When I arrived at HQ people were already making their way to the Arrivals dome and up to the hotel. When tourists land, they will be driven by rover to the Arrivals dome. Wouldn't it be fun if we had little green men here to greet them? Maybe Norm could make a big moon out of his fungus wood with a hole in it so tourists can take man in the moon pictures.
The arrivals dome connects to HQ. At the front of the dome is an enormous airlock tube where rover buses dock to unload the tourists. The airlock is so large they had to fly it up in sections on separate Star Cruisers and assembled the part on Luna. Safety first. If anything were to happen, the lock tube is large enough for one hundred people to be safely protected.
I knew most of the people passing me on their way to the hotel. Many were friendly and welcomed me back, but I did get a few odd looks. Must be the TAC uniform. Most people wouldn't expect to see me in a TAC uniform. Hey, I'm coming up in the world.
"Hey Joe," I said to the commanders adjutant.
"It's Joseph," he corrected.
"If you say so. Where's the commander?" I asked.
Joe sneered at me, "He's in his quarters changing. He'll here be soon. I suggest you wait."
I noticed the landing schedule on Joes screen. No landings scheduled for the next two days. Joe wasn't watching, so I flipped through the roster, eighty-seven people were listed. My name wasn't on the list, reminding me that I don't exist.
It's strange realizing that you aren't officially anywhere. Somebody could kill me up here and there'd be no record I'd ever returned to the moon. Is that the plan? Kill me on the moon with no record that I exist. The perfect murder.
I leaned against the wall and waited. Three TAC guys walked past wearing full dress uniform. Is this gala a black-tie event? Nobody told me. Joe didn't give me dress grays to wear for fancy events. He gave me three identical uniforms that are too big by the way. The women walking past were dolled up for their big night out.
I felt out of place. Maybe it's true, I don't belong here. Doesn't matter. There's nobody I need to look good for. I look strac in my TAC get up, I thought pulling the top down over my hips. I've got nothing to worry about. Screw 'em if anyone thinks otherwise. We're on the moon, not Monte Carlo.
I spotted Harding parading through the corridor looking dapper. The boy scout cleans up well. He looks proud and dignified in his dress blacks. He's in a good mood. He should be, it's a big night for him. Commander of Moon Base Alpha during the construction and opening of the first hotel on the moon. This is historic, momentous. Tonight's gala hosted by the hotel group is what you'd call a dress rehearsal for the grand opening. When the first tourists arrive, they'll throw an even bigger party.
Joe stood at attention. "Good evening sir," he said.
"At ease. Let's head up and see what all the fuss is about," said Harding.
I followed Harding and Joe through the Arrivals Hall to the foot of the longest, tallest escalator I have ever seen. It went up so high I couldn't see the top. The interior of the tube was polished black regolith blocks more than double the width needed to house the escalators. The gigantic tube was brightly lit with futuristic looking light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. Wide black block stairways ran along both sides of the mechanical moving steps. Just wait, stair climbing will be the new fad workout on Luna. The low gravity it will be easy to take the steps three at a time, but that still gets tiring.
Lush tiered gardens fill the areas beyond the stairs to the tube walls. Dark green leafy rubber plants, a variety of palms, ferns, and ivy climbed the walls of the long tube.
As we rode the incline, I discovered the escalator was built in one hundred-foot sections, each section ending at wide landings. It was a fifty-foot walk to the next escalator. After four sections of the steep moving stairways we were greeted to the hotel by the Artemis 4 lander at the top of the escalator lit with multi-colored lights. It wasn't a replica it was the real deal. Hanging from the ceiling were an antique SpaceX Dragon and Boeing CST-200 capsules.
Six broad steps lead down to an expansive lobby under an enormous glass topped dome that took your breath away. The lobby was filled with comfortable seating areas, a cocktail bar, two restaurants, and a Bigelow habitat for tourists to explore. Norm's bio-developed furniture, the carpets and other products created at the base are on display.
