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1. Days Relived

"No I haven't turned on the news. It's Sunday, there's only damn talk shows on Sunday." A voice cried out in annoyance from the other room.

Lucas' ears perked at the noise of his Aunt who had made some sort of nest in the living room. Ever since she got to the house to watch over Lucas, she would spend the entire day in there watching 'her shows.' The only time she would leave the room was to make him dinner, he could take care of breakfast and lunch himself, and to use the bathroom. The couch had a pullout bed which was immediately colonized by Aunt Mary's heavily perfumed rear. About every other hour or so, Lucas would hear her talking to someone on her phone. It seemed like it was never the same person either, one day it was some gay named Horatio who she would bicker with. Another day it was some Dianna that sounded as if she spent just as much time as Aunt Mary watching television. It always Gilmore Girls this or Criminal Minds that whenever Aunt Mary was talking to Dianna. This time, Lucas knew it was a girl, Penelope, who worked with Aunt Mary, since she was talking about the news.

Lucas had been with Aunt Mary for just a week and he was beginning to think he was going insane. His nose could barely handle the searing odor that was now emanating from the living room. He had hoped that she would forget her assorted array of perfume, but he knew that she brought them in the second she arrived. His dad had opened the front door shortly after the bell had rung and Lucas didn't know if it was bad luck or not, but a strong wind blew her fragrance right into his face before he could run. The smell stuck to his fur the entire day. It took another two days for the smells of the home tour to fade away and now they were largely localized to the living room and the guest bed bathroom.

"No, there isn't Fox News here. My brother is too liberal for that." She might as well have been yelling, her voice was not that of an angel even though Lucas thought that she would do just fine if she were to sing a Soprano. Except his belief was, she would do just fine singing the male lead.

Turning his attention to his breakfast of Lucky Charms, Lucas thought about how his father was doing. Just like he promised, every night around bed time, the phone rang. Turns out the training was not as arduous as his father had preciously worried they would be. There was lots of work that left him tired, but it was never difficult. He had told Lucas about how he had to go into a very deep pool in a space suit to mimic zero gravity. There was plenty more, like the high-g training, which sounded terrifying. All in all, it sounded as if his father was doing fine. His launch was today, but news stations didn't cover launches any more. They were old news, some new civil war in the Middle East had all of the attention.

Shuffling could be heard in the living room. "Lucas, what channel is the news?" She hollered at him.

"Channel 55 is the local news. MSNBC is on 29." He yelled back at her. He scooped some cereal into his mouth and lazily munched on it. The sound of the cereal bits crunching with each bite drowned out all other noise. The day was going slow, it was Saturday so there wasn't any school to keep him busy for most of the day and somehow all of his friends were busy. That left him at the house with his aunt the entire day. He could go outside for a while before the sun drove him back inside. That was the curse of fur, it was great in the winter when it thickened up, but all but useless in the summer. The direct sunlight would bake him alive in minutes. He was stuck inside.

"No, I don't see anything on the local stations." Aunt Mary was speaking up again. Even in the other room, he heard her clearly. "Oh, why didn't you say so? Also, why is this so important?" She paused to listen to what Penelope had to say on the other end. "What!?"

The sudden outburst from the living room got Lucas onto his feet. The bowl of cereal wobbled and a few drops of milk landed on the floor. He didn't notice, his attention was on the doorway that led to the living room. He would have gone in, but the smell kept him at bay. He heard the rapid clicking of a woman who was desperately flipping through the channels, currently unaware of the simple number buttons that would save her time. Then the clicking stopped and there was only the sound of the news.

"This is Chris Hagel with an urgent news broadcast." The sound of the reporter filtered into the kitchen slightly muffled, but understandable. Lucas held his breath, not quite sure what to expect. "Several minutes ago, here at the Kennedy Space Station..." The words seared into Lucas' brain. He was eight, but he was not stupid. He ran out of the kitchen and into the living room. The strong scent of perfume attacked his nose, but he no longer cared.

He saw his aunt first. She was sitting on the couch, staring intently at the television. The phone was laying on the floor where it was dropped as soon as she saw the news. He then saw the news.

The reporter stood in white polished room that had a large NASA logo hanging on the walls. The bottom of the screen had the words scrolling across it_. S&P 500: 1879. NASDAQ 4413_. But, the information was meaningless, Lucas focused on the reporter. "The Antares IV rocket that was due to launch up to the orbital construction site today blew up while on the launch pad. Details are still coming in, but hope for any of the thirteen astronauts are slim."

There were many launches a day. The construction site required a large amount of manpower and there weren't many places to send people up. Lucas hoped that it wasn't the launch his father was on.

"Commander Robin Nelson." An image of a very military man in an Air Force uniform came up.

