Moonday Read online

  When he got there Europa didn’t want to talk to him. She made it clear with her expression that she didn’t want to be interrupted. She had waited a long time for this opportunity and was really enjoying working here. She was going to make the most of this research opportunity, and at this time of day the telescope was following her instructions, and she was in the process of going into her research in more depth.

  Peter reassured her that he would only stay for a short while and that he only had two quick questions. He wanted to know if she was all right and did she know why the closure took place in November for the Leonid meteors and not in August for the Perseid meteors.

  Europa turned her chair to Peter and looked at him puzzled. She didn’t really understand what he was doing here but she knew the fastest way back to her work was to answer his questions. She considered what he would be able to understand before she answered, “It’s true that both the Perseid Meteors in August and the Gemini Meteors in December usually have more meteors than the Leonid Meteors, but the Leonids occasionally come as a meteor storm and can be much more destructive than the other two.” She looked directly into his eyes to see if he had understood.

  He didn’t react.

  “Usually the Perseids and Geminides don’t present any danger, and, of course, our automatic systems monitor these events and react accordingly if necessary.” She looked at him quizzically. “The meteor storm doesn’t come every year, but we humans need a regular break.”

  Peter nodded and remembered his decision to keep this visit as short as possible. She seemed to be doing fine. He slightly touched the brim of his captain’s hat respectfully and nodded as he thanked Europa for her time and apologised for the interruption.

  After he had left the observatory, he thought she was right, people do need a holiday, or they’ll go stir-crazy cooped up here.

  Peter took a relaxed stroll through the second warehouse on his way to the main garden. He was hoping to meet Maria there, but was in no hurry and enjoyed the alternating shades of light and the fragrances of the trees and plants. He knew there was a path at the edge of the garden, that people used for jogging, but he chose to wander through the middle. He’d been told that the many well-maintained paths that meandered through the garden resembled the one at the edge. He decided that he’d look at it another time, and one day maybe even go jogging.

  Feeling relaxed, he lingered in the garden listening to the gentle sounds of unobtrusive music in the distance. He walked around a corner and was surprised to see Maria standing there. He’d almost forgotten why he was there. She smiled at him. She looked radiant when she smiled. It made him feel welcome and he returned her smile easily. They went for a stroll in the garden, falling easily into step with each other. He commented about the cover of the blossoming trees and plants. They looked greener, sharper than on Earth, and he wondered if that was because of the colouring of the protective glass?

  Maria answered with a friendly smile. Her answer brief but polite, “There’s no atmosphere outside the dome to filter the light. That’s why it looks a little different than on Earth.”

  He nodded and felt comforted that there were so many experts working on the Moon Base. They meandered slowly and from time to time Maria knelt and inspected a plant.

  Peter thought the plants looked like the ones on Earth. Although he had the feeling that this wasn’t true, so he stayed quiet. He didn’t want to show his ignorance, instead he asked, “Is there music playing?”

  Maria stood up and smiled, “Yes, the plants like soft, gentle music.” She pointed to a tree and said, “This one has been genetically modified to become a self-pollination variant and this particular variation likes it when they hear ABBA played quietly.”

  Peter was interested, “Are there many self-pollination variants?”

  Maria nodded, “Yes, we have many, because some bees have a few problems flying and others don’t adapt well to the lower gravity. We have as far as possible two varieties of each plant, one with and one without self-pollination.” She smiled at him, “Dervla is working on the genetics to help produce more specimens. We are also experimenting with bee-like drones. Charlie’s helping me.” She smiled again and added, “We have more success with self-pollination.”

  Maria would have liked to have shown Peter both gardens. The biologist loved her work and thought that the opportunity to work on the Moon was simply awesome. She enthused about her own planned experiments and also about continuing the existing ones. Peter didn’t understand every word she said but thought that she sounded like she knew what she was talking about. Their shift lasted five years after all, he could come back and find out more later. He let her keep talking without interrupting her.

  Maria stopped suddenly and smiled broadly, “The gardens play a major role in our attempt to live as self-sufficiently as possible.” Her eyes lit up, “Do you want to see the cultivated microalgae? There is a microalgae plant here in the main garden and another one in the second garden.”

  Peter saw how Maria’s eyes sparkled. She loved to talk about her gardens and plants. He smiled at her and nodded.

  She was beaming as she explained the details of the algae system to him as they walked there. When they got there, she pointed out the green water flowing under the plexiglass containers. Peter noticed small gas bubbles in the liquid and asked her why they were there.

  “We cultivate two types of algae together. One is aerobic algae and the other anaerobic algae. It is a fantastic system. From the oxygen-dependent aerobic algae we get oxygen and from oxygen-independent anaerobic algae we get hydrogen. The products of this process can be used to produce energy and the by-product is water.” She smiled, “And we also get an algae biomass, which is used in our food and serves as a basis for the food reconstruction machines.”

  Peter already knew that part of their food was made from algae, but he didn’t really need to know or even to see it. He hoped his face wasn’t as green as the water and was very pleased that he hadn’t been part of the first Moon team, they had experimented with insects as a food source.

