Original Strand

  “Send a monitoring satellite around earth, for one, maybe something else. I’m just guessing here.”

  “We have to stop him,” stated Billy. “The potential amount of resources of those installations could allow us to reopen aisles C or even D. Just think of the possibilities…”

  “I think we all agree on that,” said Mathew. “The question is: How do we stop him?”

  * * *

  The strident wail finally woke the sleeping mayor. With hesitant movements he left the warmth of the oversized bed and stood dumbfounded in the middle of the room. Just when his confused brain recalled what the emergency alarm sounded like, the wailing stopped and his personal communicator beeped its familiar tone.

  “Hi,” he said with more composure than he felt.

  “Where were you?” exclaimed a voice close to panic.

  “Calm down, Ray, what’s happening?”

  “Billy’s dead! Rover three is gone. He left Mathew, he stole the Rover!”

  “Who?”

  “The earth man. He left thirty minutes ago.”

  * * *

  Simon had obviously been traumatized by his experience in Bay five. Sitting on the floor, he hugged himself like a man in hypothermia.

  “Please, Simon,” said Sonia. “Tell us what happened from the beginning.”

  The crowd around them parted to let Mathew kneel next to the doctor. The mayor silently urged him to speak and placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. All whispers died when Simon finally spoke in a wavering voice.

  “He tricked me. He said he just wanted to see the Rovers and learn their current operating capabilities.”

  “Current?” wondered Sonia.

  “He had studied them from the library, and was curious at the modifications done to them since the wars. I showed him how they work. When we were done, he tricked me.”

  “What did he do?” asked Mathew calmly.

  “He grabbed me. Forced me down on the floor and tied my hands behind my back with my clothes. Then he stuffed my mouth with one of my socks. I tried to fight him…”

  “You couldn’t, Simon, we all know that,” reassured Sonia.

  The young man nodded and swallowed hard. “Then Billy came in. He saw it all. Me on the floor, Sal over me, the Rover’s open door. He was still in the doorway and could have walked away. I wish he had. He would be fine now, alive and well.”

  “You can’t blame yourself for his death,” said Mathew. “What did he do?”

  “He tried to rescue me. Not physically, of course, not at the beginning. He tried to reason with him. Told him that he didn’t need to do this, that we were here to help him as much as we could. Sal laughed and said that we could barely help ourselves. Billy eventually got angry and shouted insults. They were standing in front of each other by then. When Billy walked toward me with the intention of freeing me, Sal overpowered him and placed him on the floor. Billy struggled and I heard a crack. Sal stood and left him there. Billy wasn’t moving and I could tell he wasn’t breathing. I guess his neck… must have snapped.”

  Sonia nodded to Mathew’s raised eyebrow.

  “What did he do next?”

  “He prepped the Rover for departure. He would have left me in the Bay if I hadn’t mumbled when he was about to leave. He paused at the door and waited, I don’t know how long, or why. He made up his mind and dragged me to the corridor. It’s the last I saw of him.”

  Again Sonia glanced at the mayor. Sal had killed Billy but had saved Simon by bringing him out of the decompression chamber.

  Simon’s shoulders sagged and jolted up several times as his grief overpowered his self-control. Mathew patted him on the back and stood.

  “Council meeting, in my office, now.”

  * * *

  “What does he hope to accomplish?” said Victor as he traced the obvious direction of the runaway Rover on the screen. “He’ll never be able to come back here.” The blinking dot on the map was making slow but constant progress toward the colder half of the moon.

  “He knows something we don’t, obviously,” commented Sonia. “The questions is: What are we going to do about it?”

  “What can we do about it?” corrected Mathew. “Rover one and two are ready to go, and we will follow him shortly. But do we want to catch up with this murderer?”

  “Everything indicates that he only intended to subdue Billy. His struggles and the fact that Sal probably underestimated the fragility of his bones might have caused the death. It could only be an accident,” proposed Sonia. “And he did spare Simon.”

