Saving The Mission, page 5
part #1 of The Race to Space Series
Felix paused and considered his answer “In theory and on a purely speculative basis Ed, yeah I’ve got a couple of guys who would be ready. In theory, I’ve got one who’s been on the International Space Station a couple of times, he’s a real jackass if you ask me but knows his stuff. The other guy, he’s a bit of a rookie really but took to the programme better than anyone I’ve seen, he could be ready.”
Ed smiled as he stared out of his boardroom window, Felix hadn’t given up. He was not a quitter, he was as stubborn as Ed was. He would make Ed feel like crap but he would come through in the end. “Great. I have a plan to get this ready in a months’ time. Can you approach them?”
Felix snapped, “you haven’t even answered my question, Ed, what the hell was wrong with that shuttle?”
Ed paused to carefully consider his answer “One of the thrusters went so the re-entry wasn’t at the right speed together with the space debris that hit the side, it couldn’t withstand the heat on re-entry. We are sorting it Felix.”
Felix took a deep breath and paused. “Man that is some bad luck Ed, I’m sorry for judging. I’ll have a word with them. Stan Swift, he’s the jackass who would probably be up for anything to get a break from his wife now and again! The rookie is Matt Brady, sweet kid. Don’t cock this up, Ed. This is your final warning.”
Ed injected quickly, he knew he had to tell Felix about the show, he would only pull out if he found out after and that would cause media controversy. “There is one other thing Felix. You may have heard that the project is struggling, in order to secure backing we have had to raise public profile by running a televised competition.”
Felix’s response was wary “What kind of competition Ed? Like a tour? My guys wouldn’t really need to be involved apart from the odd hello here and there.”
Ed took a deep breath and readied himself for the imminent backlash. “Not exactly...more like a passenger.”
Felix shouted down the phone “You have got to be fucking kidding me Ed. I really didn’t think you could stoop any lower!”
Ed kept his cool and calmly replied, “my hands were tied Felix, they were going to pull the plug.”
Felix was fully charged up now and descended into full-blown annoying American sarcasm. “So you thought, yeah what we will do is put a member of the goddamn British public into space where they can endanger themselves and my crew with zero training. No fucking way Ed, you have lost your mind. Now I truly believe the headlines!”
Ed saw his opportunity and took it, “your men would design all the training, Felix. They would design the challenges, they would test them to make sure they were ready. It’s been done before in history, so why not now? They would just be a passenger, not at the controls, they would choose who they wanted and didn’t want. It would be entirely down to them.”
Felix replied “Entirely down to them? Then how will the public feel involved?”
Ed realised he got himself into a trap, he was caught and would have to come clean. “Well, the public would have a vote as well.”
Felix snapped. “Jesus Christ Ed. You have lost your mind.”
Ed knew he was defeated. He was a boxer who had survived the punches and was almost at the end of the round but knew he would lose on the cards anyway. “Just ask them, Felix, that’s all I’m asking.”
“Goodbye, Ed. See you on the other side and the only place you are going is hell.” The phone cut off and silence descended.
Ed looked at his phone and was about to throw it against the wall but slammed it on the glass boardroom table instead. Somehow the table and his phone surviving the act of aggression and frustration. Ed thought that he might be going to hell, but right now he felt like he was already in it. He picked up his suit jacket and slung it over his shoulder and was walking out the boardroom just as his phone rang. Ed raged inside wondering who the hell it was now. Ed wondered why they didn’t just arrest him there and then and be done with it? At least then he would get some goddamn peace, “Yes?” he snapped.
He recognised the raspy voice on the other end. “Ed, it’s Andrea.”
He sighed, he no longer had the energy to pretend to be nice. “Oh, hi Andrea.” Ed almost felt a sense of relief that at least he can get all the dejection out of the way in one day. He thought that he could at least get a fresh start on the day ahead tomorrow.
The raspy voice uttered, “I’m in. Come to my office tomorrow at 9am sharp to talk it over. Tell Tim your plan. Let’s see if we can make history.”
