April 3: The Middle of Nowhere

by Mackey Chandler

  "Just like a boss," Johnson called back. "Why aren't you more concerned I might hurt myself if I crash this thing?" he asked.

  "How about me?" his partner Julie protested. They ignored her.

  "The way you're strapped in you'd have to slam right into a mountainside to get hurt. But if you roll over a rock you can't clear and flip that thing over we didn't get all that many spare parts with it," Heather answered.

  Katia mumbled agreement. She was done with her assembly of the rovers and just waiting a shift to see they functioned well before calling for a ride home. If there was a problem with them before they laid out the main cross roads and perimeter she'd see what she could do. But if they rolled one end over end from sheer carelessness it would be complicated getting authorization to help with that and buying and transporting major repair parts. She wished Heather was a little more emphatic in her command style.

  When they looked right at the icon the screen added the information beside it that the rover was traveling at a bit more than sixty kph. Heather had been watching for several minutes and Johnson had never slowed below fifty. For one brief rush he'd taken it to eighty kph which terrified her just watching the dot creep along on a map. She never wanted to personally experience that velocity in a rover.

  The one time she had driven it she had felt comfortable at a bit more than twenty kph. And that had been following tracks in the regolith someone else had already laid down. Johnson was flying over virgin ground, his plow blade dropped just enough to skim a visible flat in the soil. The bottom edge was tilted back hard so it would ride over any unexpected rocky outcroppings or seams instead of catch. The suspension was extended as far as it would reach to lift the underpan for clearance. She did want the road he was roughing out marked as quickly as possible, but they could not afford any major mishap with the equipment either.

  Heather and Katia were sitting in their temporary command center – four connected moon huts with a radio mast to keep everything line of sight. The huts were just inside the west corner of a twenty kilometer square rolled forty-five degrees from the north south orientation. The perimeter of that diamond had been plowed a bit more carefully than the straight roads to the compass points that were now being plowed from its corners.

  Each of those roads would extend over a hundred kilometers and then they would turn and plow an outer perimeter road as close to the highlands as the operator felt comfortable operating the rover. Once all four extensions were laid out and the perimeter defined she would worry about dividing off the individual ranches within.

  They were concerned some bright boy at another base would see what they were doing and decide to drop in and try to stake out a claim on their plain before they could fully mark out their own selections. That would be a tremendous thorn in their side if someone had an outpost right within their community or forced them to display hostility to keep someone out.

  "I just had to swing around a crater," Johnson informed her. "It took me a couple hundred meters off to the east to clear it, so there is a jog in the road." The bump in his line was visible on the map overlay.

  "Don't worry about it," she insisted. "You'll probably have to do it several times. When we go back and build a real road with a base we can decide if we want to level it or keep the jog. I'm not sure how wide the final easement will be either. For a major road like these four I'm thinking four hundred meters."

  "You're not cutting that off the edge of the ranch are you?" Johnson asked worried.

  "No, we'll lay out the full sized parcel starting from the edge of the easement," Heather assured him. Johnson, like many of her employees, was being paid mostly in kind with a ten kilometer square plot and wanted every centimeter of it. He had already asked it be on the very edge of their community facing on the road that would extend toward the American's base.

  God only knows what business venture he had in mind. It might be a long time before there was traffic between communities. Heather didn't anticipate the bases controlled by Earth governments would be thrilled to see them setting up housekeeping. In fact she was pretty sure they knew by now and were discussing what to do about it.

  "Don't forget to stop and put a survey stake at the end of your run before you start on the perimeter," Heather reminded him.

  "Not to worry. I'll get that in place within the centimeter," he assured her. That would be right on the central meridian that divided the face of the moon. If it was off it would be a mess later reconciling the legal descriptions with reality. No sense repeating all the mistakes that had been made on Earth laying out land sloppy and in a hurry. They had no excuse with much more accurate equipment and easier to use too.

  The ten-kilometer square at the center of these four cardinal roads was centered as accurately as they could lay it on the zero meridian and the lunar equator. It would serve as a location for Jeff's proposed beanstalk. The surrounding plots of land bordering on the center would be specifically dedicated. One tract for a university, one for public services such as security and another for a hospital. One even for a park although they would have several of those on the perimeter as well and a dedicated historic monument around where two Surveyor spacecraft had touched the Lunar surface well before any human foot. Surveyor six which soft landed then lifted off again and set back down successfully when that had been a new and difficult feat. Also number four had impacted when it failed on final burn and left several pieces of wreckage to be preserved. Jeff wanted to put an elevated boardwalk in to keep tourists from trampling the site.

  The Meridian road on one side was to be double wide for when there was heavy traffic up and down the beanstalk.

  Heather suddenly was aware Happy Lewis was leaning over her shoulder checking the board out.

  "If they can keep up even half that pace they should have our entire boundary marked off in two shifts."

  "They have to stop and put survey markers in by LPS and stop for a lunch break. Working the perimeter near the hills they will slow down from just following a straight line," she reminded him.

