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Now, EW has an exclusive first look at whats coming next:The Relentless Moon.

The Relentless Mooncontinues the Lady Astronaut saga.

Credit: Tor Books

Riots and sabotage plague the space program.

And Elma is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established.

But we also hope for the best.

And this wonderful team has been prepared for almost every eventuality.

After tomorrows milestone, the spacemen will have just 27 million kilometers to go before reaching the Red Planet.

How many places do you call home?

For me, it could mean my parents home in Detroit.

Or the governors mansion that I share with my husband, Kenneth.

Or my bunk on the lunar colony.

I have switched to the more innocuous Where are you based?

which I was busily applying at the fundraiser tonight.

I say that, but the arthritis in my feet protested each high-heeled step I took.

You remember Mr. Vann dont you, Nicole?

Mr. Vann was yet another flaccid middle-aged white man with his glittering wife in tow.

How lovely of you to come!

My voice still had all the charm Id learned in Swiss Finishing school.

Thank God they taught us how to hide boredom behind glitter.

A pleasure, Mrs. Wargin.

His accent was from the Midwest.

Id need another sentence to pin it down, but his vowels leaned that way.

I dont believe youve met my wife, Bethany, yet.

I smiled at them both.

like do come visit me on the moon.

I want Bethany here on Earth, where its safe.

Im surprised that youre letting the little lady go up there, governor.

He smiled at the man.

I think youre mistaken, if you believe that my wife is a woman that people let do anything.

Besides living on the moon isnt that different, really.

In many ways, the lunar colony is just like being in a small town.

Why, we even have an art gallery.

Which I had set up, but the fact remained that it existed and that we had art.

And you work with Elma York, dont you?

Long before she was the famous Lady Astronaut!'

Mrs. Vanns face brightened.

How did you two meet?

We met as WASPS during the Second World War.

But the fuller truth is that I dont remember our first meeting.

There were a lot of us.

But no one wants to hear about that as a first memory of the famous Lady Astronaut.

Id join up in a heartbeat, if I were qualified.

Ella Fitzgeralds song came to an end.

In the pause before she started singing again, distant shouts sounded beyond the ballroom.

They pulled my attention to the windows that stretched along one wall of the hotel.

My spine straightened and I turned to Kenneth, leaning into him as if I were just affectionate.

Is something on fire outside?

He followed my gaze.

At the small of my back, his fingers tightened.

Nicole…

What

The window exploded in a shower of glass and flame.

Get low, seek cover, protect vulnerable body parts like your head and chest.

And here I was in an off-the shoulder gown.

Screams sounded behind us.

The haze of ennui that had coated me all evening evaporated.

I grabbed the sleeve of his tuxedo.

We need to

A swarm of black-suited security men, all square jaws and buzz cuts, surrounded us.

One of them took my arm.

Frustration at being managed filled me for a moment and it had no place here.

These men were doing their jobs, of protecting the governor and, by extension, his wife.

I was hauled along the path to safety as if I were no more than a decorative bauble.

And when I was on Earth, that was, in fact, my job.

In the back seat of our government car, Kenneths hair gleamed silver gold in the sodium vapor street-lights.

But then, thats Kenneth to a T. He never sees a problem that he doesnt want to fix.

I put my free hand on the thigh of his tuxedo trousers.

Dont fault me for finding my husband at his most attractive when he was concentrating.

Im sure that the UN has this well in hand.

But he smiled a little.

I leaned against him even though it was too warm for snuggling.

The food shortages are not your fault.

Im the one who authorized sending our surpluses to other sta

The driver slammed on the brakes.

I slid forward in a hiss of tafetta, tightening my legs as if I could brace.

Out the side window, I saw why the driver had swerved.

Protestors with flaming trash barrels stood outside the highrise where we had our pied-a-terre in the nations capital.

He looked in the rear-view mirror.

Quite all right, son.

Kenneth looked over his shoulder as the conflagration faded behind us.

Biting my lower lip, I stared out the window as the driver wound through tree-lined older neighborhoods.

We could go to Cedar Air Park.

I kept my Cessna in the 99s hangar there.

