by Andrew Beery
Marching in a Mark Two Stark suit is fun up unto a point. The AI in the suit detects what you want to do and begins to actuate the legs for you. The key is to let the suit do its thing. If you resisting moving your legs for even a fraction of a second the suit interprets it as a desire to stop… and it does. The result is a herky-jerky motion until you get the rhythm right.
The bad news for guys is the herky-jerky motion tends to chafe your package. A chafed package is uncomfortable on ten kilometer walks… much less one hundred and ten. To make matters doubly troublesome, we had been practicing in one to two gravities… now we were in standard lunar gravity which was all of sixteen percent of Earth norm… translation: more herky-jerky.
JJ had me on a private channel. “Me bollocks are becoming bangers and mash,” he complained bitterly.
“Such is the fate of the mobile infantry,” I replied dryly.
“Maybe so,” he agreed, “But I had high hopes of continuing to use them things.”
“Lord help us,” I lamented. “Can any sane individual imagine a world filled with the pitter-patter of little JJs running around?”
For most of the walk the Drill Sergeants kept up a steady stream of ‘experience and knowledge transfer’… their words… not mine. The lectures covered everything from ‘how to avoid trench rot in Tactical Combat Armor’ to ‘how to avoid being baked alive if forced to march in a Stark suit on the sunny side of the moon’. They also explained what we could expect to experience in our two days out on the lunar surface.
One of the reasons we had waited until everyone had been through medical before coming out to play in the lunar sand was that we each of us would be picking up some serious doses of radiation. Our medical nanites would be dealing with the genetic damage as soon as it occurred. The Drills where quick to point out to JJ that the nanites worked from a pre-existing baseline and thus could not address some of the more serious genetic defects present in his current genome.
The final reason the Drills shared with us for getting to enjoy a walk on the dark side of the moon was that we were going to get to enjoy learning how to survive in the harshest of environments. Our march would take us very close to the lunar terminator… that line that divides the side of the moon that faces the sun verses that side which is in shadow.
In a matter of moments we would be able to go from minus one hundred and fifty six degrees below zero to one hundred and twenty three degrees above zero. The biggest danger in moving from one environment to the next was the rapid swing in temperature and not the temperature itself. Differential expansion in metals and plastics across a sudden two hundred and seventy five degree temperature swing could play havoc with minor incidentals like vacuum seal integrity and the like. For this reason we were encouraged to stay in the shadows until we had a better handle on how to cope with emergencies. Fortunately for us the dark side of the moon was truly dark right now.
One of the misconceptions about the dark side of the moon was that it was always in the dark. In point of fact, each side of the moon received roughly two weeks of sunlight followed by two weeks of darkness. The phrase ‘Dark Side’ simple referred to the fact that one side always faces away from the Earth. Over the eons tidal dissipation had slowed the rotation of the moon until it was in a synchronous orbit. As fast as it turned towards us… we turned away from it. The dark side was ‘dark’ because prior to the twentieth century no living human had ever seen it.
After several hours, and much chafing, we finally we got to our first stopping point. We had been warned that we could be ambushed by hostiles at any time. At this point the Drill Sergeants stepped back and watched us work.
I ordered Ramirez’s squad to assume lookout positions. I grabbed JJ and we began swapping out battery packs just like we had been trained. As our squad completed both primary and secondary swaps we exchanged places with Jesus’ squad. In eight and a half minutes we had the exchange complete. I know because I watched the senior drill timing us.
“AGAIN!” he yelled. “You took almost twice as long as you should have. If you were under fire those minutes could save your lives.”
“First squad, double up,” I yelled. “Pull your primaries yourself, let your partner replace your secondaries. Turn immediately around and do the same for your partner… move like you have a purpose!”
We shaved almost two minutes off our time but it was not good enough. The Drills had us practice the same maneuver again and again. I kept finding ways to shave a few more seconds off but it was never enough. Mercifully, the Drill Sergeants eventually gave us fifteen minutes to catch our breath. I gathered everybody around me in a huddle.
