❧
Clare watched in her rear-view mirror, as the settlement grew evermore distant. They had a compass, but no maps with them, and the compass was no real use without knowing which way was north. Did the Moon even have a magnetic structure? All this was for Steve to find out. It may have been Clare's field trip, but Steve had plenty to do too.
Hope sat quietly in the back, only turning round occasionally when she heard something move. There were plenty of rocks lying around, but the growth of the grass and other vegetation had consolidated the surface into what could only be described as meadow. Everywhere was green, at least, mainly green. Other colours could be seen in various places and Clare was heading straight towards one of them.
"No point in driving miles when we have all this on our front door step," she said, "we'll make our first camp here, this looks rather interesting."
She pulled the Jeep up and cranked on the hand brake. Everyone knew what to do as if by instinct. Clare grabbed her note pad and files and headed off into the flowers, Hope jumped down and began to set up camp, and Steve tried to figure out where they were.
Evening came and Clare arrived back at the camp.
"That coffee smells good," she said, flopping down by the fire. "I'm beat, it's been such a long time since I did this."
The other two let her take a few sips and then Steve asked, "So how did it go, find anything interesting?"
Clare smiled, which spoke volumes. "Yes, I did," she eventually said, "almost everything you can see is a new species. By new, I mean, not found on Earth. I think we'll stay here a while, I need to catalogue the growth patterns and distribution.
"I have some rocks to look at," Steve said, "so that's fine by me."
They both looked at Hope, "I'm happy sunbathing," she blurted out, "but I can man the water detector if you like."
Having said this, she dished up the food she had prepared, and conversation gave way to the filling of empty stomachs.
They turned in early and Hope was asleep in seconds, but Steve lay looking up at the stars. Seeing them against a black sky reminded him of when they had first arrived on the Moon. The blackness of space was his most striking memory, then all those years in Lark had erased it, but tonight, it had resurfaced, it really was a beautiful sight.
Next morning, Clare was first up. She put the coffee on and gently woke Hope, who hadn't moved all night.
"Time to wake up treasure," she said, softly. Hope opened her eyes and was in domestic mode in seconds. Steve stirred and slowly came alive.
"Anyone noticed how quiet it is?" he asked. They hadn't, but it instantly became obvious that it was. No animal sounds could be heard at all.
"It would seem that the animals enjoy human company." Hope said, "They must all be living near the settlement."
"You'd have thought the birds would have gone farther afield," Clare said, "after all, there's no reason for them not to."
"Perhaps there aren't sufficient numbers yet," Steve said, and no more was said about it.
Breakfast went as it should, except for Rufus not being there. Rufus was just too old to make this trip, so he'd been left behind with Jimmy and Shelley looking after him. It was only a small thing, but Steve could already see how things were changing for his family, and all the other Edenites. He knew that things would be very different when they returned from this trip, that's why he had been so keen for it to go ahead. It was one last chance for the Foresters to do their thing, and he intended to make the most of it.
After breakfast, Clare set off with great determination, and Steve dug out the geology kit, looking at Hope for a little reassurance. She just shrugged her shoulders and set about cleaning the dishes. "Thanks," he said, smiling at her, "I knew I could count on you for support."
He donned the kit and set off for a small rocky outcrop that was close by. "I'll be over there if you need me," he said pointing, and left the camp.
Hope cleaned up and sat down to read a book she had brought with her. She was quiet, a studious girl, unlike her sister Shelley, who could be the life and soul of the party when she wanted.
Hope knew she was special, in that she was the first human to be born on the Moon, but she also sensed that there was more than that. A sense of her own destiny had been implanted in her by her father, greatly supported by her mother. Hope knew there would come a time when she would play an important role in the life of the Edenite community, she just didn't know when.
She was only just a teenager, but already she was causing a stir amongst the young male population. Not only was she good looking, but she was also part of the first family, a real catch for someone. Right now, she was not too interested in boys, but nature would be sorting that out shortly. In the mean time, Hope was intent on helping her parents as much as she could. She too, sensed an impending end approaching, perhaps change would be a better word than end, but change so complete, that much that had gone before would indeed come to an end.
❧
Steve reached the outcrop and set to work with the kit. In much the same way as the water detector functioned, the geology kit used x-rays to penetrate the rock and measure its makeup. Output took the form of a graph on a small screen. The graph clearly showed the various known spikes that indicated the presence of common Earth minerals, but Steve was looking for other things. Kerasite was one, but he was hoping to find other alien substances also; who knows what else had been deposited here by all those asteroid hits. Steve worked intently, the excitement of the unknown driving him on, he also made careful notes for later study.
Clare was totally lost in her work as soon as she arrived at the patch of reddish coloured plants, growing close to the camp. Her initial inspection confirmed that they were alien and unknown to her. They don't belong to any species I've seen before, she wrote in her note book. She touched a petal, it felt like velvet. She smelled her fingers, the scent was pleasing but not strong. She noted the growth patterns and began making a sketch. It seemed that where these red flowers were growing, nothing else grew, not even grass. This struck her as odd, but not unduly so. Lastly, she took a specimen for later analysis. Clare stood up and stretched her back. It really had been a long time...