Turning, I planted a kiss on his cheek, careful not to get lipstick on his collar.

I can fly you home.

Or we can just check into a hotel.

And have reporters hound you?

Besides, I have to be back out at IAC in the morning for training anyway.

This will save me from taking the commuter train.

Which you wouldnt have to if we

Reporters.

I leaned forward to address our driver.

Do you think the governor should take the train tonight?

Kenneth had the nerve to shake his head at me.

Now ask him if he thinks you should fly us to Topeka.

Besides, I would take almost any opportunity to fly.

See, this is why I do so well in debates.

No one else has you to prepare them.

I have another idea.

Kenneth leaned forward and gave the driver our friends, the Lindholms, address.

The driver looked up sharply.

Sir, thats in the black part of town.

Kenneths smile had all the disappointed weight of the grandfather hell never be.

Dr. Martin Luther King is a personal friend of mine.

I murmured, Now this child is going to think hes taking us to Dr. Kings house.

Eugene Lindholm looks nothing like him.

He kissed me on the cheek.

And youre right that checking into a hotel will call reporters down on us.

Kenneth

People were hurt tonight.

I need to be here.

He squeezed my hand with a sad smile.

Besides, tomorrow is poker night with the Astronauts Husbands Club.

Id be back regardless.

And tomorrowmorning, you have to be back at the IAC anyway.

I can continue on with my list of reasons to stay.

Coordinating a response between the state and the Citys police force.

Visiting victims of the riots.

Damage control at the UN.

And upon reflection, Im almost certainly going to have to do a press conference.

I compressed my lips and settled back in the seat.

And right about the power of linking himself to the presidential stage.

Kenneth settled into his seat, lulling me into a false sense of security.

You would think, as long as weve been married, that I would know better.

The driver had nearly reached the Lindholms before Kenneth spoke again.

He started by clearing his throat, which is never a good sign.

Nicole…

You already won this argument.

This is a different argument.

The way you’re free to tell hes uncertain is in the pauses between his words.

They carry a weight then, which other people mistake as gravitas.

I know that hes feeling his way forward on uncertain ground.

Each word was a slow inch forward.

I think… it would be…for the best.

You sat out this press conference.

It will be fine.

Clemons knows how important your support is to the program.

Thats… thats just it.

He swallowed and the pause stretched between us.

Thats… thats just it.

He swallowed and the pause stretched between us.

He laughed, kissing me on the cheek and then sighed.

Im getting some pushback.

Oh for crying out loud.

The goal is to get everyone off the planet.

Do they call that nepotism?

But we wont, in fact, be able to save everyone.

So…you see.

He gave me that goddamned kindly smile of his.

I might need to be more circumspect in my support.

Were trying to get the tax reform bill through… and.

I know my job.

I fly planes and rockets and smile for the cameras.

I certainly dont want to be a problem.

Nicole…

Its fine.

I let the driver open my door.

Just audible, sirens wailed in the distance.

We had worked so hard to make the space program viable and it was all coming apart.

Not on my watch, it wasnt.

The morning light gleamed on the white linoleum counters of the Lindholms kitchen.

Myrtle lifted a bright blue plate with the last piece of toast on it.

Her curls formed a close cap framing her light tan face.

When wed met, shed had a cute bouffant, which shed abandoned on the moon.

For that matter, Id switched to a pixie cut, too.

She held out the toast.

The low rumble of a rocket pushed into the room.

Eugene asked the window.

There was a time when I attended every launch, before the IAC added Brazilian and European spaceports.

It was easy to tell which of us were astronauts and which was not.

Across from me, Myrtle offered the toast again, raising her voice over the sound of the rocket.

Dont let this go to waste.

Eugene reached for the toast.

She smacked his hand away.

Was I talking to you?

See, dont complain next time that I dont help around the house enough.

Eugene lowered his plate with a comically loud mournful sigh.

Myrtle rolled her eyes at him and held the plate toward me.

Oh, Im fine.

I picked up a slice of bacon and waved it like a magic wand.

And I still have eggs.

I took a bite of bacon and let it fill my mouth with salt and fat.

