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willtravis · 4 years

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There Is No Sickness On Europa - Chapter Two

Apparently, apartments on Europa were smaller than on Earth. Havi said her’s was too big for one person, but to Liam it felt absolutely cramped. It was just four rooms: two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a central room that did a triple shift as a kitchen, dining room, and living room. The whole thing was only a few square meters large.

“Your room is on the left, there,” said Havi, indicating. “I’m going to whip up some dinner. Make yourself at home.”

Liam tentatively opened the door to his new bedroom. The walls were cream colored, with splotches of gray where the paint had worn out. One wall had a flimsy sliding door inset in it, and Liam figured that was the closet. Tucked away in one corner was a bed that was probably a foot too short for Liam to comfortably sleep in. Hanging on the wall opposite the bed was a TV that was currently pretending to be a window showing a beach on Earth.

Liam emptied his pockets and sat on the bed to take stock of what he had. A cheap communicator from Earth that wasn’t getting a signal, a pen, and enough funds for two or three days of food. He needed a job.

He was thumbing through different views for his fake window when Havi opened the door.

“Dinner’s ready.”

In the central room, set out on a table that folded down from one of the walls, were two bowls of something approximating stew. The contents were only slightly darker than the walls in Liam’s bedroom, and they bubbled almost as if they were alive.

Havi apparently noticed Liam staring. “White Laash. It’s a Europan delicacy.”

Liam answered without taking his eyes off his bowl. “I’ll take your word for it.”

When he did finally sit down and take a first hesitant spoonful, the food was remarkable. Each bite seemed to grow until it filled his mouth. It was creamy, but almost solid. He needed more. He kept shoveling in laash as fast as he could, not even noticing the taste. When he was done, Liam felt more full than he had in months. He looked up and saw that Havi was only halfway done.

She spoke first. “Good, isn’t it? What to know what’s in it?”

“Yeah. Actually, no. Don’t ruin the magic for me.” They sat in silence for another minute or two. Finally, Liam spoke.

“So, do you know anyplace that’s hiring?”

Havi thought for a minute. “Well, there’s always the docks. I hear that pays well. Tough work, though. The maintenance crew is pretty much always hiring, too. City’s so big there’s stuff breaking all the time. Plus at least that sends you all over the station. Bit more variety like that.”

Liam smiled. “Maintenance crew it is.”

The foreman’s office wasn’t very big, but Liam still found it intimidating. The walls were dark, constrictive, and undecorated. The wall on Liam’s left had a window that overlooked the center of the city, examining it. The city responded by casting gold and white light back at the window, so the office itself shimmered. Crumpled in the back corner was a type of environment suit that Liam didn’t recognize. In the center of the room were two chairs, a simple desk, and a large man with skin nearly as dark as the walls.

Liam cleared his throat. “Sir? I’m Liam Robinson, the new applicant.”

The man behind the desk evaluated the newcomer for a moment. Liam glanced down to read the man’s nametag. Elijah Grey. When Liam looked back up, he locked eyes with Grey right as the currents outside scattered light over the foreman’s face. His eyes seemed to glow. When the foreman finally replied, his speech was short and clipped. “Right, the Earther.” He spat the word as if it were a curse “Sit down. I read your application. You wanted a maintenance job?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And have you had any experience working maintenance before?”

“Well, I was an electrical engineer on Earth,” Liam replied.

Grey chuckled. “Right. On Earth. Anything else? Anything offworld?”

Liam hesitated. “Uh, no sir. This is my first time offworld.”

“Have you got much experience working with water?”

“I used to be on the swim team.”

Grey wasn’t amused. “Only Earth can have something so decadent as competitive swimming. I’m guessing you’ve never worked with anything mechanical before.”

“No, sir. I haven’t.”

The foreman glared at Liam. “Yeah, I figured. So. The Earther who deigns to grace me with his presence has no idea what maintenance does in this city, yet he still has audacity to ask me for a job. Why did you bother coming here?”

Liam was shocked. “To be frank, sir, I have no where else to go. I’m living on the courtesy of a friend right now. I don’t know much of anything about Europa right now but that doesn’t matter. I want to learn. This is my home now and I want to help keep it running.”

Grey leaned back in his chair and studied Liam again. After and agonizingly long moment he spoke. “You’re lucky we’re short-handed, Earther. We’ll trial you for a week or two. Prove your worth and you can hang on.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What do you know about the actual structure of this city?”

“Not much.”

“Of course. Well, it’s like this…”

The work was hard, but it was rewarding. Liam began to develop an understanding of his chosen home. The city itself was like a hand grasping down into the darkness. It had a central area called the Hub at the top, hugging the ice. Huge metal fingers grew off it down into the void, connected at the Hub and with walkways along the sides. As the population grew, so too did the Hub until it was time for another finger to be added to the hand.

