Luna (18 page)

39| Hoofing It

Caitlin and James took giant strides across the moon, dodging occasional pothole-like craters that threatened to turn an ankle. The sun was setting now, urging them to pick up the pace lest they still be on EVA at night. They didn’t know if the creatures became more or less active after the sun went down, but they knew one thing: if they became any more active it would spell the end for the humans.

They kept a constant eye out for any kind of motion. With no wind or even air to create motion, the moon was a perfectly still environment. Any kind of movement would indicate the presence of the creatures. After a while, the sound of Dallas’ tortured screams stopped—whether because he died or they were out of radio range, they didn’t know, but hoped for the former.

The pair had gone about a quarter of the distance to the LEM when they came into contact with a new procession of animals. This one was wider than the other they’d seen; less a straight line and more of an advancing horizontal swath.

“Starting to think it wasn’t such a good idea to vent the lander.” James stopped walking to survey the approaching throng of aliens.

“We’ll be glad we did when we get to the other lander.” Caitlin hoped this was true, anyway.
Dallas thought it was a good idea, and he was almost always right about everything...
Thoughts of his worm ingestion nearly paralyzed her with anxiety and she forced herself to study the moonscape just ahead—the way to the new lander.

“They’re in a wide line but spaced out more,” James observed. “Looks like there are gaps we can fit through.”

“Remember, they can be underground, too. That’s how they got Dallas.” She shoved aside the visual of the astronaut falling into ground that opened up like a sinkhole, without warning, without sound, without hope of escape...

“Caitlin! C’mon, stay focused!” The FAA man brought her back to their unpleasant reality. “Where do we try to get through?”

Caitlin scanned the pack of animals that were just ahead and moving toward them. She pointed to a gap in the line off to their left. “Looks like they thin out that way.”

The unlikely duo set out toward the advancing phalanx of underground creatures. “Try to tread lightly if you can,” Caitlin said, easing a foot to the ground. “They can probably detect the vibrations of our footfalls.”

James agreed and also made an effort to be light-footed. Looking off to their right, the line of animals extended all the way into the mountainous crater region, while to the left it thinned out. They continued to skirt around to the left, taking them farther from the LEM in order to avoid a confrontation with the creatures. When they reached an area where they could only see a sparse population of worms, with five-to-ten-foot gaps in between each individual, on the surface, at least, they decided to go for it.

They approached side by side, Caitlin looking to the right and James left. Straight ahead was clear. Behind was clear. Nothing but flat moon. But right and left the soil rippled with activity. As they neared the creatures, they began to run, not wanting to stay in one place for too long and present a target. The mad dash worked. Both of them emerged on the other side of the line unscathed. They didn’t stop running, though, wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the animals as possible.

After a few minutes on the move, they paused to evaluate their progress. The line of worms was behind them and they could detect no soil movement ahead of them. The LEM stood in the distance, but closer now, the setting sun beaming off its metallic structure. They trudged on, the novelty of trekking on the moon having somewhat worn thin by now, replaced by the drudgery common to long-distance walking anywhere. Still, they had to keep a sharp eye out for danger, but the lengthy low gravity hike gradually took its toll, sapping their strength.

It was difficult to judge exactly how far away the lander was, and for a while it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. Perhaps they were walking around it instead of in a straight line towards it? James mentioned how they should have brought a compass, and Caitlin explained to him that compasses don’t work well on the moon because the strength of its magnetic field is too low. Something Dallas had once explained to her in great detail, but she dared not dredge up those memories now and left it at that.

They were relieved when sometime later they began hearing radio transmissions. At first they assumed they were from the Black Sky LEM, meaning they were close, but as they listened and the transmissions grew clearer, it became apparent they were listening to Mission Control back in New Mexico. Caitlin could barely discern Ray’s voice through all the static, but to her it was unmistakable nonetheless, and buoyed her spirits. “Ray? Ray It’s Caitlin, you copy me?”

She stopped walking while concentrating on picking out his reply from the noisy signal. She heard the name “Blake” a few times, then “be careful.”

“Be careful of what, Ray?”

“...liar... covering things up...”

And that was all they received before the signal was lost.

They pondered Ray’s words while they plodded on toward the lander. “Be careful of Blake, he said. Right?” Caitlin asked James.

“I think so. A little late with the warning, unfortunately. Obviously, we all should have been worried before we left, what with his covering up the discovery of life on the moon—and hostile life at that—shortcutting safety procedures. What’s worse, according to Stenson, it doesn’t seem like this Kennedy fellow is any better. The egos of these rich guys are too big to make room for anything resembling restraint.”

