CisLuna_Hard-boiled Police Procedural_Murder Mystery Read online

  Ejner Fulsang

  _______________________

  CisLuna

  Århus Publishing

  Copyright

  © Ejner Fulsang, 2017

  All rights reserved. No Part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to:

  [email protected]

  Author’s photograph by Philip Hutcherson

  Nathalie Cabrol’s photograph by Deborah Kolyer of SETI

  Other Scientist and Project Manager photographs in Acknowledgements section are courtesy of NASA

  Cover art by Douglas Shrock www.shrox.com

  SAN: 8 5 0 – 3 0 5 2

  ISBN (Amazon Kindle eBook): 978-0-9913243-7-8

  ISBN (Createspace Paperback): 978-0-9913243-8-5

  For Julie, the woman who changed my life

  Table of Contents

  Foreword—NASA Scientist Brian Day

  Prologue

  PART I

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Part II

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  PART III

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  PART IV

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  Coming in 2018

  Preview of Genesis Prologue and first chapter

  Prologue

  Chapter One – Launch Day

  About the Author

  Also by Ejner Fulsang

  Foreword—NASA Scientist Brian Day

  There is a fascinatingly anachronistic quality to CisLuna. It reads like a classic hard-boiled detective novel from the early to mid-20th century. Much of the banter between characters takes the reader back to those bygone days. There is certainly more than a little of Sam Spade in Roy Stone. But the setting, in dramatic contrast, is distinctly futuristic. In the background remains the image of the dystopian Earth described in SpaceCorp, the prequel to this novel. The region of Low Earth Orbit has been rendered unusable due to the Kessler Effect. But the central setting for this story is the Moon and the area around it, cislunar space.

  True to form, Ejner Fulsang has been painstaking in doing his research. He describes in exquisite detail the technologies and methodologies that will be used to live and work on and near the Moon. This technical part of the story is in remarkable accord with the kinds of discussions you will hear today at conferences around the world as the space agencies of many nations as well as a growing number of private companies come together to plan a vigorous renewed effort to explore and establish a sustained presence on the Moon.

  Why all of the interest in the Moon? Why would it merit such a significant role in this story? Why is there now such a clamor among governments and industry to get there? Such was certainly not the case even relatively recently. In the years following the premature termination of the Apollo program, the lunar science and exploration communities dwindled to a small fraction of their former numbers. The Moon seemed so less interesting than other worlds, whose wonders were being revealed by robotic probes venturing into deep space. As a kid growing up during the space race, I learned in school that the Moon was geologically dead, completely airless, and utterly dry. So much of what we learned about the Moon back then turned out to be completely wrong!

  Reexamining old Apollo seismometer data, a team led by lunar scientist Clive Neal of Notre Dame came to the remarkable conclusion that the Moon is seismically active, experiencing moonquakes measuring greater than 5.5 on the Richter scale, sometimes lasting for more than 10 minutes. Be assured right here and now, that if you were to experience a quake of that magnitude and duration, you would very quickly conclude that the object you were standing on was not geologically dead!

  During the time interval of 2010 - 2014, I had the good fortune to work with the brilliant scientists and engineers of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission. In 2013, this robotic explorer entered into lunar orbit, then dropped down low to fly through the Moon's atmosphere, studying its structure, composition, and variability over time. The Moon does indeed have an atmosphere, technically a surface boundary exosphere. This extremely tenuous assemblage of gasses is an example of what is likely the most common type of atmosphere in our solar system. Mercury has one. The Moon has one. Larger asteroids and many moons of the giant planets have them. Even some larger members of the Kuiper Belt; distant, small, icy worlds beyond the orbit of Neptune have them. The Moon provided us with an opportunity to study an example of this extreme type of atmosphere from a location right in our own back yard, astronomically speaking.

  Prior to LADEE, I spent several years assigned to a particularly exciting mission, the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite - LCROSS. In 2009, this NASA mission used the Centaur upper stage of its Atlas V rocket as a high-speed impactor directed into a permanently-shadowed region in the crater Cabeus near the Moon's south pole. The impact excavated hundreds of tons of material from the crater floor, sending it up, out of the shadows, into the sunlight, and high into the sky of the Moon. The robotic LCROSS spacecraft then dove down into this plume, analyzing its composition and confirming the presence of significant amounts water ice and other volatiles that had been sequestered in the shadows. Subsequent studies using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), revealed that the deposits of polar water ice on the Moon may amount to billions of tons. So much for a waterless Moon!

  This changed everything. Habitation of the Moon and its environs became much more feasible with large amounts of this precious resource at hand. There could now be ample water to drink and oxygen to breathe. Freed from the complications of having to traverse the Earth's thick atmosphere and deep gravity well, the Moon will offer a great, economical alternative to the Earth as a source for delivery of oxygen and hydrogen fuel to orbiting spacecraft preparing to venture to far more distant locations. The Moon will become a critical stepping stone as we spread out across the solar system. This earns the Moon its prominent role in plans for space exploration. And it makes it a very appropriate setting for Ejner's story.

