"I do not know how you talked me into this," Jeannie said when she and Faye arrived at NASA a few days later.

"What is the matter with you?" Faye asked in exasperation, grabbing Jeannie by the wrist and dragging her out of the car. "I promised James I'd have lunch with him today. He's working on that project with Tony. You're my friend and you're having lunch with me, if we just happen to bump into Major Nelson..." She trailed off, poking Jeannie and giggling.

Jeannie sighed. "If you say so."

"Worrywart!" Faye exclaimed. They approached the visitor's center. "Faye Tarik and Jeannie Martinelli to see Majors Tarik and Nelson," she told the guard.

"Identification?" the guard asked. Faye pulled out her driver's license. Jeannie's heart stopped. She didn't have ID! She supposed she could try to blink something up, but without a model in front of her to go off of, the results could be disastrous. Panicking, she tried to get a glance at Faye's driver's license.

"Jeannie! Faye!" an excited voice called out. They turned to see Mrs. Bellows bustling over.

"Identification?" the guard droned once more.

"Don't be silly," Amanda scoffed. "They're with me."

"Yes, ma'am, Mrs. Bellows," the guard said, handing Jeannie and Faye visitor's passes through the window. Jeannie sighed in relief. That had been the first time Jeannie had ever visited NASA through the official channels, and she hoped it would be the last.

"It's such a coincidence that I ran into you two," Amanda chattered happily. "What brings you two to NASA?"

Faye grinned and rolled her eyes. "My brother wanted to show me all his pretty gadgets," she said cynically. "But I thought I'd bring Jeannie, too. She can save me from boredom whenever James gets dull, and if we happen to bump into Major Nelson..."

Amanda raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Oh, yes, I see." The two women giggled. Jeannie felt the color rising in her cheeks. "So, Jeannie, just how serious are things with Major Nelson, anyway?"

"Um. Well. We--" Jeannie began, her voice strained, but was saved from having to say anything further when they rounded a corner and walked straight into Major Healey kissing Josie Willow quite voraciously.

"Major Healey!" Amanda shrieked, disgust on her face. "In a NASA corridor?!"

Roger snapped to attention, though it was a bit of a sloppy salute, since his tie had come undone and his shirt was untucked. Amanda looked appalled; Faye, on the other hand, was giggling, and Jeannie tried hard to suppress a smile.

"Sorry, Mrs. Bellows, Josie and I were just--" he cut off when he spotted Jeannie. "What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"Major Healey, what is the matter with you?" Amanda snapped. Leave Jeannie and Faye out of this, it's not their fault that you were behaving so innappropriately for an officer of your status!"

She paused for a breath, giving Josie an opportunity to escape the tyrade. "Excuse me, Roger, I need to use the powder room," she said.

"Well, it's no wonder!" Amanda called after her. "It looks like all your make-up rubbed off onto Major Healey's uniform!" She whirled back to Roger. "And you! Just consider yourself lucky that it was I who caught you and not Alfred! Or someone more important, like General Peterson! That would teach you to leave those sort of activities until after hours!!!" By now, Faye was doubled over laughing, and Jeannie had tears of mirth leaking from the corners of her eyes. "Where is my husband, anyway?" Amanda asked when her tyrade was finished.

"He's in Major Nelson's office, Mrs. Bellows," Roger answered in the manner of one addresssing a superior officer.

"Excellent," Amanda said. "We can kill two birds with one stone. Come along, Jeannie, Faye." She bustled off in the direction of Tony's office.

Faye took in a ragged breath. "She certainly put you in your place, Roger," she giggled.

Roger stared at Faye as if he were seeing her for the first time. He jabbered something unintelligible, and then suavely ran a hand through his hair. "Miss Tarik," he said, deepening his voice. "I regret that I've never had an opportunity to have a decent conversation with you. Maybe we could have lunch or something?"

