"As you know, next week this company's airship, the Destiny Explorer, is departing for an extended voyage that will end in the Antarctic," Endicott continued. "The airship is going to make its maiden voyage with its crew and the winners of the Young Scientist compet.i.tion, sponsored by this very organization."

Mycroft E. Endicott paused, then dropped the other shoe. "I want both of you on that ship," he announced.

"What! But what about -" Robin cried in disbelief.

"You can't mean -" Nick said, choking.

"I know what you're going to say," Endicott cried, cutting them off in mid-sentence. "Both of you are going to say that you are working on big, vital stories about important things, and that you simply can't leave the country right now."

"Well, yeah!" Nick cried.

"Well, you can go, and you will - if you want to remain employees of INN!" Endicott commanded.

Nick's mouth snapped shut.

Mycroft leaned forward, meeting their shocked stares.

"Look," he said, his tone gentler. "Things are getting uglier in the good ol' U.S. of A. I know that, and you know that. And guess what? The man in the street ... John Q Public ... the little guy - whatever you want to call him - he knows it, too.

"You're not helping anyone by exposing another government boondoggle. I have other reporters who can do that."

Endicott paused for a moment, as if he were composing his thoughts. Robin shifted uneasily in her chair. Nick simply stared at his boss.

"Look," Endicott continued. "I know you think that your stories are real important, but they are not. Not in the great scheme of things.

"What is important is showing the people of this nation that they don't need their government to help them. Too many people are waiting for the National Guard to collect their garbage - they've gotten too lazy to empty it themselves!

"I've got a big floating laboratory filled with teenage geniuses that can demonstrate to this country that people - average people - can take care of themselves, and maybe accomplish something good for humanity in the process."

Mycroft E. Endicott's vision seemed to sweep Nick up. He began to understand how the smallest news network in the United States was fast becoming the most influential. Mycroft E. Endicott was no mere businessman.

He had a vision.

"The Destiny Explorer is more than a publicity stunt," Endicott explained. "It's a symbol of America's future. I took a bunch of young geniuses who accomplished something on their own, without the help of anyone, and I rewarded them with the chance to join a real expedition to Antarctica. It's meant to be the adventure of their lives!

"But it is also meant to be an adventure that all of America can share!"

Mycroft E. Endicott met his reporters' skeptical eyes.

"I want both of you to chronicle that journey and all it represents. You are both young and talented - the best INN has to offer. You are this network's future. Prove to everyone that America has a future, too!"

"So you want us to change the course of history?" Nick asked archly.

"Exactly!" Endicott cried. "Every day, on every one of our news broadcasts! Both of you will do reports that will electrify America and capture people's hearts."

"How much raw material will we actually have?" Nick asked, wondering how much of a story there really was in this overhyped expedition.

"The airship is going to make dozens of stops in Mexico and Central and South America," Endicott replied. "If necessary, do travelogues! But I know both of you, and I know I can trust you to deliver good, solid, compelling, and positive news stories."

Endicott stared at the two reporters. After a moment, they both nodded. But it was Robin who spoke first.

"I'm honored by this a.s.signment, sir," she said sincerely.

Nick was about to say something equally inane when the realization hit him.

Oh, no! he thought, with a sickening feeling. I'll be riding on an airship!

I hate flying!

Monday, November 13, 2000, 1201 hours.

Outside Joint Headquarters.

82nd Airborne Division.

U.S. Army XVIII Airborne Corps.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Sean Brennan slapped the lanky Jim Cirelli on the back, while having his own back slapped - considerably harder - by an enthusiastic Johnny Rocco. Even the quiet Bob Bodusky and the shy Tucker Guyson joined them in their rough horseplay outside of 82nd Airborne headquarters.

All the youths could barely contain the exhilaration they felt. These soldiers knew they had just been handed a plum a.s.signment - and a better-than-even shot at practicing what they were trained to do.

"Temporary a.s.signment ... overseas!" Johnny Rocco whooped. "I can't believe it. No disaster relief for us!"

"Yeah! No fixing telephone poles or cleaning out sewers in Gary, either," Jim Cirelli added smugly.

