"Come on, Dad. You should know by now that I'm not the athletic type," John said.

"I just thought-"

The ringing of a cell phone interrupted John's father. Ever since the big promotion, John couldn't remember being with his father when the phone hadn't rung at least once or twice. His father took the phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID, sighing deeply.

"I'm sorry, Johnny. I have to take this. I'll be right back," he said, flipping open the phone as he walked out of the room. "Yes Mr. Burton, I'm here. The final numbers..."

John tore through another slice of pizza, hoping his father would not get called back to work so late. He was so close to putting his plan into action and would be disappointed if he had to put it off again. A few minutes later, his father returned.

"Sorry 'bout that. We have a huge proposal that needs to be perfect," he said, shaking his head. "Anyway, back to baseball. I know you were never into sports much but I figured that since you and Colin spend so much time at the park, you must be getting better."

"I just watch most of the time," John said. "But Colin, he's the one that's the athlete. He was the best baseball player in school last year."

"Just because you don't like sports doesn't mean you can't take full advantage of what the Academy has to offer," his father said. "I'm sure they'll have plenty of other extra-curricular activities that will interest you."

It's now or never, John thought. He put down his slice of pizza and tried to look as serious as possible.

"To tell you the truth, Dad, I'm not sure I want to go to Zwier," he said. "I think I want to go to public school instead."

John's father looked like he just got punched in the stomach. John felt a bit guilty doing this to him but he had to do what was needed for his plan to work.

"But why? Going to the Zwier Academy is the chance of a lifetime," his father said. "I know people who moved here from out of state just so their child could attend. It's the most exclusive school in the country; we were lucky enough that I'm friends with an admissions officer. I'm sorry, John, but I'm not going to let you waste this opportunity."

John's father was rarely strict with him, so he knew to take him seriously when he made demands. John knew he had to start playing hardball.

"I talked it over with Mom and she agreed that it's my decision which school I want to go to," John said. "And I'm pretty sure I don't want to go to Zwier."

John hoped his father wouldn't stand up right now and call his mother to corroborate his story. His parents were not on speaking terms at the moment so John was fairly certain his father wouldn't call his bluff. If he did, the plan he formulated in his head for the last month would be destroyed. In reality, John's mother was just as excited as his father about his acceptance to the Academy.

John's father looked frustrated but before he could say anything else, his cell phone rang again. He took it out of his pocket, looked at the ID and then looked up at his son, as if asking permission to take the call. John could tell right away that whoever was calling must be important.

"Go ahead and answer it," John said, feigning disgust. "Business is more important than your son's future."

John's father hesitantly stood from the table.

"You know that's not true," his father said, though he answered the phone and walked out of the room anyway.

When he came back a few minutes later, John's father looked tired and beaten. He collapsed onto his seat and rubbed his tired eyes.

"I know that since I've gotten this promotion, you and I haven't had much time together," his father said, having trouble finding the right words to apologize. Instead, he changed the course of the conversation. "Look, just tell me how I can change your mind about going to Zwier."

Jackpot!

"I want Colin to go, too," John said simply. "He's my only real friend and I don't want to leave him behind. I'd rather go to public school with him than go to Zwier without him."

"But Zwier costs a lot of money and I don't think Colin's father could afford the tuition," his father said. "If it wasn't for my new promotion, I couldn't afford to send you."

John never went into battle without being fully prepared. He expected this argument so he did extensive research into other ways Colin could gain acceptance with the help of his father.

"They have scholarships, academic and athletic," John said. "Colin has pretty good grades and like I said before, he was the best baseball player in our school. I'm sure I could get letters of recommendation from his coach. And since you're friends with the admissions officer, I'm sure you could put in a good word about Colin getting one of those scholarships."

John's father began to see that he'd been set up. He was not angry, though, and actually smiled at his son's cunning.

"I'll look into it some more," his father said.

"And I'll look into going to public school some more," John responded. "But it's going to come down to this: if Colin doesn't go to Zwier, I'm not going to Zwier."

John's father chuckled tiredly.

"I could use you in the boardroom, you know," he said. He looked down at his watch and took the cell phone from his pocket. "Let me make a few calls and see what I can do."

For the first time in John's life, he was actually glad to see his father get on the phone.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO.

JUNE 20, 2016.

"And they just gave you this information?" President Marshall asked. He perused numerous photographs of the advancements made on the Chinese space station.

"Yes, Mr. President. The packet of info was sent to me by their Minister of Foreign Affairs. His name is..."

Secretary of State Paul Burnet shuffled through his pages, looking for the name.

"Lu Chun," the President said. "His name is Lu Chun."

"Have you met him before, sir?" Burnet asked.