Each building was constructed like a spaceship. They were double hulled, with just enough space between the hulls for workers like Liam to fix any of the countless issues that life on Europa caused. Liam’s days were spent crammed between the hulls fixing leaks and electrical issues. Because cleaning the air between the hulls was expense, workers had to wear environment suits in order to repair any issues. The heat was oppressive and reminded Liam of his days spent on the shuttle headed for Europa, even as those days gradually drifted further into the past.

At the bottom of every building was a collection of industrial pumps, constantly trying to remove water let in by any of the hundreds of leaks in the city. Water pressure became Liam’s enemy. The cities of Europa were reaching out into the darkness, but the darkness was always pushing back.

Liam overestimated the value of his electrical engineering experience. Europa was so far from Earth that shipments of new electronics were irregular and most of what Liam was working on was older than him. To make do, the builders on Europa would cobble together whatever they could out of the scraps sent from Earth. They had developed new protocols and systems to the point Liam felt that the machines he was working with spoke an entirely new language. He hadn’t quite worked out how to speak that language when his “trial period” ended, but luckily, he hadn’t made any huge mistakes either. Grey hadn’t told Liam that he was being kept on, but he didn’t fire Liam either.

His work sent him all over the city. Once the water that fed hydroponics was contaminated and repairing that taught Liam several things. Most were about the operations of the station, but far more important were the origins of White Laash. The farmer working that day dutifully pointed out the vat that grew the genetically modified fungus that was the dish’s main ingredient. Apparently, colonization required a calorie dense, easy to grow food and nothing was cutting it. The colonists, being almost exclusively biologists, decided to create their own out of necessity. As Europa grew and became more sustainable, the Europan palate never grew out of Laash, and kept it as an edible reminder of their origins. Liam had spent every waking moment since trying to forget about the vats of fungus trying to be food.

Liam learned that if leaks were one constant on Europa, disease was another. Havi wasn’t wrong when she said that most people who went to Europa did so looking for a cure. What shocked Liam is that most of the time, they found one. Liam didn’t care if it was something in the water or just talented doctors; Europa proved to be the center of miraculous medicine. He heard rumblings of some kind of plague outbreak on Luna. Apparently, carriers didn’t exhibit symptoms until long after the disease had taken hold and were spreading it unknowingly. When the symptoms did appear, they were ghastly. Ashen grey skin, bloodshot eyes, and clammy skin. It reminded Liam of that ghoulish figure on his flight to Europa. The city’s magistrate, Steven Norris, insisted that no one on Europa had the plague. Still, Liam couldn’t shake the thought of that man’s red eyes peering out from the dark corner. He’d seen more people like that over the last few months. Hopefully, Europan doctors knew how to fight it.

Liam, however, focused more on his daily life than he did on fears of plague and pandemic. He made friends at work and bars he visited, but most days he just spent with Havi. Over time, they grew closer. They bonded over nights spent watching old Europan film. Havi said he had a lot of “cultural learning” to do. He just liked spending time with her. Even as she did begin to charge him rent, Liam viewed her more as a friend than a landlord. And, eventually, more than that. Once, he spent a whole a night in his room trying to build up the courage to ask her out. Liam could repair pumps and track down water contaminations across the entire station, but he couldn’t work out how to casually ask someone on a date. He never did. Havi asked first.

Liam stumbled inside the apartment, dragging his bag with his suit and equipment behind him. Havi peered up from the table where she was working on her tablet and smiled at him.

“Hey, Liam. How was your day?” She asked.

“Oh, you know. Always a new crisis. Last night the air filters in a school crapped out and guess who had to fix it,” Liam said.

“Well how about I take you to the handball court to unwind?”

“Handball?” Liam asked.

“Oh, yeah. Great fun in low-g. Besides I like to do something active on a first date.”

Liam’s eyes widened. “I see. I suppose I should get changed, then.”

Havi grinned. “Yeah, Earther. You should.”

They went on more dates over the next few months, and they kept up playing handball after one of them had a rough day. Liam felt he was getting better at controlling his body in one eighth of the gravity he was used to. More importantly, he felt he was getting better at being with Havi. She had an abrasive personality that probably would have driven most people away, but Liam felt it kept him on his toes. Felt that it drove him to become more Europan.

“I think you’re getting better, Earther,” Havi said as they left the handball court one night. “At least you didn’t jump into the ceiling this time.”

Liam smirked. “Hey, I can’t help it if my legs are eight times as strong as yours.”

“Oh really? I think it’s less than that now. They’re getting used to Europa. I bet a full g would make them ache.”

“I think you might be right,” Liam responded.

They kept walking down the busy promenade, looking at the shops and stalls. Watching everyday people do normal things like buy food, clothes, and medicine. Neon lights of every color danced and filled the room. Liam was always awestruck by the promenade. Havi never noticed. They passed a group of three extremely tall, extremely thin Europans. Liam noted the wavy tattoos that ran from their faces all the way down their bodies. It reminded him of the dark ocean surrounding them.