“Guys… I’m running out of thoughts here. What else can we do?”
It was Private Highmark that had the breakthrough idea. “Sir, do we really need half the platoon on guard duty?”
I looked around. The problem was, the area we were in was surrounded on three sides by impact crater rims… rims that went almost straight up. We needed lookouts spaced about those rims to see potential hostiles approaching… or did we?
One of the peaks was considerably higher than the others. If we could get three guys up there we could cover the entire area.
“OK, here is what we are going to do. First squad will assume their look out positions first. Highmark, Johnston and Ramirez, when the word is given, you will high-tail it for that tallest peak.” I flagged the desired point on my HUD display which was echoed for everybody else to see.
“Once you get there signal us and first squad will immediately come down for battery swaps. Corporal Ramirez, your job will be to provide a 360 degree look out. If you see any hostiles call it in. If you can take any of them out without compromising your position go for it but remember… you are more valuable as lookouts than as snipers.”
Next I tapped JJ, McDullis and Hansen. “You three will swap out your power packs and then carry up replacements for our look outs. As they are swapping out their power packs, you will take over their lookout duties. JJ and Hansen pair up for battery swaps. I’ll partner with Sam.”
I looked around the group. “It will take our lookouts a bit longer to get into position but being able to hot swap twenty seven of us almost at once should more than make up for it. The key is this, if we come under attack in the middle of this we are going to need everybody heading up to the rim as fast as you can. Also,” I nodded over towards the three Drill Sergeants that were chatting among themselves as talked. “I wouldn’t put it past them to try something sneaky. Whoever is in the lookout position don’t let the first sight of hostiles prevent you from continuing to look for a second or third group. If I can think of it they sure as hell can.”
I looked around the group. “We good?”
Almost everyone nodded. I noticed Sam McDullis was not among them. I didn’t think much of it at the time… that lack of attention would cost me my position as acting ensign although I didn’t know it at the time.
***
“OK party time is over,” Senior Drill Sergeant Harris yelled. “I can’t believe you sorry excuses for soldier-wanna-bees are having a hard time changing a simple battery but there you have it… The Galactic Coalition is reduced to scraping the bottom of the cesspool barrel and you are the result…” He sighed and I was almost sorry for him… well maybe not. He continued after a moment… “We will just have to make do. Ensign Stone, begin the exercise.”
“OK EVERYBODY. YOU HEARD THE SENIOR DRILL! MOVE!”
I grabbed Sam McDullis and began to swap out his gear. “Sam I noticed you didn’t look happy about our plan. Am I going to have any issues with your participation?”
“I’m not happy about where you are sending me. I don’t like heights.”
“Trust me,” I said. “I understand you’re afraid. Deal with it. There is a gently sloping ridge line that gets you to where you are going. Just keep your eyes on the ground in front of you and follow Sergeant Hammond. You guys will be tethered together… nothing can happen. Sam, I n
eed you up there. You are one of our best long distance shooters.”
I finish snapping his rear power pack in place and handed him the two replacements he would be carrying up the slope. He didn’t look happy and didn’t say a word. I had a bad feeling in my gut but I ignored it. What can I say? I was young and foolish.
Everything went according to plan and we completed the battery swap in under three minutes and thirty seconds. I was ecstatic… and then all hell broke loose.
The Drill Sergeants had apparently been waiting for us to figure out the battery swap puzzle. No sooner had we started celebrating then the explosions started. I kid you not… real, live, knock your socks off explosions!
My HUD showed incoming mortar rounds. I had seen the first several but my mind was still processing what was happening when the first several rounds struck. The explosions sent up large plumes of dust and rocks. Based on the dispersal pattern it looked like they were ranging shots that were working their way towards my lookouts.