10.
Ed thanked Andrea and put the phone in his jacket pocket. He turned back from the door to survey the boardroom. He always felt like this boardroom was his own King Arthur's table, that Dayton Tower was his castle and he was the king of this land. He looked at his smartwatch which he had on him at all times. It told him how many steps he did in a day, not that he gave a damn, his heart raced faster with all the stress anyway. The watch was just another thing that constantly wanted his attention with its barrage of messages telling him he had people to talk to or emails to send. Ed wondered why he bought the watch and realised that he only really used it while in the gym to take calls. Times were simpler when he started out, his time was his own. He’d get away from the world by going for a swim. Now work wasn’t just in the office, it was everywhere.
Ed thought in that moment that maybe if this competition went badly and Dayton Industries did go bust, would that be such a bad thing? He might lose Lanette, as she almost certainly wouldn’t stay for his not-so-dashing looks these days, but he could live by modest means. Times were tough out there, but he thought he could manage. He had always come through in the end. Ed recalled with tinted glasses when the paycheck was constant, the businesses problems were somebody else's to sort and the job used to be nine to five. Ed then shook his head as if to dismiss the thought out of his mind. He had come too far. He could no longer work for someone twenty years his junior. He was too used to captaining his own ship, rather than receiving orders to scrub the decks.
It was 11:30am. Ed thought with sarcasm that at least his watch could still do the basic job of telling the time. He needed to ring Ruth and the board to let them know the good news from Andrea, but right now, he was too exhausted to deal with another barrage of constant questions. He decided that for the first time in years, he would take time out of Dayton Tower to get his lunch. Ed had set up his workplace so his staff never needed to leave and could stay as long as possible. He had a gym, canteen and coffee shop all in the building to maximize his staffs’ potential. People then took a break at lunch but were never far away if needed.
He put his hand through his thinning dark hair. He still was handsome in that he had short hair but long enough to style in a floppy carefree look. However these days he started to look his age and no amount of botox could fix that. His eyes were looking darker as he struggled with sleep. He wasn’t looking as fit as he used to and everything was just starting to sag where his muscles used to be so prominent. Despite that, Ed could still charm with his blue piercing eyes and charming smile.
Ed walked out of the boardroom and made his way across to the lifts. As he was waiting for the lift, Sarah came out of her office and approached him. He turned back to face the lift, wondering why it was that he couldn’t even get five minutes of peace. Sarah bounced towards him. “Ed, that was a great meeting”. She looked up at him, she had big blue eyes and long copper-coloured hair. He could tell she always had a soft spot for him but thankfully she had never acted on it.
“Thanks, Sarah” he smiled a tired smile which he hoped communicated that he wanted to be left alone.
“Just popping out for some lunch Ed? Mind if I join you?” She smiled a big smile which showed all her beautifully straight and white teeth. She clearly cared so much about her appearance that she had had them whitened.
Ed looked at her and smiled “Not today Sarah. I need time to think things over. It’s been an intense few days.”
She looked away, unable to hide her disappointment. “Alright Ed, you’ve got my number if you ever need anything. I’ll always help you out in any way I can.”
Ed looked over to her and saw her smiling from ear to ear. Ed almost thought she was going to do the cheesy wink and breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t stoop that low. They both got in the lift. He pressed the ground floor button and Sarah watched as he did. Ed wondered if she needed the lift at all.
As they were descending, Sarah looked at him and said “Ed, if this all goes wrong, you know that I would stand by your side. I doubt most would, some women I know are with businessmen for their money and would leave before you can say botox.” Sarah threw her head back and laughed and let her copper coloured hair flop down near her breasts which were very visible in her low cut top. Sarah had made it clear in her emphasis of the words “some women” that it made it perfectly clear she was talking about Lanette. She put her hand on his arm. Ed did not let his eyes stray down, to give her ammunition. Ed looked at the floor numbers, they were at floor ten already, he just needed to pacify her until the ground floor.