Suddenly a voice shouted from behind them. The speech was harsh and clipped. “Hey sister! Why you hanging out with an Earther like that, huh? He ain’t your kind.” Liam turned. The three men were standing there with their arms crossed, grimacing down at Liam. The one in the middle had bloodshot eyes and seemed to be shivering. Liam opened his mouth, but Havi spoke first.

“Why don’t you mind your own business, longbone. You don’t want to make a scene in front of station security, would you?”

The one in the middle smiled. Liam could see he was missing a few teeth. When he spoke, his voice was almost a whisper. “Maybe I do, sister. Maybe I hate seeing Earthers polluting our station.”

Liam took a step forward. “Get lost man. No one’s bothering you.”

The Europan sneered. “Yeah, well no one’s talking to you, Earther. Least of all me. I wonder what your little Earther body would look like in the infirmary.”

Havi laughed. “Is that a threat? Really? We all know you and your little friends aren’t going to do anything, so just run back to your rat den, scumbag.”

“Alright that’s it!” The thug yelled, and leapt in a long arc at Liam. Liam had never fought in low gravity before and didn’t know what to do. Instinctually, he stuck his fist out to strike his attacker in the stomach. Liam misjudged the man’s physiology however, and struck him right below his ribs, knocking the air out of his lungs. The Europan started coughing, and slowly collapsed to the floor. He rolled onto his back and soon he was coughing blood, speckling his face. The other two Europans ran, leaving their friend behind. Liam ran to the man on the ground. Havi called out for a doctor.

As Liam was gearing up for work the next morning, the foreman came to talk to him. Grey seemed different. More gentle.

“Hey, Liam. I heard you got into a, uh, scuffle yesterday.”

Liam hesitated. That was the first time Grey had called him by name. “Not really. The kid was so messed up on drugs he could barely handle a punch. He’s in the infirmary now.”

Grey whistled. “Some stoner harassed you, so you put him in the hospital? That’s cold.”

“What? No, it’s not like that. He came at me first, and I barely touched him. It’s all on video,” Liam said defensively.

Grey laughed. “I’m kidding, man. Security already called and told me what happened. I just wanted to make sure you’re alright.”

“Yeah. I’m fine. It’s not the first time someone tried to beat up the Earther.”

“I can imagine that. Well, if you’re good to work, the hydraulics in landing pad D need servicing, so that’s your first job today.”

“Alright, boss. Thanks.”

When Liam got to the service entrance to the landing pad, the light above the door was red. A ship was coming in to land, and the chamber was in hard vacuum. Liam would have to wait.

After what felt like hours, the light finally changed to green, and Liam went inside. He looked down from the catwalk and saw the ship, massive in its own right, but still dwarfed by the cavernous dock. The Lucky Wayfinder, registered out of Luna. Liam noticed that the staff that normally greets new arrivals was absent, and signs pointing to the lifts had been placed down instead. Europa must really have been shorthanded. Liam shrugged and turned to do his job. He was nearly done by the time the ship’s ramp started to lower, the sound of straining hydraulics filling the bay. Liam turned right as the ramp clanged against the floor and saw the latest batch of visitors. What he saw filled him with horror.

Every single passenger was drenched in sweat, had bloodshot eyes, and their skin was as grey as the bulkhead.

#scifi #short story #writing

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willtravis · 4 years

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There Is No Sickness On Europa - Chapter One

There Is No Sickness On Europa – Chapter One

As Liam sat aboard the cheapest shuttle he could charter, he wondered what life would offer him in the coming months. The sweltering heat caused by the ship’s overworked radiators didn’t make thinking easy, but he gave it his best shot. In just over 36 hours he would be a citizen of Europa, with all of the meaning that entailed. He had no job lined up, no place to live, and a paltry amount of money in his pocket. And to top it all off, this damned heat made it impossible for him to plan.

Not that he could anyway. Liam had never been to Europa. He didn’t know what it was like, the culture, the economics. He knew as well as anyone else in the system that Europa was famed for its healthcare. Supposedly the water had special properties that could heal any illness. As a result, Europa had the most robust hospitals and the best doctors in the system. Liam figured that was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Either way, his shuttle was filled to the brim with people suffering from all manner of afflictions, all heading to Europa to be cured.

One man’s illness frightened Liam. He sat alone in a corner of the passenger hold, shaking relentlessly. His eyes were so bloodshot they seemed solid red. His skin was so grey, he blended into the wall to the point where he seemed to just be a pair of floating red eyes and brown hair drenched in sweat. Liam tried not to look at him often.

The cities of Europa were apparently equally magical. The first colonies had been scientific, searching for life in the geothermal depths. The scientists wanted to be closer to what they were studying rather than separated by fifteen kilometers of ice. So, the first habitats were built upside down, hanging from the ice sheets over a vast dark ocean. They may not have found sentient, water-dwelling creatures below the ice, but as more people were born and colonists immigrated to Europa, more buildings were built off the original scientific outposts. The cities of Europa dangled into the void. It was supposed to be quite beautiful.

