Moonbase Crisis

by Kevin J. Anderson

  “Just doing our jobs,” JJ said with a cocky grin.

  “Uh-huh. Working in the best office in the solar system,” King added amiably as they headed toward the Equipment and Supply Module to suit up. After several treks outside, JJ and King were getting good at following the complicated steps on the checklist. Song-Ye was busy in the ag bubble tending the plants. And probably playing with the hamster.

  Dyl had offered to go on the outside excursion, but Chief Ansari had shaken her head. “Not this time. There’s nothing routine about a resupply mission, no matter how many times it happens, so I need my best comm operator in the MCC.”

  Dyl was not disappointed to be assigned to his usual duty station. The chief often praised his work, and each day he felt more confident in his ability to accomplish any task he was given. “I bet it’s just like helping unload the groceries at home,” he joked. “I hope they remembered the Froot Loops.”

  Ansari stood over his shoulder, smiling at the young man’s humor. “We have an official manifest, but sometimes the people on Earth send along a few extras. It’s always a surprise, though I’ve never heard of Froot Loops.” Her expression grew serious. “Our survival depends on the safe arrival of that cargo. We can’t just send for another ship if the Halley doesn’t make it—especially with four cadets added to our crew.”

  She paused, letting the implication hang in the air, before she finally said, “Do you know when and how you will return to Earth? As leader of this base, I have to allocate resources, so I feel justified in asking.”

  “I’m sorry, Chief. I really don’t know. We’re as much in the dark about that as you are.”

  Ansari did not seem entirely convinced. Dyl looked down at the timer, saw that 18 minutes of the 22-minute communications blackout had passed.

  Dyl’s stomach grumbled, and he realized how much he already missed a good burrito. But he doubted that any well-meaning fast-food joint would be sending up meals aboard the Halley. He glanced at his screen again, looking at the countdown. “They should come back into communication range in fifteen seconds, Chief.”

  Deciding to welcome Bronsky and Cushing into range, Dyl reached for the mic switch. He was startled, however, when an alarmed voice broke through with a flash of static. “Moonbase Magellan, come in! Come in! This is Halley, declaring an emergency.”

  Dyl lurched forward at the controls wondering what to do. Chief Ansari leaned closer, speaking into the pickup. “Captain Bronsky, what is your situation? Over.”

  “We’ve experienced a … an anomalous event, an encounter. I don’t know what else to call it. Do you read? An encounter?”

  Cushing’s more excited voice added, “We saw something down there.”

  Dyl flicked on the transmit toggle. “What kind of encounter? What did you see? Over.”

  “Ships! Bright lights. A large construction site … There’s no other way to describe it. We found another base on the Moon!”

  Dyl gladly let Ansari take the station. “What kind of base, Captain? There are no other ships or facilities on the Moon. Over.”

  Bronsky’s voice was practically a squawk. “That’s what I thought, Chief. But we saw a lot of activity. I think they believed they were camouflaged, but when we sent a transmission asking for ID and explanations, they fired on us! With a kind of weapon I’ve never seen before. Over.”

  “They shot at you?” Ansari looked at Dyl in complete disbelief. “Captain, are you and Dr. Cushing all right? Is the Halley damaged? Over.”

  “Yes, hull damage, thruster damage, and a fuel leak. It could have been worse. The cabin has an atmospheric leak, and Dr. Cushing is trying to patch it now. Good thing we had our suits on with our helmets sealed before any serious decompression occurred. Over.”

  “And you’re sure it was an aggressive act?”

  “I don’t know what else you could call it, Chief. We said, ‘Hello, who are you?’ and they blasted us. Fortunately, we passed over quickly, but we still saw the base. And they sure saw us. Over.”

  Dyl cleared his throat and leaned toward the mic. “Can you land safely, Captain? Over.”

  “I don’t know about ‘safely,’ but we’re going to try. I can’t be sure about the extent of damage. We’ll have to make an emergency descent, try to make it to the moonbase … but no promises. Over.”

