Apollo's Outcasts Read online

  "Damn." Gordie had a look on his face that I knew well: he didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry, Jamey. That's tough."

  I had no memory of what had happened--hell, I didn't even know my mother--so all I could do was shrug. "Anyway, Dad hadn't yet gone back home to fetch my sisters, and after Mom died...well, that sort of took the wind out of the whole idea of moving my family to Apollo. By then it was clear that I had LBDS and that I'd never be able to walk on my own if I went to Earth, but Dad just didn't want to stay on the Moon. Fortunately, the doctors told him that I was healthy enough to survive the trip, so a couple of weeks later he took me...well, home."

  "Uh-huh." Gordie was quiet for a few moments as he gazed out the cockpit window at the immense silver-grey sphere looming before us. "And you've never thought about coming back here? Until now, I mean?"

  "No. Why would I?"

  "Because you're a loony, that's why." A faint smile. "Maybe that's not how you think of yourself, but you should have seen the look on your face when you got up from your cocoon yesterday." He nodded toward the Moon. "That's your home, kiddo. Earth is just the place where you've been staying."

  He was wrong, of course. I'd already pegged him as a hard-core space cadet, though, so I wasn't about to argue with him. "Whatever you say," I murmured. "I just know that Jan should have been aboard the shuttle when we took off. If it hadn't been for Hannah..."

  "Leave her alone." Gordie's expression changed; a frown replaced the sympathetic smile. "There's a good reason for her to be here, and your sister did a very brave thing to give up her seat for her." He turned toward the console. "Don't let her sacrifice be for nothing."

  I stared at him. "What are you...?"

  "Hey, look, I've got work to do." Gordie tapped his fingers against the keypad; diagrams and figures appeared on the right-hand screen. "Go grab a nap, okay?"

  He clearly didn't want to talk anymore, so I left the cockpit and floated back into the passenger compartment. As I pulled myself toward my hammock, I moved past the other kids. Everyone else was still asleep, or at least so I thought until I passed Hannah. When I happened to look her way, I caught a glimpse of her face just in time to see her close her eyes.

  She had been awake and listening to us.

  The next day, we reached the Moon.

  Just before the LTV began its primary approach, Gordie had us take down the hammocks and stow them away. We didn't unfold the seats, but instead held onto the ceiling rail. As he strapped himself into the cockpit seat, I positioned myself behind him so I could watch over his shoulder. I'd enjoyed my little taste of what it was like to fly a spacecraft, so it was interesting to watch a pro at work.

  Gordie began by firing the reaction control rockets to make a 180 degree roll, turning the LTV end over end until it was traveling backward. That done, he fired the main engine in a succession of controlled bursts to gradually decelerate the craft, while at the same time coaxing the RCRs so that the LTV was on the correct trajectory for low-orbit insertion. Every time he did this, my body swung away from me as if I was a pendulum; my firm grip on the ceiling rail was all that kept me from sailing into the cockpit.

  Gordie kept this up for about a half-hour or so until the LTV shed its velocity, then he rolled the craft again, bringing it back around until its bow once more pointed in the right direction. "Okay, you can let go now," he called back to us. "Take a look out the windows. You'll love it."

  Logan and Eddie were on the port side, where the passenger windows faced away from the Moon. They immediately pushed themselves over to the starboard side, crowding in next to Melissa and Nina so that they could peer through the oval portholes as well. I barely noticed that Hannah had come up beside me until she grasped my shoulder. Maybe she'd only done this to steady herself, but I couldn't help but notice how close she was. I tried to ignore her--it wasn't easy, but I did my best--as we stared at what lay on the other side of the thick glass.

  Until then, we'd seen the Moon only through the cockpit window, and then as a distant sphere that gradually became larger over the course of three long, boring days. Now, all of a sudden, it seemed as if it had become a vast, grey shield, so close that we could almost reach out and touch it.

  We'd left Earth on the first night of a full moon. Three days later, the Sun still shined brightly upon the side of the Moon which always faced Earth, but the first thin shadows of the approaching two-week night were beginning to appear upon the mottled terrain slowly moving beneath us. The shadows cast in relief the lunar highlands, the dark grey lowlands of the maria, the dead volcanoes and impact craters scattered randomly across wastelands of rock and dust.

