Moonbound

Isa woke up to the hum of the generators switching on. On the moon, there were no alarm clocks; just the colony bell, emergency sirens, and the hum. Isa climbed out of the top bunk, rousing her mom, Laura, awake.

“Good morning, mija,” Laura groaned.

“Hola, mama,” murmured Isa, coldly, as she put on her colony-issued green tunic and trousers and headed into the bathroom. She turned on the faucet, expecting another dry morning and a day of bad breath. But, to her surprise, and for the first time in weeks, the spigot sputtered out an uneven drip of less than clear water – just enough to wash her face, and maybe wet her toothbrush.

“Finally!” thought Isa, as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, taking notice of the two half-moons casting dark shadows under her eyes. The march of sleepless nights had made her look much older than 14.

Laura came into the bathroom and placed her hand on Isa’s shoulder. Isa dried her hands and wordlessly brushed pass her mom to go to their living unit’s dining room for breakfast.

Her mom wouldn’t be joining her. She’d started skipping meals a few days before the rations were cut. It’s almost as if she knew there was a drought coming. It had been 11 days since Ursa Colony’s Guardia had finally caught the water system’s hijacking engineer, put him on trial and sentenced him to a fate worse than death – Earth. But at least, now, the water was back on.

Isa ate – or rather drank – her breakfast of peanut and algae shakes, alone, as one other family sat quietly at the opposite table, actively avoiding eye contact. Isa ignored them, chugged her green slop, and thought of how many trips to the bathroom she’d have to make later.

Isa returned to her room to find that her mom had already left to go to the agro-fields to help with the damage the drought had caused the colonies’ food system production. On Ursa Colony, agriculture was priority, given that it’s mostly engineer inhabitants had imported hundreds of asylum-seeking immigrants with agricultural skills, years ago, before Isa was born.

The work bell rang. It was time to go to the learning lab.

Isa meandered her way through two of the colony’s eight metal and low-thermal glass half-spheres and arrived at the learning lab early, excusing herself to go to the toilet. But before she could reach the bathroom, she was grabbed by unseen hands and pulled out of the hallway, into a darkened ventilation room. Isa started to panic.

Then, a voice came from her kidnapper.

“Isa, where have you been?” said the voice in a hushed tone.

Isa let out a sigh of relief. It was Ashe, Isa’s best friend. Short, with a mess of curls, and a green oxygen monitor band around zir arm.

“What the hell!? I thought you were the Guardia,” growled Isa.

Ashe let go of Isa’s tunic. “Sorry, I forgot. How’s you mom holding up, anyway?”

Isa shook her head. “Never mind. What’s up?”

Ashe leaned in close, and whispered, “I found a buyer.”

“A buyer for what?” quizzed Isa.

“Some scientist name Lina-something bid 800 Coin for 2 kilos of the lunar regolith samples we scooped up last week from our fieldtrip to Tycho,” explained Ashe.

“What’s she gonna do with it?” pressed Isa.

“Who cares!? We’re gonna be rich,” bursted Ashe. “You and your mom can hire a lawyer to get your dad off Earth.”

“Sure,” dismissed Isa. “Or… you can get a new lung.”

Isa and Ashe reveled at the possibilities, smiling at each other when, suddenly, an emergency siren began to sound.

Isa and Ashe mirrored a confused expression at each other and cracked the door open to find the hallway flooded with flashing, red lights and students filing up outside of the lab doors. The two friends quickly ran over to find their place among their lab mates and teacher, Mr. Halo.

A voice on the intercom repeated, “This is not a drill. All non-essential staff and students, go to your designated safety area immediately.”

Several lab classes zigged and zagged throughout the research and development dome’s corridors until they reached a long staircase and burrowed down a metallic spiral into an underground bunker. Isa’s heart was beating hard and fast. “Is this another hijack event?” she thought.

Almost reading her mind, Ashe grabbed Isa’s arm, and said dismissively, “Don’t worry, It’s probably just a solar flare.”

Isa nodded. Their lab class had just completed a study unit on solar flares a few weeks ago, and that seemed very likely.

Just as the last of the students reached the final flight of stairs – BANG. The entire staircase rattled and sent some students flying down a step or two. Just as the jolted students regained their footing – BANG. A panic settled heavy upon the students as they entered the bunker.

Everyone crouched down like they had during previous drills. A few students shot Isa an accusatory look. Isa grabbed the necklace hanging around her neck that her dad had given her just before he was deported to Earth. It was a heart-shape locket with a picture of her dad and grandma on one side and a seashell pinned onto the other side, from her mom’s hometown in the Yucatan. Isa’s thoughts flew to her dad.

“Maybe he deserved to be sent to Earth. But, if he was still alive, why hadn’t he called?”

Then, there was a long RATTLE and another BOOM! And suddenly, Isa was afraid about her own fate again.

“Had Earth’s nuclear war reached the lunar colonies?” thought Isa. “Earth was nothing more than a wasteland. Are we next?”

After over an hour of a huddling against arched walls, the bunker had fallen into an uneasy quiet.

The head of studies, Mrs. Rippa, got a message from her headset and informed everyone: “The threat has cleared. It is safe to leave. When your lab class is called, please calmly collect your things, and go home. There will be no more labs for the rest of the day, while the infrastructure team assesses any possible damage. Thank you!”

