Out of the Cradle

[murphydyne]

Some Sunday Funnies

ComicCon was this weekend in Dallas, so I was able to pick up a few more Moon-related comics and comic stories. In no particular order:

Planetary #18: "The Gun Club". Published February 2004 by WildStorm Productions it weighs in at 22 pages.

Austin, TX. John Stone meets a man in a white suit. He gives him an image of a translunar trajectory that has been described by an object errantly launched toward the Moon some 150 years ago, and will be returning to Earth on Sunday, at the same point from which it was launched. Dark forces likely have their eyes on the same object, so it might be a good idea to be there. Flash forward. Some space instrument that looks like Hubble (but is too far out) gets taken out by a spherical object that leaves a smoky flaming trail in the void of space until finally it hits atmosphere and smashes some buildings near a pipeline and rolls to a stop in a pond. Location: central Florida. A figure of blue flame descends from the sky and calls on his cell for a pick up. A helicopter descends with a grapple to retrieve it, but it's not Mr. Blue flamey flying guy's guys, so he flies up to the helicopter and breaks in. It's on autopilot, and it's only then that he notices the explosives packed into every corner of the craft. The sphere falls to Earth with flame-guy beside it. A mean-looking woman runs hyper-fast from a landed second helicopter and drives a mean-looking spike thing into the flying-guy's head to disable him. White-suit guy's on the scene, and mean-looking lady kicks open the seal of sphere and lifts up the top to reveal...

This was a really cool take on Verne's "De la terre a la lune" and "Autour de la lune". His name in the guestbook for the launch was a cool touch. I don't understand the superhero backstory and no effort is made to provide details. If you can put that aside it's quite a creative tale.

Next up is "Celestial Mechanics: The Adventures of Widget Wilhelmina Jones" #3, a story entitled "You've Opened Heaven's Portal". Published in April 1991 by Innovative Corp., it weighs in at 24 pages.

Date: October 7, 2357. Location: Halplex Mare Moscoviense Anti-Matter Containment Facility. Corporate Motto: Better Living Through Total Conversion!" Widget Wilhelmina Jones is a free-lance spacer with her crew of misfits. She needs some anti-matter for a project that no one else knows about, and she's suspected of supplying arms to terrorists as a result. The cops surprise her there when she tries to break in, but she's already thought ahead, and when told to drop their weapons, hers turns out to be a dead-man switch that disables the containment fields on the anti-matter. Reminded of the potential consequences of a stray bullet, the nervous cops let Ms. Jones go with a small amount of anti-matter. Seeing them make a break for it, security is in pursuit, only to see the Toyota explode. With the authorities distracted, Wilhelmina and her team sneak out under the radar. Her pilot, Quarkstomper is much less than happy athaving his Toyota blown up, if only because of all the video treasures from Earth's golden era, the 20th Century, that were now lost forever. Back at Patrol Academy, Wilhelmina's sister decides to resign when she hears that the Patrol has stopped sending exploratory vessels, on which she'd hoped to serve. She meets up with her sister at Luna City and joins the crew, though she forces her sister to be law-abiding and pay for the anti-matter. Why does Widget need it? Well, now that's a surprising secret.

I was more than happy to buy this one just for the cover. Yowza!

Next is "Men From Earth #1: "A Man.. A Mission.. A Dream.." Published July 1991 by FUTURE-FUN, Inc., it weighs in at 31 pages. A few errors noted.

It is January 28th, 1992. USAF Major Joseph Matthew "Matt" Mason flies into Cape Kennedy for a special high-level meeting. At the same time, a new craft lands on the Moon. A Japanese lander carrying the large robotic vehicle Muses-2 lands in the Montes Caucasus, near crater Aristillus, which is more than happy to go all monster truck on the descent stages of the various Apollo missions. While the Japanese lay the groundwork for going to the Moon, important men fling words at one another in a heated congressional hearing at the Cape. The wound of Challenger is raw even all these years later, and seems to have stalled any more ambitious efforts. Major Mason harangues the important men, driven by the memory of his father, Major Matt Mason, whose death is classified, but which he has vowed never to forget. Can the U.S. turn around its space program? Or will it continue to spin in circles, directionless in the face of tragedy?