Good. Lucas thought. It was a horrible thing to think of someone's death as a good thing, but as long as it wasn't his father...

"Solar Tec Head Engineer Robert Greyson." It cut Lucas' thoughts off light a precision laser. The image of his father came up. He was smiling, in a NASA space suit. He held the helmet between his arm and his side. The smile was wide as he looked through the screen at his son. His father had sent Lucas every image he took, this one was sent just yesterday. Lucas had been so proud of his father. It was ironic, the father was supposed to feel proud of his child, not the other way around, but there was a feeling of pride that had welled up in Lucas when he saw his dad in the suit. Now... now the image brought despair.

The news began to play a video. A large rocket stood on the launch pad. Large orange stripes went down its side to help make it more visible and steam rose off of the massive fuel tanks that fed the rockets the highly flammable hydrogen fuel. *Boom* The screen was filled with orange and red. He winced at it, wanting to see that the rocket was still there, even though he knew better. When the smoke cleared a bit, there was nothing left but some scraps of metal that began to rain down moment later.

Lucas fell to his knees, landing on his tail which forced a slight whimper from him. The noise got the attention of his aunt Mary who hadn't noticed him before.

"Oh, God." She stared at the child who stared lifelessly at the news. She got up, stepping on the phone which shot out from under her foot and hid itself under the couch. The step had turned the phone onto speaker mode and Lucas could hear Penelope speaking through it.

"Hello?" The phone spoke.

Aunt Mary reached Lucas and hugged him. "I'm so sorry." She cried. Her tears began to drip down her face onto Lucas' back, leaving dark stains on his Star Trek t-shirt. His head hung over her shoulder, he continued to watch the news and the scrolling information at the bottom.

Israeli forces begin to pull out of Iran amidst a temporary treaty is signed.

"Are your till there?" Penelope's voice came out from under the couch.

The video, in very news like fashion, began to play again.

Senator Fry of Missouri arrives in Washington DC to discuss possible plans to run for the presidency with party members.

"Mary!"

*Boom*

"Lucas, I'm so sorry."

British Prime Minister Simon Macks and several other European leaders condemn Spain's recent support for the Seven Stars Terrorist organization.

"Are you still there?"

*Boom*

"I'm so sorry."

He stayed there, watching and listening, his body, his mind, everything numb.

News Alert: NASA Rocket blows up on launch pad.

"I'm coming over Mary. Wait right there."

*Boom*

"Lucas!" Louis reached over and shook the husky that was sitting next to him motionless and staring with glazed eyes at the controls. When that didn't work, he knocked on the face plate that had been custom made to fit around.

"What?" The tapping got Lucas to focus on the man sitting next to him. Somehow, Louis had managed to follow him through college despite his bad grades and now, 6 years later, he was sitting next to him on a brand new Arcturus II rocket. They sat, facing the sky, ready to launch. He had gone through 4 years of college and two years of training to reach this point. To go up into space and he had done surprisingly well until this one point when the memories came flooding back. They took him completely by surprise, forcing him to relive that one moment 16 years ago again.

Louis looked at his friend worryingly. He was the reason why he had gone to college in the first place. He was afraid of what to do with his life, his grades in high school had been bad and he barely got into the same school as Lucas. There, he studied the same things as Lucas, passing by the skin of his teeth. Lucas had voiced his concern about him pretty much following him through college, and he had told him that going into engineering was a smart idea and that he wouldn't just let his friend go off into the world by himself. It was partially true, engineering was a smart field to go into. The station wouldn't be finished for another 34 years and would need a constant supply of trained engineers the entire time. Thought he real reason was he had actually fallen in love with Lucas.

It was years ago, back in middle school when he first met the husky, all full of gloom and doom. At first he felt just empathy for Lucas, he hated to see people sad and made an effort to become friends. It was just that, friends at first, but as Lucas got better, Louis realized that his own feelings were slowly changing as well. He still felt an overwhelming protectiveness for his friend that only grew stronger until it dawned on him that he was in love with him. He never told him, he never told anyone. It wasn't because it was an issue to be gay, the issue had died out in the 20's and was now an accepted part of society, though religious fanatics would occasionally stir up some trouble.

He was afraid to tell anyone out of fear of how it might affect Lucas. Even though on the outside, Lucas looked healed and strong, it didn't take much to set him off, like now. Who knew what more stress could do, he would wait a bit longer before he confessed his love, he had waited over a decade to tell him, he could wait a bit more.

"Lucas? What's wrong?" He asked the dog that was slowly coming back into reality.

Lucas tried to rub his temples, but just ended up kneading the side of his helmet. "Bad memories." He answered, closing his eyes as he fought off a headache that was slowly creeping up on him.

