The Solar Sea by David Lee Summers Read Free Book Online

long as they don't take all this open space from me .
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Chapter 5
    The Aristarchus Project
    Some said privatization was the best thing that ever happened to the American space program. In 2074, even before NASA's Ares II mission returned from Mars, Martin-Intelsoft launched its first rocket to the Moon. Within five years, three companies—Martin-Intelsoft, Quinn Corp, and General Nanotech—had operating factories on the Moon. From 1969 to 2074, less than two-dozen humans had set foot on the Moon. By 2078, over two thousand people lived on the Moon full time. Shuttle flights were routine. Each of the companies sent at least one shuttle per week.
    Not everyone was happy about the privatization of space flight. When NASA was disbanded, exploration of Mars stopped completely. Environmentalists complained that the factories were destroying the lunar surface. The changes were apparent even from Earth without a telescope. The man on the Moon had developed dark pockmarks and long, thin scars where buildings had been erected and trenches dug. During the dark of the Moon, pinpricks of light stood out on the lunar surface.
    Jonathan Jefferson had been to the Moon several times both as a NASA astronaut and aboard Martin-Intelsoft shuttles. Though he knew that corporate loyalty was a thing of the distant past, he felt strangely like a traitor sitting in the cockpit of a Quinn Corp shuttle as they approached the Moon. He'd decided to take some annual leave from his job at Martin-Intelsoft to see what the Aristarchus project was all about.
    As the shuttle swung around to the dark side of the Moon, Jefferson caught his breath. On the surface, near the Quinn Corp factory were ten enormous scaffolds. Within each were long, white blades that looked like plastic, though he knew the material was in fact a far lighter and stronger material—quinitite.
    "Those quinitite blades,” began the colonel, “how big are they? They must be what ... three miles long?” He leaned over the shuttle's command console, peering out the window at the craters and other features on the Moon, trying to get a sense of scale.
    The shuttle's pilot grinned. “Try five miles."
    "So Jerome Quinn and this ... this Thomas Alonzo ... are really building a solar sail to go to the outer planets?” Jefferson shook his head, amazed. “Where's the main fuselage being built?"
    The shuttle pilot pointed to a large building at one end of the factory complex. “It's in there. They're expecting it'll be finished next week."
    "Next week?” The colonel's eyes went wide. “They must be devoting a lot of the factory's resources to this project."
    "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to return to your seat in the crew cabin. We're getting ready to land."
    Jefferson nodded and then turned, his stomach doing flip-flops. His last trip to the Moon had been over a year before and he was no longer used to the tricks gravity played aboard a spacecraft approaching a body such as a moon or planet. They were close enough to the Moon, he could feel a small amount of gravity beneath his feet. At the same time, the shuttle was decelerating, making it feel like he was being pushed from behind as he fell-stepped-drifted back to his seat in the passenger cabin of the shuttle. He sat down next to John O'Connell, the man who'd met him at Quinn Corp's spaceport. O'Connell's chin had fallen onto his chest and a light snore escaped. Jefferson buckled his harness. Out of habit, he double-checked O'Connell's harness was also secure.
    O'Connell awoke with a start as the shuttle fired its rockets, preparing to descend. “Are we there?"
    "Almost,” said Jefferson. “So, tell me, who exactly is this Thomas Alonzo that I'm going to meet?"
    "They say he's a hotshot engineer. He's been working his way through the ranks of the company for about five years.” O'Connell stifled a yawn. “The funny part is that no one seems to have met him before the ship started being built.”