Houston, Texas, at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Tuesday, September 24th, 2030, at 7:00 pm

Lucas

Cooper tosses a wrench to me and I tighten the last of the bolts.

"There. Last one," I say to him as I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand. Cooper and I have been working on the design for the space habitat non stop with our crew since the explosion.

"Alright, let's expand this baby!" Cooper shouts to Tran as he hops up off the floor.

We are rebuilding it indoors this time to keep the tests more isolated. The apparatus is a large oval shaped ball made up of a series of woven bands. It looks like a large picnic basket right now, about the size of a dining table. It's expensive to launch spacecrafts into space because they're so large, so we are trying to design something compact that can be carried up and then expanded.

I join the others in the control room and look out the viewing window. The room is completely empty besides the space habitat and our tools. The walls are solid metal with concrete behind them, and the room is about twenty feet tall.

"Here we go!" Tran shouts as he slowly pushes the lever forward, and the habitat begins to expand.

The idea is that when there's enough pressure inside of the apparatus, it will be as hard as steel on the outside. It is basically an inflatable module that can be attached to the International Space Station as an extra room. The woven design isn't for aesthetic purposes, but rather for structural integrity.

170 PSI.

The pressure meter reads before a snapping sound begins to echo through the chamber.

"Turning it off!" Tran shouts as he pulls the lever back down. The apparatus crumples back down into a mess of straps.

"It was almost there!" Cooper shouts. The goal is to exceed 182.4 PSI, which is the ultimate burst pressure for a space application.

"Alright, gentlemen, let's get back to it," I say defeatedly as we start to head into the testing room.

I feel like I haven't seen Rachel at all since Friday. I have been at work every night until after ten o'clock since the explosion, trying to fix the design for our next demonstration. Tran figured out that the metal on the previous habitat became too hot after the initial test, heating up other elements to the point of combustion. That's why we've switched to our current design.

Rachel has also been really busy planning some sort of fundraiser. I feel my heart start to pound as I think about the event coming up. Rachel asked me to go with her, and I told her that I would but I don't enjoy big social gatherings like that. I'm going to have to put on a suit and make small talk with people I'm never going to see again. However, I do get to see Rachel in a beautiful dress and it would make her happy if I went. I smile to myself as I think about her, wishing I could be at home right now.

"Man, I miss my wife! Let's hurry this up!" Cooper shouts, as if he's reading my mind.

We spend the next two hours redoing the straps when Sokolov comes in and says, "Hey, boss says we can just go home for the night. We can start fresh in the morning."

Everyone stops what they're doing and doesn't hesitate to start cleaning up. We all want to go home to our families.

Maybe I'll actually get to see Rachel before she goes to bed.

Cooper and I walk out to our trucks together.

"Hey, man. How's Rachel been doing?" he asks me as he slaps a hand on my back. "Anne hasn't slept since."

I stop walking and turn to him.

"Really? Rachel hasn't mentioned that there's anything going on." I try to think about how she's been acting since. I've hardly seen her, so I can't really say that I have or haven't noticed anything. Every time I ask her how she slept she tells me it was fine.

"Do you think she's having a hard time?" I ask Cooper, feeling worried now.

"How could she not be?" Cooper pushes me around a little bit. "She had somethin' explode, sending tiny pieces of metal flying through the air at her," Cooper waves his hand around in the air. "Anne is not doing well, and I doubt Rachel is either." He pulls his keys out of his pocket and unlocks his truck. "You should ask her," Cooper adds as he hops in.

I nod at him and wave goodbye. I get into my own truck, replaying every interaction I've had with Rachel since Friday. She had a panic attack when we got home, but besides that I haven't noticed anything weird with her in the small amount of time we've spent together.

#

As I pull into the driveway, I can see that the lights in the living room are still on. My heart skips a beat as I quickly get out of my truck and head inside. Rachel is sitting on the couch with a big binder in her lap, talking on the phone.

"You are literally insane, we cannot order that much alcohol," she says, laughing. Her eyes light up when she sees me come in. "Art, I have to go, Lucas is home early tonight!" She says goodbye to Artemis and jumps up from the couch.

"How much was she trying to order?" I ask her playfully. Rachel giggles as she walks over to me. I kick off my shoes before I get scolded.

"Way too much for how many people are going." Rachel wraps her arms around my neck and gives me a tight squeeze. "I missed you," she whispers.

I wrap my arms around her waist and pick her up slightly. She giggles and tightens her grip on my shoulders.

"I missed you too, beautiful." I set her down and kiss her gently on the lips. She presses into me and places her hand on the back of my head. When she pulls away from me, I begin studying her face. She's smiling at me sleepily, but doesn't look any more tired than she normally would after nine o'clock.

"How are you doing, Rach?" I ask her quietly. Her eyes flicker for a moment before she responds.

"I'm exhausted." She yawns as soon as she finishes her sentence, causing me to yawn sympathetically. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm not the one who went through a traumatic event on Friday." I look at her sternly, trying to show her that I'm asking her seriously. "I want to know how you really are, Rach." Her smile fades and she looks down at the floor. She clears her throat and looks back up at me.

"I haven't really slept since it happened," she says quietly. "Every time I close my eyes it's all I can think about." Her eyes start to turn glassy.

I can feel my heart aching with guilt. I haven't checked in with her and she's been suffering, alone.

"I had a panic attack after work yesterday," she whispers again as she looks away from me and down the hall. I reach up with my right hand and turn her face back towards me.

"Rachel," I exclaim. "Why didn't you tell me about that?" My voice is louder than I intended it to be and Rachel takes a small step away from me.

"You haven't been here for me to tell you anything about anything, Lucas." Her voice is stern and she takes another step back. I tighten my grip around her waist and match her steps.

"Hey, I'm sorry I raised my voice," I say gently. She stares at me and her expression softens. "Please, don't walk away from me." She blinks a few times, but doesn't turn away.

I slowly take another step towards her, closing the gap between us. When she doesn't move back, I pull her into me. Her muscles are tense at first, but she quickly relaxes in my arms.

"Lucas," she whispers against my neck. "Will you go to bed with me?" her voice is so sincere, making my heart pound. I kiss the top of her head and give her a small squeeze.

"Of course, sweetheart. Anything you need." She sniffles and gives me a quick kiss on my jaw. She looks like she wants to say something else, but she looks away.

"Okay, let's go. I have to spend all afternoon tomorrow arguing with Artemis about how much alcohol is appropriate at a social gathering." She giggles as we head upstairs together.

I can feel that something else is bothering her, but it's really late and we haven't spent much time together. I don't want to push her tonight. I decide that I'll ask her about it tomorrow if we get a chance to talk again.