Moonwalker

The low orbiter shot across the lunar landscape 500 feet up. He was headed back to base 1 with a load of oar samples from mine # 35. It had been a hard week out in the sticks and he was glad to be getting home. On final approach to the Moonbase, he saw the Mars expeditionary rocket launch and rapidly disappear from view. "I wish I was on it," Gene thought as he sat the orbiter down on the landing lock. They lock dropped about fifty feet and stopped the hatch closed over the top of the orbiter. He was home.

He briefed the off-load foreman and headed for his quarters. Luckily he was able to catch a cave scooter for the half mile trip to the interior.

When he got into his apartment the earth link was buzzing. He took the few steps to it and said, "YEAH?" It turned out to be his mother.

"What's the matter son?"

"Nothing mom, I just this minute got back from the mines. I guess I'm a little tired."

"Why don't you come home son? I'm so lonely since your father died. I need someone here to help me."

"I can't come home now mom. I've still got 20 months left on my contract. I need the money."

She started to whimper a little.

"Come on ma. Don't do the wounded puppy thing. You know I can't come home right now."

"I suppose so," she relented, "but I can still ask, can't I?"

"Of course you can mom. You know I'll be home as soon as I've got the money saved."

"Okay. I guess I'll have to talk to you later. Bye."

"Bye mom."

He didn't know how she seemed to know every time he was near an earth link, but she did. He stowed his gear, put his dirty clothes in the vacuum washer and took a quick, hot shower. He said a little prayer of thanks for the 1/6 moon gravity. He also rejoiced in the fact that he had a whole week off until he was due to go back to the mines. Tomorrow, he would go to the "BAT Cave" and play a little. Right now he needed rest. Soon he was sleeping soundly.

The next awake cycle came and his alarm went off. He opened his eyes and looked around at his quarters. There was a small automatic kitchen, a smaller refrigerator, his bunk and a little sitting room with built in sofa. The company didn't waste much space on junior miners.

H prepared meal #1 and ate it quickly. He hopped a scooter and headed for the Bat Cave. The Bat Cave was a recreation area. It was called the Bat Cave because one of the things you could do was hang from the ceiling for hours on end. You had to bounce up high on a trampoline to do it. He jumped on the first trampoline he came to and started bouncing higher and higher, performing flips and somersaults. On his final bounce he grabbed on of the 'bat rings', slipped his ankles into them and hung serenely upside down. He stayed that way for a couple of hours. Then he disconnected and drifted back to the floor.

He checked the theater to see what was playing. It turned out to be something he had wanted to see for a long time so he went in and sat down in one of the loungers. The vision canopy dropped over him he thumbed the 'on' button and settled in to experience the 3D vision projection.

When the projection stopped, he went to the refreshment bar. No alcohol was allowed on the moon. It was too dangerous. He ordered an imitation fruit drink and settled into the bar stool. One of the 'harem girls' approached him and asked if he was ready for a little 'rodeo'. "Maybe later," he replied. He had been without female companionship for almost a month. The company supplied 'harem girls' for all the miners, some android, and some human. It was hard to tell them apart and it really didn't matter. All were very skillful. He wasn't in the mood for women right now. He just wanted to relax and forget about the oxygen mines for a while.

The alarm loudspeaker suddenly blared, "All personnel report to your quarters immediately! A solar storm is approaching. Close your personal airlocks and do not exit your quarters until we give the All Clear."

Gene hopped on a scooter and sped back to his quarters shutting the airlock behind him. He now wished he had brought one of the harem girls with him, but it was too late.

He kicked himself for not acting when he had the chance. Then sat down at the built-in complink and started typing his resume. When he had sufficiently impressed himself, he sent the resumes along with several applications to the various companies that had operations on Mars.

Lying back on his bunk, he turned on the hologram receiver. News of the solar storm pervaded the channels. He switched to the weather forecast channel and found that they could expect a meteor shower in the next couple of days. He had no fear of meteor showers. The ¼ mile depth of the main base protected them from all but the most catastrophic strikes. Solar storm radiation was another matter entirely. Although there was no danger of direct contact with the radiation, it would doubtless knock out several key systems that weren't yet hardened enough.

He was pretty sure that communications would be down during the storm so he went to sleep with the hologram still running.

He was awakened by a shrieking siren. The loudspeaker said, "Seal breach in section 34 A. Do not approach this sector until the breach has been repaired."

"Well, isn't that just dandy," he thought. "I may never get to one of those girls."

He suddenly remembered that you could just order one to you room. Under the current security shut down, it would be an android, but so what? They were warm and wiggly and had all the right parts. He found that communications weren't completely down so he ordered a red head and settled down to wait. The airlock bell chimed. He checked for oxygen integrity and opened the lock. She stepped in to his room. He quickly shut the airlock and secured it.

She had flame red hair. "Ready for a little action cowboy?"

"Oh yeah," he replied and showed her to the bunk.

A couple of hours later, his lust satisfied, he dismissed the android. The solar flare was still striking the base and the meteor shower had started, ahead of schedule, as usual.

He sat back at the computer access and thought about applying for a job on Europa. It was just opening up and the deposits of minerals there were astounding. Earth could finally stop draining its own limited deposits and take them from somewhere else. It was a little more expensive, but not as expensive as rebuilding Earth would have been. He filled out the application, attached his resume and punched the send button.

