Strangers at the Door

by Dan Eaton

  We started walking again and I considered what Dad had said. We were coming up on the end of our two year commitment. With Dad freed up, there was nothing to prevent us from going back home. Back to Earth, back to being a normal kid, just fade into obscurity. It was appealing, especially the part about not having to deal with Yang any more, although it would also mean leaving my friends. I couldn’t imagine not seeing them again.

  I had also forgotten about the CEO of CDB Farms, my mom. Mom had started the business and it had grown just like the plants she loved to tend. Given the rift between the two of us, I wasn’t sure what my mother’s plans were although I was sure she had some. Sandy had said they were planning Peary Habitat for ten thousand residents. They’d need to be fed and I’d be surprised if my mom wasn’t planning on being part of that. So, maybe, the whole going back to Earth and fading into obscurity wasn’t an option after all.

  We arrived home and Dad went off to check his email while we waited for my mom to get home. Later, we wandered down to the cafeteria to join the party. Myra’s mom was popular as were parties in general, so there were a lot of people there. Chef Patel had sent along his own offering and I left Mom and Dad talking to one of Dad’s coworkers while I hurried off to get in on the goodies.

  I had just grabbed a plate when I heard a soft voice behind me say, “Hi, Bryce.”

  I turned around and there were Mei and Myra.

  “Hey, you two.”

  I was surprised Mei had spoken to me. I had asked her to give me a chance back when we first started working together, yet this was the first time she had initiated a conversation.

  Myra said, “We thought we’d grab some goodies and take them back to Mai’s mother and father.”

  She nodded her head over towards the eastern wall where I could see Mr. And Mrs. Zhang sitting at a table with Yang, who fortunately, had his back to me.

  “Yeah, I’m doing the same.”

  Things just sort of lagged into an awkward silence after that, so I grabbed some cookies and made my way back to Mom and Dad.

  I sat there for the rest of the party, glumly aware that I couldn’t talk to many of my friends, for one reason or another. Myra was off with Mei which made her off limits due to Yang. Willie was there, however, again, I couldn’t talk to him due to circumstances. Nina, well, Nina broke up with me so we weren’t much for talking to each other currently and I really couldn’t blame her best friend, Ananyu, for staying away from me either. Adam, Meadow, and Blayze came by and said hi yet none of them stayed for long. It was a long evening for me. Eventually, Mom and Dad granted me a pardon, and took me home.

  The day my dad and a lot of other people had been working towards for over a year, had finally come. The Big Shot, aka., the linear accelerator, was supposed to fire its first, paying payload this morning. This was a really big deal, and Transcor, had chartered a CLT30 flight just to bring in the company big wigs and potential customers so they could watch. Anyone who could break free from their work at the Habitat was planning to be there and Miss Gayle had already made arrangements for both classes to be there. We actually had to come to school early so we could catch a transport to get us there in plenty of time for the 10:00 AM launch date.

  When we got off the transport in the Vehicle Bay, there were actually guides to usher us into the Payload Preparation Room, where we found it had been set up as an auditorium complete with a speaker stand and large screens on the wall. I was looking at the stage, counting how many chairs were up there for speakers and wondering how long we’d have to sit through the speeches when I heard Ananyu say, “Come on, Bryce, or you are going to miss out on the good stuff. The rest of the class is already heading towards the cafeteria. Rumor is, there’s some good snacks waiting there for us.”

  Nina was standing behind Ananyu not paying attention to me, however it was clear they hadn’t abandoned me like the rest of the class.

  We started following the rest of the class and I said, “Hey, wait a minute. Why is it a rumor there’s good snacks? Transcor probably hired your dad to make the stuff. Wouldn’t you know about the snacks?”

  Ananyu just laughed and said, “Alright, you got me. Who do you think started the rumor?”

