'Your fiancee's almost there, isn't she? I read in your paper they'll awake on the fourth of January.'

'You're right. But even then they'll have five days before they officially enter Martian orbit. It'll be six days before they land on the planet.'

'It must be exciting, knowing someone who's doing such great things.'

Terry resisted the temptation to tell her he wished Lauren was a dental a.s.sistant. 'It's a great privilege,' he said.

The secretary stood. She was a perky blonde, fresh out of college and looking for a Mr Goodbar. He'd seen the type before, and had had plenty of s.e.x with them until they found out he was broke. Palmer's secretary went out of her way to keep him company while Jennifer talked with Dr Palmer.

'I have so much shopping still to do, Mr Hayes,' she said. 'I wish I had someone to help me.'

'Call me Terry, Carol. All my friends who are still alive do.'

Carol chuckled. 'I have to leave now. I won't get a chance to see you on the way out. I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas.'

'Merry Christmas,' he said. 'To you and your family.'

She blushed. 'Oh, I'm not married, Terry.'

Famous and exciting Dr Lauren Wagner notwithstanding, Carol was dropping hints. Terry didn't mind. He liked aggressive women or rather, h.o.r.n.y women, who were not always the same. Yet he was being a good boy, and it wasn't too hard. After Lauren, most women bored him. Carol certainly did.

'But you have a mother and father,' he said. 'You probably have aunts and uncles. Maybe even nieces and nephews. One of them has got to want to go shopping with you.'

Carol didn't know what the h.e.l.l he was talking about. So she smiled. 'That's a great idea.'

He turned away. 'I'll see you after the holidays.'

'I'll look forward to it,' she said brightly.

Once in the doctor's office, Terry took a seat beside Jennifer, who was sitting in an oak chair three sizes too big for her and swinging her feet inches above an Indian carpet that depicted a scary scene of angels clashing with devils. Dr Palmer sat behind his desk and fought with his beeper, which wouldn't stop beeping. He was a nice man, although he was extremely ugly. He had been injured in a car accident as a teenager. His face had gone through a window and wrapped around a fire hydrant. At least that's how he put it. Plastic surgery hadn't worked well in his case, nor did his beard and moustache hide the rough spots. Oh, well, Terry thought, the man seemed happy enough, and he certainly charged enough an hour.

'How do things look this week?' Terry asked.

'Ted doesn't want to see me for two weeks,' Jennifer said. 'He says I'm all better. I told him I was never sick.'

Dr Palmer nodded. 'I'm beginning to believe her. She's more sane than me. Especially now that the nightmares are going away. I suggested to her that she start sleeping at night again and return to school.'

'How about that, Jenny?' Terry asked. 'You can't be an owl the rest of your life.'

Jennifer giggled. 'Whooo says?'

'I think you're just trying to dodge school,' Terry said.

'Which is a definite sign of mental health,' Dr Palmer added. Jennifer shook her head. 'I can't sleep at night. Not yet. But I'll finish my story soon, and then, maybe.'

Dr Palmer stood. He left his beeper beeping on his desk. 'You two can decide amongst yourselves. As far as I'm concerned, the crisis is past. I'll see Jenny in two weeks. Now I must rush. I have presents to buy, lots of expensive presents for lots of greedy relatives.'

Terry stood and took Jennifer's hand. 'I should have postponed the appointment,' he said. 'Carol tells me you had n.o.body else scheduled for today.'

Dr Palmer fetched his hat. 'Nonsense. Talking to Jenny is like a Christmas present. I've found myself waiting to see her again each week. In fact, I'm not sending you a bill for the last month.'

'I suppose I should argue with you,' Terry said. 'But I wasn't going to pay you anyway.' Dr Palmer laughed. Terry pointed to the beeping beeper. 'Don't you want to call in and see who wants you?'

'It's just my wife,' Dr Palmer said.

'How can you tell?' Jennifer asked.

'It beeps differently when she calls in,' Dr Palmer said. He led them toward the door, a hand on their backs. 'Oh, Mr Hayes, is your book about Ricky in the stores yet? I want to buy a copy for my wife. She hates bugs.'

Terry scowled. 'There was a screw up at the printers. Its release has been delayed two months.'

'Are you upset?' Dr Palmer asked.