Isa went home to find that her mom still hadn’t returned from the agro-field.

She curled up in her mom’s bunk and swallowed the lump forming in her throat, pursing her lips to keep from crying, and eventually dozed off into a restless sleep, giving no notice the missing clothes and toiletries from the bathroom.

Six hours later, there was a knock at her door. Isa opened it to find Ashe, panting and wheezing.

Ashe took a puff of her inhaler and spilled the pressing news.

The buyer had increased the offer to 4000 Coins to receive the sample two days from now.

Unfortunately, the interplanetary mail had been halted after the explosions. But the colony was dispatching four teams of scientists to take the exploded agro-oxygen tanks to some special repair station on Earth, explained Ashe, excitedly.

Ashe leaned in and whispered, “It’s happening Tonight.”

“I can’t go,” Isa lamented quietly. “My mom’s already lost my dad. She can’t lose me too.”

The excitement drained from Ashe’s face as they stood there in an extended, awkward silence.

“Where is you mom, anyway?” quizzed Ashe.

“Still in the agro-fields, I think,” said Isa.

“Impossible. There’s been a colony-wide curfew set until tomorrow morning.”

“Wait, then how did you get here?” charged Isa.

Ashe dug in zir bag to grab something silvery. A keycard; and flashed it at Isa. “I swiped it from the Guardia in the bunker stairwell.”

Suddenly, Isa’s e-wall lit up as large letters across the screen read: VIDEO MESSAGE FROM DAD.

Isa turned grey and scrambled to accept the message.

The screen was static, and the connection was unstable, but there he was, for the first time in 11 days. Slimmer around the cheeks with burn blisters around his neck and forehead, but still him. It was Dad.

“Hi, mi estrella y mi amor!” He said in a hoarse voice.

“Listen, I don’t have much time. The authorities here are sending me to an Earth trial for the hijacking.” said Dad, hurriedly.

There was a knock on the door behind him.

Two guards entered the room, one shouting, “Time to go!”

Isa and Ashe looked at the screen, bewildered.

“I love you both so much. And I’m so sorry for everything,” said Dad as the guards took hold of his arms and started dragging him out of the room. “Laura, it’s time.”

“There’s a lawyer that can help…” yelled Dad. “Her name is Lina Pantir, she…”

Dad’s voice was cut off as a third guard entered the room and ended the video.

“He’s still alive,” Isa murmured, in disbelief, his words lingering in her ears. Then she remembered something.

“Ashe, what was the name of that buyer?” demanded Isa.

“Lina…Pantir,” said Ashe, going pale.

Isa grabbed the bag of regolith samples from under her pillow and the keycard from Ashe’s hand.

“Come on. We’re sending that sample tonight,” resolved Isa.

Isa and Ashe crept along the corridor and across three completely empty domes until they reached a locked door that led to the transportation hub, where the Guardia and maintenance workers could be seen milling about.

Ashe peered through the clear porthole window just as four Guardia members walked by. They both ducked behind the door. Then, Ashe peered out again. The coast was clear. Isa passed the keycard over the electronic reader, and they slipped into the loading dock, hurrying along the wall until they reached a stack of metal boxes. They crouched down and scanned the room for the loading dock where the shuttle was being readied. But there were four Guardia and crew members were gathered around the loading station.

“How are we gonna get on?” asked Ashe.

Isa eyes caught the label of the large metal box they were hiding behind: “DANGEROUS. FRAGILE. HANDLE WITH CARE.”

Isa pointed to the label. “Maybe we don’t have to get on.”

Ashe understood; ze nodded and whipped out a screwdriver ze sometimes used to fix zir nebulizer and began slowly unscrewing the metal box’s bolts.

The crew had slowly started to load the first few boxes and would likely reach the last one in a matter of minutes. But Ashe was fast. Ze’d just unscrewed the last bolt when they heard the click of a gun. They both froze. Ash lowered the screwdriver. Isa slowly put her hands up.

“Isa?” said a voice from within the box.

Isa squinted and found her mom, Laura, and another woman – tall and thin – holding a gun, with a group of vaguely recognizable people standing half serious, half frightened behind them. They both lowered their guns.

“Mama?” said Isa, confusion washing over her.

“Wasn’t sure you’d make it,” said the thin woman, smirking, reaching out her hand to Isa and Ashe. “I’m Lina.”

Ashe shook her hand, cautiously. “What is this?”

Laura grabbed Isa and hugged her. “I wanted to tell you sooner, but the Guardia were watching our every move.”

There was a loud mechanical sound. A forklift reached under the box and began to raise it up, taking Isa with it.

"Ashe!" She turned to find Ash, petrified, then running for cover as the box cleared a space.

Lina quickly grabbed the metal plate and pulled it in place, against the back of the box, sealing them in, and Ashe out.

There was a violent shuffle of the box as it was loaded onto the transport shuttle. Then an engine turned on and Isa’s teeth began to chatter.

“Hold on tight, Isa,” said Lina. “You’re going see your dad soon.”

“We’re going to Earth, mija,” whispered Laura into Isa’s ear, holding her hand tightly.

“No,” thought Isa. “Anywhere but Earth.”

End.