"Or delivering mail in Syracuse," Bob Bodusky quipped.

"Yeah," Tucker Guyson chimed in. "In the radioactive zone!"

"No way!" Rocco cried at the top of his lungs. "No slop jobs for us, boys. Not for these new members of the proud Eighty-second!"

Rocco paused, his voice growing solemn.

"We, my friends, are Airborne!"

"And we are going to South America," Sean Brennan finally added. The men exchanged proud glances. Then, as one, they slapped their hands together in the air and gave their common battle cry with all the enthusiasm and camaraderie of men who have shared the same grueling training and who antic.i.p.ate the same hardships and rewards.

"HOOOOO-AAAHHHH!".

5.

THE LAUNCH.

Tuesday, November 21, 2000, 12:30 P.M.

Outside Maxwell Hulse Memorial Hangar.

Hulse Science Complex.

Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Down on the tarmac, surrounded by thousands of spectators, a local New Jersey high school band played a raucous version of a song that was almost half a century old. Robin Halliday wondered where she'd managed to pick up the lyrics and the name of the tune. She hadn't a clue why or how, but they were locked in the depths of her memory.

And so, as she watched the crowd swell, the words for "Up, Up, and Away" echoed through her head. She even remembered the name of the group who had first recorded the song: The Fifth Dimension.

It must be my nerves giving me flashbacks to those trips I took to Grandma's house, she decided, recalling her grandparents' collection of big flat black vinyl dishes wrapped in cardboard that Grandma called "record alb.u.ms."

But it wasn't a nostalgia flashback that was bothering Robin. It was the fact that on this day and date she was completely out of her element.

I'm just not accustomed to being on this side of a story, she thought ruefully.

Robin was used to reporting news, not being news. But here she was, standing on the raised podium with Nick Gordon fidgeting next to her, while thousands of people filled the temporary bleachers. Row upon row of bleachers almost completely surrounded her, creating the effect of a small arena built in the middle of the concrete runway.

While she waited for her turn at the microphone, Robin couldn't help but imagine that all eyes were watching her - she realized with a start that she had a bad case of stage fright. Robin could seduce a camera with ease but now discovered that she found live events rather overwhelming.

This event certainly was.

Mycroft E. Endicott had pulled out all the stops for the launching of his super airship, the Destiny Explorer. Ten mayors - from New York City's to Hoboken's - and two governors, along with the speaker of the House of Representatives, were present. Unfortunately, a few of them were scheduled to speak.

Robin knew it was going to be a long, boring day.

But at least it was a beautiful one. The sky was bright and clear, and the temperature cool and quite bl.u.s.tery, especially here on the flatlands of New Jersey.

No surprise for November in the Northeast, and not unlike the weather in her hometown outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Robin scanned the crowd. It seemed to be getting bigger. Although she knew the guest list and the schedule of events by heart, Robin was stunned by the sheer magnitude of this event.

All this for a great big balloon, she thought. Of course Robin knew that the Destiny Explorer was much more than that, but it was tough not to get cynical about the whole crazy idea. Despite Endicott's flowery speech, which Robin had to admit touched her at the time, she was now having second thoughts about this a.s.signment.

Not that she had a choice. But if this voyage were to end in disaster, or end up as the b.u.t.t of tasteless jokes on the Tonight Show, Robin knew her journalism career would be over. And there were a lot of people out there who would like to see Robin go down. She peered into the wings of the makeshift arena and saw that the media sharks were already gathering.

Robin recognized cameras from the compet.i.tion. All the major networks were here, along with CNN, Fox News, and the Microsoft Network.

As usual, all the camera teams were jockeying for the best vantage point from which to shoot their highly paid reporters, while still getting a shot of the podium.

Robin tried to ignore the lenses pointed at her and stared off into the distance. She noticed a lot more cameras on the towers near the huge hangar, which was so ma.s.sive it dwarfed even the NASA complex at Kennedy s.p.a.ce Center. Part of the building was the remains of the original airship hangar, which had been built sixty years before - though much had been added on to the older structure.

