JULY 1, 2016.

When Colin McKay dreamed about the impossible, he usually dreamed big: playing in the big leagues, making millions of dollars, living in a mansion, driving fancy cars and marrying the prettiest actress in Hollywood. Colin knew those dreams were unrealistic.

But what John had just offered him was a realistic dream, one he did not think could ever come true. Therefore, if Colin actually allowed himself to consider this dream, he knew he'd just become disappointed when it didn't happen in the end.

"Even if your father could somehow get me in, there's no way my father would let me go to the Zwier Academy," Colin said after John told him to apply to the exclusive private school. "Besides, I can't afford it. Even if my father had the money, which he doesn't, he'd think going to that school would be a huge waste."

The two boys sat on their bikes at the park, waiting for the normal group of guys Colin played baseball with. Although he still wasn't the biggest sports fan, John had come to the park a lot the last year to watch the pickup games.

"But my father spent the last two weeks making phone calls trying to get Zwier to consider you," John said. "He finally thinks his connections have come through, and now you won't even consider trying?"

Even though John had only spent one night with his father since giving him the ultimatum about Zwier, he called him on a nightly basis to remind him of their deal. His father was always busy with work but assured John he was trying desperately to pull more strings and find out whether Colin had a chance to get into the Academy.

When his father called last night and told him it was time for Colin to apply, John knew those right strings had been pulled.

"Look, John. I really appreciate what your father did, I really do. But it comes down to this: I can't afford Zwier. You've seen my house, you've seen my father. We aren't the kind of people who can afford tuition payments for a private school," Colin said, growing frustrated that he had to explain the obvious to John.

"What if I told you they have scholarships?" John asked.

"Scholarships? Big deal," Colin answered. "I'm not dumb or anything, but I haven't gotten As in every class since kindergarten to be eligible for any scholarship."

"Zwier also gives sports scholarships," John said. "You know they have one of the best baseball teams in the country. Do you think their team is so good because they have a bunch of rich kids or geniuses?"

"I could get a scholarship for baseball?" Colin asked.

The door of opportunity was finally cracked in Colin's mind, and golden light streamed into what seemed like a bleak future. He finally allowed himself to think that this dream was possible. It also meant he'd be crushed if going to Zwier didn't happen.

"If my father has already convinced Zwier to admit you, I have no doubt he'll convince them to give you a scholarship for baseball," John said. "I'm sure they'll research your playing ability, contact your coaches from last year, and maybe have you go on some kind of tryout."

"You think it'll be that easy?" Colin asked, excitement continuing to build in the pit of his stomach. He was already imagining himself wearing the Zwier uniform.

"I don't see why not," John said. "Once they hear how good you are and see you play, the baseball side of the scholarship will be a lock. There'll be plenty of paperwork for you and your father to fill out for eligibility standards on the financial side, but I'm sure that's pretty standard, too."

Nothing was easy when it came to dealing with Colin's father and he knew getting his approval to attend Zwier would not be as simple as it would be with most normal parents. But that was something he could worry about later. For now, Colin would not let anything put a damper on the best thing that ever happened to him.

"I can't believe you and your dad did this for me," Colin said. For the first time in his life, he felt the urge to cry out of happiness. Of course he restrained himself from doing so in front his friend.

Suddenly embarrassed, John did not want to make a big deal out of what he'd done for him.

"Like I told you, if I have to endure the hell of going to Zwier and dealing with those snobs, I don't want to do it alone," he said.

"I don't know what to say," Colin said. "I don't know if I could ever thank you enough for this. I'll never forget what you've done for me."

"You've always been there for me, ever since that day when we were little and those kids were picking on me," John answered. "Enough of these girly emotions, you can thank me by making sure you do good at your tryouts and everything goes smoothly with your dad and these forms you need to fill out."

"I'll see what I can do," Colin said.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX.

JULY 2, 2016.

Peter Mansfield was subdued during this meeting, as he had been during every other meeting the 'Inner Circle' had had over the last year. James Armour still had a hard time believing this was the same fiery man who argued and fought every decision made by the group over the last six years. Although it made the meetings much less spirited and less stressful, Armour wondered if the absence of Mansfield's constantly opposing points of view hurt the 'Inner Circle' in the long run.

Not that they had had too many of these private meetings. Since there was no talk of deflecting the comet after the first attempt failed, and because they did not have to hide that the space station was being built, there was little reason these three men had to meet.