  It wasn’t as awkward as I thought it might have been to spend time with Ananyu and Nina. Nina and I didn’t talk to each other, although we did talk with Ananyu so we got by. The snacks Chef Patel provided were the best. Transcor had borrowed a trick from Denali Aerospace and had brought in more than just prospective customers on the CLT30. Many of the pastries Chef Patel had prepared, were stuffed with real fruit like apples and peaches. Things none of us had tasted for a very long time.

  After pigging out, Miss Gayle herded us back to our assigned seats, where she had us take out our E-Pads and work on individual studies while we waited for the ceremonies to start at 09:30. I took a look at the scheduled speakers and Major Jeff Steelings was on the list of speakers. Major Steelings was a guy you always heard about but never saw. Mom’s boss, Dr. Belvert, Christine, and Sandy, all worked for him. Miss Gayle was just standing around watching over us, as the other guests filtered in.

  I got up and walked over to her and said, “Hey Miss Gayle, I noticed Major Steelings is on the speaker list. Have you ever met him?”

  “I’ve only briefly been introduced to him. I was in one meeting with him and I think he said about six words during the entire meeting. I hear he’s a bit of a recluse, although that’s just rumors.”

  At 9:30, on the dot, my dad walked to the podium, and asked for everyone’s attention. He introduced all of the head honchos and then the speeches began. Most of speeches were fairly short which kept the boredom level down. Major Steelings speech was brief, as I expected, though he put a lot more focus on thanking the crews that had put in all of the hard work to make this moment possible. He praised, not just the crews who had constructed the roads, Transship facility, and accelerator track, but also the guys in the background who kept the air breathable, the suits safe, and all the other support functions that kept things going. I liked the guy, he didn’t say much, however, what he said was good.

  At a quarter till, they cut the speeches off and focused on the launch preparations. The large wall screens were showing the launch control room, the payload chassis undergoing the final preparations, and a view of the track from high on the rim of Whipple crater. The payload for today’s launch was a set of eight, twenty meter long trusses destined for a new space station being constructed in LEO by the Japanese. There was a CLT-SB waiting in orbit to pick up the payload along with three similar payloads scheduled for launch over the next day and a half, assuming everything went okay with this launch.

  Five minutes before the launch, the big screens showed the payload in place with a mostly quiet control room disturbed only by the launch control officer checking in with each division to make sure everything was ready. Everybody in the room chanted the final countdown from ten and at zero, the payload module quickly accelerated away. We watched as the payload accelerated down the track until it reached the end and leapt into space. There was a lot of cheering and then after five minutes, or so, the launch controller announced that the payload was in orbit and ready to be picked up by the CLT-SB. The Big Shot was open for business.

  The MonitorDate: February 20, 2039

  He’s portrayed by many as NASA’s shining poster boy for living on the Moon. In an exclusive, The Monitor, has turned up the darker side of Bryce Burns. He’s not exactly as wholesome as NASA and the ordinary press has made him out to be. Our investigative reporter, Dana Murphy, has found evidence that Burns has a history of run-ins with station security, almost precipitated an international incident with China during the introduction of the Chinese UN Monitor to the Northern Lunar Habitat (NLH), and is the prime suspect in multiple hate crimes against the Chinese UN Monitor and his family.

  Dana spoke with one of Burns’ classmates with the condition of anonymity. They said that in a recent incident, their fe
llow student, Yang Zhang, had come to school one morning to find a racial slur targeting the Chinese young man, scrawled on his desk. Burns had been the first to arrive that day and none of the other students, who came much later, saw anyone approach the desk until Yang arrived. Burns was questioned by station security, but released with no charges filed. The case is still open. When station security was questioned about the incident, they refused to answer, citing that it was standard policy not to respond to questions about an ongoing investigation. When asked about this, Burns’ classmate said they felt he was being protected by influential individuals and pointed out that Burns has close ties to both the CEO’s of Mussconny Industries and CDB Farms.

