“It boggles the brain,” Crater said.
“Not mine,” Makes Bad Bets replied. “It’s just a job keeping tabs on this scraggy hole in the ground. Of course, no one bothers me much so that’s nice.”
Crater remembered he’d come to Alphonsus to solve a mystery. “Do you ever see things?” he asked. “Or have realistic, colorful dreams?”
“Umlaps don’t dream much. If we do, we forget them pretty quick.” Makes Bad Bets stretched and yawned. “Say, why don’t you stay for lunch? I have turnip paste.”
“Some other time,” Crater said, trying to sound grateful. “But come to Endless Dust anytime you like. The people there would be happy to make you breakfast, lunch, dinner, or just a snack.”
Pleased, the Umlap scowled deeply. “I’ll do that!”
Crater and Crescent climbed the stairs, then passed through the dustlock and the airlock and back outside, closing the hatch behind them. “Sometimes, Crescent, I think there’s nothing more that can surprise me but then something happens that does. Life on the moon. Who can believe it?”
Crescent wore a confused expression. “But there’s been life on the moon for years. What’s the difference if there’s bacteria?”
She had a point so Crater struggled for an explanation, then said, “People didn’t bring the bacteria. It’s here all on its own. It doesn’t need us to keep it going. It’s something of a miracle.”
“Brown scum is a miracle? If you say so.”
“I say so, Crescent, but if you don’t understand, that’s okay. We all have different ways of looking at things. Yours is as good as mine.”
They trudged silently through the pinkish swirls of the plasma that rolled along the surface of the crater floor, then up the rim and back down the hill to Endless Dust. Before they reached the hatch, they saw them. Three crowhoppers holding rifles were beside the chuckwagon.
::: FORTY-NINE
Crater studied the crowhoppers with his helmet scope. Then Maria and the Apps walked into view. They were also armed. It appeared to be a standoff. “They haven’t seen us,” Crater said. “Crescent, you work your way around the observation tower. I’ll go to the left around the maintenance shed. When I give you the signal, we’ll blast them. Be careful not to hit our people.”
“There’s no reason to attack,” Crescent replied. “Look closer. The men of the Legion are not holding their rifles in an offensive position. Their barrels are pointing toward the dust.”
Crater saw that Crescent was correct. “Gillie,” Crater said, “connect me with Maria and the others.”
Crater heard Maria say, “. . . no place for you here. Move on.”
Jake spoke up. “I don’t know. They look strong. We might be able to use them.”
“Don’t go wobbly on me, Jake,” Maria growled. “These are dangerous creatures. They are trained to kill. You can never trust them.”
“But Crescent shows us every day that isn’t true,” Clarence said.
“Clarence is right,” Eliza said. “If there is a better woman than Crescent, I have yet to meet her.”
“Crater,” Crescent said on their private channel, “I don’t feel well. My heart hurts.”
Crater looked at her with concern, then tried to read her face. “Maybe you should lie down.”
“No, it will pass. It is already better. It was silly of me to mention it. I think what Eliza said is what made my heart hurt. Does that make sense? An emotional response. I’m sorry if I upset you.”
“Well, it’s true what she said. There is no better woman than you.”
“It is all your doing,” she accused. “I try for you. I have a strong emotional attachment to you. Maria said it’s love but I was taught by the Trainers that love isn’t real but Maria said it’s always real. It’s not always right but it’s always real.”
Crater’s engineering practical brain was well aware that there was a serious situation in Endless Dust that could end up in a firefight. Yet the part of his brain that carried his emotions, perhaps that “softness” he was accused of having too much of, told him to focus on Crescent for just a little while. “Crescent,” he said, “I have a strong emotional attachment to you too. I want you to always be part of my life. You are like a sister to me. Is that all right? Can we be brother and sister?” He wanted to add, “Or did you expect more?” but he left those words unspoken. Some words didn’t need to be said.
Crescent arranged her lips into a brave smile. “I’ll be the best sister ever. And if Maria becomes my sister-in-law, I’ll love even her, I promise.”
“Hey, you two!” Maria’s voice boomed in their ears. “We have a situation down here or did you fail to notice? What are you talking about, anyway?”
Crater and Crescent hurried down the hill. At the chuckwagon, the three crowhoppers—Lucien, Absalom, and Dion—still held their rifles pointed dustward. “What are you doing here?” Crater demanded. “Didn’t I tell you to get off my moon?”
“We got lost so we followed your tracks,” Lucien said. “We want to surrender.”
“Then put your rifles down.”
The three youths looked at each other, then leaned their rifles against the chuckwagon. Crater waved his rifle at them. “Move away.”
They walked away. Absalom said, “We are hungry and thirsty and we promise to fight no more forever.”
“He is telling the truth,” Crescent said.
The three Legionnaires stared at her. “What are you?”
“I am a female member of the Legion. I did not surrender. I was captured.”
“What Legion?” Lucien asked suspiciously.
“The Phoenix.”
Lucien’s eyes widened. He bowed and said, “It’s an honor.”
The other two also bowed, but Crescent looked away from them.
