“What’s she doing?” I asked Victor, pointing at the computer that Angelica was tapping on. I couldn’t think of any good reason Angelica would need to slip into a secured area at Nathan’s company to use a computer. The effort of trying to figure out what was going on was starting to give me a headache. I swallowed nervously.

“I can’t tell,” Victor replied, squinting at the monitor and shaking his head in obvious frustration, “I’m concerned she might be reprogramming something. Those are the terminals that control the launch software. They’re the brains of the module.”

We continued to watch Angelica slowly tap at the computer, frequently checking her phone as if for instructions. Whatever she was doing, it wasn’t going quickly. She seemed to be struggling with it. It didn’t appear that Angelica actually knew how to type on a keyboard. She was picking out the keys with both index fingers like my grandfather did.

“How long will it take for Cecelia to get there?” I asked again. We couldn’t have much time.

“Cecelia? Less than two minutes,” Victor answered, looking at the countdown clock for the launch livestream he now had showing on a laptop on his desk. It displayed seven minutes remaining until the launch. “It would take me at least ten, but as you can see, I’m not exactly built for speed.”

I didn’t have time for Victor’s self-deprecating fat jokes. I fiddled with the little radio I’d been handed, tuning it to the channel that Cecelia had given me.

“Cecelia?” I asked, pressing the green button labeled ‘talk’, “Victor says she might be reprogramming the module. Are you almost there?”

“Copy,” the radio crackled and popped back at me when she opened the channel. Cecelia sounded out of breath, “Almost there. Ten seconds. Over.”

I should have gone with Cecelia, I thought. My legs are longer, so I’m probably faster, even in heels. Cecelia couldn’t be more than five-seven, a relative dwarf, although still tall for a woman. I was regretting my decision to follow her instructions and stay with Victor until the video stream in front of me abruptly changed.

A blur that I recognized a second later as being Tara slid across the floor of the room Angelica was in. It was impossible to see if she’d been kicked or punched, but she looked surprised and hurt. Cecelia stalked across the room toward Angelica who had leaned back in her chair away from the monitor with wide, frightened eyes. When Tara tried to raise herself onto her hands and knees, Cecelia leaned over and slammed an elbow casually into the small of her back. Tara stayed facedown after that. I revised my previous assessment that Cecelia needed my help.

In silence, an angry conversation played out on the monitor in front of Victor and me. Cecelia punctuated what appeared to be very terse words with violent hand movements and gestures toward the computer. In contrast, Angelica’s seemingly monosyllabic replies were accompanied only with her narrowed eyes and ramrod straight posture. She finally shook her head. I wished I were a lip reader.

Their conversation took only a few tense moments, but it seemed to stretch on forever. Cecelia pushed Angelica’s chair away from the computer, leaning over her menacingly, only inches from her face. Having to observe on the drama playing out on the closed-circuit feed was excruciating. Cecelia’s face contorted in anger, or fear. Finally, she raised the radio to her mouth,

“Zoey and Victor, come in, over.”

“We’re here,” I answered. Was I supposed to say ‘over’? I had no idea what the radio protocol was.

“Angelica has accessed the launch code and done…something bad. She won’t say what. Victor, call the police right now and get them down here. What’s the countdown clock at? Over.” Cecelia sounded absolutely livid.

Victor pulled out his own phone and started following Cecelia’s instructions.

“Three minutes,” I answered her, and then corrected, “well, four minutes and ten seconds.”

Cecelia didn’t immediately reply, so I just kept talking.

“How do we stop the launch? If Angelica messed with the launch code, Nathan’s in danger.” My voice had taken on a hysterical, shrill edge. I hated how crazy I sounded in comparison to Cecelia’s cool professionalism, but the man I loved was in that stupid rocket ship. Calm wasn’t really an option at this juncture.

“Listen to me, Zoey,” Cecelia’s voice came through the radio firmly, “we can’t stop the launch. It’s too late.”

“What do you mean it’s too late?” I all but screeched. “It can’t be too late. He’s still on the ground. Scrap the damn launch.” I ordered.

“One of the things Angelica did was override the emergency protocols completely. That rocket is going to launch in three minutes no matter what. The engines started several minutes ago. They’re just throttling up now.” Her voice had a terrifying finality to it.

A sense of terrifying focus was beginning to descend on me.

“Well then what do we do?” I said, “We have to do something. She’s obviously sabotaged it. He could explode.”

Victor had finished his conversation with the police and motioned for me to give him the radio. I handed it over reluctantly.

“Zoey, Cecelia, I have an idea,” Victor said seriously, “We need to reboot the system. Whatever this woman did can be undone if we do a hard restart in the server room. All the code is backed up twice over, so I know this is going to sound cliché from an IT standpoint, but all we need to do is turn everything off and turn it back on again. The launch will then restore with the original programming. If we have time to stop it, we can. If we don’t, at least the programming will be right.”

