The Journey Begins Read online

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map:Lunar North Pole Region

  Map:Overview of Northern Lunar Habitat

  Map:NLH Living spaces

  Map:NLH Living spaces close-up

  CHAPTER ONE Swimming in the Dark I

  Swimming in the Dark-alternate

  CHAPTER TWO Fill in the blanks

  CHAPTER THREE The Interview

  CHAPTER FOUR Selection

  CHAPTER FIVE On becoming Luni327

  CHAPTER SIX Leaving Earth

  CHAPTER SEVEN Steerage

  CHAPTER EIGHT Orientation

  CHAPTER NINE Home is where the heart is

  CHAPTER TEN First day at Luni High

  CHAPTER ELEVEN Dinner with Sandy

  CHAPTER TWELVE Off to Work

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN Birthday on the Moon

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN My mom, the CEO.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN Time Flies

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN The Home Coming Dance

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Trick or Treat

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN A dumbass move

  CHAPTER NINETEEN The Ghost and the Monkey

  CHAPTER TWENTY Christmas on the Moon

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Nina's Birthday Party

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO The Hunt

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Birth of a passenger liner

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Take your kid to work day

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Do we have enough ice?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX The Grand

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Dinner with a View

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT The Prom

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE Myra's Birthday

  CHAPTER THIRTY Swimming in the Dark II

  Reviews

  Author's Notes

  About the Author

  What's next

  Luni327:Strangers at the Door

  Map:Lunar North Pole Region

  Map:Overview of Northern Lunar Habitat

  Map:NLH Living Spaces 2038 Close-Up

  Hello, Goodbye

  A Pleasant Surprise

  Intro of the New Kids

  Dinner with Sandy

  The Gift

  Ananyu makes an impression

  Bryce's Birthday Party

  Please don't miss

  Luni327: The Journey Begins - Book One of the Lunar Age Series

  Copyright © 2017 by Daniel E. Eaton

  Visit the author’s website/blog at:

  cislunarbooks.com/dan_eaton/

  Follow the author on Facebook:

  www.facebook.com/cislunarbooks/

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This book is dedicated to my wife Ruth who has stuck with me through thick and thin. My life is richer due to her than I ever imagined it would be.

  Dan Eaton

  CHAPTER ONE

  Swimming in the Dark I

  “Wow! Dad, look at the meteor!” I said. The night was quiet as Dad and I paddled around the wall of the above ground pool in our backyard. It was late July and a return to school was looming in a couple of weeks, but for the moment it was just me and my dad having fun. I loved the hot summer evenings when Dad would suggest taking a dip in the pool to relax and cool off. We'd float around talking about the latest sci-fi show or movie or what I had done during the day while he was at work. You just naturally looked up while floating and we'd watch the jets lining up for their Western approach into Lambert field or the occasional satellite crossing above us. Sometimes we’d see meteors like the one I glimpsed earlier. If we picked the right night we occasionally got to see the International Space Station or one of the newer orbitals transiting above us. One of the original proposals for the ISS had been to retire it in 2024. Then that got extended to 2028 and now 8 years later it was still in use. Dad told me he thought the cost of replacing it was the driving force behind the reason they kept extending its operational life. The talk now was of retiring it in 2050.

  It was on one of those nights that Dad told me that NASA had opened up a selection process specifically targeted at small families that had the right skills to work at the Northern Luna Habitat. I was thirteen years old and on one level thrilled with the idea, but on another I was also old enough to remember when Dad occasionally came home with a Powerball ticket and said we were going to be Billionaires. Just because you got a ticket, didn't mean you were going to win and it didn't take me long to figure out that Dad just bought the tickets for a little fun and we really weren't going to be rich. I figured the same thing applied to going to the Moon.

  Dad was excited and told me Mom was too. They both had the kind of jobs and skills that NASA was looking for. NASA was looking for a small test group to see if it was practicable for families to live at the lunar base. When humans first occupied the base in 2030 it was strictly a place for highly trained astronauts. As the base grew, you didn’t exactly have to be an astronaut, but it was still a dangerous environment and only highly skilled people were allowed there. Eventually the base reached a stage where there were enough reasonably safe areas to keep folks who weren’t specialist out of trouble.

  The base’s scope of missions had also grown enough that the workers needed exceeded the pool of available space rated workers or astronauts. NASA was forced to take on the risk of having a small number of normal families at the base in order to open up their labor pool. To decide who would go, NASA opened up a selection process that would evaluate each family for their skills and psychological suitability.

  Dad said, “Bryce, do you want to try out for it? It would be a huge opportunity for the family if we are selected. For your Mom and me, it will probably end up being the high point of our careers. For you it would be an adventure few people could boast of and one that would later open many doors for you”.