Besides, President Marshall was busy running the country and defending the decisions he made during his final year in the White House. Making himself look bad in order to make Andrew Brighton look good was a difficult chore, but one that Marshall had honed to near perfection. Mansfield had also stayed busy, simultaneously completing the duties of his Chief of Staff position, helping the President with pressing matters and finishing the ever-expanding passenger lists needed for the three arks.

"The Russian bunker is proceeding better than hoped," Armour reported enthusiastically. "It's larger and more impressive than I could've dreamed."

Armour continued his report by giving a detailed account of his trip to the Ural Mountains. He told them about the village in the valley, the first large tunnel to the elevator and the enormous cavern the Russians had dug out ten stories below the. Armour spared no minor detail, especially when it came to the extensive construction operation or two-mile long escape tunnel being built to lead back up to the surface.

"There's still a lot of work to be done, but I have no doubt President Metachenko will have the Russian shelter completed with plenty of time to spare," Armour said.

"But how safe will the underground bunker be?" President Marshall asked. "Before we conceived the idea of the space station, we considered the subterranean route but deemed it too liable to a cave-in. Did Metachenko say how the Russians will avoid this?"

"Depth is their greatest asset," Armour said. "When we considered building underground, our projections had a possible shelter only five stories down, which we determined too close to the surface to survive the comet's initial blast. If you remember, we did not think it possible to realistically build such a massive shelter deeper than that."

"I still have trouble believing Metachenko's men pulled off what you say," Mansfield said, speaking for the first time.

"Believe me, I wouldn't have believed it either if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes," Armour said. "Along with the depth, the Russian bunker also has the natural protection of the surrounding mountain range. Their engineers have assured them that the mountains will provide a natural protection against the blast and absorb many of the shockwaves produced. All in all, it seems the Russian shelter will be very safe and very effective."

There was a long silence between the men and Armour wondered if the President and Mansfield thought the same thing he was. Rather than wait for them to respond, he decided to just say it.

"With all the hi-tech gadgetry needed to operate both the space station and the seacraft, I'm beginning to think the relative simplicity of the ground ark might make it the best option of the three," the NASSA Chief said.

Admitting another country's answer to the comet problem was better than the U.S.'s might not have made Armour overly patriotic, but he stopped thinking in terms of different nations and started thinking in terms of one humankind. Another lengthy silence followed, more surprising that Mansfield did not speak up and argue with Armour's last statement. The Chief of Staff always defended every decision the 'Inner Circle' made.

"How is Tyler Ainsworth doing with his seacraft?" Marshall asked, also avoiding Armour's skepticism about the space station.

"Construction of the outer hull has been finished. If you look at it from outside, you'd swear the thing was complete," Armour said. "But they still have to complete extensive interior designs for the rooms. And believe me, for what Ainsworth has planned, finishing the furnishings and room designs will be no small feat. The kid also kept reminding me that the engines need to be built and installed, at a price much higher than his bankroll."

"We've known all along that the money we gave Ainsworth Industries wouldn't be enough to finish the craft," President Marshall said. "I always thought Ainsworth would be resourceful enough to raise the rest of the cash. How much money does he have left, Peter?"

Mansfield quickly searched a folder he brought to the meeting, finding a piece of paper loaded with numbers.

"Just under five million," the Chief of Staff said. "And from what Ainsworth has said in the past, assembling and installing the engines alone should cost fifty times that amount."

"That seems an awful lot of money to raise in such a short period of time," Armour said. "Should we just give it to him? Taking that amount of money out of the space station fund shouldn't put too much of a damper on our resources."

"It wouldn't hurt us, no. But I don't want to force Tyler to take more money from us," the President said. "He knows that accepting more money would mean losing more passenger spots, and he does not seem eager to do that. I don't want to be in a position to force anything on him. If he gets desperate enough, he could tell the entire world about Clement."

"I've told you a hundred times, Mr. President. There are ways to avoid Ainsworth releasing our secret," Mansfield said.

"And I don't want to resort to those ways," Marshall said. "At least not until it's our last resort. But we won't have to worry about that because we're letting Ainsworth do what he wants for now. If he wants to keep trying to raise the money, we'll let him do that. If he wants to come to us, we'll let him make that decision. Now James, was there anything else from either trip you'd like to tell us?"

