Chapter Fifteen

The KCWY Television building was wedged between Wyoming Safety Supply and the Ahern Rentals shop in Casper, Wyoming. It was one of the smallest NBC affiliates in the nation, but for a state as thinly populated as Wyoming, it was also the most appropriate venue for the Dyers if they wanted to get a pre-launch interview televised. They might have been a vain couple, but they were practical enough to keep this sort of publicity close to home.

The station’s parking lot was largely empty, so the limousine driver found a parking spot, opened the door for the couple, and got back inside the warmth of the vehicle to wait. It was bitterly cold, but the driver would only need to sit about half an hour before taking the Dyers to the Casper-Natrona airport where their helicopter would transport them to the Nevada desert and the awaiting Coda rocket.

Alan and Jane Dyer walked into KCWY’s front lobby, and a receptionist stood up and smiled. “Hi, welcome! I’ll let them know you’re here!” Before she could even pick up the phone, the studio doors swung open and a man and woman came charging out, eager to greet their guests. The man extended his hand to shake Alan’s and said, “I’m Van, and this is my co-anchor, Katie. It’s great for you guys to take the time to stop by and chat with us.” Katie also extended her hand, smiled, and said, “Absolutely!”

Both of the KCWY personalities had the standard-issue hair, smiles, and wardrobe one might expect from a local news station. Alan, Van, Jane, and Katie each executed the matrix of necessary handshakes, then Van decided it was time to get down to business, so he said, “Let’s head into the studio. This is going to be fun.”

There were no serpentine hallways to navigate where they were going. Instead, the moment they crossed the threshold of the door, they were already at their destination. Evidently, there wasn’t much besides the lobby and the studio within the building, whose entire square footage was a tiny fraction of the Dyers’ residence.

There was hardly anyone on staff there, either, including anyone to do make-up. Thus, the Dyers sat in the pair of folding chairs that had been put there for them and made sure to brush any dandruff off their collars and give their teeth a quick check in the mirror.

Katie, the young-looking co-anchor, grabbed some notes from her desk and asked, “Did you just get into town?”

“Yeah,” said Alan. “We took our helicopter from Jackson. Beautiful scenery on the way here. We got awfully lucky with the weather.”

The anchors gave each other a knowing look. “Speaking of weather,” Van said, “our meteorologist has put together a little something special for the broadcast.”

“Oh?” Jane replied, more concerned than curious.

Van looked over at Alan and said, “OK, I know you’re short on time, so shall we get started?”.

“Sure. Do we look OK?” Alan asked.

“Absolutely,” chimed Katie. “OK, here we go! This will be taped for later, so if there’s any problems, don’t worry about it.”

“Got it, thanks.” Alan sat up straighter as he tried to make himself comfortable in front of the equipment.

The camera’s light came on and Van turned toward the lens. “Well, everyone, we’ve got a real treat today that is simply out of this world. Katie, you want to tell our audience who’s joining us in the studio?”

“Absolutely, Van. We’d like to welcome Alan Dyer and his wife and business partner Jane Dyer to KCWY Wyoming, and this local couple is going to be heading into space tomorrow! Alan, Jane, welcome to KCWY News!”

Alan wasn’t sure who should go first, but he said, “Thanks, Katie, we’re both thrilled.”

Katie was seated next to Jane and said, “Now, Jane, how in the world did you find yourselves getting ready to board a spacecraft?”

Jane looked at the camera and then realized she should probably look at her host instead, so she turned back to her and answered, “Well, Katie, it all happened really quickly. About six weeks ago, we got a letter from The Coda Project, which was started by one of the InSight founders -- you know, the company with the eyeglasses? – and he said that he was reaching out to a couple dozen fellow entrepreneurs to be considered for the maiden voyage of his new space tourism company. After we provided the information, he picked us to join him.”

“You had to apply to get a spot on the spaceship?” Van asked.

