Spaced Out

by Stuart Gibbs

  “What?” Kira asked, stunned. All the adults looked equally shocked.

  So did Katie Gallagher. She seemed caught completely off guard—and a bit annoyed as well. As if she’d been hoping for a great exposé about Moon Base Alpha and had now been denied. “I’m sorry?” she asked. “Did you just say that you love it up there?”

  “Yes,” Sonja cooed. “It’s simply wonderful. This has been the best vacation we have ever had. Better than the French Riviera, or the Maldives, or Gstaad . . .”

  “Or even the Bahamas,” Lily added. “And we own a whole island there!”

  “It’s worth every penny we spent!” Lars proclaimed.

  “Even though you spent over half a billion dollars?” Katie asked skeptically.

  “Absolutely,” Lars replied. “Sure, it’s not the same as staying in a luxury resort on earth. There aren’t any servants or fancy meals or beaches to walk on. But then, you have to ask yourself, is that really what makes a vacation great? Shouldn’t it all be about the place you’re going and the experience of being there? What could possibly be a more exciting place to visit than the moon? What could be a more amazing experience than taking an actual rocket into space? What could be better than spending six months in such an incredible place with my wonderful family? I wish that everyone on earth could have one fraction of the joy that we’ve experienced up here.”

  All of us looked to one another, too stunned by Lars’s performance to speak.

  Because there was no other word for it. It was definitely a performance. The Lars in the interview was nothing like the Lars any of us had been with for the past few months. It wasn’t merely that he was spouting lies to Katie Gallagher, telling her the exact opposite of everything he’d been saying to us. It was that Lars himself seemed to be the exact opposite. The Lars in the video was gracious, kind, and well-spoken, while the real Lars was cruel and hot-tempered and rarely said anything that wasn’t outright nasty. I got the distinct impression that he’d written all his answers out beforehand and memorized them.

  “Is that even Lars Sjoberg?” Kira asked. “Or did they replace him with a robot?”

  “Er . . . what about your relations with the other lunarnauts?” Katie asked, apparently concerned that this interview wasn’t nearly as sensational as she’d hoped it was going to be. She seemed desperate to find something to provoke an angry response. “I’ve heard things haven’t been quite so pleasant there as you’re making them out to be.”

  Lars broke into fake laughter, as though Katie had told him the funniest joke of all time. The rest of the Sjobergs followed his lead.

  “Oh, Katie,” Lars chuckled, “please don’t be offended, but the rumors you’ve heard have no foundation in reality whatsoever. Our relationships with our fellow lunarnauts have been the best part of this vacation. We have made so many wonderful friends here, going home is going to be extremely difficult for us.”

  “In fact,” Sonja added, “we intend to stay friends with everyone here once we are all back on earth. We hope they’ll come visit us at any of our vacation homes.”

  This from the woman who once announced at dinner that she wished all the rest of us would drop dead from moon disease.

  While the Sjobergs all looked eerily happy, Katie Gallagher did not. She was trying to keep a smile on her face, but it was becoming hard work. She shifted her attention to the kids, hoping they’d be easier to provoke. “Patton and Lily, have you found this experience equally as wonderful as your parents have?”

  “Yes,” Patton said. And that was it. He wasn’t nearly as adept at lying as his parents, so it seemed to be all he could manage.

  However, Lily had the gift for gab, and she deftly took over. “I think that Patton and I have probably enjoyed our time here even more than our parents. I have had so much fun with the Marquez kids and the Gibson kids and Kira Howard. They really feel like family to me.”

  “Yes,” Patton said again.

  Katie Gallagher looked as though she had just sat on an entire box of thumbtacks. “So then, there hasn’t been anything bad about your experience at Moon Base Alpha at all?”

  “The only bad thing about this experience,” Lars replied, “is that it will have to end. Sadly, NASA tells me that it won’t be possible to extend our stay, as there are many other families who have paid for the privilege of coming here after us, but perhaps we will be able to return to the moon one day. I understand there are many companies looking to build hotels here, and I think I speak for all of us when I say that another vacation here is something we’d happily sign up for.”