Liam had determined, as far as he could given his environment and lack of experience, that Europa should have plenty of hotels since it’s constantly full of visitors. And keeping those near-floating cities water-tight must be a hard job requiring lots of maintenance. He should easily be able to find a job as an electrical engineer or something. He hoped.

Satisfied with his planning, Liam leaned back in his low-cost chair and closed his eyes. And was almost instantly jostled awake by a kid barging past to use the head or something. It would be a long day and a half.

As Liam came back from the galley, the first thing he noticed was that someone stole the jacket he left on his chair. Great, he thought, hopefully the ice moon won’t be cold. The second thing he noticed was the sheer chaos in the passenger bay. Liam’s shipmates may have been placid for the majority of the trip, but the promise of an imminent landing awakened something in each of them, and now the bay was filled with shouts and people hurrying to gather themselves and their belongings at the boarding ramp, eager to finally be free of the ship.

The ship itself was a refitted cargo freighter and had up to that point somehow managed to cope with being crammed full of as many of the inner system’s sick and poor as it could carry. But now the animation that filled its core put a strain on its systems. The shouting and movement threatened to make its poor environmental regulators give out completely, and the heat just made people want to leave sooner.

Liam, for his part, didn’t have any thing to take with him except his now lost jacket. He scanned chaos around him, shrugged his shoulders, and made for the ramp. Even though he left sooner than most passengers, the loading bay was full when Liam arrived, so he waited in the hallway thinking about his new life just moments away. A few minutes later the intercom binged. One minute until the main engine cuts off and gravity with it. Right on cue, the intercom binged again and the concept of “down” lost all meaning. Liam never did get the hang of zero-g. Living down a gravity well all your life makes it difficult. He contented himself with clutching the handrails and waiting for the ship to finally land. Behind him came a dull thud followed by a child crying. Looks like at least one other person can’t handle zero-g.

The ship started jostling around under its old and poorly maintained maneuvering thrusters. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, gravity began to assert itself, and Liam’s feet drifted back towards the bulkhead. Right before he actually touched the floor, however, the entire ship was filled with a clang as it slammed down on the landing pad on the surface. At a comfortable 1/8th G, Liam felt ready to meet his new life. The intercom crackled and came to life.

“Alright folks, the dock is telling us that the outer seals are good, and the landing bay is pressurized. Give us a minute and will lower the ramp and let y’all out. Welcome to Europa,” said a voice that Liam assumed belonged to the captain.

Before him the line started moving as those who were first into the loading area stepped out into the docks. Liam could hardly contain himself. He wondered what awaited him on the other side of the hull. What strange new sights would he see? What kind of life would he live? As he rounded the corner into the loading bay, he drew deep breath, ready to face a new start. He looked out over the throng of people in front of him and saw his first glimpse of Europa. An industrial grey wall crisscrossed with walkways and girders.

The wall itself was massive, dwarfing the workers hustling along it to do their job. The dock was a massive triangle and served as an airlock for ships. It was easily able to handle a ship two or three times the size of the humble transport Liam booked. Hundreds of meters above Liam was a giant mechanical mouth with interlocking teeth. When a ship came in to land, everyone would exit, and the dock would be depressurized. Then that mouth would open and swallow the ship whole.

As Liam reached the end of the ramp, someone in a yellow vest pointed him towards a point in one of the walls.

“Take that lift down to the city proper. No loitering in the docks,” the worker told him.

Liam wasn’t keen on being fined 3 minutes after landing and made his way to the lift without admiring the cavernous room further. Besides, maybe he’d get a job here. There’d be plenty of time for gawking then.

When the doors to the lift opened, the crowd of people behind Liam piled into the lift so Liam could barely stand in the back without leaning on the wall. Then, the lift began its fifteen-kilometer descent to the city.

After what felt like an eternity, the lift finally came to a stop and the doors parted. Liam was so focused on relieving the pressure on his back and neck he didn’t look up until he was out of the lift. When he did, he was blown away.

Before him was a neon garden, with signs and billboards growing from the ground and walls. Above him the ceiling was covered in screens showing Jupiter suspended above them, as if there weren’t kilometers of ice between the city and the sky. Built into the walls around him were storefronts, restaurants, and offices. The smells from all the different kinds of food mixed and lingered in the air, creating something in between chicken soup and raw sewage. Huge herds of people moved to and fro, stopping for food and knick-knacks. Liam watched one woman weave her way through the crowds, barely slowing as she made her way down the wide boulevard. To his right, a sign spoke to him in a neutrally accented, pleasant voice: “Welcome to Europa. We hope you enjoy your stay.”

As Liam took a step forwards, a drone swooped down in front of his face. Its speaker blasted out “Our scans indicate you are not in critical condition. Goodbye.”

“Thanks for that, mate,” Liam mumbled to himself.