I think we all know the answer to that one. Apparently this comic was result of some kind of copyright dispute whereby the original owners of the "Major Matt Mason" franchise had let the trademark lapse. Someone steps in to expand the creative commons, and of course the original owners go to court and say well, you know, sure we let it lapse, but really, we had the intent of renewing it (one of these days), but now that someone has shown interest (and it's valuable again, maybe) we want them to stop so we can make the money instead. So this was the only issue of the series of the new adventures of Major Matt Mason, which contains an intense tribute to the Challenger 7. Definitely some graphic imagery, so I wouldn't recommend for younger than high school.

Going a bit farther back in time, we have "The Men in the Moon" in "Space Adventures" Vol. 3 No. 53, published in September 1963 by Charlton Comics Group, it weighs in at six pages.

The felithropoids, or cat-apes from the planets of the 17th sun, were over-running human positions across the galaxy and even threatening planet Earth. Two men realize that the cat-apes intend to establish a beach-head on the Moon, from which they can mount an assault on Earth without fear of disruption of their supply lines. Admiral Caldera leads a rush effort to riddle the Moon with tunnels and weapons emplacements. After a brief battle, the cat-apes seize the Moon and start landing troops to prepare for the invasion of Earth. To their surprise, thousands of armed humans spring out from nowhere, and as the last of Earth's fleet wages battle above, a last desperate fight begins to thwart the invasion.

Next is "Secret of the Moon Sphinx", published in the May/June 1971 edition of "Strange Adventures", No. 230 by National Periodical Publications (DC Comics) and weighs in at six pages. An Editor's Note indicates that the story was written in 1957.

The year is 1975, and the first crew from Earth has reached the Moon. Passing around to the far side of the Moon, the 41% never seen from Earth (due to librations/parallax it's more than 50% that we can see), the crew is startled to see the ruins of an ancient city and a sphinx! They quickly land to investigate, and watch horrified as rays shooting from the eyes of the sphinx (lasers?) blast their ship. The crew suddenly hear voices in their heads, and the sphinx explains that it has been waiting 12,000 years for visitors from Earth. The life in the Sphinx is atomic life, created during an atomic bomb blast undertaken in ancient Atlantis. The cloud is alive and powerful, but vulnerable to winds. It commands the Atlanteans to construct a stone form in which to house itself. Once safely ensconced inside, it begins to accumulate the knowledge of the Atlanteans. When they attack the obviously dangerous life form, it uses its beam rays to gouge out an enormous chunk of the Earth and send it hurtling into space, with itself as the only survivor, and effectively destroying Atlantis. But it became disoriented, and despite scanning the heavens for thousands of years has been unable to locate Earth. If the astronauts would answer but one simple question, it would gladly unfold the mysteries of space for them. Once sated, the men must answer the sphinx's question - "Where is Earth?". What, you don't know? It's just 240,000 miles away on the other side of the Moon, in the direction of Sirius. A Ha! Foolish Earthlings! I will take your ship to Earth and rule forever! A ha ha ha! Ha!

I don't know, this one just seemed to pander to the whole ancient astronaut/Atlantis thing. But hey, these are comic books!

Speaking of mythology, next up is Space: 1999 Vol. 2, No. 5 "Gods of the Planet Olympus", published July 1976 by Charlton Publications and weighing in at 22 pages.

Half a million miles away, a lush, Earthlike planet beckons the Alphans, though the first survey Eagle finds itself skewered by Neptune's trident! Who better to investigate such a dangerous mystery than the base's Commander, Chief Medical Officer, and top scientist? They quickly find the downed Eagle and are mystified by the damage. Suddenly they find themselves under attack by a giant cyclops! A lucky shot blinds it, but it falls on their Eagle,damaging everything but the piloting pod. The cyclops recovers, and the Alphans soon find themselves caged in the giant's cave with some other humans. It shows a particular interest in the lovely and blonde Dr. Helena Russell, and one of their "stingers". She offers to show him how to use it, and promptly blinds him again. This is a chance for the Alphans and some of the local humans to escape. They hotwire the Eagles' command pods and race to the ivory city above the alabaster cliffs, Hellene. Astounded by this city of beauty and light, they are even more astounded by the shrine of Apollo, a generation ship scale interstellar craft, belying a stranger tale lost in prehistory. Time's running out, as some centaurs saw the pods flying overhead, and the city finds itself under attack by giant gods of mythology.

Um...okay. An interesting variant on where the myths of ancient Western civilization come from. On to the next one...

"A Day in the Life of Dr. Moon", published in Starstream #3 in 1976 by Western Publishing Co. (Whitman) and weighing in at ten pages.