'If I am, I'm sure it's because I hated my mother,' Terry said.

Dr Palmer laughed again. 'You should have my job and let me write about c.o.c.kroaches.' He scooted them out the door. 'Now you two run along and have a merry Christmas.'

'Merry Christmas, Doctor,' Terry said.

'Merry Christmas, Ted,' Jennifer said.

Outside in the heat and crowds, Terry asked Jennifer, 'How about spending tomorrow at my sister's? She called and said she'd love to have us. You could hang out with my niece, Rebecca. She's your age. You met her once.'

'Hmmm,' Jennifer considered. 'If you want, Terry. But I was thinking how nice it would be to play in the snow. There's snow at your cabin. I read it in the paper.'

'There's Daniel at my cabin,' Terry said. They had visited Wyoming twice since Lauren had left for Mars, enough times for Daniel to have fallen completely under Jennifer's spell. He worshiped her. Jennifer thought he was pretty neat, too.

Jennifer blushed. 'That's not the only reason. The lake will be frozen. We can go ice skating.'

'I don't know about that. It's a big lake. Even when it freezes, there are thin spots. I'd hate to fall in those cold waters. Your muscles would cramp in a second. I remember Lauren told me a girl drowned in the lake at the end of summer because of cramps. Oh, you know about her. Daniel told you both.'

Jennifer looked at him. 'Daniel didn't say anything about a girl drowning.'

'Lauren said he told you both. I remember.'

'No girl drowned. You can ask Daniel when we get there.'

Terry chuckled. 'When we get there?'

Jennifer grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of his car. 'Let's hurry! We have to pack. We can use your work credit card to pay for the airline tickets. Daniel told me he makes wonderful snowmen.'

Terry allowed himself to be dragged down the street, on his way to Wyoming. The paper had been on him to take his vacation time anyway. 'We have to be back in Houston when Lauren wakes up,' he said. 'We can't stay forever.'

Jennifer stopped and gave him one of her patented penetrating looks. 'I want to stay there until she returns, Terry.'

'That won't be possible.'

'Then let's all go there together as soon as she comes home.'

He shrugged. 'What if Lauren wants to go to Disneyland?'

Jennifer was insistent. 'You have to promise me, Terry. It's important.'

'All right,' he said, not sure what the big deal was.

They were still in Wyoming on January 3rd. Christmas had been pleasant. Jennifer loved her typewriter. From the sound of the keys, she was already typing better than forty words a minute. She continued to work seriously on her story. She had bought him a Ping-Pong table; or she said she had - it was in Houston. She gave him a single paddle wrapped up. Terry figured she must have been saving the allowance NASA sent her out of Lauren's salary. The gift was a stroke of brilliance on her part. Throughout college he had played regularly and had loved it. Yet, to the best of his knowledge, he could not remember telling either Lauren or Jennifer about how much he enjoyed the game. He was looking forward to it.

Jennifer had also knitted Terry a scarf, which was coming in handy on this particular vacation. Through the cabin window, Terry could see the snow falling steadily on the nearby trees. Daniel was visiting; he had just returned inside with a pile of fresh logs. Jennifer had a roaring fire going. Together the kids sat beside the flames, talking quietly.

Terry turned away from the video phone, excited. He had just spoken to friends at Mission Control. 'Jenny, Daniel,' he said, 'Houston says Lauren will be awake at six tomorrow evening. We should catch the twelve o'clock flight back.'

Jennifer was running her right hand through the flames, a habit of hers that always made Terry nervous. Actually, her running was more of a stroll. He didn't see how she didn't burn herself.

'We won't be able to talk to her, though,' Jennifer said, gloomy. 'We'll have to wait a long time to hear what she says, and then she'll have to wait a long time to hear us.'

'You can't argue with the speed of light,' Terry said. 'But we can still have a conversation, in a way. We'll get to see her on the screen.'

'She'll be on the TV,' Jennifer said. 'If we stayed here we can see her just the same.'

'You don't want to be at Mission Control while they're exploring Mars?' Terry asked, amazed.

'I want to be here,' she said.

'I can't figure you out,' Terry said.

'I haven't finished my story,' Jennifer said.

'I hardly see what that has to do with anything,' Terry said.

