by Dan Eaton
Demarco paced off several meters and then placed and triggered the second lock package. He came over to me and said, “Jim’s got the patch off the door. He’s hooking up the oxygen to Sandy now.”
A tense minute went by and he said, “They’re moving Sam into the lock chamber now.”
As I watched, Demarco went over and operated a valve that bled room air into the lock to pressurize it. Dr. Patel and a nurse showed up with a medical trolley while the circular lock entrance zipped open. I expected someone to step out, however Demarco walked over and grabbed the end of what looked like a giant black hot dog. As he stepped back, pulling the taut bag towards the medical trolley, Jim, still in his suit, came into view holding the other end. I realized what I was looking at was an emergency pressure bag that was holding Sam. They got the bag loaded on the trolley and sped off after opening the bag and doing a quick check of Sam’s vitals.
When I turned back to look at the lock, Demarco was helping Sandy through the lock. I hurried over and started helping Sandy get out of his suit. When we peeled him out of it, he just slid down against the wall and sat there looking exhausted. Demarco came over and checked his vitals and then gave him an energy bar and some water to drink. He was shaking a little and when he looked at me, I said, “I know that feeling,” thinking about how I felt last week after getting the Zhangs to the emergency room.
Sandy gave me a weak smile and said, “Yeah, I suppose you do.”
Demarco came back over after sealing up the lock and said, “Good job, Sandy, thanks for saving Sam. The doc is working on her and thinks she is going to make it okay.’
“I had some good help and a little luck”
“How bad is the damage?”
“He managed to blow the number seven panel. I think the frame is okay. We’ll have to strip the frame down and pull a spare panel from storage. Give me another five minutes to recover and I’ll go back in and start cleaning up the frame.”
“Yeah, that ain’t going to happen. Your suit telemetry popped a couple of medical alerts. The doctors are requesting your presence.”
“But—”
“But nothing. Bryce, please escort Sandy to the Medical section and don’t let me catch you letting yourself being bullied by him into making any stops along the way.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Forgiveness
Good morning fellow NLH residents. It’s Sunday, April 3rd, 2039.
In Habitat News, CDB Farms has announced that its recent harvest set a new record both in terms of produce collected and in terms of the number of different items now being cultivated. CDB Farms now has seventy three different crops under cultivation, including many of the most popular herbs and spices.
Habitat facilities, reopened the Viewing Room yesterday morning. The damage to the room has been completely repaired, as have the nearby door structures.
In related news, Sam Tanner is in guarded but stable health. She wishes to express her gratitude for all the support and well wishes she has received.
In financial news today, the Lunar Stock Market closed Friday with shares of Mussconny Machine trading at $33.36 a share, Mussconny Fabrication at $37.09 a share, Hotel Whipple shares are at $32.25. O’Reilly’s Shellfish Company is at $27.19 a share and CDB Farms is trading at $27.43 a share. MM Brewing is at $2.85 a share, and Daniels Designs is at $2.41 a share. Psuche Neural is at $12.87 a share.
It was Sunday, and I didn’t have to work for Sandy, and I didn’t have to work for my Mom, and I could go anywhere I wanted in the Habitat without having to have someone with me. It was a delicious feeling of freedom so naturally I had to share it with someone. The night before, there had been a birthday party for my mom. This had been the first party since Buddy’s activities had come to light. It took a little bit before I realized I wasn’t under a shadow any more. It was good to spend time with friends again and I was hoping for more of that today. I walked next door to Myra’s and knocked on the door. Myra answered the door and stepped out to join me on their patio as she said, “Hey you.”
“Hey to you too. I know you’re probably planning to spend a lot of time today with your new best bud Mai, but could I talk you into going for a walk with me sometime today? You know, for old times sake.”
She laughed, gave me a hug, and said, “Mei can wait. She’ll understand. You did save her life so I can’t see her complaining if you borrow some of my time.”
