Apollo's Outcasts (28 page)

There weren't many people in the dome this time of day, so I had the paths all to myself. Or so I thought. I was about halfway across the solarium when someone called out to me. "Hi, Jamey! What are you doing here?"

I looked around, and there was Eddie Hernandez, squatting on his hands and knees beside a row of rose bushes. Sitting on a nearby bench was Nina, a school pad resting in her lap. Eddie raised his hand to wave to me. I waved back, then decided to walk over and say hello.
It had been nearly six weeks since I'd seen either him or his sister. Indeed, I'd nearly forgotten all about them.

"Hi, Eddie," I said. "Long time, no see. Hello, Nina."

"Yeah...long time, no see." Eddie wore grubby work overalls and a pair of gardening gloves, and he looked as happy as a kid making mudpies. Nina said nothing; she gave me the protective look she always had when she was with her brother, but I managed to get a smile out of her when I said her name. "How come you're here?" Eddie asked. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"No school for me today...same as for you." I stopped to admire his roses. "I've been in Ranger training lately. I'm...well, I'm taking a day off, so..."

"You're a Ranger now?" Eddie's eyes widened. "Gosh, that's great, Jamey! You're a Ranger!"

I couldn't help but laugh. Eddie's admiration was unpretentious, almost bordering on hero worship. Even Nina seemed to be impressed, and I didn't think anything could get through that thick little shell of hers.

"Yeah, it's pretty good, I guess." I shrugged and changed the subject. "Those roses look really nice. Did you grow them yourself?"

"Uh-huh! They're mine! I planted them here...and here...and here." He pointed to the neat arrangement he'd made alongside the path, proud of his accomplishment, then his smile faded into a worried frown. "But they don't want me to do that anymore," he added. "They want to send me over to the ag domes to do aero...aero..."

"Aeroponics?"

He nodded. "Yeah...aeroponics. But I don't know how to do that, Jamey."

"Colony Service is transferring him to Ag Dome 2," Nina said quietly. "They say they're short-handed over there because they've lost one of the farmers to the Rangers. And since Eddie has been doing so well with this..."

I knew which Ranger she was talking about: Nick Gleason,
a Ranger Second Class whose main job was working as an aeroponics engineer. And I knew why Eddie might be nervous. Aeroponics involved growing crops in tanks without soil, with water and nutrients dispensed to them as a fine mist. It was a more delicate procedure than normal gardening; the soil in which Eddie had grown his roses was bioengineered from processed and fertilized regolith, which was suitable for grass, flowers, and small trees, but not food staples.

"I understand," I said. "They must think highly of you, Eddie, if they want you to do that instead." A smile flickered across his face, but he still seemed dubious. A new thought occurred to me. "Hey, look...I'm on my way over there now to see Melissa. She works there. I'll ask her if she can put you on her team. That way, you'll have someone you know who can teach you how it's done."

Eddie's face brightened again. "Melissa, your sister? Gosh, that would be great! I like your sister!" Nina seemed a bit reluctant--she remembered how rude MeeMee had been to her brother when they'd first met--but she nodded anyway.

"No problem," I said. "I'll..."

My wristband beeped just then, signaling an incoming call. "Excuse me," I said, then turned away from the Hernandez kids and raised my hand to my face. "Jamey Barlowe here."

"It's Hannah."
Her voice came from the wristband's tiny speaker.
"I just heard from Nicole that you're going on walkabout. Is that true?"

Nicole had told Hannah about that? That was a surprise, although it shouldn't have been; the two of them had become friends. "Yeah, it's true. Happens tomorrow."

"Oh...oh, wow."
She sounded stunned.
"Are you...I mean, are you okay with that? Do you think you're ready?"

"I guess so." I shrugged, forgetting that she couldn't see me. "I'll find out soon enough."

A long pause. For a second, I thought she'd cut the link. Then her voice returned.
"I want to see you. Where are you right now?"

"In the solarium, talking to Eddie and Nina. Are you at the hospital?"

"Yeah, but...look, stay there, okay? I'll locate you in the dome."
She could use our wristbands to pinpoint my location in Apollo.
"Just stay where you are. I'm coming to you."

"Yeah...okay, sure. See you then."

Hannah clicked off. I had a hunch that she wanted to talk to me in private, so I said goodbye to Eddie and Nina, then strolled over to another bench about forty feet away and sat down to wait for her.

About fifteen minutes later, Hannah showed up on a bicycle. She hadn't changed out of her scrubs, but instead had pulled a cardigan sweater over them and left her stethoscope behind. She seemed to be struggling with her emotions when she saw me, her expression flickering between warmth and concern. She climbed off the bike and parked it beside the bench; before I could say anything, though, she spoke first.

"Look," Hannah said as she sat down next to me on the bench, "let me get this out before..." She stopped, took a deep breath. "What you're doing...what you're about to do...has me worried. I know it's something you have to do, but..."

"It's dangerous, sure." I shook my head. "The Chief wouldn't let me go unless he thought I was ready."

"I don't care what he thinks." She looked me straight in the eye. "Do
you
think you're ready?"

"Yeah, I do," I said, but perhaps I hesitated just a bit before I said that, because her face paled a bit. "No, really," I hastily added. "I can handle myself out there. I promise."

Hannah didn't respond, but her eyes never left mine. In that instant, I realized something that I suppose I'd known all along, but which I hadn't admitted to myself: Hannah really cared for me. All this time, while I had been chasing after Nicole, Hannah had been there, quietly waiting for me to give her as much attention as I'd been giving to another girl.

And with that realization, there came another: I liked her, too.

"Hannah..." My throat was dry, and it was hard to speak. "Look, maybe I should've...I dunno, spent more time with you, but..."

