Luke Marusiak - Lifeboat Moon

“You’ve got a good supply of water,” Doug finished the sentence. “So the Shackleton Crater has that much water?”

“It’s ice, but yes,” Yumi answered. “There is a vast quantity of water here.”

“That’s great to hear,” Mark said. “We’ve only taken one sample of ice.” He clapped his hands together. “Fuel cells enable us to transition from our irreplaceable nickel-hydrogen batteries.”

Brexton and Habibeh watched the demonstration and both got animated at the discussion of the buggy and fuel cells. “Fuel cells were always a part of our expansion plan,” Brexton said. “We need to start establishing outposts.”

“And we need to understand your silica magnesium compound,” Habibeh said. “Does it provide flexible seals?”

“It does.” Yumi was delighted. “We have the tools we need to survive.”

“I’d like to start work on this now,” Brexton said. He turned to Jim. “We should stop screwing around with models and make a full size buggy.”

“I agree,” Jerry said. “But how do you store the compressed hydrogen and oxygen? Do you use moon-made cylinders?”

“Exactly,” Yumi answered. “We need to show you.”

Mark needed to partner with Japan Station and this was an opening. He turned to Katsumi. “Perhaps we could send a team to your station to compare notes.”

“Compare notes?” Katsumi struggled with the phrasing. “It should be a technology transfer.”

“Yes,” Mark answered, “that’s what I meant.” He turned to the head of the Manufacturing Pod. “Jerry, how would you like to be on the technology transfer team?”

“I’d love to see it.” Jerry turned and looked at his team. “I need one more.”

“I’ll go,” Brexton said. “I’m the perfect guy to help.”

“I should go,” Habibeh said. “We need that silica magnesium compound for our seals. That’s my specialty.”

“Is it really a good idea to send a team?” Doug asked.

Mark was irritated Doug wasn’t on the same page. “Of course.” He made a quick decision. “Jerry and Habi, you go on the technology transfer team.” He turned to Katsumi. “Is that acceptable to you?”

“Yes, yes,” Katsumi said.

Mark knew that there should always be reciprocation in negotiations — and he did have one thing of immense value to offer Japan Station. It was what both their station’s needed most. “And we can show you the cave we found in the side of Shackleton Crater.”

“You found a cave?” Yumi asked.

“We discovered it when we drove down the ledge. We were going to the digger and instead found the cave.”

“Did you get to the digger?” Yumi asked.

“No, the slide that uncovered the cave stopped us.”

“A cave?” Katsumi’s eyes went wide. “You found a cave in the side of the crater? How large is it?”

“It’s big and branches several times. We couldn’t explore it all.” Mark was pleased. Finding a large air-tight cavern was priceless. Mark was also happy the cave entrance was on the Moon Base Armstrong side of Shackleton Crater. “We’ll show you.”

Katsumi brightened. “Very good.”

Acrowd clustered outside Moon Base Armstrong’s hangar. Mark, Zeke, Thad, Jerry, and Habi joined Katsumi and Yumi; all dressed in their respective spacesuits. Mark figured this was the largest spacewalk since the gamma ray burst. The group agreed to visit the cave first. After that Mark, Zeke, and Thad were bound for the pod crash site and Katsumi, Yumi, Jerry and Habi were bound for Japan Station.

Before the Katsumi and Yumi’s visit Mark wanted to judiciously conserve Moon Base Armstrong’s buggy batteries. There was a limit to the amount of charge-discharge cycles the buggy’s batteries could take. The more a battery discharged — the longer the buggy trips — the less the overall battery lifetime.

Now, knowing that water was in great supply and fuel cells could be manufactured; Mark was willing to run his moon base buggies on long trips even if it meant deep discharge cycles. Thad had gone to get their moon buggy and Yumi took pleasure showing Zeke, Jerry, and Habi the Japan Station buggy.

Katsumi grabbed Mark by the arm and pulled him away from the group. An icon popped up in Mark’s helmet display indicating the request for an encrypted private conversation. Mark used his left eye selector implant and agreed. Katsumi got to the point. “There’s a strong possibility that someone in Moon Base Armstrong caused the pod crash.”

“We don’t know that.” Mark answered on the private channel.

“Please consider the possibility.”

“We will let our investigation and facts lead us.”

The Japan Station director was blunt. “Four Moon Base Armstrong crew are most suspect — Shift Supervisor Charles Tully, Shift Manager Douglas Graham, Shift Supervisor Arthur Sledge, and…” Katsumi pointed in the direction that Thad disappeared. “Quick Response Force Leader Captain Thaddeus Rudzinski.”

Mark needed Japan Station. He needed their technology and he needed their help. But this accusation was too much. “We will go to the pod crash site and find the recorder. As I said, we will let facts guide us.”

“The facts are already very bad. And you are bringing Captain Rudzinski with you.”

“I will share everything we find at the crash site and we can discuss. I trust Captain Rudzinski with my life. He’s not at fault.”

“I hope you are correct.”

Thad returned driving the Moon Base Armstrong buggy. He pulled it alongside the Japan Station buggy. Mark grinned at the sight. This had all the appearances of a lunar family outing. The astronauts loaded into their respective buggies and drove toward the entrance of the cave. Mark stopped his buggy just before the section of the ledge that had given way.

For the second time he apprised the dark curved gap that showed where half of the ledge had fallen into the crater. For the second time he wondered at the stability of the remaining piece of the ledge. The Bluetooth communications crackled to life.

“Look at the damage the crash vibration caused.” Yumi said. “This is not a safe path.”

“Follow our tracks,” Mark answered. “It’s the only way to the cave.”

Mark could see that Yumi and Katsumi were having a private conversation about the ledge stability. If the ledge gave way at that moment, the loss of leadership would be more catastrophic than the pod crash. The survival of both moon bases would be irretrievably compromised. In spite of the concern, Yumi followed when Mark resumed moving; both hugged the crater wall and kept the dark abyss as far to the right as possible.

They stopped at the foot of the constructed staircase. Mark swelled with pride at the compliments coming over the group-wide channel at the clean lines and well thought out dimensions of the stairs. The group eased his suffocation fears for the moment.

Habi pulled Yumi to the corner of the lowest stair. “This is our construction compound.” Habi gave the corner a sharp blow with her pick-shovel tool. She lifted a corner of the stair that she had broken off.

“The silica magnesium combination is better,” Yumi answered.

The group went up the stairs and without hesitation entered the cave. Mark wondered who was more pleased — the Moon Base Armstrong crew of Jerry, Habi, and Zeke or the Japan Station crew of Katsumi and Yumi. Thad and Mark, who had made this momentous discovery, stood side by side and enjoyed the reaction.

“These caves are vents from lava flows three and a half billion years ago.” Zeke was excited. “And look — the walls are pristine. The pod crash had no effect.”

“This is what JAXA dreamed of when agreeing to come to the Shackleton Crater,” Yumi said. She pointed to the openings. “How big are these caverns?”