Faye smiled sweetly. "I'd love to Roger, but unlike you, I recall that you have a girlfriend. You know, the one whose face you were sucking off a few moments ago?" She giggled as Roger's face went blank, and turned to Jeannie, who had started laughing at Roger's pass at her. Some men never change. "Come on, Jeannie," Faye said. "We have to catch up with Amanda before she reaches Major Nelson's office without us."

Jeannie's heart started beating nervously as Faye began pulling her off. Roger quickly shook himself back to reality and dashed after them. "Um, I'll come with you," he said. He lowered his voice and murmered to Jeannie, "What do you think you're doing? Tony's going to have a cow when he sees you here."

Jeannie's nervousness disappeared, leaving annoyance at Roger and at her master's attitude about her. "What does it matter if I am here?" Jeannie whispered back snappishly. "Am I not allowed to have friends of my own?"

"That's not what I meant, Jeannie," Roger replied. "But you know what Tony would say..."

"We shall see momentailry, shall we not?" Jeannie retorted. They rounded the corner and saw Tony's office door was ajar, and that Amanda was inside chattering at Dr. Bellows and Tony.

"Oh, there they are!" she said. "I wondered where you two disappeared to."

"We were just helping Roger straighten out his tie," Faye said, grinning at a blushing Major Healey.

Tony glanced up from his desk at Faye and jeannie, and jumped, knocking a stack of file folders and their contents onto the floor. Everyone turned and stared at him as he shakily got up from the desk and started picking up the mess.

"Major Nelson, what is the problem?" Dr. Bellows asked in a long-suffering voice.

"Sorry, sir, I had a muscle spasm," Tony stammered, kneeling behind his desk to pick up the mess.

"A sign of exhaustion," Dr. Bellows said knowingly. "You've been working much too hard. What did I tell you about relaxing?"

Jeannie hurried forward. "Let me help you with that, Anthony," she said.

"Why, thank you Jeannie," Tony said in a pseudo-sweet voice, then grabbed her wrist and pulled her down behind the desk with him. "What are you doing?" he whispered.

"I am sorry, Master," Jeannie whispered sincerely. "Faye wanted me to come with her to see her brother, and you know how--"

"--Pushy she is," Tony finished. "I'm beginning to."

"Master, she is just trying to be nice," Jeannie said. "She doesn't know I am a...you know. She just thinks that I am your girlfriend. Which is not such a bad thing, you know."

Tony broke down and smiled. "No, it's not really, is it?" He picked up the last of the papers and put them on the desk, then he straightened and pulled Jeannie to her feet. "Thanks, Jeannie."

Jeannie smiled gleefully. "You are welcome."

"Well, it looks like everyone needs a break," Dr. Bellows said. "So why don't we go and find your brother, Miss Tarik, and then we can all have lunch together," he suggested.

"That sounds good," Tony said, taking Jeannie by the elbow. They left the office and began following Dr. Bellows.

Faye leaned over and whispered to Jeannie, "Sure, it sounds good. Everyone has a date except me. I get my brother." Jeannie giggled.

They followed Dr. Bellows outside, to an area that appeared to be a launchpad. "Major Tarik is working on one of the launching devices for the next Apollo mission right now," Dr. Bellows explained.

"Sounds like James," Faye said, rolling her eyes. "He always liked playing with Tinker Toys."

When they found Major Tarik, he was just finishing up, and promised to meet them all in the cafeteria, so the group started heading over there.

"Hey, Rog, whatever happened to Josie, anyway?" Tony asked.

"Yes, didn't she say she was going to the powder room?" Amanda said. "She should be done by now."

"We did just leave her, though," Jeannie said. "Perhaps she is looking for Major Healey?"

Roger frowned. "Yeah, I forgot about her," he said.

"You forgot about her?" Amanda asked, looking appalled. "What, kiss and ditch?"

"Amanda, please," Dr. Bellows scolded gently.