"Yeah, maybe you should have." An uncertain smile flickered on her lips. "When you get back, you can make up for that." She hesitated. "Is a date too much to ask for?"

This was the first time a girl had ever said that she wanted to go out with me. In fact, I didn't even think it usually happened that way. But I didn't care whose idea it was. "Sure. When I get back, we'll...I dunno, but I'll come up with something."

"Do that. It'll give you something to think about while you're..." Her voice trailed off, and the smile was again replaced by the worried frown. "Before you go, I want to give you something."

Unbuttoning the top of her sweater, she reached the front of her scrubs to produce a small medallion that hung around her neck upon a silver chain. I'd seen it before, floating around her neck when we'd been aboard the LTV that had brought us here. Ducking her head, she pulled the chain from around her neck, then she took my hand in hers and gently dropped the medallion into my palm.

"I want you to wear this when you go out tomorrow," she said. "For good luck."

The medallion was about the size of a quarter and was made of sterling silver. Now that it was in my hand, I could see it more clearly. Embossed upon it was a bearded man who had a walking stick in his hands and an infant riding upon his back. Around its rim was an inscription: St. Christopher Protect Us.

"What is this?" I asked.

"It's a medal of St. Christopher's." Hannah leaned closer to me, her hair lightly brushing my shoulder as she traced the medallion's bas-relief image with her finger. "St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers. Wearing this is...well, it can't hurt." The smile returned, a bit mystical this time. "Catholics have many patron saints, and we put a lot of faith in them."

This was not a good time to tell her that I'd never been to church, so I didn't. But still..."I don't know if I can take this. It looks like it's very valuable to you."

"It is." Again, her eyes met mine. "My mother gave this to me just before I was taken from the White House. She said I'd need it to get me safely to where I was going. It did...so now I'm passing it along to you, to get you back to me."

What could I say to that?

Nothing. I didn't even try. I just kissed her instead, and as I did, I felt her hand close my palm around the medallion and hold it tight so that I'd never let it go.

A hard thump as the Pegasus touched down, then Gordie's voice came through my headset:
"Okay, Jamey, we're here. Get moving."

"Where am I?" I asked. I'd made the ride in a windowless cargo module, hanging onto a ceiling strap.

A regretful sigh.
"Sorry, kiddo, you know the rules. Can't tell you anything."

All I knew was that the Pegasus had lifted off from Apollo's south landing field twenty-three minutes earlier. The deck had tilted beneath my feet a couple of times, an indication that Gordie had made at least two starboard turns. I didn't know if he'd done that out of necessity, though, or whether he'd simply flown in circles to throw off my sense of direction. I couldn't be sure of anything until I got out.

Letting go of the strap, I walked over to the hatch and cranked it open, then kneeled down to release the loading ramp. The regolith kicked up by the transport's VTOLs was still settling when I hopped down from the Pegasus. I didn't look around, but instead dragged the ramp into place before climbing back into the module to push aside the floor chocks securing the mule.

"Follow me," I said, and the robotic equipment carrier responded by doing just that, silently rolling along on its four wire wheels. I led the mule down the ramp and away from the Pegasus. When we were a safe distance from the transport, I turned around. "Clear."

"Affirmative."
I could see Gordie seated in the cockpit, gazing back at me.
"You'll get your mission objective as soon as I'm gone, and I'll come to pick you up when you've completed it. Until then...well, you know what to do."

"Uh-huh." I tried not to sound nervous, but I probably did anyway. "I'll see you then."

"And not before, I hope."
He raised his left hand to give me a thumbs-up.
"Good luck, buddy."

"Thanks, I..."

"Oh, yeah...and say hello to the Old Ranger when you get there."

I had no idea what he meant by that. Was the Chief going to be waiting for me? No one ever called Mr. Garcia the Old Ranger, though, so that didn't sound right. "What do you...?"

A soft click told me that he'd switched off. I raised my hand to wave goodbye as the Pegasus lifted off again, ascending upon a cloud of fine grey dust until it reached 1,000 feet, where it made a port turn and headed back the way it had come...or at least so I presumed. Again, it was possible that Gordie was deliberately altering his course in order to hide the direction in which we'd travelled from Apollo.

I watched the Pegasus until it disappeared beyond a distant mountain range to my left, then I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. I was on my own. Until I reached my destination, no one would come to get me. Unless I ran into serious trouble, of course, or simply chickened out, in which case I could radio for help and a Pegasus would be sent to bring me home. If that happened, though, it would mean that I would have failed...and you know the Rangers motto. The only way I'd ever get a second chance would be after going through Third Class training again, and even then I'd have to beg Mr. Garcia for another walkabout.

I was alone on the Moon. Well, not quite. "Hey, Arthur," I said, "are you there?"

"Of course, Jamey. How may I help you?"

I didn't respond at once. Instead, I took a minute to look around. It appeared that Gordie had dropped me within a crater so large that I couldn't see its opposite side. Turning around, I saw steep, high walls looming above me; they curved away to both my left and right until they disappeared beyond the horizon. I was standing on top of
a small hillock with two little impact craters, one to my left and one to my right. The ground gently sloped down toward a broad basin strewn with rocks and boulders. On the Moon, it's often difficult to accurately judge size and distance with the naked eye, so I had little idea how big the crater was or how far it was to the other side.

I was about to say something to Arthur when I heard a sharp, repetitive beep. An instant later, a tiny yellow arrowhead appeared upon my faceplate's heads-up display. Blinking in time with the beeps, it lay close to the horizon, pointing downward toward something on the other side of the crater.

"That is your mission objective, Jamey,"
Arthur said.
"It is an automatic beacon which you must reach in order to successfully complete this exercise."