S2/02. Bad Blood

2.2 Linda West
Spring 1998, Linda's garden, Windenburg

Frank was there. Linda had seen him, sitting on Delilah's terrace, his nose in a book. He knew that Linda lived next door, but he didn't even bother to look over while she watered her flowers.

It's been another two week since she'd told Delilah about their last meeting. He still hadn't contacted her. How long could someone need to come around?

He didn't seem to care for their friendship as much as Linda did, and undeniably he had absolutely no romantic intentions towards her. Delilah must have taken it all wrong, but she'd always seen romance blossoming everywhere, bless her sweet heart.

For all Linda believed, her friendship with Frank was done and over.

"Can we talk?"

"Good gracious! It's a bad habit to sneak on people like that!" Linda cried out.

Frank chuckled.
"I think I owe you an apology," he said then, very earnestly.

"I agree, I almost had a cardiac arrest."

"About last time," his mouth corner twitched, but he continued to speak seriously. "I'm sorry for riding the moral high horse. We've all made our dumb mistakes, and I have no right to judge yours."
He smiled, in a shy manner Linda hadn't seen before.
"I should've called you earlier," he added.

"Why didn't you?"
Linda was curious what had kept him away, as it turned out it wasn't animosity towards her.

He hesitated.
"It may sound like a lame excuse... I was busy with work."

"Indeed, it does," she agreed amused.

"You really don't go easy on me, do you?" he smiled.

"Oh- it wasn't my intention," Linda hurried to rectify the misunderstanding, "the work excuse just reminds me of those television dramas Mae used to watch... it always indicated a romance was crumbling- never mind, this is silly," she quickly interrupted herself.
How silly she must appear now!

Frank grinned.

Linda sighed.
"I appreciate your apology," she said, "it means a lot to me."
It did more than she had been aware of. A huge weight was lifted from her shoulders knowing he didn't despise her.

"Anyway, I'd like to explain," Frank said. "They relaunched the Aries project."

"I thought it was a failure?" Linda asked. She didn't know much about it as most of the project was classified, only that the last journey to planet Sixam brought the plant samples she had examined for her PhD and some other trinkets. Officially it had been closed due to unexpected obstacles.

"More than a failure. But Sixam's resources are too valuable, and of course the government is afraid another nation might find the planet and establish trade agreements before us."
He frowned. "Have you heard that the last ship almost didn't make it back?"

Linda shook her head.

"One problem is that the energy storage is just big enough to fuel the ship from the station to Sixam and back, so any interference that'd waste fuel could get it stranded. But if we increase the tank size, the fuel consumption will go up too. The current design is in perfect ratio."

"That sounds awfully risky," Linda said, "isn't there another solution?"

"That's what I'm working on. Modifying the system to use another type of fuel."

"How?"

"Recently there's been a lot of buzz around anti-matter as fuel for ships. In theory it can be generated on the go, that's the big advantage. But some variables are missing before it can be implemented. The math doesn't add up as expected."

"Anti-matter?" Linda had heard the term more often than once.
"Maybe I can help you," she said, "come."

She led Frank into her house and up into the attic.

"I'm not quite sure where they are," she apologized, "but I know I took them with me when I moved here. They're too precious to be lost..."
She talked more to herself than to Frank while she rummaged between boxes and old furniture.

Finally she found what she looked for, behind her grandmother's old rocking chair. Linda made a mental note to call a carpenter to fix the creaking leg and dragged out the box.
"The last ones are from '88, so some content may be already old news," she explained, "But these studies were never published, so you might find a few different approaches compared to today's state of art."

Frank took one of the notebooks from the box and flipped through it.

"My father retired early when he got cancer," Linda said, "but he was fascinated by anti-matter and continued working on it until he was too weak... however – he was known for his unusual way of thinking, so this might help you."

"Dr. Joseph West was your father?" Frank asked in disbelief. "I was lucky to be at one of his lectures..."

Linda smiled and nodded. She was happy that her father was still remembered.

"He was brilliant. It's a shame he couldn't-" Frank paused. "I'm sorry for your loss," he said sincerely.

"It's almost ten years ago..." Linda sighed. "I know he'd be proud if his research can help improve space travel. His biggest fear was that it might be used for something destructive... That's why he kept his discoveries secret as soon as it became clear they could be utilized. Please, Frank, you have to promise me to make sure they cannot be misused to cause harm."

He nodded. "I will honor them."

Frank stayed all afternoon to study Dr. West's files; compared them with recent publications and made his own notes. Linda meanwhile finished tending to the garden, cleaned herself up and sat down with a book as she didn't want to disturb him.
 

It was quiet except for the ticking clock and the occasional marker scratching on paper when Frank made another note, but today she had trouble to immerse in the story.

Her eyes were frequently drawn to the couch. She hadn't seen Frank so focused until today and she couldn't help a certain fascination.

After she'd read the same page of her book three times, she gave up and decided to occupy herself making tea.

She wondered if Frank liked tea too, or if he preferred coffee. She tried to remember if she'd seen him with anything but beer.

A soft knock pulled her out of her pondering.

"I hope I didn't scare you this time," Frank smirked.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" she offered instead of a reply. She was embarrassed of her former complaint and impressed he was so considerate.

"Thanks, I'll pass," he said. "Your dad's research is incredible. But there's so much content, I might need a few days to get through all of it."

"I promised my father to never give the files away, but you're welcome to study them here as long as you need," Linda offered.

"Thank you, Linda. I'll hurry, anyway I'll have to make a prototype in the lab before going up."

Linda's chest tightened at his last words.
"Frank?"

"Hm?"

"Are you going to the Space Station?"
It was in Earth's orbit, the place where space ships were built and launched to take advantage of the absence of gravity. It allowed designs that were more appropriate for space travel, but impossible to launch from Earth's ground.
It wasn't unusual that rocket engineers went there, but until now it didn't cross Linda's mind that Frank might have to go.

"Yes," he said.

"Will... will you go to Sixam, too?"
It also wasn't uncommon that the designing engineers went with their new ship, so they were on the spot if something went wrong.

Frank didn't reply immediately.
"I will."

"When?"

"In six weeks."

So soon.
Linda was stunned.

"You look as if I told you I'm gonna die," Frank laughed. "Aren't you excited for all the new discoveries we'll make?"

She wasn't. Not if it meant she'd have to do without his presence. A space mission took at least six months, but often longer.
She missed already Mae, and now Frank would leave too. When had she become so dependent on other people's company? She had spent years all by herself, without people she cared for close by.
Now she regretted she had been so stubborn over their silly little squabble and not called him herself, instead of making good use of the short time they had left.

She put on a smile.
"I will miss you," she said.

Frank didn't say a word.

Instead, she felt him touch her head. He tousled her hair, a strange, tender gesture. It was comforting and at the same time it made her even sadder about his forthcoming departure.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's note:

the nerd-talk is based on true ideas but also completely made up garbage for storytelling purposes, do not use this as reference for your homework.