Chapter Text
It’s Monday. I usually hate Mondays, but all weekend I’ve been looking forward to today, because there is another geology briefing with the Artemis 2 crew. I get to see Christina again.
Last Thursday, the day after we met I opened my laptop to a Microsoft Teams notification - c.koch added me to a sharePoint board.
Even though she didn’t actually say anything to me I got butterflies.
The briefing was scheduled for 15:30h. I spent all day anxiously awaiting it. I had finished my work by 13h and spent the two hours in between rehearsing my piece, my knowledge, and what questions I would ask. What questions would I ask her.
Finally, ten minutes before I was going to make my way to the conference room, my laptop dings. Its a teams notification from r.wies:
‘FYI that @c.knoch is out sick today with a migraine. I found a scribe to take detailed minutes in her absence.’
My balloon of hope that had been uplifting me all weekend begins to deflate a little, but then it’s replaced by worry. Does she usually get migraines? Is it more than a migraine and she just didn't tell Commander Wiseman? Or maybe she did, and all told the teams chat was a migraine..
I hope she’s ok.
I make my way to the conference room and deliver my spiel to Commander Wiseman and Hansen. They seem engaged? That's good. But the whole time all I can think about is how I wish Christina was there.
The rest of the briefing is ordinary, except at the end of the briefing the crew manager says there's a scheduling challenge. Only two members of the crew will be going to Kamestastin Lake meteorite crater in New Foundland and the other two will be in Europe examining another site. We will then all converge in Iceland to finish the research expedition at a volcanic plateau - a fancy way of saying a big lava field.
The realization hits me. I might not be going to Canada with Christina.
The rest of my day is un-productive. Feelings about Christina, the expedition, my work.. it is all almost overwhelming. Finally, around 17:15 I leave the office, and spend the rest of my night watching tv on the couch, a bad habit, but it’s always made me feel better.
The next day my mood is lowered. I'm worried about Christina, and anxious about the crew allocations, am I even good enough to be going on this expedition? I’m much more comfortable with my familiar lab.
I make my way through the center, saying ‘Hi’ and 'Good morning!’ to other office workers I really should know the names of. It’s 8:35h when I sit down at my makeshift lab-table-desk and open my laptop.
As everything starts to load I get up and check my physical office-mail to sort through the printed reports and status updates the part time morning crew had put together. Nothing interesting or important, just the expected fax results from certain specimen thermal testing.
From across the room I hear my laptop chime. It's a teams notification from c.koch. My heart leaps a little as I click to open it.
“Just read the meeting minutes from yesterday’s briefing, it looks really interesting! You really know your stuff :)”
She sent me a smiley face, and she complimented my work. I feel a little dizzy?
I type back.
“Wow, thank you so much! I hope you’re feeling better, I heard you had a migraine”
She reads the message but says nothing. Shit. Did I ask too many questions about her personal life?
I return to checking my morning emails, and then I check teams again. It's been about an hour and she still hasn’t written back.
Maybe I really did go too far.
By lunch time there's still nothing, and I’ve accepted the reality that she probably doesn't have time for any non-work-related talk. So I grab my gear box, take off my lab coat, put on my tyvek clean suit and enter the clean room and get to work.
I settle into a nice groove, I’m sitting on a small rolling stool, and inspecting potential crystallization from an asteroidal sample that came in a few months ago. Once I measure, I shine a UV light, take note and move on to the next section.
It's an enjoyable process because it's just mindless enough to take my mind off of everything, but then sometimes there will be an unclear sample and I have to really pay attention to - I like the variety.
A knock coming from behind me breaks my focus, micro-pick and pen in my hand. I look up from my notes and swivel around to find her. Christina Knoch is in my lab slightly smiling and waving through the window which separates the lab from the clean room.
I nearly dropped my tools in surprise. She flinches in response and puts her hands up as if to say ‘sorry!’.
I put my tools down on the table and hold up one finger to signal her to give me a minute.
As I’m putting everything back in order my mind is racing. Why is she here? Am I in trouble? Did I miss a meeting?
I check my watch on the inside of my left wrist: 1630h.
I’ve been in the clean room for over four hours without even realizing it. Maybe I did miss something..
I exit the clean room and throw on my lab coat in the little decontamination space. When I open the door to the lab she's there waiting for me. Leaning against the wall.
“Hey!”
“Hey” I say as I peel off my magnification loupes and rest them on the top of my head like sunglasses.
“Nice specs” she says
“Oh! Yeah.. Custom made, so not covered by the government equipment allotment. $500 for these, but worth it because the ones they provide us are essentially useless.”
What am I even saying right now? She does not care that I am the biggest try-hard that I had to buy my own loupes.
She smiles.
“Well they look like a good investment.” she says
“Yeah” I say, trying to play it cool.
I realize there's no one else in the lab anymore, everyone must’ve gone home already. I see my coworker has left a pile of sample results on my table for me to authorize. I sigh, a job for tomorrow.
She tilts her head.
“Is that all for you?”
“Yeah, most sample results need dual authentication to ensure accuracy. So this is Tim’s stack I guess, he goes through them every other week which just makes more work for whoever is his authorization victim. Looks like this time it’s me.”
“That sounds frustrating” she says
“Tell me about it” I huff. I am frustrated, and it’s getting directed at her.
“Sorry” I say “I didn’t mean to snap at you, it's just been a long day.”
“No, that's ok. I understand. I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to get back to you today. We were flying the F-18’s today so I haven’t been at my laptop” she says
She pulls up a stool and sits next to me.
“I’m feeling way better, sometimes I just get struck down with a migraine y’know? I really appreciated you asking.” she adds softly
Something in me changes. Is it excitement? Is it anxiety? I feel my face grow a little warm and I turn away pretending to do something important before I fully blush.
“No worries!” I say "Migraines are my greatest enemy, so I understand. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
“Reid was telling me about yesterday's briefing, he said you really know what you’re doing and that we are going to be in good hands”
Now that makes me blush
“Woah- I mean, thank you that means a lot to me. I’m so excited to be working with you- The team!” I correct myself
But she noticed and smiled
“I’m excited to be working with you too”