Tanya’s Moon

by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Mission Control Transmissions based upon various actual Apollo Missions.

“Phoenix this is Dragon. Do you read? Phoenix, this is Dragon. Come in Phoenix. Tanya, say something. Anything. I know your alive. Phoenix this is Dragon...”

Six days before everything had been completely normal. All systems had finally checked out, two faulty fuel flow sensors (made of course, by the lowest bidders) had been replaced. After three delays Apollo Twenty-Four was ready for launch. It would be only the second time a female flew into space, Apollo Twenty being the first. Then, Astronaut Christina Karla Leibowitz, slated to be Mission Commander for Apollo Twenty Five, had remained safely in orbit. This time everything would be different. Tanya LuAnn Carroway would be the first female to set foot on Earths satellite. It would be only the second mission to Luna’s ‘dark side.’ That side of the moon that never faced Earth, called the Farside by scientists. Tanya would forever be in the history books of course, and that pressure was heavy on the thirty-three year old minx geologist.

“Well LuAnn, ready to join the Lunar Club?”

Tanya sat her clipboard checklist aside, looking over to her Mission Commander. “Sir, there is no Lunar Club” she informed the male chipmunk.

Laughter answered her. “You better ask Christina about that” he answered, ignoring the dozen or so white suited technicians helping them dress.

“I did sir, and studied all available medical data. There is no Lunar Club.” She accepted her gloves from a grinning fox, scowling at the younger male. “And I’m not starting one.”

“Oh well, one could always hope.” Commander Harry Rote was older than Tanya, over fifteen years her senior. This was probably going to be his last flight. Two previous missions, one Gemini, one Earth orbit Apollo. Now at forty-nine he was at the edge of NASA’s self appointed ‘Fifty is Nifty’ line. Nifty in that he’d be hunkered down behind some desk for the rest of his life. “So how is Paul taking this?”

Tanya flexed her flight glove, noting that with the new modification it no longer slipped along her paw. “My son will be quite all-right” she answered. “There must be thirty young ladies draping themselves over him right now. Unlike myself, I’m quite certain he won’t be sleeping alone for the next thirty or so days.” She stood, turning to face the West wall so technicians could check her suits tubing. This movement brought Captain Roth Jinkins into her view. Roth was their third crew member, who would float leisurely over the moon while she and Harry jumped around on the ground. In one small way she envied the dachshund, but only in one. “So, you have command of Twenty-Eight” she announced, catching Roth’s attention.

“If there is a Twenty-Eight” the younger male agreed. He had looked up at Tanya to speak, his huge floppy ears hanging like pillows on each side of his head. “Word is, Congress is going to slash our budget again. We’ll probably be lucky to get Twenty-Six off the ground, and she’s due in the VAB next month.”

“That flight starts the base building” Harry argued. “It’d be stupid to stop, just when we’re starting the base.”

“I agree sir” their navigator admitted. “We are talking about politicians though. I was stunned when they reinstated the program after eighteen. We hadn’t really planned any flights after that. If it hadn’t been for that HW’s close approach, I don’t believe that the three of us would be here now.”

Comet Harcourt-Whitehall Tanya remembered, her thoughts going back to those four frightening months. A core well over thirty-seven miles in diameter, it had slipped by just outside the moons orbit, actually grazing the moon with tons of baseball sized particles, while sending firefalls of particles into Earth’s atmosphere for weeks. It had been a wake-up call, but wake-up calls only lasted as long as politicians remembered them. Harcourt-Whitehall was scheduled to impact Mars in another nineteen months. Orbiting anti-clockwise, it would hit that tiny planet head on like a pile driver, slowing its orbit a small, but measurable amount. Privately she looked forward to watching that event, and discovering what effect it would have on Mar’s orbit. But it would be gone then, and so would any concerns in Washington about any danger to life on Earth. Until it was too late.

“No chance for another near disaster I hope” Harry asked.

“God knows I hope not” Roth answered. “I thought the world was dead last time. I never want to see anything like that again.”

“Neither do I” Tanya admitted, remembering she had just buried her husband when that comet was discovered. Left with a young son she’d almost quit the program. “All I want is a nice long life, quietly slipping away in my sleep at a ripe old age. No excitement on this trip. Just a simple geological examination of a crater older than time.”

Roth grinned. “I wasn’t aware that Mendeleev crater is older than time. I’m going to have to recheck my script. Mine says its an ancient impact crater, making it what, four point five billion years old?”

“Something like that” Harry agreed. “Though if you’ve any smarts, you’d never argue with a Lady.”

“Lady?” Tanya asked, turning as much as she could in her suit to look around. “Where?”

That brought laughter to all three. Then it was back to serious business.

"This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 1 hour, 14 minutes, 25 seconds and counting. We are still Go with our countdown for Apollo Twenty-Four at this time. We are aiming toward our planned T-zero of 03:18 am Eastern Standard Time. The spacecraft commander, Astronaut Harry Jacob Rote, is busy aboard the spacecraft, going through final checks of the all modes of the emergency detection system for his space vehicle. The other astronauts are keeping an eye on activities inside the cabin....”

Harry relaxed in his seat, mentally tuning out the Mission Controllers voice. “Same old same old” he laughed. “I don’t think old Geegum has diverted from that script one word, other than numbers and names, since Apollo Eleven.”

“Its his superstition” Roth supplied. “He deviated for Thirteen. He hasn’t since.”

Apollo Thirteen. At those two words an awful image filled all their minds. An explosion aboard the service module, a mistake in one character of a program, resulting in a new crater on the moon’s surface. That event had come closest to killing the program so far. It had caused said programmer to blow his own brains out right at his consul. Had the symbol been a negative, instead of a positive, they might have made it home. Now all three were forever buried in Mare Humorum, their bodies giving that place the only moisture it probably ever had. Every crew since had stood under the rising moon before their own flights, saying a prayer just before launch, looking up to that bright spot those furs had made. Praying they wouldn’t do the same.