In the year 2085, medical school costs $9,000,000, and freshly-minted doctors have to work off the bill in one of a number of locations: Mars Colonys 1-7, the Mariannas Aqua Base, or at Lunar City on the Moon, which was the choice of Justin Rages. An emergency call at 4:15 am drags Justin away from his family and into the heart of a medical crisis. A man suspected of carrying Lunar Plague 14 (a/k/a Moon Bloat) has disappeared, and must be captured and incinerated before he can become infectious. The symptoms end with all the major organs distending like a dozen cancers growing at once. Everyone's told to be on the lookout for the early symptoms, dark blue circles around the eyes. Symptoms easily masked with the clever application of cosmetics to avoid detection. Dr. Rages heads out to his normal post at Lunar Ferrous works-8, but it's only the usual cases of Crazees and one emergency, a drunken brawler who killed a man. He heads to his next assignment at Heartland, where Severe-Cardio-Vasculars live on average 23 years longer than S-C-Vs on Earth! Everyone's hale and hearty (for being on the Moon) and after a long day Dr.Rages is ready to head home when an emergency plastic lung transplant calls him into OR. Just ready to go home, one last hit & run needs attention, someone who passed out on the street maybe, one of the symptoms of Moon Bloat. He rushes to check, but no go. The guy who brought him in does have a tooth ache, could he get some painkillers? Sure. Wait...that guy had fake teeth. The chase is on!

Not a bad batch of comic stories set on our Moon. The two that I most enjoyed would have to be "The Gun Club", given the allusions to the Verne's story, and to my pleasant surprise "A Day in the Life of Dr. Moon", which tried to present a reasonable facsimile of medical life on the Moon.

[murphydyne]

"Space Visitor" by Mack Reynolds

Published in 1977 by Ace Books, it weighs in at 149 pages. One error noted: breath for breathe.

Werner Brecht has been on the Moon for a while, three tours, when he decides to break the news. He's part of a six person crew on the Moon at a base established by OZMA, a bureau of the Reunited Nations. People from a variety of nations are represented, and they've been hypnotically conditioned to have a strong affection for one another. To make light of this fact, they use pejoratives when referring to one another while speaking in Esperanto. Mary Lou is Yawl, Kingsley Brett James is Your Majesty, Max Zimmerman is "Kike", Li Ching is "Chink", Werner is "Kraut", and Azikiwe Awolowo is "Nigger".

Stepping aside from the review for a minute, I think I see where the author is going with this particular plot device, in that by regular and affectionate use of the terms (which I don't find particularly pleasant to read), the characters are able to display that the words are ultimately meaningless, their pejorative nature lost through their use in affection. Still, it doesn't make any less unhappy that I have to write those terms in the review.

During a game of Liar's Dice in the Rec Room, Werner wanders in and announces that he's found an alien craft on the Moon. That certainly gets everyone's attention, and he shows them photographs of the alien spacecraft. Not everyone's convinced, in part because Werner refuses to divulge the location. He feels that the world is not ready for that level of technology, because one of the big powers is going to try and grab it for themselves and nothing but war will result.

The team is quickly recalled to Earth, where the jockeying begins and alliances to nation or wealth tempt each of the party members in turn to try to wrest the secret from Werner. The Mob even does an old fashioned heist from the penthouse of the Reunited Nations building to auction him off to the highest bidder. Meanwhile, as news of the find spreads around the globe, the people start agitating for a global response, foregoing 'national' interests in favor of a united world in the face of this new and unknown challenge. Tensions are running high, and in spite of a rescue mission from the Mob by his Lunar teammates, he's disappeared again. Will the world ever know the truth of the alien craft's location?

A fair read, it's a pretty straightforward call for a greater sense of internationalism and "citizen's of Planet Earth" thinking, on which road I do think we are slowly struggling but it will take time absent some kind of external threat, as envisioned in the book. As I said, I wasn't terribly pleased with the pejorative nicknames, even if I do think I understand the underlying intent.

I'll give this one a half-Moon.

Back to the Lunar Library

[murphydyne]

"Red Moon" by Michael Cassutt

Published in 2001 by Tor/Forge Books, it weighs in at 377 pages. One error noted, breath for breathe.

A journalist working in Moscow is given a scoop on someone he might want to talk to, someone who was at the heart of the developing Russian Moon program back in the 1960s. We are introduced to an aged Yuri Ribko, who tells the journalist an explosive story of secrets, espionage, betrayal, hope, death, and the frustrating reality that is the Russian experience.

