When this producer had learned that Yukari would be visiting Mir, he had had an award-winning idea. Mir was equipped with a camera and the ability to send and receive video in real time. What better way to cover a Morita family reunion?
He had set up the lines for the broadcast in record time, with links between Japan, the Solomon Islands, and TsUP mission control in Russia. In exchange for the use of their bandwidth, myriad television stations around the globe would gain the rights to air the program—it would be broadcast live throughout Asia, Africa, North America, Europe, and Australia.
As Kinoshita wrapped up his conversation with Commander Belyayev, the producer whispered to Matsuri. “You’re up, Matsuri. Break a leg.”
“Hoi. Yukari, we have a special surprise for you—a video conference with your parents. People all over the world will be watching.”
“What?”
The image split into two windows. Yukari’s father, Hiroshi Morita, appeared on the screen.
“You’re looking well, Yukari.”
“Uh, hi, Dad. Are you in the village?”
“A camera crew came out and asked me to talk to you.”
“Talk to me about what?”
“Oh, you know, see how you’re feeling.”
“Never better. What about you? You found a new chief to replace you yet? You are getting ready to go back to Japan, right?”
“Things are moving.”
“You promised.”
“A promise is a promise, Yukari, but—”
Hiroko Morita interrupted. The producer scrambled to get a third window showing Yukari’s mother on the screen. Hiroko was in the living room of their home in Yokohama. “After all this trouble to become an astronaut, what’s all the hurry to get home?”
“I thought you were on my side, Mom.”
“You’re just going to leave Matsuri there all by herself? Or did you plan on bringing her back to Japan with you?”
Matsuri appeared in a fourth window. “Hoi, I want to fly on a few missions before I decide.”
“There, you see?”
“How do you like space, Yukari?” interrupted her father. “Is one trip going to be enough to get it out of your system?”
“I haven’t had time to think about it. So far I’ve had my hands full with one emergency after another.”
“And you pulled it off,” said her mother. “Doesn’t that make you feel proud?”
“A little, maybe.”
“They still need Hiroshi in the village—why not stick with the program a little longer, brush up your skills?”
“But I want to go back to school! If I’m not back by next semester, they’re going to hold me back a grade!”
“What’s one year?”
“Aren’t you worried at all?”
“About what?”
“I was almost killed!”
“There’s danger everywhere,” replied Hiroko. “Your dying in space is something I could come to terms with, but what if you were hit by a car in front of the house or you slipped on a bar of soap in the bathtub? It’s a meaningless death like that that worries me.”
“Which is exactly the problem.”
“Morimori died from a snakebite,” said Matsuri.
“That’s right, she did, didn’t she,” said Hiroshi. “Such a waste…”
“Who’s Morimori?” asked Yukari.
“Morimori was my daughter with…Tongua, I think it was.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, this man can’t even remember the names of the mothers of his children.”
“Still can’t get enough, eh, Hiroshi?” said Hiroko.
“It’s hard for a leopard to change his spots,” admitted her father.
“Tankuku drowned in the river,” continued Matsuri. “Lapepe was kicked by a boar.”
“And Kalengi ate some bad fish, as I recall.”
“We lost a foreman at one of our construction sites,” offered Hiroko. “A crane fell over in the wind—his brains were all over the place.”
“Wind can sneak up on you like that.”
“The trouble is when it blows intermittently—once harmonic vibration kicks in, it’s all over.”
“Hoi, you should have made an offering to the wind spirits.”
“You’re pretty superstitious for an astronaut,” said Yukari.
“Don’t be so hard on your sister, Yukari,” said Hiroshi. “Even in Japan they don’t break ground on a new building without a religious ceremony.”
“Listen to your father, Yukari. Plenty of people take these things seriously.”
“You two are certainly on the same page.”
“We did know each other before the honeymoon, you know,” said Hiroshi.
“But this is the first time we’ve talked in sixteen years,” added Hiroko.
“Do you know anyone who’s died, Yukari?” asked Matsuri.
“You really like this morbid stuff, don’t you, Matsuri?”
“Hoi!”
“Well, let’s see. There was a girl in school who got stung by a wasp.”
“I remember that. Caused quite a stir at the PTA meeting,” said Hiroko.
“We have wasps here too, don’t we, Matsuri?”
And so it went. The producer, who had hoped for a teary reunion, was dumbfounded but powerless to stop it. The Morita family talked until Mir passed out of range.
✦ ✦ ✦
[ACT 3]
✦ ✦ ✦
YUKARI SPENT THE rest of the day answering calls from the media at Solomon mission control and throughout the world. She was in one interview or another right up until lights-out on Mir. By then she had been up more than twenty-four hours straight, and she was exhausted.
Yukari went to Oleg’s kayuta and watched as he showed her how to use the sleeping bag. It made her feel like a bug in a cocoon, but in zero gravity there weren’t many options.
“You looked very happy talking with your family,” said Oleg.
Yukari’s head was the only part of her body protruding from the sleeping bag. “Hmm, you think so?” She cocked her head. “I didn’t feel particularly happy.”
“But you were. During breakfast you were nervous. But after you spoke with family, you seem relaxed, at home.”
“Really?”
Yukari had felt frustrated, annoyed, even angry…but happy?
The impromptu family reunion had caught her completely off guard. She had imagined their reunion would take place outside of customs at Narita Airport. Her father would be wearing a suit, and they would come walking out together, side by side, to find her mother waiting for them. There would be no teary spectacle, much to the dismay of the media thronging around them. The three of them would walk past the cameras and microphones with neither a nod nor a word, and they would go home together for the first time. And when they were home, they would talk about anything and everything.
Instead, the reunion had taken place via four-way satellite tele-conference. On live television, they had started bickering back and forth almost as soon as they had opened their mouths, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Yukari was speaking to them from aboard a Russian space station. They had spoken their minds in front of the whole world.
“So that’s what it feels like to be a family,” she said in Japanese. Then, in English, “Do you have a family, Oleg?”
“Yes. Wife, but no children yet.”
“Do you talk to your wife the way we talked today?”
“Sometimes, yes.” Oleg seemed a little nervous.
Yukari decided to ask something that had been bothering her. “What about Nikolai? Does he have a family?”
“Wife and two children.”
“He seems like he’s in a bad mood. Did you two get in a fight or something?”
“With me? No. We get along well.”
“Then with his family, maybe?”
“Hard to say.”
“You live together. How can you not know?”
“We do our best not to intrude.”
“Being up here for over half a year, don’t you ever feel…unfulfilled?”
Oleg shook his head. “Only the chosen few can do our job. It is a great honor.”
“I think I get it.” Oleg had given Yukari a stock answer, but it had made something click. “So there is something different about real astronauts. Were you in the military?”
“Yes, I flew Sukhoi fighters in Khabarovsk. Nikolai was an upperclassman when I was at air force academy. Finally he was promoted to desk job, but he never gave up his dream of flying higher, faster. So he applied to be cosmonaut.”
“A real go-getter.”
“Nikolai is incredible man. But do not sell yourself short. You are real thing, Yukari.”
“I don’t know…”
“And so charming too.”
“Thanks.” Yukari smiled. “You don’t know how happy you made me when you decided to let Tampopo dock.”
“Do not mention it. No one knew how you must have felt better than we did.”
“Thanks,” she said again.
A wave of relief surged over her. She had washed up on the shores of a man-made island in space called Mir, and she was lucky to be here.
Her anxiety had held sleep at bay, and with it gone, she felt her eyelids grow heavy.
“Sorry, I can barely keep my eyes open.”
“Sleep well, Yukari. Good night.” Before Oleg had turned from the kayuta, Yukari was already fast asleep.