Luna by Rick Chesler Read Free Book Online Page B

to life with the voices of the other passengers as one by one, they got into their suits and spoke into their radios.
    “Suzette,” Blake said over the common channel. “I want you out the door first.”
“Really? I thought you’d prefer the honor.”
    “Nonsense. I need you to capture my first steps and words on video for posterity.”
    “Can’t you do that while I stand on the steps of the lunar module?”
    “No, I want the ship in the background.”
    Behind his helmet, Burton rolled his eyes. Martin, meanwhile, was paying the entire scene no mind, just staring up at the starry void.
    Asami came up beside James with a smile that could melt glass. Burton wondered if Blake had told her to flirt with him a little, to butter him up? He wouldn’t put it past him. At the same time, he wasn’t above needing a little inspiration. Had it not been for the two helmets, he’d have been inclined to ask for a good luck kiss. Well, probably not, but what does it really matter now?
    “Careful out there, Mr. Burton. But don’t forget to have fun!” She gave his shoulder a pat and stepped aside to give him plenty of room to make his exit.
    He thanked her, although “be careful” was just about the last thing he wanted to hear. He’d have been much happier with, “Go on, you big wuss. There’s nothing whatsoever to worry about. It’s as safe as an English garden out there.”
    The hiss of the hatch opening reminded James of his wife’s cat, Grey Skies, back on Earth. A fine temperament for a feline, but he made that startling sound any time James accidently stepped on his fluffy gray tail during one of his middle-of-the-night jaunts to the kitchen.
    James walked slowly to the edge and looked out onto the moon. The moon! Blake was down there already, standing about ten feet away from the LEM, carefully positioning himself for Suzette’s camera. About ten more feet behind him, Suzette aimed her video device toward Blake and the ship. In the LEM, Martin and Asami waited patiently for James to get some balls and leave the capsule.
    He looked back out onto the moon once and stared down the ladder, thinking of Neil Armstrong’s first descent. He instantly felt the hair on his forearms stand on end. One rung at a time , he told himself.
    He dangled a foot over the side and took a leap of faith. His momentum carried his next foot over, and he suddenly feared tumbling like an idiot down the stairs, perhaps cracking his helmet open in the process. Wouldn’t that be ironic, he couldn’t help but think, visualizing a sensational news headline. FAA Safety Administrator Killed on Moon Due to Own Carelessness. Wonderful . People would love that, too. He reminded himself why he was here. Just go through the experience and report back. He’d heard there was already a 68-year-old woman signed up to ride on the second flight once Outer Limits got clearance. If she could do it...
    He slowed, steadied himself. Allowed himself a look at the terrain just ahead of him, and reflected on the description Armstrong had relayed back to the scientists on Earth.
    “The surface appears to be very, very fine grained as you get close to it; it’s almost like a powder…” Too many adverbs, of course. Rather than an astronaut, Burton thought, they should have sent a man of letters to the moon in 1969.
    Another foot forward and James dropped onto the surface of Earth’s only natural satellite. Again, he heard Armstrong’s voice instead of his own.
    “That’s one small step for man…one giant leap for mankind.” Poor guy, that Armstrong. Responsible for uttering some of the most important words in human history and he got them wrong. He’d meant to say, “That’s one small step for a man…one giant leap for mankind.” The way Armstrong said it made no sense at all. One small step for Man. One giant leap for mankind. Man and mankind were one and the same without that article. That single, solitary letter – that a – had been absent for