Chapter 12: The Road Ahead

By mid August I was feeling very comfortable with things in Des Moines. The operation had been running pretty smoothly when I got there, except for the one obvious problem, and with that fixed almost immediately, it went right back to being smooth across the board. It was a good place to learn the mechanics of management, as I thought of it, the crossing of the t's and the dotting of the i's when it came to managing people in a mixed environment of office workers, field personnel and independent contractors.

My situation with Becka was suffering from the distance, even if we were spending a lot of time together at the fortress. The plans I had to ease that strain had been somewhat derailed by the episode with the Tulsa Tornado, but Serenity helped get things back on track again by offering me some items from a 'family source'. Having met her mother, I could only imagine what that really meant. The last Saturday in August, I took Becka to dinner at a restaurant uptown called the Crystal Palace. The food was as upscale as the location and the service was impressive. After the roast duck and before dessert, I pulled the ring from my pocket and slowly descended to a knee in front of her.

"Rebecka Marie Anderra, I love you more than I ever dreamed it was possible to love, and it would mean the world to me if you would agree to spend the rest of your life by my side, as I hope to spend mine beside you." I paused, just long enough to lock my eyes with hers and wait until I knew she had to be seeing straight through into my soul. "Will you marry me?"

She had the good grace to at least let me finish my question before launching herself into my arms and screaming yes. I had to let her knock me onto my back and mockingly complain. She caught on immediately to the fact that she had just knocked her officially semi-invalid boyfriend on his ass, and began apologizing profusely.

It was a dainty, ladylike scream, she informed me later. Of course I agreed. If its possible to use that word when there is screaming involved, then hers should certainly be described as ladylike.

The ring was something Serenity came up with. She said it was called a Skystone where her brother lived, but the diamonds that circled it didn't need any explanation, nor did the platinum band it all sat upon. "You'll have time to shop for a more traditional wedding set, but this will be an elegant and unique engagement ring."

It was indeed, and Becka was thrilled with it. We had dinner with her parents penciled in for the following weekend.

One of the things important to me in becoming Iron Man was learning enough to duplicate Trey Young's work in building the suit. That meant learning the metallurgy, the forging techniques and everything else involved. I realized I would never understand some parts of it, not in a way that meant true understanding anyway, but I was going to be able to do the work, even if it was by rote. I would be able to repair damage. I would be able to rebuild it, if it came to that. Such was my goal.

To accomplish this goal, I needed not only understanding of and familiarity with the tools and materials, I needed the tools and materials! In this regard, neither Midnight my mentor, or Serenity my friend, were willing to cut corners. I had to buy the tools and materials where Trey would have. There were intermediate steps and processes that were required in creating both the alloys used and some of the tools needed to work them. While some were standard, some did not exist on Terana and wouldn't exist anytime soon, unless I could create them. My six months in Des Moines would prove to be barely enough time to make a scratch in the mountain of tasks I'd set for myself with this goal.

While I threw myself into this, Becka spent her time with Wing. Even when all she was doing was reading the manuals and studying some of the books on tactics and tactical procedures that Midnight gave us, she did it aboard Wing. Long hours we spent apart from each other, me in the bowels of the fortress and Becka hovering at the edge of space aboard Wing, reading and running simulations.

"You like it up there, don't you?" I asked over dinner one night.

"I do," She answered with a curious tilt of her head. "I don't know why for sure. The solitude, maybe. I like the lack of distractions. Everything seems so in focus."

"Well, you've always had what I would have called 'porcelain skin', but I think all this time spent in Wing has you looking even paler than normal," I commented, running a hand down her arm.

"Yeah, I've noticed that myself. I guess I need to get out a little more. Too bad we don't have a beach to go sunbathe at."

"I'd volunteer to escort you," I offered with a leer.

"You would too, you lecher!" She said with false indignation, slapping my shoulder.