The Before Short Story Series. Part 1 - Иван Перепелятник

the planet, and were expecting a similar level of service in space. The space travel industry was forced to take into account new realities in the fight for customers. Billions were invested in the development of new rocket engines, which led to the required results. At the time of the Apollo program in the second half of the 20th century, it took three days for the spacecraft to reach the satellite. Today it takes a little more than half a day.

But even during this seemingly not too long a flight, space tourists needed to be entertained: all kinds of films and TV series suiting every taste, a Lunar café appropriate for the purpose and a telescope giving a chance to explore a number of planets of the solar system and other more distant objects to be studied during the flight. In the absence of the Earth’s atmosphere, which did not interfere with observations in outer space, the third option was quite in demand among passengers. It was also not forbidden to socialize with each other, read or just sleep.

‘Dear passengers, welcome aboard the Luna-7 shuttle. Our flight on the route of Federation International Space Station-Armstrong Lunar Spaceport will take no more than 16 hours. Stewards Olga and Philip will be happy to help you throughout the flight.’

The shuttle undocked from the station almost soundlessly and began to maneuver slowly, reaching the required flight path. Acceleration went very smoothly and unnoticed by passengers. It wasn’t as tough as the launch of a spaceship on the Earth at all. This time Lewis was sitting next to the porthole. Meryl settled next to him. The station was rapidly moving away and in a minute it was no longer visible against the background of a bright blue planet.

Lewis pressed the button to call the steward:

‘Good evening, Mrs Stern, Mr Podger. How can I help you,’ Olga got closer to them and hovered next to them, holding on to the handrail.

‘Could you bring us two rugs please. We’re a little cold.’

‘Of course, Mr Podger. You can also turn on seat heating. Here are the appropriate controls,’ Olga pointed to the buttons on the panel built into the armrest.’

‘Thanks.’

‘I’m so tired, dear,’ Lewis said to his wife… ‘Here you go… she’s already asleep.’

‘So we’re going to sleep after all.’ Carefully covering his wife with a blanket, Lewis pressed the button—the back of the chair lowered levelling with the seat, from under which an additional leg pillow was pushed out. His chair became the bed on which he settled down to sleep.

‘Mrs Stern, Mr Podger… Mrs Stern, Mr Podger,’ Olga lightly touched Meryl’s shoulder.

Meryl shuddered, waking up from the persistent attempts of the stewardess to wake them up:

‘What? What is it?’

‘It’s all right, Mrs Stern. Everything is fine. We are landing in less than 30 minutes.’

‘Have we slept for 16 hours?!’

‘Not really, Mrs Stern. It’s been 11 hours since we undocked from the station. The captain used a new improved operating mode for the engine, which significantly reduced the flight time.’

‘That’s good news, dear. Thanks. Now we’re… getting ready.’

Meryl looked at her husband, hovering over the armchair bed, next to which he was held by seat belts during the flight.

‘Lewis, dear, it’s time to wake up. Lewis. Lewis!’ Lewis was snoring softly. ‘Lewis!’ Meryl patted him on the shoulder. ‘Lewis, wake up. You will miss all the most interesting things sleeping like that.’

Overboard, fantastic and at the same time alien to human consciousness, lunar landscapes were replacing one another: small craters and the consequences of collisions with the distant messengers of the turbulent formation of the stellar system, which had been imprinted for millions of years; black spots gaping on the gray body of the satellite, in which nothing could be seen; huge boulders and stones; hilly fields of regolith and endless plains of emptiness. There, on the lifeless surface of the Moon, the gaze of a traveller who had just arrived from the planet with its life represented in such a bright and exuberant manifestation, was especially sensitive and receptive. A unique, priceless gift of the universe had become so familiar on the Earth that many began to take it for granted, stopped appreciating it. On the Moon, in the contrast of life and absolutely sterile emptiness, an understanding of the infinite value of the gift to humanity available on the native planet was manifested.

The shuttle was rapidly approaching its destination, the surface of the satellite was getting bigger.

There were three bases on the Moon. The first and the main, the largest, International Lunar Base Hipparchus was located on the southern border of the Mare Nubium. About 9,000 people were constantly engaged working in its four sectors—scientific, military, industrial and tourist. 99% of the infrastructure of the Hipparchus base was located below the surface, which allowed solving a number of problems, including severe temperature fluctuations caused by solar exposure, radiation, meteor showers. Prior to choosing the site for construction of the base, a long-term seismological research had been carried out, starting with the Apollo program in the 20th century. It prooved that the particular satellite zone was optimal from the point of view of moonquakes.

Despite the positive data on low tectonic activity in the Mare Nubium region, the indicators of moonshakes did not exceed 2.5 on the Richter scale, the construction of the base was carried out taking into account the most stringent standards. As a result, according to the design documentation, Hipparchus should have withstanded loads 3 times higher than the possible destructive impact of the satellite. Despite the fact that such an additional reliability of the project accounted for 7% of its total cost of $300 trillion, no one had any doubts about the expediency of such an approach. The reliability of the complex operations and safety of employees, requirement to minimize all possible risks was the basic rule guiding the