Luna (13 page)

28 | Is Anybody in There?

Blake had the rover at maximum speed, jostling them around as they approached their rival’s LEM. About the same size as theirs, a squat, polygonal thing with highly reflective surfaces, it was the lone human-made structure in sight, with the exception of the rover itself. When they were close enough that he worried they might think they were trying to ram them in retaliation for destroying their other rover, he cut speed, coasting to a stop a few meters from the craft.

The trio of moon explorers sat in the rover, watching the spaceship.

“I don’t see any lights on at all,” Caitlin pointed out.

“No signs of activity whatsoever, really,” Asami added.

“Should we walk up and knock?” Caitlin asked without moving from the rover.

Blake fiddled with controls on his spacesuit. “Let me try to raise them on the radio first. I’d prefer not to surprise them too much by knocking on the door.” Blake tried various radio frequencies to get in touch with Black Sky, including Mission Control, but received no response.

“Mission Control is still down?” Caitlin’s voice belied her concern.

Blake nodded. “Looks that way.”

“What should we do?” Asami glanced around at the ground surrounding the rover. Saw nothing unusual. Blake flashed the rover’s headlights at the LEM. Waited a few seconds and did it again. Still no reaction. He dismounted from the rover. Caitlin and Asami followed suit.

They walked up to the lander’s entry hatch and observed it. No discernible activity. They tried knocking on the side of the craft. Again, no response.

As they turned around to go back to the rover, they saw two moonwalkers wearing different suits from those of Outer Limits approaching over a small rise. Blake suggested they walk toward them to greet them, so they don’t feel threatened that they might be sabotaging their ship. When they had walked for only a few seconds their shared comm channel crackled with a new voice.

“This is Black Sky EVA party to Outer Limits, do you copy?”

Blake didn’t hesitate to respond. “We copy you, Black Sky.”

“State your intentions, over.”

“Don’t worry, we come in peace. Right, girls?”

Blake knew the two professional women would be miffed at being referred to as ‘girls’, but he had to do something to seem amenable to Black Sky. Perhaps they wouldn’t feel as threatened knowing that two out of three of the visitors were female?

The pair of moonwalkers slowed their steps as they neared the newcomers. “What is it that you want?”

Blake didn’t recognize the voice. He was glad that it wasn’t his old enemy, Kennedy Haig. He’d have to see him inside the ship, of that he was sure, but somehow not having to see him right now made him feel much better. “We have a favor to ask of you. We need a part for our guidance system and were hoping you might be able to assist us.”

“I didn’t know we were in the lunar hardware business,” one of the Black Sky men joked to the other, eliciting a hearty laugh. “But seriously, we’d have to clear that type of request with Kennedy. He’s inside, taking a nap, probably.”

“Can we come in?” Blake asked.

The two spacewalkers stepped up to the Outer Limits rivals and stared at them, helmet to helmet. Caitlin noticed that their suits were extremely dusty, almost as if they’d been rolling around on the ground.

Suddenly, a new voice broke in over the comm. “Blake, old chum. Caught me in my afternoon nap. No matter where we are, you still always find a way to borrow something from me, don’t you? Money...ideas...spare spacecraft parts....”

An uncomfortable silence ensued that was broken by Kennedy himself. “It’s okay, let them in. Go ahead. They’re welcome for a few minutes, at least.”

The two Black Sky astronauts turned in the direction of their lander. “This way.” They walked toward it with the Outer Limits team close behind. Caitlin’s gaze wandered a few feet off to her left and she saw movement. Then she realized it was a slew of the small creatures, rolling, digging, writhing in the lunar soil. She picked up her pace, catching up to the others. She saw no reason to bring it up right now.

Then the lander’s airlock door was opening and the two Black Sky astronauts welcomed the Outer Limits team inside.

29 |In the Belly of the Beast

“You can take your helmets off now. We’re pressurized.” The two Black Sky astronauts who’d escorted the Outer Limits team inside waved toward the main cabin of the lander, where three other spacemen, none of whom wore a spacesuit, waved an awkward greeting. Caitlin removed her helmet first, then Asami, and then, as though shy to reveal his face, Blake. When everyone inside had removed their helmets, they said nothing for a few seconds while they looked at one another, especially Blake and Kennedy. Moon dwellers, all, united by a common bond of deep space travel.

“Greetings, Earthlings, I am Kennedy Haig!” Everyone laughed except Blake, but even he cracked a smile.

“I bet you always wanted to say that!” Caitlin said, eager to break the ice.

