Sex On The Moon by Ben Mezrich

Author:Ben Mezrich [Mezrich, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780385533928
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: 2011-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

21

In retrospect, the flip-flops were a mistake. Thad had managed the hour-and-a-half drive south all right, his Toyota leading the small caravan of mostly expensive foreign cars from the JSC outer parking lot to the Texas coast without losing a single co-op along the way. But once they had all jammed their way onto the single-deck ferry for the short trip to their Galveston Bay isthmus destination—the cars packed so closely together there was barely room for the doors to open the necessary few inches to allow the more adventurous among the group to slither out during the short ride over to the campsite—Thad realized he ought to have chosen more appropriate footwear. EMU space boots with magnetic grips would have fit the bill—although he would have settled for his dusty Timberlands.

He stumbled forward as the ferry pitched hard over an errant wave, and barely caught himself before tumbling halfway over the hood of a black BMW sedan. There was maybe a foot and a half between the BMW on his right and a Range Rover to his left, and he was forced to stutter-step as he moved between the cars. The flip-flops were playing havoc with his usually perfect sense of balance. The soles of the damn things kept getting caught on the metal ridges that marred the floor of the ferry, and it was unlikely he was cutting much of an impressive figure as he made his rounds up and down the line of cars, greeting his co-op followers. It wasn’t like he’d prepared a speech or anything, but he did have a reputation to uphold. A lot of the first-and second-tour kids didn’t know him personally, but most had signed up for the weekend excursion because Thad Roberts, social star of NASA, had arranged it—which meant it would be something fun, something different. An adventure.

He reached the driver’s-side window of the BMW and shook hands with the young man inside, introducing himself. He filed the guy’s name away in his nearly photographic memory, then continued on toward the next car. Another wave pushed him back against the rear of the Range Rover—so he improvised, giving high fives to the young couple in the backseat of the vehicle, second years he recognized from the JSC cafeteria—and then he steadied himself using the bumper of a four-door Mercedes.

The Galveston Bay excursion was one of his most popular, which was the reason he had chosen it for the first weekend of his third tour. The beaches where they were headed had pretty relaxed rules—which meant that by nightfall, Thad would have multiple bonfires up and going, with no worries that any authorities would come by to make them put them out. There would be alcohol, of course, though Thad hadn’t brought any himself and wouldn’t partake; he’d probably never be able to look at booze or cigarettes or drugs of any sort without being reminded of his father’s vivid stories of hell and damnation—but he enjoyed being around the party atmosphere that alcohol usually inspired.

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