I noticed during the hug that Myra had gotten taller. It was a little thing, but it underscored how apart, we’d been for most of the year that I’d pick up on something like that.
“I didn’t save her life. You’re the one who gave her the injection.”
“You saved both their lives. Seconds counted and you took charge and made things happened. If you hadn’t of been there, I’m sure Adam and I would have tried, but I don’t think we would have gotten them to help in time. You did. Even Yang admits that so just shut up and take it.”
I could tell this was one of those discussions I was going to lose if I kept at it so I conceded defeat and said, “Okay, fine, would you like to go for a walk with your local hero sometime today?
She gave me a big smile and said, “Sure, How about now? I’ve got something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about anyways.”
We wandered out of the neighborhood and down into the Grand heading West. Myra asked, “So anything new with the investigation?”
It had been eleven days since Buddy’s death. While Sam was laid up in the hospital, her second-in-command, Demarco Turay, had carried on the investigation. Buddy had used those pipes I had cut for him to build what were essentially potato guns. Only instead of shooting potatoes, these shot heavy metal slugs that had one end turned down to a point. The glass in the Viewing Room might have withstood one of the slugs, but he had welded the three tubes together in a frame that he could place against the window and then brace against one of the benches in the room. Buddy was a skilled welder and as part of his job had access to a welding rig using a single high pressure Oxy-Hydrogen tank mix. He had used that to weld the hinges on the upper and lower stairwell doors fixed so the doors couldn’t be shut. Then he lugged the tank up to the viewing room. He took off the regulator and hooked up a hose from a rapid release ball valve on the tank to a pipe that fed into the rear end of the three pipe cannons. All he had to do to shoot the cannons was to flip the valve and the high pressure Oxy-hydrogen mix in the tank would drive the pointed metal slugs into the glass.
They found Buddy’s body laying out on the lunar surface beneath the broken viewing room window. It was in pretty gruesome shape, but a search had revealed a small box that emulated a small number of identification chips. Mine was one of the id’s. The glove he was wearing on his right hand turned out to have been modified with lead sheeting to shield Buddy’s id chip from detection. Sandy remembered the day Buddy had come into the shop looking for some shielding material for a project Buddy said he was working on.
Experts examined the Habitats systems and found that Buddy had managed to thoroughly compromise them. He was one of the people trusted to guard the systems which made it easy for him to subvert it. It was the old question of who guards the guards.
Those were the technical details that explained how Buddy had managed to cause so many problems without leaving behind clues. What we didn’t have was an answer to the question of why Buddy had done it. What had happened to him, that in the end, he took his own life and tried to kill so many other people. We didn’t even know what had finally triggered him to throw the valve. Demarco and Sandy had been listening to Sam as she tried talking Buddy into giving up, but they couldn’t hear his side of the conversation. One minute, Sam seemed to be making progress, and the next, boom, Buddy had opened the valve.
The only reason Sam was still alive was she had tied herself off with a rope so she couldn’t be pulled out the window. Sandy had managed to get her in the pressure bag within 45 seconds, but by then she was unconscious and severely injured by
the lack of pressure. Sandy and I went to visit her and she looked like one giant black and blue bruise. Demarco had interviewed her about what happened, however, all she could remember was starting up the stairs, hoping she could talk Buddy out of doing whatever he had planned.
Myra knew all of that, the whole habitat did. I said, “No, nothing new. They searched Buddy’s apartment and his work space, hoping he had left a note or a diary, anything to explain what had happened. Nothing turned up. His roommate worked a different shift and said he didn’t see much of Buddy. His co-workers said Buddy was a loner and loved conspiracy theories. Not a whole lot for them to go on.”
“I talked to Christine. She feels guilty, she missed the signs. I told her a whole lot of people did. The Habitat has gotten so much bigger and so has the workload she has to handle. You might want to say something to her. If you don’t blame her, maybe it means something more to her.”
