The Journey Begins

by Dan Eaton

  I had spent some time looking at the interior shots of the Aries 1B and the CLT30 only vaguely resembled it on the inside. What was similar were the outward facing seats designed to give passengers a good view out the windows. The seats could tilt back and serve as acceleration couches during liftoff or as a place to rest your eyes during the trip from the earth to the moon. On the Aries 1B the exterior walls had horizontal ribs and the color scheme of the passenger compartment had cream colored chairs floating between a dark ceiling and floor. The center section of the floor was depressed and contained an access tube to the crew compartment. The CLT30’s passenger compartment was done in brighter colors with indirect lighting that could brightly light the compartment during boarding, but be turned down during cruising to allow a better view out the windows. Surprisingly, I’d swear the seats were almost the same color as those on the Aries 1B. The center section contained a small galley and the access to the crew compartment located on the top deck.

  Mom sat down in one of the seats and said, “This is nice. If comfort is any indicator of success, then Denali Aerospace has a real winner here. We’re definitely taking this bus home when the time comes.”

  Dad answered Mom and said, “You got that right, Mrs. Burns.”

  I wanted to see the crew section so I went over and got in line. Because of the small space they limited the number of people who could visit the crew deck at one time. When my turn came I climbed the ladder and emerged out onto the crew deck. The space was small but cozy with two acceleration couches with control interfaces in the center on a raised platform above the entry tunnel from the passenger compartment. On either side of the entry there were two bunks that served as acceleration bunks during launch and as sleeping bunks for the off shift crew during the voyage. A small galley on one side and a space toilet on the other took up the remainder of the space. I liked that the crew actually had a view out the window located on the top of the sphere. Heck, I liked everything about the ship.

  When we returned back to the Habitat we were given tickets as we exited the transport. Mom said, “What are they for?”

  Our Denali Aerospace escort said, “They give you entry into part of the cafeteria that had been closed off just for Denali Aerospace. Inside you will find a treat to thank you for taking the tour.” If the BDS Development business unit of Denali Aerospace’s Defense, Space, & Security division had evil plans this day for taking over the Habitat they would have succeeded. We would all have handed it over to them without a second thought. You see, they gave us banana splits.

  Instead of a plan for taking over the Habitat, somebody in the BDS Development business unit came up with an advertising scheme that was pure genius. While the CLT30 was at an orbital in LEO they had loaded it up with reporters to cover the record breaking trip back to the Moon. To highlight the cargo capacity of the CLT30 they had loaded on all the fresh ingredients to make a banana split for all the guests and all the residents of the Habitat. A banana split may not sound like a big deal to you, but you normally can’t get one at the Habitat. Oh, there’s ice cream, it’s soft serve and made from the same powder that the breakfast milk comes from. But there are no fresh bananas, no maraschino cherries, no toppings. Nothing that you could use to build the delicious treat. It just wasn’t possible.

  But the team at Denali Aerospace had shown that it was possible. They loaded up the CLT30, came to the Moon and gave everyone at the Habitat a banana split. There wasn’t any other company that had a product that could accomplish what they did. They had a brilliant piece of in your face advertising that was worth every penny they paid for the stunt. Which had to be a lot because on Earth the banana splits weighed about a pound and in the Apollo era getting a pound to the Moon cost about a hundred thousand dollars. It would be far cheaper now days, but it still had to cost them a lot of money.

  Mom, Dad, and I sat there eating our glorious banana splits. The dish consisted of a scoop of vanilla ice cream sitting next to a scoop of chocolate. Both were a custard based premium ice cream with the vanilla being a vibrant white with a fresh beany vanilla flavor. The chocolate was a little malty and sweet with a rich, creamy feel on the tongue. Lying on either side of the ice cream scoops was an honest to God banana split into two. I hadn’t seen or tasted a banana in over six months and my mouth was watering at the thought of each piece chock full of pure banana flavor with a gentle sweetness. Over the top of the ice cream, pineapple, strawberry, and chocolate sauces had been spooned on. Real pineapple and strawberries were also on my list of things I hadn’t seen or tasted in over six months. Over the top of everything went a garnishment of whipped cream, crushed salted peanuts, and two maraschino cherries. It was heaven.