  A truly amazing community is working together right now to advance our understanding of the Moon, our solar system, and now even other solar systems, and turn our dreams of becoming a spacefaring society into reality. It is fitting that Ejner recognizes some of them in this story through the naming of spacecraft and stations such as the Anthony Colaprete, John Marmie, Nathalie Cabrol, and William Borucki. These people, and so many other pioneers of space today comprise a real-life cast of characters every bit as fascinating and col
orful as you could find in a Fulsang novel.

  But the adventure of the Moon does not just belong to this group of scientists and engineers. It belongs to all of us, students, backyard astronomers, and anyone with that all-important spark of curiosity. During the LCROSS mission, K-12 students around the world took remote control from their classrooms of some of the giant radio dishes of the Goldstone Station of the Deep Space Network to help monitor the health and status of the LCROSS spacecraft in flight through the GAVRT program (http://www.lewiscenter.org/gavrt/). Amateur astronomers regularly observe and record meteoroid impact flashes on the Moon (http://alpo-astronomy.org/lunarupload/lunimpacts.htm); an activity that became particularly scientifically important during the LADEE mission as we studied meteoroid impacts as one of the sources for the lunar atmosphere. Citizen scientists can identify and map interesting features on the Moon at home using Moon Mappers (https://cosmoquest.org/x/science/ moon/). Web applications like NASA's Moon Trek (https://moontrek.jpl.nasa.gov/) allow the public to explore the Moon in dramatic detail, and view it through the eyes of many different instruments aboard many different spacecraft. One night every year, people gather in hundreds of coordinated events around the world to participate in International Observe the Moon Night (http://observethemoonnight.org/).

  The Moon beckons irresistibly with its promise for the future. It is more accessible than ever before with tools and activities available to people of all ages and backgrounds. Join us in the great adventure of exploring the Moon! And while you are at it, sit back and enjoy a good read about exploration and mystery on and around the Moon, as depicted in CisLuna.

  —Brian Day

  2017

  Mauna Kea, Hawaii – 4207 meters

  Subaru and Keck I and II Telescopes in the background

  Brian Day is the Lead for Lunar and Planetary Mapping and Modeling, as well as Lead for Citizen Science and Outreach at NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI). As project manager for Lunar and Planetary Mapping and Modeling, he oversees development of data visualization and analysis tools designed for mission planning, planetary science, education, and public outreach. In his citizen science role, he coordinates programs providing opportunities for students and the public to directly participate in NASA science and exploration. From 2010-2014, Brian served as the Education/Public Outreach Lead for NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission to the Moon, which flew through and studied the Moon's tenuous atmosphere. From 2007-2010 he served as the E/PO Lead for NASA's LCROSS lunar impactor mission which discovered deposits of water ice at the Moon's South Pole. Brian has participated in various NASA Mars Analog Field Studies, supporting scientific research and robotic rover tests in extreme environments here on Earth. In 2007, he flew on the Aurigid-MAC mission to record fragments of comet Kiess entering Earth's upper atmosphere. As a member of NASA's Speakers Bureau, he is sent by NASA to give talks on a wide range of NASA missions and research topics.

  Prologue

  Key events of 2028 to 2085:

  2028—Kessler Syndrome renders Low Earth Orbit, or LEO, non-viable for conventional satellites.

  2030—SpaceCorp initiates construction of the SpaceCorp Space Station SSS Wernher Von Braun, a one kilometer spinning ring advertised as the first debris-proof instrument-hosting space station.

  2038—Von Braun is christened. 45 astronauts are killed and 427 wounded by debris strikes during its eight-year construction.

  2070—Sea level rise: +5 meters since 2010; atmospheric CO2 at 800 parts per million

  2073—Dissolution of America

  January 1st, 2073—Dixieland repeals Emancipation Proclamation, 210 years after President Lincoln issued it.

  August 4th, 2073—Promised Land passes legislation providing tax incentives for polygamous families. Three days later a rider is attached stipulating that the tax incentives only apply to families involving one husband and multiple wives.

  2074—SpaceCorp initiates exodus to CisLuna; SSS Albert Einstein is first space station to take up residence at the Earth-Moon L1 Lagrange point. It is followed a year later by SCS Pelican.

  2084—Sierra, sovereign state of SpaceCorp, hires mercenaries to seal the border along the Colorado River to protect against land hungry Mormon pioneers from Promised Land.

