The Moonwalker

Chapter 9

ILUB-2's airlocks are designed to fit two astronauts at a time. Fit being a rather generous term. Aula hunches over as far as the Z-1 will allow and presses herself against the wall. Kelly does the same, but they're still PLSS to visor. They look like two apostrophes without a sentence. There's a small round window in the inner door that allows her to see inside. Bauer and Nakamura are clearing the module while Kalashnikoff shuts off the vacuum. He catches her looking and waggles his eyebrows. If she had room, she'd flip him off again.

Kelly taps her shoulder. "How's your charlie horse?"

"Fine."

"Should've done more yoga," Harvey says over comm.

"Not all of us have an airlock to ourselves." She takes a sip of water and leans forward against the door. "And I'm still waiting on skis."

It's an old joke from the Apollo days. Al Shepard's crew got it rolling, but Harrison Schmitt had it bad. When Apollo 17 stopped in the Taurus-Littrow Valley, Schmitt assumed the appropriate stance and swished side to side across the regolith (with appropriate sound effects.) In low gravity, he simply glided over the surface, but it stuck. Everyone wants to be the first to ski on another world, but lunar regolith is incredible abrasive. Even with a lotus coat, the skis would be quickly stripped and scratched. That doesn't stop any of them from keeping the torch lit.

Harvey makes a sharp huffing sound. "You and me both."

"Are you ready, Major?" Nakamura looks through the small window in the airlock.

"We're ready."

He reaches up to grip one handle and to her left to grip the airlock's latch. A series of clicks and clunks follows. After the prolonged quiet on their EVA, it's novel to hear noises that accompany movement. The door opens slightly and then slides up like the back of a U-Haul truck.

Bauer reaches in and grasps her hand. She can barely feel it through her gloves. He offers his other hand, which she takes, and guides her out of the airlock. In an enclosed environment, a spacesuit is ungainly. It's impossible for her to see her own feet. If she turns around, she'll smack the wall with her PLSS. They shuffle towards the equipment lock where the suits are all stored in base.

"Reminds me of prom." He laughs from deep in his chest. "I was no good as lead."

Aula scans the floor for anything she might stumble on. "We had a bush party after graduation. Got drunk off our asses with three horses in a field."

A bulkhead separates the crew lock from the equipment lock. Bauer glances over his shoulder and steps through it carefully.

"Watch your boots."

She lifts her leg and ignores the twinge that goes all the way up her side. Her boot hits the door's edge on the first try before getting one foot over—then the other. Her tongs bump against the bulkhead.

The equipment lock has a variety of different spacesuits and accompanying gear. Everything from EMUs to Feitians populate the racks. It's a hodgepodge assembly based on whatever Earth's space agencies send up.

"You ready, Reed?"

"You might want to stand back. I've been sweating in this all day."

"Take it from me," Harvey says over comm. "You want to step back."

Bauer gives an award-winning smile. "I got three teenage boys at home. I can handle it."

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Aula activates her suitport. Doffing the Z-1 is uniquely challenging when not attached to a vehicle. There's nothing for her to grab onto. She leans back and looks directly up at the equipment lock's lights. Bauer keeps a steady grip on her glove and shoulder as she slides out. The knot in her side winches tight when she frees one leg. She has to pause and take deep breaths.

"Okay back there?"

"I'm fine."

She pulls herself out using her arms and puts one foot on the floor. Pain strings between her shoulders and into her back. Another pause. More deep breaths. Then the other foot. She takes a step back and her leg nearly buckles. The muscles in side throb in time with her pulse. A smell of burnt metal and sweat pervades the room.

"Helluva day." Bauer steps around the Z-1. "You had us on edge with that meteor thing."

Aula wipes sweat away from her eyes. "Nothing we weren't trained for."

"Don't mind her," Kelly pipes up. "We were brilliant."

They both turn to see Kalashnikoff guiding her through the bulkhead. She looks small enclosed in the Z-1. He pulls a sturgeon face.

"It was okay."

Bauer smirks. "We can't all be you, Alexei."

"So sad, so true."

Kelly rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. She activates her suitport while Kalashnikoff steadies her with both hands. It's the same slow, ungainly process. She leans back out of the Z-1, her ponytail swinging back and forth, and hauls herself out using her arms to support her entire bodyweight. She stumbles back a step and smooths her hair.

"Like climbing out the arse of an elephant."

Kalashnikoff and Bauer burst out laughing. All the frustration and stress of the day suddenly finds an outlet. Aula leans against her Z-1 and the ache in her back recedes a few increments. Kelly soaks up their reaction. This EVA may well be the making of her. A young woman and first of her nation to work on the Moon. Aula remembers the feeling.

She reaches around to her suit's DCM and closes the suitport. The movement makes something squish in her front pocket. It's the power bar. She fishes it out. The chocolate's liquid, but pools in the bottom of the wrapper. It could've easily spilled onto her cooling garment. She untwists the power bar and knocks it back like a shot of whiskey. The moment chocolate hits her stomach, her appetite comes back with a vengeance.

"Ah, no." Kelly grimaces. "That was on the floor."

Aula straightens the wrapper between her index and middle fingers. "I saw."

"That's why you gotta watch those military types," Bauer says. "They're the worst."

"So much jealousy." Kalashnikoff spreads his arms and shrugs. "But not everyone can be pilot."

Someone knocks on the bulkhead. They glance over to see Harvey hanging in the doorway with a large cylinder in hand. It's a special casing to carry materials from the Moon's surface.

"Listen, Ben. I'm giving you a bigger rock than I gave my husband so keep this between us."

Bauer's face lights up. "Anything for a meteorite."

"I figured. Don't take this the wrong way, but...." Harvey steps inside and hands the cylinder over. "You are literally a huge nerd."

"And that's why they sent me up here with the rest of you top guns."

Aula shakes her head. It's a 1980's movie reference, but she won't implicate herself by commenting on it. She reaches for the small vacuum on the wall and starts to run it over the Z-1. The magnet draws any lingering dust embedded in the material that the larger vacuum might have missed. She looks up when Bauer puts his hand on the suit's shoulder.

"I'll take care of it."

"Thanks."

She hands the vacuum over and strides through the doorway. Harvey follows her out and they exit the airlock one after the other. Nakamura waits for them in the hall without a hint of annoyance. There are a thousand things to be done. Debriefings with Earth, plans for retrieving and repairing the MAF, and ILUB-1's ceremony chief among them.

But all Nakamura says is, "Well done."