Lillian took the letter out of the envelope and began to read. The letter was several pages long but Lillian only read the first few words before forming an opinion. Although she could not tell if Parker was serious or not, Lillian could not help but laugh when she read that first sentence. She immediately felt bad for laughing but thought she saw a grin on his face.

"What does it say?" one of their other teammates asked.

"May I?" Lillian asked.

"I wouldn't have given it to you otherwise," Parker said.

"Dear Parker, I have been dating your cousin Wally for the past three months and we've decided to get married," Lillian read.

The rest of their team began to laugh as well. Parker had a sheepish look on his face, one that perfectly portrayed his lack of emotion toward being dumped.

"Sorry, Parker," one of the teammates said. "But I'm pretty sure she might be cheating on you, buddy."

Parker took the letter back from Lillian.

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," he said. "But it's all good, we probably weren't right for each other." He read a few lines of the letter one last time before tearing it up. "I always wondered why she and Wally spent so much time together while I was away at college."

Lillian and her team continued to talk and laugh for the next hour. Parker was in the middle of telling another of his endless stories when Lillian noticed a sudden stirring of the other teams on the far end of the room. When she finally saw the reason for the commotion, she silenced her team and pointed to the person gracing the recruits with his presence. Her playful, clamorous team quickly quieted and stood from their cots, even though their guest was making his way to all the other teams first.

Lillian noticed that every member of the other teams stood as the guest approached and spoke with them. Those roused from sleep even stood as a sign of respect for the man who was so influential in their training and development. While the training program was run with the strict hard work of a military boot camp, there was no formal saluting toward the instructors and teachers. But the recruits gave their teachers respect in a different sort of way, like standing at attention whenever they were around.

And if there was one teacher from the entire program that deserved to be treated with the utmost respect, it was Slava Kovalchuk.

The large Russian stood out in a crowd, though his quiet demeanor did not demand attention outside of the training courses. But as every recruit knew, Kovalchuk raised his level of intensity once he began to teach; he would not hesitate to scold a recruit when he or she messed up. His criticisms were always meant to help though, and Lillian never saw Kovalchuk raise his voice when the situation did not warrant it. After all, the Russian had logged thousands of hours in space during various missions for Russia and America's current space station project, where he had served as second-in-command to Wesley Maddox.

Therefore, if there was one teacher who truly taught from experience, it was Slava. On a personal note, Lillian knew how much respect Kovalchuk held for each and every one of the recruits, including her. While many other teachers and instructors treated her differently she was the only female leader of any of the 15 teams and was one of only twelve women in the entire project Kovalchuk treated her no better or worse than any other team leader. In fact, a month after she was chosen as team leader, Kovalchuk pulled her aside and talked about her unique role in the program.

"Women are not allowed in Russian space agency," he told her that day, the start of what she thought would be an anti-feminist discussion. "This was always normal for me. But when I watch you and other women in training program, I know now my country is wrong to have this policy. You are smarter and stronger and work better than any man in program; I expect you to succeed where others will fail."

Ever since that moment, Lillian felt a strong bond with Kovalchuk, even though he never treated her differently or mentioned their conversation again. He yelled at her when he needed to yell and reprimanded her and her team when it was needed. But Lillian always had the peace of heart that Kovalchuk treated her just as he would any other recruit and she always felt a great appreciation for that.

Although every trainee from the other teams surrounded Kovalchuk, Lillian noticed he was going from one team leader to another. Sure enough, by the time he made it to her end of the barracks, Kovalchuk came straight to her.

"Team Leader Edwards, how are you this evening?" he asked.

"Fine, sir," she responded. "A bit tired but satisfied that my team moved up in the standings today."

The other members of Lillian's team nodded and murmured their agreement.

"Your team performs very well lately, as I thought you could," Slava said to the delight of every team member. "But I am not here to give out compliment. I am here to pass along important information about where your training will go.

"As everyone knows, the first of corridors in space was completed two months ago. We receive word today that second corridor will finish in less than week and third should be done soon after that. While everyone involved with space station project is happy with progress, it has been agreed that only way to keep tight construction schedule is to begin pod assembly soon as possible.

"What I'm about to tell you is classified information I'm not cleared to tell everyone but I feel you all have right to know. Construction of nearly 75 pods is completed at Arizona construction site. These pods are filling large majority of construction hangars there. They are running out of space to construct pods. In order to clear area, these pods must soon be sent to space for attachment to completed corridors."