  Dyl activated other screens in the module, watching radar traces, plotting the new trajectory of the lander. “There they are,” he said. On screen, a detailed diagram showed the Moon, the Halley’s projected orbit, and its steeply angled new descent.

  “We’re uploading a new flight path now, Captain,” Ansari said, sounding very calm and confident, even though Dyl felt his own heart pounding. “We’ll bring you down. How much fuel do you have remaining? Over.”

  “It’s dropping rapidly. The leaking air is also altering our trajectory.”

  Dyl realized that even small amounts of air venting through holes would nudge the ship off course, making it harder to control the ship’s descent.

  The pilot’s gruff voice sounded measured. “Halley’s coming down hard. I don’t think we can make it to the moonbase—over.”

  While Chief Ansari made sure the CMC on Earth was aware of the situation, Dyl handled the local communications. Captain Bronsky continued to report, his voice sounding more and more tense. “We’ll have to use up most of our remaining fuel just to decelerate and land intact. Cushing is making calculations now, but we’re going to have to do this by the seat of our pants.”

  Dyl turned off his mic and looked at Ansari. “What can we do to help them?”

  “Get to them as quickly as possible once they’re down,” the chief said.

  After a pause, the pilot said, “When I was in training, I used to enjoy the challenge of simulator emergencies. Now it’s really happening.”

  Really happening, Dyl thought. He had found the standard Challenger Center scenarios interesting. The students had faced a simulated crisis, then followed the written procedures and cool-headed instructions of the flight director. And even though a stubborn part of his mind still resisted the idea that he and his friends were actually here in the future, on a moonbase, Dyl understood that this was as real as it was going to get.

  Major Fox’s calm British voice came over the intercom.

  “My team is suited up and prepared to enter the modular rover. Can you give us a status report, Control?”

  Dyl turned the mic back on. “Hard to tell how close the lander’s going to hit, or what condition the t and crew will be in.”

  Ansari nodded grimly. “Major Fox, equip your vehicle with a complete range of medical supplies and issue additional oxygen tanks. This is no longer our usual welcome reception—it’s a rescue operation.”

  ***

  Seventeen

  Because the damaged Halley came down at the bottom of a neighboring crater, steep rock walls blocked radio transmissions. Just before the supply ship landed—or crashed—Moonbase Magellan lost all contact, so the rescue crew had no idea of the ship’s condition.

  King checked his suit’s systems—the safety routines were habit by now—and activated his suit radio. “Captain Bronsky said he’d try to make it here.”

  “The chief and Dyl say they came close,” JJ said. “It’s in the next crater over.”

  “Bronsky is quite a capable pilot,” Fox said when they had finished suiting up. “We will maintain optimism, but prepare for contingencies. We must assume that the crew is injured—perhaps badly. We’ll use the Multi-Axis Rover this time. The MAR is best suited for the job, in case we need to do some heavy lifting.”

  Once the three cycled through the airlock, Fox headed toward a vehicle that was little more than a framework supporting six sharp-elbowed mechanical legs that radiated like the spokes of a wheel. A pressurized cab rode on top.

  “We’re going to use that spider-looking thing?” JJ asked skeptically.

  “We prefer to compare the MAR to a crab rather than a spider,” Fox sa
id. “The six independent legs can take us over any sort of terrain. Each leg has a separate suspension and rugged wheels, and the engine has enough horsepower to move the Halley, if necessary. The cab is enclosed and is larger than the one on the rover we used previously—which is crucial, as we’ll need to carry two more people.”

  King felt a sense of urgency as they hurried to the strange-looking vehicle. One by one, they ascended a metal ladder to reach the operations cab and platform at the top of the crablike rover.

  As soon as they entered the MAR and Major Fox powered up its systems, Dyl contacted them through the system radio. “Still no response from Halley, but their signal could just be blocked. Chief Ansari has briefed Collaborative Mission Control on Earth, and they’re monitoring trans-missions. Over.”

  “They’re aware of the situation,” Fox said, “but there’s not much they can do. Over.”

  “Well, they wished us luck. Over.”

  Major Fox took the driver’s seat. “We appreciate their support.” With the man’s dry British accent, King couldn’t tell if Fox meant the comment seriously or not. “Over and out.”