  The classroom incident was not the first time Burns has been implicated in racist activity. Burns’ classmate revealed that during the introduction of the UN Monitors upon their arrival at NLH, Burns met and greeted the UN Monitors from the UK, France, and Russia, with no issue. When it came time for him to meet the Chinese, a clearly agitated Burns, stalked off from the receiving line, leaving his embarrassed parents to try and patch things up.

  Following that, there was another incident where the door to the apartment meant to house the Chinese Monitor and his family, was defaced with a racial slur. The apartment was still under construction and the family was not yet in residence there. The apartment is nearby the domicile of Sandy Mussconny, the CEO of Mussconny. Burns, coincidentally, was paying Mussconny a visit, and had passed the defaced doorway during the period in question. Burns was questioned by station security, and despite being the prime suspect, was released and no charges have been filed. When asked, station security would only say that the matter is still under investigation.

  Bryce Burns may be friends with influential people, yet he also maintains tight control over those close to him. Of his friends, only Willie Stephenson, was willing to speak with Dana, and even then it was clear that Stephenson was reluctant to reveal any details about Burns. Myra Cherneski was the hardest to reach of all his friends and the one who most firmly refused to talk about Burns, which is shocking in light of her strong friendship with the Zhang family. When asked, some local sources speculated that Cherneski’s reluctance to talk may be less a show of support for Burns and more a bid to retain her part time job at CDB Farms and that she’s essentially being paid off to remain silent on the matter of Burns.

  Dana did further investigation into this matter and found some surprising evidence supporting this contention. When Dana approached Mr. Ming Zhang, China’s UN Monitor for the NLH linear accelerator project, for comment on these incidents, she was told he was unavailable. He later released a statement saying the matters are under investigation by station security and he cannot comment on the investigation, other than to say he has complete confidence in the local authorities. Mr. Zhang was also asked for permission for Dana to interview his son and daughter, who are classmates of Burns. Mr. Zhang regretfully declined permission, citing the need for family privacy in dealing with this difficult situation.

  Strangely, when Dana tried to get Mr. Zhang’s side of the story, the Chinese UN Monitor, whose family has come under despicable racist attacks refused to comment on the attacks or take any questions regarding Burns. While investigating this unlikely turn of events, another familiar name came up. Both of Mr. Zhang’s children were hired as part time workers by CDB Farms back in the middle of December. In fact, many of those closest to Burns, all work for CDB Farms, with the exception of Stephenson, the one friend that did say anything about Burns. One can only surmise that Burns is a firm believer in keeping his friends close, and his enemies closer.

  From Dana’s observations, it’s clear that there’s a racist, juvenile delinquent, on the loose at the at the Northern Lunar Habitat. Despite acting out numerous times, he’s being protected by those in power at the habitat for their own shadowy reasons. Given the recent tension between the United States and China, it seems unconscionable that this is allowed to continue. Dana tried to ask the Administrator of the Habitat, Major Jeff Steelings, why no action has been taken but all interview requests were firmly denied.

  So far, the attacks have all been minor. One can only hope that things don’t escalate or if they do, the people responsible for allowing this behavior to continue, will finally come to their senses and put a stop to it.

  Dana Murphy, reporting from the Northern Lunar Habitat.

  Dad escorted me to work after supper. I walked in and went to find Sandy and told him I was sorry for not showing up after school. He gave me an understanding smile and said, “So, uh, it’s okay, it’s not like you had any choice in the matter from what I heard. I asked Veronica to work a little extra, doing what she could. Why don’t you go find her and see what she’s got lined up for you?”

  I grabbed a headset and walked into the main machine room.

  As soon as I walked in, I heard Veronica say, “About time you got to work.”

  I looked at the closest monitor and she was there smiling at me.

  “Rough day at the office?”

  “You heard?”

  “I read the article and then Sandy mentioned you’d be late. I haven’t heard the details, but it’s not hard to put two and two together. Let’s get these machines up and running and then you can fill me in on what happened if you would like.”