Caitlin said nothing but silently agreed. She had failed to see the signs herself, that much was clear to her now. And she had worked for Outer Limits for much longer than James had been involved. It embarrassed her that she had known so little about what Blake was actually doing, so she said nothing, just kept marching toward the LEM that would hopefully be able to get her back home where she could make a fresh start.

Before long, it became obvious they were finally approaching the lunar lander. They scanned the area for signs of the creatures. Thankfully, they saw no processions of worms heading either to or from the ship. The pileup of worms on the side of the LEM, however, was still there. They’d be able to approach the ship without any problem, but they’d have to get closer to see exactly what awaited them.

That’s when they heard more chatter from Mission Control. Not Ray at first, but then his voice erupted onto the channel. “Caitlin ...copy?” Static still garbled the transmission.

“I hear you Ray!”

“Caitlin: they’re coming... files I found on Strat...deleting before they know...”

Caitlin knew that Blake was inside the Black Sky lander and probably wouldn’t be monitoring this frequency. She pressed Ray for more information.

“What’s happening? Ray!”

Then they heard signs of a physical struggle playing out nearly a quarter-million miles away. Grunts, heavy impacts, sharp
thwacks
...

The radio signal was cut entirely and they heard no more.

Caitlin looked to James. “My God, something terrible is happening at Mission Control! Ray...”

The FAA man eyed his suit’s oxygen gauge and then looked to the LEM’s door. “We’ll get to the bottom of that and do what we can. But right now, we better get inside. I’m pretty low on oxygen.”

40| Problems, Problems

Caitlin made for the LEM’s outer airlock door, James Burton close behind. When they were almost there, a monster worm erupted from the ground in front of them. Caitlin sprawled backwards, barely missing its incredible girth. The thing was thicker than the LEM. Not only that, but a contingent of smaller worms came crawling from around the corner of the lander. The airlock was only a few feet away but now entirely blocked by the moon animal.

It was James who had the solution this time. He gripped the oxygen canister—that awkward burden he’d lugged on foot all the way from the rover crash site—and loosened its valve. He pointed it away from the LEM door toward the corner of the ship around which the animals had congregated at the oxygen leak. Then he reached down and extended a hand to Caitlin.

“I let out a little oh-two in that direction.” He turned to look. No sooner had he completed his sentence than the gigantic worm submerged again back beneath the soil. The smaller individuals, too, moved off in the direction of the fresh jet of gas.

“Now! Airlock, c’mon.” Caitlin jumped the rest of the way to the door and hit the button to open it. It seemed like an agonizingly long time, but in fact was only seconds before it did. She and James rushed inside and she hit the button to bring the outer door down. There was a moment’s panic when a smallish animal wriggled beneath the door as it closed, but it cut the creature in two, half of it wriggling autonomously inside the airlock while the other half remained outside.

“We have to get rid of it; kick it back out.” James stared at the blue fluid leaking from the severed organism. “I saw what that stuff did to Martin...” He zoned out into his own hellish reliving of a terrible event caused by these strange moon dwellers until Caitlin brought him back, as he had done to her back at the crash site.

“You kick it out, I’ll get the door. Opening in three...two...one...now!”

The first thing both of them did was to make sure no animals were lurking just outside the door, waiting to ambush them. But the area immediately outside the airlock was free. Burton swiped the messy half-worm with the side of his foot until it tumbled out onto the regolith. He stamped the smear left behind by its fluids and then wiped the sole of his boot in the soil. Then Caitlin pulled him back inside and hit the button again. They double-checked the airlock before pressing the button to open the inner door that led to the ship. Were they to fail to observe a small creature, it could get inside the ship and wreak havoc later, possibly explode its guts all over them, killing them all.

They looked around for a minute, an easy task since the floor was smooth, white and bare. Still, they were thorough, even checking the walls and ceiling. “I think it’s okay.” Caitlin placed her hand on the button. James nodded his assent and she opened the inner door. It raised and they walked into the lander’s cabin.

They had expected to enter a noisy, hectic environment of engineers collaborating in an argumentative way over how to fix the oxygen leak and other problems. They were surprised to find a quiet, still scene. Only one of the Black Sky astronauts appeared to be working on anything. The rest of the crew, including Blake, Kennedy and the other FAA rep, Stenson, were huddled at a control console, some seated, some standing. None of them were saying anything, they just stared in silence at the two newcomers as they stripped their helmets off.

“What’s up?” Caitlin led off, knowing that whatever it was probably wasn’t that good, given the cool reception.

Blake rubbed his eyes for a moment before looking up at her. “Caitlin. Mr. Burton. I’m glad to see you made the trip here safely...where’s Dallas, still coming in from the airlock? I’ll wait for him so I don’t have to repeat anything. What I’m about to tell you is of critical importance.”

