Bridge To The Moon: To The Moon

(In which Great-great-great-great-great-great-granddad reaches that nearby, silvery, heavenly body.)

Great-great-great-great-great-great-granddad: We were going down, not up, after leaving L1, even though we hadn’t changed direction, because we were now under the influence of the Moon’s gravity, rather than the Earth’s - so gravity was pulling everything towards the Moon, instead of towards the Earth, (as it had previously been doing up until we got to L1). The seats had now swivelled 180 degrees to how they had been before, unless passengers had clicked them in a fixed position - in which case they could have suddenly found themselves sitting upside down!

So what had been the ceiling in each cabin for most of the journey, but was originally a wall, was now the floor, and what had been the floor, but was originally a wall, was now the ceiling; and the original floor, (from when we were leaving Earth), was still a wall, as it had been for most of our journey, but it was a wall behind us now, not in front of us, (unless you turned your seat to face backwards - although there wasn’t a “backwards” really, because backwards was back up towards Earth, rather than down towards the Moon).

Additionally, the seats moved down some distance, so that we didn’t find ourselves sitting high above the floor and having to jump out of the seat to reach the floor, (which was the previous ceiling, or an original wall), or struggle to climb up to get into, if we were not already seated in it. And the other furniture in the cabins moved down to be in line with the seats. Oh! - and when we left L1 and the seats all swivelled 180 degrees, the rest of the furniture swivelled 180 degrees as well, so that nothing fell off as the gravity switched from one side to the other; and lids automatically went onto drinks, (unless you were holding one I suppose, although perhaps even then), just to make sure they didn’t spill.

Great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter: Sorry, Great-great-great-great-great-great-granddad, could you say that again please?

Author: Great-great-great-great-great-great-granddad said all that again, (a few times), then continued with his story.

Great-great-great-great-great-great-granddad: It seemed it was not all that long after leaving L1 that we were about to reach the surface of the Moon! By this time, the Moon was very large outside the train windows, as you could imagine. The track carrying the train got to the point where it stopped travelling directly at the Moon - like an arrow hurtling towards a target - and turned to come down at an ever less steep angle. Looking out the window, we could see much more closely than we can see them from the Earth, the familiar cities and towns - and we could even see their lights, (on part of the Moon that was in night), shining their welcome to us it seemed - and some of the larger lunar lakes, parks and gardens, (on part of the Moon that was in sunlight), under their invisible ceilings. As we got closer, some of the landscape looked quite industrial - and some quite barren, in large areas of virgin, grey Moon.

Before I knew it, we got to the point where the bridge ceased being a bridge and was actually infrastructure on the surface of the Moon! I wasn’t quite sure of the precise point where this occurred. All I can say for sure is that at some point there was no doubt we were travelling along the Moon’s surface. Soon afterwards we slowed right down and eventually stopped. Then all the clamps securing us to the track must have unclamped, and the train started moving again, independently of the track we’d been attached to, and pulled in to the Lunar-Earth railway station.

It was very exciting getting off the train on the Moon, especially as this was my first trip to an extraterrestrial body! So exciting, my memory of it is kind of a blur. I don’t really remember much about what happened between being on the train and when I got to my hotel, other than being excited, and moving in low Moon gravity.

I can remember some things about Lunar-Earth station, but really only from when I went back there to return to Earth. One of the things I noticed about it when I was leaving the Moon, was that it had many tracks and platforms, in order to cope with the great frequency of freight and passenger trains travelling along it.

Next time:

Chapter Seven New Moon

(or read the whole story here: https://vocal.media/fiction/bridge-to-the-moon)