Before anyone could say anything more, a deafening explosion rattled the earth. The source of the blast obviously was nearby, and the ground shook and rattled, knocking everyone off their feet. Screams rang through the air. Flaming debris flew everywhere, zipping dangerously close to the group of friends.

"Heads down, cover your neck," Tony shouted. Suddenly, a dome of purple light surrounded them, blocking everything else from view.

And as suddenly as it had begun, it was all over.

Jeannie cautiously opened an eye. She relaxed and struggled to her knees, looking around at her companions. Beside her, Tony, rose to a crouch. Roger was still sprawled spread-eagle on his stomach, his hands covering his neck, shaking like a leaf. Dr. Bellows was clutching Amanda. Faye alone was on her feet, looking around, wild-eyed. "What happened?" Jeannie asked, her voice cracking.

Roger sat up. "Where did that blast come from?"

They all turned and looked back in the direction from which they had come. Billowing smoke rose from the launchpad construction area they had met James at.

"My brother!!!" Faye screamed, tearing off in the direction of the launchpad.

"Faye, wait!" Roger shouted, running after her.

"Come back! It's dangerous!" Amanda shouted, as she and Dr. Bellows followed. Sirens started going off, shrilly drowning out their shouts.

Jeannie leapt to her feet and started to go after them, but Tony held her back. "Look at this," he said, gesturing to the ground all around them. "Why didn't we get hit with that shrapnel?"

Jeannie looked around. There was dust, dirt, and smoldering debris all about them, but where the friends had been, there was a perfect circle of clean asphalt, about fifteen feet in diameter.

"Did you see that purple light?" Tony prodded. Jeannie nodded her assent. "That protected us from getting hit. Did you do that?"

"No, Master," Jeannie said truthfully.

"Jeannie, are you telling me that it wasn't magic?"

"No, Master, I am not. But I did not do it."

Tony scrutinized her face for a moment, and shook his head. Jeannie could not tell if he believed her, but he didn't seem up to arguing the point at the moment. Before either of them could do anything, Josie Willow ran up.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We're not sure," Tony said. "Something exploded by the launching area."

"Where's Roger? Is he all right?" she asked.

"Yes, he went running over there a few moments ago," Jeannie said, pointing.

Josie followed the suit of Faye, Roger, Dr. and Mrs. Bellows, and tore off in the direction of the blast. "Come on," Tony said, grabbing Jeannie's hand and running after them.

What had once been the launch pad was now a smoky bunch of rubble. There were firefighters on the scene, and any flames there may have been appeared to have been put out, leaving only smoke and the smell of burning rubber. Jeannie worriedly looked around for any sign of her friends.

Tony approached another officer. "What happened here?" he asked.

"Someone set off a bomb, sir," the man replied.

"What?" Tony asked in disbelief. But that's impossible! How could someone like that have gotten onto the base?"

"I don't know, sir," the man said with a shrug.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jeannie saw Faye helping a singed-looking man onto a stretcher. She ran over.

"Faye! Is James well?" she asked concernedly, looking at the man on the stretcher.

"He's unconscious," a medic said. "But it looks like he only sustained minor injuries. We'll have to take a look at him at the base hospital, but I'm sure he'll be jut fine."

Faye sniffled, but she nodded bravely. "Thank you," she said.

Jeannie put an arm around her friend. Faye was fighting to hold back tears. "Who would have done this?" she whimpered. "Why?"

"I think I have an answer for that," a brisk voice said. General Peterson stepped through the smoke. All the officers snapped to attention. "I have bad news, gentlemen. I think the bomb was a double-edged sword. First, to eliminate Major Tarik. Second, to create a distraction."

"What do you mean, General?" Faye asked. "Who would try to kill my brother?"

"Spies, young lady," General Peterson said without so much as a flinch.

"Sir?" Tony said uncertainly.

"I have bad news, gentlemen. While we were tending to the explosion, someone tried to break into ERIC."