  "Wow." Hannah's voice was an awestruck whisper. Her face was close to mine, and when I looked at her, I saw that her eyes were almost as wide as my own. "Just...wow."

  "Yeah." My mouth was dry. "We're here. We're really here."

  "Altitude 62.13 miles," Gordie said from the cockpit. "You should be able to see the Ptolemaeus crater coming up just about now. That's where Apollo is located."

  A couple of seconds later, I spotted a cluster of tiny lights glimmering within a circular depression at the western edge of the highlands just south of the equator. The lights moved away too quickly for me to make out any details, but I knew I'd just had my first glimpse of our destination.

  "Hey!" Melissa yelled from the other end of the passenger compartment. "We're going past it! Aren't we supposed to stay here until...y'know, someone picks us up?"

  "We need to orbit the Moon first." Logan was hovering beside her. "Hohmann transfer orbit...right, Gordie?"

  "Give the kid a star." Gordie sounded pleased with him. "Yeah, we have to swing around the far side and come back around before the ferry can rendezvous with us."

  Apollo had already disappeared from sight; the LTV was moving across one of the darkened regions that people once thought were oceans before modern astronomers learned better. "Mare Nubium," Gordie said when I asked him which one this was. "The Sea of Clouds. That's where ISC has its regolith fields. If you look sharp, you might be able to see them from here."

  Peering closer, I was able to make out a series of parallel strips running diagonally across the mare west of Ptolemaeus. Although obviously man-made, it was hard to believe that they were the principal source of Earth's energy reserves.

  It took about an hour for the LTV to circle the Moon. We quietly gazed out the portholes as our craft's tiny shadow flitted across the vast expanse of Ocean Procellarum, the Ocean of Storms, until it reached cratered badlands east of the D'Alembert Mountains. Just beyond its peaks lay the point beyond which the lunar farside was invisible from Earth. We passed into night shortly after crossing the termination line, and suddenly the Moon was shrouded in darkness, save for a small cruciform of light in the middle of Mare Muscoviense that marked the location of the Lunar Radio Observatory. We had just crowded forward to peer over Gordie's shoulder and watch Earth rise over the limb of the Moon when the pilot clasped a hand to his headset.

  "Pipe down," he murmured, then listened for a few moments before tapping his mike wand. "We copy, Cernan. LTV Six-Two on course for rendezvous and docking. See you in a few minutes. Over." Gordie reached forward to disengage the autopilot. "You kids need to go back now. We're on the beam for meeting up with our ferry, the Eugene Cernan."

  "We don't need to raise the seats, do we?" I asked.

  "No, not at all." Gordie grasped the hand controller. "Just hang tight and...um, stay out of the way when the Rangers come aboard."

  The LTV was above Mare Undarum, the Sea of Waves, when the Cernan came into view. The ferry looked like little more than a toy at first, but it quickly grew in size, gaining detail as it came closer. Larger than the LTV, it had an octagonal lower hull from which four multijointed legs protruded around the bell-like nozzle of its nuclear main engine. Mounted atop the lower hull, two drum-shaped passenger modules rested lengthwise within their cradles; between them rose the turret of the command module, its bridge lined with w
indows. A flanged docking collar was affixed to its top like a weird beanie cap; radar dishes, oxygen tanks, and RCR pods stuck out at odd angles from every remaining space.

  The Cernan slowly glided closer, its thrusters flaring now and then as its pilots corrected course. Through the bridge windows, I spotted two crewmen seated on either side of the cockpit, occasionally glancing up to see what we were doing. Gordie was just as busy as they were; constantly muttering into his headset, he guided the LTV in a delicate docking maneuver that brought its dorsal hatch into alignment with the ferry's docking collar. It seemed to take forever, but finally there was a jar and a thump as the collar's flanges grabbed hold of the LTV's dorsal hatch.

  "Docking complete, Cernan." Gordie reached up to snap a row of toggle switches. "Putting all systems on standby, waiting for your entry."

