Jack worried as the plane touched down and taxied towards the main hangar. Rhea was in a somber mood, and he couldn't seem to shake her out of it. Dealing with the TRITEL thing was taking all her juggling skills. The last time he'd seen her really happy was when they came out of his office after that second bout of intense reconciliation, with her wearing his ring. Practically the whole staff was there in the corridor, applauding. Rhea had cried then, and so had he, a little bit. After that, she had buckled down to work twice as hard.
The little Cessna coasted to a stop, and Jack and Rhea climbed down the short ramp to the tarmac. Jack looked around, and spotted the Manteo foreman waving from the parking lot. He waved back to her, and he and Rhea walked over to her car.
Kate Tamaru was a small woman with long black hair who had come to Celestial from UC Berkeley where, Jack was convinced, things were much stranger than the most Unchained-infested parts of North Carolina. Surprisingly, she was not a vegetarian, nor did she wear Birkenstocks. She was a master of organization and headed up the small on-site Celestial operation that oversaw the numerous contractors working on the ship.
"Hello, Kate," he said. "How goes?"
"Hi, Jack! Hi, Rhea!" Kate said. "About as well as can be expected, I suppose." She popped the automatic locks. "Hop on in and I'll take you over. Oh, by the way, I heard the good news. Congratulations!"
Jack left Rhea the front seat and got in back. Kate pulled out smoothly and headed for the construction yard. "I don't know, Rhea," she said as they left the airstrip. "I'm pushing as hard as I can, but even with Jack's changes, I don't think I can meet your schedule unless I can lay on some more overtime."
Jack saw Rhea tense, an almost imperceptible straightening and tightening of her posture. He wished there were something he could do, but these days it all came down to money. "Do the best you can for now, Kate," Rhea said, "I'm working a few angles, but I can't give you any more dollars yet."
Kate down-shifted and pulled into the yard. "Okay, Rhea," she said, "I just wanted to make sure you knew where we stand. We're 'go' right now, but there's no astrogation or life support."
"Thanks, Kate," Rhea said quietly. "I appreciate everything you've done."
Kate parked the car in front of the Operations hangar. "Will you be able to join me for dinner?" she asked. "I know a place with great baby-back ribs."
"Sorry," Jack said. "We're committed to a promising investor this evening."
"Well, next time, then. And you still owe me a fishing trip, Halloran."
"I haven't forgotten." Jack grinned over at her as they all got out. "But I'll never bet against you again."
"Always a good idea." Kate sighed. "I've got a mountain of government forms to fill out in the ongoing battle to prove we're not a snake pit." She shook her head. "Rhea, I know you'll want to see things firsthand, so why don't you let Jack take you out there. When you're finished, everyone can come back to the office and we'll talk numbers."
Rhea nodded and Kate strode off, her small, quick steps giving the impression of boundless energy barely controlled. "We're lucky to have someone like her willing to work out here in the boonies," Rhea said.
"No argument," Jack agreed. He headed for the nearest access gate, Rhea close behind. "Though she probably thinks of it as closer to the best fishing spots." He keyed in the code, and they stepped through and onto the field.
He heard a small oh! from Rhea, and his breath caught in his chest.
Morningstar Rising could never be called beautiful in the conventional sense. She was no graceful fifties' SF rocket ship, nor yet an aerodynamic deep-space conglomeration of shapes. Instead, she looked like nothing more than a flat-bottomed submarine, but with more windows and no conning tower. Anyone not knowing what she was could justifiably call her ugly, but to Jack, as he watched the light of the late-afternoon sun coruscating off her sides, she was easily the most beautiful machine he'd ever seen.
"Jack, she's wonderful," Rhea breathed, "and she's out of the hangar."
Jack nodded and pointed at the bottom of the hull, which rested on a many-wheeled dolly. "She came out under her own power," he said quietly. "Lateral thrust only, and exactly to spec. I asked Kate not to tell you when I found out you were coming on site today."
"She moves," Rhea said excitedly. "She moves!" To Jack it seemed a shadow passed from her face. Nothing changed, but suddenly she was the old Rhea. She struck a pose, arms spread dramatically above her head and invoked her best Young Frankenstein: "Give my creature LIFE!"
They hugged frantically for a second. Then Jack felt he had to burst the bubble. "She rolls," he said. "That's all we can say for sure. And it's a long way to Alpha C by highway."
"I know that," Rhea said, "but who can stop us now?"