Beside me, he thumped the paper with the back of one knuckle.

Two people died last night.

Im sorry to hear that.

Earth Firsters or…?

A bystander got trampled and a store owner who was trying to keep looters out.

Sighing, I set my bacon down.

They say that theyre protesting your policies, and then go after an innocent shopkeeper.

Its just an excuse for looting.

Earth First will deny involvement with the looting.

Kenneth picked up his fork.

How would you respond to last night?

Eugene lowered his toast and wiped his hands on his napkin.

I tilted my head.

That sounds like youre sympathetic to the rioters.

Thats because Im sympathetic.

Not to their methods, but to their fears.

He pointed to a spoon rattling on a plate from the ongoing sound of the Sirius IV.

Most people see this as a disruption.

A reminder that they arent going into space.

Kenneth speared his last bite of eggs.

Sure I cant pry you out of the space program to be on my staff?

Myrtle shook her head, pushing her chair back from the table.

Im still not sure I should welcome you in my house after you talked him into running for mayor.

Dr. King talked him into it.

I just offered coaching.

Kenneth passed his plate to her and looked pointedly at the eggs I still had left.

Your cooking sure is wonderful, Myrtle.

No danger of anyone wasting food at your house.

I said, I still think you have to be careful about sounding sympathetic to rioters.

But I also know that all my speeches will get transmitted downplanet.

And, to be honest, I think it would be a mistake to ignore the Earth Firster fears.

The number of applicants to the IAC has dropped.

Myrtle snorted and picked up Eugenes plate.

Weve got more applicants than we have spots.

Its about the trend.

Kenneth leaned back in his chair and settled his hands over his paunch.

Declining program numbers give us an indicator that the larger population is losing interest in the space…

I lost the rest, because the sound of the rocket stopped.

It shouldnt do that.

An explosion cracked the air.

I was out of my chair and halfway to the kitchen door before the rumble ended.

Eugene was behind me, only because my chair was closer to the door.

Myrtle sprinted for the radio, leaving Kenneth frozen at the table.

I ran across the living room to the front door, while Eugene dove for the phone.

How long had we been talking while the rocket rose from the Earth?

This mattered because it told us which mode of abort the crew would be in.

Mode one bravo got deployed between 3,000 meters to 30.5 kilometers into flight.

The Launch Escape System would haul the crew module away from the main rocket.

Eugene continued, We could hear it, so they were still in atmosphere.

Which meant that they hadnt gotten to a Mode two abort.

So the LES would have deployed.

I threw the front door open and ran into the yard.

They were looking at the column as if the part of the trajectory we could see was significant.

I was looking for a parachute.

My fingernails dug into my palms.

Kenneth came out onto the Lindholms front porch.

He went behind me to wrap his arms around my waist to wait.

But that damn cloud ceiling meant that everything that was happening was hidden behind a layer of cotton.

Eugene walked onto the front porch.

I realized that my hands were digging into Kenneths wrists.

I tried to unclench them.

Whats on the radio?

Just that there was an explosion.

Eugene grimaced and jerked a thumb back to the house.

Ill give it another spin.

I dont know why I stayed in that yard, waiting.

There wasnt a damn thing I could do.

I couldnt bear to be inside right now.

I tightened my hands on Kenneths and shouted toward the house.

Behind me, Kenneth bent his head.

If there were a God, he would not have blown the rocket.

He would not have slammed a Meteor into the Earth.

Redundancies and methods and practice had saved them.

Eugene burst out of the house, with Myrtle close behind him.

I nodded, stepping away from Kenneth and wiped my eyes.

About fifteen miles downrange.

Oh, praise God.

Myrtle raised her hands and closed her eyes for a moment.

Thank you, God for this miracle.

And thank the IAC for their training.

I try not to get in the way of other peoples faith, honest, I do.

Did you get through?

Eugene shook his head.

Lines are busy, but we can go in.

So help me, I wanted to go with them.

But there would have been nothing that needed me specifically.

Kenneth though, I could help him prepare to talk to the press.

I took Kenneths arm.

Come on, love.

We need to get you cleaned up and downtown.