Time passed quickly with the checklists they had to complete before flight. There was only one more window after this one, then a month of waiting, pushing back further NASA’s now very tight schedule of launches.

"This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control. We've just passed the 9-minute mark in our countdown, T minus 8 minutes, 54 seconds and counting. Right at this point, Astronaut Karl Marcus here in the firing room is talking with Harry Rote, bringing him up to date on the weather conditions. The weather conditions as reported...”

“Dark, becoming lighter towards dawn” Roth quipped.

“Don’t knock it” Harry, their Mission Commander responded. “First Apollo launch in a year that there haven’t been weather concerns somewhere. Remember Twenty? Scrubbed twice because of rains in Spain?”

“The rains in Spain fall mainly on the planes” Tanya misquoted. “Ahh.. I needed that.”

“What” Harry asked. “Another dumb retort?”

“Hadda pee” she explained. “And man, do I feel relaxed.” Unknown to the minx, both males blushed as images of her suits plumbing abruptly came to mind, and where such things went. Knowing all communications were monitored, Tanya’s strange sense of humor took advantage. “That’s a load off Mission Control’s mind.”

“Roger Apollo. We read lowered tankage pressure in two” came Karl Marcus’s voice over the secure line. “Six minutes, you three ready for an A ticket ride?”

Both males pointedly turned their heads, looking to Tanya, who was in the center seat. She looked to both, noting their muzzles wide open, tongues lolling out as they faked heavy panting. “You might want to rephrase that last Mission Control” she responded very softly, very aware of the eyes on her.

“Uh yes. Sorry. Launch in five minutes, forty seconds.” A click informed then Marcus had cut his mike.

“Bet he’s redder than a sunburned tourist right now” Tanya remarked, calmly making a mark in the air with one finger. Her answer was Roth exploding in laughter. Harry barely snickered, returning to the job at paw. Co-ed flights might bother mission control, but they had proven to have a more relaxed atmosphere within their crews.

“T minus ninety seconds and counting, T minus ninety, all systems still Go. Our status board here at firing room two indicates all is well with countdown. Third stage tanks are now pressurized while the automatic sequence continues."

“I think I’ll take a walk” Harry suddenly announced.

“Your kidding” two voices responded.

“Of course I am. Miss this? I’m not that sane. Twenty seconds. Say, you think they will really build that reusable spaceship?”

“What for” Tanya asked. “Its going to be a mechanics nightmare just to keep running.”

“Easier and cheaper to go with big dumb boosters” Harry agreed. “Why only an idiot would...”

Whatever else Harry Rote was going to say was out-shouted by the Saturns mighty J-1 engines as they fired. Apollo Twenty-Four was go for launch.

“Lift-off. The clock's running.” Karl Marcus announced over the radio.

“I have a yaw program” Harry reported.

“Ten seconds” Roth added. “Clear of the tower.”

“Roger Harry” Karl reported. “Your clear of the tower. I show both pitch and a roll program running.”

“Wow this baby’s really flying” Tanya gasped.

“Understood Tanya” Karl responded tersely.

“Twenty seconds” Harry reported.

“It's a beautiful lift-off. Not bad at all.” Roth added.

"Astronaut Karl Marcus, Mission Controller has reported that both pitch and roll programs to place Apollo Twenty Four on the proper course are functioning as desired. Altitude is now one half mile. Karl will now be leaving for Mission Control in Houston Texas, where he will be responsible..."

“Half mile my tail” Harry griped, “I feel like my butt’s being pushed through my...”

“Mission control to Apollo Twenty-Four, a reminder. Your words are going out on public airwaves.”

“CROTCH!” Harry yelled over Mission Control’s transmission. He fell back, gasping. “Something wrong, it never felt this bad before.”

Back at mission control a flight doctor was watching his monitor with more than a little concern as the chipmunk’s heartbeat flickered all over the place. He raised a paw, waving a technician over to his monitor. As a younger male leaned over he asked, with some serious concern, about what he was seeing. “You’ve got a loose connection in his sensor” the technician explained. “See how the signal breaks up? As soon as they are in orbit, have him replace it.”

“Your certain?”

“Seen it twice. Flick over to Tanya’s body temperature, channel 226.”

Following the suggestion the doctor was greeted with almost the same signal. “We can’t get good readings this way. Why is this happening” he demanded.

“Thank Congress. Lowest bidder. Remember Apollo One? Anytime you see this kind of crap, its simply Congress saving a penny to spend a few million bucks on some pork barrel project for themselves. We test random parts, but some problems will always slip through as long as the contractor has to cut corners to make any profit.”

Giving his thanks the flight surgeon returned to Harry’s heart monitor, banging a furred fist on his consul as the signal crackled again, ruining his data.

"Good staging and good thrust on your second stage."

“Roger Houston” Harry reported. “Rides smoothing out. Its getting darker outside now.”

“Looking good from this end. We’re going to let her burn seven seconds longer, your carrying a little extra weight with that mini-satellite.”

“Roger Houston. Seven seconds extra burn. Apollo on standby.”

“Why don’t you just say over and out” Tanya asked, reaching up to trigger another switch in her checklist.

Harry didn’t bother to glance at Tanya, he was too busy. But he could talk. “Like in the movies? Hon, Over means I’m done flapping my gums, you can talk now and I’ll listen. Out means I’m shutting off my radio. Over and out is an insult. You are telling the other guy ‘go ahead and talk, but I ain’t listening.”

Roth laughed. “Like when I sit my phone under a pillow while my mother-in-law is yakking, and go read a book?”

“Same thing” Harry agreed. “Escape tower separation in twelve... eleven...”

Other than a few random warning lights, everything was going well. Apollo Twenty-Four was in the groove, all three furs aboard were breathing and doing their work. All in all a successful mission. So far.

