Strangers at the Door Read online

  Nina started to ask another question, but Ananyu interrupted her and said, “Nina, I’m glad you and Jocelyn have so much to talk about, however, I have a feeling Miss Gayle wanted us to find out a little more about Blayze and Jocelyn besides their recent travel experience. Blayze, where did your family come from?”

  With the remaining time Miss Gayle had allotted us, Ananyu led Blayze and Jocelyn through a series of questions that revealed Blayze was from Albuquerque, New Mexico and had an older brother that was attending the University of New Mexico. His dad worked in the banking industry and his mom was a jeweler. We had no idea what either one of them were doing at NLH and Blayze could only tell us that they had positions so they must be working somewhere. Jocelyn was an only child whose family came from Portland, Maine. Her dad was part of the staff for the accelerator when it was completed and her mom was an accountant assigned to the accelerator as well.

  That night, I went down to the cafeteria with Mom and Dad. Looking through the menu selection I couldn’t help thinking about a year earlier when we had arrived. The funny tasting food was still a vivid memory. The hamburgers still tasted just a little off, however, if you ordered one and told them to drag it through the garden it tasted pretty good with the fresh lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onion slice. The fries were now made from potatoes grown on Mom’s farm instead of being made from reconstituted potato flakes pressed through an extruder. Dad was still a fan of the Salisbury steak and claimed that they must have improved the 3D printing algorithm because he no longer felt the steaks had a funny texture to them and the mashed potatoes tasting better because they were made with real potatoes was a no brainer. The fried shrimp on a bed of rice hadn’t been bad, yet now you could get a bowl of rice and shrimp gumbo that was really good. The rice, okra, and tomatoes came from Mom’s gardens. I loved the stuff, but my mom said the sausage they 3D printed didn’t taste quite right to her. I thought the same things about the hot dogs.

  I grabbed a deep dish pizza and a Coke since the recent CLT30 visit had brought in fresh supplies. Mom went with a big garden salad and Dad was having spaghetti and meatballs. We had just sat down at a table when Sandy strolled up and asked if he could join us. “Sure, Sandy, pull up a chair,” said Dad.

  Sandy sat down and said, “So how’s the day been for you folks? It’s hard to believe that in a week and a half it’ll be a year since I met you. So much has happened since then.”

  We sat there and told Sandy about our days. He was especially interested in hearing about Miss Gayle and the new kids. I had finished up my pizza and figured when Sandy was done, we’d walk on over to the shop together. I was starting to wonder if Sandy had forgotten our start time when he looked over at me and said, “So, uh, why don’t you go get started. I’ll be along shortly. I just have a little business to discuss with your Mom.”

  Sandy watched Bryce walk away and then said, “You guys got a good kid there. He’s done great this past year with me.”

  Cheryl said, “Yeah, we’re pretty happy with him. Things got a little rocky there last week with Myra, still it’ll work out. I have confidence in Christine and she’ll get Myra back to normal soon.”

  Sandy took a sip of his drink and said, “So, uh, the kids are kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. I know Christine wants Bryce to keep his distance from Myra for a while. I know Bryce will do it, yet it can’t be an easy task given how small this place is and especially with the two of them going to school together. I have an opportunity for Bryce that I was going to ask you about, so maybe this is actually an opportunity for Bryce and Myra.”

  Desmond said, “So what’s this opportunity and how’s it affect the kids?”

  Sandy took a moment to compose himself. He wasn’t sure how Cheryl and Desmond would respond. There was an element of risk to what he was proposing, on the other hand, Bryce would get to witness the practical beginnings of a new industry. One that would enable greater growth of the lunar habitats located at the lower latitudes of the lunar surface. For Myra, she’d be free of Bryce’s presence for a week where she could focus on healing without being reminded of what happened every day. Sandy said, “So, uh, I know Bryce is pretty young and this may be pushing things, however, it is a great opportunity for Bryce if you guys think it’s okay. There’s a mission coming up shortly to take a CLT30 out to the Earth-Moon Lagrange point one. There’s a company called Sunshine, Inc. that I’ve built some equipment for. They’re paying for a CLT30 to deliver supplies out to L1 and they’ve asked me to come along and assemble the equipment. I can bring along a helper and I’d like to take along Bryce.”