  After we were done eating, we had been sitting there contentedly when one of the Denali Aerospace guys came up and asked us if we were the Burns family.

  Dad answered, “Yes, we are. Can I help you?”

  The Denali Aerospace guy smiled and answered, “I’m Dave Evans, executive assistant to Henry Chang. Mr. Chang was hoping you might have time to meet with him privately. He’s very interested in the Habitat and has been looking forward to possibly meeting Bryce for some time now. If you could follow me please?”

  I was startled and said, “Me? How the heck does he know me?”

  Dave gave a little laugh and said, “Well, it could have been that video from your Home Coming Dance but I believe it’s actually because you have a mutual friend.”

  We followed Dave over to a table where a trim Asian looking middle aged gentleman sat wearing a nondescript Denali Aerospace jumpsuit. He had bright, intelligent eyes and his face lit up when Dave introduced us to him.

  This was my first meeting with Henry Chang. Henry was the head honcho of Denali Aerospace’s BDS Development business unit and many would later consider him to be the father of the CLT30.

  He greeted us all and then said, “Bryce, I hear good things about you from Sandy Mussconny.”

  I said, “Thanks sir. How do you know Sandy?”

  It turned out Sandy and Henry had known each other for a long time. Mussconny Fabrication actually produced some of the parts for the CLT30 and Sandy and Henry talked from time to time. Mom and Dad weren’t left out of the conversation and Henry had a lot of questions about the work they were doing. Henry was nothing like what I expected. He wasn’t some stuffed shirt executive, he was much more hands on and the guys who worked for him were fiercely loyal. Eventually, Dave came back to remind Henry of another appointment.

  Henry thanked us for meeting with him and said, “Bryce, I know you probably haven’t decided what to do with your life yet, but if you keep working for Sandy and then go get a degree I could see you working for me someday. Let’s keep in touch.”

  The request for a meeting from Henry wasn’t the only request I got today. The banana splits the CLT30 brought were great, but the CLT30 also brought along a load of reporters. After they had written everything they could about the CLT30 they looked around and realized they were the first reporters with virtually unlimited access to the relatively unknown Northern Lunar Habitat. Thanks to the viral video “Anonymous1957” had posted after the Home Coming dance, Adam, Ananyu, and I were highly sought after. Next came Myra since she was my partner in the V-Blog footage and the news networks’ footage. Then came Nina and Willie. We all got attention. NASA had controlled our exposure to the press before the launch and the Habitat kept us isolated by virtue of its location.

  Of the many interviews I had to do, one stuck out as being fun. Somebody had done some digging and found out about the Cardinal’s shirt Myra had given me for my birthday. The reporter interviewed me and Myra and then shot a picture of me in the viewing chamber with the lunar background over my shoulder and a thin crescent Earth peeking over the horizon. The shot made the cover of Sports Illustrated in an article called Cardinal’s most distant fan.

  We kids weren’t the only ones targeted, my mom was interviewed about CDB Farms and the article showed up in the journa
l Nature. Dad was interviewed multiple times about the linear accelerator. I think there was a bounty on Sandy’s head because he was highly sought after but extremely successful in avoiding the reporters. Christine, on the other hand, would do an interview at the drop of a hat, mainly because it helped her paint the Habitat in the best light. She was accessible and knowledgeable about most of the public projects going on at the habitat so she was the focus of many of the articles from the Habitat and ran a close second to the CLT30 in popularity.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Take your kid to work day

  Good morning fellow NLH residents. It’s Monday, February 15th, 2038.

  In Habitat news, O’Reilly’s Shellfish is pleased to announce the expansion of their facility. The increased facility size will allow them to expand their production. Mussconny Fabrication is pleased to announce they have signed an agreement with Denali Aerospace for continued production of CLT30 sub-assemblies.