"The S-IVB now has the ability to put the Apollo twenty-four spacecraft into orbit, should anything happen to their second stage."

“Like blowing up” Roth added. “At least that hasn’t happened to anyone yet.” He checked his list, grunted then flipped the page. “One day we’ll all be like Buck Rogers, push a button and off we go.”

“Sounds boring” Tanya admitted. “I prefer the excitement.”

“Apollo Thirteen was both” Harry reminded her. “Exciting, and boring. Keep your mind on your checklist.” He kept to himself the pain in his chest.

And so it went, into Earth orbit, where both Harry and Tanya broke out new sensors, placing them where they belonged on freshly shaved patches on skin, though again for some strange reason Harry’s failed. There were no further spares, so mission control just grumbled and went on. Overall Mission Control was happy, their Flight Surgeons were happy, while the astronauts itched. Meanwhile, perhaps ten thousand people still followed the mission. Apollo’s had become old hat. They went up, played in the ultimate sandbox, then came home. Other than Thirteen, nothing major ever went wrong. Why care? Another couple of hundred people found something better to do, like read the paper, or wash their cars. There was a game on.

“To preserve LM consumables, tunnel and LM are pressurized from the CM cabin via a Pressure Equalization valve built into the center of the CM's forward hatch. Oxygen will then move through the tunnel and a valve built into the overhead hatch of the LM. This valve had been deliberately left open to allow the LM's atmosphere to bleed away as the spacecraft ascended.”

“Ever notice how Mission Control loves to talk” Harry asked.

“It’s their job” Roth explained. “Let the public know what’s going on, in case one of the two watching aren’t up to speed. As if that’s possible at this stage of the game.”

Harry nodded in agreement, eighty percent of what was said during mission was for the public, absolutely useless in regards to the mission. “Right, Tanya. Go open the tunnel. Make certain we really do have a LM hooked up.”

“And if we don’t” she asked, turning her body to reach the hatch.

“Roth and I will do a figure eight, be back home two or three days early.”

“You’re a bundle of joy” she cracked as she eased open the inner hatch. A little later they were certain everything was hooked up and running correctly. Though Tanya reported a smell like something burning, a complete visual inspection showed no problems. Nor did the smell return.

“Must have been from staging” Harry reluctantly decided. “Everything working just fine. Still Mission Control is trying to reproduce it, just in case.”

A little over four hours later they had their answer, when a half smoked cigarette butt gently floated out of the tunnel, into the command module.

“Oh for Christ’s sake” Roth cursed, grabbing the offending object. He glanced at it, then passed it over to Harry. A few seconds later Harry was on the radio.

“Houston, this is Apollo. Do you read?”

“Apollo this is Houston. Go your message.”

“Who on that damned ground crew smokes Hazzer’s? Unfiltered. The bastard had one of his smokes on the LM, it just floated out.”

“Standby Apollo.” There was a click, then Karl Marcus’s voice filled the cabin. “Harry, watch your mouth. That went out on the public channel” the prairie dog snapped. “Someone was smoking in the LM? When?”

“Who knows, the things cold and dry. Has tiny tooth marks on it. Listen Karl, if you want to feed our words uncensored to the public, live, with whatever we have to say. That’s your business. Otherwise, you fly up here with half smoked cigarette’s floating out of the LM.”

“I’ll check on it Harry. For the record, we’re putting a ten second delay on all further transmissions. You know the Director is a snooty nose in the sky shrew. He wouldn’t have that job if he wasn’t the Presidents best friend. Your sure of the brand though, I’ve never heard of it.”

“Printed in blue Karl” the chipmunk reported. Hazzer, no filter on the unburned end. There a number as well, 539. Hope that helps.”

“Right, Hazzer. Five Three Nine. I’ll get a team on it now. Any damage to the LM?”

Harry looked to Tanya, who shook her head no. “Nothing we could see, but this thing wasn’t visible either, with three of us checking behind each other. Should we abort the landing?”

“Mission is a Go for now. That may change. Anything else to report?”

“Nothing Karl. We’re going to take another look at the LM. I’ll give you a report after we finish.”

“Apollo, it’s near your sleep cycle” Karl reminded them all.

“Yeah, but there’s such a beautiful cigarette in the sky” Harry answered.

“Right. Report when your done. Mission Control standing by.”

“Apollo standing by.” Shutting off his mike Harry turned to his two companions. “Had to be hiding behind a control panel, but which one. One we can’t see behind obviously. Anyone have a mirror?”

“One in each survival kit” Tanya reminded them. “I’ll open mine.”

“Right, you look first. Roth, your second. I’ll take last search. Roth and I will sleep until your done Tanya, then he’ll look, then me.”

“Sounds like a plan” the dachshund admitted. “Always let the girls go first, never know if that dragon is still hungry.” He laughed when Tanya smacked his floating backside, then strapped in to sleep.

While the two males slept Tanya conducted her search. ‘Why does NASA only accept short tailed astronauts’ she remembered a young lemur asking. “Because” Tanya whispered as she moved the stainless steel mirror into place, “Big tails take up too much space.” She shrugged, noting nothing wrong behind the AGS panel. “Actually” she continued, “No president wants to be upstaged by some less politically important lackey with a bigger tail. It’s a male thing.” She drifted to one side, noting brown particles sticking to a wire. “Found yah yah little booger” she said with a grin. So the cigarette had been stuck between two wires behind the ascent panel. That could only have been done if someone was hiding something. Launch had probably dislodged it. Still she continued her search.

“Houston, this is Apollo.”

“Apollo, go your message” came Karl’s voice. He sounded tired Harry thought.

“Uh Roger. We located the offending objects original hiding place, behind the ACP panel. Plus about twenty-three other potential problems.”

“Any serious?” Karl’s voice was suddenly wide awake.