“Dallas didn’t make it.” Caitlin was surprised at how calm she sounded—and not just sounded, but felt. It was as if she’d already processed the horror of it and now could only mention it in a matter-of-fact way.

“He stayed behind in our lander?” Blake still wasn’t getting it. “I hope not, because Arnie, here, sustained an injury while attempting to fix the ship—a mechanical injury, he wasn’t attacked by one of the worms—but he needs medical attention.”

“There’s no Black Sky physician on board?” This from Burton, who eyed his counterpart, Stenson, as he said it.

Stenson gladly took the ball, shaking his head, but it was Caitlin who cut him off, deciding that what she had to say was more important. And it just so happened that it was.

“Dallas is dead. He was eaten by one of the worms on our way over here.”

That shut everyone up.

“You’re kidding. Tell me you’re kidding?” Blake didn’t sound like he wanted to hear the answer to his own question.

“No,” Caitlin said, while James shook his head.

“How long ago?” Blake asked.

“About two hours ago.”

“And you’re sure he’s dead? It’s not possible he was dragged away and then escaped? Or...” He looked down at the floor. “Like Suzette?”

Caitlin made eye contact with each of the group in turn, then slowly nodded. She suppressed a chill as she recalled Dallas still transmitting from inside his vermiform prison. “More like Suzette.”

“Jesus...” Blake whispered.

“So we’ve got no medical doctor,” Kennedy said, clearly upset, “which, to be honest, was one of the bigger advantages your team brought to our table, Blake.”

“What was your medical plan supposed to be, coming up here with no doctor, anyway?” Blake fired back.

“Each of us is a trained EMT plus we had a videoconferencing app in place.”

“So much for that,” Burton said, enjoying the grin he elicited from Stenson. In the past, they had had their differences, but they could agree on this much.

“We weren’t counting on the dust storm of the century in New Mexico,” Kennedy said.

“We weren’t counting on a lot of things, either,” Blake said.

“Oh?” Kennedy shot back. “It seemed you were counting on life on the moon. You knew these things were up here—”

“Kennedy, please!” Caitlin interrupted. She looked to Blake. “You said you were about to tell us something important. What is it?”

Kennedy had another brief stare-down with Blake during which neither man said anything, and then he addressed Caitlin. “Calculations have been run.” He paused and looked around at the others who’d been there before Caitlin and James had walked in. None of them had anything to add.

“And?” Caitlin prompted.

“It’s clear that this lunar lander, slightly smaller than our own, does not have sufficient fuel supply to get all of us to one of the two orbiting command modules that will make the trip back to Earth.” He paused to let this sink in while he stared at James and Caitlin in turn.

James Burton was the first to speak. “Did I just hear you say that this ship doesn’t have enough fuel to reach either of the two orbiting command modules? And can it even dock with Outer Limits’ module in addition to its own?” Burton looked to Kennedy, who nodded.

“It can. That’s not the problem at all. And the ship does have enough fuel to reach a command module, by the way, it just doesn’t have enough to bring all of us on board.”

“How many pounds are we short by?” Caitlin looked around the group, most of whom averted her gaze, except Kennedy, who answered.

“Equivalent to one person.”

“One person won’t be able to go back? You’re sure about those calculations?” Burton raised his voice.

“We’ve run the numbers at least half a dozen times,” Arnie said from a sitting position that favored his injured leg.

“Triple-checked everything,” Black Sky astronaut Jack Williams added. “We made sure all non-essential gear was subtracted for the calculations—anything we could leave behind that isn’t needed to get us to the CM. It always comes out the same—not enough fuel with the weight of all of us on board—barely enough if no errors or unanticipated events occur if we lose the weight of an average person plus their spacesuit.”

The group discussed additional combinations of equipment, but in the end it always came back to the same thing: one person had to stay behind or the ship wouldn’t make it to a Command Module.

“There’s no way to siphon fuel or somehow pick up extra fuel from the Command Module and then use that to bring the lander back down here for the other person?” Caitlin posed, still unwilling to give up.

All of the other astronauts shook their heads until Williams said, “No possible way. That type of transfer mechanism is simply not in place.”

“Time’s ticking, people,” Kennedy reminded them all. “We’re burning much needed oxygen and battery power the longer we stay down here.”

Caitlin asked to see the calculations one more time and reviewed them carefully. At the end of her inspection, she shook her head and handed back the computer tablet. “It is what it is.”

Blake nodded. Kennedy nodded. They all agreed. One person had to be sacrificed in order for the craft to liftoff and be able to reach its rendezvous ship.