  In other news, the SpaceX liner, Lunar Spirit, arrived yesterday afternoon with the largest yet personnel addition to the Habitat. Please welcome Russ Dentsbier, Vivian Baudoin, Kevin Cox, Watt Caddell, Maggi Canterbury, Arun Chiesa, Shanna Easton, Temple Else, Sherwin George, Jermain Guggenheimer, Dorsey Guns, Marylu Jones, Jacki Knapik, Ruthie Kramer, Bryer Larche, Lissa Mayo, Paul Merlin, Van Mink, Teagan Natarajan, Dustin Palczynski, Dominik Peters, Stan Pottlitzer, Jax Reiner, Dara Rocha, Joe Schumacher, Hilary Seulberg, Janis Stammfort, Jori Torno, Alyssa Waylen, and Ambrosius Zeller. The Habitat’s resident population now stands at three hundred and forty six.

  Dr. Johnson would like to remind the NLH High School freshmen class that school will start at 09:00 in Conference Room 218.

  In financial news today, on the Lunar Stock Market shares of Mussconny Machine are trading steady at $23.51 a share, Mussconny Fabrication at $22.00 a share, Hotel Whipple shares are rising at $10.01. O’Reilly’s Shellfish Company is up at $16.44 a share and CDB Farms is trading steady at $10.45 a share.

  We walked down to breakfast today with the Cherneski’s. I walked with Myra and was able to get her to laugh a couple of times. She was hit very hard by the death of her friend Jessie, but between all the work my mom had her doing and the passage of time she seemed to be getting back to her old self. She certainly seemed to have had a good time Friday night when we all celebrated her mom’s birthday.

  One really good thing about Mom’s hard work with the farm was that she had been successful in figuring out how to grow potato plants in the lunar gravity. That meant the cafeterias now had a steady supply of potatoes. I decided to have the Canadian bacon with hash browns breakfast. The Canadian bacon came out of a 3D printer and wasn’t that bad. Either they were getting better at printing it or as time went by I was getting less picky about what I considered good food. Our families had sat down together so I sat by Myra. She had picked out a bowl of oatmeal along with a cup of coffee like my Mom frequently had. I guess my Mom was rubbing off on Myra since they had been working so much together.

  I asked Myra if she was looking forward to having a break from the farm work. My mom had said her part in the considerable push to get the Grand operational was over for now so things would be returning to normal.

  Myra said, “It will be nice having your mom back working with us. She’s fun to work with and I’ve learned a lot from her. Which was good because Adam and I giving instructions to the ladies who joined the team probably wouldn’t have gone so well if it wasn’t so clear we actually know what we’re doing.”

  I changed the subject and said, “Last night I watched Star Patrol with Nina. It was pretty cool.”

  Myra replied, “You mean you went to the cafeteria and were part of the viewing party watching Star Patrol that happened to include Nina. Did you even talk to the girl?”

  “Well, no I didn’t get a chance—,” I said.

  Myra interrupted me and said, “Bryce, that relationship is never going to happen. You’re infatuated with her, but you won’t or can’t make any move to actually try to have a relationship with her. You should actually try talking to her sometime.”

  I defended myself and said, “I have talked to her. She’s just not as easy to talk to as you.”

  With a sweet smile on her face, Myra looked me in the eyes and said, “I saw your grades these last two quarters. You have a GPA of 3.85. That shows that someplace in your thick head there does reside a brain, but you still are such a dimwit.”

  I was clearly on the losing end of this discussion, but I decided I’d go down slugging.

  I said, “Miss Gayle said we were going to have a Prom to celebrate the end of the year. Maybe I’ll ask Nina to the Prom.”

  Myra replied, “Maybe you will, but it won’t make a difference because who’s going, with whom to the Prom has already been decided.”

  Miss Gayle had just brought the subject up last Friday. I didn’t know anything about our Prom partners already being selected.

