Chapter 2

Children at Armstrong City normally stayed underground, protected from radiation and the harsh dangers of lunar vacuum. Both the Nursery and the School had special airlocks that were always in place in case of catastrophic failure of the outer dome. Unlikely, but if a large meteor (anything larger than a golf ball) or an errant spacecraft hit the tough triple-layer dome, the last thing the engineers wanted were parents worried about their child’s safety over their own.

Due in part to this, visits outside the dome were highly controlled. The kids were not even allowed in normal lunar enviro suits. Instead, they used ‘hamster balls’ that had two separate airlock-like entrances and dual environmental systems and were tough enough to withstand nearly anything the Moon could offer. You could roll around on a bed of knives without any problem and the air recyclers would last for days.

So field trips onto the surface were always carried out with nearly one-to-one; one space-suited adult to one hamster ball. Most of the children’s caregivers were actually in their teens as well, just a few years older than Jabin and Atarah.

Each ball usually contained a maximum of two children, but for teens, it was almost always just one. The balls were about six feet in diameter and while heavy on Earth, were not much more than big beach balls in the low lunar gravity. Each was motor driven and gyro stabilized. They were completely clear and had an anti-static charge to repel most of the lunar dust from sticking, so the view was quite unobstructed.

Of course, there were vehicle-based field trips as well, but the kids loved rolling and tumbling around in the balls, playing as much as keeping track of their teacher’s lessons. Even though the BCI interfaces gave them a near perfect virtual reality memories of anywhere on the Moon or Earth, there was still nothing like really being in a place, especially when you could have fun.

One night, Atarah got a message on her wrist term ‘Come meet me at airlock 4’.

It was supposed to be sleep time so she knew something was up. She snuck out of her home without telling her mom, something she had done before, and made her way to the airlock.

“Atarah, over here”, whispered Jabin. His head peeked out of a hamster ball, “We’re going out!”

There were two others there as well. She knew them; Laandan and Maahir, both caregivers as well as working in climate engineering. Both were a few years older than Jabin and her and both a mated pair. They were in lunar excursion suits, but had their helmets to their sides.

She looked skeptical. This was against the rules, even with trained ‘adults’. And doubly so, going out at not only during City ‘night’ but actual lunar night as well. Most all work and all field trips were done during lunar day when lighting was bright.

She looked around for another hamster ball, “Jabin, I don’t want to ... not a hamster ball. Anyway, I don’t see one for me.”

“In here, with me!”

She didn’t understand. Teens always got their own ball, considering that there wasn’t that much space in them ... and girls never went in one with another boy, knowing that they would be tumbled around together in there. Then it dawned on her.

Jabin helped her as she climbed in with him, giving him a sheepish little giggle. In Earth gravity, you could get hurt; knees and elbows, but here, at one sixth gee...

Laandan stuck her head into the ball, “Now you two don’t mate in here! This is a PG tour!”

Atarah blushed and giggled as Jabin just smiled.

Laandan sealed the ball as Maahir checked the systems.

Atarah had previously changed out of her sleep clothes into a tight fitting jumper, typical for teens going around in, particularly at night. And particularly when sneaking about.

They had left the radios off so as to not signal anyone that might be monitoring, so Maahir put his helmet against the hard, clear airlock of the ball.

“Ready?” a muffled voice called to them.

Jabin nodded his head and replied, “Yes” and the two wrapped themselves around each other. Atarah hadn’t expected this; she thought that they would stand side-by-side. Suddenly they were rolling as the electrics started under Laandan’s control. The two teens tumbled in the light gravity, bouncing like little fluff balls. At one sixth gee, they were hardly heavier than a small child.

Atarah let out a shout of glee as the two tumbled in slow motion, Jabin holding tightly to her. He tried to kiss her, but the initial tumbling was too rough for attempting such, so they just held on each other and laughed at themselves.

Maahir had previously alerted his friend in Systems Op, who had turned off the airlock alarm reporting. It seemed this was a popular thing with young teens in Armstrong.

They cycled through the lock and rolled outside with the two older ones watching and smiling at the two kids as they bounced in slow rolls. Laandan knew this was fun as she and Maahir had done this before they were mated as well. Doing this against the rules, at night, without permission and without parents keeping a close eye made it all the more fun.

The two tumbled end over end, laughing and giggling, trying to hang on to each other as they rolled out onto the darkened lunar surface. They stopped. Jabin turned Atarah over on her back.

“Look up!” he announced.

The first thing Atarah saw was the Earth. It was near full; a bright blue and white marble shining beautiful in the sky. She looked all around them. The entire surface appeared easily visible but ghostly lit by the reflected light and their enhanced eyesight. It was stark, totally quiet except for their breathing and the whisper of the air scrubbers. Dark blacks turned to dozens of shades of grey as her eyes adjusted. Looking away from Earth, her irises opened to the dark sky. She could see the stars, crisp and sharp, unblinking.

Jabin whispered to her, “Atarah, what do you think?”

She replied with just, “WOW!”

Laandan touched her helmet against the ball airlock, “You two ok?”

They laughed at the scare and replied affirmative.

“Then, let’s go for a little ride!” she replied and started off again.

The two tumbled a turn or so, but Jabin got to his feet and helped Atarah balance more or less standing up, walking with the ball.

“Watch this!” Jabin stretched spread eagle, hands and feet bracing against the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ of the ball and suddenly he was doing a cartwheel, spinning with the ball. Atarah lost her balance and tumbled into him on the next partial revolution and the two crashed about in slow collisions.