Armour already said everything he'd seen or was told about the two comet shelters, from what they looked like to how long their construction would take. He was about to end his report when one image from his second trip suddenly popped into mind.

"Actually, there was one more thing. While I visited Ainsworth, he introduced me to a strange man who obviously did not know I was there for a visit," Armour said. "His name was Nigel Huffington, and I think he might have been British. He was a weird guy, refused to look me in the face and rushed away as quickly as possible. When I asked Tyler about him, he also turtled up and tried avoiding that conversation. He finally gave me some bogus story about Nigel being a liaison for the workers but I didn't buy it."

"So you think this Nigel guy might know about the comet?" President Marshall asked.

"He certainly got real nervous when he saw me," Armour said. "Like he'd just let out some kind of big secret."

"I guess it would be crazy to assume Tyler told nobody about Clement," Marshall said. "We still don't know how he learned about it. But I understand why you'd be concerned about this other person."

"That was what I thought," Armour said. "We've done such a good job keeping a lid on the comet. I'd feel much more comfortable if we had some information on the other people who know about it."

President Marshall nodded, thought for a moment and turned to Mansfield.

"Peter, find out everything you can about Nigel Huffington," the President ordered. "But do it quietly, we don't want to spook Tyler."

"Yes, sir," Mansfield said.

"And Peter, when I say find out, I only mean find out," Marshall stressed. "Please be sure the same fate doesn't befall Huffington that befell Earl Ackerman."

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN.

JULY 4, 2016.

For the last ten days, Wesley Maddox lived aboard Shuttle Exploration with the rest of Team Four. He did so for precautionary reasons, as work was being done to the space station piece that contained his command center. Although it had been a hassle to transfer to the shuttle, and even more uncomfortable to live with the dozen other workers in such a small area (Maddox had a newfound appreciation for living alone in his station corner), the reason the project leader was here was a prosperous one.

The first corridor - the only corridor not marred by some sort of tragedy, accident or setback - had finally been completed. For a few weeks before transferring over to Exploration, Maddox watched Team Five get closer and closer to his corner of the space station. At one point, Maddox even heard work being done while he tried to sleep. But once Team Five announced they would begin connecting the corridor to the airlock on his command center, the project leader was forced to temporarily abandon his home. If any rift occurred no matter how small Maddox knew it would prove disastrous.

During those ten days, Team Five worked carefully to attach the corridor to the command center airlock. The construction team succeeded in their task, completing the job eight days into Maddox's stay aboard the shuttle. The next two days were spent running tests to check the safety systems aboard the command center. Because the corridor did not yet have its air filtration system installed, there had to be a barrier between Maddox's home and the oxygen-less area of the space station.

The airlock was a small chamber between two airtight metal doors. One of these doors led to the corridor, the other to the command center. Neither would ever be opened at the same time. In fact, a safety feature was installed and programmed so neither of the airlock doors could open while the other was ajar. The effectiveness of the airlock was a question mark during the design phase, but the project leader was pleased by how it functioned during the two days of testing. He was so satisfied that he cancelled the third scheduled day of testing to return home earlier than expected.

When he informed the leader of Team Five of his departure, Veronica Sites met Maddox's decision with a bit of surprise.

"I'm ending the airlock's safety tests," Maddox told her. "Your crew has done its job perfectly, as I suspected would be the case. Nothing from any of my tests indicates a problem so I think it's time I get out of your way."

"Already?" Sites asked. "You're always the one stressing not to rush through important tasks. I would say that this one is pretty important."

Ever since the accident the year before, Maddox had constantly reminded his crew to be careful. But the project leader's current state of mind was not the same as it was throughout the space construction process.

Maddox had every reason to be in a celebratory mood following his crew's recent success, but the last two days aboard Shuttle Exploration were unbearable for him. He had always had a slight case of claustrophobia living aboard his large command center, but those feelings greatly intensified when he was forced to share a smaller amount of space with a large number of people. Once Maddox allowed the thought of leaving the shuttle a day early to enter his mind, there was nothing that could stop him from leaving.

"Believe me, I'm not rushing the idea," Maddox said, not the total truth. "I've run the same tests hundreds of times, all with the same results. Sometimes you just have to trust the abilities of the people working around you. Now is one of those times. You and your team have done a fantastic job, so fantastic that I don't think twice to trust my life to the work you've done."