We flash back nearly forty years, and a young Yuri is enrolled at the Baumann Technical school near Moscow. His father is a colonel-general in the Soviet Air Force, whilst his mother had died some six years prior. He is dating a mysterious young lady named Marina, and living with a couple other bachelors in a squalid flat. He believes in the Worker, and is a consistent attendee of the Komsomol meetings. Through a little good luck and a lot of string pulling behind the scenes he has the opportunity to begin associating with the Soviet's 'civilian' space program under Korolev.

He even happens to be in the hospital where Korolev dies, and his Uncle Vladimir, for whom he supplies information, sets him the task of trying to figure out who was involved. For what Yuri heard that day at the filthy hospital leaves no doubt in his mind that someone killed Korolev, effectively killing the 'civilian' space program for which he served as it's brilliant visionary, much like Von Braun in the West (known here as the 'Main Enemy'). Still, the jobs are filled with other men, and the efforts continue.

Yuri becomes something of a freelancer within the organization, exposed to a number of different jobs, from testing out the toilet in a Soyuz capsule during flights on a vomit comet, to frigid treks in the wilderness to recover errant returning probes. His work introduces him to most of the most important players in the space program, and Yuri finds himself at many of the key events in the history of the Russian space program.

Still, his search for the murderer of Korolev continues, and he also happens to be at the airfield the day Yuri Gagarin augurs into the wooded area while flying a trainer. Yuri is able to put the pieces together, and uncovers a plot that threatens to destroy the Soviet space program from within, and Yuri realizes that to liberate the space program from the clutches of evil men with dark secrets he must himself work against it.

The author, Mr. Cassutt, certainly knows his Russian space program. He is the author of "Who's Who in Space", and I would often refer to it while reading the story, and sure enough, the events and cosmonauts themselves were real, even if the main characters of the story were not. It can sort of be regarded as a Russian version of James Michener's 'Space'. The plot is intricately wrought, and carries the reader quickly along while coyly keeping its secrets. For those interested in learning more about the space program of the U.S.'s 'main enemy' during their race to beat us to the Moon, this is a neat way of doing so, though it should by no means be regarded as a substitute for a non-fiction book like Brian Harvey's "Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration". Interestingly, at one point in the book Yuri's girlfriend at the Lunar Institute gives him a gift of a newly translated work by a Western author named Martin Caidan entitled "Marooned". This might be a reference to a book by Mr. Caidan that is in the Lunar Library and from that timeframe entitled "No Man's World". We'll look at that one next.

"Red Moon" was a pretty darn good story, so I'll give it a waxing three-quarter Moon.

Back to the Lunar Library

[murphydyne]

"First on the Moon" by Hugh Walters

Published in 1962 by Tempo Books, it weighs in at 192 pages. No errors noted.

It has been decided - a landing must be made on the Moon. A year prior, strange structures had appeared on the Moon and started bathing the Earth in strange radiation. Chris Godfrey, stalwart spacenaut for the Crown, is the first human to circle the Earth, and then to carry nuclear weapons to the Moon to destroy the source of the malevolent beams.

Now, it is time to go back and investigate just what it was that was threatening Earth. It's an open competition as to who will go,and it comes down to the equal competence of Chris and his American competitor Morrison Kant. They're equal all the way to the finish line, and the head of the program has to make the decision - Morrey Kant!

Meanwhile, behind the Iron Curtain, the Soviets strive to take the power of the collective to the Moon, and claim it for the State. Serge Smyslov, more by happenstance than competence, is chosen for the mission. He will pilot a minitank around the surface to collect data and stake a claim. It's cramped quarters, but Serge's handlers are planting the subconscious seeds that will ensure he completes his mission.

Oh no! Morrey broke his leg being thrown from a horse down in Australia! (launches are from Woomera) Chris is quickly called up to pilot the mission, his dream come true. The Western allies know it's a race with the Russians to get to the Moon, and so rush the preparations. Chris is quickly launched to orbit and sent to the Moon. What the clever chaps at Jodrell Bank quickly discover is that the Soviets have launched for the Moon at almost the same time - the rockets are on almost the same track to get to the Moon!

Rather than be quickly anaesthetized, Chris must maintain a close watch on his radar to spot the enemy craft. He's got to be first on the Moon, by golly. They land in Plato (51.6N, 9.3W), though not in sight of each other. Chris sets out to try to retrieve some sample of the base that was destroyed, Serge sets out to destroy his rival's rocket.