“Three, but Roth is working on them. Thank some bright boy for adding a soldering iron to the tool selection, though a longer electrical cord would have been helpful. We had three cold solders and a few ragged wires. One partially disconnected plug, probably launch vibration there. Everything else was pretty much just bothersome. All around the ACP panel.”

“Right, Standby Apollo.” Several clicks and pops told the crew something was different. Finally another voice spoke. “Apollo? Can you hear me” a thin voice asked.

“Perfectly well Mr. Director” Harry replied. It was after all, the very shrew they had spoken of shortly before. Kerry Yarnith, personal golfing companion to the President.

“Look. These problems you found. They don’t sound that important. Why bother about them?”

All three Apollo crew looked at each other in disbelief before Harry answered. “Sir, those three bad connections would have been very dangerous. Our altitude radar could have failed, or our oxygen supply. Anything.”

“But you fixed it, so it isn’t a problem anymore. Listen. Karl wants to abort this mission. He claims its too dangerous. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Flying in space is always dangerous. Why, you could run into one of those meteor storms, or anything. This mission is too important. First woman to step on the moon. Have you any idea how many votes that’s worth?”

“Uh. No sir” Harry admitted. “I don’t know that much about politics myself.”

“It is enough that our party could win, or lose next years election. Everything depends on this flight. Listen Major Rote. Your going to the moon. Your taking Miss Carroway with you. Your going to land no matter what. Then your going to have a perfect mission and come home to a hero’s welcome.”

“Sir? I don’t think landing with that LM is the best idea. It doesn’t feel right.”

“Your feelings are unimportant. You land Major. Or your done with NASA. All three of you, and Marcus. Understand me?”

“Sir. Is this on the record sir?”

“Of course not. Do you think I’m an idiot?” There was a click. Yarnith was gone.

“He’s insane” Roth decided.

“Agreed” Harry and Tanya chimed in together. “But I’d rather land than not” she continued. “Even if something goes wrong, we can just abort and return to orbit. No real big deal. And we did get those problems sorted.”

Harry laid a paw on her arm. “We fixed the ones we could find. There may be others.”

“Okay” she admitted. “There may be some horrible disaster waiting for us. But then, we could die on the return trip, our heat shield could fail, I could drown.” Tanya shrugged. “I’m not the best swimmer you remember. We could have blown up on the pad. Lets all just accept we are gonna land and do our best. When we get back we can write our books, then become famous as the Three Grumpy Astronauts.”

Roth banged the side of their craft with a gauntleted fist. “Oh, if I could just get that cheap shrew behind the VAB for five minutes. Meteor showers, just what has he been smoking in that pipe of his. Fine, subject closed. For now.”

"This is Apollo Control at 82 hours, 49 minutes. We're now 18 minutes from Loss Of Signal as the spacecraft goes behind the Moon. The Loss Of Signal is scheduled to occur at 83 hours, 6 minutes 46 seconds. If the burn is performed as scheduled, we will reacquire signal at 83 hours, 40 minutes 15 seconds.”

“Eat breakfast” Tanya smirked. “Sucking turkey flavored toothpaste is more like it.”

“Now Doctor Carroway” Harry corrected in a lofty voice. “For our loyal audience we really must follow the script. Breakfast was a tasty reconstituted eggs and ham with Ding brand orange flavored drink.”

“You may have had orange flavor, I had cherry drink from home” Roth retorted. “I hate the taste of Ding. And in regards to the two or three hundred overweight pig faced politicians, who cares? They don’t vote for NASA, they don’t care what happens to the space program. Their stuck in their love nests, pork projects and backstabbing.”

“Roth!” Harry snapped.

“Don’t Roth me Major” Apollo’s co-pilot answered tiredly. “We know each other to well, and for to long. What’s important to me right now is will your ticker last until we get back, or are we going to splashdown with a slab of dead meat beside us?”

“So you care, I never knew. Oh Roth, how much I’ve always wanted...” Harry couldn’t help it, he broke up laughing. “Fine” he finally managed. “Look buddy. If I die, well, I die. I think you understand though, this is my one and only chance to walk on the moon. We are all probably out of NASA after Kerry Yarnith gets through with twisting the truth around. Even if everything goes perfectly.”

“Don’t worry old man. If I were in your situation, I’d be doing the same thing.” Checking his board a moment the dachshund pushed a wayward free floating ear aside. “Just in case it does happen to me, and I’m still flying spacecans, how did you sneak past the surgeons?”

“In today’s budget? I snuck an EKG strip out of a friendly doctors office. Slipped it into my files while the doctor was taking a call. I just told Houston I’d been checked by the Cape, and the Cape that Houston had checked me. No one had the time to cross check. With one person doing the work of seven now, they just asked what the other guy said, wrote it down, then went to the next question. Now if Congress really funded NASA, it’d never have worked.” He looked over to Tanya, who was free floating in the LM module. “And you?”

“I can fly Phoeinx back up to Dragon, so if you crap out on me while we’re down there, I’ll just leave you. Replace your weight with samples. Like Roth said. If I was in your place, I’d do the exact same thing. Its why we all back each other up. Heck, in a pinch, if I have to boot Roth out because his breath smells, Houston can talk me into bringing Dragon home myself. Now if you two are through being noble, we’ve a burn coming up. I’d really like to be strapped in when it happens.”

"While on the darkside of the Moon, on this eighth orbit, and going into the ninth revolution, Harry and Tanya will be getting suited up. By the time we reacquire on the frontside of the Moon they should be in the Lunar Module. Once there they will begin to power up and check out the LM prior to undocking and separation. As the spacecraft went around the corner, Roth Junkins was in the process...”

“Hey, you sure you filled up before we left” Roth asked as Tanya followed Harry into the LM. She just looked up at him and grinned, then vanished into the LM. Final suiting up had to be preformed in the LM, their new long duration suits backpacks wouldn’t fit through the tunnel.