I hit my platoon-wide comm-channel. “JJ get your troops off that precipice. Engage your suit thrusters and get back down here. That hunk of real estate has gotten too popular with the locals. The rest of you get your butts up to the rim and assume defensive positions.”
I started to watch JJ’s team. Our Starks had limited thrusters. They were only good for a few minutes of powered flight even on the moon with its greatly diminished gravity. We hadn’t spent a lot of time practicing with them but the suit’s AI did most of the hard work steering. Right now I just needed the six soldiers up on the top of that crag to gently fly down and out of harm’s way.
It didn’t seem reasonable that the Drills would actually drop mortars on them… that type of thing has been known to get people hurt… but on the other hand, my idea of reasonable and theirs were often at odds with one another.
As I watched my guys slowly lift off the surface and begin a controlled descent I saw an incoming mortar track on my HUD followed by an explosion at the point of supposed impact. I was looking right at it and I saw no actual incoming shell. Suddenly I knew what was going on. Our HUDs were reporting simulated mortars and the Drills had buried small charges under the lunar soil. It was extremely effective tactic for causing recruits to soil themselves in fear.
As the latest simulated shell went off very near JJ’s position disaster struck. Sam McDullis was barely keeping it together. Flying down from the top of their observation peak had to represent the worst possible nightmare for him. When the mortar simulator went off near him he panicked. A man wearing a powerful piece of military gear, in a hostile environment, surrounded by hard vacuum is the last person you want to panic.
Somehow he hit the override on his suit’s thrusters. He smashed into JJ and Johnston causing both of them to spin out of control. Both crashed into the side of the rock wall they had been flying next to. Johnston’s suit ruptured a seal as a result of the impact and emergency alarms began to go off in my suit indicating he was in serious trouble. The suit’s limited AI clamped an emergency seal down on his right calf. He howled in pain as the mechanism sought to save his life while sacrificing his lower limb.
Fortunately JJ had the presence of mind to grab him and get the two of them back down to the ground. As much as I wanted to check on Johnston I knew that McDullis had to be my priority. His suit was on a high-power burn that might not get him into lunar orbit but it would be damn close. I tried to take remote control of his suit but he had shut down his AI. His Mark Two was essentially a dumb missile at this point.
Between McDullis and Johnston the comms were filled with screaming. It was almost impossible to make anything out. I was operating on pure instinct at this point.
As McDullis rose in altitude he crossed the lunar terminus. His suit was bathed in sunlight. Unfortunately with Sam’s AI shut down the suit’s visor did not darken until Sam, whose face was literally burning and who was now quite blind, managed to fumble the correct switch. His screams intensified a hundred fold. I suspect those terror-filled wails would haunt me for the rest of my life.
I commanded my AI to plot an intercept course that preserved as much fuel for landing as possible. The computer complied but it indicated the fuel reserves would be unlikely to be sufficient to land safely. In my mind, an unsafe landing was better than none at all. I waved Private Benson over. When he arrived I placed both hands on his shoulders and ordered him to give me a ten second boost with his suit’s engines. I wasn’t sure if it would be enough but I didn’t have time to run another set of simulations.
The moment I let go of Benson, I ordered my AI to engage the intercept program. I would do a max burn for one minute thirty two seconds. The AI would handle the steering. All I had to do was grab Sam as I passed him.
At this point the yelling that I was hearing resolved into distinct voices. Senior Drill Sergeant Harris was ordering me to stand down. A smart man would have done that but McDullis had been under my command. I’m the one that put him in a situation that he was not emotionally equipped to handle. I disconnected my suit’s commlink. This would prevent the Drill Sergeant from talking to my AI and overriding my controls. I lowered my sun visor and watched as the flailing body of Sam McDullis slowly got larger as I approached.
My thrusters stopped firing and I began to drift. I had been in sunlight now for a good thirty to forty seconds. My suit’s power systems were already humming to dissipate the excess heat. At last I was close enough to Sam to grab him. He spasmed when I grabbed a leg. I lost the grip and had to grab wildly. I managed to get an arm. I held on tightly this time and brought my helmet to his. I knew that if our helmets where physically touching he would be able to hear me.