Chris quickly settles into a kangaroo hop approach to traveling the Lunar surface, but barely gets to the other side of the crater rim and onto the glacis in the time allotted. Still, he can't return to Earth empty handed. He presses on a bit farther... Serge discovers the enemy rocket, and is given plausibly deniable permission to do whatever his subconscious tells him to do. He puts a rocket through the rocket, but in so doing flips over his minitank. He's trapped on the Moon! Chris gets back to the rocket, to find that it has a hole clean through! He's trapped on the Moon! How will either of them ever get home to Earth?

Your basic moon flight conjecture in the context of political battles of will between avowed enemies. Identifying the kangaroo hop as the way to travel on the Moon was a good guess, and since it was a British book they get all of the credit. Jodrell Bank does have an interesting place in space history, having also received the first images by Luna of the Lunar farside that were being faxed back to Russia. The Soviets were pretty peeved at having been scooped, and IIRC they accused British press of printing the image upside down. (now where did I see that one...?) The stereotyping is pretty paper thin, and there's really not much fleshing out of the political context, or really much background at all.

Overall it was okay, so I'll give it a waning half Moon.

Back to the Lunar Library

[murphydyne]

"No Man's World" by Martin Caidin

Published in 1967 by E.P. Dutton & Co., it weighs in at 414 pages. Only one small spelling error noted.

Col. Lev Barkagan is the Commandant of the U.S.S.R. Space Command base on the Moon, Tsiolkovskii in crater Ptolemaeus (9.2S, 1.8W). For three long years, since its establishment in 1968, he has worked to purchase a firm foothold for the Soviets on the Moon. He has his orders - no one else is permitted.

In the U.S., the Apollo program continues apace, its leaps of greatness taking longer than the more pragmatic approach of the Russians. When Rance Allenby does get to the Moon, he's promptly thrown off by the Soviets, at gunpoint. Rance's scientist companion is outraged that they didn't stand their ground. The U.N. froths with excitement, which the scientist is fueling with his moral umbrage and intellectual genius. The Soviet delegate delivers an ultimatum to the General Assembly - the U.S.S.R will conduct their activities under the principles published by the United States, citing actual [real-world] documents to make his case before the Soviets walk out. The U.N. decides to launch an international mission, on U.S. equipment, which ends in disaster, with the Commander dead and his scientist companion held hostage at the Soviet base (treated with kid gloves, he becomes a propagandist for the Soviets).

The U.S. seems out of good options. The bad options aren't really any good. The President asks Rance "You were on the Moon, what would you suggest?", to which he suggests a daring plan that only the U.S. could pull off, but it will take everyone working together to pull it off. Even the media is brought on board, and when they find out what's happening, they agree to cooperate. Suddenly the open and trusting U.S. has gone consensually silent, and no one knows what the U.S. is up to.

A series of feints leads to the big gambit, and the Soviets are caught off guard, leading to an armed showdown in Ptolemaeus, an unexpected plot twist, and a bright-tomorrow finish.

This was a really well-done story. The plot and characters are well-realized, and it's sufficiently grounded in fact to make the story entirely plausible. The case made by the Soviets in the UN is a bit tenuous, and more easily refutable than the story makes out, but otherwise I really enjoyed it. It makes a lot of good points that are relevant in current space policy, all of 40 years later, even with regards to the approach undertaken by the U.S. to put assets in orbit and on the Moon, with the author trying to make the case that the Russians adopted a work-with-what-we-have approach and thereby started putting pieces on the Moon sooner than the massive-put-everything-up-at-once approach of the U.S. which was slower even if eventually more potent (if successful). Of course reality worked out that the Soviets didn't have quite the parity of industrial capability that many thought, nor quite as much kapital either.

I'm more than happy to give this one a Full Moon.

Back to the Lunar Library

[murphydyne]

"The Moon People" by Stanton A. Coblentz

Published in June 1970 by Belmont Books, it weighs in at 140 pages. A couple of spelling errors.

