Space Cadets: Explorer

By Steven Jon Halasz

Nancy begins her internship on Explorer 2094-A, a science station currently parked on the asteroid Hygiea. Everything is going well for her, until Eric Bengat, her wealthy acquaintance from Space Academy, decides to include the asteroid in the itinerary for his planetary cruise liner and invites her on board for a visit. She accepts, even though she can't stand his pomposity and mindless self-assurance in the face of contradictory logic and reason. But, when a crisis arises, what if he's right for a change? ...even if only by accident.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steven Jon Halasz
• Release date: Jan 14, 2019

Steven Jon Halasz

Steven Jon Halasz was born in 1948, grew up in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and attended Mayfield High School, Hiram College, and Case Western Reserve University Law School. He has worked as an attorney and a computer software developer and has made various attempts at writing both fiction and non-fiction off and on since the age of sixteen. He has a delightful sister, a brilliant son, a lovely daughter-in-law and two precocious grandchildren. He currently lives in Portugal with his darling wife Elena.He has loved and been loved in return.

Book preview

Space Cadets: Explorer

By Steven Jon Halasz

Copyright 2018 Steven Jon Halasz

He could do us some good, for science, Nancy argued. Poised alertly on the edge of a hard plastic seat in the office of Commander Pari Chandra, her supervisor and mentor, Nancy was leaning in, hoping to convey her sincerity and commitment. You talk about how difficult it is to get funding, she added. He could help.

The commander, a tall, curvaceous, stunningly beautiful forty-something woman whose bronze skin and long jet-black hair seemed to shine like precious metal, certainly didn’t look the part of a space explorer and science wizard, but she was both of these and more.

I’ve read about the gentleman, crooned the commander. Her soft, deep voice, coupled with the scent of vanilla essence emanating from a star jasmine blooming next to her desk, conjured a profound sense of Asian divinity. They say his family is rich,, she continued, and he has some kind of tourist business?

Nancy sighed. Yes. He ferries affluent travelers around the solar system on his cruise ship and shows them the planets.

The commander rolled her eyes up to the ceiling, then tilted her head sympathetically. And he wants to visit you here because…

Nancy blushed slightly. We were at school together. He… well, he likes me, she said. She looked away. His attentions towards her were always an unwelcome embarrassment.

"And what about you? Do you like him?" asked the commander, sensing the younger woman’s ambivalence.

It was an awkward question in the context of what Nancy was requesting and it took her a few moments to come to a definite conclusion. No, certainly not, she replied after reflecting on it, trying hard to be honest with herself. He’s not very likeable. But he’s someone who it’s good to know in case you are ever, find yourself… The only continuations she could think of seemed ignoble, so she just smiled lamely, hoping that her meaning would be clear.

I see, said the commander, tapping a long fingernail on her desk as she considered the situation. How long will he be here? We have work to do, you know.

Nancy nodded. Just one day and he’ll be gone. His passengers want to have a look at our asteroid but they won’t be coming down. I doubt they’ll want to hang around for long once they see there’s nothing much to look at—unless you’re a scientist, of course.

The elder woman chuckled. The Explorer 2094-A spacecraft where they lived and worked sat anchored precariously to the fragile crust of Hygiea, a four-hundred-kilometer-wide planetoid. The station’s spider-like arms reached down to the surface, bracing its solitary egg-shaped pod thirty meters above the carbonaceous ground below. Even up close, the asteroid wasn’t much more than a dark gray rock until you started digging into it and examining its secrets in detail.

You know, said the commander, her voice soft and congenial, "I’m worried about your—how to say it—’associating’ with someone