Nine days after the Athenai incident, Metzger Control detected a transmission from Earth. The signal was weak, due to interference from the orbital debris cloud--just a short text message that repeated every thirty seconds.
To any Deep Space Network receivers: is anyone there?Metzger Control transmitted a response, but this was not acknowledged. The signal disappeared entirely five minutes later.
Twelve hours later, the signal came again. This time, the message had changed.
Metzger Base, this is Kitt Peak emergency transceiver. It’s good to hear from you. What is your condition?Through the next few messages, the nature of the signal was clarified. It came from a radio telescope on Kitt Peak, in Arizona. The antennas there were used for observational science rather than communications and had been left alone by Athenai, though the facility’s electronics had been destroyed by the EMP. The person transmitting was a technician from the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado, which housed the control center for the Deep Space Network. The DSN’s many surface antenna arrays had all been completely destroyed, but the electronics inside the mountain were shielded from the EMP. The technician had loaded up all the equipment she could and driven to the Arizona peak. There she had helped the astronomers repurpose the telescope as a transmitter/receiver. It was a janky setup, and the limited bandwidth allowed text messages only. So far, Metzger was the only response they had received.
Over the next few hours, the text message conversation provided a timeline of the Athenai event and a summary of what had been destroyed. It also confirmed what the inhabitants of Luna suspected: Earth orbit was currently impassable. Over time, the wreckage around Earth would deorbit and burn up in the atmosphere. But it would take years before the debris thinned enough to allow safe launch from Earth. Nor could the inhabitants of Luna return. Any reentry craft would be destroyed before it reached the atmosphere. Even if they were willing to take that risk, they didn’t have an appropriate reentry craft. There was only one vehicle on the pad outside, and it was a translunar ferry, powerful but incapable of entering the Earth’s atmosphere. The inhabitants of Luna were stuck on Luna.
Just before the rotation of the Earth rolled Kitt Peak out from under Metzger, the last transmission of that day projected hope: experts were evaluating the situation and looking for a way to bring those on Luna home.
This hope did not last. Each day, Kitt Peak passed below and, each day, the message exchange became more grim. Earth had its own problems to deal with, and they were huge. By the end of the week, it was obvious that there was no solution that would save the inhabitants of Luna before their food ran out.
Keiron sat on the small couch in his family’s hab unit, staring at the screen in front of him. Normally, it would be showing some entertainment or news feed from Earth. But there hadn’t been any such feeds since the Athenai event, so he simply stared at his reflection in the blank screen. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t in a mood to be entertained, and he had no interest in the situation on Earth. The only situation he was interested in was the one on Luna. And that situation was bad.
The mood within Metzger Base had shifted. People had begun to eye each other with suspicion as each began to do whatever they thought they should to secure comfort and security for themselves or their family. That earlier sense of camaraderie, of community strength through shared hardship, had disappeared. Keiron snorted in disgust as he thought of this. It had only taken a week.
He wanted to tell Cas about all this. More than once in the past, she had improved his outlook with her droll wit and incisive observations. They were both the same age, but she always seemed like a big sister in their conversations, with insight and wisdom far beyond her years. He wondered if all Martian kids were like this.
With all the relay satellites gone, there was no way to communicate with Mars. He wrote to her anyway, hoping the mere act would help him with his thoughts.
Cas,
Things are not getting any better here.
The first few days were exciting. I know that sounds weird, but even though we knew something bad had happened, we still had hope. For what, I don’t think anybody knew. For nothing I guess. Just hope because that’s what people do.
But, Cas, that hope can’t hold in the face of the inevitable. There will be no more food. I type that, but it does not seem real. There will be no more food, and we will starve. That is the reality, and there is no hope there.
I remember watching a movie once about a ship sinking. Everybody seemed happy at first, like they were on an adventure. But as they began to realize that this adventure had only one ending, they all reacted in different ways. Some helped others. Some helped themselves. Some gave up. I want to be a helper, but I fear I will give up.
And in the end it will not matter what I do. What anybody does.
KeironHe read over his words and felt ashamed for writing them. He didn’t even know if she was still alive. The last exchange they had was before she became trapped in that ice mine. Had she gotten out? Just like everyone around him, he had become infatuated with his own problems. He snorted, disgusted with himself. He tried to imagine her response.
Keiron,
You Earthers! Always so safe and the slightest hiccup sends you into gloom. Suck it up, buttercup!
CasNo, that wasn’t her. Her wit could be biting, but she was never mean. This was him judging himself. He tried again.
Keiron,
I have been close to death more times than any twelve year old should experience. And the most important thing I have learned is to always keep going. If you are taking action, there is hope. Even if it’s just to get along for another minute, another second. Anything can happen. That is hope and it’s the thing you should do. Always. Keiron, do not give up. I can’t promise you it will be alright, but I can promise you it will be better if you keep going. Trust me on this. Keep going.
Life is spicy, huh?
CasYeah, that’s what she would say. He smiled. Then he got up and started to pace, thinking about how to keep going.