Chapter 19

We were now getting close to thirty-six weeks for Mary and her pregnancy, and she was starting to slow down as the pregnancy took its toll on shaping her strength and making it harder for her to get around.

One thing that didn’t affect her as much as the women back on Earth was water retention. Since there was less gravity to pull the water down into her feet and legs, she had much less of a problem with this pregnancy complication. However, her breasts had become incredibly full and tender, but she still loved for us to kiss and suckle on them. It had gotten to a point where she would orgasm from just nipple play. However, when she started to produce milk, we stopped to preserve this source for the baby.

The doctors were all very happy with her progress and the baby’s development. We knew it was a boy and we had a small nursery cordoned off from the bedroom just for the baby. I had also worked to ensure that should we lose pressure in the upper habitat that the lower habitat would seal itself off automatically to keep everyone safe. We even got a lab back on earth to create a bassinet that we could carry the baby in that was insulated and sealed like a space suit. I didn’t plan on taking them out of the habitat anytime soon, but if there was a need, an emergency even, we were covered.

The only problem that we really had was that we were running into water issues with the expanded greenhouse production. I was hesitant to move more of our water over to the greenhouse, but without more water, we were rather limited in what we could grow.

Karen had been scanning the skies regularly for any signs of objects we could skim that might have water. I had even considered asking Space Command to use one of my credits to ship up as much water as they could afford on their next launch.

With the baby’s arrival due any time now, I was hesitant to take on any skimming missions, as I wanted to be here for the birth. And of course, that was when Karen spotted a small object in an elongated orbit path that appeared to be consistent with a chunk of a comet.

We took a few measures and plotted its trajectory and it was well within the range of my ship. And when I was able to lock the tracking telescope onto it, it did appear to be made up of ice and rock.

Of course, you never really knew exactly what made up these things until you got them back on the surface and could run some analysis.

We had a long family discussion that evening. While the additional water that we might harvest would allow us to do a lot more with the greenhouse operation, it always carried risks.

In addition, I wanted to be home for the birth of my first child. While I knew that I would be as useful as an appendix, I still wanted to be there. Mary was insistent that she and the baby would be fine. There were going to be so many doctors in attendance, either in person or virtually, that she would be getting the absolute best in health care that was available.

In fact, the only person who didn’t want me to try for the comet was me. All three women were in agreement that the benefits of another skimmer run was far more important than my presence at the birth.

And so, the next morning, I was suiting up and headed out to my ship and preparing for a run. Karen had worked out the flight trajectories and fed them into the ship’s navigation computer. We had also filled all the tanks of the ship to ensure there was plenty of water, oxygen and thruster fuel. They had even worked to find ways to package some fresh fruits and vegetables for the trip. Normally I just ate protein bars on these trips, but just try convincing three women that you knew better than they did, it’s impossible.

This trip, while not very long in distance, would push the edge of my ship’s ability. We had tried to estimate the mass of the comet, based on its speed and rotation, and how it appeared to be interacting with gravitational fields. However, this was an incredibly inexact science. If we were right, I would need at least three orbits of the Moon to slow down enough to land with it strapped onto the cargo hold.

Xina came out with me to check over the ship and ensure that it was ready for the trip. She was getting rather used to donning her EVA suit as she headed over to the second habitat every day, to work in the greenhouse there. Once I was strapped in, she waved goodbye and drove off to the second habitat.

Mary was talking to me from the communications center and Karen was there with her. They were both assuring me that they would be alright while I was gone.

And then I was launching and heading out into space. This was the long, boring part of space travel. Just sitting in the ship, listening to music and podcasts I had downloaded. Other than the sounds emanating from my headphones, space was silent, no air meant no sound waves, and it was always the part that freaked me out the most.

It took two days under full thrust to get to the intercept point, and then it took me several hours to match the velocity and rotation of the comet.

It was rather large, around the size of a small car, and I could see that it contained a lot of ice crystals. I just hoped that they were water and not methane. Even so, methane was valuable and could be converted to water and carbon dioxide which would feed the algal tanks.

I maneuvered close to it and then donned my helmet for an extra vehicular trip to secure several lines around the object and secure it to the hold.

Once it was secure, I used the thrusters to re-orient us, and fired the Ion drive.

It took another full day to slow the comet with the Ion drive and begin to move back toward Lunar Base. At this rate, I was three days away from home, plus the orbits I would need to do to slow down enough to actually land this thing.

While we had topped up the tanks, I would be well into the safety reserve for oxygen if it took any longer to get this thing down. The worry was that I could get it back into orbit, but that I would run out of air.

Karen had been practicing on the simulator, so I knew she would try to come rescue me if this happened, but I hoped not to put her in this situation.

I radioed back to base that I had secured the comet and was bringing it back. Then I settled down for a rather boring couple of days as the Ion drive did its work. I was able to catch up on some videos and reading on the trip, and I spoke to the women several times during the trip, but skimming was long periods of boredom interrupted by moments of near-death excitement.

In retrospect, I should have known that things were going too smoothly.

I was just about to enter lunar orbit, having used the Ion drive to slow down the entire trip. Now it was just a matter of firing the thrusters at the correct time to put the ship into an elongated orbit so that I could continue to slow the speed of the ship and bleed momentum.

That was when my comm lit up with an urgent message from Lunar Base. I answered it immediately.

“This is Skimmer-7, answering an urgent transmission,” I radioed in.

“Skimmer-7, please hold for General Langrum,” came the reply. A few seconds later, Jim was on the line.

“Tom, I need to tell you some news, where are you?” He asked and I could hear the tension in his voice.

“I’m about twenty seconds away from firing thrusters to enter lunar orbit,” I answered, watching the clock ticking down on the navigation computer.

“Tom, we’ve got a bit of a situation here on the surface. We detected a ship landing on the far side of the Moon. We sent a patrol out to check on them as we had no record of any launches from Earth.”

“Our patrol found the ship a few minutes ago and it looks like The State launched it somehow without us noticing. There was no one on board, but rover tracks lead away from the ship. Our team is going to pursue, but I wanted you to know.”

“I appreciate that, Jim. I’ll keep an eye out for them as I need a couple of orbits to slow down.”

“I’ve sent the medical team to your habitat in case we have to lock down, since Mary is so close to delivery. They should arrive there in ten minutes.”

I signed off and quickly put in a call to Karen to ensure they were prepared. We had drilled how to manage emergencies, including if the State ever tried to attack us.

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A man, nearly broken by loss, lives a solitary existence off planet earth in a small habitat he has constructed on the moon.

Skimmer

Lorn Skye

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