow me," A minute later he has made it to your study. He pulls the spare chair towards you.
"A little bird tells me you have a report to write," Neil announces. He must be here to help you which is a good thing. You nod. He picks up the pen that you had on your desk.
"Let me help," Three hours later the report is almost ready to give to Danny but there is something bothering you about the fact that Neil has helped you. You feel like he is doing this as a favour for your dad.
"Neil, why are you helping me?" You decide to ask. Hopefully, he gives you a straight answer.
"I owe Mike after he brought us home," He responds. A thought that had never crossed your mind. You add the last point on your report.
"Thank you for your help Neil," You print the document out. Five minutes boring minutes later the report has printed. It is frightfully long but it is mostly positive. You are glad that it is finally done.
"I'm going to go," You are about to leave but something tells you to wait for Neil.
"Well let's go," He responds. Twenty minutes later you are wandering around looking for Danny. He is not at the johnson space centre which is odd.
"Pierre, have you seen Danny?" You ask as you walk past him.
"I haven't seen him since yesterday. I just put the report on his desk," Pierre responds. Two minutes later you have done the same. You now have the rest of the day off.
"Neil do you have any suggestions?" You decide to ask Neil because you can't think of anything you want to do. He has to think as well.
"Follow me," He responds. Hopefully, he chooses somewhere that you can both agree on. Ten minutes later you have made it to the end of a runway but you can tell it's not being used as a runway. It's an airforce base. You are thinking about why Neill took you here.
"Why did you take me here?" You are a little baffled. He checks his watch.
"In a minute you will see the most important thing in the constellation program," Thirty seconds later you see a capsule come into view. It is the command module for the constellation mission. You are not surprised that they are testing it as the Kennedy program is taking place. What you are surprised at is the fact that Neil is showing you the launch abort test.
"Neil are you even able to show me this?" You ask. You think you already know the answer.
"Danny doesn't even care," Neil responds. You knew it. You are impressed at how the parachutes are able to ease the capsule to the ground. Your mind starts to work on the physics that is at play.
"And don't think about the physics yet," Neil throws you a curveball. You let out a nervous chuckle. It's a bit late for that. At least you know that the system works.
"That thing is getting us to the moon so I'm not going to stop thinking about the physics," You respond. The capsule flotes to a stop near you. The NASA and Lockheed Martin team descended on it. It is interesting to watch how all of the techs gather to see how the capsule faired.
"Lilly, Neil, what are you going here?" Danny has noticed you. He approaches the fence to talk to you.
"We were watching the parachute test," You respond. You get the feeling that it was more than just a parachute test. You will find out now or later depending on whether Danny will tell you.
"She is a beauty isn't she," Danny is rather proud of himself. He is like your dad when you came back from space.
"I will only agree once the first crewed mission returns. Pierre and I have left our reports on your desk by the way," You decide to inform him. He nods. One of the NASA employees calls out to Danny.
"Thank you," He says as he leaves. Neil was right Danny didn't care. Seven minutes later you have made it to a bar near the airforce base. Neil passes you a soft drink.
"Sorry it's a little boring but I'm not sure if you are doing any training," Neil is genuinely apologetic.
"It's ok I don't want to end up like my dad," You are of course referring to his drunken state last night. You smile at the thought of you passed out.
"That's good," Neil responds. The good thing is you actually do have training tomorrow but you don't want to think about it until then.
"Anyway thank you for helping me write the report and for showing me the test," You remark. The only reason you say the test is because you are not sure of the full test parameters. wether it is an abort test or a parachute test.
"Anything I can to help," comes the response typical of Neil. You both take a sip from your respective drinks. You are soon interrupted by the sound of boots. It's Danny and the team of people that were watching the test. Danny breaks away from the group.
"Can I join you?" Danny responds. He looks like he is glad for some different company. Both you and Neil nod. He sits down.
"Thank you," he responds. He is a little tired from making sure everything is alright with the test.
"Danny was that a launch abort test that you just performed?" You decide to ask once and for all.
"Yup I will give the team the briefing when I have the full set of data," Danny confirms. He is a little more cheerful now that he can talk about it.
YOU ARE READING
Constellations
Fanfiction"I am so sorry Neil" "It will be alright Lily," he responds. Lily Collins yearned to follow in her father Micheal Collins' footsteps but there was one problem. She was stuck serving coffee to people at NASA. One fateful day she ends up spilling cof...