  “Absolutely,” Sonja agreed. “Now that we’ve been here, vacations on earth will be a bore. The moon is simply the best place we’ve ever gone. Nothing can compare.”

  “Hopefully,” Lars said, “in the not-so-distant future, lunar travel will be available for everyone, not merely the richest people. Because this is an experience everyone should have. There are simply no words to describe how amazing it has been.”

  “Given that,” Katie said, “I suppose it’s time to bring this interview to a close. Lars, Sonja, Patton, and Lily, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me from all the way at Moon Base Alpha. It’s been a pleasure.”

  “No,” Lars corrected, “the pleasure was all ours. Thank you, Katie.”

  The video ended.

  “What the heck was that?” Kira asked.

  “Looks like NASA finally convinced them to make a statement supporting the moon base,” Mom replied.

  “The Sjobergs never do anything unless it benefits the Sjobergs,” Chang said suspiciously. “They’re not going to do some PR campaign for NASA. They loathe NASA. They’re up to something here. I guarantee it.”

  The radio crackled with a new transmission. “Hey, guys!” Daphne chirped. “We haven’t seen a meteorite strike in the past ten minutes and the satellite isn’t picking up any incoming, so it looks like it’s safe for you to come on home!”

  Mom radioed back. “That’s good to hear. How’s Violet doing?”

  “Great, as usual,” Daphne replied. “In fact, she’s right here and wants to say hi.”

  “Hi, Mommy!” Violet called. “Can I have some space ice cream?”

  “Did you eat your lunch?” Mom asked.

  “Um . . . yes,” Violet said, in a way that indicated she hadn’t. She hadn’t mastered lying nearly as well as the Sjobergs had.

  “We’ll talk about it when we get back,” Mom said, then signed off and turned to all of us. “My helmet’s fixed. How’s everyone else’s?”

  “Good as new,” Dr. Howard said, tightening the final screw on his visor.

  “Same goes for Dash’s suit,” Dad said, pointing to the patch he’d put on it. It didn’t look good as new to me, but it looked much better than it had before. “I recharged your oxygen tanks too,” Dad told me.

  “All right,” Chang said. “Suit up, everyone. We’re going back out there.”

  Despite Daphne’s claim that the meteorite shower was over, my heart still began racing. I stared out the window at the surface of the moon, feeling my stomach churn with anxiety.

  Hopefully, for once, a trip onto the lunar surface wouldn’t be a near-death experience.

  Excerpt from The Official Residents’ Guide to Moon Base Alpha, “Appendix A: Potential Health and Safety Hazards,” © 2040 by National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  NONAPPROVED OBJECTS

  To protect the delicate balance of the interior atmosphere of MBA, only sanctioned objects should be brought into the base. Any personal items you wish to bring from earth must be approved by NASA, then submitted to the Administration for proper sterilization, irradiation, and packing before delivery to the moon. Rest assured that similar steps will be taken with all equipment and foodstuffs delivered to base. Furthermore, no objects should be brought in from the lunar surface without official approval, to protect against contamination of MBA. True, the lunar surface is sterile itself, but there is always a chance
that extremely hardy life forms can survive in these circumstances—and they might be dangerous to humans. Think of MBA as a bubble protecting you from an extremely harsh environment, and don’t do anything to pollute the interior!

  FRAYED NERVES

  Lunar day 217

  Afternoon

  We refilled our oxygen tanks, suited up, and headed back to MBA. The rover Kira and I had wrecked was out of commission, so there was only one left—and it could only hold four people. Chang ordered Mom and Dad to drive Kira and me back in it, while he and Dr. Howard would walk. Dad protested, but Chang pulled rank as the interim base commander, and that was that.

  The trip back to MBA was far less eventful than the trip out had been. But even so, it was still terrifying.

  I spent the entire time worrying that a meteorite was suddenly going to plunge from the sky and kill me. Or kill one of the people I was with. I did my best to remain calm, but I wasn’t fooling anybody. They could all hear me over the intercom in our helmets. I’d never realized you could tell that someone was frightened simply by their breathing, but you can.