“What are we to do with these fellows?” Maria demanded. “We can’t let them stay!”
“We’ll not turn them out,” Jake said. “So we must take them in.” He pointed at the three. “If you promise to work very hard for your keep.”
“If we can live, we will work,” Lucien said, the other two now ex-Legionnaires nodding in agreement.
“Then you’re hired,” Jake said. “Let’s go inside and get you settled. Crescent, will you join us?”
Crescent raised her chin. “You were poor excuses for Legionnaires,” she said.
“No argument from us,” Absalom replied.
Maria shook her head as the three crowhoppers, Crescent, and the Apps headed for the dustlock. “Keep close watch!” she called after them. “They’re still dangerous!”
When there was no reply, she turned to Crater. “Amazing. How can they trust them?”
“It’s their town,” Crater said. “Let them do what they want to do. Anyway, I think the fight is out of those crowhopper boys.”
Maria looked doubtful. “So what did you find up there?”
Crater told her. “That means there may be natural fusion in Aristarchus too!” she chirped. “Grandfather owns that!”
“We should channel the plasma back underground,” Crater said. “It’s probably causing our hallucinations. It seeps into the enviro systems.”
Maria nodded. “What a crazy world this is.”
“Or moon in this case,” Crater said.
“What do we do now?”
Crater shrugged. “All comm links are down. We’re a thousand miles from nowhere.”
“You’re saying we’re stuck.”
“For now.”
Maria walked across the dust, shaking her head. “So many things are happening out there and we’re missing it all.”
“Then let’s not miss what’s happening here.”
“I’m not missing anything.”
“If you’re always thinking about being somewhere else, you’re missing everything.”
Maria walked on, then stopped and looked up at the sky, empty of everything but stars. “Since there have been people, we’ve always looked up and hoped that someon
e would come down and save us.”
Crater walked up beside her and took her hand. “I don’t want to be saved. I just want to be here with you.”
Maria studied Crater, then melted. “Finally. You said exactly what I’ve always wanted to hear.”
She took his hand and leaned in until their helmets touched. “We should kiss. I know, I know. We’re wearing space helmets.”
“We could take them off in the airlock.”
She grinned and pulled Crater toward the hatch, to go inside and kiss and then join the Apps, and the new crowhopper hires, and Crescent who was now Crater’s sister, and Ike who was very helpful.
Crater’s heart sang with all the possibilities.
::: FIFTY
I want to ask you something,” Crater said to Lucien after dinner.
“Yes, of course,” Lucien said. He was out of his armor and in a civilian’s tunic and leggings.
Crater walked him away from the others. “Why did you bow to Crescent?”
“Have you not noticed the pendant she wears? It means she’s from the Phoenix Century. She said so too.”
“I heard her say that but I don’t know what it means.”
Lucien blinked. “Of course you don’t, sir. Only we Legionnaires would know that. My apologies. Phoenix Centuries are deserving of special honors. That’s why I bowed to her.”
“There’s more than one Phoenix Century?”
“There have been several. Crescent is from the newest. She is the only survivor. Such courage as hers is unequaled.”
“She’s brave in a fight,” Crater allowed, “but I’m not following you.”
“I’m not speaking of battlefield courage, sir. Crescent is courageous with every breath she takes. They are limited in number, you see. She is programmed to die.”
When Crater saw Crescent washing dishes, he joined her to dry them. They worked in silence until he said, “I know about the Phoenix Century.”
She kept washing.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What was there to tell? Life is death. Death is life. It does not matter.”
“It matters to me. How much longer?”
“I am nineteen. Like you. A coincidence, no? A year. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. Twenty-one is the oldest any Phoenix Legionnaire has ever reached. I have felt it coming. When I said my heart hurt, I think it was truly an emotional response when I realized these people from the mountains really do care about me and want me to be part of their family. But it was also more than that. It was a signal from my body to expect the end.”
“I don’t understand why they made you this way.”
She put down the dish she was washing and looked at Crater. “A force that is well trained and has nothing to lose is deadly. Look at those three over there. They love life because they think they’re going to live forever. They’re not. Nobody is. Those of us in a Phoenix Century accept death as natural and soon. What matters if it is today on the battlefield or tomorrow in our beds?”
“There must be something that can be done. When the war stops, I’ll take you to a doctor.”
Crescent shook her head, her lips arranged into a sad smile. “There are no doctors who can change a genetic program deep within every cell of my body. No, Crater. I thank you, but there’s nothing you can do.”
Crescent picked up the dish and finished washing it, then handed it to Crater to dry. “Centurion Trabonnet told me to return to the steppes and breathe its air again,” she said. “But I think I will stay here. Here, I am happy.”
“I’ll stay with you,” Crater said.
“I don’t think Maria will like that.”
“It’s my choice. She’ll respect that.”
Crescent’s smile changed from sad to happy. “I would like to see your face every day.”
“You will.”