  Maria noticed Peter’s expression and she felt the need to explain to him how important algae are for their survival, “Algae belong to the system that keeps the carbon dioxide level under control and they are also key in the water supply process.” She looked thoughtful, “When I sit in the garden and listen I can hear the artificial wind, especially when it blows from the north, rustling through the leaves and the sounds of small animals going about their business. It makes me think how important the algae are and how the whole ecosystem works together. Every part is important for our survival, without the gardens we wouldn’t be able to keep the Moon Base running, not in the long term.”

  “There are small animals in the garden?”

  “Yes, insects and animals as big as a snake.”

  Peter looked a little worried.

  Maria changed the subject, “There’s the soil creation experiment over there.” She pointed to her right. Her voice sounded proud as she said, “We’ve been trying to create soil for the last thirty-five years, and it will take about another three hundred years to complete.”

  Peter looked at the seemingly unremarkable experiment. He would never have expected that it would take more than three hundred years until they could get something useful out of it, even with the accelerated soil creation process. He shook his head. Who would have thought that soil took so long to create?

  “The experiment was a forerunner of the ones on the Mars Base. There is no soil on Mars. They have only loose rock. The soil biota is missing in the Mars regolith.” She looked at him, “It is the absence of soil life that makes colonising Mars so difficult.” She looked proud as she explained, “We started the experiments here first. They have similar experiments on the Mars Base, but they are not yet as far on in their experiments as we are.”

  Peter breathed in sharply, he wanted to ask something more, but Maria ignored him as she carried on talking, “The hydroponics, t
he water cultures, are in the second garden. It’s pretty impressive how the mineral nutrient solutions flow through the system. There’s no soil in the whole system. We are doing it in case the soil creation process fails.”

  Peter frowned, “The second garden, how big is it?”

  Maria’s shoulders fell, “Not really big. Let’s do it next time.” She’d already taken up a lot of Peter’s time.

  Peter asked, “Do you make moonshine in the garden?”

  The question surprised Maria, and she frowned.

  “I was just thinking of the Leonids and the upcoming Annual Closure. We’ll need a little alcohol to celebrate.” He smiled, and his eyes twinkled.

  She laughed quietly and that calmed her, “The moonshine is delivered with the Moon shuttle, but I think we have the necessary equipment in stock if we really want to make it here. Filip should know.”

  To finish off the garden tour, Maria took Peter to the main attraction of the garden. The nocturnal moonflowers, which were already in flower, were closed at this time of day and didn’t look as beautiful as they did in the artificial moonlight. Nevertheless, Peter could imagine what the climbing plants looked like, with their fifteen-centimetre diameter they looked like small moons. He bent over, took the name tag in his hand and read it, “Ipomoea alba, moonflower white, night bloomer, creeper.”

  Maria took her necklace in her hand, “We control day and night, but I don’t want to confuse the plants by turning on night unnecessarily.”

  Peter understood Maria’s concern and knew that there had been a lot of experiments over a very long time to find out the optimal times of day and night for the gardens and that even today the times of day in the two gardens were different.

  Even though he seemed to understand she still wanted to justify her concern, “A normal Moon day lasts fourteen Earth days, and the Moon night also lasts fourteen days, I imagine that the plants and flowers would grow weary if we didn’t control their environment.” Maria corrected herself, “I know, in the base, that we are near the South Pole, and there would be ninety percent daylight if we didn’t control it, but the idea is the same.” She looked at him for agreement.

  As Peter nodded he realised how much the plants meant to Maria.

  As they walked around the corner, they saw Charlie standing there working with a few of the robots. He was doing some gardening work for Maria. Charlie was already grinning as Peter looked at him. He’d noticed Maria and had pressed the red emergency park button on his BULcap helmet.

  Peter liked Charlie because he was willing to help with every task, especially when Maria needed help. Officially he was a spacewalk specialist and technician, but today he was checking the flight pattern of the bee-like drones.

  The drones landed and parked safely.

  Peter looked at Charlie’s BULcap. He’d tried to work with a Brain Uplink Cap, but he hadn’t succeeded. He felt a little jealous that Charlie was able to control the drones with his thoughts.

  Peter nodded respectfully to Charlie and smiled.

  Charlie explained, “I’m checking possible flight patterns. The plants in the garden serve as obstacles for the flight training and I can simultaneously check and document the structures of the plants.”

  Peter was still looking at the drones, “You can park them very fast and accurately.”

  “New sensors have been installed in the drones, there are thermal images, X-rays, 3D geometric mapping and ultrasound crack detection. So, they are a little different and I need to practice before I can use the new sensors, but I can still park them.”

  There were so many new technologies, Peter was curious, “Could you show us what you’ve already learnt?”

  Charlie blushed and stuttered, “I can’t.” He glanced briefly at Maria and then looked at the floor.

