Anna, Doug, Bill, Pete and I spent nearly two hours suffering the irritating three or four second delay between each question and answer. Finally, we settled on saying “over” at the end of each sentence, but it still wasn’t easy as we all wanted to break in on each other from time to time. Frankly, I was glad when it was finished and looked forward to a good night’s sleep and an early start.
The Marines had done a great job cleaning out buggy three. It looked almost new inside and not a speck of dust remained after its ordeal, lying on its side at the Dragonstar launch site.
We had four small projectors and two of the larger ones with us. We also were wearing full pressure suits rather than the less substantial and more flexible moon expedition outfits. After the experience Doug and I had had with the LRPs gaining access via the gloves, I felt more comfortable with the hard seals on the EVA suits. We knew the LRPs, given time, could get through them, but it would offer what could be a lifesaving delay. Bill was staying with Anna to provide support. I made a mental note to get him trained on the buggies as he would be more useful to me than Pete.
The garage dome door lifted, and I gently steered us out onto the surface. Doug sat beside me and Pete shared the rear with two Marines, Mikhail Deskov and Ivan Volkov. In the mirror, I saw the door closing behind us. To my left, the Apollo buggy was coming into view as another two of the Marines continued their circular patrol of the habitat.
During my first stint at Moonbase with my geology buddy, Roy, we’d had the buggy to ourselves and driving over the surface of the moon had seemed surreal. We’d both had trouble fully absorbing that we were actually on Earth’s satellite and that no one had ever driven here. We’d rarely covered the same ground twice, so it was literally virgin regolith. The buggies churned up the dust and the tracks were darker once the surface was broken. It would not be possible to avoid being tracked if anyone had a mind to do it. It was a huge privilege to be working and living on that tiny orb in the sky we’d seen all our lives from Earth.
My thoughts were broken by Doug, saying, ‘Still can’t believe I’m really here and that it is the moon, the real moon, spread out around us.’
Maybe everyone feels the same. I laughed, then said, ‘I was just thinking about that. Roy and I used to discuss the impossibility of where we were regularly while we were driving.’
From behind us, Pete said, ‘I feel exactly the same and I was in Moonbase for a whole eight months. You never quite get used to the enormity of it. I still love to sit by the window in the common room, staring out at that incredible vista.’
‘Yes, us too,’ said Mikhail, and Ivan nodded.
‘How far to the rille?’ asked Doug.
‘Only about eight miles, but I’m taking us in a wide sweep so that we can approach face-on to the opening. It’ll also mean we’re coming from an unexpected direction.’
Unless driving at speed, the suspension of the buggies was superb and it gave a smooth ride. The front section where there were two seats, also had large windows allowing us to see a considerable distance in all forward directions.
To my left were moon mountains standing over two thousand metres high, yet they had unexpectedly gentle rounded slopes. Artists’ impressions prior to 1969 always showed jagged peaks. It was only after the Apollo 11 landing that we discovered they were more like rolling hills. To the right was a similar range though not so high. Those mountains were far enough away that we couldn’t see their bases. The moon’s horizon was only a mile and a half away, so most of the mountains on the right were hidden from view. We were only seeing their convex summits. The basin floor before us, although this was not a well-worn route, was relatively smooth. I steered around larger craters, only driving over those small enough not to give us too uncomfortable a journey.
Silence accompanied us as we continued to be amazed at the scene before us. Driving across the moon… breathtaking!
‘You think they’ll be waiting for us?’ asked Doug.
‘Yes. By now they’ll know their invasion of Moonbase failed and this must be our next move. See the hill dead ahead?’
‘Yes.’
‘The rille is just to its right. It’ll be visible in about half a mile,’ I said, cutting the speed to about five miles per hour. ‘We know the plan, so just keep the options and possibilities we discussed in your minds. Nothing usually happens the way you think it will, so we must also prepare for anything.’
‘Is that it?’ asked Doug, pointing at a slight rise with a dark shape in its centre. Two buggies stood to the right of the entrance.
I cut the speed to three miles per hour. ‘Hmm. Expected them to have put the airlock at the entrance. Shows how you can never be sure of anything.’
I slowed to a stop about fifty metres from the cave entrance. ‘Okay. Let’s go see. Pete, you stay here and be ready to react if we need you.’
‘Sure thing, Mark,’ he said.
Doug and I moved into the rear section of the buggy. Pete moved into the cockpit and lowered the airtight transparent wall between the cockpit and us. We could now get in and out without needing to repressurise.
