“We can’t. You’ve heard how we’ll be using the CLT-SB to move the emergency rations to the Far Side Observatory as soon as a transport container is built?”

  Cheryl had a confused look on her face and said, “Yes…”

  “That’s a cover story. Major Steelings is worried that if we use the CLT-SB, somebody will sabotage it like they did the CLT30. The CLT-SB is the only vehicle we have now that can reach Earth if we need to. We can’t risk losing that. He came up with an alternate plan for getting the food there. We’re just waiting for the fourth of January.”

  Cheryl was smart and I could see she had figured it out when she said, “You’re taking it by rover. You need it to be daytime on the far side so that’s why you’re waiting until the fourth. Sam’s going as a driver. You’re going as backup driver and mechanic. Who’s driving the other rover?”

  Sandy said, “Major Steelings. It was his idea and he’s the most qualified explorer on the Moon. After the rovers were loaded with the food from the CLT30, they were stored at the old base for better security. We’ll go over to the old base early Wednesday morning and leave from there. It’s possible no one will even notice we’re gone, but if they do, we’ll be long gone.”

  “That’s why Sam can’t watch Bryce. You two are going to be gone. For God knows how long. How far is it to the Observatory?”

  “It’s about twenty six hundred kilometers. We should be able to make it there in five days. A day or two there at the Observatory and maybe five days or less on the way back.. We should make pretty good time on the way back because we’ll be covering known ground.”

  “Is five days realistic for the trip there?”

  “We’ve got a pretty good route picked out from the imaging that’s been done over the years. Psuche Neural is letting us borrow some advanced autonomous surveying robots that will check the route out before we get there. We should be pretty safe.”

  Cheryl looked crestfallen and said, “I wish I could feel the same way about Bryce. Well, I guess I’d better get out of your hair. Good luck and safe travels.”

  This didn’t feel right to me. Cheryl and Bryce had gone to bat for me and saved me when I truly needed it. There were other folks with experience driving rovers so I wouldn’t be killing the relief mission if I didn’t go. I looked at Sandy and said, “Cheryl, wait. I don’t have to go. I’ll stay here and watch over Bryce. Sandy, is that okay with you or do I have to quit?”

  Sandy looked at me and I could see the hesitation in his face. He said, “We’d be better off with your experience. However, I know it means a lot to Cheryl and I guess we were already looking for another driver. Hopefully we can find two.”

  Cheryl said, “Sam, Sandy, that would be so wonderful if you could do it. Are you sure it won’t jeopardize the relief mission?”

  Sandy was sitting there looking like he wasn’t sure and Cheryl looked like she’d just been saved and was afraid salvation was going to be snatched from her.

  I had a thought and said, “Cheryl, did you mean it when you said you wished Bryce could be as safe as we appeared to be on this trip?”

  “Yes… Why?”

  “I was just thinking maybe there’s an alternative to me staying. Would you consider letting Bryce come with us? I know Sandy has been teaching him to drive Megan II so he’d fit in as a backup driver. He could ride with me and I’d only let him drive when he’d be following the lead rover. It’ll save us from having to tell anyone else about the mission so there’d be less chance of the news leaking out before we left.”

  “I don’t know, Sam. The last time I let Bryce go on one of these trips, things didn’t turn out so well.”

  “The last time, he was actually safer than we were. He’ll be gone two weeks and maybe by then this will all blow over. If nothing else, out of sight, out of mind. He won’t be sticking up on anybody’s radar screen when we get back and when we’re back, I can make sure he stays out of trouble.”

  “Okay, he can go. But promise me there won’t be any international incidents this time.”

  I started to laugh, but Sandy said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. So, uh, this is Major Steelings project. Maybe we better check with him before inviting Bryce along. For what it’s worth, I think Bryce will do fine on the trip and it will keep him out of mischief, so I’ll recommend the idea to Major Steelings. When all is said and done, though, it’s going to be the Major’s call. Let me see what he thinks.”