“You know it. And who might you lovely ladies be?”

At this, Blake cocked his head to one side. “Seriously, Kennedy. You know who they are. Like you haven’t studied our crew roster.”

Caitlin shot Blake a cautioning glance that said,
Ease up, we’re here to ask this guy for a big favor!

But Kennedy didn’t seem to take offense. A man of medium height and build with short brown, curly hair, he shrugged it off. “Yes, well, a lot’s been on my mind lately.” He looked about his ship, and the others followed his gaze. Now that Blake took a closer look, things didn’t seem all that perfect, certainly not what the world had come to expect from shooting star Kennedy Haig. Much of the cabin was cast in darkness, the air was uncomfortably warm, and a small cascade of liquid splattered on the floor in a corner.

Before Blake could ask about the condition of the ship, Kennedy indicated the man to his left. He introduced him as Pete Stenson. “This gentleman, you should know, is our FAA representative.”

At this, Blake nodded cordially. “Ah yes, we came down with a case of one of those as well. We left him back at the ship.” But the shared joke between them didn’t last. “So tell me, Kennedy,” Blake asked point blank, or
Point Blake,
as a
leading business magazine had once headlined its cover with, featuring a photo of the Space 2.0 entrepreneur beneath. “What’s going on here?”

Kennedy swiveled his head this way and that, as if having trouble finding something in disarray. “Going on? What...oh, the general state of disarray, is that what you mean?”

“That’s precisely what I mean.”

Kennedy gave a noncommittal gesture. “Living on the moon isn’t easy, old chum. But I guess you knew that, since here you are to beg for spare parts, I’m told, is that it?”

“Easy, Kennedy, they’re just—” one of the Black Sky astronauts began, before Kennedy cut him off.

“Hold on, Arnie, okay? Let me check for the part. I’ll be right back.” Kennedy turned and walked into an alcove toward the rear of the ship, followed by another of his crew. The other two—Arnie (“Arnold Strausen, but call me Arnie”) and an Asian man who introduced himself as Takeo Matsuda—along with Pete Stenson, the Black Sky flight FAA rep, walked closer to the Outer Limits group until Stenson spoke to them in a low voice.

“There’s no time to waste so I’ll get right to the point. It’s my professional assessment that Kennedy’s pride is keeping him from admitting how bad things really are here.”

One of the Black Sky astronauts chimed in. “The condition of the ship is even worse than it looks.”

Stenson went on after nodding. “It’s true. This ship is not in operational condition. We could not leave the moon right now if we wanted to.”

“What about our rover? What happened to it?” Caitlin asked.

Takeo nodded while casting an unwavering glance her way. “I admit that we did that— Arnie, here,” he said, indicating the astronaut standing next to him, who frowned along with an unenthusiastic wave, “and myself. But I can assure you that the serious damage was a complete accident. We only intended to scavenge non-essential electrical parts from it that were not critical to its functioning, but I accidently tripped and grabbed onto it to break my fall, which unfortunately sent it tumbling down the crater.”

“We’re very sorry,” Arnie finished, while Caitlin gave an
a-ha
nod. The mystery of the lunar rover had been solved.

Blake glanced toward the back of the ship, where Kennedy was not yet visible. “Did the rover parts enable you to make your repairs, or will they?”

Stenson and the two Black Sky spacemen shook their heads in unison. “They did not. One of the capacitors we took turned out to be the wrong size. We’re stuck here until we can fix this ship, and right now we’re stymied as to how to do it. Is that a correct assessment, gentlemen?” He deferred to the two astronauts, both of whom nodded emphatically.

“What caused the technical problems with the ship in the first place?” Caitlin asked.

Stenson cast a backward glance before responding. “Basically I’d say it’s engineering failures precipitated by Kennedy Haig pushing the timetable too hard to get into space, to beat your team. Pure and simple,” he concluded with a shrug. No one disagreed, but no one agreed either, so Stenson pressed his case, clearly scared for his own safety at this point.

“It’s my contention that Kennedy deliberately withheld information about the state of certain spacecraft systems from the FAA and other regulatory agencies in the days prior to launch, information that had it been known would have led to a Black Sky launch delay.”

“Excuse me? What nonsense did I just hear?” They jumped at the voice of Kennedy, who had appeared in the center of the ship without being heard, still some distance away but probably close enough to follow the conversation.

“Relax, Kennedy,” Blake said, “we were just discussing the ships, yours and mine, and trying to figure out what needs to be done so that we can both get back to one hundred percent working order again.”