  "Weeeee!" Julie, riding with Johnson, called out as they roller-coastered over a knoll, oblivious to the open mic.

  Happy raised an eyebrow, but made no comment. "Yes, but if they don't have a breakdown I still think they will make it. One twelve hour shift for each quadrant and then they can start marking out lots," Happy suggested.

  "I'm scheduling one rover to start doing lots. We only have four lots paid for cash. Then there are nine to lay out that are land contract and six that are employee pay. Problem is everyone picked a different lot on the subdivision map. The lots on the perimeter will be full size plus whatever irregular shape extends toward the hills, so everybody seemed to want one of those like it was a free bonus, even you I noticed."

  "Yes, but not just for the little wedge of land that runs to the bottom of the hills behind it. Happy looked a little uneasy suddenly. "You don't have a live mic do you ?" he asked. That wasn't like him at all to be secretive.

  "No," she assured him and checked to make sure it was true. "I cut off the feed when you came in. Not for privacy but because I didn't want the chatter distracting them."

  "Good," he relaxed. "I wanted an edge unit because you didn't seem interested in staking out any rights past the plain. I'd very much like to own a nice hill, mountain, whatever you want to call it looking down over the settlement."

  "Whatever for?" Heather wondered. "It will be much more expensive to do anything with it. There are other flat lands outside this area that you can claim if you want. Nobody has any permanent installations in Mare Vaporum. You could claim the whole thing."

  "It's like California," Happy explained. "The plains were all settled and the mountains were regarded as pretty worthless. Of course before they had cars to climb a hill every time you needed to go home would be slow and pretty rough on your horses too. But later, when the flatlands were all filled up, you could have privacy and a grand view by perching a house on top of one of those worthless hills
looking down on the valley. Then it became pricy real estate. That's why I intend to claim the hills out past my ranch. And that way I don't have to worry about anybody perched up there snooping on me either."

  Heather sighed. "The high ground always gives you the military advantage too, doesn't it?"

  "Always has," Happy agreed.

  "Well, that's one more task to do. I have to claim all the summits looking down on our land. How were you planning on doing it? Some of those hills I don't know if you could run a rover around the base of them or not. It gets pretty rugged in between."

  "I had in mind just putting a cairn on the very top with a reflector like you are using to mark the boundaries and an insulated can with a copy of the claim and a map."

  "Is that legal? Is it enough?"

  "Hey, we're our own community here. If we say it's enough, it's enough."

  "In that case we can claim the whole thing and tell Armstrong they have to start paying rent," she said with an evil grin.

  "You're the Lady with the cannon," he admitted. "But even if you got away with it history might judge you harshly for claiming areas already used by someone. I personally would much rather see you claim a big chunk of Antarctica where nobody is using it. Even if you get an OK from the Home electorate to associate this settlement with them they are not a member of the UN and certainly not a signatory to the treaty that prohibits all exploitation and settlement on that continent."

  Heather looked at him in astonishment. Her suggestion was humor – hyperbole, but he seemed dead serious about his crazy idea.

  "Let's get this land deal squared away before we think about that," she asked. "Remind me about the other later, Okay?"

  "Sure and after you have a rover free in about a week, I'd do a route study on the computer and start laying out a road toward Armstrong," he suggested. "If it is the best route and if you get it in first, you can make it a turnpike."

  "A what?"

  "A toll road. You set up a commerce gate with a wireless sensor and charge whoever wants to use your road to go to Armstrong. If they don't want to pay to use it let them fly or explore their own route. I'd claim a couple hundred meters back from each side so people don't build right up on top of you and make it impossible to widen it when you need to. I'm sure some of those eight lane expressways in California started as cow paths, years ago."

  "I think that's all the ideas I can absorb today," Heather admitted. "Let's just talk about this Mare and what to do the next couple days," she pleaded.

  "OK, just brainstorming," he explained. "You should hear Jeff and I when we get into it.

  "Oh, I have," she assured him. "You just don't notice anything or anyone around you when you get into the gear-head stuff with him."

  * * *

  The third day saw the perimeter of their properties marked with a plowed line and optic and radar reflectors on a stick every hundred meters or so. The two rover shelters were finished to the point they could be pressurized if the entry port was bolted in place and if they'd owned that much air yet. There was a man lock on each but it would be a long time before they could afford a lock that would pass a rover through and allow the full volume to stay pressurized. Right now none of the other lunar bases owned a air lock big enough to pass a vehicle. But Happy and Jeff had plans for one. They were firing ceramic mix in place as they produced new batches to armor the shelters after which they would be deeply covered in broken rock and lastly loose soil.

  Happy had plowed over several simple metal arches for alternate shelters and decoys if someone should decide to contest their claim and threaten them. They were open without any closure, much less pressure, or even a deeply formed floor inside. Just cleaned bedrock and gravel on the low spots. They would be needed soon anyway just to store incoming supplies and materials out of the sun.

