A Chance Encounter

[Cassie Granger 0]

A Chance Encounter

 

John and Eddie, having been shown around the VAB* complex by their supervisor, Chris Barber, were told to go eat lunch, and come back ready to go to work. The men nodded, and Eddie told John he would see him later. Randall decided he was, in fact, a little hungry, and would go to the cafeteria for lunch. Fortunately, the cafeteria was located not that far from the VAB, and John arrived there ready to eat. He fell in line at the counter, got himself a tray, went down the line picking out food, paid for it at the register, and spotted a nearby empty table. He went to it, sat down, and proceeded to get his food ready to eat.

 

Cass entered the cafeteria with a horde of others as the noon hour reached its climax. The mixed smells of Wednesday meatloaf, fried potatoes, and some kind of vegetable medley with the overwhelming presence of coffee met her full force as soon as she stepped through the door, making her realize how long it had been since she'd eaten anything substantial. Dr. Goldstein had talked non-stop since her arrival - the typical type-A personality scientist - and it was well into the noon hour before he realized the time.

 

As she passed down the line, Cass checked the exits: main and rear, serving personnel, delivery, windows she could breach and those she couldn't. Possible places of refuge: heavy stainless serving line counters, heavy tables, support columns.

 

A few Delta Dogs* sat scattered through the dining room, in various stages of lunch. Conspicuously absent was their sniper specialist, Cpl John "Jack" Daniels; he'd stay with the DSS* overwatch team assigned to NASA, out of range and sight for the duration, possibly not even returning to sleep in a regular bed. To her left she spotted O'Neill, comfortably sporting the beginnings of a good Florida tan. Moa was moving toward the rear exit, probably on his way to relieve Kal at the launch site. As she reached the end of the line she looked for Morrison, and in his absence she wandered toward Randall.

 

"Hello... John, is it?" she said. Her tentative undercover personality fully deployed, she checked his ID badge for good measure. "It's a little crowded this time of day. Mind if I join you?"

 

John looked up at the sound of Granger's voice; remembering her cover name was Cassidy Ross. "Hello, Miss Ross; sure, have a seat," he said, waving his hand toward an empty chair. He looked around the cafeteria, noting with a little surprise that it had filled up quite a bit since he'd come in. He peered a little closely at her badge as she seated herself. "Cassidy, I see." He then lowered his voice. "Good to see you, Captain. How is it going with you?"

 

Without changing her congenial expression, Cass lowered her voice as well. "Think we'd better drop the rank, but it's going well. The food is wonderful, especially for a cafeteria," she continued, a little louder, "and even better when you've been talking with a scientist all morning. How are things on your end? Who are you working with?"

 

John nodded at her suggestion of dropping the rank, while making it seem that he was nodding

in response to her question. "This meatloaf is a little dry, but it's edible, I guess. It's going alright so far. My supervisor, Chris Barber, just finished giving me the fifty cent tour; we start actual work after lunch. Looking forward to seeing the three big engines put together with the big mobile launcher platform they use here. It's kinda like a giant robot; you operate the mechanical arms by computer. It's a tricky business." Under his breath, he added, "And it's the biggest computer I've ever seen." He raised his voice. "How are you getting on in your new job?"

 

"Oh, I'm working with Dr. Jeb Goldstein in aerospace engineering as his... special assistant?" Ending the sentence on an upswing and upping her volume a bit drew a few eye-rolls from the next table. Overt pride was typical of women's libbers... and it would help listeners ignore the rest of the conversation. "It's very interesting," she gushed, "he's teaching me a lot. And it's so different working right here where everything actually happens. When you see it on TV it's hard to understand the size... and I don't mean just the rockets." She picked at the broccoli, laughing as she thought of John's remark about the computers. "I've heard about Mr. Barber. He's quite the legend when it comes to engineering. He and Dr. Goldstein work fairly close together when it comes to design, though I believe they part ways when it comes to the actual launch. I could be wrong, of course; I'll find out."

 

John nodded. "I see. You seem to know more about my supervisor than I do," laughing as he said it. "Barber does seem to be a pretty good engineer. He's spent a lot of time advising on the development of the S-IC and S-II engines; at least that's what he told Freeman and me. He wasn't really bragging about it or anything, but you could hear the pride in his voice as he talked about it. I would go so far as to say he could get really upset if there was some bad things said about the engines; he thinks that much of them." Under his breath, he added, "Nothing out of the ordinary so far that I've noticed."

 

"Oh, that's good," said Cass. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to our astronauts."

 

"Definitely not," agreed Randall as he finished his meal and glanced at a clock hanging on a nearby wall. "Well, Cass, I'm glad I ran into you, I must be getting back. You have a good rest of the day, and I'll see you later." He squeezed her arm briefly as he got up, smiled, and turned to go deposit the remains of his meal in a nearby trashcan. He turned, nodded at a couple of men who were waiting to do the same, and exited the cafeteria. He walked along the hallway, heading for the massive room where the Saturn V engines were put together, to rejoin Barber. He wondered what his role would be, along with Freeman; whether they would be working together, or be split up.

 

Cass smiled and watched him go, then sat for a few minutes, taking her time with lunch, hoping Morrison would show.

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*VAB: Vehicle Assembly Building

*Delta Dogs: Nickname for Delta Team, a twist on ‘Devil Dogs,’ the name given by the Japanese to Marines during WWII.

*DSS: Diplomatic Security Service, an elite branch of the Secret Service.