I drove home if you can a lunar habitat named B-6 home. The solar panels should have fully charged the habitats batteries, that's good because I left the heat on. I will not freeze tonight, but I'm going to check the radiation shielding specs. I have no plans to anyone's lover but that doesn't mean I want to have my nuts fried.
The rover crested a ridge providing a dramatic view of the road dropping down across the moonscape toward the northeast where the landing pads are located. A bright glow high in the sky caught my attention. As the glow grew brighter, I knew I was watching a deorbit burn. When I noticed a second glow against the black sky, I stopped the rover to watch. I'd seen the landing schedule. Hey, I work for TAC, that's what TAC does, we plan and schedule stuff. It didn't matter that I snuck a look on Joey's screen to know there were no scheduled landings tonight. The burns ceased. I scanned the sky but saw nothing. I kept looking into the blackness, waiting.
There! Engines lit for the landing burn. Moments later a second set of engines ignited. I could see them now. Two Cruisers were coming in making their signature vertical landings. As the first two rockets made final burns slowing their descent, I noticed two more deorbit burns high in the sky. I tried to make out the markings on the first two cruisers, but they were too far away.
Why are they landing now? There were no rovers to greet them or direct refueling bots, everyone is at the gala. I watched the next two spacecraft. Just before they engaged their landing boosters. A lander detached from one of the incoming spacecrafts. The lander fired thrusters sending it flying over my position moving southwest. I moved the rover so I could watch the lander continued flying southwest of Mons Malapert. I lost sight of it, blocked by the mountain, then it appeared from above Malapert landing on the peak. I had never seen anything like that before.
Something weird was going on. No landings on the schedule yet there's all this activity while everyone's getting drunk at the gala. I looked back at the pads. The cruisers were unloading large bus sized rovers. I need to report this to Harding. I lift my watch to make a call but a bright flash in my peripheral vision caused me to look up at the mountain. I could still see antennae up there, but my call didn't go through. I checked my watch. No signal.
I looked across the moonscape and saw a large bus rover heading my direction. When four small rovers sped ahead of the bus, I decided it was time to vamoose. I drove across the bumpy regolith headed for a small knoll; an ancient ejecta pile the rover could hide behind. I crouched low in my seat as the rovers sped past followed by the bus. The bus went by too fast and it was too far away to get a count, but it looked full of people. There were markings on the vehicles I didn't recognize; a star striped with green yellow and red. Moments later two more buses rumbled past my location followed by two more rovers.
I edged the rover slowly from behind the knoll just enough to watch the caravan. The road goes only one place, the base, make that two places, the base, and the hotel. Wait, three places, the base, hotel, and the top of Malapert, but they've already had a lander on the mountain and killed the comms signal. It didn't matter where they were headed, they were uninvited guests.
When the caravan was far enough ahead that I wouldn't be spotted I punched the accelerator pedal headed out across the regolith. I didn't want to use the road; they might post lookouts. That's what I would do. The bumpy, cratered landscape forced me to take a circuitous route to the base. As I made my way, I caught a glimpse of the caravan. They didn't stop at the base; they took the road up Malapert ridge and drove directly toward the hotel.
I remembered what Greta and Tristan had told me about their short cut, so I drove directly to the new waste treatment dome. I docked and entered the large dome. I expected to see large pools of smelly sludge. I was surprised when the first thing I saw was tall stalks of corn. Remind me not to eat the corn. The entire dome was filled with large raised planted areas. As I moved to the far side of the dome, I could hear running water and the plant varieties changed to water lilies and colorful blooming hyacinth. The sound of moving water led me to the tunnel doors.
Norm was right, the tunnel was almost wide enough to drive a rover through. A two-foot diameter sewage pipe ran along one side. More pipes and conduit extended along the tunnel walls and hung from the ceiling. I ran. My butt and back still hurt like heck, but I ran. Okay, I fast walked and trudged as fast as I could without bounding up and hitting my head on the damned pipes.
I don't know if it was my aches and pains, the tunnels incline or the cold dry air but I was exhausted by the time I reached the point where the tunnel turned and the large sewage pipe disappeared into the tunnel wall. Before me were steep steps leading endlessly upward. They must run parallel to the black steps inside the escalator tube. There was no way I was going to hike up the stairwell I had so recently flown down. Behind me was a set of large double doors. They must lead to the Arrivals Hall. I hoped nobody would come through those doors snooping around.
The tunnel, now taller and less congested with pipes continued beyond the steps. I took the tunnel. Behind the steps I noticed the escalator mechanism was moving. I went back to my fast walking unsure of what I would find. Greta said they took an elevator to the service level of the hotel. Could I get there in time to warn Harding? Those buses must have arrived by now.
Maybe it's nothing. The buses could be filled with hotel employees. Maybe TAC messed up the landing schedule. The hotel will need a large staff, but why had that lander flown to the top of Malapert Mountain? What was the bright flash and why was data service down? Somehow, I couldn't force myself too believe my own bs.
Those buses weren't filled with hotel staff. Something else was going down. I ran through the pain bounding with forward momentum careful not to hit the ceiling, I landed, and my knee nearly buckled but I pushed forward again moving as fast as I could to this elevator.
Two more long bounding strides and I saw it ahead. Ha! I landed taking a few small steps to slow my momentum and came to a stop in front of a large freight elevator.
Ding. The doors opened revealing a bright empty steel room. I stepped in and the pressed service level button. I didn't remember seeing an elevator in the lobby. I feared the ding when the elevator arrived would give me away. At least I would arrive below the hotel level.
I need to be smart about this. I'll get to the service level, check things out, then see if there's a way to get to the hotel level quietly on the sly to see what's going on. For all I know who ever this is has guards posted by the elevator. When those doors open on the service level, they'll capture me and throw me at the mercy of whoever is in charge.
There's no turning back. Take it one step at a time and figure out a plan as things develop. Harding said he wanted a good man who can think on his feet. Now's my chance.
Would armed insurgents meet me? Have I risked my life only to end up a pile of bloody pulp on the elevator floor? I braced myself for the worst. I've nearly died so many times in the last twenty-four hours, I should be used to the feeling of anticipating death, but that's one feeling you never get used to. This would not be a recommended tourist experience.
I stood in the center of the elevator crouched in my best karate pose ready to spring to action. I was prepared to accept whatever fate delivered, but I would not go down without a fight.
The doors opened.
Huh?