::: FIFTY-ONE
After the work was done for the day, the residents of Endless Dust usually gathered at various tables and played whatever games interested them. Ike and the three ex-Legionnaires preferred cards (Lucien, Absalom, and Dion owed the Helper approximately ten million johncredits), the Apps and Maria preferred Monopoly (Maria played as if it were real money and got upset if she lost), and Crescent and Crater played chess (Crescent usually won but was teaching Crater the finer points of the game). Afterward, Crater and Maria liked to go up the spiral staircase into the observation tower to bask beneath the stars. The tower windows provided a view in every direction, even overhead where the mighty river of the galaxy greeted them. It had been weeks since the battle of warpods and the silvery ships. The sky was at peace. The comm-sats were still down. Endless Dust had become their world.
One evening, as they rested on cushions and Maria snuggled into his arms, Crater decided it was time he told her the results of his thinking about their future. “I know we’re only nineteen . . . ,” he began.
Maria snuggled in deeper. “Almost twenty,” she said dreamily. “Time goes so fast here, we’ll be thirty before we know it.”
“You like it here,” he said.
“I like being with you.”
“I think we should get married.”
She sat up. “Did you just say what I think you said?”
“Yes. You’re happy here. I’m happy here. We want to be together. It would be the right thing to do.”
“Very logical, Mr. Engineer.”
“It is. That’s why I reached this conclusion. We’re needed here, Maria. After the war, the other Apps will come. We can show them everything they need to know to thrive.”
“But the Apps own Endless Dust. We’d only be renters.”
“No, we wouldn’t. I talked to them. They want us to stay. If we do, we have a full share.”
Maria frowned. “Clearly, you’ve been talking about us with the others.”
“Not much,” he said, then nodded. “Okay. Some.”
She nodded toward the looming crater to the northwest. “What about Alphonsus? Eventually, General Nero will come to see about his bugs in the ground.”
Crater shrugged. “Let him. Endless Dust doesn’t have anything to do with that. We’ll just mine our Thorium and Titanium and mind our own business.”
“You really mean it, don’t you?”
“I really do.”
With a shout, Maria threw herself into his arms and kissed him hard. “All right, Crater,” she said.
“All right what?” He grinned.
She didn’t answer. Instead, an odd expression crossed her face. “What’s that?” she asked. “A dust storm? But how could there be a dust storm on the moon?”
Crater climbed to his feet, astonished to see dust blowing past the tower until he saw what was causing it. A silvery ship, its jets kicking up dust, was landing. It didn’t land tail-first like a jumpcar but horizontally on landing skids. Crater had never seen a ship like it. It was cylindrical and had nubs with pods he guessed were weapons of some type. It was, he judged, around seventy feet long. A military landing craft. “We’re being invaded,” he said.
Maria activated her do4u to send out the alert to the others, then followed Crater down the stairs. Within minutes, the residents of Endless Dust burst from the airlock and took up defensive positions. Lucien, Absalom, and Dion rolled up the cannon Crater had built. Its ammunition was Titanium slugs, guaranteed to punch a hole in just about anything.
They held their fire, waiting to see what was going to happen. Finally, a hatch opened in the ship and a ramp unfolded. Then a man walked down the ramp or, more accurately, swaggered. Crater recognized the swagger. “Petro!”
“Hi, chump!” Petro said. “And Maria. Long time no see, doll.” He took note of the cannon and the rifles aimed in his direction. “Whoa! Guess I should’ve rung the doorbell or something.”
“Where’ve you been?” Crater blurted.
Petro pointed to the sky. “Flying for the Colonel and the Lunar Council. Like this taxi? You should see the ship I took off from. Faster than
grease. It can fly circles around warpods. And our kinetic energy weapons knock them to pieces.”
“We saw you up there,” Maria said. “We hoped you were on our side.”
“You were in Armstrong City when I last saw you,” Crater said. “You were saying something about prospecting—”
“A cover story. The Colonel recruited me to fly for him. He knows the future King of England can do anything. I worked my way up to the exalted rank of commander. Got my own battle cruiser. The war’s all but over and we’re going to win.” He pointed skyward. “There were some fantastic battles up there. You missed them all, you down in the dust. Endless Dust, they tell me this place is called. Well, I’m here to pick you and Maria up and fly you away. Maybe there will yet be a few skirmishes for you to win a medal or two. Come aboard and we’ll get out of this scrag hole.”
“You want us to leave now?” Crater asked.
“That’s why I’m here. And by the way, Crater, the Colonel said all was forgiven. You saved Maria. You’re pardoned of all crimes. Come on!”
“I don’t know . . .”
Maria walked up to Crater. “Of course you know. Your destiny—our destiny—was never here, Crater. Deep in your heart, you have to accept that. And we’ll be together. That’s what you said you wanted, right?”
“But . . .”
“You want your answer? Here it is. Yes, yes, yes! I’ll marry you.” She hugged him. “I love you more than anything. But let’s go. There’s a grand life out there for us!”
Maria climbed onto the ramp and went to Petro, taking his hands in hers. “Thank you for coming after us.”
“The Colonel made it my top priority now that we’ve chased the warpods away. You won’t believe all that’s happened.”
Maria laughed with delight. “How’s Armstrong City?”