  Cheryl and I sat there while Sandy called the Major. He laid everything out for the Major and made his recommendation. The Major asked him several questions and then told Sandy to move ahead with Bryce going along with us.

  When Sandy got off the phone, Cheryl gave each of us a curious look and said, “So, what’s next?”

  Sandy said, “So, uh, obviously don’t tell Bryce. Quietly pack him a bag. Make sure he has enough medicine for a month. He may get jostled around in the rover and might need some pain relief for his ribs. Bring him to the transport bay at 02:00 Wednesday morning. We’re leaving then.”

  “Okay, Sandy. I’ll have him there on time.”

  “Cheryl, you can change your mind, but we have to leave Wednesday morning. If you’re going to alter it, make the decision tonight, so I have time to find a replacement driver. Uh, I guess I mean drivers, since Sam won’t go then.”

  “I’m probably going to second guess myself a thousand times before, this is over, but Bryce is going with you. There’s no going back.”

  OVER THE NEXT HILL

  MOONNET CENTRAL NEWS FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2040

  Good morning, this is Rick James with MoonNet Central News reporting from our studios at Peary. It’s Wednesday, January 4th, 2040.

  The investigation continues into the crash of Denali Aerospace’s CLT30. Investigators have confirmed the preliminary finding that a small bomb was used to destroy the number three engine array. Loss of the array led to the CLT flight control system aborting the flight. The CLT flight control system was unable to counter the severe yaw the engine outage had induced and that led to the CLT tipping over on landing. Fortunately, the two crew members were not seriously injured nor was there damage to the emergency rations the mission was to deliver to the Far Side Observatory. The current plan is to use Denali Aerospace’s CLT30-SB to deliver the emergency rations in a mission that’s set to leave Saturday morning. Denali Aerospace has announced that additional security for the CLT-SB has been set in place and a repeat of the first incident is not expected.

  Good news from Earth this morning. Late yesterday NASA launched the first of three communications satellites to restore full time communications with the Near side Habitats. The LUN/IS 1 mission was launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 0047 GMT from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Mission controllers report the satellite was successfully deployed and NASA has confirmed communications with both NLH and ESA’s Lunar Village. The communication’s window is open for approximately thirty minutes during every ninety minute orbit of LUN/IS 1. An additional satellite is expected to be added to the constellation later this year with the final satellite being added in 2041.

  Officials at the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) announced over the weekend the death of Professor Maximiliano Savino. Professor Savino was a key researcher in general AI and a leading expert on biologically-inspired AI systems. The professor was found dead in his lab at the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research located in Manno, Switzerland. The police are treating his death as a suicide, but sources close to Savino say they saw no signs the Professor was suicidal and consider the idea that he took his own life highly unlikely. A spokesperson for the Dalle Molle Institute, said Savino’s work was inspired and that he was working hard towards a breakthrough in producing a true general AI.

  Administrator Penelope Aronsen from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is expected to speak on the Hill today to answer questions over FEMA’s response to the solar storm that left small sections of the country without electrical power. Representative Marc Hensley of Idaho has promised to hold the agency accountable for its delay in getting emergency supplies to affected areas in a timely manner and for failing to hold the responsible power utilities fully accountable for their role in the emergency. Months after the storm, almost three hundred and seventy six thousand people across the United States are still without power and with no sign of when power will be fully restored to all areas affected.

  In financial news today, the Lunar Stock Market closed Friday with shares of AJVC Metal Supply trading at $10.15 a share, CDB Farms is at $18.85 a share, Daniels Designs is at $1.62 a share, and Hotel Whipple shares are at $21.86. Luna Wire & Cable shares are at $4.99, and O’Reilly’s Shellfish Company is at $18.68 a share. Milky Way Dairy shares are selling at 14.63 a share, while MM Brewing is at $1.97 a share, and Mussconny Fabrication is trading at $25.86 a share. Mussconny Machine is at $23.12 a share, Psuche Neural is at $8.62, and Whipple Instrument and Metrology is selling at $12.92 a share.