“Thanks Sarah, but right now I am fine just as I am thank you.” Sarah removed her hand from his arm and put it back down to her side. Ed had said the statement with such conviction that he almost convinced himself that it was true. They stood in awkward silence until the lift descended. In his early years, Ed would have been tempted by such a proposition, maybe even too tempted. These days, he didn’t have the energy to keep up with one woman’s attention let alone two. The thought made Ed wonder how some men and women he knew did it. They seemed to manage a husband or wife and someone on the side. Ed almost admired them because he knew that he couldn’t keep up with that much enthusiasm.
As they got to the ground floor, Ed stepped outside of the lift and could see the paparazzi outside Dayton Tower still waiting for him. He audibly murmured “fucking hell” as with all the excitement of the day, he had forgotten all about them. He saw the flashing lights, his entrance had now been revealed. He turned away from the main entrance and walked to the back of the tower and went out of the rear fire exit. He hoped that whoever the mole was, hadn’t leaked the location of the fire exit as well. Ed left Dayton Tower and made his way through Canary Wharf and looked up at the numerous offices around. He wondered if they were all going through the same shit he was, or if they were just going about the same mundane job day after day. The one thing about Ed’s situation was it certainly wasn’t dull.
He considered going into one of the coffee shops situated on the banks of the river. He looked inside and saw men and women in suits all discussing matters. Ed didn’t want to sit amongst them, he wanted to be on his own, to have the chance to think. He thought that there was some irony in having all the money in the world and still you could not get a good cup of coffee in peace. He decided to go on a long walk and left Canary Wharf. He walked West towards the Westferry Docklands Light Railway train. He looked around, it was strange that Canary Wharf gave off the air of wealth and yet just a mile outside of the main financial district, the buildings looked completely run down. He turned the corner and found a small coffee shop which looked like a traditional greasy spoon despite the fact that it was near one of the richest districts in the world. It's shabby dull-white exterior needed some redecorating, there were cracks in the brickwork and a cracked sign outside the front which was in chalk scrawl “Today's special pork baguettes”. He looked inside, it was quite empty with only a couple of people inside, all with their heads bowed, huddled around a hot drink but each had their own table and a bit of space. It seemed no-one wished to touch the food. The counter was white with brown stains on it from either rust or grease, or in what Ed thought was the most likely option, a mixture of the two.
Ed went inside and heard the bell that made a noise when someone had entered. A large muscley bald-headed man came to the counter, he looked more at place in a butchers. He rolled up his shirt sleeves to reveal the large tattoos on his arms “Yes?” the grunt came.
Ed looked at the blackboard behind the man and assessed the choice of full-fat meals which were scribbled in white chalk making it barely legible. Ed didn’t feel he had the stomach for a full English fry up this morning. “Can I have a latte and eggs on toast?” He thought he should be relatively safe with that.
The man glared at Ed with a look that could kill, then walked over to the till and pushed his fat fingers on the buttons so hard that Ed wondered how the till had lasted this long.
The grunt came “£4.50”. Ed went into his wallet and paid the man a fiver and told him to keep the change. There was no reply.
Ed walked over to the free seat which clearly hadn’t been wiped from the last time someone sat there and stared at his phone to avoid eye contact with anyone until his coffee came. The man slammed the latte down and the eggs on toast, so much so the latte spilled over the sides. To be fair to the man Ed thought it tasted pretty good and Ed felt a sense of relief. Peace and quiet. Ed pondered what he was going to do next. He would have to meet Andrea and pretend that Felix was on board until he could come up with an alternative.
Around half an hour later, Ed made his return to Dayton Tower feeling refreshed like he had come into the office in a new day. He wondered why he had not taken a lunch break more often. Then he realised that it was because the clingy and needy people who worked for him never gave him a moments peace. While he was walking back, he rang Ruth and told her to meet him in the boardroom. Ed entered the building through the fire exit temporarily sounding off the alarm. Ed used his key to stop it from going off. Although a breach of regulations, Ed thought it was better doing that than walking through the pit of sharks at the main entrance.