Harry’s voice came over the short range radio. “Ethyl right? I show full tanks, landing and ascent modules. Life support is up and running. Full tanks. Well Roth, looks like our problems were limited to that one yahoo in Alabama after all.”

“I hope so Harry. Bring up the landing computer so I can feed it updates. Say Tanya.”

“Hang on Roth, I’m checking Harry’s backpack.” A few long minutes passed, then Tanya declared that it looked like the bailing wire on Harry’s pack might just hold. “What is it Roth?”

“Do you honestly think that computers will ever make it into peoples homes?”

“I don’t know” she admitted. “ENIAC was massive, it couldn’t do what our flight computer can do. That’s what, 1945? Its 1974 now, so sure. Sometime around 2000 we might see computers small enough, and cheap enough for home use. But for what? All we use them for is mathematics, some writing work and accounting. Who would want to spend good money for something that limited?”

“I would” Roth admitted. “A lot can be done if we ever got a powerful enough computer. Math is what runs science, when you boil it all down. You two ready? Schedule says I’m supposed to lock this hatch so you can undock.”

“Closing inner hatch now” Tanya answered. Roth followed suit, sealing Apollo’s command capsule from the vacuum that would replace the LM.

“Ready for undocking” Harry announced over the radio.

Against protocol Roth left his helmet faceplate open. There was very little chance anything would go wrong, and if it did, less chance he’d survive. Faceplate closed or open. Soon events were back to routine checklists.

Harry: Okay; we're on the capture latches.

Roth: Good... And you're on your own.

Harry: Okay; good clean Separation.

“You just heard Harry Rote and Roth Jinkins report separation. We confirm that on the ground, a good clean separation. Phoenix is now on her own with Dragon remaining in orbit."

Harry spun the LM slowly, letting Roth in the Command Module get a good look at their landing gear. “All extended and locked” Roth reported. “I see no outgassing. Your go-cart is still firmly attached. All looks good from here.”

“Roger Dragon” Harry replied. “We are go for landing. See you on the return trip, and have a candy bar.”

“Dragon to Phoenix. What Candy bar.”

“Phoenix to Dragon. My private locker. A nice big bar of chocolate with your name on it Roth. Enjoy.”

“Dragon to Phoenix. Marry me!”

“What about me” Tanya asked.

“In my kit” Harry explained. “We’ll have ours on the moon. Best I could do.”

“Better than either of us managed. All right, checklist time. I have a good High Bit Signal. Ready to release Snowball?”

“Roger. Arming Snowball release.” Harry lifted a red switch cover. “Releasing Snowball in three... two... one...” There was a soft thrumming sound as three strong springs pushed a boxy device away from the LM.

Snowball was a camera package that would remain in Lunar orbit for months, sending back high resolution images to Earth. Had it not released, the landing would have to have been aborted. There simply wasn’t enough energy in the Decent Stage to allow Snowballs extra five hundred plus pounds to land safely. With that problem taken care of both astronauts began preparation for landing. Roth in Dragon would begin sending commands to Snowball to deploy and start up once they were well clear.

“Checking VHF against the rendezvous radar. I show no deviation is numbers” Tanya reported. “Eleven point one three miles on both systems.”

Harry relaxed. “That’s a relief. I guess the tech boys finally tracked down that glitch. Its been a problem on and off since Fifteen. Stand by for rotation.”

"Roth Jinkins has maneuvered the Command Module, Dragon into the proper attitude for a circularization burn. This maneuver will be performed after the spacecraft goes behind the Moon, placing Dragon in a more or less circular orbit.”

Time passed, checklists were checked, boredom began setting in. “Looks awfully close” Tanya admitted as she stared out one of the two LM windows.

“Close enough to just reach out and touch” Harry admitted.

“How’s the ticker?”

“Not a twinge. I don’t feel great, but I’m not even slightly ill.”

Tanya opened another checklist. NASA seemed to have blown the cost of a house printing the things. “Good. What’s next. I wanna get down and have that chocolate.”

“We've nearly completed all systems checkouts on the Lunar Module. Everything appears to be in order at the moment with Phoenix and Dragon for a powered descent. This will occur on the next revolution...

“Throttle down” Tanya ordered. It was her job to watch the instruments, Harry couldn’t possible fly and read them.

“Throttle down” Harry repeated. “Seven, plus 15.”

“Make that Seven plus twenty” Tanya corrected.

“Understood.”

“Oxidizer shows good. Checking the manual.” There was a short pause, seeming as long as eternity to Harry. “No flags. Looks good.”

“Good at eight. Mark. Good. Coming up on 8000 Harry.”

“3000 feet Harry.”

“Understood.”

“500. 45. Minus 19. Minus 15.

“400 at minus 14. You've got P66.”

“Understood.” Harry was busy, processing Tanya’s information, what he saw outside the craft and what his gut was telling him. That he was landing on the moon no longer figured into his thoughts, only that he was landing, and had very little fuel to play with.

“Seven percent fuel. 20 at 1. 15 at 1. Five percent fuel. 10 feet. Minus 1. 8 feet. Minus 1. Contact.”

Harry killed the landing engines, waiting to see what would happen next. “Thanks Tanya. Fuel?”

“One point four seconds” she answered. “Close. Very close.”

“We’re here.”

“Yeah... On the moon. You know what that means Harry?”

“No. What.”

“Checklists.” Gamely both started on their checklists, waiting for Dragon to come back over their horizon. Waiting to give Roth the good news. Until then, there were checklists to go through.

“Phoenix this is Dragon. Do you read Phoenix.”

Harry triggered his mike. “Dragon this is Phoenix. We read you five by five. We are down and safe. All checklists complete. We are preparing to open the hatch now.”

“Roger Phoenix. Starting recorders now. Snowball working as designed, no glitches. You lucky dog. And thanks for the chocolate.”

