Chapter 4: First Touch

Two days later...

Time January 9, 9570 8 PM UCT

Eliana woke refreshed in her cozy bedroom on Level-1. The space was small and the large bed took up almost half the room. Eliana knew the conventions. This was her only private space in the station, just as an identical room on the opposite side of Level-1 was Basel's only private space. The two had a plan to have breakfast at 9 PM, and Eliana had a free hour till then.

Eliana knew the specs of modern Ranger stations, but she thought she didn't appreciate how spacious they were until now. Level-1 was the circular living area with an interior radius over six meters, an intentionally spacious contrast to the five-meter interior radii of the other three Levels. As with Level-2 station control, the living area had generous three-meter ceilings. The ground-floor Level-3 had a five-meter ceiling and the observation dome Level-4 was even more impressive, three-meter vertical walls topped by a hemisphere, providing a majestic eight-meters of head room at the center of the dome. In Eliana's opinion, the best feature of Level-4 was the ability to turn all or any part of the dome and vertical walls opaque or crystal transparent. There was also a well-equipped exercise area there, and earlier before bed she had a wonderful time working out in just leotards under a dome of cold winter stars.

Except for the exercise area in the observation dome, Level-1 was their principal living area. Besides the two bedrooms, there were compact but fully-equipped bathroom and galley-kitchen, a dining / recreation area, two small desk areas, a two-person sofa and two very plush lounge chairs near a state-of-the-art multi-media center. As part of their satellite communications certification, they had verified their links to the world's commercial holographic channels.

Below the living area was Level-0, a self-contained plant recycling air and 64 cubic meters of drinkable water. The technology for Level-0 had been adapted from the era of lunar bases. It was extremely tough and long-lasting, and Basel and Eliana had no expectation of ever having to service the machinery.

Eliana turned on a light in her bedroom as she woke and smiled. She was dressed in just her thermal pajamas and thinking how easy it would be to live a decadent life here. By common agreement, she and Basel had decided to keep the station between 16C and 17C, and as she wiggled her bare feet under her single blanket, she found the mild coolness delightful.

They had the power to keep the station at whatever temperature they liked. It was superbly insulated, and they had one megawatt of power at their disposal, 100 kW from their prime fusion pack, 600 kW from twin secondary packs, and 300 kW from the CAT, a versatile two-person rover with a self contained fusion engine that was currently plugged into central power.

The Ranger station was extremely well constructed, meeting full lunar standards. Normal operating mode was to run completely sealed with the Level-0 machinery purifying the air. The outside could magically turn into a hard vacuum, and Eliana and Basel would still be fine anywhere in the station, including the adjacent CAT garage that connected to Level-3.

There was no particular need to keep watches. Local solar noon would occur around 6 AM UCT at their station's longitude, and they both decided to center their sleep periods at the opposite side of the day, from 4 PM to 8 PM.

Eliana's thoughts turned to Basel. They had had a very busy in the past two days bringing the station up to full functionality. Eliana thought she couldn't be happier how she and Basel were coming together as a team. Over the last few days, they had developed an enormous respect for each other's abilities, and Eliana was touched by how many small offers of kindness he had extended to her. He would log all his certification work but leave it to Eliana to transmit the reports, giving her the opportunity to take the primary credit. In actuality, she was doing exactly the opposite, being truthful and grading him as exemplary in his accomplishments.

"I shouldn't be surprised," Eliana thought. "Zaafir make a comment of Basel being a high achiever, didn't he?" She took her laptop from the nightstand and began typing a simple UGW query, lying prone with her legs bent and her bare feet held loosely in the air above her thighs. A few moments later she had the following information on her screen.

Age 34: CL2=76953 CL3=30941 CL4=5742 CL5=651 CL6=50 CL7=3

Age 35: CL2=74538 CL3=32275 CL4=6488 CL5=803 CL6=68 CL7=4

Age 36: CL2=72200 CL3=33495 CL4=7252 CL5=972 CL6=90 CL7=6

"There's Basel," she thought. "In 9568, he made CL6 when he turned 34. One of fifty in what, a population well over a hundred thousand. He really is your peer Eliana, a high-end achiever. Don't go snooty on him just because he's CL6 and you're CL8." Eliana couldn't stop herself though. She probed the data and found that after herself, the next youngest Commander was 38 years old.