  “Whatever happened, Billy’s dead and he’s going to ditch Rover three somewhere out there,” pointed Victor. “He must have discovered a way to return to earth.”

  “We should continue this discussion in Rover eight and twelve,” suggested Sonia. “He’s got a head start of an hour and is letting us monitor him.”

  “That’s what’s scaring me,” reflected Mathew. “He would behave differently if he absolutely wanted to conduct his affairs in secrecy.”

  “Then we’ll have to be extra careful,” concluded Victor. “I’ll break out the electrosticks.”

  They all agreed and left the room with a sense of urgency rarely felt at Base four.

  * * *

  No one had ever ventured this far on the dark side since the cataclysm. The reason was simple; the Rovers’ autonomy didn’t allow them to return to the light where they could recharge depleted batteries. The pursuers had cautiously waited five hours before venturing into the night, making sure that their vehicles had a full charge in reserve. Sal had not bothered and the excursion was turning into a one-way trip for him.

  Mathew stopped the lumbering vehicle, which had to be hand directed in this cross-country pursuit, and turned to his two companions. The other Rover stopped twenty meters behind and its headlight showed the barren territory around them.

  They were at their limit, the point where they could barely limp back to the light where they would have to wait long hours before starting the long trek back to Base four. Sal was way beyond return now.

  “I’ll try again,” suggested Sonia. She stepped to the main control and spoke toward the front panel. “Calling Salvatore Ramone, this is Sonia, do you copy? Sal, it’s me, can you hear us?”

  “Hola, Sonia, how are you? Oh, let me guess, tired?”

  They all jumped at the low voice.

  “I’m fine. How are you?”

  “The same, enjoying the scenery in fact.”

  “Sal, where are you going, you’re almost out of energy?”

  “Is Mathew with you?”

  “I’m here.”

  “The historian in you must be dying to know the answer to that question. I can picture you staring at your little map, am I right?”

  “Quite right,” admitted the mayor.

  “You are welcome to join me, if you’ve got the balls. In fact, I want you to utilize what I’m about to show you. It’s an unmanned military outpost forgotten by the wars. A Chinese and Russian bunker of some sort.”

  Sonia and Victor looked at Mathew for clarification of the technical terms but the mayor waved them off and focused on the voice.

  “I know this little adventure must be reckless beyond reason to all of you, but I want you two to witness what I’m about to do, and learn from it. God knows you need it. Nothing is ever accomplished without efforts and calculated risks. And no, I’m not mad. How do you think all these moon bases were built? You have to learn to push forward instead of simply doing maintenance on decrepit equipment.”

  “Sal, in order to survive our ancestors made a biological decision that prevents us from ever looking at earth as an alternative, you must realize that,” explained Mathew.

  “That’s exactly what I mean. Indolence, laziness, decadence, a rotting race of thin skeletons afraid to take initiatives. Do I have to explain everything? You can tap the earth’s resources without having to walk on it. I’m stopping Rover three here, so you can use
the energy it has left when you reach it.”

  “We’re turning back, Sal, this is not worth losing two more Rovers.”

  “A very safe, secure, and pussy decision, Mathew. Then you’ll never know the access code to those military files of yours. You’ll never know what else is buried and waiting to be discovered.”

  “Why don’t you just give us the code?”

  “Because you haven’t earned it. I’m leaving the Rover, so if you’re not coming, I guess this is goodbye.”

  “Wait, please don’t end it like this. We desperately need all the help we can get.”

  “I’m tired of hearing fear in your voice, Mathew. You should put young Simon in charge, he’s the only with a bit of backbone. Tell him I’m sorry about our last meeting. Over and out.”

  “You can’t leave it at that! We rescued you, fed you, took care of you. You owe us, Sal, you owe us something!”

  After two minutes of unsuccessful hailing, it was clear that the earthman was gone and would not be heard again.

  “This is all my fault,” finally whispered Mathew. “I insisted on giving him a chance, on trying to make him part of the community. I failed.”