Tanya held the camera while Harry gingerly made his way down, one rung at a time, to the LM’s footpad. “I really think you ought to be first” he said as he prepared himself.

“I will be, just as soon as you get your fat tail out of the way.”

“Right. Remind me to go on a diet when we get home. Okay, here it is....” Carefully Harry placed one shoe into the regolith, noting it sank deeper than Armstrong’s had. “We return to the moon, to continue discovering her secrets” he said into the radio. There was a long pause. “God that was cheesy. Pass down the camera, will you?”

Tanya let the camera slide down her paws, its combination power and signal cable easing slowly through her gloves. Finally Harry had the camera, setting himself up so that when Tanya made her step, it would appear as if she were the first. Following his example she eased herself down. “One sixth gravity, I feel like a teenager again” she announced as she prepared for her own immortal words. “Ready?”

“Your on girl” Roth announced from eighty miles above them. “Do us proud.”

Stepping out onto the moons surface Tanya looked around, then turned partially towards the camera. “Your daughter has come to serve you Selene” she announced, her words catching both males by surprise. Abruptly she knelt in the dust, holding that position for over a minute.

“What was that” Harry asked after cutting off the camera. “Who’s Selene?”

“Goddess of the moon” Tanya answered softly. There was a difference in her voice Harry noticed. A big difference. “I’ve been worshiping her since I was six.”

“Bull. You attend church every Sunday just like all of us.”

Tanya stood slowly, using a LM leg for support. “Harry. Not even my parents know that truth. Its easy to give lip service to something you don’t believe in, when there is a gun at the back of your head. If NASA even suspected, do you think I’d be here?”

“No. No I guess not. So now what?”

Looking up at the still stored rover Tanya giggled. “We get our jalopy down, unpacked and make donuts around all these nice little craters. You are driving, right?”

Laughter answered her. “You bet I am. Let a woman drive on the moon? Our insurance would never cover it.” Then Harry became serious again. “Tanya, you know NASA will never release what you said.”

“I know Harry. I didn’t say it for them, I said it for me. Now lets get to work. We’re burning life support. We only have ninety four hours on site.”

“Right. Lets just hope nothing major goes wa-wa on this mission.” Moving forward the two astronauts got on with their mission.

"This is Apollo Control at 153 hours, 19 minutes. Phoenix’s crew has begun configuring their communications for the sleep period, we expect that they will be getting to sleep before too much longer. Current Flight Plans call for a sleep period to begin...”

“How’s your knee” Harry asked while trying to get comfortable on the LM floor.

“Sore. That rock shouldn’t have slipped like that” Tanya answered. “There’s no logical reason for that accident to have happened. At least my suits okay.”

“You ride tomorrow, I’ll do the heavy work. There’s no reason to stress that knee girl.”

“Girl? Oh Harry, and here I always thought you a liberated male. Only now, when I’m alone with you, does your male dominate thinking come crawling out of its cave. It’s only a light sprain. At one sixth gee I can manage fine. If I’m careful.”

“Male domin... I’ll have you know that my mother pounded this ‘protect the female’ concept into my brain. My father was always off on some remote tour. Probably to get away from my mother. Say, you don’t think your Selene is trying to make you stay do you?”

“Your letting your imagination run wild Harry. It was an accident. I wasn’t watching what I was doing, too busy staring out into space. If you want to waste a few hours we can figure out what happened. If its that important to you.”

“Nah. Probably just a fluke. Lets get some sleep, I’m bushed.”

“...in Mission Control Center, Houston, we're undergoing a Change Of Shift among Flight Controllers. Flight Director Thomas Wellborn and his Orange Flight Control Team are leaving their consoles, they are being replaced by Flight Director Edward Norton and the Gold Flight Control Team. As Thomas Wellborn’s group...”

“That’s the last core for this site” Harry gasped. “Wow, it felt like it was stuck in glue or something. Lets get it packed and head over to that cliff.” As he lifted the core a small cloud of something lifted from the hole, leaving white crystals behind where there were shadows. “Ice?”

“Could be. Maybe an ice meteoroid impact?” Tanya asked. “Lets call this Lake Rote, at least for the moment.”

“Lake Rote. I like that name. Okay Tanya, maybe we found something. I’ll fill the hole, J-I-C. You pack this core carefully.”

“Roger Harry. I’ll prepare the core for packing now.” Working carefully Tanya wrapped the precious ten foot core in gold anodized Mylar sheets. Like Harry she was looking forward to hooking into the Rover’s life support system, as her suit had been overwhelmed by her body’s exertions. “I am so looking forward to a hot shower” she commented as she closed the cores carrying case.

“I thought women preferred hot bubble baths, with lots of candles.”

Tanya laughed, even through the icky feeling of sweat matted fur sticking to her flesh. “That’s for pure relaxation Harry. I want to be clean. Seven point one hours life support remaining. If we’re going to use the rover again, I’ll need to charge it from the LM’s tanks.”

They had been driving about four minutes when their radio crackled. “...Phoenix. Dragon calling Phoenix. Do you read Phoenix.”

“Roth old friend. You can’t believe how good it is to hear your sweet voice again” Harry replied. “What’s new?”

“Mission Control wants you to take a run by that cliff you mentioned. Try to get some horizontal cores at its base. Lets see, Tanya, you son says hello, among other things. I’m transmitting those messages to the LM now.”

“Nothing from my wife” Harry asked.

“Son, what your wife says ain’t public. Be happy Mission Control warned me not to listen. Oh yeah. Our dear sweet director has been fired, by the President himself. Seems the shrew never realized that anyone can listen in on supposed private channels, if you forget to press the encryption button. His remarks made the papers, front page. If anything happens to you two, even a stubbed toe, I’m betting he gets drawn and quartered. So what’s going on down there. We have a Lunar Club yet?”