  The article Veronica was referring to, was a piece of work put together by the reporter who had come here for the CLT30 birthday party. It had just been published in a tabloid newspaper called the Monitor. Willie had warned me about her, however, there was nothing I could do about it. I loaded up the machines as Veronica directed me. Once the shop was humming with the sound of all the machines working, I sat down and told her about my day.

  Things were going along normally until Miss Gayle released us for the day. I started to walk out of the class with Adam when I saw Sam waiting for me in the hallway. She didn’t look happy and I knew something must have happened. I couldn’t figure out what though, since Yang had been with me in class all day and there hadn’t been an incident between us.

  “Hey Bryce, we need to have a little chat. Can I borrow you from Adam?”

  “Sure”

  I told Adam to go on without me. Sam just turned and walked out with me following along like a lost puppy.

  When we got to her office, she said, “Have a seat.”

  She handed me an E-Pad and said, “This is going to make you upset, but you need to read it.”

  The reporter had done a very good hatchet job on me. She made me look like an out of control brat.

  The Monitor was one of those guilty pleasures that no one admitted reading, yet their sales figures told another story. I had grown up a little in the last year and knew this couldn’t be good for me.

  “How bad is it?”

  “Pretty bad. NASA is getting a lot of flak over this. It’s not just the public, the politicians are all riled up. They want a quick answer, and that’s not good for you. However, and this is important, they have to go through the Administrator, to make anything happen. That can take a while, especially if the Administrator is pulling for you. This isn’t over yet, Bryce.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “The Administrator would like to meet you. We’ll take a little ride.”

  Sam grabbed her E-Pad and called my Mom. She quickly explained the situation and then asked my mom for permission to take me outside the Habitat. I don’t know if my mom was in shock or she actually understood what was going on. Either way, she granted Sam permission.

  I looked at Sam and said, “Where are we going that we need to suit up?”

  “The Administrator lives in part of the old base. He helped build the place and thought it a shame to abandon it when the Habitat was opened, especially with how cramped things were here in the beginning. He’s made himself pretty comfortable out there and he says it tends to limit him being disturbed. Anyways, we will take a rover out there so he can have a chat with you.”

  Sam led
me down to the Maintenance bay, where we carefully put on our pressure suits. From there, we walked over to the vehicle park, where she led me over to Megan II, the rover Sandy had used to show us around Peary Habitat. We went on board and Sam sealed us up. After talking with Habitat Control, she maneuvered the rover out through the locks and up the ramp to the surface. Once on the main road, she headed east past the landing pads, the ice facility, and the sprawling manufacturing module. I could see us drawing nearer the historic base. I had thought the whole thing was abandoned once the Habitat was opened up, on the other hand, I could see now that the larger building had another rover docked to it. Sam expertly guided our rover up to an adjoining lock.

  Sam shut down the rover, however, before she unsecured the lock, she said, “You’re about to meet Major Steelings. He’s the Administrator for the Habitat and the guy all the pressure is on. He’d like to know who he’s fighting for. I suggest you be polite and answer any questions he asks you very honestly. Be yourself, Bryce, and I think the Major will stand behind you, hey. Now, come on, let’s go meet the Major.”

  With that, she opened up the lock and we stepped out into the receiving area of the module. Like the other buildings associated with the original base, this one was circular in shape, with the living and work spaces along the outer wall while the common utilities were housed in a circular room at the center. Sam had us remove our suits in the receiving area and then led me into the next room going clockwise. It wasn’t what I’d expected.

  I’d seen pictures of the original base. The original shelters were designed to support a crew of up to sixteen astronauts. The shelters all had a utilitarian feel to them, with the large one we were in now having a bunk room, receiving area, work space, and hydroponic garden in addition to the utility area at the center. The room Sam and I now entered looked more like a living room than anything that might have originally been there. Clearly, the Major had done some remodeling since operations had moved to the habitat. The door to the next room opened, and in walked Major Steelings. I recognized him from the speech he gave at the Big Shot ceremony. He gave me the once over and then told Sam to make herself at home while we talked.