'She's gone,' Jennifer said softly. 'She'll be just a picture on the screen. She'll be only a voice on the speaker. I feel closer to Lauren here, where we had fun together.'

'But I can't stay, even if I wanted to,' Terry said. 'I'm covering the exploration for the paper. You know that. I have to be at Mission Control. Anyway, I want to be as close to the action as possible.'

'Here is closer,' Jennifer said in the same serious tone, watching the flames, her long yellow hair shining in the orange light. 'Lauren liked here best. When she's on Mars, she'll think of being here. She loved the forest and the lake. You go if you have to. I can stay with Daniel and his brother. I'll come here each day to work on my story, and we can talk on the phone. You can tell me what is happening with Lauren.'

'Daniel?' Terry asked, appealing for help. That was a mistake. Apparently plans had already been made.

'Yes, sir,' Daniel said briskly. 'My brother said Jenny can stay with us. He and his wife like her a lot. You know, we don't live far.'

'But Lauren will want to hear your voice when she wakes up, Jenny,' Terry said. 'She'll worry.'

Jennifer sighed. 'I can't speak with her when she's there.'

'Aren't you being a little ridiculous?' Terry said.

She was suddenly upset. 'I don't want to go! I don't want to know.' She added in a whisper, 'I'm afraid.'

'There's nothing to be afraid of,' Terry said. 'Their ship can't fail. It's been tested a million times. Plus there is nothing on Mars that can harm them.'

Jennifer waved her hand through the flames again, so slowly that Terry suddenly sat straight up in his chair and almost yelled. Yet her flesh remained unaffected. The silver ring on her right thumb shone bright in the hot light.

'It's cold on Mars,' Jennifer said.

Terry was impatient. 'You're beginning to run away from stuff. You know that, don't you?'

A log in the fireplace cracked loudly, spewing forth a shower of sparks that momentarily glittered around her small form. Jennifer slowly knelt back on her ankles. Daniel watched her intently, with a peculiar look in his eyes that Terry found disturbing.

Maybe he does really worship her.

'I'm sorry, Terry,' Jennifer said. 'But I must be here when Lauren thinks of Earth and dreams of coming home.

When she returns, she will have to come here, no matter what. This place will be in her mind like an important picture she thinks she's lost.'

Daniel nodded gravely. 'Yeah.'

Terry snorted. 'You're talking a bunch of nonsense.'

'I'm not leaving,' Jennifer said plainly.

Terry sighed in resignation. She was one kid he had never been able to control. He doubted anyone could have. 'I'll tell Lauren you're in good hands,' he said.

'You will tell her everything about me,' Jennifer said.

THIRTEEN.

Lauren Wagner's first conscious sensation was of floating, a feeling of being suspended in a colorless fluid where there was neither light nor darkness. She could have been in her mother's womb, and for a long time she drifted without the distracting motion of thoughts or images. She was resting, she knew that much, and she did not want to be disturbed.

After what seemed an eternity, she realized she was waking up. Memories sprouted. Her name was Lauren Wagner. She was a famous astronaut, and a surgeon, too. Soon she would be going to Mars. There was much to do, much to learn. She would have to leave Jennifer and Terry. It was a shame, but it wasn't going to happen today. It was going to happen tomorrow. Now nothing mattered and everything could wait.

Lauren began to go back to sleep.

However, a voice spoke in her ear and suddenly Lauren remembered where she was, and that she had already left her family.

[You are waking up nicely, Lauren. Make no effort to move. Talk only if comfortable.]

I'm the doctor here.

She opened her eyes.

Except for the faint glow of her monitors, the ship was dark. Yet even as she watched, a dull red light streamed through the window above her hibernaculum. It took her more than a minute to realize the light was coming from Mars. A bleep from her monitors cautioned her not to get too excited. She closed her eyes and took slow deep breaths. Her ribs felt tight. She wiggled a toe, which cracked loudly. Starting at her feet and moving slowly toward her head, she systematically contracted and relaxed all her major muscles. After a while she was able to move her arms and legs comfortably. Again she opened her eyes, this time studying the monitors closely. Everyone was alive and doing well. She noticed that her own blood was no longer circulating from the shunt in her arm. It was strange to think how many times it had been reprocessed while she slept.

'Open a line to Houston, Friend,' Lauren whispered.