  “Stop blubbering and start thinking,” snapped Sonia. “We’ve got to make some decisions here.”

  “We’re going back, we can’t follow this madman to his death.”

  “It’s not your call to make, Mathew. I’m going after him, with or without you. Vic, are you with me?”

  The mayor of Base four stared at Victor and knew he agreed with her. “Are you insane? No way I’m authorizing such risks. I’m in charge here.”

  “We don’t know what he plans to do, but I’m sure he means us no harm,” said Sonia. “I’m going with Vic. You can always go back with the other Rover if you want.”

  Mathew stared at the floor while his two friends waited. The situation was well out of control, spiraling toward total disaster. He could feel it. They were not looking at the facts or making a rational decision, they were just reacting to a crisis without the necessary reflection time and analysis. It was against all the operating rules and strict principles established by their forefathers, who were experienced and thorough astronauts.

  On the other hand, the potential gains from this abandoned ‘bunker’ could bring new prosperity to the community. It would be wishful thinking to assume that Sal would give them the military access code if they went there; the earthman was totally unpredictable and evidently operated according to a totally alien sense of values. But if he did, Base four would gain a purpose, a cause, something to aim for. There would be goals to achieve and it would bring the moon survivors to a better standard of living.

  “What is it going to be, Mathew?” pressed Victor.

  “I’ll go with you. I’ll tell the other Rover to wait for us here and then we’ll take shifts at the wheel. It’s still a long ride and we all need rest.”

  “I’ll take the first drive,” said Sonia calmly. Victor nodded and stretched on his bunk. Seconds later, Mathew did the same.

  * * *

  “We’re almost there,” said Victor gently to his sleeping companions. “Rover three is less than two kilometers away.”

  His friends joined him to stare at the lonely parallel tracks climbing a hill and disappearing into murky darkness. The absence of horizon was eerie and they were humbled by the desolation around them, the utter lack of bearings or anything familiar. They crossed old tracks in the dust, legacies from ancient times when vehicles roamed at will without fear of not being rescued. The few footprints were even older, probably from the very beginning of colonization. It did nothing to ease the palpable fear aboard Rover 2, the sense of impending doom if any mechanical breakdown should occur. Every little sound from the Rover was amplified by the imagination until nothing else existed but the dark corridor in front of them.

  “What the hell…” began Victor while easing the Rover on a straight course. The vehicle had just reached a crest and bright lights waited for them on the other side. More lights than they had ever seen. It seemed that the bottom of the crater 200 meters away was filled with them. They could see Rover three parked at the lip of the deep hole, its open side door indicating that its occupant had left some time ago. The brightness was stronger than full daylight.

  Victor brought the Rover next to its cousin and they gazed at the bottom of the crater. What they saw was incredible; lights were everywhere, from every side of the crater wall, from every window of the eight half buried buildings at the center.

  “How do we get down?” asked Sonia, always practical. The footprints leaving Rover three disappeared over the edge and resumed at the bottom.

  “We’ll have to do better than simply skidding down,” Victor finally said. “We’ll use the Rover cable as a safety line, like we always do.”

  “You’ll have to stay here while me and Sonia have a look,” said Mathew.

  “Why me?” protested Victor.

  “Because as historian I am best qualified to deal with whatever is down there, but also because you’ve been driving for the past couple of hours and you’re extenuated. Nothing personal, Vic, just common sense.”

  “Sonia could stay,” ventured Victor.

  “I’ve developed a rapport with Sal that could be very useful. He’s down there, probably not seriously expecting us. Who knows how he’ll react? It’s best if I’m there to smooth out any confrontation.”

  “All right,” agreed Victor while stifling a yawn. Mathew patted his shoulder and imitated Sonia who was already slipping into her suit. Less than five minutes later they were outside and Sonia started the slow process of being half supported down by the cable. A winch in front of the Rover unrolled a thin line and lowered the small woman over the crater lip. Mathew watched the delicate procedure and was impressed by the doctor’s agility as she stepped over rocky terrain all the way down. She unclipped the line and Victor brought it up. Mathew secured himself and backed toward the crater while the cable slowly came out of its wide reel.