“I’ll talk to her. I don’t blame her. I just want to put this whole thing behind me and get back to my life.”
“Yeah, about that, what are you going to do about Willie?”
“The heck with Willie. He could of stood by me like the rest of you guys and he didn’t. Not much of a friend.”
“Yet he feels badly about it. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t feel bad. Friends care about each other. So what about Yang? Are you going to punch him out the next time you see him?”
“What! No, of course not. I mean, I guess from his point of view I did look like a creep, but after everything came out, he came with his father and apologized to me. I don’t think we’ll ever be best friends, on the other hand, I don’t think we’re enemies now.”
Myra suddenly stopped and swung around so that she was facing me. She said, “Oh, I see, a stranger who has doubts about you and treats you badly gets a break when he reforms. Yet, a friend who has doubts about you and treats you badly gets thrown out with the garbage when he tries to reform. Is that how it works?”
She stepped closer to me and I was looking into her suddenly angry hazel eyes. She said, “Listen to me Bryce, yes, he had doubts, lots of people did. I know that hurt you, but that’s no excuse to throw away a friend.“
“Maybe, but what makes you think he still wants to be my friend. The news is out. I’m not guilty of any of those things people thought I did. I haven’t seen Willie. He hasn’t come by to say he’s sorry, heck, he hasn’t even come by just to say hey. What do you expect me to do?”
Myra’s eyes softened and she gave me a quick peck on the cheek and softly said, “You’re still an idiot but you can learn. Willie’s an idiot too, He has no clue how to get his friend back, however, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want it to happen. Go say hi to him and see what happens.”
My neck itched and I adjusted the never to be sufficiently cursed tie again. Mom had insisted we all get dressed up for dinner tonight. Dad was even wearing a sport coat and Mom had on her best dress. I noticed she was sporting a simple necklace that had to have come from Marissa Daniel’s jewelry side business. We were definitely overdressed for the Habitat but Mr. Zhang had invited our family to dinner with his and after all that had happened, my mom wanted to make a good impression and give no offense. She had been relentless in making sure Dad and I looked our very best.
I didn’t think all this fuss was needed, but no one had asked my opinion. Things between me and Yang had improved. Saving someone’s life apparently does much to improve someone’s opinion of you, so Yang wasn’t actively hating me any more. After Buddy’s secrets came out, Yang had come by with his father and apologized to me for his actions. I was just glad to have that whole mess over with. I didn’t think Yang and I would be friends and that was okay. But I kept thinking about what Myra had said about Willie and about a week back had approached Willie at lunch. I just sat down with Willie and Yang and said, “Hey.” They said, “Hey” back. It was a slow start, but I started joining them for lunch everyday and have been patiently working towards Willie and me being friends again. If Yang came along for the ride, I guess Myra would say you can never have too many friends.
We met the Zhangs at Seline’s Bistro. Ananyu, looking exotic and professional, greeted us and escorted us to the table Mr. Zhang had reserved. The Zhangs all looked overdressed also. Misery loves company so I was glad to see Yang had been subjected to the same torture I had. If anything, he looked even more uncomfortable with his tie. Once we were seated, Mr. Zhang stood back up and said, “Thank you for coming this evening. Our families have not always been on the best terms with each other since we have arrived. Being so far from Earth, we only have each other out here and I hope, in light of the recent incident, we can now tread the same path as friends.”
Dad spoke up for our family and said that we wanted to put the past behind us and hoped, as he did, for happier times to come. With that, Chef Patel swept in from the Kitchen and greeted the adults. When he was finished with our parents, he came by and greeted each of us kids. He did his utmost to make us all feel like we were family and he was greatly honored for us to come to his restaurant. Mr. Zhang had ordered a seven course meal for us. I came hungry and wasn’t disappointed by any of the courses. During dinner, my mom and Mrs. Zhang became engrossed in a discussion about orchids. Mrs. Zhang was a fan of Chinese ground orchids and was hoping my mom could grow the ornamental plant to bring a touch of Mrs. Zhang’s home to the Habitat. Mom must have found it an interesting idea because the two of them spent much of the evening discussing it.
