Luke Marusiak - Lifeboat Moon

Mark donned his equipment harness, clipped on the storage device with all his personal archives, and exited his quarters. In addition to pressurizing the cave, Mark wanted to get his cave quarters set up today.

And Mark needed to quell his burgeoning anxiety. In the pit of his stomach flurries of butterflies disabled sober thought and his apprehension waxed. He took a deep breath of precious air and tried to push from his mind the pounding consequence that the whole of humanity hung in the balance of what he directed.

The culling plan, the pod crash, and Art’s death were due to someone else. This cave pressurization plan and unification with the Japan Station crew was on him — utterly on Major Mark Martelli. One misstep, one wrong move, and he’d doom humanity to a forgotten flash of intelligence in an uncaring universe. The weight of all clouded his thoughts. He knew why he fought the demon of vacuum. The weight of that why crushed his calm.

Move , he told himself, I must move. They’re waiting for me. Mark realized he was frozen in place, standing outside his quarters. A fine picture of a commander I make. His pride thawed his fear and got him moving through the Nexus to the hatch of the hangar.

“There’s the major,” Thad said. He and Zeke stood side by side next to the dollies containing the bundled power cables and mulch container. Thad’s work team was already donning their spacesuits. “Japan Station is putting us to shame.”

“They’re still bugged we’re the ones that found the cave.” Mark was glad his voice sounded jocular. He hoped his expression masked his discomfort.

“Let’s get suited up.”

“Is everything still on schedule?” Doug asked from the control room?”

“On schedule?” Thad echoed. “We’re going to beat the schedule, just you wait and see.”

Mark would’ve preferred to display caution in front of Doug but Thad was hardwired with can-do ebullience. “We’ll maintain our timelines,” Mark said. He glanced at Sally who gave him an arched eyebrows gaze. “Quiet shift?”

“It was,” Sally replied. “No seam leaks or other emergencies. That’s been the first in a long time.”

“It’ll likely be the last quiet shift for a while,” Doug added. “Once the cave’s operational, I’m sure there’ll be a lot to smooth over.”

You’re counting on that, aren’t you Doug? Mark forced a thin-lipped smile, nodded, and bounded into the hangar next to the rack of spacesuits. He suited up and noted he was the last of the team to flash green on the status board indicating a good spacesuit seal. “Let’s go.”

Captain Yumi Kaneko waited for the Moon Base Armstrong work team at the mouth of the cave just outside the newly sealed plexiglass tube. She’s probably wondering what’s taking so long, Mark thought. He drove the moon buggy on the ramp alongside the tube. Thad was beside him and he pulled a trailer that had two dollies, one with bundled cables and one with the mulch container.

Mark hoped Yumi understood his reasons for being late. He couldn’t tell her he was in the throes of a full blown anxiety attack that risked everything. Mark drove the buggy up a newly excavated ramp to the mouth of the cave. He slid out of his seat, selected the signaling light he saw from Yumi inside of his helmet, and opened the communications channel.

“We’re ready for the final pressurization,” Yumi said. “We also have our first twenty from the Japan Station crew standing by to be shuttled in.”

“Very good.” Mark couldn’t think of anything better to say. “Very good.”

“Is your team aware of the mulch container’s sabotage?” Yumi was direct and to the point.

“No, I didn’t want Shift Manager Douglas Graham to know we were on to him.”

“Please bring the mulch container next to the hatch. Tell your team I want to inspect it. I’ll shield its ability to transmit Bluetooth at that time.”

Mark noticed Yumi had a rolled up bundle on her equipment harness. He pointed. “With that?”

“Yes, this cloth is specialized to shield only the Bluetooth frequencies but allow others to pass.”

“You have cloth that acts like a radio frequency bandpass filter? Are you sure it works?”

“I’m positive. We perfected all these techniques at JAXA before we ever launched.”

Mark was puzzled. “Why?”

“We have our signals facing China Station fully shielded but our signals to Moon Base Armstrong open. We even shielded to allow us to communicate with JAXA and not Moon Base Armstrong if we thought NASA was passing information onto China.”

“You were that concerned about China Station?”

“We were. Our military intelligence decoded messages that indicated China intended to take over the moon. We believed they planned to take over Moon Base Armstrong and Japan Station. We have other defense equipment that may be useful. We should discuss.”

“We should discuss, but let’s get the cave pressurized first.” Mark wondered why Yumi and Kaneko clung to earthbound prejudices.

“Agreed. After we get the cave operational, we can align on remaining challenges.”

“Let’s ensure today goes well.” Mark still used the word day — the length of time of an earth rotation for reference.

Mark and Yumi went to the trailer of the buggy. Thad waved as he rolled the dolly of cables onto the ramp. Mark waved back and he and Yumi went alongside the mulch container. “You know you can trust Captain Rudzinski,” Mark said over the private channel.

“I trust you Major Martelli. That’s enough for now.”

Mark looked about and noticed the work team fully engaged in both getting the cables into the lock and doing the final connection of the hose from the nitrogen tank. Good , he thought. We don’t want too much attention. The delicate balance was working out. So far.

He crouched next to the mulch container and opened the control box. Yumi crouched alongside him, roll of Bluetooth RF shield cloth in hand. Mark pointed to the separate box with a single power connection and lit green LED light. Yumi laid a small device next to the box.

“What’s that?”

“A mock Bluetooth mulch controller. This will trick Shift Manager Graham into thinking his range is the problem.” Yumi picked up the box and her mock controller and completely wrapped both with the shield cloth. She placed it back in the mulch containers power and control box.

“I thought of shielding as well,” Mark said. “But I needed Shift Manager Graham to be able to communicate with his remote box.”

Yumi took a finger sized device and laid it next to Doug’s wrapped device. “This is an RF sensor. We’ll be able to tell when Shift Manager Graham communicates with his device.”

Mark was impressed by the extent of Japan Station’s signals security and shielding. He wanted to know more about it but there was work to do. They had a cave to pressurize, electric cables to install, and humanity to save. “Thank you Captain Kaneko. I am honored by your trust.” Mark thought that was an appropriate cultural expression and was taken aback at hearing Yumi chuckle over the communications signal.

“We had no choice. The cave is on your side of the crater.” Yumi laughed again.

Mark wondered if Sally would believe it when he told her about Yumi’s wit. Captain Kaneko’s sense of humor was welcome relief. “Let’s get this to Tina in the Agriculture Branch,” Mark said. “She’ll have everything needed to start the first hydroponic crop.”

“Yes, Agriculture Manager Christina Bennet is quite skilled. Director Hayashi and I are pleased she was able to include rice in her first crop.” Yumi turned to Mark. “Have you considered what to call this cave? Have you considered what to call our new home?”