He took a look at the billboards surrounding him. Most advertised some radical new treatment for illnesses Liam had never heard of. An injection that makes you immune to the common cold forever. A magic pill that grows you a new kidney. One treatment claimed to let someone breathe in a vacuum for a limited time. To Liam it seemed that each advertisement was more aggressive than the last. The lights, colors, sounds, and smells of this market that eventually Liam just tuned it all out and tried to head somewhere quiet so he could work out a plan to live. Or at least just find a bed to sleep in tonight.

He saw a sign that said residential over a stairway heading down and figured that was his best bet. That was when Liam learned that going downstairs in 1/8th G is a slow and tedious process and after the third flight he wished he took lift, if only to save time. He was so focused on going down that when he finally did reach the residential level, he didn’t even notice that it was quiet.

What he did notice instead was the huge single-pane window in the wall. Liam was apparently near the edge of the city, and aside from two buildings reaching down into the depths like glowing tendrils, the view was completely black. The vast expanse of nothing enraptured Liam so much he didn’t even bother with the bench in front of the window. He just walked right up to the pane and stared. He was so close his breath was fogging up the window, but he didn’t even notice. The scale of the void baffled him. Since stepping off the ship all he saw was massive structure after massive structure, but the ocean beyond was incomprehensible. The cities of Europa were not defiant monuments to the strength of mankind to overcome nature, but instead small, huddled clusters of humanity, just trying to keep each other warm through the night.

Liam’s meditations were interrupted by an uninvited guest. A dark-skinned woman with short hair she kept bundled at the top her head decided to join him. She spoke first.

“Let me ask you a question. You came here in a spaceship, right?”

“Uhh, yeah,” Liam responded, confused.

“Where from?” The stranger continued.

“Earth.”

“Did the ship have windows on it?”

“Yeah, it did.”

“And did you, in all the time you spent on that ship, look out of those windows even once? A couple of times even?”

“Of course, I did,” Liam responded.

The woman sighed. Then continued, “So. You come all the way from Earth to Europa. Past Luna, past Mars, past the Belt. All the way here. Through space. In a ship with windows. Windows that you looked out of. Looked at space. And still, when you do finally get to Europa, what do you do? You look out another window.”

Liam laughed. “Yeah, that’s true.”

The woman seemed to relax a bit. “Ok. Let me ask you another question. Why? What makes this view more captivating than anything on the main promenade? Or space for that matter?

Liam thought for a moment. “I don’t know. It just seems so alien. There’s just nothing out there. In space at least there were stars and planets and moons. Right here? That’s just pitch black. It’s unsettling. But in a good way, I guess. Why do you ask?”

“Well, it’s just I always see off-worlders gawking at windows. Figured I at least should ask one what’s so interesting about pitch black nothing. Anyway, what’s wrong with you, if you don’t mind me asking.”

Liam was shocked “What?”

“What are you sick with? What are you here to cure?” The woman explained.

“Oh. I’m not here to cure anything,” Liam explained.

“A friend or family member, then?”

“Nope. Just me. I’m moving here.”

“Wait, really?” She seemed surprised.

“Yeah, is that odd?”

“Well, we don’t really get people moving here. Pretty much everybody is here or with someone who’s here to cure something. Most everybody tries to leave as soon as they can. I guess not many people want to live in a frozen ocean.”

Liam chuckled. “Yeah that’s probably true.”

The woman held out her hand. “I’m Havi.”

Liam shook it. “Liam. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too, Liam. So where are you staying?”

Liam took a second to come up with an answer. “I’ve not really figured that out yet. I’m kind of fresh off the ship. Figured I’d stay at a cheap hotel or something until I find a job and can get a lease.”

Havi seemed to think about for something for a minute then said: “Stay with me for a while.”

“What?”

“I mean it. My roommate just left, and my place is too big for one person. And I won’t even charge you until you get a job.”

“Really? You just met me. For all you know I could be some crazed Earther serial killer on the run from the law.”

Havi chortled. “Yeah, the guy who’s unsettled by a bunch of water is a serial killer. Good one.”

“Yeah fair point,” Liam said through a smile.

“Look, just pretend I’m your landlady or whatever. I mean when it’s a choice between a cushy apartment or some seedy hotel, I know what I’d take. Besides, maybe I’m eager to see an Earther’s perspective on my homeworld. Up to you.”

Liam considered for a moment. Not having to pay for a bed until he found work would be nice. But he barely knew this woman. Maybe she lured people to her apartment to kill them. Was it really worth it? Liam’s stomach growled and he thought of his paltry pocketbook. Yeah, it was worth it.

“Alright,” Liam said, “lead the way.”

“Gladly,” Havi responded, and the two marched down the hallway, leaving the window and dark abyss behind them.

#writing #short story #scifi #space

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willtravis · 4 years

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An Old Journey

“What do you think you’re doing,” Katy’s voice asked. Emily looked up to see her roommate’s head peering through the hatch, parallel to what Emily had decided was the floor. Zero G gave Emily a headache.