  With a lurch, Fox set the Multi-Axis Rover in motion. The crablike vehicle rolled across the crater floor and began climbing the ridge that separated Moonbase Magellan from the adjacent crater.

  “Cadet Wren, would you please operate the communications system?” Fox said to JJ. “When we reach the top, transmit on the lander’s frequency and see if anyone responds. We should have a good line of sight by then.”

  “Earth’s a lot farther away. If we can talk to them, why can’t we contact the Halley yet?” JJ asked.

  “Like light waves, radio waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum. If a wall comes between you and a lamp, for example, it blocks light. Transmitting a radio signal requires an open line of sight between sender and receiver. From the moonbase, the crater wall blocks the signal to the next crater, but there is no obstruction overhead for a signal to Earth.”

  “Does that mean we’ll be able to transmit down into either crater from the ridge?” JJ asked.

  “Precisely,” Fox said.

  “And right now, the moonbase can transmit to us, but not after we start down into the crater? “King understood what she was getting at. “Major, is there any way to put an antenna or something up on the ridge that can send our radio signals back and forth to the base?”

  “Like a little transmitter tower,” JJ said.

  “A microwave radio relay, you mean?” Fox asked. “We should have line of sight to both the moonbase and Halley. Yes, I don’t see why not.”

  When they reached the top of the ridge, Fox stopped the MAR. “If you cadets would assist me, this will only take a few minutes.” He retrieved a package from a storage bin in the MAR. They all climbed down to the surface and together they assembled the radio relay.

  From the ridge, they could see down into the bowl of the next crater.

  King leaned forward to get a better look at the sprawling plain. It had already been more than two hours since they lost touch with Halley. “There’s no sign of them.”

  “Then let’s hope that they can hear us,” Fox said.

  Back in the MAR on the simple comm controls, JJ switched to the channel that Captain Bronsky had used and spoke through her suit radio, which was linked to the rover cabin. “Lander, this is moonbase MAR. We’re coming to rescue you. Can you respond? Over.”

  King’s sigh of relief sounded loud in his helmet when he heard the quick response from Captain Bronsky. “MAR, this is Halley. We came down hard but intact. That’s the good news. Bad news is that our hull is damaged, either from the rough landing or from the attack.”

  King tensed at this renewed suggestion of an attack. Who could have fired on the lander, and why? Who else could possibly be on the Moon?

  Bronsky continued with a gruff edge to his voice. “There’s more bad news, too—about our leak. Cabin pressure is dropping, and we’re losing atmosphere. Cushing and I are in our suits, and we’ve got maybe five hours left on our Primary Life Support Systems.” Dr. Cushing added, “That wouldn’t normally be a problem, but we have malfunctions in several systems. We can’t open the hatch, so you’ll have to help us from outside when you get here.”

  Major Fox accelerated the rover so that the wheel-tip legs bounced, jostling them as the MAR rumbled and lurched down the steep slope into the crater. “We’re on our way, lander. We have no visual yet, but we’re picking up your locator beacon. Over.”

  Bronsky said, “I’d step outside and wave a flag, but that’s not possible right now. Over.”

  “Coming as fast as we can, Halley. Over and out.”

  As JJ reported to the moonbase on their progress toward the supply ship, King asked, “Five hours should be plenty of time, shouldn’t it?”

  “That depends on the level of damage the Halley sustained and how complicated it is to extract the crew. One mustn’t underestimate the time required even for simple tasks in the lunar environment. Once we get Bronsky and Cushing into the rover’s pressurized cab, however, there will be plenty of air for everyone.”

  They reached the bottom of the crater and, using the flexibility and agility of the rover’s mechanical legs, started across the crater floor, following the locator beacon. Distances on the Moon could be deceptive, but finally King saw the Halley clearly ahead. “There!”

  Major Fox saw what had caught the cadets attention and urged the MAR forward. “We’ve got you on visual now, Halley. Over.”