  He was almost at the bottom when the cable above him dislodged a large rock that crashed down and knocked him aside like a puppet.

  “Stop!” screamed Sonia as the limp form of the mayor was slowly lowered on the rocks.

  “What’s happening,” said Victor. He couldn’t see the descent but had immediately responded to her command.

  “Mathew, can you hear me.” Sonia’s voice was barely controlled.

  “The pain, how I hate the pain…” Mathew tried to straighten himself but couldn’t. He was obviously badly injured. “I think my leg is shattered, but the suit’s intact.”

  “Can you move it?” asked the doctor.

  “No way, it’s definitely broken. Shit! Victor, you’ll have to drag me up again.”

  “If I do, we probably won’t be able to bring the cable back at the bottom to Sonia, the slope is not steep enough. She’ll be trapped.”

  “You’re right. Only one thing to do then, lower me the rest of the way.”

  Sonia bit her lip as the cable slacked and Mathew slid on the rough surface. She could hear his raspy breathing and feel his efforts as he tried to guide himself over the rocks. Ten meters before the bottom he was jolted and instantly became limp on a small platform of dust.

  “Victor, I think he passed out. Mathew, talk to us, Mathew!”

  The historian had obviously lost consciousness.

  Victor started lowering again but the cable only curled itself on the platform and wouldn’t come any lower. The situation was becoming critical and no matter what Victor did, the stubborn lifeline wouldn’t cooperate.

  “It’s hopeless,” finally admitted the doctor. If Mathew was dragged up the slope, the chances of bringing the cable down would only become smaller, while the mayor’s injury could turn deadly.

  “Sonia, something’s happening behind you,” warned Victor.

  A door slid open from one of the pale buildings and the unmistakable form of Sal emerged. He walked
directly toward Sonia and she waved at him.

  “Sal, we need your help. Mathew’s in trouble and…”

  “I really don’t know why I bother with you people,” cut in Sal with an angry voice. “You’re so fucking useless.”

  He walked pass Sonia, who could only stare at his long powerful strides, and climbed up the slope to Mathew. Incredibly, without apparent efforts, he reached the mayor in less time than she would have thought possible.

  He unclipped the cable from the limp form and threw it at the bottom of the crater less than two meters from Sonia’s feet. He then placed Mathew on his shoulder and jumped three times to reach her. He wasn’t human.

  “Come on,” he grunted impatiently as he led the way to the open door.

  Sonia followed without a word.

  * * *

  “What are your plans?” asked Sonia as she finished with the unconscious mayor’s leg. Sal had dumped him in a corner of the decompression room and had worked on a terminal for the entire time she took with her patient.

  “Going back to earth,” he simply said.

  “How?”

  “Top of the line rescue hopper. Would even allow me to return here, if I was desperate enough for company. I’m almost ready to go.”

  Sonia stood and had her fist serious look at the secret installations. The air was fresh and cool, the white walls unmarked and spotless, the tiled floor almost like a mirror. It gave her an impression of emptiness, of a cold calculating reality that belonged to men like Sal, men who did the impossible, who gambled their lives for the greater cause, men who were destroyers of civilization.

  “I have something to show you,” he said while she looked around her. “Leave the mayor here and follow me.”

  Sonia nodded and they made their way through pale corridors, passing closed doors with strange writings on them. Sal suddenly stopped and smiled at one of those doors. “It’s not what I want to show you, but it will certainly interest someone in your line of work. It’s a medical ward, probably equipped with instruments and operating facilities, supplied with whatever’s needed to keep a group of people in good health. Have a look.”

  Sonia held her breath and pushed the cold door. The room was spotless and practically gleaming everywhere. She stepped inside and monitors came alive while an unfamiliar voice speaking gibberish seemed to ask her a question.

  “English,” said Sal.

  Please state the nature of your visit.