"Is it about the launch?" It wasn't a guess. Louis knew Lucas too well and was the one person outside of Lucas' family who knew every detail about the accident and the events that followed. The funeral, the massive depression that followed and even Lucas' contemplation of suicide. He had done his best to be someone to confide with and a shoulder to cry on. There were many times when Lucas would just break down at random times and Louis had been there each time.

"Yeah." The echoes of the explosion played in his head for a few seconds before fading away, overtaken by the background noise of the rocket. The humming of the control and the noise of the other ten astronauts around them, helped him relax into his chair.

"Don't worry." Louis punched Lucas on the arm. The padding on the suit made it so it only felt like a light brush. "These new Arcturus rockets are the safest rockets in the world." He waved his hands around wildly, nearly hitting one of the other people who sat directly behind him. The man ducked out of the way and flipped Louis off who casually returned the gesture with a smile.

Lucas knew they were safe, even if the rocket blew up. The passenger area was made of TitanWeave. An atomic bomb could be dropped on them and they would survive. "I know, it's just..." he looked back at the other people, they were busy among themselves. All astronauts had to take a mental evaluation and Lucas was put on a watch list form the very start. He had kept it together for the two years he had worked for Solar Tec and now that he was in the rocket, it was too late to pull him, but he was still afraid someone would get the wrong idea and pull him from future missions.

"I understand." He said before Lucas could finish his sentence.

The intercom on the ship crackled to life and one of the technicians in the main control room spoke up. "30 seconds till launch. T-minus 28 seconds." The intercom died. Lucas had forgotten that they were so close to the launch. It was difficult to as well, there was a countdown timer on the edge of his faceplate that had been going for over an hour since he had first put on his helmet.

"Oh shit." Louis scooted around in his seat, trying to find a comfortable position. Once the rockets ignited, they would experience nearly 4 g's of force. They wouldn't be able to move and he didn't want to have something sticking into his back because he was at an awkward angle.

Lucas had to be more careful about his tail. The people who had designed the seats hadn't had tails accounted for. His tail stuck out of a hole that was cut out just for him, covered in the white Kevlar like material of the suit. If he sat on it wrong during the launch, he could easily break something. A special course about safety had been made years ago for other Canis astronauts and he had to spend a few extra weeks learning how to care for his fur in space and how to watch out for his tail so it wouldn't get cut off by an airlock.

"T-minus 15 seconds." This time it was an automatic voice. A rumbling began to reverberate through the rocket and into the passengers as the various parts of the rocket began to come to life.

Lucas thought about how this was about how far his father had gone. The rocket had blown up upon ignition. The investigation had found a faulty seal on one of the refueling ports. Some fuel had leaked out and when the engines were turned on, it caught and the flame instantly got inside to the main fuel compartment and the entire thing went up. He then thought about Louis. He knew that Louis had feelings for him, it was obvious, everyone knew. The way he looked at him and how he had followed him around like some puppy, it didn't take long for him and half the school to learn. Lucas admitted that he had feelings for Louis as well, but had decided that he would let his friend make the first move when he was ready. He was fine with how things were at the moment, the way he was always there and someone he could talk to, an official relationship would only complicate things.

"T-minus 5 seconds." The rumbling slowly became louder and Lucas turned to face the sky. He counted down the seconds and then there was a deafening roar as the engines came to life. He was pushed back into his chair where he couldn't move. The person behind him was snickering, Lucas' tail was being pulled straight back and right his crotch.

The support tower that was next to the rocket quickly vanished from view and they rapidly began to rise into the sky. It was a clear day so there was nothing for gauge how far up they had gone, only time.

Every seconds felt like an eternity, but time was passing. Soon the light blue sky began to turn into a deep blue and then slowly faded into black. The stars were becoming visible. The ship jerked as the first phase rockets fell way and the second phase rockets that would be used to steer them towards the construction facilities that orbited just above most satellites.

The force of the launch slowly went away until Lucas and everyone else could lift their arms. The second phase wasn't nearly as strong and in the low gravity environment, it the acceleration from the rocket made it feel like they were back on earth.

"Look over there." Louis took no time to point out the growing skeleton of the space station off in the distance. "Fuck that thing is huge." He blurted out on the radio.

"Keep the chatter down." It was the mission commander, Commander Anderson, who spoke up. The commander and the head engineer sat up front, just one seat ahead of Louis and Lucas.

Louis looked over at Lucas and mouthed the word wow.

Lucas couldn't help but grin at the sight. The station wasn't even close to being complete and yet it was nearly a kilometer in size already. It was a mesh of metal with ships and lights buzzing around it. In a few hours, he would be up there, helping build the greatest achievement of mankind. He flexed his fingers on his right hand and felt the ring there. "You would be proud of me, dad." He whispered to himself. Over the radio, it merely came through as static.

End