“Dream on little fur” Tanya laughed. She checked the schedule Harry had decided upon. “All current Mission objectives have been met. We have several cores, the last which shows signs of some kind of ice. We’ll spend two hours at the cliff, then return to recharge the Rover’s LS and get some rest.”

“Ice? How much. How deep?”

“About ten feet down Roth” Harry answered. “I refilled the hole, just in case it’s a small ice pocket. That way it won’t subliminate before someone comes back with a real shovel. How is Snowball doing?”

“No complaints from the scientists. From what they told me, they have several very good shots of your landing site already. They can even make out the seismometer package. It’s picking up data from the LM systems perfectly. Looks like we have a gold bird here.”

“Right. We can see the cliff very well now. Perhaps three hundred yards North-West of our landing site. There... Roth. There’s a big black hole in the cliff.”

“How big?”

“Tanya? You’ve got the Mark II eyeballs.”

“Looks twenty meters wide Roth” she reported. “Maybe ten meters high. Looks perfectly natural, maybe a sheared gas pocket, or ancient lava tube. We’ll have a better report when you come around again. Maybe this will get someone in Congress on our side again.”

“Only if you found a round metal ball and an English flag” Roth responded. “Those guys are dead from the neck up.”

Tanya laughed. “Right. Well, I don’t think Impey Barbicane could have managed to land and take off. Didn’t Mr. Cavor land on the other side?”

“How do you remember all that stuff” Harry asked.

“I’m a card carrying member of the Spacers Guild” she answered. “Why, just to get in I had to explain who Cleolanta was.” She pointed to their left. “Over there seems smoothest. She’s from Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.”

“Ah yeah. Roth?”

“Yes boss?”

“We have a certified Space Cadet here.”

“Understood. Look, I’m going to lose signal in a moment. Anything special to say?”

“Yeah Dragon, look in the storage bin marked HL-3. Phoenix standing by.”

After Harry parked Tanya checked that the Rovers automatic servos were still keeping their solar panels pointed at the Sun. “Amazing bit of technology” she commented.

“Saves you having to ride shotgun keeping them aligned” Harry said in agreement. “Okay, we have arrived. Now what?”

“Find out what we have.”

What they had turned out to be a partial cavern, upthrust into the open when some geological force created the cliff. It had been made, Tanya decided, by a massive gas bubble. Probably back when the moon was still molten from Mendeleev’s creation. Although they busied themselves immediately, it was soon apparent that they would have to return after their rest period.

“There goes a third of our schedule” Tanya sighed. “All for a soap bubble.” She crawled out of her seat when they reached the LM, stretching. “I am so going to enjoy a full fur brush when we get back to Dragon, morals be damned. I itch all over.”

“Agreed. Tell you what, we’ll stay an extra orbit with the LM attached and use that as a brushing chamber. Now I know why Karl suggested I get a full fur trim instead of just my hair. Something has gotta... Let me help you with that hose.”

Between them they recharged the Rovers life support. Once that job was done it was back into the LM for its relative comfort, some food and a well needed rest. After sending a report to Earth by the orbiting Dragon both fell into a light sleep. Earth would decide what their last hours on the moon would be like. Then they would be heading home.

"This is Apollo Control, Houston. The reference there by CapCom, Roth Jinkins will switch all four of the Service Module quads to their secondary tanks. We are at 181 hours, 11 minutes. Less than a minute now away from Loss Of Signal."

“Mission Control says that cavern is primary now” Roth reported as he made contact. “Since it is the first structure like it found so far, they want all the data they can get.”

Harry looked to Tanya, who shrugged. It was out of her paws now, they did what their employers wanted, not what they wanted. “Roger Dragon. Abort all further studies in favor of the cavern. I assume they want cores?”

“Oh your mamma had a bright little chipmunk” Roth joked. “Cores, cores and more cores. Don’t ask me why, ask Tanya.”

Looking to Tanya Harry waited. “It’s as if we had dug a trench forty feet straight down” she explained. “That’s all ancient stuff, untouched by micrometeorites. While you core I’ll be cleaning the outer face, to see if there are any discernable layering. Take samples. Its simple geology, just tail breaking work.”

“You get that Dragon?”

“Understood Phoenix. Drudge work. I still think you should be up here instead of me. LOS in three. Anything else?”

“Nothing Dragon. Talk to you on the next pass.”

“Understood Phoenix, and thanks for the taffy Harry. It’s helped make this loneliness easier to handle.”

"This is Apollo Control, Houston at 188 hours, 15 minutes now into the flight. We're less than 30 seconds away at this time from reacquiring Apollo 24, so we'll stand by and listen."

“Cores” Harry grunted. “This stuffs solid. Now what?”

“Get whatever you can, break a few small chunks off, photograph everything, curse some more then try again until the corer snaps. Then rest” Tanya answered from her position outside, her radio signal routed through the parked rover. “Its seventy feet deep, whatever you get is more than Earth ever expected.”

“You’ve been through this before” Harry groused as he forced the coring tube in another half inch.

“Oh sure Harry. Didn’t I tell you? This is my vacation home. I’m up here every Winter.”

“Very funny. Anything interesting out there?”

“Some glass beads, probably tektites. They are important, but nothing moon shattering. There is some layering, but its probably due to later impacts. I haven’t found any fossil selenite’s yet. Its just what it looks like, a gas chamber that’s been sheared open in the past by some later impact. Don’t worry Harry. We are doing important science. NASA is going to have to send another mission here. Two hours nineteen minutes remaining.”

“I hope its Twenty-Eight. Serve Roth right, having to mule this equipment around. Rest time.” Harry sat, staring at the coring rod sticking out of the wall. Sweat rolled down his back and his left arm was aching. ‘Better take it easy boy’ he warned himself. ‘You could die up here you know.’ Leaning against a fallen bolder he relaxed, while outside Tanya continued scraping at billions of years of accumulated dust.

