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March 14th, 1990 — Cape Canaveral, FL 11:21 AM, EST
"Shelby, might we have a word, please?"
Shelby had been working diligently in her lab, Black Sabbath playing loudly through the portable stereo she had hauled in from her office. The redhead looked up to see her boss standing in the door way. She turned off the tools she had been using and quieted the stereo, then flipped her safety glasses up onto her red hair, which had been haphazardly piled into a ponytail.
"Sure thing."
She had changed out of her blazer and dress pants, knowing full well that they were not good clothes to work on circuits with. Instead, she had donned a pair of jeans and a ratty MIT t-shirt that she was fairly certain she'd stolen from Robbo when they were dating in college. She wasn't sure who Joe was bringing her to meet with, but she hoped she wasn't underdressed for the occasion.
She knew that they had been finalizing the crew for the Tenacity launch, and her hopeful heart was racing in anticipation that this was it. This was the day they would tell her she was going to space.
"Who am I meeting with, Joe?" She questioned. She trusted him with her life. Joe Feldstein had quickly become Shelby's mentor in her time at NASA.
"Croft and Patrick." He replied. Kevin Croft and William Patrick were essentially the two most important men at NASA. Well, at that time they were, at least to Shelby. They were in charge of the Tenacity launch. Of course, neither man would be going up in the craft, and neither had lifted a single finger in the design of it, yet they were choosing the crew that would be launched into space.
Shelby simply nodded, then asked, "Do you know what it's about?"
Joe gave her a look, then said, "I think you know what it's about."
"Oh." She replied, twisting her hands behind her back in nervousness.
"Don't be nervous." He said, offering a smile. "You're a shoe in. If they don't see that, they're stupid."
"Careful, Dr. Feldstein." Shelby laughed. "Those are your bosses you're talking about."
Dr. Feldstein gave the girl a sly smile, as if indicating that he couldn't have cared less that he was making fun of his bosses.
They reached the conference room and Joe led the way inside. Shelby was nervous. She knew she was definitely qualified enough for the mission, if not the most qualified, so she shouldn't have been nervous. But, Shelby had her doubts.
"Dr. Feldstein, Miss Colewell, thank you for joining us." Dr. Croft announced as the two entered the room. Both he and Dr. Patrick stood, and Shelby shook both of their hands, glad she had at least washed them before leaving the lab.
"You'll have to excuse my appearance, I was in the lab—"
"Working, yes, Shelby." Dr. Patrick laughed. "If you don't get a little grimy once in a while, are you actually an engineer?"