  I could hear it in Kira’s sharp, ragged breaths. And I could see her nervous fidgeting. Despite all her claims that she was fine, she was just as scared as me.

  So rather than make us walk from the garage to the air lock, Dad lopped a few precious minutes off the trip and dropped us off at the front of the base with Mom. Then he drove on to the garage while we all stepped into the air lock.

  The other big rover was still parked by the air lock. Dr. Balnikov, Dr. Merritt, Dr. Kim, and Dr. Alvarez had been in a much bigger rush when they’d returned, fearing that their helmets might fail, so they hadn’t spent a second longer outside than they needed to. The rover had been hit by a few meteorites and looked badly damaged, which made me think about what would have happened if I had been hit by a meteorite like that. I hurried into the air lock as quickly as I could. So did Kira and Mom.

  The moment I stepped inside, where I was safe from incoming space rocks, I was finally able to relax. Less than two hours before, I hadn’t been a very big fan of MBA. Now I couldn’t have been happier to be back there.

  The air-lock chamber repressurized and we eagerly popped off our helmets.

  Through the glass of the inner air lock, we could see Violet and Daphne waiting for us. Violet had her nose mashed up against the window and was making funny faces. She also had a chocolate mustache.

  “Welcome back, everyone!” she yelled.

  “Thanks, sweetheart,” Mom called back. “Looks like you had ice cream anyhow.”

  “No, I didn’t!” Violet lied.

  Daphne blushed, embarrassed. “I couldn’t say no to her. She’s too darn cute.”

  It took a long time to get all the moon dust off our suits, especially mine and Kira’s. The air hose system wasn’t very fast to begin with, and we were coated with the stuff. By the time Dad bounded up to the outer air lock door from the garage, we’d only managed to get the helmets clean.

  “Let’s leave the suits for now,” Mom said. “Stephen needs to come in and we have other things to do.”

  So we passed into the staging area with our helmets, leaving the suits heaped on the floor, and then closed the inner air-lock door behind us. Now that the air-lock chamber was clear, Dad entered it from the lunar surface.

  Once I was inside the base, Violet threw her arms around me and clamped on tight. “I’m so happy you’re okay!”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “I hate those meteoroids,” she told me, then turned to the window and yelled, “Stupid meteoroids! You stay away from my brother!”

  “I’m happy you’re okay too,” Daphne said, then hugged both Kira and me at once.

  “Oof!” Violet cried from in between us all. “Help! I’m being squished!”

  Almost everyone else at MBA had turned out to witness our arrival as well. Now that their raid on the greenhouse was over, the Sjobergs had retreated back into their room again. But all the other Moonies were gathered to welcome us back—except Dr. Goldstein. I figured she was in the greenhouse, assessing the damage the Sjobergs had done.

  Roddy stepped forward first. “Hey, guys, I’m glad you made it.”

  Everyone then looked to Cesar expectantly. He stayed right where he was, though, looking down at his feet, until his mother shoved him forward. “Cesar has something he’d like to say,” she announced.

  “Yeah.” Cesar kept his gaze locked downward. “I’m sorry the Sjobergs and I broke the helmets and caused all this trouble.”

  “That’s all right,” Mom told him, though her tone indicated she was still plenty peeved at Cesar.

  “How’d you finally get the helmet off?” I asked him.

  “We had to use some industrial lubricant designed for the robots,” Daphne explained.

  “What was it like out there?” Roddy asked eagerly. “With all the meteorites coming down around you? Was it exciting?”

  “Too exciting,” I told him.

  “Any sign of Nina back here?” Mom asked.

  A collective sense of sadness and unease seemed to settle over everyone else.

  “Nothing,” Daphne admitted. “The search parties didn’t find any sign of her and we haven’t heard a peep since everyone came back inside.”

  “And you searched everywhere we planned to?” Mom asked.