“Unpacking,” she responded, and turned back to her duffel levitating a meter off the “floor.”

“Why bother? It’s only a three-day trip.”

“This room is still home for those three days. And besides, the landing might be delayed, or we might be reassigned out of the first landing group.”

“Don’t say things like that, Em. We earned our spots; they’re not going to rotate us out.”

“Who knows what those command types are going to do? Either way, I’m unpacking. It’s not like I have much. Three kilograms per person doesn’t really allow for too many personal belongings.”

“Suit yourself. I’m going to go check out that magic espresso machine the crew keeps talking about,” Katy said, and floated down the corridor. And just like that, Emily was alone again.

She reached into her bag and pulled out an old photo of herself as a kid, when her family all lived in the same house. Back before Abigail went off to university and Thomas started his job downtown. She took a moment to absorb their faces. She hovered over her father, his hair still just flecked with gray at the time of the picture. He always pushed her forwards, towards her goal. She recalled the long nights laying out under the stars while he’d point out constellations. His favorite was always Orion. He’d point out the belt, bow, and sword. Then he’d tell the story of watching Betelgeuse go supernova for the three thousandth time.

She found an empty bit off wall and stuck the photo to it, magnets in the frame keeping it planted on the bulkhead. She pulled a reading tablet out of the duffel and placed it next to the photo. The transit was as a good a time as any to re-read Bradbury.

Katy was right, though. No real point in unpacking much more. Emily had gotten top marks in graduate school. She’d worked for years in the industry. There’s no way she wasn’t going to be in the first landing group. She considered the thought for a moment. One hundred and fifty people will step foot on the Sea of Serenity, and build the first permanent structures on the moon. And she was one of them. She wasn’t sure if she was excited or terrified.

She did, however, decide that she was hungry, and left her cabin, following Katy’s trail. With any luck her roommate actually would know the way to the commissary and not just lead Emily on a wild goose chase. After ten minutes of aimless floating, Emily decided it was the latter. She passed a crewman, and turned, considering asking for directions when she felt something hard hit her shoulder. Another person.

“Ouch, sorry my bad,” she said on instinct.

“It’s ok. Just next time you’re at an intersection, check if anyone’s coming,” the stranger replied. He had a low voice, straddling the line between tenor and bass.

“That’s probably good advice,” she conceded. “Hey, do you know where the commissary is?”

“It’s called the galley on a ship, and I was actually headed there right now. You’re welcome to join me.”

“I’d be glad to,” Emily said, and followed him down the corridor.

“My name’s Daniel,” he called back to her.

“I’m Emily.”

“Nice to meet you, Emily. Galley’s just right up here.”

A few minutes later, Emily and Daniel floated together near a bulkhead in the Galley. Two packets of what claimed to be tuna floated between them. Emily spotted Katy off talking to two crewmembers, espresso in hand. Daniel tried to lean against the wall casually but ended up just bouncing off. Emily laughed more at his embarrassed look than failure to be cool.

“So, who do you work for? Government or private corporation,” Daniel asked.

“On this mission, both actually. I normally work in the corporate sector, but I’m on loan to the public right now. Something about my company getting a private landing pad in the second wave of colonization,” Emily replied. “How about you?”

“Public, through and through for me. I couldn’t imagine working for someone just trying to make a profit.”

“It’s human nature to want, though.”

“Yeah, you and me, we want to explore the universe. The people you work for just want to make money.” He made a noise that could have been a chuckle or a grunt. “And most the people back home just want to eat.” He paused, then resumed, “So, what landing group are you in?”

Emily hesitated for a moment, then said “First.” She felt a sting of embarrassment. She hated talking about her own success.

Daniel didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, that’s great I am too! What’s your specialty?”

Emily felt some relief that they were in the same group. At least she wasn’t bragging about being first. “I’m a junior engineer. They want to help set up the water recycling facilities on the southern edge of the outpost.”

“Ah, sewage treatment. How glamorous. I’m a comms specialist. You want to illegally stream the latest movies or book a flight home, I’m your guy.”

“Well thanks, I might just take you up on that first one.”

“Much obliged. So what cabin are you in?”

Emily hesitated. “What’s with all the first date type questions?”

Daniel tensed up, straightening his body in the Zero G. “If I’m being honest, I don’t have many friends on this ship. It felt like serendipity when we literally ran into each other. Sorry about that.”

“Oh no don��t worry about it.” She waved a hand dismissively, which sent her into a spin in the microgravity. “My only real friend here is my roommate Katy, and she seems keen on making new ones.” She gestured towards Katy with her hand not currently filled with imitation fish.

“She certainly is the social type,” Daniel agreed. They watched as Katy floated off with one of the crewmen she was chatting with earlier.

“Yeah I should probably go make sure she doesn’t do something she’ll regret,” Emily said, handing her half-eaten baggy of tuna to Daniel. She kicked off the wall and called back towards him “Deck H, cabin 21. Give me a call in the morning.” A moment later she was out the hatch and looking for Katy.