  ROVER 2

  The change in the rover’s motion woke me up. I was sitting in the well padded seat up front next to Sam. I’d been wide awake and excited when we started driving. It had taken an hour of the rover’s motion to put me back to sleep. I guess that between the little amount of sleep I originally got and the bruises and broken ribs my body was still trying to repair, no amount of excitement was going to keep me up. I hadn’t been expecting this trip. In fact, I knew nothing about it when my mom and dad woke me up this morning. Mom got me up and said I was late for school and needed to hurry. I’m usually pretty good about waking up to my alarm and couldn’t understand how I missed it. I quickly jumped in the shower and then got dressed. That was when I noticed the clock said it was one forty five am. I found Mom and Dad waiting for me in the common room. Mom had a sad look on her face and quietly said, “Surprise.”

  “Mom, what the heck is going on. It’s the middle of the night. No wonder I feel like I just went to sleep.”

  Dad said, “Son, we’re worried about you. There’s no time to explain all the details, but we’re going to have Sam take care of you and keep you safe for a while. We’ll explain it all to you later. For right now, trust us, and know that we love you more than anything.”

  “I love you guys, too. What’s going on?”

  Mom said, “Sam and Sandy are going on a little trip and you’re going with them. Now, come on, we have to go. We can’t be late.”

  Mom hugged me and then led us out the door. Dad was carrying a bag that I found out later had my clothes, medicine and personal stuff. They led me through the quiet halls of the Habitat to the Vehicle Bay, where Sam and Sandy were waiting for us next to Megan II. Mom walked up to Sam and Sandy and gave them each hugs. Sandy said, “Last chance, Cheryl. Are you sure you want to do this?”

  Mom gave Sandy a sad kind of a smile and said, “I don’t like this, but I’m as sure of our decision as I can be. You have a safe trip.”

  With that, Mom turned to me and gave me a fierce hug. Before I had a chance to yelp from the pain my ribs were causing me, she let me go and handed me my E-Pad. “Take this, there’s a message on here that explains why we’re sending you with Sam. I love you.”

  Mom walked away and Dad stepped up. He surprised me by sticking out his hand for a handshake and when I took his hand, he said, “Safe travels, son. I love you.” Then he pulled me in for a brief, gentle hug and then let me go. Sam, Sandy and I boarded Megan II with Sam and Sandy taking the driver seats up front and me in the back. That gave me a little privacy so I pulled out the E-Pad and watched the message from my mom and dad. Me getting beat up had scared both of them. This wasn’t some silly spat at school that had gotten outta hand. This was I had crossed some people who, right or wrong, believed in what they were doing. If I crossed them again, I’d probably get worse. Mom and Dad knew how I felt about my name being used on the posters. They had hired Sam to keep an eye on me, however, Sam had to go on a little trip. It turned out the trip was to take the relief food to the Far Side Observatory. Mom alluded to that as she concluded the video. With tears in her eyes, she said, “So you see, this is a win-win situation. I get to know you are safe with Sam watching you, and you get to actually do something you believe in. Be safe my son.”

  I put away the E-Pad and tried not to worry about my parents. Since Mom was the person responsible for providing most of the food for the Habitat and Peary, I didn’t think anybody was out to harm her, but the illusion of relative safety at the Habitat had been shattered for me. The people behind the posters, the ones who had beat me up, were desperate people, convinced that they were the target of a conspiracy to somehow starve them. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but the storm had turned a lot of people’s world’s upside down. Even on Earth, even in the USA, there were riots as people without power and in the cold for months protested violently against a government that just couldn’t do enough.