  “No,” Dr. Balnikov admitted. “We called off the search outside when the issue of the helmets became evident, and then the meteorite shower prevented us from resuming it.”

  “However,” Dr. Alvarez added, “we did cover a significant area and saw no sign of her.”

  “I got some robots going after the shower ended,” Daphne reported. “They’ve all come up empty, but they haven’t had time to range very far.”

  “I checked the whole base for her!” Violet said helpfully. “Even the bathrooms. But I couldn’t find her.”

  Mom looked to me. “Any other ideas where she might be?”

  It caught me by surprise that she was deferring to me on this. Then I noticed that everyone else was looking at me expectantly too. “No,” I said sadly.

  “Nothing?” Mom pressed.

  “Come on, Dash,” Violet said. “You figured out what happened to Dr. Holtz when no one else could.”

  A murmur of agreement rippled through the room.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t come up with anything. Whether Nina had vanished on her own or someone had attacked her and then tried to hide her body, she’d still have to be somewhere. But I had no new ideas about where that could be.

  Before I was forced to admit this, however, Dad stepped through the air lock and announced, “That wasn’t a meteorite shower.”

  Everyone’s attention now shifted to Dad.

  “It was so a meteorite shower,” Kira told him. “I was out in it.”

  “You were out in a shower,” Dad corrected. “But those weren’t meteorites.” He held up a scrap of metal the size of a pea. “They were things like this.”

  Mom took the bit of metal and stared at it, aghast. “You mean that whole shower was man-made?”

  “Probably not on purpose,” Dad said. “But yes, it was. I checked out a few of the other impact craters by the garage. They were all made by space junk.”

  I groaned. Space junk was an increasingly dangerous problem. Garbage on earth was merely ugly, but in orbit—where everything moved at seventeen thousand miles an hour—it was deadly. If a spacecraft hit something as tiny as a wing nut at that speed, it could explode and everyone on board would die. And unfortunately, if there was one thing humans excelled at, it was creating garbage. Almost every time we launched something into space, we left debris out there, ranging from little stuff like nuts and bolts that broke off rockets, to big stuff like defunct satellites. Even worse, space junk tended to multiply. If even a tiny piece slammed into a satellite, that satellite instantly became several million more pieces of space junk—each of which could destroy another satellite, c
reating millions of more pieces. NASA did its best to monitor and remove what it could, but it was a losing battle. Rocket launches were routinely delayed to allow clouds of space junk to pass.

  However, until that moment, I had thought that space junk was a much bigger problem closer to earth than to the moon—and judging from everyone else’s reactions, they were equally surprised. “Where’d it come from?” I asked.

  Dad said, “Most likely, some other country had a lunar satellite blow up and neglected to inform us.”

  “Don’t rule out the USA,” Dr. Balnikov retorted. “They have more spy satellites than anyone, and I guarantee you, the CIA doesn’t announce when those come apart.”

  “Who says it had to be a human satellite?” Roddy asked. “There are probably dozens of alien cultures monitoring us. Maybe one of their ships malfunctioned.”

  “Maybe your brain malfunctioned,” Cesar said, smacking Roddy on the back of the head.

  “It doesn’t matter whose satellite it was,” Mom said angrily. “What matters is that Dash and Kira could have died because of it! If there is space junk in lunar orbit, NASA needs to know about it immediately!”

  There were murmurs of agreement throughout the room. “I’ll notify them right now,” Daphne said. “Since we know the exact time the storm hit, we ought to be able to pinpoint the cloud’s location.” She spun on her heel and raced toward the control room.

  As she did, she almost plowed into Dr. Kim, who had just exited the science pod, carrying a small rock. Up to that point, I hadn’t noticed that Dr. Kim wasn’t among the crowd in the staging area. Dr. Kim was so meek that sometimes you didn’t even notice her when she was the only other person in the room. “Excuse me,” Dr. Kim told Daphne, even though the near collision was actually Daphne’s fault, and then she froze upon seeing the size of the gathered crowd, looking like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

  Meanwhile, Roddy and Cesar’s argument was escalating.