Paul Burnet was one of the few original remaining Cabinet members from Marshall's first administration. The President liked Paul, but mostly because he was a kind and good-natured man, not especially because he was the best Secretary of State. Burnet was a more than capable diplomat but he'd accomplished little in securing strong ties with any countries during the last seven years. Although Marshall was friendly with Burnet, the President knew the man had too many high-ranking members of government as close friends; therefore he could not be trusted to gain membership in the 'Inner Circle.'

"Unfortunately I have met Lu Chun," Marshall said, offering Burnet no specifics of that meeting. "Have we confirmed that this information is accurate?"

"Yes, Mr. President, the large majority of it. According to satellite imagery and pictures taken from different telescopes across the world, the Chinese have set an incredible rate of construction on their station. We have over a year's head start, but the Chinese are on pace to complete their construction a full year ahead of us."

"But according to this information, they've already suffered quite a few casualties during their construction," Marshall said, reading through one of the reports.

"Ten as a matter of fact," Burnet said. "They've lost ten men following multiple mishaps during space travel and construction."

"How have they hid that from their public?" Marshall asked.

"They haven't," Burnet answered. "In fact, they've been very forthcoming with their citizens about the number of deaths."

"The Chinese public must be as appalled with the continuation of construction as the American public," Marshall deduced, pleased that the unfriendly country endured struggles despite their apparent success.

"Not at all, Mr. President," the Secretary of State said. "There has been zero uprising or sign of protest from the Chinese people; just the opposite, in fact. The men who've died are heroes in the country. The Chinese government has been very shrewd in the way they've handled publicity of the project."

"In what way?" Marshall asked.

"They've deemed their project the new 'space race' and America as their main competitor," Burnet explained.

"And this actually worked for them?"

"Oh, yes," Burnet said. "This space station project and the race with the U.S. has taken center stage in the minds of the Chinese people, even more so than their feud with the Russians. You have to admit, Mr. President, giving the public a reason to cheer for the space station makes it much harder for the people to point out every mistake being made."

"I suppose," Marshall said, as he realized what his secretary of state was trying to insinuate.

"Mr. President, the general public in the United States seems little interested in the fact that China is trying to beat us to the punch. In fact, I don't think the majority of people understand a race is on. I believe we could get back in the public's good graces and continue construction on the space station if we were to launch a national public relations campaign promoting this race. Then we could give our people a reason to cheer instead of chastise. We could spin the completion of the space station into a matter of national pride."

President Marshall considered this plan and quickly realized that Burnet was right. If his goal were to regain approval, then a public relations campaign would be the perfect way to go about it.

"I have to admit, Paul, the leaders of the Chinese program are lucky in a morbid sort of way. Their astronauts have been viewed as collateral damage for the greater good," Marshall said. "Look at how bad the public turned on me because of two deaths, only one of which was an American. If ten Americans had died and I still continued construction, the public would be calling for my head, even more than they are now."

After pacing about the Oval Office, Marshall returned to the chair behind his large desk, pretending to contemplate Burnet's offer.

"Sir, I truly believe that joining this race could prove extremely beneficial to your legacy. Even if the U.S. loses, you would not be in office when that happened," Burnet said. "But by the time construction was completed, you'd be remembered only for your genius in starting this project. This is the only way to take the heat off yourself and the rest of the administration."

Marshall thought back to the sort of President he always dreamed of being. The George Marshall of old was set on leaving a strong legacy as one of the most loved and cherished Presidents this great country had ever known. But that George Marshall was also nave, and died a quick death once he found out the truth about Comet Clement.

Marshall looked at the copy of the DC Gazette on his desk. As had been the case on a daily basis for the last few months, the front page contained a picture of Vice-President and Presidential candidate Andrew Brighton. And as had been the case when Brighton was in the news, the article focused on how he disagreed with the way President Marshall continued to run the space station project.

Andrew Brighton was the reason Paul Burnet's visit today would be all for naught. Brighton was the reason Marshall continued receiving disdain from the public about the space station. If Marshall joined the 'space race,' and if he got the American public to embrace and support this race against the Chinese, he knew Brighton's campaign might be damaged. That was just a chance Marshall could not afford, no matter how big of a hit his ego might take in the process.

"I'm sorry, Paul. But I've taken heat plenty of times before for my policies. I'm not going to give in and try to make the public happy when I don't feel that's beneficial to what we're trying to do. I've always wanted this space station built to advance science, not to enhance my political image."

Paul Burnet was clearly disappointed but merely nodded, accepting that the President's word was final.

Whenever President Marshall had a meeting with a high-ranking member of the government or his Cabinet, a small part of Peter Mansfield felt nervous, especially when he didn't know what the meeting was about. So when Mansfield called the President's secretary, Mae, and asked if Marshall had a free moment to see him, he was surprised to hear the President was meeting with Secretary of State Paul Burnet. Mansfield knew the President had a good relationship with Burnet, that he might possibly recruit him into their 'Inner Circle.' It was a risk Mansfield would never take but the President usually seemed less reluctant to enlist new members.

