Escape to the Stars! Read online

  Chapter 5: Moon-Base Charlie

  “All Clear! Radiation-levels have returned to safe levels. All personnel on second-shift report to their stations. Safety supervisors report status.”

  Minh unlatched the door to the bunker and allowed the people that had taken refuge there to leave. He unsealed a foil package and handed each person their new radiation badge then scanned their name badges to link the new badges to them. When the last person had exited the bunker, he took their old badges to the Radiation Monitor’s office. They logged them in as he watched and then he headed to his cubical to catch some sleep before his shift.

  As he settled into his air-mattress and closed his eyes, he felt the tremors as the EM-Launcher hurled materials to Lagrange Five. Their launcher was positioned at the Moon’s North Pole. The other launcher was at the Lunar South Pole. The business-end of the launcher was aimed at Lagrange Five’s targeting lasers. The South Pole launcher sent material to Lagrange Four.

  A gentle tone awakened him an hour prior to his shift. He scrubbed the sleep from his eyes and carefully swung his feet out from under the light blanket he used. Calling for the lights, a soft amber glow issued from the ceiling, allowing him to orient himself. He was fairly new to Moon Base Charlie and still had trouble remembering that, even though gravity only made him weigh about 20 pounds, he had been living in zero-gee most of his life. His legs still had trouble keeping him vertical.

  He showered and shaved quickly. He wanted to beat the rest of the shift to breakfast. It was traditional for the kitchen to bake sweet-rolls whenever the all-clear sounded after a solar event. He never learned when the tradition started; he was just eager to participate. He exited his room and paced carefully towards that galley. As he rounded the last corner, he was disappointed to see a long line of eager diners waiting.

  He needn’t have worried about the sweet-rolls as the cook seemed to have anticipated the need for a treat after spending nearly two days confined to the bunkers. The coffee tasted better too somehow. He was pleasantly surprised to see that the orange juice dispenser had been re-filled.

  He managed to snag another sweet-roll as he left the galley on his way to his duty-station in Launch-Control. As he passed the heavy equipment operators suiting up for their shift, Minh was once again grateful that he had taken those extra courses in mathematics. They had allowed him to score high enough on the placement tests to work in Launch Control rather than driving the loaders and scoops.

  He knew that, although the cabs were sealed, accidents happened often enough that all drivers had to wear pressure suits while operating the equipment. Eight hours sealed in a pressure suit was not a pleasant experience. You learned to bathe before each shift and never eat gas-producing vegetables within eight hours of your shift. The suits were not true space suits and didn’t have carbon filters.

  He relieved the second-shift launch-operator during a re-charge of the capacitors. As he seated himself, he scanned the gauges and read the trouble log for any events that had occurred since the launcher had resumed operation. There was only one note that one meteorite-damaged capacitor had been replaced.

  Checking the schedule, he noted that they had just over a dozen launches to make. That was a bit tight as it took nearly forty minutes to re-charge the capacitors. They had to make up for lost time because of the solar event. Routine.

  He sipped his coffee and nibbled on the sweet-roll as he watched the charge-level climb slowly out of yellow into green. He endured the envious looks of the two techs working the switchgear in the pit below him. Food was not allowed at their stations.

  The slowly-rising whine of the charging system alerted him to the system’s readiness. The alert strobes began to flash, warning the drivers near the loading facility. After verifying the trajectory, he pressed his thumb down on the release. A shudder rocked his chair as the load was propelled to just over 2,400 miles per hour in just under 5 seconds.

  A green light signaled that the load had cleared the end of the launcher. He turned the strobes off, allowing the loaders to resume operation. With just over half an hour to wait, he locked his controls and headed to the nearby ‘fresher. The coffee had hit. When he got back, he found that the remains of his sweet-roll had disappeared. He glared down at the techs but they studiously ignored him. Remembering a previous incident, he sniffed his coffee carefully before tasting it. No solvent added, this time. He sat down and contemplated his revenge for the purloined sweet-roll.