“I can’t even put into words how exciting it is to announce that we’ve created a working, manned spacecraft in under three years,” I said to the assembled members of the press, “but it’s really attributable to the incredible team of people we’ve got here at Durant Astronautics. Drs. Matthews and Gonçalves are here to explain all the technical details. As for me, I’ve been dreaming about this day and am so unbelievably happy that I didn’t blow up.”

The reporters provided obligatory laughs in response to my obligatory stupid joke. I’m sure they were banking on a much longer press conference, but I didn’t have it in me. I’m sure I’d have ample opportunity to talk to them later.

“Again,” I concluded, “I appreciate each and every one of you for coming today. I’m overwhelmed by the outpouring of global support that we’ve received, and I’m looking forward to bringing Durant Astronautics into this next phase of our history. Thank you.”

Right now, I just wanted Zoey in my arms. I stepped off the little podium to allow the geniuses the chance to take some public credit for their work. Today was really their victory, anyway. Matthews and Gonçalves stepped hesitantly up to the brightly lit podium and began taking questions.

In truth, I’d been a glorified test monkey in the Starflier 1 today. Except for executing the landing, which went perfectly, my presence was largely incidental. Not that I cared; I got to go to space. I’d be a test monkey anytime if it meant I got to have experiences like the one I’d had today.

But right now, I had more important considerations to attend to. Zoey was waiting for me off to the side of the room, watching me with her beautiful wide dark eyes. She seemed a little bit shell-shocked by the whole launch, but she still looked incredibly sexy in her black dress and pumps. I had a surprise for Zoey, and I was ready to dispense with the whole delayed gratification thing. I really just wanted to be alone with her.

Standing off to the side of the press corps, I saw Cecelia appear next to Zoey and wrap an arm around her. They were hugging? What the hell had happened while I was up in space? The two women had not seemed to have the greatest impression of one another before, what with all the accusations and interrogations and all. Apparently, all I needed to do was leave the earth’s atmosphere for them to bond. Cecelia was pulled away from Zoey for her own turn at the podium as I fought my way through the crowd toward Zoey. As soon as I could wrap my hand around her wrist, I dragged her away from the gathering and down a hallway. Soon, I was half-running and half-carrying her away from the growing crowd of excited employees and lingering press that were chasing me.

Once we got out of range of the cameras and away from the prying eyes of my employees, Zoey threw her arms around me and I pinned her to the wall to kiss her. She looked like she’d been crying, and I was somewhat confused for a second until her mouth found mine. Our tongues sought each other briefly, clashing in an adrenaline-fueled kiss that only served to reignite the desire I’d had to fight down prior to the launch.

“Mr. Breyer,” a semi-familiar voice interjected before I could get enough of Zoey’s warm, eager mouth, “do you have any comment on the arrest of Ms. Hunt?”

I pulled back enough to find Phil Paderewski of the Philadelphia Monitor standing expectantly next to us. He must have followed us back here. Creep. The number of reporters I enjoyed the company of was exactly one, and it definitely wasn’t Phil. Secondary to my surprise were the questions of ‘Ms. Hunt’ and ‘arrest’.

“He has no comment,” Zoey snapped murderously at Phil, “get out of here before I smack you into next week. You’re in a restricted area. Don’t fuck with me Phil. Not today. Go.”

Phil opened his mouth with a retort, paused, took one look at Zoey’s flushed face and my matching glower. He fled back out the door he’d slipped in through without a word.

“Nice,” I said to Zoey, then confused, “Angelica did what?”

Zoey slumped against me. A tear slid down her cheek and I kissed it away. She was trembling slightly, and I held her tighter.

“Zoey?” I repeated, growing afraid, “What’s going on?”

“Maybe we should go sit down for me to explain,” she finally managed in a small, panicked voice, “it’s kind of a long story.”

I wrapped an arm around her and guided her back up to my office, sitting her down in a chair. Cecelia appeared from nowhere at the door, apparently finished with her public statement. She would have had to sprint up here to get here so quickly, but that was probably exactly what she’d done. She did look a little bit winded.

“Did you tell him yet?” She asked Zoey in a breathy voice. She shook her head wearily and then inclined it to allow Cecelia to lead the explanation. Cecelia looked at me with a direct, angry look in her eyes.

“Angelica Hunt was found in the upload link room right before launch,” Cecelia explained, “She was messing around with something to do with the launch controls. We had to do a hard server reboot two minutes before the launch. Zoey did it, following Victor’s instructions. He walked her through it over the radio.”