  Desmond said, “Whoa, Sandy. Are you talking about having Bryce work in a hard vacuum? He’s not qualified and even if he was I wouldn’t be comfortable with the risk.”

  Sandy said, “ No, none of the work we will be doing will be in vacuum. Sunshine has a depot out there much like the depot you guys visited on your way here last year. Bryce will have to be trained on wearing a standard suit though. Fortunately, he’s gotten big enough that he can wear one of the generic suits. If I had to pay for a custom suit to be made for him, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. His job will be to help me get the equipment assembled and then we’ll stand around gawking while Sunshine tests things out.”

  Desmond said, “So how long is this going to take? We’d have to take Bryce out of school and I’d rather he didn’t miss a lot of school.”

  Sandy said, “We’ll only be gone five days. A day traveling there, a day to get back, and three days at the depot. I went by and had a conversation with Gayle and Christine. Gayle was a little put out that she couldn’t go along too, on the other hand, she pointed out that she’s spent the last year teaching Bryce remotely so a couple days more is no big deal. Christine had some reservations, though she said if it was okay with you two, it was okay with her.”

  Sandy could see on Cheryl’s face that the answer was going to be no. Desmond, however, spoke up and asked, “Is this that heliostat project?”

  I said, “Yes,” and Cheryl said, “What’s that project about?”

  Desmond jumped in and said, “Sunshine is doing a pilot project to see if they can put an array of mirrors at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point. They’re going to test if they can focus the array fine enough to light up the solar array at the ESA’s Lunar Village during the lunar night without disturbing the Greenies back on Earth.”

  Cheryl said, “That would be a pretty neat trick. Wasn’t there a lot of debate over the Lunar Village’s location when they decided to put it at Archimedes?”

  I said, “There was the same kind of debate about the NLH’s location and for the same reasons. NLH is located where it is because of sunshine and water. What we don’t have here is the higher concentrations of metals that you can find out on the Mare. They located the Village with the idea of being nearby rich sources of metals. Being out on the Mare Imbrium means they have to have enough power storage to get through the two week lunar night, which is hard as you get bigger and need more and more storage. That’s kept them from growing much and being able to take full advantage of their location. If the heliostat array works like Sunshine hopes it will, then they’ll have plenty of power even during the lunar night and can start expanding.”

  Desmond said, “If it works, it won’t just be the Village that will be expanding. Resolving the power issue would open up a lot of opportunities down in the middle latitudes of the Moon. That’s actually pretty exciting stuff.”

  “So, uh, that’s what I was thinking and I thought it would be nice if Bryce could be in at the beginning of it.”

  I could tell Desmond was warming up to the idea of Bryce going with me, but Cheryl was still a hard sell. Cheryl said, “So what problems do the Greenies have with this whole idea?”

  “So, uh, they are worried that lighting up significant areas of the Moon facing the Earth during the lunar night will disturb the natural cycle of things back on Earth. Carried to the extreme, it could be like having a full
moon in the sky every night. The Soviets were actually experimenting with the idea of using a heliostat to light up Earth cities back in the early nineties. There was enough concern raised after the first test mirror went up that eventually, the project got dropped. Sunshine has taken those concerns into account and part of the goal of this project is to send just enough of a reflection back to the Moon to cover the Village’s solar power field with a strict minimum of over bleed to the surrounding area. We’re talking a spot of about 12 km in diameter, so from Earth, it’s really not going to have much of an effect.” I could see Cheryl was thinking about it and gave her some time.

  “Let us sleep on it. Maybe it will be okay.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  The Gift

  Good morning fellow NLH residents. It’s Sunday, July 18th, 2038.

  In Habitat News, this morning it’s Bryce Burns’ birthday. His parents will be celebrating his birthday with him in the main cafeteria at 18:00 hours this evening. They invite all of their friends to drop by and join them in wishing Bryce a Happy Birthday.

