Pulvirenti Giorgio - Proxima B

“Hey, is anything okay?” Isabel asked him. She changed her attitude for a while.

“It’s almost like you’re running away from me,” she added.

“No… it isn’t so… Why? Is there anything strange in me? Not at all…,” Jerry mumbled.

“Oh, okay! Anyway, you may know him well…,” Isabel kept on saying. Her excitement was back and Jerry was much more upset. He almost exploded due to the beats of his heart.

“I’m talking about Franz! Isn’t he one of your co-workers? Could you put in a good word?” Isabel asked him. Those words took the wind out of his sails. Actually, what Jerry had always hoped would never realize. He wanted that girl to be forever his, but she wanted to be with one of his colleagues, the one who, by the way, was a complete idiot. This fact destroyed all what he had imagined till then. His heart seemed to have stopped for a few seconds and the young biologist looked stunned. He stared into space.

“Oh Jerry! Jerry! Hello? Is anything okay?” He could hear the girl wondering, but her voice seemed far away and barely audible as if she were a few dozen feet away. Then he came round all of a sudden.

“Hmm… yeah! I’ll do what I can… I have to go before Bob blows the whole building up! See you around, Isabel!” Jerry said, walking over to his lab while Isabel was just standing there, looking at him and watching him with much puzzlement.

Phoenix, Arizona.

The day was sultry. The sun shone making the rocks, the ground and even the air incandescent. Everything would seemingly burn at any moment. A rattle snake stirred looking for semidarkness on some rocks to protect itself from the heat that surrounded the firing range where a platoon of PFCs was about to fire. Metal targets, which were a bit rusty, were there, incandescent, waiting for being shot by the bullets shot from the weapons of those young soldiers who were on the hills one mile away from them. Ten Marines that were led by their Chief Master Sergeant Lucas Douglas were getting ready to take point.

“Down, everybody! Take point!” the sergeant told them, so they all obeyed and took their own points, lay down and loaded the sniper rifle and waited for him to give the signal to commence firing. Lucas Douglas, for his part, took it easy before giving the signal. They waited for his signal several minutes. He had been used to the Arizona blistering sun since he had been serving in that helluva place for more than twenty years and he knew that he had to make them – the ones that he considered as the runts of the litter – understand that life in the army was not a game and that it would lead them to difficult decisions and exhausting waits under very hard conditions. Lucas Douglas, who was an Afro-American big-hearted, high-spirited man in his sixties and a very hard worker, too, was there today. He meant to get the best out of his seven men and his three women who were waiting for him to order them what to do. Some of them were getting impatient; others were already covered with sweat but no order had been given yet. The sergeant’s wait appeared to be intentional… He only had to yell the soldier’s name and this one would fire a shot. But he had not done anything so far. After getting a big glass of lemonade off a table under a nearby sunshade, the Chief Master Sergeant took a quick glance at the troop and immediately got an idea of whom would do one’s work well during that intense workday. He grabbed his binoculars and watched the faraway silhouettes, and then he yelled out, “MONTGOMERY!”

He barely uttered the whole name when a rumble caused by the gunshot pierced the air. The silence of the valley was replaced by the screeching of the bullet that shot the metal silhouette right on its right shoulder.

“Well done, Montgomery! Next time aim at its head!” The sergeant’s heavy voice directed its words to the young man, who murmured to himself in a low tone of voice, “What am I supposed to have aimed at?” He was a bit disappointed. He started watching the silhouettes from the monocle of the rifle.

“PINCHER!” the Chief Master Sergeant shouted again and another shot was fired by the soldier who missed the target completely and ended up behind the metal silhouettes among gravel and cobbles under Lucas Douglas’ gaze.

“Pincher! You did fucking miss it completely! You wouldn’t even be able to shoot the ass of an elephant sitting right in front of you!” the sergeant exclaimed, which elicited a smile from a few fellow soldiers. The guy that had shot, who was a bit angry and disappointed, did not laugh, but stood there and waited for further instructions. The soldiers, who were waiting for their own calls, took their own points again in the blistering sun. One of them was Emily Parker, a young soldier with light brown hair and brown doe eyes. A drop of sweat ran down her forehead to her right eye, the one that she was not using for looking through her monocle. She tried to wipe it, but as soon as Lucas Douglas saw that she was not paying attention, he yelled her name. It took about two seconds for Emily to take her own point again and shoot. The bullet shot the dummy’s head and the metal sparked, which stopped her fellow soldiers and the Chief Master Sergeant in their tracks. The latter did not hesitate to congratulate her on her work.

“You did a great job, Miss Parker! A great job!”

The training was over shortly thereafter. Each soldier broke ranks by freshening up a bit.

“Go freshen up, you deserve it! Great job, guys, except yours, Pincher and Sully. Your aim sucks…,” the sergeant said merrily from underneath the big awning. Then he turned his attention to Emily.

“Miss Parker, can I talk to you?” the sergeant asked the girl. The young soldier went up to him. She thought he would reprimand her.

“Sir, I’m sorry for…,” the woman tried to excuse immediately, but she was stopped her instantly by her superior.

“Miss Parker, I didn’t call you for what happened earlier. I called you to tell you that this morning I’ve received a letter from the Government and NASA. They wanted me to recommend somebody for a project,” the man informed her. Then he paused for a while and searched for any reaction in the girl’s eyes. Then he kept on saying, “I’ve thought of you. What about this idea?”

Emily did not expect the sergeant to tell her so. She took a few seconds to think and finally she said, “Sir, I’m confused. I don’t even know what this is about,” the young Marine said with hesitation.

“Once you’re in Washington, everything is going to be clearer. You’re too smart to get old in this fucking hole. You’ll find the invitation letter and the flight tickets in your bedroom!”

“Sir… I don’t know what to say,” the soldier stuttered one more time.

“Don’t say anything. Honor your country! For the benefit of all! ” Lucas Douglas said finally. Their glances were admiring when they saluted. Emily went back to her accommodation.

She arrived there and picked up the envelope. Her hands were shaking. She was happy. She leafed through the letter and the tickets. She was ready to leave for Washington.

T

he day of the flight to Washington had finally come. Jerry was busy getting his small luggage prepared, but the excitement and the curiosity that had seized him that same morning since his awakening had led him to hesitate over what to take with him.

“Not this one… This one is too showy… Ah! This is the one I was looking for!” the boy cried out while picking the shirts to take with him. He chose a pair of trousers and his underwear. He filled up the small bag and took it near the front. He took up his belongings, his keys, his wallet and a thin and clear-glass device whose shape made it look like a credit card but that was actually something that served as a smartphone. He took a look around for the last time to check if he had all that he needed.