  I said, “What are you talking about?”

  Myra replied, “Miss Gayle mentioned that it would be good for the V-Blog if Adam and Ananyu accompanied each other to the Prom if they didn’t have someone else they preferred going with. The girl Adam asked already turned him down, and none of us floats Ananyu’s boat so the two of them have decided to go together.”

  “You mean Ananyu’s into girls?” I asked a little shocked.

  “No, not that I know of,” replied Myra. “I was trying to get the point across that there’s no one here in the Habitat who Ananyu is interested in. You’re a guy so if I said she wasn’t interested in any of the boys here you’d automatically assume she was a lesbian because otherwise how could she possibly resist you three fine specimens of manhood. I was trying to avoid that, but I guess it didn’t work,” she said. Myra gave me that sweet smile again and said, “You’re such a dimwit.”

  I should have just got up and walked away but I decided to ride the sinking ship down.

  “So what about the rest of us?” I asked.

  Myra continued, “Nina doesn’t really care so she’ll go with whoever asks her. Willie likes Nina and will ask her. I’m stuck with you although going by myself is starting to look very attractive.”

  “Hah,” I said, “Willie has been flirting with you since school started. How do you know he won’t ask you instead of Nina? Then I could go to the Prom with Nina.”

  She just gave me that look again and said, “Well, the chances of you actually working up the nerve to ask Nina are pretty low. Willie will ask Nina because maybe I told him if he even thought about asking me, I’d beat the crap out of him. So again, looks like I’m stuck with you.”

  Fortunately, I was saved by the bell because both our E-Pads chimed with the five minute warning for the start of class. Like usual, Myra and I had got to talking and lost track of the time. It just wasn’t going to be a good day I could tell because we got up and I was half way to the door when there was a loud whistle behind me. Everybody in the cafeteria turned to look and there was Myra standing by the opposite door. That’s when I remembered the classroom had been moved. She just stood there watching me walk back across the cafeteria to her.

  Myra gave me that sweet smile again and said, “Dimwit,” when only I could hear it.

  Despite the bad start to the day, class went really well. Miss Gayle always did such a great job of making school interesting. When we came back from lunch I was surprised to see Christine and my dad sitting there chatting with Miss Gayle.

  Miss Gayle said, “You guys probably just figured out that we have a surprise for you this afternoon. I’m sure you know Bryce’s dad. What you may not know is that he works for a company called Transcor and they are building a linear accelerator. That’s about the limit of my knowledge on the subject so I’ll let Desmond take over.”

  My dad stood up from where he had been sitting with Christine.

  He asked, “So do any of you have an idea of what a linear accelerator is? Bryce, you don’t get to answer.”

&n
bsp; Nina spoke up and said, “A linear accelerator is a device that uses magnetic fields to accelerate a payload down a track that eventually shoots it into orbit.”

  My dad continued, “That’s a pretty good description Nina. On Earth, it’s not practical to do because of atmospheric heating and braking, but here on the Moon that’s not an issue. What we are doing is building a track out across the Peary crater next door. The track has a gentle upward curve to it so that when the payload hits the end of the track, it’s on a course that takes it up and away from the lunar surface. It’s going fast enough that it can achieve a mostly stable orbit on its own. The orbit would be very elliptical if left alone, but thrusters on the payload module will nudge it into a circular orbit about 110 km in altitude.”

  Dad looked around and asked, “Does anyone know why we’re doing this?”

  This time Myra beat Nina to the punch and said, “It’s a cheaper way to get things to orbit. Assuming you’re using solar power to power the track, then the cost of running the accelerator is basically the cost of building and maintaining the track, plus the cost of the crew running it, and the cost of the payload modules. You don’t have to pay fuel costs for a booster. It also works out well for the habitat in that fuel comes from the ice harvested from the crater bottoms around here. We’ve got plenty of ice now, but it’s a non-renewable resource and someday it’s going to run out.”