The Astronaut’s wife
Jillian Aah! Oh. My God! Jesus, you scared me.
Spencer You, are in big trouble.
Jillian Do you like the pie?
Spencer I don’t believe I can take much more of this, honey.
Jillian How much do you like the pie? Come get the pie.
Spencer First, I’m gonna drink you, then I’m gonna eat you.
Jillian Get the pie.
Spencer I’m going to eat that, right?
Jillian Think you can handle all three of us?
Spencer Yup.
Jillian Yeah?
Spencer Yup.
Jillian Do you love the belly?
Spencer I love it.
Jillian Good, ‘cos I love the belly, too. Excuse me.
Reese Mrs Armacost. Do you, er, do you remember me?
Jillian Mr Reese?
Reese Yes. Erm.
Jillian Oh.
Reese How many months?
Jillian Just a few.
Reese I need to speak with you.
Jillian You know, Spencer works for McLaren now, if you’re looking for him.
Reese No. No, I, I, I, I need to speak with, with you, Mrs Armacost. . . about those two minutes. The two minutes, Mrs Armacost.
Jillian What is it, Mr Reese?
Reese Have you noticed any change in your husband’s behaviour since the shuttle mission? Because I’ve been through these files and there are some peculiarities. Like, like right here. This is your husband’s signature before he went on the shuttle that last time, and here’s a form that he signed when he returned. Now. . . they are similar, but, but not the same. Not the same signature.
Jillian Mr Reese, are you in New York on official NASA business?
Reese And, and, and here’s the results of the medical tests that we ran when he got back.
Jillian Mr Reese! Are you on official NASA business?
Reese Everything is fine. Everything shows up normal, but everything’s just a little bit different, er, blood levels, er, temperature, EKG, EEG. Everything’s just a little bit off from what it was. Look at this.
Jillian Mr Reese. Does NASA know you’re here?
Reese No. They wouldn’t listen. They terminated my, er, employment.
Jillian I have to go now.
Reese No.
Jillian If you have anything to say, you can call my husband at McLaren.
Reese I, I, I showed them the facts, and, and they terminated my employment. They referred me to a psychiatrist.
Jillian Don’t follow me.
Reese I’ve seen Captain Streck’s autopsy report. It was a massive stroke. His, his system overloaded. His body couldn’t stand the strain. I’ve seen Natalie Streck’s autopsy report as well.
Jillian That was a suicide. She killed herself. I was there. I saw it.
Reese Yeah, she did. But according to the report when she killed herself she was three weeks pregnant.
Jillian What did you say?
Reese She probably conceived right after her husband left the hospital. She was pregnant, Mrs Armacost. So what happened during those two minutes when they were alone? What happened? The suits that your husband and Captain Streck wore had built in recorders. Listen to the voices. Something happened out there that scared the shit out of them. What could do that?
Jillian No. It was an accident. There was an explosion, and the satellite. . .
Reese No! They’re trained for explosions. They trained for accidents. They trained for hundreds of hours. If something goes wrong they have a plan. They don’t panic. They don’t deviate. They stick to the plan. That’s what they do. Something happened out there that these two men had not trained for. What would do that to two highly trained astronauts? Scare them like that? Can you swear to me that he’s still your husband? Can you?
Jillian Let go of me, Mr Reese.
Security Guard Ma’am, is this man bothering you?
Jillian Yes. Yes, he is.
Reese You know, don’t you? You already know. Room Three Oh Four, Nesbit Arms, Mrs Armacost. Please, Mrs Armacost.
Security Guard Okay. Settle down. Just settle down.
Spencer (tape) I’m going to rotate the panel forty-eight degrees. You got me, Alex?
Alex (tape) Spencer, what is that? Did you feel that? Spencer, what is that? Oh, Jesus Christ! What the hell is that?!
Jillian No! No!
Nancy I’m looking for the pregnant woman in twenty-four F. Jillian, what’s wrong?
Jillian He said she must have gotten pregnant right, right after Alex got back.
Nancy Did he say anything else?
Jillian Oh, God, Nan.
Nancy Oh, honey. The last thing you need to worry about is that freak. I mean, just have Spencer call someone.
Jillian No, Nan. Spencer can’t know about this.
Nancy But, Jillian, you said he looked crazy.
Jillian You have to promise me you won’t tell Spencer. Please promise me.
Nancy You can’t keep these things bottled up inside you, Jillian.
Jillian You’re right. Okay. If he bothers me again. . . I’ll tell Spencer, okay? Deal?
Nancy Sure.
Maitre’d Mr Armacost, your table’s ready.
Spencer Yeah. Oh, great. All right. Let’s go sit down.
Nancy Oh, Stan? You mean this year’s grand marshall at the parade of losers? He’s gone. We can’t all be as lucky as Jill here.
Spencer Oh, no. It’s me that’s lucky. You all right, honey? What’s the matter? What’s the matter, honey? You all right?
Jillian Just a little hot.
Spencer Why don’t you have some water?
Jillian I think I’m gonna go home.
Spencer All right. Feeling better?
Jillian Yeah. Where’s Nan?
Spencer She went out.
Jillian It’s after midnight.
Spencer She’s young, Jill. She’s having fun. Don’t you remember when we used to have fun? Huh?
Jillian No.
Spencer No? You don’t remember that, huh? Okay. All right. What’s wrong with you?
Jillian You ever think about what happened to Alex?
Spencer Oh, shit.
Jillian What happened to Natalie? I do, all the time. Those two minutes you could have died.
Spencer Why do you want to go back there? Why do you want to go back to that? Can’t you just try for once to be happy? Just once?
Jillian I’m gonna go to sleep. Mr Reese? It’s Jillian Armacost. The autopsy on Natalie Streck. . . what did it say about the baby? Mr Reese?
Reese (phone) Not on the phone, Mrs Armacost.
Jillian No, you don’t understand. You have to tell me. What did Natalie’s autopsy say about the baby?
Reese (phone) Babies.
Jillian What?
Reese (phone) Natalie Streck was pregnant, with twins, Mrs Armacost.
Jillian Oh, my God. What’s happening to me?
Reese (phone) You are, too, aren’t you? Mrs Armacost? Pregnant with his twins?
Jillian Natalie’s babies. . . Mr Reese. What did the autopsy say about them?