Jabin laughed, “I think we need to do this together.”

The two got their balance in the slow roll of the ball and both spread eagle back to back, doing lazy cartwheels as the ball carried them. Atarah watched the Earth spinning in the sky until she had to close her eyes.

They stopped and Laandan again touched her helmet to them, “Ok, get ready. Signal and we will push you off!”

Atarah looked surprised at Jabin, then looked into the direction he was staring. Her eyes went wide.

“NO! Don’t you DARE!”

This was completely against the rules. They were sitting at the edge of a crater wall. It was only a dozen or so meters deep but looked like an endless cliff in the sharp shadows of night. Jabin nodded his head to Laandan and grabbed Atarah tightly. Suddenly the ball went over the edge and they were falling, tumbling head over heels, screaming in fear and delight as they rolled and bounced bounding over rocks and bumps. Laandan and Maahir watched as the ball fell away in dead silence with two teens, mouths wide open, but not a sound, tossed and bounced in slow motion around and around in the lunar night into the crater.

An eternity of tumbling later they hit bottom and bounced high into the vacuum of space, the world around them spinning in every direction as the ball’s gyros fought to dampen their wobbles.

Atarah screamed again as they bounced once, twice, three times before rolling to a stop. Tears of fear and joy wetted her face and she pronounced numerous profanities in many languages at her boyfriend. He smothered her swearing with kisses until she quit fighting and they French kissed. The excitement heated the two into a battle of lustiness. In their tight jumpers, Jabin could feel her breasts against him. He ran his fingers over them, nipples hard from the adrenalin of the fall. He was on top of her as they kissed. His hand ran up and down her torso, covered only in its thin, tight material. Every curve pronounced. She wrapped her legs around his and their crotches pressed together.

Jabin broke their kiss. He knew that all he had to do was run a fingertip down her jumper and it would open. He did, unable to resist. She didn’t stop him. Her top parted and her breasts exposed as he moved the material aside. She quivered to his touch as his fingers traced circles around her bare nipples and massaged her breasts. His mouth went to one and he kissed and sucked on it, gently, then more intensely.

Atarah felt the touches of his lips on her breasts. She felt the coolness of the deadly cold lunar surface only millimeters away under her back. She could almost feel the ultrasonics shaking the dust they had collected off the ball’s surface. She stared up at the sky, Earth still there and dark shadowed grey crater walls around them. Stark, cold, empty, desolate.

Jabin moved down after kissing both her breasts. He touched her navel, a fingertip entering it caressing it. She felt his hand slide down her belly, opening the jumper as he went. She felt anticipation. She wanted him to touch her, down there, but was scared. They shouldn’t mate. Not yet. She wanted to feel him holding her, touching her. She stopped him as he reached her bare mons, whimpered and pulled on him to come back up to her. He relented. They kissed as his hard manhood pressed into her mons and between her legs, still covered and unseen, untouched.

They were alone in a vast, totally inhospitable world.

A bump. A laugh, “You two! I said this was PG, no mating!”

Jabin and Atarah giggled, the sexual tension broken. She quickly refastened her jumper as Laandan and Maahir rotated the ball, adjusted the motors for high torque and low speed and told the two to get ready for the ride back out of the crater. The crater had a wall collapse on one side so going up was much easier, though slower, than the wild ride down. They returned to the City dome uneventfully.

Atarah in her bed again, dreamed of her mating day.

After Jabin and Atarah had convinced their moms that they were capable of going on the long journey to 2 Pallas, and with the help of her father’s own acknowledgement of their abilities, they started their training with the Blue Ion company instructors. The School lessons had taught them all the systems and requirements needed, though nearly everything was handled automatically by Pilot, the Cecilia Payne’s AI. In fact, the AI could run the ship completely, even with contingencies, without help from humans, but it had been trained to work with people, in this case, with Jabin and Atarah.

Atarah lay in her couch as the Aries lunar excursion vehicle prepped for launch. This was her first trip off world and even though well versed and trained, was excited and nervous. She looked over at Jabin who acted like he was asleep, but then smiled, knowingly.

The fusion reactor underneath them released some of its fury in a controlled explosion of expanding hydrogen pushing them off of the surface of Luna. A single Earth-gee force pressed Atarah deep into her couch; six times her normal weight. Still, she groaned under the pressure. After minutes that seemed like hours, the pressure released and they were weightless, another first for her. Jabin had been in lunar orbit once before with his father as they worked on the exact vehicle that would be taking he and Atarah to 2 Pallas.

The first sight of their new home for many months was like seeing an antenna tower floating on its side; webbed titanium and alum-steel struts and tubes, with a sphere holding a giant shield at one end and a rectangular box studded with a thousand pipes, tanks, radiators and the heavily shielded fusion drive at the other. In the middle was the expandable habitat, already inflated and covered in cables, antenna and more. Instead of a sleek space ship in many old movies, it looked more like a junk pile welded together.

Docking and transfer was uneventful as the Blue Ion workers and droids shuttled the last remaining supplies on board. Everything else was already loaded and prepped. Jabin’s dad was there to greet them and help them get adjusted to their new home away from home. Atarah already knew where everything belonged and all of the details of the virtual instrumentation consoles available via BCI or by visual hologram. But she took time adjusting to floating weightless for the first time as she checked out the Control Pod, directly behind the Storage Pod and Shield.

Jabin had already whispered to her about joining the ‘FreeFall Club’ sometime before their journey began. She just rolled her eyes and continued with her checklists.