The original hangar had served other purposes after the airships were retired. When INN purchased the building, it was being used as a warehouse.

Mycroft E. Endicott had had the hangar completely retooled and refurbished, christening the entire complex the Hulse Science Center, after Maxwell Hulse, the legendary INN science correspondent who had died along with his production staff when G.o.dzilla destroyed Tokyo Tower in 1998. The memorial complex was built around the huge hangar and featured a museum, a science and learning center, and a broadcast and recording studio.

The Maxwell Hulse Memorial Hangar was by far the largest structure, and it housed INN's airship itself. The entire complex had been an attraction for local high schools and colleges since it opened its doors nine months before.

In a few minutes, the gargantuan hangar doors would open to reveal Mycroft E. Endicott's pet project - the INN airship Destiny Explorer.

Nick Gordon stole a glance at Robin Halliday. She looked relaxed and composed, as usual. Nick wished he felt so calm. He glanced at his watch, surprised that it was already after two o'clock. Then he turned back toward the temporary arena and scanned the crowds that continued to fill the bleachers and swarm at the base of the raised stage.

Oh, the humanity ... Nick thought, with his own brand of irony.

In his career as a professional broadcast reporter - a career that began during G.o.dzilla's destruction of Tokyo in 1998 - Nick had covered more than a few dangerous stories. As the premier investigative reporter on INN's Science Sunday, he'd been down the mouth of an active volcano, inside the hull of the sunken t.i.tanic, and through the ruins of New York City's business center in the wake of G.o.dzilla's battle with King Ghidorah.

But despite those hazardous a.s.signments, Nick couldn't help remembering a story he'd missed because he hadn't even been born yet. Nick remembered the news reports he'd studied about the last time an airship docked here in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

It wasn't pretty.

It was May 6, 1937 ... and that airship was the doomed Hindenburg. The pa.s.senger-laden zeppelin's complete immolation on this very airfield was captured on film, as was an emotional eyewitness account by Chicago radio correspondent Herbert Morrison.

Ninety-seven people were aboard the Hindenburg; thirty-five of them died.

"Oh, the humanity," Herbert Morrison exclaimed tearfully as he watched the mighty German airship go down in flames. It was an on-the-scene news report that made history and is still heard today on doc.u.mentaries about the disaster.

Of course, if the Destiny Explorer crashes and burns today, at least I won't have to get on it! Nick thought. But he immediately cursed himself for having such selfish thoughts. It wasn't that he had anything against airships in general - it was just that the idea of leaving the ground in a ship held aloft by helium wasn't exactly Nick's idea of a good time!

But at least Nick Gordon was enough of a science correspondent to study the vehicle in question. He had taken a secret tour of the hangar itself just a few hours ago. He understood all the science and engineering involved in the airship's construction, but it didn't help him feel more comfortable about riding in the thing.

The sad truth was that Nick Gordon had always had a fear of flying - and he hadn't beaten it yet.

Down on the main stage below where Nick waited, Mycroft E. Endicott was beginning the speech of his life. Most of the politicians' speeches had been mercifully brief this day, and the hangar doors were - Nick hoped! - just about ready to open.

As soon as his boss's speech ended, the huge aircraft would be wheeled out for everyone to "ooh" and "aah" over. Then it would be Nick and Robin's job to introduce the young geniuses who would soon board the Destiny Explorer on its maiden voyage.

Nick hoped that most of the crowd would depart once the Destiny Explorer was unveiled, so he and Robin could complete their part of this dog and pony show in a hurry.

After the ceremony was concluded, the airship would depart for the Southern Hemisphere - with an unwilling Nick Gordon as one of its pa.s.sengers.

His knees suddenly turned to jelly, and Nick could already feel his gorge rise. He just hoped his employer had had the good sense to put a doctor on board.

"What idiot scheduled the launch of this thing in New Jersey in the middle of the winter, anyway?" the intense, dark-haired girl complained loudly. Despite her thick winter gear and her bulky gloves, Leena Sims - who was used to the weather in Southern California - was shivering in the icy winds that swept across the high stage.