  The supply ship had come down in a boulder field. Seeing the craft tilted at an unusual angle, one metal strut bent like a skier’s broken leg, made King admire Captain Bronsky’s abilities to land as well as he had.

  As the Multi-Axis Rover maneuvered across the crater floor toward the Halley, Major Fox had JJ get updates from Bronsky and Cushing, asking for detailed information on the lander’s condition. They were all aware of how little time they had left. Their progress across the boulder field was agonizingly slow.

  King and JJ familiarized themselves with the equipment on the MAR. Various tools could be installed on the ends of the jointed legs, which could raise up and bend backward, like arms with elbows. The round wheels could be replaced with working attachments for heavy lifting. The cab carried hand-held cutting tools that could break through the Halley’s hatch to free the trapped astronauts, if necessary. But that would ruin the lander, which Moonbase Magellan vitally needed. Major Fox didn’t want to consider that.

  “The Halley is our only way off the Moon. After we refuel the ship, we’ll send home two of our crew members—and I am scheduled to be one of them. If we cut through the hull or tear off the hatch, the Halley will never be flight-worthy.”

  “If it was damaged by an alien attack, it might not be going anywhere, either,” JJ said.

  “Aliens?” King asked. “Why would we think it’s aliens?”

  “That was Dyl’s explanation,” JJ said. “What do you think?”

  “There are numerous possibilities,” Fox said. “Let us deal with the crisis first, and determine the source of the problem afterward.”

  The major stopped the MAR as close to the Halley as he could get. “Cadet King, please begin pressurization of the rover cabin, in case Captain Bronsky and Dr. Cushing prove to be shorter on air than they expected to be.”

  JJ sent a quick transmission. “We’re here, Halley. We’ll be knocking at your door in just a minute. Over.”

  Bronsky sounded relieved. “Good thing I managed to land this close to the moonbase. If we were another couple of craters away, you’d never have gotten here in time. Over.”

  Fox stood up from the driver’s seat and directed JJ and King toward the airlock. “This looks like a three-person job.” They gathered a selection of tools they might need.

  Once through the airlock and outside again, they climbed down the metal rungs to the surface and hurried to the lander, carrying their packs of tools.

  King’s stomach k
notted as they approached the battered Halley. Even the men inside the small cabin did not know how damaged the ship was. It was a miracle they had survived at all. And they only had an hour of oxygen left.

  “Look there!” King pointed to a chain of pitted scorch marks on the hull. “Are those from an energy burn?”

  “No way that’s from a crash landing,” JJ said. “Maybe Dyl was right. Someone shot at the Halley, and it wasn’t Casper the Friendly Ghost.”

  King felt a creepy tickle, like a spider walking up his back. “Whoever they are, they’re still out there.” Someone else was on the Moon, someone dangerous.

  “Let’s get these men to safety before we go chasing ghosts.” All business, Fox went to the Halley’s hatch. Near the sealed door, a jagged breach in the hull released a sparkle of ice crystals from leaking cabin air. The two men inside had tried to patch the hole, but couldn’t make it airtight.

  JJ studied the energy burns and the hole, while King circled the lander making a methodical inspection for any further damage.

  “Captain Bronsky, are you ready for egress?” Fox asked.

  “Not just ready, but downright impatient. Can you open the hatch from there?”

  Fox inspected the controls near the hatch. “It’s a pressure-interlock problem. We need to depressurize the Halley’s cabin, equalize the pressure on both sides, before we can open the hatch door. Right now, there’s still too much air inside compared with the vacuum on the outside.”

  “Our cabin is already attempting to depressurize itself,” said Cushing with a hint of panic in his voice. “The traditional depressurization systems are damaged. We might have to use the emergency release.”

  Fox grew increasingly concerned. “That would explosively blow the hatch. You would get out well enough, but we wouldn’t be able to use the Halley again. No telling how many months it would take Earth to send a replacement ship.”

  Finished inspecting the hull, King stopped by JJ and Major Fox at the breach. “The Halley’s got a bunch of scrapes, a bent strut, and some kind of camera that got blasted to bits, but no significant damage other than this, sir.” He pointed to the jagged hole.