Ruth was already inside the boardroom when he walked in “Nice lunch Ed? Things must be bad for you to go out for lunch.” She smiled at him showing her naturally perfect teeth but when he looked into her eyes she looked tired much like him.
“I needed time to think. I’ve just heard from Andrea at Channel 3. She has agreed to air the programme.”
Ruth looked relieved, her shoulders visibly relaxed “that’s great news, Ed. We need to start with assembling a plan of action. Does Felix know about the programme?”
Ed looked away “yes he is aware”. Ruth eyed him cautiously and was about to speak. Ed knew the criticism that was coming and interjected before he could hear it. “He’s on board.” Ed had never lied to Ruth before but he needed to keep things calm and after the meeting yesterday, he couldn’t be certain that she wasn’t the mole. A hint of regret at his lie-filled Ed and he decided to amend his previous statement. “He’s open to the idea.” It wasn’t quite a lie but wasn’t exactly the truth, which made Ed feel less like he was deliberately misleading his right-hand woman.
Ruth smiled “That’s good Ed, he will come round. I’m sorry I doubted you and this idea. I just got a bad feeling about it. Usually, I’m not wrong about these things but maybe I am on this occasion. I just got the feeling it was going to end badly.”
Ed walked over to her and put his hand on her right shoulder and could feel the bones in her shoulder in the palm of his hand and looked at her. “Ruth you are not just my friend but a member of this board and I respect your opinion. Don’t worry.”
She smiled at him and nodded. They looked at each other for a moment longer than necessary. Ruth looked away and released his hand. Ruth said, “I’ve got a few things to sort this afternoon, I’ll catch up with you later.” Ed watched her walked out of the room and started to feel a tinge of remorse at his latest lie. Everything that he had vowed to become when he owned his business was slipping away. He didn’t want to be a typical untrustworthy businessman. He had set out to be the peoples’ businessman, but now he was becoming just like the rest of them.
Ed met with the rest of the board all afternoon to relay the good news from Andrea and plan their next move. They all seemed pleased, apart from Jim who just dismissed the idea as lunacy again but had no room for argument. If people have a plan they panic less. They feel like things are in order. When there is no plan, everyone panics and loses their minds.
Ed had one last thing to do before he left the office and it was the thing he had put off most. He dialled Tim. “Well you’ve been making a name for yourself” Ed wondered if this was meant to be funny or if he genuinely did not set him up.
“No thanks to you Tim” he replied sharply.
“Ed mate, it wasn’t me who set you up with the press. You’ve got a leak in your oiley machine and it’s a big one by the sounds of it. I knew you didn’t run a tight ship. Are you calling to give in early?”
Ed scowled and wondered how he had not seen that this man, who was once his out of hours drinking buddy, was such an obnoxious idiot. Ed kept calm “I’ve got good news for you. An idea, a big one. I’ve had the idea to run a competition to be on the first flight. The general public can enter and we will run it like one of those trashy TV shows but with the biggest prize on offer. Channel 3 are already on board. What a way to get the public on side, don’t you think?”
There was silence on the other end of the phone that seemed to last for several minutes but could have only been a couple of seconds. “It is a good idea, if not for our agreement Ed. I will only withdraw my timescale of pulling out if this idea of yours still holds up our end of the agreement. We will be the only live stream from the first mission. I can’t imagine Channel 3 have liked that very much, unless you have not told them, which with you Ed is always a distinct possibility.”
Ed had already anticipated this before he called Tim and had prepared an answer. It was better to always be one step ahead. “They will run the competition, that is all I have agreed. You will still have the feed from the first flight. Come and meet me tomorrow with Andrea. I’m meeting her at 9am if you can make it? Channel 3 head office.”
More silence, he knew he had finally outsmarted Tim and he had no answer. Tim finally said “I’ll be there. You are like a bad cough Ed, you always come back in the end. I’m not sure yet if I’m pleased or still angry. I guess you’ll find out tomorrow when I have had time to process your idea but for now, good job Ed. I’ll let you know my decision after tomorrow's meeting.”