"And that's where the training program comes in?" Lillian asked, already figuring out where this conversation was going.

Even though the recruits learned different methods of construction for nearly every aspect of the space station from corridor construction to assembly of oxygen filtration systems to how to fix a broken airlock pod attachment was something they learned from day one. Attaching pods was relatively easy compared to most other construction on the space station. It was one skill at which the recruits completed the most training in the simulators and training pool. Lillian always figured this job would be the first that the training teams would be trusted with in space.

"That's correct, Team Leader Edwards," Kovalchuk said. "We know that pod attachment is very delicate process, but NASSA thinks it one of easier and safer parts of construction. Because this skill is one practiced most during training program, NASSA decided it is time to put our recruits to use. The trainers and teachers know that NASSA's request is three months ahead of schedule, since this program was supposed to be a year long. But we all decide that progress recruits have made is incredible and many of teams are ready for such challenge. That's where you come in."

Lillian looked around at her teammates and saw a mixture of worry and excitement in their eyes. She felt the same thing.

"Mr. Kovalchuk, I speak for my team in saying that we're ready to accept such a mission and would look forward to representing this program in space," she said, the nods of her teammates confirming her words.

Kovalchuk smiled.

"I would expect no less from your team," Kovalchuk said. "It makes me very proud that every team leader I approach answers in similar way. I expect no less from my teams-in-training. That is why we have set up one final test worth more points than any other so far. At end of this test, the team with most combined points will be our first to work in space. Every team will participate in this challenge but in reality, it is race between top five teams in the standings right now. I believe your team is in top five."

"We are number two right now, sir," Lillian said. "And when this test is over, we will be number one."

Again, Kovalchuk smiled.

"That would not surprise me," he said. "You must focus on test, it will be unlike any you have so far. You have three days to prepare. If you win, you will be in space this time next month."

With that, Kovalchuk turned and left the barracks, which were quieter than before his visit.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO.

AUGUST 25, 2016.

THREE YEARS, 11 MONTHS, TWENTY-EIGHT DAYS UNTIL IMPACT...

Lillian Edwards glanced at the large timer across the tank, disappointed to see her time was worse than she hoped. Although results from other teams remained confidential, she was sure that others must have completed this final exercise quicker than her team. She only allowed this disappointment to stay with her a single moment, though; she still had plenty left to complete before the pod was attached to the imitation corridor.

Lillian's team was last to go. Her team had nothing to do but sit around all day and wait to be summoned. They watched every other team called away, but none returned. Once each team finished their training exercise, they were sequestered from those yet to go. The teachers and trainers made sure no team had an advantage over the competition, which meant doing everything possible to keep specifics of the final exercise a tight secret.

As the groups departed from the living barracks and the large warehouse became emptier, Lillian's team grew more and more anxious. It was hard for her to calm her troops when the butterflies in her stomach grew wilder with every passing moment. But the group used its time to mentally focus and had extra time to go over the procedures for all they had learned thus far.

It was just after nine at night when the van arrived and one of their teachers entered the warehouse. Lillian and her team's fifteen-hour wait had finally ended. The crew piled into the van, which drove them across the vast NASSA facility. When Lillian asked what building they were going to, she was told to sit back and enjoy the ride.

As Lillian and her team expected, the van passed the building that held their classrooms. Not a single member of the team thought the final test would be any sort of written or oral exam. A few minutes later, the van also drove by the NASSA Virtual Technology Center, which was where the crews trained using NASSA's exclusive virtual-reality technology. Although the VR training wasn't as hands-on as pool training, virtual reality would have allowed Lillian and her team to face a wider variety of situations. It also would've given her teachers a better view of how the team acted in different situations.

With the first two buildings behind them, the crewmembers-in-training mentally prepared themselves for the pool. As long and wide as a football field and twenty-five feet deep, the training pool could be more accurately described as a manmade lake. The training pool was the only environment on Earth that could mimic a gravity-free atmosphere. It was the closest thing to space without needing a space shuttle to get there.

The pool was large enough to contain ten different workstations that replicated different sections of the space station and different construction situations. As the van drove toward the building that housed the pool, Lillian went over the ten different sections in her mind and wondered which would be used for the final test.

Since Slava Kovalchuk stressed the importance of pod training when explaining the final test, Lillian placed her money on some kind of pod-attachment challenge. Most of what they learned about connecting pods to the space station had taken place in the VR Center. So Lillian had to question why the final test would be a pool exercise they had completed dozens of times already...