  While the reward was great there was a small but significant risk to the adventure. Just going to and from the Moon was risky. The base was deemed safe enough, but there were still some questions, even now, about the long term effects of lunar gravity on the human body. Mom and Dad had gone over the research closely enough that they weren’t concerned about the known issues. There were remedies in place that would counter things that were known about, but it was the possibility of something unknown that concerned them.

  There were also some cost associated with the trip that especially affected me. Unless there was a medical emergency that necessitated a return to Earth the minimum stay was two years. I was due to start my freshman year at Saint Charles High next year. If we were selected I’d miss the first two years, maybe more, at my home high school. Neither Mom nor Dad had attended High so it wasn’t like there was a major family tradition to uphold, but it would mean missing out on part of the whole high school experience, at least at that school. Dad didn’t have any information yet on exactly how I would be schooled on the base, but I didn’t think Homecoming games were part of the package. I wouldn’t be completely out of touch with my friends, but they would turn into long distance relationships and it wouldn’t be like we could get together to go hit some balls or play soccer together.

  I also wondered how I’d feel about being away from the rest of the family. My Aunt Annabel on my dad’s side and Mom’s brother Bob and his family came over all the time and I did enjoy seeing them. There were also the family events and the holidays we would miss. Then there were the
grandparents. My grandfather Burns had passed away when I was a baby, but Grandma Burns was still kicking and so were Mom’s parents. I knew my parents both treasured family so this was something that would be just as hard for them as it was for me.

  Dad said, “It is an important decision and there’s a lot to think about. This is something we had to do as a family and we all need to be in agreement on. Take your time and think it over carefully before you give us your decision. We’ll support whatever you decide as long as you have good reasons behind your decision. It’s Monday night so give it some thought and mull things over. How about letting us know on Saturday what your decision is?”

  It took a long time to get to sleep Friday night. My mind was racing and one minute I’d be all set to go and the next I’d be sure the right thing to do was to stay. I woke up to the smell of a wonderful breakfast and stumbled into the kitchen to see what was cooking. Dad had set a grill up on top of the stove and had a serious pile of home fries cooking on one side. From the look and smell of them dad had thrown in some green peppers and garlic. There were several rashers of bacon already cooked and Dad was just flipping the over easy eggs. Mom was buttering up some toast so I grabbed plates for the three of us and sat down while waiting for Dad to finish up the eggs.

  I hadn’t come to a decision yet, but between the sleep I finally got and the good food I was feeling better about making a decision. After breakfast, Mom and Dad cleaned up the mess and then headed off grocery shopping while I got the mower out to do the lawn. Lawn mowing was boring, but I found it gave me time to think and by the time Mom and Dad got back and we unloaded the groceries I had come to a final decision and was ready to tell them. We were going to the Moon and after making sure I was sure about the decision they were all smiles.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Fill in the blanks

  Once I made my announcement and my parents spent 20 minutes grilling me to make sure I was okay with the idea it was lunch time. After the big breakfast we shared together this morning, Mom and Dad just had some light salads with greens out of mom’s garden. I had seen some hoagie rolls in the groceries, I helped carry in so I grabbed one of them and started building a sandwich. I split the roll open, slathered on some mayo, added a Kale leaf, lettuce, and some thin onion slices. Next came a couple of pieces of hard salami followed by a piece of pepper jack cheese. I discovered the jar in the back of the fridge with the pickled jalapeno slices and added a generous helping of them to top off the sandwich. While I was in the fridge, putting the jalapeno jar back, I found a jar of mom’s pickle slices and grabbed one for good measure. I grabbed some kettle cooked chips and added them to my plate before sitting down with Mom and Dad. Dad just looked at me, looked at the plate and smiled.

  Mom looked at me and said, “I know we fed you breakfast. You can’t possibly be that hungry already”.

  We all just laughed. I was hungry after mowing the lawn, but lately it seemed like I couldn’t go a half hour without needing to stuff something in my mouth. Mom and Dad had taken to calling me “Hoover” occasionally for how I would just vacuum up any food put in front of me.

  Once lunch was finished Dad asked, “Do you have anything going on?”

  I had thought about getting hold of my friend Marty and teaming up for some on-line gaming action with Gogoneddus Defender. Weird name for a game, but Gogo was a lot of fun to play in teams. From Dad’s tone I had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen so I answered “No” and hoped I wasn’t in for a delightful afternoon of cleaning out the garage with him.

  He broke out in a grin and said “Great! We can get started on filling out the application.”

  Cleaning out the garage was starting to sound good.

