Galactic Exploration (First Contact) by Peter Cawdron

Author:Peter Cawdron [Cawdron, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Peter Cawdron at Smashwords
Published: 2013-11-08T16:00:00+00:00

3:03 Hotel Rendezvous

The first few days back at the hotel had been tough. A low front had moved up from Zimbabwe carrying heavy rains with it for a week, which didn't help Diana's mood. She had wanted to return to work straight away, telling the duty manager she was fine, but he would have nothing of it. Everyone thought there was more to her relationship with Anderson than the one quirky date they had.

The press picked up on her presence at the launch, and ran with the classic Mystery Mistress story, probing into her background, drawing speculative links about their shared past. Apparently, Anderson had been admitted to Chicago Memorial while Diana was working there. That he was an outpatient being treated with physiotherapy following a skiing accident in Colorado, while she worked nights in ER meant their paths never crossed, but accurate facts were irrelevant. From memory, Diana suspected the particular outpatient clinic Anderson would have gone to must have been at the private wing of one of the satellite campuses and not in the main hospital, but no journalist was going to believe that. How ludicrous to think they'd only met the day before the launch in a dusty African village.

A memorial service was held seven days after the disaster.

Diana didn't want to go.

Berry pleaded with her, saying it was important to have closure, that her presence there would honor the fallen. Against her better judgment, she agreed to attend.

Several of Anderson's family had flown in, including his older sister, Gloria. Diana was surprised to see Gloria was in her late fifties, if not her early sixties. Diana hadn't Anderson asked how old he was, but she had thought he was in his mid-to-late twenties at the most. Same father, different mother perhaps? Anderson's dad wouldn't have been the first trillionaire to take a giggling, young floozy into wedlock on his fourth or fifth abortive attempt at marital bliss only to pop out more heirs to the throne. Regardless, the extended family was very kind to Diana, asking her if she needed anything. Diana decided that this was rich folk speak for—there's money on the table if you want it, Honey. It seems even they didn't believe she and Anderson were strangers. Diana would have none of it. She wasn't tempted by the money, even though they wouldn't miss a couple of million. It simply wasn't right, so she cast the thought from her mind.

There were no other old flames at the service, which surprised Diana. She didn't expect Anderson to have a girl in every port, but she did think there would have been a couple of ex-girlfriends along the way that were shocked by his death.

The service was held in the graveyard of an old wooden church a hundred or so miles northwest of Nairobi.

With the open savannah lying beyond, the church stood alone in the long, wheat-like grass of the plains. The gravestones were colonial, with dates ranging back to the 1700s. Rather than an air of death, the atmosphere was historic.

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