All these wonders reside under a glass dome that lets you look up at space. The top half of the dome was constructed from aluminum beams and specially coated glass made here on Luna. It was truly an engineering masterpiece. The team from SSP and the other construction groups did an amazing amount of work while I was away. I felt sad that I wasn't part of that achievement.
Cheerful, upbeat music played in the background. A dance floor was set up in the middle of the lobby and a small stage with a podium was arranged in front of a restaurant. It was a festive scene, all eighty-seven human beings listed on the roster plus Astrid and Garrick. The six men that accompanied them were now dressed in black walking through the crowd offering drinks and finger food. Somehow, they seemed out of place, awkward as if they weren't trained as servers. The inhabitants of Moon Base Alpha didn't notice. They were gathered around cocktail tables drinking, talking, and eating.
Commander Harding moved to the podium on raised platform. I grabbed two glasses of champagne and found a quiet spot away from the crowd. I wasn't in the mood for socializing. Contemplating the idea that I don't exist had spoiled my mood.
Harding tapped the microphone with his finger making a thumping sound, the music stopped, and the room quieted. Astrid and Garrick stood at his side.
"I welcome all of the hard-working people of Moon Base Alpha to The Grand Luna Hotel, the first hotel on the moon." Everyone cheered.
"This achievement represents two decades of peaceful cooperation between the ninety-four member countries of the Terran Alliance Council and the hundreds of companies and universities whose developments on Earth and here on the moon have made this hotel a reality.
Every group has done their part to create systems and technology that today allow our base to be ninety percent self-sufficient. We began this settlement relying on shipments of oxygen, water, and food the basic resources for survival. Today we are a net exporter of oxygen, hydrogen, and precious metals.
Early explorers could stay only for short periods living in small inflatable habitats exposed to radiation and cosmic rays. Today we have built and furnished this remarkable hotel with products produced on Luna, many of which are on display this evening.
The hotel will soon begin welcoming guests. This will represent a turning point for life and commerce on the moon. We have created a functioning economy. Trade already exists between companies for building supplies, commodities, and food, but we are about to launch a burgeoning consumer economy, a vibrant business eco-system that will stretch from here to the Mars colonies and beyond. Once holiday visitors learn what we have created, others will follow creating new, unique opportunities This is the result of the hard work of the people here tonight and those who proceeded us. I would like to introduce Ms. Astrid Astana and Mr. Garrick Sultanov from the Yuldashev Hotel Group. As you know YSG funded the hotel construction making this evening and our exciting future possible."
I watched Astrid and Garrick. They looked dignified, professional. Astrid stepped to the microphone. Garrick smiled politely.
"Thank you, commander, for those inspirational words and your kind introduction. The name of our corporation, Yuldashev in our language loosely means travelers companion. Our hope is that The Grand Luna Hotel will provide the upmost in quality and service. We are the friendly companion to travelers who make their journey to the moon. We thank you for your hard work, engineering ingenuity, and quality craftmanship in the construction of this fine establishment. We are deeply touched."
Garrick pulled the microphone to his lips and enthusiastically said, "Enough talking. Now it's time to enjoy. Drink up and celebrate our mutual success."
Nice speeches. Everyone whooped, cheered, and applauded, including me, but my mind was stuck on what Harding said about the early habitats being exposed to radiation and cosmic rays. How long did Harding expect me to sleep in Beresheet Six? Just long enough for the radiation to cause cancer so he could watch me die a horrible death. I need to find new quarters. If he wanted Wanda so much, just tell me, he doesn't need to kill me.
As I contemplated my long, miserable, painful death, I watched Gus walk down the broad steps and walk confidently across the lobby. He's dressed nice. The only grease I see on the mechanic tonight is in his hair. He doesn't see me. He doesn't acknowledge anyone in the room. His long strides direct him toward a table on the far side of the lobby, a beautiful woman dressed in a silver gown. I hadn't noticed her until now, but I hadn't looked around much. He can't be here for her. As he approached the table, she stood. He reached out to greet her. She raised a hand to him. The music began playing as their fingers touched.
I couldn't breathe.