  When Dad initially applied to the mission he was sent an email directing him to a NASA website where we each needed to establish an account, log in and then start providing information about ourselves. If you were a very private person that was anxious about people knowing details about you there was no way you were going to the Moon. They asked about everything. Mom and Dad had to give our entire life histories along with our medical and educational histories. Then there was a very thorough survey of each of our likes, dislikes, hobbies, organizations that we belong to, our political leanings, and yada, yada, yada. They wanted to know if any of us wore braces or were planning on getting braces within the next year. If we had them, they wanted to know the date when the braces were to be removed. They wanted to know our birthdays and favorite colors. There were several quizzes where we had to pick out the words or actions we thought went best in a given situation they described up front. They wanted to know about our social media accounts and if we played sports. It seemed like there were a million questions and I was having a hard time trying to figure out why it mattered that I frequently played Gogo with a team of guys from school.

  I asked, “What’s up with all of the questions they’re asking?”

  “Bryce,” he said, “right now there are about three hundred people living at the Northern Lunar Habitat. It’s like a small town where everyone knows each other. NASA is trying to pick eighteen people they can add to that small town that will be the biggest benefit for the town without causing a problem. That question about braces? If you had braces or would need braces soon, then we probably wouldn’t be picked because the Habitat has a dentist but not an orthodontist. The fact that you play Gogo on a team is important because there aren’t a lot of entertainment options available at the Habitat so you being someone who likes to play games with other people is a plus for you. If you preferred to sit around by yourself and read that wouldn’t be a negative against you, but doing something that helps entertain other people is definitely a positive thing.”

  “I guess,” I told Dad, “but it sure seems like a lot of questions.”

  Dad said, “They need to make sure we’ll be comfortable with the base and the people there will be comfortable with us. After all, it’s not like we can pile in the car and leave if we don’t like the place.”

  Dad’s answers made sense, but I got curious about what exactly NASA was looking for so I went snooping on the Web and found a number of websites that talked about the Habitat and what NASA needed in terms of people to send there. Some of the descriptions were less than complementary and basically were of the opinion that NASA was looking for families that greatly resembled a piece of plain old white bread. But others said they were looking for people who could stand out while still being part of a team. I had played soccer and knew what it was like to play on a team where one guy thought he was the star versus playing on a team where everyone supported each other. Not only did we win more games working as a team, more importantly, we had a lot of fun doing it. After reading through all the comments I came to the conclusion that what NASA seemed to want was parents who had the professional skills the habitat needed, plus the parents and kid needed social skills and interests that would benefit the community living at the Habitat.

  Now the question I had was whether or not we had what NASA wanted. I started out by looking at my parents. It was funny, but as their kid, I always just thought of Mom and Dad as, well, Mom and Dad. Going through the information we had given NASA I realized there was far more to Mom and Dad than just being my parents. Take my mom, I knew she liked to run to exercise, but I learned from the survey materials that she also enjoyed dancing and especially liked ballroom dancing. I knew she did yoga occasionally, but I didn’t know she had once practiced Tai-Chi. I knew she worked for some place doing genetics on plants, but I really hadn’t realized that Mom had her doctorate from Washington University and worked for a company called Trident Labs. I researched Trident on the web and found they had been a start-up in Saint Louis’s Cortex District, where a lot of tech and bioscience startups made their first home. They had a string of successes modifying plants to better handle the weather changes brought about by global warming. Some people still didn’t believe in global warming and the politicians were always debating whether or not
mankind were responsible for the changes, but in the meantime Trident Labs had been making a lot of money from it.

  What I found immensely interesting was while Mom was a graduate student, she had worked with a Dr. Denise Belvert who was one of the founders of Trident Lab and who had been instrumental in getting Mom an internship at Trident. After Mom received her doctorate, she went to work for Trident and had stayed in touch with her mentor, Dr. Belvert over the years. What made it so interesting to me was when I looked at the organization chart for the Habitat I found the director of the section Mom would most likely be working under was none other than Dr. Belvert. I figured that gave us a pretty good shot at getting a slot at the Habitat.

  Then I started looking into my Dad. Dad had met Mom while they were both undergraduates at Washington University. While Mom was into biology, Dad was very much an engineer and had graduated with a Masters in both Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. After graduating, he joined a firm called TransCor. They were located in the Weldon Springs Research Park, which explained why Mom and Dad had chosen to live in the Saint Charles area. While Dad certainly wasn’t a slouch in the brains department and he really enjoyed the job and seemed to make good money I didn’t think his job did that much for us getting to the Moon. According to the web, Transcor provided engineering support involving the rail transportation systems across the world. They also were strong on mass transit projects and Dad’s latest project had been a mag-lev people mover for the Seoul, Korea Incheon Airport Renovation project. While personally I liked trains a lot, I didn’t think there was much call for any trains on the Moon. It didn’t seem likely there would be a line built between the Northern and Southern Habitats anytime soon. I’d heard there was talk of establishing a Far Side Observatory but I didn’t think they’d be building a rail line to it. I wasn’t sure to what use they’d put my Dad, but he always said a good engineer was a useful thing to have around. I just hoped NASA would see it that way.