5…4…3…2…1.
“Boosters have ignited.” I could hear the words over the comms. The TV showed the flames burning from the boosters, using enough fuel to fill a swimming pool in a second. “We have lift-off.”
The rocket slowly rose from the ground, lifting the weight of the capsule away from the ground and into the air. The camera feed switched, and we saw the rocket rise from the ground, moving hundreds of feet in seconds, and then disappear into the clouds. The sound of the burn was audible from the mics on the rocket.
It kept going, moving past the clouds and hitting the trajectory perfectly.
I breathed a sigh of relief because I’d lost sleep over nothing. Everything was going perfectly—
It exploded.
The trail of smoke was disrupted as one booster went in a different direction. The flames ceased, and then pieces of the rocket started to fall. The emergency capsule carrying the dummies never deployed.
I stopped breathing.
Actually stopped.
My arms dropped to my sides, and I stared in horror at the screen as my design exploded and turned into debris and smoke. I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t even blink. Everyone went quiet, and some of the crew turned to look at me, as if they needed to see my reaction, see the esteemed Derek Hamilton look at his failure. “What the fuck happened? Did the capsule deploy, and we can’t see it?”
One of the guys responded on the line. “We can confirm there was no deployment. The capsule burned in the explosion.”
My hand moved over my mouth, rubbing the coarse hair of my jawline, feeling so much dread, shame, and straight-up pain. I hadn’t lost a rocket since the Odyssey, and now the rocket I’d slaved over had erupted just seconds after launch. I closed my eyes, feeling sick to my stomach, feeling like I couldn’t take another breath if I tried.
It went quiet, really quiet.
I had no orders. I had no questions. We wouldn’t know exactly what happened until we studied the data up until the point of the explosion. “Get me answers. Now.”26EmersonI knew I couldn’t say anything to Derek.
He was in the middle of the chaos, and an embrace from me would only anger him. There was nothing I could do for him, and I knew I should excuse myself and give him space. I took Lizzie out of the building and to the SUV where Ronnie was waiting.
Lizzie was quiet, the dismal mood from the room absorbing into her skin. “Will Derek be okay?”
“I’m sure he will be.”
“I know how much that rocket meant to him.”
“I’m sure that whatever went wrong wasn’t his fault. Once he gets that confirmation, he’ll feel better.” At least, I hoped that was what would happen. I knew this would provoke him into a deep hole of depression, and it would consume him just the way the Odyssey did. He viewed the world in black-and-white. That rocket exploded—and he was to blame.
“I hope so. He looked so devastated.”
“Yeah…”Ronnie and I pulled up to the curb, but Derek didn’t come out.
We waited a couple minutes, but he still didn’t show.
Ronnie turned to look at me. “I have a feeling he won’t be in the office this week.”
I pulled out my phone and texted him. Derek, we’re outside.
His response was instant. Go without me. I don’t need a ride this week.
I knew this was bad, really bad. I wanted to say something good, or just hop out of the car and go to him in his penthouse.
But he sent a preemptive text. Don’t come up here, Emerson.
I turned away from the window and looked at Ronnie. “Let’s go without him.”I went into the lab, and it was the one and only time I’d stepped inside without Derek present. Jerome and Pierre were there, and they immediately turned to me when I walked in, like they were hoping it would be Derek. “He’s not coming in today.”
Jerome exchanged a look with Pierre. “Yeah, we thought that might happen.”
“How is he?” Pierre set down his things then walked toward me, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Honestly, I don’t really know. I was at the launch, but I didn’t speak to him after the rocket…didn’t make it.” I didn’t want to use the world exploded. Seemed kind of harsh. “I went home because I knew he wouldn’t want to talk.”
“Yeah, probably not.” Jerome walked over. “I’m not sure if he’ll come in at all this week…or next.”
“Yeah,” Pierre said. “I can only imagine how hard he’s taking this. Normally, I would say getting back to work would make him feel better, but if he has no confidence in his abilities, that would be pointless.”
“It was a test rocket,” I said. “This shouldn’t cause him to lose his entire identity.”
“That’s not how he sees it,” Jerome said.
“Yeah,” Pierre said. “He’s a perfectionist.”