Star One: Tycho City Survival Read Free

cavern which had
been blasted out with high explosives and then finished up with several large
excavators brought up to the Moon. The project had taken years and a lot of
perseverance to complete.
    As the shuttle
came over the rim of the crater, Mase took in a deep breath, looking at the
vista that spread out before him. The crater had been formed over 100 million
years in the past and was now home to Tycho City. Nearly 2,500 people called
the crater their home, with another 200 living at Farside.
    “Almost home,”
Anthony said with a smile on his face.
    He loved
flying the shuttles over the lunar surface. It was his passion, and he never
missed an opportunity to fly one of them. It was also the main reason he was
still single. He enjoyed female company, but he was not ready yet to settle
down.
    “Yes, we are,”
responded Mase. It always felt good to get back to Tycho City. He had lived on
the Moon for years, and Tycho City had become his true home.
    “Have you
spoken to your brother Phillip recently?” Anthony asked. The pilot knew that
Mase’s brother lived on Earth and had been considering retiring and bringing
his family up to Tycho City.
    “Not in the
last couple of weeks,” admitted Mase, realizing he really needed to talk to his
brother more often. “I need to touch base with him about coming up here in a
few more months.”
    Anthony nodded
as he checked in with the Control Center at the shuttle landing facility just
outside of Tycho City. After receiving landing instructions, he lined the
shuttle up with the indicated landing pad.
    Mase let out a
big sigh, thinking about what he needed to do yet today. Once they landed, he needed
to make out a report to send to Earth on the progress at Farside, as well as
contact Steve Larson on Star One. Star One was the huge space station in orbit
37,000 miles above the Moon at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point. Steve and Mase
were very close and talked almost daily about the current projects they had
going on.
    Anthony brought
the small shuttle smoothly in for a landing on one of the dozen landing pads
just outside a group of small buildings that dotted the lunar landscape. This
served as the main landing field for the underground complex. Once down, the
landing pad was lowered into an underground hangar and a green light came on,
indicating Earth normal atmosphere.
    Mase stepped
out of the shuttle and through a small airlock door that led to the main part
of the shuttle bay. The shuttles could be moved out of their small hangars and
worked on by the many technicians that kept the base and its equipment
functioning. As he stepped out of the airlock door, he found his secretary,
Linda Arleen, waiting for him.
    “Commander how
was your trip to Farside?” she asked, stepping up close with her friendly brown
eyes focusing on the commander.
    “Just fine,” replied
Mase, wondering why she had felt it necessary to meet his shuttle. Normally she
would be waiting for him in his office. He suspected there must be some type of
problem that had come up. “What’s going on? It’s not like you to meet me as
soon as I get off a shuttle.”
    “We received a
message from Jane Kinsey,” she replied in a serious tone of voice. “She is at
the cape today and would like a quick update on the Farside array. I think
Senator Farley is still complaining about all the money being spent on the
array and the telescope.”
    Jane Kinsey
was the current head of NASA and the chief administrator at the cape. She was
also a very big supporter of Tycho City as well as Star One.
    “Farley will always
be unhappy with any money we spend,” Mase responded with a heavy sigh. “I think
he makes a living out of trying to make our lives miserable with all of his
complaining.”
    Senator Farley
had been opposed to the new telescope and deep space antenna array from the very
beginning. If not for the money Tycho City made off the mass driver, it was
doubtful the telescope or the antenna array would have ever