  After a few uncomfortable seconds it dawned on Peter why Charlie couldn’t do it. The brain-uplink connection is very sensitive to emotions, so much so that it had been necessary to install a red emergency parking button on the BULcap and given the fact that Charlie really liked Maria… Peter smiled as he thought, poor old Charlie, when he sees her, he can’t clearly separate his thoughts from his feelings. He wants to be able to show Maria how good he is at controlling the drones, but he never can. Peter nodded at Charlie and said, “No problem. I’m going to see John and Steve. What’s the best way to get there?”

  Charlie and Maria pointed simultaneously towards the second lab on the northern edge of the main garden.

  Peter smiled and left them without saying a word. He still felt a little sorry for Charlie, he’d really gone very red.

  As soon as he was out of earshot, Peter laughed quietly to himself, life was sometimes very funny. He paid attention to which direction he was going and soon stood at the entrance to the second lab. John and Steve were Geologists, it wasn’t a dangerous profession. Peter knew he could quite simply walk in there. After all he did have access to the whole Moon Base, but he found it politer and considered it less dangerous, especially when he was first entering a lab if he rang first. Peter looked at the Smellaid on the door frame and smirked as he thought he really could go anywhere, without hindrance. Each door on the base was controlled by a smart controller. They could be opened with breath or by permission loaded directly onto the Pulsera. Mostly he found it simpler to blow lightly into the sensors. The analysis took place almost immediately and access was either allowed or denied. The technology was similar to what he knew at home. The main difference was that they were much more sensitive here and he had the creepy feeling that the machine could actually smell him. He had already half-heartedly shared his concerns with Beatriz. She’d explained that the composition of his breath was checked for opportunistic pathogens every time he blew in one of the machines. It hadn’t calmed him down. Just something else he needed to get used to.

  Peter pressed the entrance buzzer and announced his name. The lock was released almost immediately, and he heard John’s voice welcoming him. Peter walked in looking around as he went. It seemed well equipped or at least there was a lot of storage here.

  As Peter turned the corner and saw John, he seemed pleased to see him and explained that he and his assistant were in the process of checking the status of the existing experiments. Steve was visibly annoyed. He didn’t like John calling him his assistant. He was as well qualified a scientist as John.

  John showed Peter the largest display screen that showed a map of the investigation sites and explained that the geologists mostly worked at the investigation sites. The information from the sources was relayed back to the Moon Base by radio waves. They used the Moon satellite and the automatic ground communication bases for this purpose.

  Peter could hear the excitement in John’s voice and could see him smiling broadly, John clearly liked the technology.

  “The search for minerals and water uses drones with the new hyperspectral sensors. They were reworked and refitted during the last shift. That’s why we’re hoping,” John glanced over to Steve, “for a significant discovery.” They nodded and smiled together. “If we find something promising, we’re planning an excursion and maybe we’ll even set up a new site of investigation, or we could expand the range of an existing one.” John continued, “The drones and robots bring any resources they find back to the Moon Base. This works well, as the robots return the samples cleanly including any ice cores. We get samples back in the lab without human contamination and then we analyse exactly what was found before-”

  Steve interrupted John. He absolutely had to say something, “The finds could contain fossils. Ancient fossils, perhaps even the first evidence of life before the Moon and Earth broke apart!”

  Nodding John agreed with Steve, “Yes, that’s right. There is a very small chance that we might discover fossils from one of the ice cores taken from the permafrost in the shadow of one of the valleys near the South Pole. The core could originate from the beginning of the solar system. That’s one reason why we’re so close to the South Pole.
The first scientists began their spectral analysis at the South Pole.”

  With widened, covetous eyes and a clipped voice Steve said, “By doing analysis of fossil and water samples we could even detect the original virus that spawned life.”

  “Do you really think so?” John seemed a little sceptical.

  “And to make the connection to the Moon Madness,” Steve added moodily.

  John shook his head, “That is why we have our security measures. We want to make sure that no ancient germs have survived and escape into our environment.”

  Steve replied, “Not all scientists are as thorough as we are.”

  Peter distracted them by asking, “Analysing the whole Moon, wouldn’t that be faster if we were using satellites?”

  Steve explained, “A stable satellite orbit is difficult to find, and the drones and robots can do the job in more detail.”

  Peter thanked the scientists and left. He still needed to see Dervla and Beatriz today.

  Peter decided to leave Dervla alone for the time being. He knew she would need some time to get her experiments going. He walked slowly from second laboratory through the main garden enjoying the soothing sounds. The green of the leaves seemed especially beautiful and he slowed even more as he wandered aimlessly around the garden.

  Eventually he remembered that he wanted to talk to Beatriz. He looked up at the ceiling of the garden where there was a map of the Moon Base and chose the path towards Beatriz. It occurred to him, that the way back to his office led him past the infirmary anyway. He liked Beatriz. He thought she was very reasonable and liked to talk to her. The infirmary was located in the building directly next to the main garden. It was on the ground floor of the living area. It wasn’t far away.

  When he arrived, he looked around. Beatriz was sitting comfortably in an ergonomically correct position on her self-adjusting chair which she had configured to her favourite colour light blue. The colour matched perfectly to the scarf Beatriz was wearing. Which he noted wasn’t strictly speaking part of her uniform.