‘Everyone sealed?’ asked Doug.
We all answered in the affirmative.
‘Cavor, reduce air pressure to zero in the aft compartment, please,’ I said.
‘Pressure reducing, Mark,’ said Cavor, the on-board computer.
‘Ha, is that a pet name?’ asked Doug.
‘No. All the buggy computers were named after characters from The First Men in the Moon. Cavor, Selena and Bedford, although Selena wasn’t actually in the cast. That name is based on Selenite, the name H G Wells used for the moon people,’ I said.
‘Never heard of it,’ said Doug.
‘It was good fun. Look it up, especially as what we are about to do with this rille fits in nicely with Wells’ plot. Descending into caves beneath the surface.’
‘Pressure zero, Mark,’ said Cavor.
‘Right, open up, Mikhail, then the two of you get out and look lively on the surface. Keep your eyes peeled,’ said Doug.
Exiting a buggy was not as simple as leaving a car. The hatch had to be opened outwards and backwards to where it connected with a clip. The astronaut then backs out of the hatch, trying to find the top rung of the ladder with his feet. Then it becomes rather more straightforward and he climbs down the ladder onto the surface.
Mikhail was first out and removed his projector from where it was attached to the side of his backpack. Ivan lowered the two larger projectors down to Mikhail who moved a couple of metres away to allow Ivan to climb down. Doug and I followed and the four of us looked towards the rille.
The surface here was relatively normal. Plenty of pockmarks had been left by impacting meteors. Nothing huge, the biggest maybe two metres across. The lip rose ten to twelve centimetres above the surface and the depth was similar. This one had a central peak which rose to, maybe, twenty centimetres higher than the mean. Most had no central peaks. Apart from four or five close together, over to our left, there were only ten or so between us and the rille.
In front of the rille, the surface had been seriously churned up and we assumed this had been done by the buggies and the unloading of the considerable amount of material the LRPs had filched from Moonbase.
The entrance to the rille was a cave mouth set into the slope of the hill. It was about three metres in diameter. It faced south so we could see a fair way inside. Examination of photographs from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter showed that the land behind the entrance rose to about ten metres and continued some way before blending into the surrounding raised ground. From above there had been no sign of the rille collapsing and so we had to assume the tunnel continued for some distance. It had just a single entrance or they’d have needed more airlocks, and there should be no direction from where we could be caught by surprise. Pete would monitor our backs from the buggy.
‘Now, remember,’ said Doug, ‘we don’t irradiate anything or anyone unless it is a matter of personal safety. Keep an eye on each other’s suits for any bugs. You know what they look like. Shout out if you see one.’
Doug began to walk slowly towards the cave with me at his side. Mikhail and Ivan flanked us.
We stopped at about twenty metres. Still no sign of LRPs or their hosts. Buggies one and two stood to the right of the cave mouth with their hatches closed. They had no lights and there was no sign of any movement.
‘We could take the buggies and head back to Moonbase, then return with a larger force,’ said Doug.
‘An option, but not yet,’ I said.
Three minutes later we were at the mouth of the rille. I shone a powerful LED torch into the cave, scanning the ceiling and walls, looking for the glint of any LRPs. Nothing!
‘Okay,’ I said, ‘inside.’
‘Mikhail, Ivan, you follow us at a distance of three metres,’ said Doug. ‘Keep playing your lights over the backs of our suits and helmets as well as the ceilings and walls.’
‘Why not irradiate as we go?’ asked Ivan.
‘After the event with Vicky, yesterday, I spoke to NASA and we’re hoping they might want to communicate,’ I said.
We’d walked three metres into the cave and stopped as Ivan shouted, ‘There! Look!’
We all turned to the area he was indicating. Four LRPs were sliding along the wall deeper into the rille. We quickly, and not particularly calmly, shone our torches all over the cave around, above and below us. There were just those four.
‘Don’t shoot,’ said Doug. ‘but keep your torch on them so that they know we are aware of them.’
No others appeared, but two of them rushed ahead, moving like supercharged slugs and we soon lost sight of them.
‘They must be rushing to tell the others,’ said Doug.
‘Yes, possibly,’ I agreed.
The other two continued to move deeper into the cave at the same speed as us. They could easily match our walking speed and it was no problem to follow them. We were now about fifteen metres into the rille. I kept looking behind us, checking we were not somehow being cut off.