Once Mansfield hung up with Mae, he immediately rushed across the White House to the Oval Office, where he impatiently waited outside the President's door. If Burnet was told about the comet, Mansfield wanted to stress the importance of keeping the secret quiet.

When Burnet finally emerged, Mansfield could tell right away that he hadn't been told. Burnet had an expression of disappointment on his face, not the usual look of shock most people wore when informed of Clement.

"Peter, it's nice to see you," Burnet said, shaking Mansfield's hand.

"I didn't know you were coming to see the President today," Mansfield said.

"Yeah, I received information about the Chinese space station I thought the President would want to see," Burnet said. "I also had a plan to spin the space station in a positive light for the public. But your boss seems dead set on destroying his reputation before he leaves office."

"Once George gets an idea in his head, he usually sticks with it," Mansfield said. "He has his opinion on what the space station should be and what it should mean and he refuses to please the public."

Burnet nodded.

"Well, at least I can respect that he's not as concerned as most former Presidents about their image," Burnet said. "He doesn't seem to care what history books will say about him, or even what people will think of him twenty years down the line."

"No," Mansfield agreed. "I definitely don't think George will care how the public remembers him in twenty years."

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE.

Miles above Earth, a serious problem occurred with one of the station's corridors being built. Two construction workers were working inside the uncompleted end of a corridor when one of the aluminum panels suddenly snapped away from the rest of the station. Instead of cleanly breaking free from the rest of the structure, the panels remained partially attached and pulled at the rest of the corridor. The unstable portion of the space station began to dangerously list downward. Even worse was that the damaged aluminum bent so that it trapped two crewmembers working inside.

Other members of the construction team immediately recognized danger to the corridor, themselves and the two trapped men. The team leader quickly radioed the project leader to inform him of the hazardous situation.

"What are our options to deal with this problem?" Wen Chen, leader of the Chinese space station project, asked the distressed team leader.

"We can save the two men but it will be a long process to cut them out of the destroyed corridor walls," the team leader said.

"But you said the rift in the corridor is already causing more damage to the rest of the construction," Chen said. "How long will it be before that damage becomes irreparable?"

"I do not know, sir. It could take hours or it could happen at any moment. It is impossible to say with certainty," the team leader said.

"Inform the other members of your team to move away from the damaged section of the corridor and stay where they are. I will get back to you momentarily."

Wen Chen had been the leader of the Chinese space station project from day one. He studied the habits of his American counterpart, Wesley Maddox, from the limited amount of information known about how the American was running their station project. Chen did not feel the Americans maximized the capability of their workers. This was proven by the fact that China made almost as much progress in seven months as America had in a year and a half.

The story of the American 'tragedy' in space hit the airwaves a few months before China began transporting materials and workers into space. Chen was astonished by the severe treatment Maddox and the rest of the American leaders took after only two deaths in space. After all, one of the men who died was a lowly Russian, whom the Chinese hated even more than Americans. Knowing he would likely face the death of some of his workers in the harsh environment of space, Chen was glad to know he would not face similar criticism if an accident happened during his watch.

And it did not take long for that accident to happen. Within the first few weeks of construction, two separate incidents left three Chinese space workers dead. In the first six months, ten had died overall. Chen knew that more training and better safety standards could've avoided accidents and deaths but his crew would not have made nearly the same progress. The Chinese public understood that finishing their space station before the Americans would involve risks. A few deaths could not stop that from happening.

That did not mean Wen Chen was emotionless when it came to the deaths of his men. There had been many sleepless nights, many hours of private conversations with his second-in-command, his twin brother Ming. There was a feeling of guilt involved with young men dying on his watch. But that was the price Wen paid for holding a position that made him one of the elite members of Chinese society. Besides, Wen and Ming both agreed that they were at war with Russia and America; every war resulted in death. This new accident was a battle that would likely have casualties.

"What do you think we should do, Ming?" Wen asked his brother, although he already knew that answer.

"Attempting to save those two men would result in irreversible damage to the space station," Ming said. "Unfortunately, sacrifice is an acceptable part of winning this space race."

"Exactly how I feel," Wen said, disappointed that sending two more men to their deaths was apparently the correct decision. With no further reason for discussing the decision, Wen radioed the team leader and told him to begin cutting free the damaged piece of the corridor.

"But that will surely kill my men," the team leader said, feeling obligated to attempt to save his men.

"I know, Zhi," Wen said sympathetically, uncharacteristically calling his team leader by name. "But we cannot risk further damage being done. These are risks the men have taken by agreeing to this work. If I was ever in their situation, I would expect my life to be sacrificed for the greater good as well."

"Yes, sir," the team leader said. "We will begin to cut the damaged section of the corridor now."