  One by one, the dashboard lights went out. Gordie re-engaged the autopilot, then unbuckled his harness and pulled himself out of the cockpit. Floating over to the ceiling hatch, he unlatched a recessed bar and cranked it up and down several times, pumping air into the collar. He waited until the light next to it changed from red to green, then banged his fist twice against the inside of the hatch. A minute passed, then two knocks answered him from the other side.

  "Stand clear," he said as he reached up to turn the lockwheel counterclockwise. The hatch opened from the inside and Gordie peered through it. "Hey, look who's here...my favorite Ranger!"

  "Hi, Gordie!" The voice that came down the hatch was young, enthusiastic, and female. "Long time, no see. Permission to board?"

  "Of course...you have to ask?" Gordie pulled himself away from the hatch. "C'mon in. Meet my friends."

  A couple of soft bumping sounds, then a girl came head-first through the tunnel formed by the two docked spacecraft. She wore what I'd later learn was called a skinsuit--a form-fitting pressure suit designed for short-term use in orbital conditions, and therefore not as heavy as lunar gear--which showed off a slender figure.

  She wasn't wearing a helmet, so the first thing I noticed was her hair: a thin, blonde strip that ran from the top of her forehead back to the nape of her neck, with nothing but bare skin on either side. I'd seen mohawks before, but never on a girl. She was also tall; easily six feet, with maybe an inch or two to spare. At first I thought she was a full-grown woman, but when she turned toward us, I realized that she wasn't any older than Melissa, Logan, or me. And there was a small tattoo on her cheek: a crescent moon framed by a pair of angel's wings, identical to a mission patch sewn on the skinsuit's right shoulder.

  Our eyes met, and I felt my heart skip a beat. Mohawk and tattoo notwithstanding, she was one of the prettiest girls I'd ever seen. She smiled back at me, amusement glittering in her pale green eyes.

  "What's the matter?" she asked. "Never met a loony before?"

  Before I could manage a reply, another voice came through the tunnel. "Clear hatch...I'm coming through."

  The girl didn't respond, but instead grabbed hold of the ceiling rail and pulled herself further into the cabin. I tried to make room for her, but my legs drifted upward and got in her way. Her smile faded a little as she pushed me aside. "Guess not," she murmured, answering her own question.

  "Allow me to introduce you." Gordie turned toward me and the others. "This is Nicole Doyle, Ranger Second Class, Lunar Search and Rescue." Nicole nodded as he pointed to each of his passengers in turn. "This is Jamey...that's his sister Melissa...over there are Eduardo and Nina, also brother and sister...and that's Logan...and this is Hannah."

  Gordie was still naming us when another kid in a skinsuit came through the hatch. He was about the same age as Nicole and also about the same height; his dark hair was cut in an absurd bowl that lacked sideburns and had only a fuzzy fringe at the nape of his neck. He also had the winged moon symbol tattooed above his right eye. No welcoming smile, though. Instead, he regarded us as if he'd just come aboard the LTV and found it filled with rats.

  "Great...just excellent." There was no pleasure in his voice as he turned to Gordie. "This is what you've brought us?"

  "Billy..." Nicole glared at him.

  "William Tate, Ranger Third Class..." Gordie began.

  "Second Class." Billy gave Gordie a sour look. "Promoted last month."

  "Oh, really? Finally managed to complete your walkabout, did you? Your second try, or your third?"

  Billy's face went red, and Eddie laughed out loud even though he couldn't have possibly known what Gordie was talking about any more than I did. Billy's hostile glare told me that he'd just marked Eddie; I'd seen that sort of look before, usually from bullies.

  "Glad to meet all of you." Nicole's smile returned; forced, perhaps, but nonetheless it could have thawed an ice cube. She looked at Gordie. "Are you ready?"

  Gordie nodded, and I glanced at the hatch. "Are we going to need to put on suits?" I asked.

  Yeah, it was a dumb question. I should have known better. Nicole only shook her head, but Billy wasn't nearly as forgiving. "You kidding?" he asked, his mouth curling into a sneer. "You'll never wear a suit...you're too retarded."

