The rest of the crew knew what was happening. They handled it professionally, without a single crude comment, and made sure that Jack and Kit knew that they were treating it the same as they would any other experiment. As the time approached, Kit bathed herself and took one of the pills. Ten minutes later, they went to the small compartment where the experiment would be carried out. Jack sealed the hatch and paused to look at her.

"Are you ready?" she asked. He nodded

She took off her booties and slipped out of her jumpsuit, struggling against zero gravity. "Houston," he asked, "are you reading us?"

"We're go," came the reply.

He took off his booties and his jumpsuit, and they floated into the space where the cameras could see them. They were still in their underwear, still trying to get into the space comfortably, when Houston broke in.

"Go ahead, Houston."

"Do you have your protection?" the voice came back.

Kit smiled and grabbed for her jumpsuit, peeling a Velcro pocket open to retrieve a foil-covered, NASA-issued packet containing One Each Condom, Lubricated, Spermicidal. "Screw safety," Kit giggled, tossing the packet aside. "We'll accept the risk." Jack couldn't keep from laughing.

Katherine MacDonald grew up in Houston. Her father was a research chemist who tried to get his only child interested in what he did; it didn't happen. As a child, she was taller and prettier than the other girls in her classes, and better than any of them at sports.

Her parents enrolled her in pee-wee soccer just after her fifth birthday, and she excelled. By the time she had reached the under-eights, no one on the field was her equal. By her twelfth birthday, she had led her team to two district championships. In high school, she scored three goals in a game seven different times, and her team won the state title.

In her senior year of high school, the college scouts came calling: Santa Clara, North Carolina, Stanford. She had excellent grades, a knack for biology and science, and wanted to stay close to home. She chose Stanford and a full-ride soccer scholarship.

Once in college, she realized that she'd never make a good living playing soccer, and chose to concentrate her studies on developmental biology. As part of her coursework, she spent a summer interning at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett, working on an experiment in cell development that would be conducted on a space shuttle mission. She was bright, vibrant, a lot of fun, and caught the eye of the men she worked with.

One of those who fell for her was the project leader, Ken Kehler, who mentioned her at length to his supervisors at NASA, and they liked what they heard. She was kept under careful watch for nearly two months while every aspect of her life was investigated, and then she was approached.