“Well, not exactly, but there were questions about our lifestyle, our health, and what we would hope to get out of such a voyage. So, it was a little like an application, I guess. I’m not sure how he decided who would get to go, but I’m sure glad it was us!”

“Absolutely!” Katie said, and Alan began to wonder if the broadcaster knew any other words to express affirmation. Katie continued, “Now, you mentioned your background as entrepreneurs. Could you tell our viewers about that?”

“Sure, I’ll take that one,” Alan answered. “About a decade ago, Jane and I started a company called AutoNet, which was based on the idea that if the world is going to have self-driving cars, they might as well talk to one another. After all, there’s safety in numbers. If two heads are better than one, then a hundred cars talking to each other is safer than one, right?”

Alan slightly winced as Katie responded, once more, “Absolutely.” 

“Yeah. So, we built the company down near Salt Lake, actually doing most of our field testing on the Bonneville Flats in order to experiment with unmanned vehicles safely. Jane and I both have engineering backgrounds – we met back at Carnegie-Mellon – and then we just poured ourselves into this project, heart and soul.”

“Do you two still own the company?” asked Van.

“No, no,” Jane answered, “A couple of years ago, we reached an agreement with a major U.S. carmaker to purchase the company and all of its technology. We weren’t about to go into the auto manufacturing business, but they provided us with a perfect arrangement to get our invention into millions of their own vehicles. Alan even got to stay on as their senior technical advisor, just in case being retired got boring for him. So, it’s been an amazing ride.”

“It sounds like it. And now you’re off to space!”

“Well, yes, very soon,” Alan said. “We’re excited and nervous at the same time. Jane and I are very physically fit……..”

Katie interrupted with a big smile and gave Alan a look up and down, “I’ll say!” to which Van playfully chided her, “Down there, girl!” The Dyers were both starting to wonder if this interview was a terrible idea, but Alan tried to continue with his thought.

“........which is one of the reasons we love it here in Wyoming. It’s just so beautiful here, with so many opportunities to be active. But going into space, that’s just a whole other level of adventure. I still can’t believe it.”

“Did you have to go through any kind of training program?” asked Katie.

Jane replied, “No, it’s really quite simple, from what we understand. We’re basically there to enjoy the ride, look at the views, and just try to drink it all in. They’re going to give us videos both inside and outside the Coda ship after the trip is over. Kevin Toffler is a true engineering genius, and the rocket he’s developed is going to make space tourism a lot more accessible, from what I understand. We are so excited to be the first to join him.”

“And why The Coda Project? What’s the story behind that name?” Katie asked.

Alan said, “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. I mean, when you think of the word coda, that’s the end of a musical piece, right? So we figure, you know, space is the final frontier, so I suppose it’s sort of a play on words. I’ll have to ask him about that.”

Van smiled at them both and said, “Well, you two, we figure that you’re interested in the weather for your big blast-off tomorrow, so we had Wild Wynn the Weatherman put together this customized forecast for your trip!” Van pointed to a monitor and the increasingly uneasy husband and wife looked over at the screen.

“Hello there, astronauts Jane and Alan!” said a man on the screen who was dressed in some sort of homespun spacesuit costume. There was a giant map of the western United States on the screen behind him as he mugged for the camera. The recording continued, “Your action-weather forecast tomorrow for the mid-Nevada desert is clear-as-can-be but the temperature where you’re going in space is C-O-L-D, so be sure to wear your long underwear under those spacesuits of yours!” 

He then began to pantomime swaying back and forth unsteadily as the green screen behind him changed from a weather map to a rapidly moving starfield. A crude drawing of a spaceship was overlaid on top of his image, with his face looking through the portal, and he goofily shouted out “Whooooooooaaa! Well, kids, I’m off to the unknown, so this is Wild Wynn the Weatherman saying goooooooooood luck and goooooooooood re-entry!”

At that point the video was mercifully over, and the Dyers tried to conceal their awkward embarrassment at the spectacle and smiled politely at the pair of news anchors. 

Jane Dyer broke the silence by saying, “Well. That was something!”

“Absolutely!”