“That’s not what it sounded like to me,” Kennedy said, eyeing Stenson. “It sounded to me like Mr. Stenson, here, was accusing me of negligence!” He stepped to within arm’s reach of the FAA man. “Is there something you’d like to say to my face?”

Stenson stood his ground. “No. You can read about it in the report I submit. If we can manage to get back home, that is.”

“What do you intend to report?” Kennedy’s gaze bored into Stenson’s eyes.

“I intend to report exactly what I observed happening here, which is that in your rush to be first to the moon and beat your competitor here,” Stenson said, nodding to Blake, “you took shortcuts that compromised—”

Kennedy shoved Stenson back with a hand on his shoulder. “Bullshit!”

Blake and Arnie separated the two men, Blake standing in front of Stenson and the Black Sky man in front of Kennedy.

“Hold it, hold up, everybody!” Blake shouted. They all eyed him expectantly, including Kennedy.

“I have a solution that should enable us to fix both of our ships.”

30 | Teamwork

Once he had everyone’s attention, Blake spoke. “There is a small cache of Outer Limits equipment inside a network of underground tunnels in the nearby crater.” He paused to see if mention of the tunnels triggered any recognition, but everyone from Black Sky appeared genuinely stunned.

“Tunnels, you say?” Kennedy asked, his curiosity overcoming his recent adrenaline surge.

Asami nodded, figuring that this was her opportunity to showcase her expertise and reason for being on the moon in the first place. “That’s right. There’s an extensive tunnel system beneath the crater’s interior that, from what little preliminary investigating and firsthand observations I’ve been able to do so far, appear to have been formed...” Her mouth tugged down at the corners as she broke herself off.

“Formed how?” Kennedy prodded. “What’s the matter?”

Asami looked confused. “I’m a selenologist. I came here to study the moon’s geological processes and learn more about how it formed. When I first saw the tunnel system—the first time I even heard about it was after I arrived on the moon on this trip—” she said, narrowing her eyes ever so briefly at Blake, “I thought it must be similar to a lava tube. But now...” Again she trailed off, unsure of how to broach the subject of the creatures and how the tunnels may in fact be the result of biological, rather than geological, activity.

Caitlin picked up on this and made eye contact with Blake, prompting him to address it, but it was Kennedy who broke into the pause.

“So you mean to tell me that there are
tunnels
beneath McMurdo crater right over there?”

All of the Outer Limits people nodded. Kennedy remained silent, contemplating this.

“That is correct,” Blake said. He glanced over at Caitlin again before continuing. “But listen. We have gear in that stockpile that can help both of us. I’m more than willing to share it.” He eyed Kennedy directly with this last statement. “However, there are risks to obtaining it far beyond those associated with a normal EVA.”

A round of quizzical looks from the Black Sky team ensued, and Blake went on. “We have oxygen canisters there, some raw electrical components that can be utilized for any number of purposes, and even extra spacesuits. But to get to it we need to brave certain biological hazards.”

“Please explain,” Kennedy said, eyes alight with curiosity.

All eyes were on Blake as they waited for him to speak. “There are living animals of some kind underground. Like worms or snakes. Some of them are very large.” He paused to let that sink in. Arnie and Takeo exchanged knowing glances and then Kennedy spoke up.

“We’ve seen small ones around the ship—right outside. We weren’t sure what to make of them at first, but...”

Caitlin nodded slowly, recalling what she’d seen on the way into the Black Sky lander. Kennedy continued.

“At first, we thought we were suffering some kind of space-induced psychosis—agoraphobia or something, but we all kept seeing them.”

“They seem to have increased in number the last day or so, though,” one of Kennedy’s crew said, eliciting nods from the others.

“They seem harmless enough,” Kennedy ventured. All three Outer Limits personnel shook their heads wordlessly until Blake said, “They’re not harmless.” Then he recounted what happened to Suzette as horror registered in the eyes of their hosts. Blake completed his account, and then, when Asami started to provide more detail at the urging of a Black Sky astronaut, Kennedy waved her down.

“I’ve heard enough, thank you. I get it. But I don’t think we have much choice here, do we?” he asked, looking at his crew in turn. “They’ve got gear we can use. We need to help them get it.”

Blake nodded. “We couldn’t carry it all with just the three of us, and multiple trips are not an option, it’s too far.”

“Then we’ll go. Myself and one volunteer,” he said, looking at his crew. “Not you, Mr. Stenson.” The FAA man said nothing, most likely glad he did not have to go on the risky outing.