‘Wait,’ I said a few metres later. I was becoming increasingly concerned about being ambushed.
‘Mikhail, can you make your way back to the cave entrance using your torch to thoroughly scan the floor, ceilings and walls.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘What’re you thinking?’ asked Doug.
‘I want to know if any trap is being set for us. Mikhail, let us know if you see anything move,’ I said.
‘Will do,’ he said and began to make his way back towards the entrance. We could see his torch beam circling the cave in front of him.
‘Sir. Those two bugs seem to have stopped,’ said Ivan.
He was right. They were sitting on the wall, about three metres ahead of us, seemingly waiting for us to continue.
‘Anything, Mikhail?’ Doug asked as he saw Mikhail stop at the cave entrance.’
‘Nothing.’
‘Return to us, Mikhail,’ said Doug.
‘They could block our retreat with the buggies,’ I said.
‘Wait there for a minute, Mikhail. Pete. Can you hear me?’ asked Doug.
‘Copy you, Doug,’ said Pete.
‘Any sign of any movement of the buggies?’ Doug asked.
‘No. No movement.’
‘Doug,’ I said. ‘I’m tempted to go back and check the buggies are empty so that we can be certain we won’t be trapped in here.’
The cave seemed to go on much further. The torches didn’t show any features other than the rippled walls, roof and floor.
‘Okay,’ said Doug. ‘Ivan, you and Mikhail check the buggies for any sign of one of the LRP’s hosts. Report back. We’ll wait here. Don’t irradiate any bugs you find inside them.’
I shone my torch onto the two LRPs. They seemed to be stationary, waiting for us to make the next move.
‘Doug, scan the rest of the cave around us. I don’t like this situation,’ I said.
I kept my beam focused on the LRPs and became aware of Doug’s torchlight moving over the rest of the cave.
‘Nothing, Mark. They’re pretty easy to see on this darker rock in here,’ said Doug.
‘Volcanic,’ I said.
The two LRPs hadn’t moved since we’d stopped progressing.
‘Suit check!’ said Pete.
We checked our O2, power and cooling systems and each reported no problem. This was something we needed to do every thirty minutes. It was routine for EVAs on the moon.
Mikhail said, ‘I’m in the hatchway of buggy one. No one in here, but I can see a bug on the water container. Can’t see any others. I’ll descend so Ivan can check I’ve not picked up any passengers. What do you want done with the bug?’
‘Nothing,’ I said, ‘but shine your torch on it to make sure it knows you have seen it and have done nothing.’
‘Done that,’ said Mikhail. ‘Now leaving the buggy.’
Ivan said, ‘Mikhail’s clear. Buggy one hatch closed. Moving to buggy two.’
They carried out the same examination and, again, found just a single LRP inside.
‘We’ve both exited. What now?’ asked Ivan.
‘Catch up with us,’ said Doug.
We waited in the spooky interior of the rille, always keeping the LRPs in sight, until the lights of Mikhail and Ivan approached.
Doug pointed onwards and we continued along the cave into the gloom. Our gelatinous hosts kept pace with us, leading the way. We made slow progress. There was another suit check, so that was an hour gone.
‘What’s this ahead?’ asked Doug, quietly.
All but Ivan swung our torches forward along the passage, while he kept the two LRPs in his beam.
‘A junction,’ I said. ‘That’s a surprise!’
‘Why?’ asked Doug.
‘It means that two separate lava flows met here. Explains the larger space at this location,’ I said.
‘The left one slopes downwards gently, while the right one descends much more steeply. Which one?’ said Doug.
‘The LRPs are taking the left branch,’ I said.
‘Mikhail, Ivan, take the right branch, great care, walk down looking for anything which could endanger us,’ said Doug, then to me, ‘I’m still concerned about being cut off.’
‘Yes,’ I acknowledged. ‘I don’t like this, Doug. We’re isolated from safety and down to four hours power and air.’
‘We can get back more quickly than we’ve been walking in. Half hour max,’ said Doug.
‘Entities, can you hear me?’ I asked, in case they were listening to our radio.
‘They can’t hear us. We’re on the scrambled channel. Select channel four to be open,’ said Doug.
The radio controls were located beneath my helmet on the left side. I used the mirror on my glove to let me see and I selected channel four. ‘Entities, can you hear me?’
The Marines returned and told us they’d seen nothing to suggest that the steep sloping passage was in use and, at that moment I heard, ‘I can hear you.’