Dad was talking to Mr. Zhang. I was listening in as Mr. Zhang asked my dad what was next for him, since his involvement with the accelerator project was winding down. Dad said that Transcor had won the bid for a train that would connect the Habitat to the ESA’s Lunar Village. A road was already being worked on. The road was fine for freight that could be delivered by autonomous trucks, however, for passengers, a train would be faster than taking the road and cheaper than going by a CLT30 or other flight. Mr. Zhang wondered how long it would be before a road and train connected the new Chinese Far Side Habitat with NLH. The Village was smaller than NLH but both were growing and I found it strange to think folks from the Village might be coming here for vacation someday soon.
We kids mostly listened to our parents talk. The relationship between Yang and I was much improved, although it wasn’t to the point where we had enough in common to talk about to sustain a conversation all through dinner. Mei was still very shy with me. She’d answer if I asked her something, yet she didn’t initiate any conversation. Eventually, we got through the meal and our parents after dinner conversations. We all said good night and headed home. I hoped my dad was correct and we were all in for happier times ahead of us.
From an Earth point of view, Prom at NLH will always be a little strange. Traditionally, Prom was for seniors or maybe for juniors also. At NLH, all we had last year was a freshman class and there was no way Miss Gayle and Christine were going to turn down an excuse for a party. This year, we had a freshman and sophomore class, not a senior or junior to be had in the entire school so naturally, the Prom was for both our classes.
I stood with Ananyu waiting for the first dance to begin. She looked great and her eyes sparkled as she looked around the crowd, excited to see everyone that was here. Maybe, if things had worked out differently, I would have taken Myra to the Prom, but Ananyu had asked me back when things were bad, and even if she was mostly doing it to make her friend Nina happy, I couldn’t help but feel lucky to be her date tonight. The music started and we began dancing, and as usual, Ananyu and I danced great together. When the dance was over, Ananyu left, only to be quickly replaced by Myra. The music started and it only took a second or two to get used to Myra’s increased height. Then we were making our way around the dance floor like nothing had ever happened.
The dance ended and then life took another one of those left turns. Jocelyn walked up to me and asked if she could have the next dance. My first reaction was to say no, but then I thought of how nice the e
vening had been going without any of the drama from the last few months. I said, “Jocelyn, I wasn’t expecting to dance with you tonight, but if you’re game, I can be, too. “
“Thank you, Bryce. I —”
The music started up and I guided Jocelyn around the floor. She was light on her feet, although the tension between us kept us from dancing well.
“Bryce, I want to apologize. I…”
“You had fun telling people what a slime ball I was.”
“I know, but—”
“Something I always wondered was did you actually believe that stuff about me or was it all just fun and games?”
“I had my doubts. Look, on Earth, the media played you guys up as perfect. All six of you just perfect little angels. I felt really intimidated coming here. How was I supposed to measure up? When it looked like you weren’t such a perfect guy after all, it was just such a relief. I’m sorry, I just kind of ran with it. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Part of me just wanted to walk off the dance floor and leave her standing there. But the other stupid part of me heard her say she had her doubts and give a good explanation for why she had taken such delight in running me down. If she had just said she knew I was bad I could have stalked off, but she had to say she had her doubts, just like Willie had doubts. I kept my mouth shut for a minute and then as the dance was winding down I said, “Look Jocelyn, what you did hurt, on the other hand, that dang Buddy did such a good job of making everything look like my fault, I guess I can’t fault you for being fooled. I forgive you.” Her eyes had teared up and she gave me a little hug and made a quick exit.
Ananyu was bearing down on me and I didn’t need to see the stormy look on her face to know who my next dance partner had to be. I looked around and found Nina sitting with Miss Gayle. I headed over to her and said, “Nina, this next dance is ours.”