"Thank you, sir," Sites said, smiling widely with satisfaction. That smile quickly disappeared. "But I still don't think you'll be able to leave until tomorrow. You might be confident that the computer tests are done, but there's still one more test that someone in my crew must complete to ensure total completion of the corridor."

Maddox usually knew about every step of the construction process, but he was unaware of the procedure Team Five still had to complete. The project leader wondered if his growing anticipation to leave the shuttle clouded his ability to do his job.

"What test?" Maddox asked. "I thought construction tests were finished when the corridor was connected to the airlock two days ago."

"All of the construction tests have been done, sir," Sites said. "But I can't allow you to return to your command center until a proper walkthrough of the corridor has been done by one of my men."

A walkthrough meant exactly what it sounded like. One of the crew needed to enter the corridor and make a careful inspection of the inside, checking to make sure construction had been properly completed. Maddox knew the workers could already gauge their level of success based upon an inspection of the exterior of the corridor. Therefore, Maddox hoped to forego this unnecessary walkthrough.

"A walkthrough is not a requirement," Maddox said. "It's only a formality, one I don't think we need to do."

"With all due respect, sir, I won't feel comfortable unless this walkthrough is carried out," Sites said. She spoke with such finality that Maddox momentarily forgot who was the real leader of the project. He could see why she was chosen unanimously by the other men to be leader of Team Five. "This is the first corridor completed, the first major accomplishment done on the space station, sir. My team is responsible for seeing it through, so if something goes wrong with the corridor down the road, I want to be sure every precautionary measure was taken before I gave my seal of approval."

Maddox understood her concern and knew that if he were in her position, he would also insist that every step be taken. Maddox realized this was a battle he would not win.

"You win," Maddox said, being met with her victorious grin. "But I'd prefer this walkthrough be done as soon as possible. How soon can one of your men complete it?"

"The entire team just finished a ten-hour shift about twenty minutes ago," Sites said. "According to work regulations, I can't send somebody to do the walkthrough until tomorrow. So I think you'd better get comfortable for the night."

Fate gave Maddox every indication that he should stay aboard Shuttle Exploration for one final night. The shuttle walls seemed to grow tighter and tighter with every passing second. Maddox's claustrophobia finally became so extreme that any fear he could imagine paled in comparison to what he now felt. This led him to make one of his most questionable calls since becoming project leader.

"I know one person who can do the walkthrough," he said.

Dressed in his space suit, Wesley Maddox watched the airlock door to Shuttle Exploration slowly close. The shuttle was attached directly to its corner of the space station, but this airlock had never been used since none of the systems aboard the station were operational yet. The space workers used a different chamber to go into space, never having reason to actually go inside their section of the space station. Having volunteered to do the corridor walkthrough, Maddox needed to enter the end of the corridor that began from this corner piece. Not only would he be the first person inside the corridor, he would be the first to enter the second of the 'Four Corners.'

"Complete one last systems check to make sure your oxygen tank is working properly," the leader of Team Five ordered, her voice coming through loud and clear inside of Maddox's helmet.

Although he'd checked his suit a dozen times before entering the airlock, Maddox did as told and saw that the oxygen gauge read its normal levels. There was a window on the airlock door and he gave a thumbs-up to the dozen people watching from the other side. The news of Maddox's volunteering spread quickly in Shuttle Exploration, and every tired worker got out of bed to see off their fearless leader.

Or at least their supposedly fearless leader. Maddox knew his courageous exterior was merely a faade. The crew was already abuzz, though, and there was no way he could back out. Besides, he had already flown on numerous shuttle flights and the transfer from his command center to Exploration had given him space experience. Maddox hadn't received the hundreds of training experience hours like his crew but he had still endured enough training sessions to know what to do in any situation.

"Does that mean yes?" Sites asked.

Maddox looked at his extended hand, but the thumbs-up he'd tried to give was hardly noticeable inside the bulky glove.

"Sorry, that was supposed to be a thumbs-up," Maddox said, his voice cracking slightly. He hoped nobody noticed the tension in his voice.

"And you're sure your bag and flashlight are secured tightly around your wrists?" Sites asked, being overly cautious.

Attached to Maddox's left wrist was a small duffel bag that contained belongings he'd brought from his command center. One of the crewmembers tied the bag's string with a triple knot to Maddox's wrist, but he firmly tugged at it just in case. Satisfied that it was secure, Maddox also tugged on the cord attached to his flashlight tied around his right wrist, also tight.