Replies

Rhis is the 1st chapter in mine and my wifes novelette coming out this fall. It’s in editing with the publisher for final edits. We are nervous.

Lunar-Tickz

The Crater Crew:

The mechanical thumping
against the shuttle hull awoke Nick from his slumber. He had arrived at Lunar Station. Nick was hit by the smell of stale air as the docking doors opened. The kind that is sterile but with an artificial, almost chemical smell. The halls were devoid of clutter. The tubular walls, white sectional pieces with metal joints, were a sharp contrast to his previous home on Earth. Once again, he was moving. Wherever his father went, he did too. Nick’s father was the new commander of the Lunar Station on the Moon.
The station’s personnel were there to collect Helium-3 extract from the regolith that made up moondust. The Moon contains enough Helium 3 to provide 40,000 years of clean energy. Twenty-five tons could power the Earth for one year. The problem was that it took 150 tons of regolith moon dust to obtain one gram of Helium 3. Fossil fuels on Earth were becoming more scarce, and geopolitical tensions were growing daily.
Nick was starting all over again. This was a new duty station for him and his Dad, new people to meet, and the dreaded feeling of whether or not he would fit in. Nick’s anxiety rose.
The station seemed cold. The white and metallic walls of the facility reminded Nick of a hospital. Everything had a purpose and place. As Nick entered the station, he saw his father with an entourage of people and a few kids his age. His father, Commander Bratt, introduced this group one by one.
Commander Bratt started with Dr. Ngyuen, the Chief Medical Officer, and her daughter Thoa, who was about the same age as Nick. As Nick moved down the reception line, he was introduced to Chief O’Connor, the Chief Engineer, his son Ian, Sandra Marks, the Chief Security Officer, and her daughter Holly. Ian and Holly appeared about a year or two younger than Nick.
As expected, Nick greeted everyone and politely excused himself to his quarters. Commander Bratt showed Nick where he would live for the next three years. Nick seemed underwhelmed. He would get bored fast at this station, which was too sterile.
Over the next few days, Nick moved about the station. As he passed other kids his age, some pointed and laughed. Nick’s anxiety grew, leaving him with a feeling of claustrophobia in the sterile surroundings of the station. He needed to get out of there, but he was stuck. There was nowhere for him to go. He lived on a small base on a barren rock, with no friends to speak of and a growing feeling of being alone.
The next day, Nick was riding his skateboard through the station halls. As he rounded a corner, he slammed into Thoa Ngyuen, who groaned as she lay on the ground, exclaiming, “Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” before realizing it was Nick Bratt, who smacked into her, sending her airborne.
Nick, apologizing profusely, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment, reached out to offer a hand up.
Thoa, also a bit embarrassed, accepted Nick’s apology and assistance getting up.
Thoa then exclaimed, “Hey, do you want to sneak into the reconnaissance lab with the others? We like to play with the lunar rover and explore the surface of the moon”. “There’s not a lot of excitement up here, so we do what we can.”
Nick grinned and nodded his approval; grabbing his skateboard, he followed Thoa to the reconnaissance lab.
When Nick and Thoa arrived at the lab, Ian O’Connor and Holly Marks argued whether the lunar rover should enter a cave entrance they had just found.
The grayish-brown moon dust crunched under the tracks of the lunar rover, each movement echoing in the vast emptiness of the lunar cave. The video feed adjusted to the cave’s darkness as it continued into the hollow realm. As Ian moved the rover left, the video feed caught a glimpse of brightness.
Nick exclaimed, “Did you see that? That light? Head over that way!”
As the lunar rover moved toward the light, the teens heard clanking, and the rover shook, swaying slightly to the left and right. The teens then saw from the top of the video stream screen a fuzzy, cotton candy-like tuft, two pointy ears, and eyes that had goggles with various attachments connected, peering into the lunar rover’s lens. The teens heard clanking from the rover microphone, and suddenly, the screen went blank.
The teens sat in stunned silence for a few moments when Ian cried, “ We are in so much trouble.” “We’re never going to be able to explain that we lost the rover. Dad is already upset because tools keep disappearing. He says the tools are gone, and all that’s left are rocks. And, what was that we just saw?”
Seeing an opportunity for adventure, Nick said, “Alright, what are we going to do about this”?
Thoa, also seeing a chance for adventure, piped in, “We have to go get it back.”
The teens devised a plan. They gathered supplies, space suits, scanners, and gadgets to assist them in their mission to locate the Lunar Rover and find out what they saw on the laboratory monitor. They met at the station’s airlock. After checking their gear to ensure it worked properly, they engaged the airlock controls. The door behind them closed. As the outer door opened, each breathed air in their suits as if it might be their last. After a few moments, they cautiously breathed out their first breath, each with a feeling of ease, realizing that the breathing apparatus worked.
Nick looked at the others with determination and exclaimed, quoting the famous astronaut Neil Armstrong, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Thao politely coughed, “Ahem..”.
Nick sheepishly responded, “Sorry. Uh, humankind?” Unbeknownst to the teens, these were the first steps in what would forever change their lives.