  The Nelson Solar and Heliospheric Observatory would like to announce the retirement of Senior Fellow Rick Sandstrom. Rick has been the Senior Fellow at the observatory since it was opened here at NLH six years ago. Rick will be returning to Earth and will be living in Hawaii where he intends to pursue his passion for gardening. He recently accepted a seat on the board of directors for the Keck Observatory. Please join us in wishing Rick the very best on his retirement. Max Stephenson will be replacing Rick as Senior Fellow at NSHO.

  In financial news today, on the Lunar Stock Market shares of Mussconny Machine closed Friday at $29.24 a share, Mussconny Fabrication at $31.92 a share, Hotel Whipple shares are at $30.12. O’Reilly’s Shellfish Company is at $24.43 a share, CDB Farms is trading steady at $24.65 a share, and MM Brewing is at $2.52.

  Mussconny Machine would like to announce the promotion of Bryce Burns to Apprentice II Machinist.

  I went down to breakfast with Mom and Dad thinking we’d get to enjoy a nice, quiet, breakfast together. Mom had been quizzing me as we walked down to breakfast about Blayze and Jocelyn in my class and the kids in the new freshmen class. Blayze, I thought was okay. I certainly pitied him his flight to NLH on the CLT30 with Jocelyn. Jocelyn was a bit of a know it all. Where Nina impressed you with her quiet competence, Jocelyn was quite vocal about telling people what she knew. For the younger kids, Miss Gayle had brought the two classes together several times to make it easier for the two classes to get to know each other, so I knew some of the younger kids a bit better.

  The latest selection process had produced a group of kids that weren’t as uniformly photogenic as our class was. Not that any of them were plain, however, they didn’t look like a group of empty headed models as some folks had unkindly said of our class. I had noticed Regan Sidman was the prettiest of the girls. Her hair was black with streaks of blue and green highlighting her heart-shaped face and peaches-and-cream complexion. She was always smartly dressed, in a way that spoke volumes about how much ahead of her classmates either she or her mom were when it came to understanding how to get exactly what you wanted from Habitat supply. While cute girls were appreciated, both Willie and I were thrilled to find that Javin Fromme and Meadow Warrior were both Gogo players. That would make it much easier to get together a group of players when we wanted to have a game.

  I had shared all that with my Mom, by the time we reached the cafeteria. We went through the line and I grabbed the biscuits and gravy. Mom got a stack of pancakes while Dad went with the 3D printed bacon, home fries, scrambled eggs and some toast. Despite the recent changes that had enlarged the dining room, it was very busy this morning and there weren’t a lot of empty tables. Mom said, “Oh look, there’s a free table over there.”

  We started towards the table Mom had seen open and then I saw Myra sitting with her back towards us at the next table over. I stopped and Dad said, “You forget something Son?”

  I looked at Myra’s back and then at Mom and Dad and said, “I just remembered that I have to meet with Willie before the game today. I probably should just take my breakfast back to the house and head over to Willie’s after I eat.”

  Dad must have got a glimpse of Myra because he gave me a sympathetic look and said, “Bryce, you do what you got to do. It’ll be okay.” I looked over at my Mom and said, “I’ll be back home at five to get ready for the party.”

  I headed back home so I could scarf down the biscuits and gravy. It didn’t take long to eat and since Willie had worked an early shift today to free up time for the Gogo game I decided to just walk over to the Whipple Hotel to meet him when he got off of work. I drifted out of the house and headed west towards the ramp at the end of Grand Boulevard that would lead me down into the Grand. Once I entered the Grand, I took a break at the little park at the entrance and sat down on one of the benches just watching the water slowly fall down from the rocks on the upper level down into the small pool at the lowest level. Willie didn’t get off for another hour, so I just sat there thinking about the last time I’d been there. Myra had been with me and it had been fun spending time with her which made me miss her now. I just hoped that Christine could help Myra quickly and things could go back to the way they were.

  I’d been sitting there staring at the pool for a while when I heard a cheerful voice beside me say, “It’s nice here, isn’t it?”