  I tried to distract myself by looking out the window. We were traveling along the road to the old base and had just passed through the sprawl of the Manufacturing Module. The Denali CLT30 Training Facility lay just to the North. I was out this way with Nina at least once a month. I know it was a good idea to keep my options open and Nina was insistent that I at least get the minimum amount of simulator hours each month that I needed to maintain my certification on the CLT30. We rolled on past the facility and soon pulled up to the main building at the old base. Unlike the last time I had visited here, there were two big transport rovers snuggled up to building and attached by their forward airlocks. Sandy drove around to the rear of the building and found an unused airlock that Megan II could attach to. Sam cycled the lock for us to let us in the building. I grabbed my bag and then entered the building while Sandy and Sam unloaded some pressure suits and other bags from the rover. Sandy did the leg work in the rover and then handed the things through the lock to Sam. Even on crutches, Sam still did a better job of handling the cargo than I would have with my bad ribs.

  Once the rover was empty, Sandy sealed the lock and then used his E-Pad to send Megan II back to the Main Vehicle Bay at the Habitat. Megan II wasn’t fully autonomous but did have enough smarts to be able to backtrack her last journey. Leaving her in the Vehicle Bay would delay anyone asking questions and forestall the moment when people figured out what we were really up to. Sandy then led the way through the building to Major Steelings’ office where he was waiting for us wearing his pressure suit. Since we’d be traveling off road, on unfamiliar terrain, we’d be wearing our pressure suits at all times the vehicles were moving. We changed into our suits and then Major Steelings said, “Alright, let’s get this show on the road. We’ll be following the roads out to Karpinskiy this first day. After that, things will get interesting.”

  Sandy and the Major headed off to Rover One while Sam and I made it over to the second rover. Normally, we always used the rear entrance to the rover. As I entered through the front airlock, I could see why we weren’t using the rear. All of the seats had been removed from the rover leaving a long cargo space. Down the center line of the rover’s cargo space were three large containers that Sam said were auxiliary batteries to give us the range we needed. Packed around the containers from floor to ceiling were the cargo boxes containing the emergency rations. At the nose of the rover, you had the drivers’ seats. Behind them you had the forward locks on each side, and then just behind the locks, you had an upper and lower bunk on one side and a bathroom and small kitchen on the other.

  Sam said, “Sit in the right seat. You can put your helmet in the holder above and to your right. Take the lanyard from the reel on your right arm and clip it to your helmet. That way, you can always reach your helmet if we have problems.” Sam sat down in the left seat and started up the rover. She detached the airlock from the building and then backed off while turning so she could pull in behind rover one. She set the radio to a private channel and then said, “Rover two to rover one, ready when you are.”

  Major Steelings’ voice came back and just said, “Rolling.”

  Rover one started pulling away from us. When Major Steelings had said earlier that we’d be following the roads, he meant that we would be following the old trails left during the early years of exploration around the outpost. Trails that Megan II left in her earlier incarnation as Megan I. Sam let Rover One get a good head start and then she started following. The scenery was amazing but an hour later, sleep caught up to me and I dozed off for three hours.

  WAY OF THE CRATERS

  I missed Rozhdestvenskiy. Rozhdestvenskiy crater was this huge crater near the lunar north pole that was the first major crater we would come to on our journey. Rozhdestvenskiy crater was one hundred and seventy seven kilometers in diameter and I slept through it. Well, I didn’t sleep through it so much as around it. Our route passed by the highlands to the West of the crater. There was a path that led down into the crater, however, there wasn’t a path that led back up on the crater’s southern rim. Sharp changes in altitude could spell trouble for our rovers so the plan was to stay out of the big craters. When Sam pulled the rover up for the stop that had woke me up, we had already turned to the West to avoid Plaskett crater’s rim. There was a ridge that lies along the northern rim of Plaskett that kept me from seeing down inside the crater. I was hoping when we started back up and followed the crater rim on back to the south that eventually we’d reach an overlook that would allow a peek down into the crater. At one hundred and nine kilometers in diameter, Plaskett wasn’t the biggest crater we’d see, yet it wasn’t the smallest by far, either.

  Sam got out of her seat and stretched. She’d been driving for the last four hours and needed a break. Rover One was visible ahead of us and they too were taking a break. Sam looked at me and said, “So sleepy head, you finally up, hey?”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23