They walked hand in hand to the dance floor. He pulled her close wrapping his arm around her waist. They danced intimately cheek to cheek. It's Gus. Gus is the man mowing her grass. The long, slow, careful lover moves with her gracefully on the dance floor, their bodies flowed as one.
I ambled past the drinks table and downed another glass of the sour liquid. I got closer, moving in the shadows to get a better look. Their motions were in perfect sync, their hips touching, her arms holding his broad shoulders as they moved rhythmically with the music. She was smiling. She looked happy, content. Damn it. I knew then that I could never make her feel the way Gus could. My only comfort was knowing it wasn't Harding. I guess he wasn't trying to kill me.
I turned and walked away before they spotted me. Why was I worried? She can't see me, I don't exist. Maybe I never did. Was my love an illusion? How could I have been so blind? I know she felt something for me once, or she would never have… but she said it was over. She told me there was another. My head knew it was true, but my heart couldn't bear it. Standing there watching her with Gus my heart broke again. My head felt squeezed in a steel vice, my soul trembled.
I launched myself up the six steps to the escalator. I stood at the top of those mechanical steps looking down the seemingly bottomless black tube. It was one of the darkest moments of my life, but I was not contemplating suicide. I had retreated from the brink of endless blackness and thwarted frozen death. When you have faced death, even welcomed the end and death did not win, one is loath to grasp for it so quickly even in a moment of desperation.
I intended to leap from the top step and bound down the escalator several steps at a time, but I slipped on the polished floor as I jumped sending me headfirst through the air. The steep metal steps fell away below me as I soared over them. I pushed lightly off the smooth black ceiling before I hit my head gliding forward and down. I was falling but slower than I would have fallen on Earth. As I dropped down to the escalator, I took two quick steps on moving black rubber handrail propelling myself, diving forward, the stairs fell away below me. I flew. It was like a flying dream when you put your arms out easily lift off gliding over housetops, I flew down through that tube filled with heart ache and ecstasy.
I floated down, this time catching the handrails with my hands. I used the strength I gained on Earth as one hundred forty-five-pound man to propel my moon weight of twenty-five pounds. I pulled forward on the handrails and again flew out and over the metal stairs dropping down the steep black tube. When I hit the platform one hundred feet down, I took a few quick steps then vaulted into the air.
Oops. Oh dang. I had too much forward momentum. I was about to bash into the tube. I tucked my head allowing my back to slam against the black rock which ricocheted me downward. I tumbled in the air watching the steps and plants spin past as I fell. If I landed on the steps I would roll and bounce to my death on the landing one hundred feet below.
My butt hit the sticky black handrail slowing my rotation. As I rolled, I was able to get one foot on the heavy rubber railing and pushed forward. I splayed my arms and legs out like a flying squirrel hoping to gain control. It took control. Too fast you hit the wall, too slow you fall.
I flew again, falling forward and down. Isn't that what flying is controlled falling? I resumed pushing off the handrails, soaring alone, splendidly alone through the warm thick air, rich with oxygen and moisture from the plants Wanda had grown.
Flying downward through the tube felt perfect. I was perfectly alone. I felt complete for once, competent in my ability to fly. Four hundred feet I fell gliding downward filled with joy as my pain, heartache, fears, and worries fell away.
I am Frank Callahan, human being. I am who I am. I know you're my friend if you call me Frankie. I don't need to know much more than that. I'm tearful for my loss, but happy Wanda found Gus. Happy they found each other. Could there be something more for me? Was the pain for naught or would it lead to something more? There's a future for the young and ambitious on the moon. Did that mean there's a future for me? It can't all be an evil trick. Compelled to fly over the moon for a broken heart? It cannot be. There will be more. There must. This won't be my last day. I can fly and what a wonderful feeling that is.
I pushed off the handrail one last time moving forward through the air flying like an angel with wings floating gracefully to touch down, quickly stepping one foot after the other on solid ground until pain shot up my right leg. I almost crumpled to the floor but steadied myself limping in agony through the Arrivals dome.