To The Moon And Back

Chapter Twenty-three

Why did he have friends? Or at least, why did he only seem to have annoying ones? Every time they called and invited him anywhere they promised him it would be different this time, that he wouldn't have to regale everyone with stories about his dad and be introduced as nothing more than the son of the famous astronaut. Come with us, they said, it'll be like we're back in college, they said, just like old times on the lecture circuit supporting each other. Bunch of liars.

He'd been here two days, had been to three different -increasingly boring- lectures that he had no interest in but had to pretend were amazing, and was craving the peace of space more than ever. Yet again he'd allowed himself to be swept up in a wave of nostalgic memories of the good old days when he'd been a young, carefree college student without a care in the world. Back then it hadn't mattered that they all came from different backgrounds, that some of them had to work to cover their tuition fees while others, like himself, were lucky enough to come with a college fund. They had all been equal in their own eyes, all determined for one reason or another to succeed on their own merit and come out on top.

But as was often the case, college had ended and they had drifted apart once they were away from the soul-sucking vortex of lectures, coursework and their peers. All his friends had moved on to either other degrees, work placements or training facilities and, while they still kept in touch and had meetups like this, he felt like he was the odd one out. He had pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth and, while they accepted his cover story of being involved with top-secret work he couldn't elaborate on and still treated him like they always had, he didn't have the same life goals as they did.

While they could share their stories of success or failure, he couldn't. While they talked about their work and research, he wasn't able to. He had nothing to do but turn up and support yet another friend as they tried to make a name for themselves in their chosen field, forever in search of funding, while all he wanted to search out was a good steak dinner and his hotel room for the night.

He slouched down further in his seat as Ezra droned on about radiometric age dates and how the research done on the Moon had led to a better understanding of other inner terrestrial planets, and honestly, John knew he should be fascinated. Back in college he and Ezra had talked for hours about their plans for when they finally got up there into space and the discoveries they would make. He had plans to help design and establish a wider network of communication across the solar system to aid projects such as those of the domed city Kahra on Mars, as well as ensuring that space explorers, such as his father, could stay in constant contact with their base, as well as their families, as they voyaged across the galaxy. Ezra had been more interested in the study of what was already there, rather than what could be. His love was in the science behind the solar system, the structure of the planets, and their importance.

He glanced up at his friend as he strolled around the stage, talking in his easy, friendly way about how the focus should be on data gathering over material gain, the more John thought about Selene and the hare-brained scheme they had hatched to stop the mining of the Moon. He hadn't thought about it much before -it wasn't his field of interest and International Rescue kept him too busy to afford him much time to keep up with the latest developments in the planetary sciences- but the more he pondered, the more he started to see her point. Sure, she'd gone about it in a crazy way, but her motivation had been as sound as her intentions had been honourable.

He made a mental note to find a quiet moment to talk to Ezra about her cause, it was the least he could, and hopefully, it would go some way towards appeasing the part of him that felt so bad. Not that it would be any time soon, Ezra loved to chat and always made a point to spend time with every person who wanted to ask him something after the lecture ended, they could be there for hours yet.