  Happy and Jeff were assembling an experimental air plant that would process oxygen and any other gaseous elements present from regolith. The process was energy intensive because all the volatiles were strongly bound in the soil. But they had solar energy to spare and the recovered hydrogen and helium3 from the solar wind would probably be sufficient to keep them on the positive side of the ledger for a long time. It was portable because it would have to be moved to fresh feed stock as the material from public areas was processed. Eventually they would need to mount it on its own rover to cruise outside their development on virgin ground. Most of their oxygen would be cracked back out of the carbon dioxide, but they had to make up losses and create an inventory for new construction.

  "I think I'm done here," Katia concluded. There were no major defects in the rovers to address. "I'll call for my ride home if you are satisfied."

  "More than satisfied," Heather assured her. "I appreciate the extra effort and won't forget it. I owe both you and Demetrius a favor personally beyond what we paid your administration for the rovers."

  "Good, because news back home in Russia is depressing. This gives me some hope that we don't have to end up back there in that mess."

  "We all feel the same way about the USNA. Here, feel free to use this station and we'll break and have some lunch after you call for a pick-up." Heather indicated the com board beside where she was working. They had three set up already in this moon hut.

  Chapter 19

  "That's odd," Katia said in a strange voice. The screen showed: The address you are seeking does not respond. It is withdrawn from service or not working. Please check your address and report the time and failure mode to the primary server.

  "Let me call Home and see if they can connect," Heather offered. She tapped a few keys and her mom appeared wiping her hands on a towel.

  "Hi mom? Would you try an address for us in New Kirov and see if you can get through? The rover mechanic who has been working for us wants to call home and we have a failure. Here's the address to paste" - she nodded to Katia, who leaned over and tapped the numerical address in for her. They watched her transpose it and lean back obviously waiting.

  "Honey, I get a..." The screen blanked and cut her off, then it displayed the same no service message, except it said no relay service. That meant the trouble was in the lunar com satellites, but there should be more than one over the horizon at any one time so that made no sense. They were much more reliable than that...unless they were just turned off.

  A sudden dread grabbed her gut and she snatched up the mic to call Jeff and Happy on the local radio.

  "Jeff, Happy - this is an emergency. Drop whatever you are doing and proceed to the Happy Lewis and lift her. I want you running now while I finish instructing you. Don't stop to put anything away or talk to anyone. I'll take care of any explanations and putting things away. Move it!" she said in a command voice Katia was shocked she had within her.

  "I'm in sight. Estimate ninety seconds to being in the lock," Happy reported, sprinting for his namesake vessel.

  "Don't pump down. Spill the air and leave it ready for Jeff," she instructed.

  "All hands," she said, switching to global broadcast on very low power local com, "take shelter away from the landing area and administrative huts line of sight. Rover drivers - take your units to shelter if it is in sight or head across the mare taking evasive action for incoming fire." She threw a panoramic view of the central area on the big screen with the Happy Lewis in sight like a toy in a diorama.

  "Go live on rover defenses?" Julie's voice asked.

  "Negative. No emissions. Let the Happy Lewis handle it."

  "I see Happy," Jeff huffed with the cadence of his running. "I'll be in the lock as soon as it is open."

  "Happy, go forward to the command seat and lift on belly thrusters and accelerate a few kilometers away before you allow Jeff to leave the lock to join you."

  "Roger that," was all the reply she got.

  "What is going on?" Katia demanded.

  "I just have a very bad feeling," Heather explained. "I can't think of any friendly explanation for shutting satellite com down. And if somebody has been wa
tching us and decided to do something about our little venture they are not going to find our assets sitting where they were fifteen minutes ago."

  "Go-go-go," she willed the scooter aloud.

  "In," Jeff called.

  No sooner had he said it than the ship lifted still horizontal and the main drive kicked in before it was a meter off the pad. It did not disappear like a missile launch, which would have smashed Jeff to the back of the lock, but it took off at a moderate one G and then after a pause to allow Jeff to brace himself in the coffin lock feet-down Happy announced. "Ramping up through three G, Jeff. Bringing weapons board up passive Heather. Not radiating yet."

  The ship was a dot in the black sky and then she saw it jink hard on a new course. It was far enough away now somebody could nuke the landing pads and it was safely clear.

  "Targeting radar coming over the horizon," Happy calmly reported like he saw that every day. "Going ballistic. Jeff, get your butt up here on the double."

  "The emitting ship is going to make a very low pass on you, Heather," Happy informed her. "If it is releasing weapons they could be separated already."

  "Kill him, Happy," Heather ordered.

  Katia looked at her horrified. "You don't know..." she started.

  "Crap... I can't see them by eyeball but there was a flash that must be weapon separation and burn," Happy confirmed. "Belt up boy," they heard him tell Jeff.

  "Secure to maneuver," Happy announced. "Jeff, you take the controls and I have the board. Bring her east about twenty degrees and accelerate at four G for the horizon and we'll cross her tail over the far side of Mare Vaporum and I'll hail her to surrender or be destroyed."

  "Dear God I can't believe you are doing this," Katia said.