Carl Frederick - The Long Way Around

Illustrated by Vincent Di Fate

During the descent, the First Lunar Outpost resembled toys set out on the sand. In a rough straight line were the FLO Center, the Oxygen Furnace Complex about five kilometers distant, and the Silent Earth Radio Telescope some twenty-five kilometers further.

Standing now at the open hatch of the lander, Adrian gazed out. Low in the sky, its lower limb kissing the horizon, the bright disk of the full Earth cast a blue-gray luminance onto the nighttime lunar landscape. He rested his gaze on the Oxygen Furnace, his responsibility now, but then looked upward as a light in the sky caught his attention. The exhaust of the deceleration rocket.

Suspended from the supply rocket by a hundred meters of unmeltable ceramic fiber, hung a huge container delineated by blinking red beacons.

“Sort of pretty, isn’t it?” came Victor’s voice from the radio speaker in Adrian’s helmet, sounding tinny and distant even though he stood just behind Adrian with their helmets almost touching.

“Welcome to Mare Smythii,” came another voice. “Home of the one and only First Lunar Outpost.”

Adrian looked down from the hatch and saw a spacesuited figure in an open vehicle with bulbous wheels and an attached utility trailer. The figure waved.

“That is our mayor,” said Victor, “Ralph Bernard.”

“Mayor of a thriving metropolis of ten,” came Ralph’s voice, resonant even over the little speaker, “yourselves included.”

Adrian waved back, then clambered down the metal ladder to the surface. Victor followed.

Ralph indicated the person sitting next to him in the front seat of the moon buggy. “This is Dr. Kimberly Wells. She’s our botanist.”

“A botanist on the Moon?” said Adrian with a chuckle.

“Oh, I run an occasional low-gravitation seed experiment,” she said, “but mainly I’m in charge of the hydroponic vegetable farm. I’m also the town’s medical staff.”

Ralph placed a hand on the control stick. “Sorry to have to put you guys to work so soon, but …” He gestured toward the falling drop-container. “We have to bring in the mail while we can still find it. Damn inconvenient, not being allowed radio beacons.” He pointed to the rear set of seats. “Hop in.” He made a sound half way between a laugh and a grunt. “As an Australian, hopping should be second nature to you.”

Adrian gave a wan smile. As he and Victor swung into the rear seats, he said, “I gather you’re not completely wild about the Lunaroo idea.”

“As usual,” said Ralph as he pushed the stick and the buggy lurched forward, “it’s another case of politics triumphing over engineering.”

“Why don’t we defer politics for awhile?” Kimberly broke in. She moved her body slightly, as if to look over her shoulder. In a spacesuit, it was an impossible gesture. “Your first time on the Moon, Dr. Clarke, isn’t it?”

“It is. But ever since I was a kid in Melbourne, I’ve looked at it a lot.” Adrian pointed at the Earth. “With a good imagination, you can just make out Melbourne.” He paused. “Pretty place … Earth, I mean. Nice to see it shining down on us.”

“It doesn’t always,” said Kimberly. “Lunar libration keeps it below the horizon much of the time.”

“That’s actually why the Silent Earth Radio Telescope was built here on Smythii,” said Victor. “When the Earth is below the horizon, the telescope is shielded from its radio interference. And at night, this is the most radio-quiet place in the solar system.”

“I have been prepped for this trip, you know,” said Adrian.

“SERT’s a damned nuisance,” said Ralph. “Only low-power radio equipment is allowed on the base.” He gave a short grunt. “Which is why we have to chase after the drop-container at night, using only its light beacons. A right damned nuisance.”

Adrian, thinking that the mayor had probably been on the Moon too long, didn’t talk until they’d reached the drop-container. Nobody talked.

With their helmet lights providing illumination, the four set to work disassembling the container. When they’d gotten the front panel off, Ralph peered inside.

“My god!” Ralph, even in a spacesuit, visibly stiffened. “ That is Australia’s contribution to the space program? It looks like the kangaroo from hell wearing snowshoes.”

The Lunaroo did look kangaroolike, despite having a door on one side seemingly lifted from a convertible sports car and an interior like an old open-cockpit aircraft, but where the riders sat abreast. It had a head with two spiky radio antennas where ears might have been expected and headlights for eyes. The tail was articulated and the feet were huge. On the door was stenciled the name “Skippy.”

“We need another vehicle, and they send us this,” said Ralph. “This is crazy.”

“Why?” said Adrian. “With 18 percent Earth-normal gravity and the rough ground, a hopping transport vehicle makes a lot of sense.”

“Crazy,” Ralph repeated, as if to himself, his eyes on the Lunaroo.

“Well,” said Kimberly, “if Canada can have its robot arm, then Australia can have its robot … kangaroo.”

In addition to the Lunaroo, the container held a smaller box. Ralph opened it and his mood brightened. “Frozen meat,” he said, “and a few cylinders of precious nitrogen.” He and Adrian moved the box to the trailer. “Precious nitrogen?” said Adrian. “I’d have thought it was oxygen that was precious.”

“Oxygen is necessary,” said Ralph, “but not necessarily precious. Heating the lunar basalt in the furnace releases all we need. But for nitrogen, we’ve got to rely on Earth.” He laughed. “But why am I telling you all this? You’re the geologist.”

“And I’m also the roo wrangler.” Adrian went to the Lunaroo. While the others finished disassembling the container around it, he untethered the vehicle. He’d trained with one back home, and he looked forward to riding a roo in the lunar gravity it was designed for. He got into the vehicle, strapped himself in, then hopped it off the base of the container. “Hey, this is great!” At low horizontal and vertical throttles he hopped the craft a few times around the buggy and was amazed how high and smooth the Lunaroo moved. “Really great! Spiffy!”

“All right, all right,” said Ralph. “Come on and help us get the panels in the trailer.”

“Yeah, fine.” Adrian pulled back the throttles and the hops became shorter and lower until the metal beast came to a stop. Adrian jumped out. “But afterward, I’d like to inspect the oxygen furnace.”

“After we take care of the container,” said Ralph in a tired voice. “Then you can hop that thing to the FLO. We’ll follow you in the buggy.” He sighed. “After that, you can take the buggy to examine the furnace. Damn! I wish we had that second moon buggy.”

“No worries,” said Adrian as he helped lift a panel, “I’ll use the Skippy here to go to the furnace.”

“Can’t allow it,” said Ralph. “No solo outside work is allowed. It’s a rule that all vehicles must have two or more people in them.” He blew out a breath, sounding like a hurricane in Adrian’s helmet. “ All vehicles … all one of them.”

“The Lunaroo is a two-seater, you know.”

“I do know,” said Ralph. “The problem will be getting someone to occupy that second seat.”

“I’ll go,” offered Victor.

When they’d finished loading the trailer, Adrian took Victor for a set of training hops. Kimberly and Ralph watched from the buggy.