  PART I

  Chapter Two

  Edwards Air Field used to be Edwards Air Force Base until SpaceCorp bought it. The Rogers Dry Lake runway system was perfect for space launches using big Air Launch Vehicles or ALVs with their LEO shuttles slung under their wings. Big as battleships. If an ALV crashed on a return flight, you just bulldoze the wreckage into the Mojave and carry on. Fortunately, that never happened with an ALV although we have lost a few LEO shuttles from debris impacts up in space.

  For fifty years space debris, aka the Kessler Effect, made LEO non-navigable for satellites. SpaceCorp solved that problem with its fleet of giant manned space stations. They were big rotating spoked wheels, a kilometer in diameter and heavily armored for debris resistance. Satellite instruments were mounted out of harm’s way along the interior spokes. Still, occasional damage did occur from time to time, hence the need for human crews to keep up with repairs. But that left the problem of getting crews up to the stations.

  Cheap was the name of the game when you needed to get millions of tons of cargo into LEO, and the ALV-LEO shuttle combination could loft a hundred tonnes of cargo or people into orbit for the cost of the fuel.

  My welcoming committee rushed me from the helicopter into the passenger prep terminal in a golf cart. I was glad for the open-air ride. It was wicked hot on the tarmac. Inside the terminal I stripped down to my pubes and put my street clothes into a small duffel bag that I would carry onboard. A trained astronaut can suit up solo, but since I was a rube, it took two flight techs to dress me. And dress me they did, one layer at a time, starting with my nappy which the techs assured me would collect six hour’s worth of piss in a manner I was not supposed to notice on the flight to CisLuna. My space suit was roughly my size. It had laces that could be tightened to make the legs shorter and laces that could be loosened to make the arms longer—handy when you’re built like a gorilla.

  One of the techs was obviously proud of his product—like he’d designed it himself. He babbled on about how SpaceCorp space suits were way more advanced versions of NASA’s old Constellation Space Suit.

  “Full pressure,” he said. “No need to breathe pure oxygen for two hours before going into space. Did I mention this suit comes in two configurations?”

  “No.”

  “You’re in a Config One. It’s used for travel to and from Earth plus limited EVAs in the event of an emergency. It’s optimized for comfort and agility within the space shuttle. Life support is only good for about two hours.”

  “What am I supposed to do for the other four hours?”

  “Umbilicals. I’ll hook you up when you get inside the shuttle. Your suit is pressurized to 0.8 atmospheres—same as modern airliners. That’s so you don’t have to hyperventilate on pure O2 for two hours before flight. It also has a backpack parachute and a life raft in the event of a shuttle breakup or ditch.”

  I was sorry I asked, but hey, in for a penny! “What’s a Config Two?”

  “Extended EVAs.”

  “EVAs?”

  “Extra Vehicular Activity. It’s optimized for ballistic protection from microjunk—there’s still quite a lot of it up there. It also has an Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or EMU, that weighs 136 kg. All that comes in a special back pack that also has a propulsion unit for scooting around independent of your tether. Without the EMU, Config Two suits can be used for work on the lunar surface. They have life support for 150 hours, subject to the intensity of the work being performed.”

  I guess the reality that I was going into space was beginning to sink in because suddenly I started asking a zillion stupid questions.

  “How long is the flight?”

  “About
six hours from drop-off to docking at Einstein.”

  “I’ve gotta stay in a suit the whole way? Why isn’t this crate pressurized?”

  “Low Earth Orbit is full of space debris. If you get a hull penetration, it just passes out the other side. There’s no depressurization emergency because everyone is already in their suit.”

  “What if that piece of debris passes through me?”

  “Your ticket will be refunded to your next of kin.”

  “I didn’t pay anything for it.”

  “Then your next of kin won’t get very much.”

  “How do I pee?”

  “I already told you, just pee. You’re wearing that special diaper and won’t feel the wetness. Keep this bag with you. In addition to your personal effects, it has a small supply of replacement diapers, plus some special wipes to clean your nether parts when you get a chance to change back into street clothes.”

  “Where’s my gun?”

  “The weapons clerk took it—no firearms in space. SpaceCorp policy. You can retrieve it when you get back.”

  “How do I take a shit?”

  “Same as peeing. But you’ll feel the fecal matter until you get your suit off and change your diaper.”

  “What if I get thirsty?”

  “You have two straws you can suck on. One is plain water. The other is laced with nutrients and electrolytes—your ‘inflight meal.’”

  “Can I open the visor to scratch my nose?”

  “Sure. ONCE!”

  After I got suited, the techs piled me back on the golf cart and drove me out to the colossal air launch vehicle. Did I say it was big as a battleship? Make that an aircraft carrier. Add to that a LEO shuttle the size of a destroyer hanging under the midpoint of the wing. Maybe being up close is making me exaggerate, but not by much though. I noticed the ALV had no fuselage.

  “Where does the crew sit in that thing?” I asked.