❧
John, Jimmy, and Eric had their heads together. Steve had left clear instructions for a theory he'd had prior to leaving. He wanted Jimmy to test it, so this meeting was to plan the strategy for doing so.
"How are we going to create that kind of heat?" Jimmy asked, "There's nothing here that can do it."
"True enough," Eric responded, "but there's lots of power down in Lark, so I suggest we head down there and see what we can cook up."
"Sounds like a plan," John said, so off they went.
The trio headed off to Lark. On reaching it, Eric went to look in the stores for something that would generate some real heat. He found it in an industrial laser that had been intended for mining use. With sufficient power it could generate several thousand degrees C, easily enough for their purposes. It took a few hours to hook it up to Lark's turbines, but eventually it was done. Jimmy mounted a small plate of Kerasite in a vice, and stood well back.
"All set here," he called to Eric, who was at the controls. The switch was thrown and the laser went to work on the plate. In no time at all, the entire place was filled with smoke, and a not too pleasant smell. Eric shut off the laser and waited till he could see. Jimmy, who was closest to the plate, spoke first.
"I don't believe it," he shouted excitedly. Eric and John came over to him. What they saw excited them too. The vice was gone, screws and all. Even the rock where the vice was mounted had suffered immense damage, but there, on the floor, shining as brightly as ever, was the Kerasite plate. It had no visible marks on it at all. It wasn't even warm to the touch.
"This is unreal," Jimmy said, "it should at least be warm. Let's try again with the narrowest beam the laser can generate. Perhaps a pin spot will get through."
"Ok," Eric said, "but my money's on the plate!"
They did it with the plate just resting against the rock face. The laser did its stuff but bounced off the plate's shiny surface searing the rock face on the opposite wall where it hit. They left the laser on until it began to seriously overheat then shut it off. By now, there was a deep hole in the wall where the laser had been deflected. Jimmy grabbed the plate -- it was stone cold and without even a blemish.
"I'd say that concludes the experiment guys," he said, handing the plate to John for inspection. "Steve's theory is proved."
"Agreed," said John, "I've never seen anything like this in all my years as an engineer. Remarkable!"
❧
Out at the Jeep, the radio crackled into life...
"This is John calling Steve, over."
Hope jumped, a little startled at the somewhat rude interruption, but quickly gathered herself together.
"This is Hope Mr. Hammond, dad is away from camp right now working on some rock tests, can I take a message, over."
"Sure thing Hope, just tell him his theory has been proven, so we're going ahead as planned, over."
"Ok, will do, over and out."
Hope stood up on the jeep to see if she could see her dad. He was several hundred meters away, but she figured she needed the exercise, so set off to give him the message.
"Hi Treasure," Steve said, when she arrived. "what brings you all the way out here?"
"There's a message," she said, and relayed it to him.
Steve just smiled when he heard it, "I thought as much," he said, more to himself than Hope.
"What does it mean daddy?" she asked innocently.
"It means we can go ahead with our big plan, Treasure, we now have a material that will withstand re-entry."
Hope was bright, and knew what re-entry meant. "So how're the tests going then?" She asked him.
"Fine Sweetheart, I've discovered Kerasite all over the place, but not much else of interest. Any news from your mother?"
"Nope, nothing at all. I haven't seen her since breakfast."
It was now almost lunchtime, so Steve and Hope went back to the camp for a snack, looking for Clare as they went. They saw her far off on the other side of the camp, crouching down over something blue. They called, but she didn't hear them.
"Shall I go and take her some lunch daddy?"
"No Sweetheart, she'll be deep into something over there, I'd leave her to it if I were you. She'll come back to camp when she's ready."
❧
Jimmy arrived back from Lark and went to see Shelley.
"Hi Hun," he called as he entered the house.
"Hi Jims, I'm so glad you're back, I'm worried about Rufus. He's been whimpering for the last hour or so, I think he's sick."
Jimmy looked at him, "I think you're right Hun, I'll call Sam and see if he can do anything."
Jimmy called Sam, the doctor, who came straight over. He bent down to examine Rufus, but wasn't there long.
"There's nothing I can do I'm afraid, it's just old age." Sam suggested calling Steve and Clare in case they wanted to be there at the end.
"How long do you think he's got?" Shelley asked.
"Hard to say, but a couple of days tops, better get that call in."
Shelley wasted no time, and got on the radio to her mum and dad straight away.
Steve and Hope had just arrived back at the camp when the call came through.
"Hi Shell, this is dad, what's up?"
By now, Shelley was in tears. "It's Rufus daddy, he's ill. Sam says he only has a couple of days left, I thought you would want to know, over."
"Yes, thanks Honey, I'll go and tell your mother right away, I'll let you know what we're doing later, over and out."
Steve and Hope set off straight away towards where Clare was working. Hope was in tears too by the time they reached her. Clare heard them coming and looked up to see two somewhat distraught faces.
"Whatever is the matter?" she asked, as they approached.
"It's Rufus mommy, he's ill, and they think he only has a couple of days left."