Where is this idiot driving us? Lillian suddenly thought as the van drove by the pool building. When she saw her fellow teammates also looking confused, Lillian knew it was her job to speak up.

"Excuse me, sir. But you passed the training pool," Lillian told the driver.

"I know," the driver said. "My instructions weren't to bring you to the pool."

"Where are we going then?"

"My instructions did not include being a tour guide, ma'am," the driver said. "If you could just sit back, you'll see where you're going soon enough."

Lillian did not like the driver's tone of voice but arguing would not do any good. The driver obviously was not going to tell her anything and fighting would only cause her teammates to lose focus. True to his word, the driver pulled to a stop in front of another building a few minutes later. While Lillian was sure she'd seen the outside of this place during her eight months at the NASSA facility, she'd never been inside. That would change soon enough.

The driver led the trainees into the small lobby of the building, which was covered with large photographs and displays of famous moments in the history of the United States space program. The lobby reminded Lillian of a museum tour but the ten people standing in front of her were not tour guides, especially the older gentlemen standing in the front.

Lillian saw James Armour poke around a few times during their eight months of training but never saw him converse with any recruits. Every time she'd seen the head of NASSA and astronaut legend, he always seemed to be in a rush. But now he stood directly in front of the trainees.

"Thank you for joining us tonight," Armour said once Lillian's team was inside the building. "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting for hours but we've had a long day of evaluation. I appreciate your patience so I won't bore you with unnecessary speeches or encouragement. Mr. Kovalchuk already informed me that you require no such words of motivation. So if you'll follow me, you may begin your final test."

Lillian attempted to make eye contact with Slava but the large Russian followed Armour and the other teachers through a set of double doors at the far end of the lobby. For the first time during the entire training program, Lillian actually felt intimidated by her surroundings. Her heartbeat quickened with every step and she was hit with a combination of fear, excitement and anxiety as she followed one of the greatest astronauts in history.

Lillian expected to pass through some sort of museum hallway or exhibit room when she walked through the double doors, but what she saw totally surprised her. Just inside the doors was a huge room, bigger than any room from the pool building or the VR Center. Besides the small lobby, this one single room was all that remained of the entire building. And in the center of the room was the most amazing sight Lillian ever saw.

A glass tank two stories high held a replica of a large section of space station corridor and a full-sized pod. Lillian guessed there had to be millions of gallons of water in the tank, but the water was crystal clear. The pod was suspended close to the corridor, held in place by a set of chains connected to large hooks on three sides of the tank. Also near the top of the tank was a large bubble-shaped enclosure, just below a large platform above the waterline. Lillian saw a staircase leading to the platform. When she looked closer, she noticed all kinds of cameras situated around the tank and a large digital clock inside the water.

"Welcome to your final test, ladies and gentlemen," James Armour said after giving the recruits a few seconds to take in their surroundings. "I will keep this short and sweet. Inside this tank is an exact replica of a space station corridor and an actual space pod built by McNalley & Jones in Arizona. Mr. Kovalchuk told me you've been trained in the extensive prep work needed for the pod attachment phase of construction. You all know the extensive work that must be done to transfer the pod from your shuttle's cargo area to the actual space station, as well as the delicate process of removing the apertures that are part of the corridor.

"All of this prep work has been done to this reproduction of the space station. Your final test will be the actual attachment of the pods to the corridor. Your training session will be timed. As you can see from the cameras set up around and inside the tank, we will be watching you closely. You will be graded on speed, thoroughness and the overall stability of your pod attachment. Your space suits are over there; your time will begin the moment you enter the enclosure on top of the tank, a simulation of the airlocks inside the space station. Remember, you will be attached to the airlock by SPACE lines, the same as construction workers in space. Please be aware that we have sensors all over these SPACE lines. If anyone's position is compromised and we determine that this would lead to a severing of the lines, we will tell you that team member is down and he or she can no longer participate. I'm sure I don't have to tell you the penalty involved in the loss of a crewmember. Any questions?"

Lillian and her teammates were too shocked to ask anything relevant. Besides, the former astronaut did not give them time to process the hundreds of thoughts each of them had.

"Good. That shows how mentally focused and experienced you must be with this kind of task," Armour said. "Make your way to the space suits and get dressed for your final task. Your teachers and I will be watching and grading your every move."