The voice in the room sounded like it was yelling. Still-half asleep, Emily couldn’t quite make out who it was. The words were loud enough to be clear, however.

“Hello? Is this Emily’s room?” The voice was deep and resonating. A higher pitched one responded.

“Emily’s asleep right now. This is her roommate. What do you want?” The second voice was Katy, then. She sounded terser than Emily could recall.

“Oh. Well tell her that Daniel called and that I have something to tell her.” Eyes still closed, Emily racked her brain trying to remember someone named Daniel. Oh, of course, the guy she met in the hallway yesterday.

“Yeah, sure I’ll tell her,” Katy said. Emily interrupted her before she could end the call.

“Wait,” Emily said. Her voice was still scratchy in her throat. “What is it Daniel?”

“It’s better if I tell you in person,” the screen replied. “Meet you in the Galley in half an hour?”

“Sure, see you then,” Emily responded, then ended the call.

“So, what was that all about,” Katy asked. “First you stop me from enjoying myself, then you get yourself a man? I see how it is.”

“It’s nothing like that. He’s just a friend”

“Yeah, whatever, Em. Have fun on your breakfast date.” Emily shot Katy a glance as she left their cabin.

Daniel wasn’t in the galley yet, so Emily grabbed herself both an espresso and a corner to wait in. Katy was right. The coffee did feel like magic. In a matter of seconds, Emily was alert and awake. It also made her very easily bored of waiting.

Thankfully, Daniel didn’t take too much longer to find the galley. He floated straight over to her, without stopping for food or coffee.

“Hey, thanks for coming,” he at the same time he reached an arm out to brace himself on the bulkhead.

“Of course, what is it?”

“Just got word from my team boss. I’ve been moved out of the first group. Something about comms being ‘unessential for initial setup’ and apparently I can do just as good a job up here as I can down there.” The despair in his voice was palpable, and although they just met, Emily felt herself hurt too.

“Oh, that’s terrible, I’m so sorry. What landing group are you in now?”

“Fourth. This tin can is my home for another month than I was planning. Still though, I suppose it could be worse. The crewmen aren’t going down at all.”

“I can’t believe they would rotate you like that, though. Didn’t you have a contract with them?”

“Hey, like I said, I’m government. They can do what they want with me, contract or no.”

“Do you want to file an appeal? I had to do that against a cheating allegation back in grad school, I could help you here,” Emily offered.

“Thanks, but it’s okay. I suppose it’s vanity to want to be in the first group. To be a pioneer into the gray unknown. No one will study the fourth and fifth landing groups 300 years from now. But one day, every member of the first shuttle trip will have their names carved into monuments from here to Neptune.”

“Well,” Emily began. “If you think about it, the first landing group aren’t the pioneers. Humans have been travelling to the moon for decades. This mission isn’t even in the first ten. Besides, it’s easier for school children to remember Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins than it is to memorize all one hundred and fifty names in the first shuttle.”

“One hundred and forty-nine now,” Daniel said softly. “But thank you, I appreciate it. Even if telling me I never had a chance at immortality doesn’t really make me feel better”

“Anytime. Now let’s go check out the rec room. I hear zero G sports are supposed to be great fun.”

What passed for “zero G sports” was some kind of combination between handball and soccer. The goal was to knock a ball into the opponent’s goal, which just a hole about half a meter in diameter. After about ten minutes of flailing about with neither player scoring any points, Emily started to get the hang of the game. The trick was not to be quick and agile like Earth-side sports, but instead methodical and deceptive. Emily and Daniel were both new to space and were clumsy in microgravity. By slowing down her pace, carefully lining up her shot, and tricking Daniel into thinking she was going the other way, Emily scored a point.

“Ouch, you got me there,” Daniel groaned as he watched the ball fly past him, just out of reach.

“Your turn to get me back,” Emily responded.

They went on like that for another hour. Daniel eventually got the hang of it, but by then Emily had such a lead that there was no way for him to mount a comeback. He did start to have fun, however. Emily watched as the dark cloud that was hanging over him began to dissipate, almost as if it too was under the influence of zero G. By the time they finished, it seemed like he had almost forgotten about his untimely rotation.

“You’re sure you’ve never played that before? You’re really good,” Daniel said as they left the rec room.

“I’m sure. I was barely in control those first ten minutes. I just got the hang of it before you did,” she replied.

“Alright, fair enough. I’m going to head to my cabin and grab a shower. See you tomorrow?”

Emily ran an arm across her forehead, and it came back wet. She took a moment to watch how the water pooled on her arm then said “A shower sounds like a good idea. But yeah, I’ll catch you tomorrow.” They waved goodbye and floated off in opposite directions.

When she got out of the shower, which was closer to a sponge bath than an actual shower, she found Katy in their cabin.

“So, what’s up with this Danny guy, Em,” her roommate asked.