“Ok,” I said, stoic and wide-eyed. “Great. How do we do that? We’re almost out of time.”

Victor seemed to take ages to reply, and the entire time the clock continued to tick down.

“Someone has to go to the server room and press a few buttons in a certain order,” he finally said, frowning deeply.

Cecelia sigh into the radio came out as a static-y huff, “I can’t get to the server room in two minutes, even if I sprinted. I’m on the entire other side of the complex,” she said, “Victor, no offense, but you aren’t exactly quick on your feet. Zoey, it has to be you. Over.”

Victor looked at me expectantly.

“She’s right,” he said, “I’d never get down there in time.”

“Fine,” I barked frantically, “I’ll go. I’ll do whatever you want. Which way do I go? What do I do?”

Victor was already pulling a third radio out of a desk drawer and tuning it to our channel. He handed me his ID badge.

“This will get you through any door in the building,” he explained, “go down the stairs directly across the hall as far as you can go. Then I’ll give you more instructions. Go as fast as you can, Zoey. If the module has been rigged to explode, we could all die. That thing is basically a giant bomb.”

I kicked off my high heels and started running barefoot out the door. People were still rushing around in the hallway, busy and determined on their own personal missions. I dodged them, gathering stares that I ignored. I was making for the staircase and then descending the many, many flights without thought. My body was moving on adrenaline-filled autopilot. I’d never moved as quickly as I did in those seconds. I had no idea there was as much of the Durant Astronautics building below the ground as there was above it.

My body didn’t even register the exertion of my movement, all I felt was overwhelming panic for Nathan. My stocking-clad feet pounded on the cement stairs, making no noise at all as I descended deep into the ground. Eventually the stairs ran out and the stairwell emptied onto a deserted, white hallway. It was brutally clean down here. Like a hospital.

“I’m at the bottom of the staircase. Over,” I said into the radio. My breath came out in a breathy wheeze.

“Good,” came Victor’s voice from the radio, “go straight down the hallway ahead of you until you reach the first junction, then turn right. You can also use the cables on the ceiling to guide you. Follow them. When you get to a big black door, go through the door using the badge. Over.”

I ran down the hallway, whipped to the right, and then came face to face with a heavy, black metal door. I badged in as I was speaking to Victor,

“Through the door, ready for more instructions. Over.”

“Ahead of you are rows and rows of servers, correct? Over.”

“Yes, I see them. Over.” I actually wasn’t sure if I was seeing servers, but I saw rows and rows of something computer-y. I assumed they were servers. They’d better be servers.

“Perfect. Go to the row labeled 1-A and use my badge to log in using the card scanner,” Victor instructed.

As I was doing so, Cecelia’s worried voice came over the radio, “Zoey, you need to hurry. The countdown is at one minute and counting.”

My fingers trembled as I logged in and Victor continued to instruct me how to reboot the servers. His instructions were clear and direct, but I was barely hanging onto my sanity, even though the weird sense of calm was still thronging through me. I made a number of mistakes and we had to go through the instructions and menus several times. Distantly, I noticed that the room I was in was extremely cold.

“Alright, Zoey,” Victor finally said, “This is the last step. In the top navigation bar, click ‘servers’, and then click the gear icon next to server 1A. Select ‘reboot’, and then when the popup comes up click ‘reboot server’. Then click ‘confirm’.”

I punched in the final command and then my heart leaped in my throat when all around me the thrumming in the cool room suddenly stopped. I hadn’t even noticed the sound over my own panting and beating heart, but it’s absence was immediately palpable.

“Thirty seconds. Over,” Cecelia reported.

“What now?” I asked Victor, my breathy voice and pained lungs beginning to feel the sudden burst of cardio I’d just done. “What do I do?”

“Nothing,” Victor said, “the system will reboot on its own. Just be patient for a moment.”

Patience had never been my strong suit. One second, two seconds. A moment later the thrumming began again just like Victor said. I exhaled.

“It’s making noise again now,” I reported, “is that good?”

“Yes,” Victor answered, “That’s good. I’m logging in now to my terminal to make sure everything is fixed. I should be able to stop the launch now.”

“Ten seconds,” Cecelia said, “Victor did it work? Did you abort the launch?”

“I can’t tell yet,” Victor said replied, “just a few more seconds and I can check the code...”

“Victor, abort the launch!” Cecelia screamed.

“I’m trying Cecelia,” Victor screeched back. “Fuck. It’s too late. T-minus five.”

Five…

I took a deep breath and thought of Nathan’s blue-green eyes, easy smile, and strong hands. I thought about the feeling of his arms around me, and what it was like to wake up next to his sleeping body.

Four...

In my heart, I knew that I would never feel like this for anyone again. I’d thought I had been in love before, but it was nothing like this. This was a once in a lifetime love. The sort of love not everyone gets to experience. I couldn’t lose him. Not now. Not ever.

Three…

I needed him far too much.

Two…

I loved him.

One…