  I looked up, surprised to see Ananyu standing there. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

  “Just on my way to help my papa out at the restaurant. You hiding out down here?”

  “I’m not hiding, just killing some time before I meet up with Willie when he gets off of work. Isn’t this out of your way for getting to the restaurant?”

  “I saw the whole scene in the cafeteria, so, yeah, you’re totally down here hiding from Myra. Not that I think that’s a bad thing. I think it’s sweet of you to do that for her. I take the long way to work just to get a little more exercise in and I like to visit this spot. Instead of sitting here alone, why don’t you walk me to work? You can hang out with me until Willie gets off.”

  “Sure,” and we started off down the path.

  “You know, your dad amazes me. I don’t understand how he’s able to serve some of the dishes he does from the stuff he has available to him here.”

  With a little laugh, Ananyu said, “It’s all smoke and mirrors Bryce. While you and I are thinking about specific things to eat, my papa is thinking about flavor and texture as separate things. When he needs something he doesn’t have and can’t easily get, he starts playing with foods that will give him the texture he wants and when he’s got the texture he starts modifying the flavor profile until he has something so perfect you can’t tell it from the original. Remember those pecans that were on the cake we had at the dinner before Prom?”

  “Yeah, that’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about. How did he get pecans on the Moon?”

  “He didn’t. Those started out as dried mushrooms from your mom’s farm. Then he did his magic and we ended up with pecans on our cake. When we get to the restaurant, remind me, and I’ll give you a sample of his latest work. He’s been playing around with the simulated pecans again.”

  We’d reached the point along the walk where the path dipped down into the open chamber in front of the school. I felt amazed and stupid at the same time when I looked at the two saplings that were the key features of this space.

  “Holy mackerel, when Myra and I walked through here back in April, those trees were only half that size.” They now stood about three quarters of a meter tall, which surprised me. What was making me feel stupid was our classroom and small cafeteria overlooked this space and somehow I had been completely oblivious to the changes in the trees.

  “Well, don’t be too hard on yourself, we’ve got ten new kids to interact with, Miss Gayle is here in person now, and you’re playing keep away from Myra. You got enough going on inside the building that I’m not surpris
ed you haven’t paid any attention to the Mimosas.”

  “To the what?”

  Ananyu pointed to the saplings and said, “To the Mimosa trees. That’s what is planted on this side of the school. On the other side of the school there are two Pink Dogwood trees. I was curious and asked your mom about them.”

  We followed the path under the school and into the next opening. When we got to the Dogwood saplings, Ananyu stopped, looked over at me with a quizzical look on her face, and said, “I don’t get it. You can have a good conversation with me. I’ve seen you and Myra so wrapped up in conversation you two forget everything around you. What’s up with you and Nina?”

  “She’s—”

  “Hideous, right? Not pretty like me and Myra. I can’t blame you for having problems talking to her.”

  I was shocked at first since Ananyu was Nina’s best friend. Then I caught the impish smile on her face and I said, “She’s pretty. It’s just—”

  Ananyu still had that impish smile on her face and said, “Ah, so you must think Myra and I are hideous and find us not as intimidating to talk to as the pretty girl?”

  I just looked at her, sighed, and said, “I give up.”

  Ananyu gave me a friendly smile and said, “Okay, I’ll stop picking on you. I’ll give you some advice though. Stop looking at the girl and start listening to her. You engaged me by asking about something in my life. Do the same with Nina. She is much more than just a pretty face, there’s all sorts of stuff she’s interested in. You already tried Star Patrol, you shouldn’t have stopped there.”

  “But Ananyu, I’ve tried, I just can’t —”

  “Seriously, you need to stop letting her looks freeze up your brain and listen in the next time she’s talking with someone. Get some clues from that. If you need some ideas, she’s from Colorado. Find out where. Find out what a fourteener is. Find out where the Front Range trail goes. She’s not a sedentary person so there’s a good chance she’s done some hiking. Like I said, quit looking at her, start listening, and do some research if you’re really interested in her.”