“What do you mean? He’s just a friend.”

“Uh huh. That’s why you seem to be spending all your time with him lately.”

“Am I not allowed to hang out with friends? Besides, I’m not here for that. Once we land tomorrow, I’m going to focus exclusively on my work. But you give it a shot though. You’d like him.”

“Maybe I will, Em. So, what are you doing right now?”

“Now I’m going to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning, Katy.”

This time when the call came, she was awake. It was about 10:30 ship time, and she was up reading in her cabin. That didn’t stop Katy from answering anyway.

“Hey Danny Boy, what’s up?”

“Oh hey. Katy, right? Is Emily there? I have something to show her.”

Emily spoke up before Katy had a chance to reply. “Right here, Daniel. What’s up?”

“Head over to ops, I’ll let you in. You’re not going to want to miss this.” He ended the connection.

Katy was the first to speak. “Cryptic isn’t he. Two days in a row he’s done that.”

“Well, guess I’m headed to ops. You know where it is?”

“Actually, I do. A very kind crewman showed me the first day of the transit. Take the lift to deck A. Take a right in the corridor and go all the way down. There’s a big door at the end that you can’t miss. That’s ops.”

“Thanks, Katy,” Emily said while pulling on socks. “I’ll see you later, either here or on the shuttle.”

“See you then, Em,” Katy responded.

Emily pulled herself out of the cabin and towards the lift. She hoped that Daniel had better news than yesterday. Why did she have to go to ops for it anyway?

When she floated up to the big door Katy told her about, a man in a security uniform held out a hand towards her. Emily grabbed a handhold and pulled herself to a stop.

“Sorry, ma’am. Ops is off limits to colonists,” the security man said. Suddenly the hatch behind him opened and Daniel pulled himself out of it.

“Oh, it’s ok. She’s with me,” he said. His voice was higher than usual. Emily thought it may have been excitement.

“Very well,” the security guard said and pulled himself to the side to let Emily pass.

Once they were in ops, Emily asked him “So what’s so important that you had to bring me here?”

“One second. Let’s get to my station,” he replied and directed her to follow him. He stopped a few moments later at a wall screen that was currently showing a starfield.

He tapped it with one finger, and the starfield disappeared. In its place was an ultrahigh-resolution image of the lunar surface. Emily stared at a crater for a moment, not quite understanding why Daniel wanted her to see it so desperately. Then she panned her eyes up towards the center of the screen. There was a square shape sat on the surface. It looked like a golden crab with four legs sunbathing in the plains. When Emily realized what it was, she gasped.

“T-that’s—," she began.

“The Apollo 11 descent stage,” he finished for her.

“How did you get such a high-quality picture of it?”

“I’m a comms specialist, remember? This ship has the most advanced cameras ever sent to the moon strapped to it. I just borrowed one when we entered orbit last night.” He was beaming with pride. Emily turned back to the image.

“Those are the actual footprints of Armstrong and Aldrin! And look there’s the flag!” She felt like she was a child visiting the Smithsonian for the first time again.

“The first human beings to ever step foot on the lunar surface did so right there,” his voice spoke more of philosophy than adolescent excitement. “Those pioneer’s you talked about yesterday? That’s where they did it.”

Emily tried to think of something to say. Some piece of wisdom, or at least a cliché that would feel like helping in some way. The intercom spoke first.

“All colonists in the first landing group must report to the loading deck in fifteen minutes.” Beside her, Daniel drew a long breath. When he spoke, his voice was back down to its normal pitch.

“I suppose this is goodbye.”

“Just for now,” Emily replied. “You’ll be down in a month. And like you said, you’re a comms specialist. I’m sure you can put some of that skill towards getting us a video link.”

“I can at that. Besides, it gives me time to practice my lunar photography. Someone’s got to document the progress of the first colony on the moon.”

“Just don’t zoom in too much. I’d hate to know my every action is being spied on from orbit.”

“On my honor.” She brought him into a brief hug, waved goodbye, then floated back towards the lift. She was running late, and mentally thanked Katy for not letting her unpack too much. She’d hate to miss the landing because she was packing up.

Twenty minutes after she left ops, Emily strapped herself into a chair onboard the passenger shuttle. Her duffel was tucked into a cubby under the seat. Across from her, a chair identical to hers was empty. For a moment, she imagined that it was Daniel’s. Empty and waiting for a passenger that would never come. Then someone strapped himself into it, shattering the illusion. She peered to the left and right, every seat was occupied. No room for Daniel. Of course there wouldn’t be any empty seats. The establishment of the first lunar colony was an all-hands-on-deck situation. Daniel was rotated out to make room for some engineer or botanist, not because there was enough leeway to have less manpower on the mission.

A red warning light came on and Emily snapped back into focus. She double checked her straps and settled in for the descent. The shuttle shook and vibrated as the clamps released.

Emily took a deep breath in and waited for her new life to begin.

#SciFi #short story #writing

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