“SAM! SAM! Snap out of it! I’m trying to help.”
“I’m blind,” he sobbed.
“Don’t worry. Your nanites will take care of it. Right now we just need to work together to get back down.”
“Down… how far? My thrusters… they aren’t working anymore.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got a hold of you and I brought extra fuel. I’m going to clip a tether on you and turn you around. Once I do that our helmets won’t be touching and you won’t be able to hear me. I need you to trust me… Can you do that for me?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“No not really,” I admitted.
Once I had Sam secured and repositioned I ordered my AI to calculate the best possible burn for returning to the lunar surface. Unfortunately the news was not good. I had plenty of fuel to get back down. The problem was momentum. Kinetic energy is a function of mass and velocity. It didn’t matter that the moon only had sixteen percent the gravity of Earth. When we hit the surface our momentum would smash us flat. The problem was I didn’t have enough fuel left to arrest our combined momentum. We would crash about fifty kilometers into the sunlit side of the moon and there was nothing in the laws of physics that could prevent that crash.
Fortunately I had a few tricks up my sleeve. I had grown up on Mars and I knew all about Cat Kimbridge and the ill-fated voyage of ESX Arizona! I found my target and fired my braking thrusters. In about twenty eight seconds I’d know if I was right.
Chapter 7: Boot Camp – The Selenean Summit
The Engelhardt Crater is home to one of the tallest piles of rocks on the moon… the Selenean Summit. At just under eleven thousand meters high, it was my goal to kiss the side of that big boy and slide down it in what had become called the Arizona maneuverer.
The ESX Arizona under the command of, then, Lieutenant Commander Catherine Kimbridge had attempted a marginally controlled landing on Mars by sliding down the side of Olympus Mons like a snowboarder. The kinetic energy was dissipated along the length of the slide. The date she had attempted this was December 7th, 2067. It was exactly one hundred and twenty six years to the day from when the most famous of the ships named Arizona was destroyed. The name ‘Arizona’ could only be used by Senate approval and then only by ships from whom great personal sacrifice was expec
ted. Catherine Kimbridge had honored that commitment to sacrifice. Her experimental ship had not survived. I was hoping to do better.
According to my suit’s AI, I had just a touch over ten seconds of fuel left. I would need eight of them to adjust my course to gently kiss the top of the Selenean Summit. I would use the remaining two seconds of thrust to reduce my speed further but I knew it would never be enough. We were going to be coming in hard no matter what I did. Our best option would be to get help to our position as fast as possible. I re-enabled my commlink.
“To any station. This is Marine Recruit Anthony Stone. I need an immediate medical rescue at or near the base of the Selenean Summit. Two recruits down. Repeat two recruits down. Losing comms. Immediate help required.”
I programmed the suit’s AI to fire the last of my thrusters when it detected we were within five feet of the surface and to keep firing until the reserves were exhausted. My hope was the thrusters would kick up as much dust as possible. The dust on the moon was like a fine talcum powder. The high intensity ion thrusters would impart a static charge on the particles which would keep them dispersed. Given the low gravity on the moon’s surface the ionized dust cloud would be highly visible from kilometers away. It would be like a smoke flare on an airless moon… at least that was what I was shooting for.
I switched to my platoon channel. “This is AG. I have Sam. We are coming in for a hard landing near Engelhardt Crater and Selenean. I’m going to try and bleed off as much kinetic energy on the slide down the slope as I can. Sam and I are going to see just how rugged these Stark suits are…”
I was going to say more but my thrusters picked that moment to fire and I was bracing for what promised to be a very rough ride. As expected, I kicked up quite a dust cloud. My hope had been to land on my feet and ride the slope like I rode waves as a kid on Mars. Reality had a different idea.
