Reporting For Duty

[NS]

The most congested traffic lane in space is the approach and departure routes between Lunar and the twenty-four geostationary orbital space stations. To get from the Earth to the moon, one first catches a rocket ship to the station that is directly over the launch site. Once docked there, passengers and freight are disembarked to the station for transfer to a totally different type of shuttle; on that does not have to endure atmospheric flight. Then it is a matter of waiting for the Earth's rotation to line up the station with the moon. Or rather, where the room will be. "Lay overs" of up to twelve hours will occur while that particular station obtains proper alignment.

To avoid such a delay, a passenger will fly to a launch point sometimes half-way around the world. So the trip to the moon can be in three stages, depending upon the relationship of the Earth to the moon. Fly to a launch point, take an atmospheric shuttle to a space station, and finally take a non-atmospheric shuttle to the moon.

For a return trip, the sequence is reversed.

***** ***** *****

It was late afternoon when Lieutenant Moonwatcher knocked on Commander Smith's office door at the FTL simulator building. The call of "Enter" from the other side of the door prompted Moonwatcher to open the door and step inside.

"Larry!" Commander Smith arose from his chair and offered his hand, "Glad to see you made it back in one piece." After shaking hands, he bade the Second Officer to sit down.

"Getting from Lunar to Terra gets longer and more annoying each time I do it," Moonwalker groused.

"Well, that's what you get for living off the reservation," Smith grinned.

The 'reservation', of course, was Earth. But Moonwatcher was no more Native American than Smith was an arctic penguin. Generations ago 'Martians' (people born on Mars, or with ancestors born on Mars) started changing their names to sound like Native American names. Probably as a means of declaring that Mars was separate and independent from Earth.

"So how was leave?" the Commander asked.

"That's the funny thing, Skipper," Moonwatcher answered. "You know how when you're in space, all you can think about is home. Then when you are home, all you can think about is getting back in space?" Commander Smith nodded his head, he knew exactly what Lieutenant Moonwatcher was saying. "Leave was only two months, but it seems like I have been away for..." he waved his hand in a circular fashion, rotating his wrist as he tried to come up with a number. ...

"I have been away for fourteen years and am just now getting back."