  The cabin temperature seemed to drop ten degrees, the abrupt silence broken only by Nina's angry hiss. I didn't respond, but only because anything I might have said would have insulted Eddie. But just as Billy had marked me, I marked him.

  That's one I owe you, pal, I thought.

  Gordie coughed into his fist. "Anyway...let's get aboard the ferry before we lose our landing window. If you will follow me..."

  Without another word, he reached into a ceiling net and retrieved his duffel bag, then pulled himself through the hatch. Billy followed him, but Nicole stayed behind to help the passengers. Although I was the closest to the hatch, I lingered in the LTV after I pulled down my bag, letting the others go first. I told myself that I was being courteous, but the truth of the matter was that I wanted to stay with Nicole. Melissa must have figured this out, because she smirked and rolled her eyes as she moved past me. Hannah gave me a sour look, but didn't say anything.

  With Nicole bringing up the rear, I pushed myself through the docking collar into the ferry cockpit. Two pilots were seated at wraparound consoles on either side of a floor hatch. The pilot barely looked up at me as I came aboard. "Go on through," he said, waving me to the hatch. "Nicole, close up behind you."

  "Aye, skipper." She turned to swing shut the LTV hatch. I pushed myself across the compartment until I was through the floor hatch. On the other side was a vertical access shaft, its walls lined with rungs, leading straight down the center of the turret. At the bottom were two horizontal hatches, one on either side of the shaft. Gordie was hovering in the hatchway of the one to the left, and I saw Billy's legs disappear through the hatch of one to the right.

  "In here, Jamey," Gordie said, and I was only too happy to obey; I didn't want to have to ride down with Billy. I followed Gordie through the hatch and found myself in one of the ferry's two passenger modules. Its five fold-down seats were similar to the LTV's; not nearly as well-cushioned, but at least they were equipped with safety harnesses. They faced a pair of rectangular portholes. Nina and Eddie were already strapped in, their bags tucked into ceiling nets above their heads, when I took the seat next to them. Gordie put away his bag and mine, then waited at the hatch, and a minute later Nicole entered the module.

  "Saved a place for you, kiddo." Gordie waved her to the seat on the other side of mine. "Did you button up the LTV?"

  "Of course." Nicole pulled herself into the seat beside me and fastened its harness. "I also shut the LTV hatch, so don't worry about..."

  Three bells rang from a ceiling speaker. Gordie had just enough time to strap himself down next to her before there was a sudden jolt. Eddie yelped in alarm and Nina hastily took his hand to comfort him. Through the portholes, I caught a glimpse of the LTV gliding away.

  "You're leaving the LTV here?" I asked. "Aren't you afraid it's going to crash?"

  "Nope." Gordie shook his head. "It's in a stable par
king orbit...at least for the next nine months or so, which is about how long it'll take gravity to pull it down. But it won't be there that long. By then, it'll be refueled, restocked, and sent back to Earth with another load of passengers." He shrugged. "Maybe even you guys...although I'm not sure I'd count on it."

  "You think it's that serious? I mean, what's going on back home?"

  Nicole looked at me. "You haven't heard?"

  "Heard what? We haven't received any messages since we left."

  "My fault," Gordie said. "I was under instructions to maintain radio silence when we rendezvoused with the Cernan. We needed to keep ISC ground control from knowing exactly where we were and who was aboard."

  "What's happening back there?" Nina asked.

  "A lot." Nicole let out her breath. "President Shapar made a statement saying that President Wilford was murdered by a Chinese assassin who'd managed to sneak into the White House..."

  "They're claiming the PSU is behind this?" Gordie asked.

  "Uh-huh. She said the Secret Service shot and killed the assassin, but not before he got to the president. She also said that the Secret Service and FBI think he wasn't acting alone, and so she's ordered the military to take control of the Capitol and instructed federal marshals to apprehend anyone who may be involved."

  Including my father, I thought, even though I knew that he didn't have anything to do with President Wilford's death. "What about his family?" Gordie asked. "His wife and daughter...did they say anything about them?"