My blood ran ice cold in my veins.

“You rebooted the servers two minutes before liftoff?” I repeated, stunned and now experiencing some fairly extreme second-hand stress. There was a good chance that I’d come incredibly close to blowing up on the launch pad. Closer than I ever wanted to come. And I’d been completely oblivious the entire time.

Zoey and Cecelia both stared at me and nodded in silence.

“Why didn’t you scrap the whole launch?” I asked, completely confused. That would have been the regular course of action. There was a whole procedure for an emergency shut down. We’d practiced it literally hundreds of times in the simulations.

“Angelica overrode all the safety protocols,” Cecelia explained, shaking her head in what appeared to be confusion of her own, “whatever she was attempting to do must have been fairly sophisticated.”

“Angelica was doing sophisticated programming?” I questioned, “That doesn’t make any sense. She doesn’t know anything about computers. She majored in fashion design, but I don’t think she even ever graduated. Plus, she wouldn’t have a reason to do this, right? I mean, I’ve known her for our entire lives. We aren’t best friends or anything, but she has no reason to try to murder me. Our families are intertwined. If there’s anything she cares about, it’s herself. This was seriously risky.”

“She says she was forced by Oleg,” Zoey finally spoke up. Her voice was soft. “Victor and I were watching the video stream in the uplink room the whole time Cecelia was trying to get to her. Angelica kept looking at the phone while she was working, like she had instructions on there.”

“But Oleg is dead!” I interjected.

Cecelia and Zoey both nodded. The wore identical looks of confusion.

“I don’t know what to make of it,” Cecelia added, “maybe she was working with someone else. Maybe Oleg had friends.”

“And now Angelica’s been arrested?” I followed up. At that, Cecelia and Zoey both smiled. Cecelia’s was triumphant. Zoey’s just looked shocked and bemused.

“Yes,” Cecelia answered, “she’s been arrested. The sucky thing is that the server reboot wiped both the footage of her tampering with the uplink terminals and the programming she was trying to introduce to the launch. But Victor, Zoey, and I saw her do it.”

I tried to wrap my mind around Angelica’s actions. The idea that she would willingly try and murder me was beyond the pale, even for her. She wasn’t a very nice person- in fact, as I’d once told Zoey, she could be absolutely ruthless. However, Angelica’s actions were always fundamentally self-serving. It made sense only if she’d been motivated by blackmail. If Oleg had something on her that was sufficiently damaging, I could easily imagine her doing just about anything to keep her reputation, such as it was, intact. The fact that she’d continue with the plot after Oleg was dead, however, made a lot less sense. At this point, I had far more questions than answers.

Zoey sighed, burying her face in her hands. She was clearly exhausted.

“Zoey did the server reboot?” I asked Cecelia again, and she smiled and nodded approvingly.

“She did a great job,” Cecelia replied proudly. Clearly Cecelia and Zoey had made up and then some.

Zoey had held my life in her hands when she’d been rebooting the system in the server room. Maybe she didn’t even know how close I’d come to dying, although from her reaction, maybe she did. Clearly, we needed to make some changes to our safety protocols to make it easier to scrap a launch. As much as I never wanted to get in this situation again, the idea that someone would have to run to the server room to switch things off and on again was terrifyingly archaic.

“Zoey,” I asked gently, “are you ok?”

She looked up at me with wide eyes, saying nothing and clearly thinking about it. Finally, she shook her head, her eyes widening until I could see her pupils dilating as she stared at me. Cecelia backed out of the room, closing the door discretely behind her. I pulled Zoey into my arms and rocked her back and forth to comfort her.

“It’s ok,” I promised her, “It’s ok.”

She melted against me like she had on Tuesday night when she’d let me in her bed, completely exhausted and drained. As stressful as it was to go to space, I could only imagine how powerless and frightened Zoey must have been when she didn’t know if I would be safe. I tried to put myself in her shoes and found it twice as scary as actually being in the Starflier. I’d take being oblivious over being terrified any day of the week.

“Do you want to get out of here?” I asked Zoey, and she nodded tiredly. “I’ve still got a surprise to share with you.”

She blinked up at me. She’d obviously forgotten. Not that I could blame her. This had been an eventful afternoon.

“Is it a good surprise?” Zoey asked, a hint of her good humor returning to her eyes, “Because I don’t think I stand any more bad surprises.”

“I think you’re going to like it,” I replied with a grin, “come on, let’s go.”