He wanted to go outside and see the Earth, but that just wasn't possible during a meteor shower, He resolved to do it as soon as the shower was over. Space was, after all, a very dangerous place. He even thought about calling his mom, but remembered the radiation. No, he was stuck here for the duration.

He set an alarm to go off when the bad space weather was over and settled in once more to sleep.

The alarm sounded four hours later. He got up and shut it off. The news hologram informed him that the solar flare had passed, but the meteor shower was still on. "Damn," he swore softly to himself. This must be one hell of a shower. He reset the alarm and went back to sleep.

It took the meteor shower another day to peter out. Gene was angry by this time. Two days had been sucked out of his week off by space weather. Oh well, no use whining about it now.

He went to the elevator and rode it up to the surface airlock. A technician helped him into the vacuum suit. They tested it briefly in the airlock. Satisfied with suit integrity, he opened the external shield and stepped out onto the lunar surface. He looked up to see a full Earth. It was big, blue and beautiful. He started the short walk to the space terminal. Once you got used to it, walking on the moon was really easy. He made good time as he bounced along toward the terminal. Once there, he rang for the surface interlock. Soon an airlock door swung open and he hopped inside.

Divesting himself of the bulky moon suit, he walked into the observation bubble and looked at the schedule monitor. Luck was with him. In less than ½ hour the Earth shuttle would be departing. He had come to watch. He got into one of thee lounge chairs and ordered a fruit punch. It appeared at his elbow in less than fifteen seconds.

He thought about the mining operations on Europa as he slowly sipped his drink. He had seen several projections about the operation. It was just starting up and would probably be pretty rough. The radiation there was much too harsh for a man, even in a vacuum suit, to last very long on the surface. He could count on being underground or in a heavily shielded shuttle for the duration of the two year contract. Still, the money was very good and he could set himself up for total independence on Earth once it was over. He also knew that his mom would have a cow if he got the job. At least it would put him out of effective radio range. That part pleased him.

"One minute to shuttle departure," the speakers blared. Through the dome he could see the ship being tugged out to the launcher. Various gasses were spewing out of relief ports. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and blast off of Earth shuttle 433.' The announcer said as the shuttle departed the launcher.

A bright blue and white flame shot out of the rockets and the ship rapidly departed. Staring up at it Gene remarked, "One of these days."

"Hey Gene!" he heard someone yell. It was his best buddy Jake Overton. "What are you doing this afternoon?" he asked.

"Not a hell of a lot," Gene replied, "Why?"

"I'm going over to pleasure dome 5. Why don't you come with me?"

That sounded pretty good to Gene. "Okay," he agreed.

They caught the underground inter site aircar back to the main hub. "Let's get something to eat first," said Gene.

They bounced over to the nearest food dispenser and ordered a pizza. In 5 seconds they had it, hot, sliced, and ready to eat.

As they munched on the pizza, Gene remarked, "I filled out an application for Europa."

"Oh, hell no, you didn't," Jake exclaimed. "That place is nothing but as death pit. They've lost fifteen miners there so far."

"Well, nobody lives forever," replied Jake. "It's ten times more money than here and this is no picnic."

"I'll bet you don't even know what you'd be extracting."

"It doesn't matter. Mining is mining. It's all pretty much the same. You know that. It makes absolutely no difference to me as long as it doesn't radiate. I want kids someday," Gene replied.

"Speaking of kids, let's get on over to the pleasure palace. I'm ready for some practice!" smiled Jake.

The two friends spent the rest of the day at the palace. By the time they were through, they were both completely worn out.

"See ya later," Gene said as he departed toward his quarters.

When he entered his quarters, he saw that he had a message. He fired up the holograph and soon saw his boss staring back at him. "Pack your junk. You've been transferred to Europa," he ordered.

"Wow, that was fast," Gene thought. He called the headquarters office and eventually got in touch with his boss. "Are you sure that's for me?" he asked. "I just applied yesterday."

"We got a request from Europa for someone with your exact qualifications. Your application had come in just in time, so you've been transferred. Stop by the office tomorrow and we'll discuss your new contract."

"Okay boss, I'll be there," he promised. As soon as he broke the connection he knew he would have to call his mother. He knew she would not be pleased. He placed the call.

"Hi, son," she greeted, "Did you change your mind? Are you coming home now?"

"Well, mom, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is I'll soon be making ten times what I'm making now."

"Okay son. What's the bad news?"

"I've got to go to Europa to get it."

She immediately broke down and cried, "Oh, no son! Not Europa! It's much too dangerous out there. We get bad news every day from Europa and it's always someone getting killed!"

"It can't happen to me, mom. I'm bullet proof."

"Oh god!! When do you leave?"

"I'm gonna do the contract tomorrow and then the next interplanetary ship will be leaving two days after that."

"I just know I'll never see you again. Please, please don't do this Gene."

"Sorry, mom, it's a done deal already. I'll call again before we leave, okay?"

"Damn, son. Isn't there anything I can say to make you back out of this?"

"I'm afraid not, mom. This is just something I've got to do. Goodbye. I'll call before we leave." As he rung off he could hear her crying. Well, she cried about almost everything.

Anyway, he wouldn't change this deal for anyone. He could fill in a big slice of his pie very quickly. He turned his attention to the personal baggage he was taking with him. Baggage limits were strictly enforced on interplanetary flights. He wanted to be sure that he took only the things that were essentials. He would store the rest here.

"I guess that once you're a moon walker, it doesn't really matter which moon you're walking on," he thought. "I wonder what the food is like. I hope they've got android girls."