Armour pointed to the far corner of the enormous room, where a dozen televisions and five computers were set up. A few of the program's trainers busily typed away at the computers, getting the systems ready for Lillian's team.

"Just a quick word of advice," Armour said, his serious expression turning into a small smile. "Don't mess up." This drew a few laughs from the trainers but not a single nervous chuckle from Lillian's team. Any hint of a smile disappeared from Armour's face. "Good luck."

With that, Armour, Kovalchuk and the rest of the trainers headed toward their small control station. Lillian turned and looked at her crew, noticing that many still looked shocked. Now was the time Lillian had to step up.

"We know how to do this," she said confidently.

"We've only done this in VR," Parker said, showing why his intelligence did not especially qualify him for a leadership role.

"And now we'll do it here," Lillian said. "Just like we've succeeded at every other training task we've done. Now let's prove to everyone why we're the best team in this program."

Her speech would not have won an Academy Award but as she walked toward the space suits, her team followed close behind. The next forty-five minutes passed quicker than any other time in Lillian's life. They dressed and ascended the staircase leading to the top of the tank. No sooner did they properly hook into their SPACE lines when the water slowly began to fill the airlock.

Once the airlock opened, Lillian and her team expertly maneuvered in formation and moved toward the corridor and pod. A few of her teammates mentioned how strange it was to see the cameras pointed at them but Lillian told them to forget they were being watched.

And that's exactly what they did. Although Lillian's team did not complete the task as fast as she hoped, Lillian was more than happy with how they worked so effortlessly. Throughout the test, her crew remained one step ahead of her direction, as if they had done this task hundreds of times.

If only we could've done it quicker...

"You were right, Slava," James Armour said. "This team seems to be working together much smoother than the others."

"Miss Edwards and her team have been moving up standings at rapid pace last few months," Slava said. "I am still amazed these kids have only done this eight months. Miss Edwards continues to be one of best leaders from entire recruit class. I believe each and every one of her crew would follow her into Hell if that is what she told them."

The two astronauts continued to watch different angles on all the televisions, gazing in awe as the young adults performed some of the most complicated tasks that any experienced astronauts ever accomplished.

"How are the readings on their SPACE lines?" Armour asked.

One of the teachers sitting at a nearby computer quickly clicked a few buttons.

"Completely normal, sir," she reported. "There is no danger that any of the lines will be compromised."

"You've done a fine job with this program, Slava. These kids really know what they're doing," Armour said. "What's their time?"

"Approaching one hour, sir," another trainer said.

Armour turned away from the monitors momentarily, surprised to hear this bit of news.

"Really?" he asked. "It doesn't seem like that much time passed. They've worked so fluently and easily. I was sure they'd have the best time of all the groups today."

"No, sir," Slava said. "The way they are progressing, their time will put them somewhere in middle of pack. But I don't think a single team combines thoroughness and skill that Miss Edwards' team has."

"You're right, Slava," Armour agreed, turning his full attention back to the monitors and the team in the tank. "Besides, the teams with the fastest times certainly sacrificed attention to detail to reach those speeds."

"And they ended up paying for that," Slava said.

"They certainly did," Armour agreed. "I'm enjoying this performance so much that I'm upset it has to end."

Slava noticed that the team's task was nearly complete but he wanted to wait for Armour to trigger the surprise.

"If we wait too much longer, we won't be able to test them under a true pressure situation," Slava said.

Armour sighed and finally turned to the teacher sitting at the farthest computer.

"He's right," Armour said. "It's time to blow it."

When a loud explosion inside the corridor caused escaping air to hiss and large pieces of aluminum to float away, Lillian and her crew were momentarily shocked. The first thought in Lillian's mind was that this was impossible, this could not be happening. No part of the construction they completed had anything to do with a problem from inside the corridor. Or at least none that Lillian could think about in the split second following the catastrophe.

The pod, mostly secured to the corridor just a moment earlier, suddenly shifted and appeared on the verge of completely breaking free. Although Lillian was sure her team's unknown mistake would cost them any chance of winning the competition, she was not about to have their final test end with the pod floating away. Whatever part of the process they messed up would be revealed to her later, but for now serious action was needed.

"Parker and Jones, move to the left and secure the pod anchors to the top fastening hooks of the corridor," she said firmly to her surprised teammates. "Ramirez and Inzerillo, move to the right and do the same on the bottom hooks."