Takeo said he would go while Arnie and another astronaut—a quiet but observant man introduced as Jack Williams— stayed behind to continue work on repairing the ship.

Without delay, the EVA party of five—three Outer Limits and Two Black Sky—donned their spacesuits and entered the airlock. “Good luck,” they heard from Arnie just before they stepped outside. They weren’t prepared for what they saw.

The ground teemed with small creatures, writhing and wriggling and squirming across the top layers of moon dust. The soil seemed positively alive with them, like a school of fish at the surface of the ocean. Not only that, but their presence didn’t seem to be localized around the LEM; a long line of the life forms stretched all the way to the crater.

“So many of them now!” Takeo said.

“We haven’t seen this many in one place before,” Blake admitted before adding nervously, “but at least these are the small ones.”

Caitlin studied the side of the lander. A dense conglomeration of burrowing creatures festered along one side of the LEM. She turned to face Kennedy. “Do you have an external oxygen leak? Our exobiologist said they could be evolved to extract oh-two from the soil—and this is just my own personal guess—but pure oxygen is something they’d normally never be exposed to on the moon, so if it’s leaking from your ship, maybe we’re finding out now that they’re attracted to it.”

Kennedy looked back to his LEM and followed the trail of animals with his eyes. “So they could actually be drawn to it from some distance away?”

Caitlin nodded. “Like ants to a pile of sugar.”

“Or like sharks to blood in the water,” Asami said.

The group stood there silently for a few moments, watching the alien activity on the ground until Blake started walking the rest of the way to the rover. “We best get going.”

“Nice toy, Blake,” Kennedy said when they got to the vehicle.

“This toy—the remaining one after your people got done trying to cannibalize the other one, I might add—”

“Blake,” Caitlin warned softly.

“—is going to get us to the crater quickly, and back here with our stash of equipment.”

“We’re all going to fit?” Takeo asked.

Blake shrugged. “It’s made for four people, and we’re a crew of five on this little sortie, but I think it’ll hold us, don’t you think, Caitlin?”

The astronaut nodded. “It should. Would be better if we still had two, though, especially since we’ll hopefully be returning with equipment,” she couldn’t help but adding.

“I apologize for that,”” Kennedy said. “But can we just move forward, please? There’s nothing else I can do about it now except to cooperate with you to fix our ships.”

They boarded the rover. Blake took the wheel with Caitlin riding up front. Asami squeezed into the back with the two Black Sky men, Takeo hanging a little over the side. They made the drive to the crater, noticing that the stream of creatures was unbroken the entire way, like a moving river of living animals from crater to the LEM. Kennedy made radio contact with his astronauts in the lander to warn them they should get that oxygen leak shut off ASAP, that it was attracting the creatures.

When they arrived at the crater, Blake parked only a little ways up from the base and the five of them exited the moon buggy. They had to skirt around the line of smallish animals making their way down from the crater. In some spots, they could only see the ground itself moving, puffs of dust being thrown out, but in others they saw the actual bodies of the aliens, lined with the frilled “sand gills” Martin had discovered. They could also see that a few of them were larger than the others.

The expedition made its way up the outer crater slope. “First time up here?” Blake asked Kennedy.

“No, we did climb up here once to have a look down inside, but we never ventured down in there. I see you’re a little more used to the hop you need to move efficiently up the side.”

Blake laughed as he bunny-hopped toward the rim of the crater. “Practice makes perfect.”

A throng of creatures poured and tumbled over the rim. They gave them a wide berth as they stepped over and down into the crater’s interior. Blake led the way down into the crater, explaining that the rock outcroppings that dotted the slope were actually tunnel entrances. They could see that the creatures poured in thin lines from several of the higher openings, but not from the ones deeper inside the crater, as if they knew they needed to leave the crater higher up by the rim.

The team had to step over a line of the worms a couple of times, but they managed to reach the same tunnel entrance Outer Limits had been using without incident. Caitlin was surprised, however, when Blake passed this and continued to descend deeper into the crater.

“Where are we going?” she asked, which caused concern among the Black Sky team.

“I thought all of you have been inside the tunnels before?” Kennedy asked.

“It’s a different tunnel that leads to the equipment cache, and only I have been to that one before,” Blake explained.

They made their way further into the crater, stopping about three tunnel entrances lower than the one Outer Limits had used earlier. They all activated their helmet lights and peered inside. To Caitlin and Asami, it didn’t look much different than the other one.

Blake made a final check of his suit and gauges, and then led the way into the tunnel.