"This is Apollo Control Houston at 196 hours, 22 minutes now into the flight of Apollo 24. We're some 2 hours, 10 minutes away from Time Of Ignition. Rote and Carroway have started turning their attentions to preparations for liftoff. Both guidance systems, prime and backup, are now being powered up. Full systems tests are performed. The two guidance systems will be aligned, the AGS to the PNGS, rendezvous radar will be turned on, and as the self test is performed, so will the inertial platform"

“Going home Tanya” Harry announced as he closed another circuit breaker.

“I show green on the EED Subsystem. Home, oh yes. Hot coca, soft music, clean fur and nice fresh ironed sheets. Visiting was good, but I don’t want to live here.”

“Roger on that. Five minutes to burn. Say, why did you recharge the rover anyway?”

Tanya shrugged. “I just don’t like leaving a vehicle empty for the next guy. It’s a habit. Maybe moonfurs will sneak out and joy ride. RCS Helium steady, RCS Oxidizer green, APS Fuel green.”

“T minus five, four, three, two I have engine ignition.”

“Fuel flow nominal.” Several bangs were felt more than heard.

“Interstage bolts fired, here we go.” Harry increased the thrust, launching the Ascent Stage back into orbit.

Or thought he did. There was a sudden yaw, followed by a tearing sound. Both astronauts were shoved to one side as the Ascent Stage spun wildly. Another tearing sound filled their ears, then a sound of glass shattering. After that the ride was indescribable.

Tanya woke with something trying to dig its way through her back. Opening her eyes she was horrified to see a crack in her faceplate. It was several dozen seconds of horror later that the minx discovered it was her sunshield that was cracked, not the pressure plate. Climbing to her feet by the simply act of grabbing something above her and pulling, she carefully looked around her.

Phoenix had fallen into its flaming nest. There were chunks of Ascent Module spread over a half dozen acres, if not more. Nor had they traveled in a straight line, it looked more like a drunken sailor had chosen their path. Her partner Harry was no where to be seen, and Tanya was well aware that she should be dead. That she would be dead, of oxygen starvation, within a few short hours. Since her chronometer was shattered (as well as her left wrist she discovered) there was no way to tell time. No way to know how long... She checked her oxygen levels. She’d lain unconscious in Phoenix’s wreckage for about an hour.

Finding Harry was a simple matter of walking twenty yards back down their crazy quilt path. Laying face down in the lunar soil, Tanya didn’t need to turn him over. His helmet was missing. She didn’t want to see what his face looked like anyway. Luck had been with her more than simply surviving the crash. A flash of light had caught her eye as she walked. Not more than a quarter mile away waited the Decent Stage. “Of all the luck” she laughed. If their launch hadn’t killed it, the rovers radio would let her contact Dragon. Or at least Snowball. Roth should have made his Trans-Earth Injection burn a long time ago. At least she could figure out exactly what had happened, send a message to Earth via Snowball. Turning towards the waiting Descent Stage, Tanya began hoofing it.

“Dragon this is Phoenix. Do you read me. Dragon...”

Roth Jinkins nearly broke his neck grabbing the floating headset. “Phoenix, this is Dragon. What happened” he called. “All I’ve had is your medical datastream. Where’s Harry?”

“Dragon, Number two Interstage Bolt never fired. Its leads were still wrapped together from packing. Harry’s dead Roth. His helmet came off.”

“Harry... Tanya, we have to get you up here. What does the ascent stage look like?”

“Oh, its spread over several acres of lunar soil. Why, looking for souvenirs? I couldn’t even find the samples, and I’ve driven the entire crash path.”

Roth groaned. There was no way Tanya was getting up to him. She was going to die down there, slowly. “How’s your consumables” he asked, as if it made any difference.

“About eleven hours on the Rover, maybe thirty minutes in my suit. I don’t think I’ll be able to drive home, not with a broken left wrist, and I’m not certain about a couple of vertebrae. My toes keep tingling.”

“Understood. LOS eleven minutes. Tanya, there’s an overdose of morphine in your suit. You won’t feel a thing.”

“Nice to know NASA thinks ahead Roth, but suicide is against my religion. You know, maybe I can seal that cavern. Survive until the next team arrives.”

Roth almost smiled. “This isn’t a deserted island Tanya. When your oxygen goes, you go. Look, there is a chance. Maybe I can land this module near you. Then launch back into orbit and home we go. Without Harry’s weight, without the samples...”

“Roth...” Silence followed. “It’s a nice dream, but Dragon would probably break up on landing”

“Okay. Let me chat with Karl. He always comes up with something. See you next orbit.”

“See yah cowboy. Phoenix standing by.”

After recharging her suit from the Rovers emergency tank Tanya buried Harry. With that done, there was nothing else left to do. There wasn’t even an Earth to look at, not on this side of the moon. “Oh is Donna’s little baby going to be lonely” she told the star filled skies above her. Turning the Rover left, she headed for that cavern.

“Dragon calling Phoenix, do you read Phoenix.”

“Five by. What’s new Roth.”

“Um, where are you right now Tanya.”

“I parked the Rover just outside that cavern. I’m exploring now, near the end. Its fascinating, some kind of purple crystals everywhere. Maybe there’s a spaceship hidden in here. Or some forgotten alien civilization. Heck Roth, all I’ve got is time. What did Karl have to say?”

“They are on it” Roth answered as he armed a special circuit, one he’d set up under the direction of Karl Marcus while on the moons other side. “Karl should have an answer by the time I get back on the other side.” Cursing himself, he pressed a red button.

On the moon Tanya suddenly felt a sharp pain in her neck, followed by near instant warmth. “ROTH YOU BASTARD!” she screamed, but it was much too late. Within seconds consciousness left her. Within a minute, her body began to cool, her suit shut down by the same command code.

"This is Mission Control. Apollo Twenty-Four is now at an altitude of 1,714 nautical miles above the Lunar surface. Velocity is currently 5,872 feet per second."