Looping above the Moon, the spacecraft Cyclops searches desperately for the previous spacecraft for the Moon. Approaching the far side, the controls go haywire, and Sam & Joyce find themselves plummeting to the surface, lost beneath a strange mist that reaches out to their spacecraft. After the crash they decide to go explore, and soon find themselves trapped underground in the strange realm of the Wottites, a diminutive race of creatures native to the Moon that rules the semisphere of the far side. The head of the Wottites enlists the bizarre 'Martian' as a spy on their mortal enemies the Podukites, keeping Joyce as surety that he will complete his mission. Traveling to the other side of the Moon, he soon finds the crew of the first spacecraft, who have survived by hiding in the deep tunnels of the Moon. Sam teaches the Podukites how to extract water from pitchstone, and fattened up they decide to wage war on their mortal enemies the Wottites. At the head of their army will be the invulnerable Saturnians (neither side can admit the guys are from Earth) to ensure victory.

An okay story, it draws much more from the older stories of strange subterranean races on the Moon. It's hard to tell if it's making a political statement, as each side in the Lunar conflict is as vile as the other, and the humans are just trying to figure a way to get out.

This one gets a waxing quarter Moon.

Back to the Lunar Library

[murphydyne]

"Space: 1999 - Alien Seed" by E.C. Tubb

Published in June 1976 by Pocket Books, it weighs in at 160 pages. One error noted.

Commander Koenig is down in one of the caverns that has been excavated. The Alphans of Moonbase are going to try to grow crops deep underground in an artificial environment when he gets called to the Command Centre. Dr. Helena Russell is in the Medical Centre, conducting tests on a subject showing promise in the extra-sensory mental arts, when she gets a message to prepare for emergency. Something out in space is on an intercept course with the Moon, and it looks like it will hit close to the Moonbase.

Further investigation shows it to be some kind of strange natural but artificial thing. Whatever it is, its trajectory needs to be altered away from Moonbase. Dr. Bergman whips out his slide rule and does some quick computations. A nuke right there should do it. Success, the object is diverted to an impact near crater Schemiel. At the same time, Dr. Russell's 'sensitive' patient goes berserk. Something is clearly amiss.

Investigating the object, the Aplhans find a number of what appear to be seeds, but the object is so mysterious as to defy any kind of description. Something else was awoken also, and the Alphans face danger not just from the pools of quicksand-like regolith, but also a very hungry alien.

Investigating the seeds, they find that the cells contain some 500+ sets of chromosomes, and after planting them in the garden cavern they start to grow, an odd plant that defies all normal description. Soon they start to whither and fade, missing some key factor that they need to continue. Save one, which the botanist investigates closely, compelled to sniff the rare and beautiful flower which slowly descends to envelop her face...

Soon, the plant gives rise to a new creature, one beautifully and intoxicatingly feminine, yet which carries no organs that are human. The men are enraptured, the women start getting edgy. Somethings not quite kosher, but can Commander Koenig recognize the threat in time to save Moonbase?

This was the first of the Space:1999 stories that followed the adaptations of the first TV season of the series and preceeded the second season. Overall it was an okay story, but I was really troubled by the author's use of the 'regolith as quicksand' (or quickdust) plot device. Dr. Clarke's use of the device in "A Fall of Moondust" is forgiveable since the story was written prior to the Apollo program, but this one was 3.5 years after the last visit to the Moon and the author should have known better.

This one gets a waxing quarter Moon.

Back to the Lunar Library

[murphydyne]

"Garden on the Moon" by Pierre Boulle. Translated by Xan Fielding

Published in 1966 by Signet Books, it weighs in at 255 pages. "Le Jardin de Kanashima" in the original French.

We open at Peenemunde, where chief rocket designer Stern is surveying the rocket soon to be launched. He reflects on his childhood and his passion for rockets and the Moon. By selling out to the Nazis he was able to advance the state of the art. Joined by scientists from other Axis powers, such as Japan, he builds a team that builds rockets. Still, he can sense the end of Empire, and he has to decide whether to surrender to the Americans or Russians. He goes with the Yanks, his assistant Nadia with the Russians.

In the U.S., a land he quickly learns to love, he finds himself hamstrung by the Army. Cold War developments continue apace, but he wishes they'd just fund his Moon trip, because that's his real goal. He occasionally meets past colleagues, still building rockets around the world, including Dr. Kanashima, a brilliant Japanese rocketeer. Everyone's in competition, and the Russians seem to keep coming out on top. At the launch to the Moon, the Americans and Russians are neck and neck, and it's a real horse race. The winner is...

If you haven't figured it out already, this is basically a fictionalized history of Dr. Von Braun and the Moon race, with a surprise twist at the end since it hadn't actually happened yet when the story was written. Think of it as a sort of James Michener's Space, another fictionalized history of the Moon race. Actually, I'm getting a bit bored with the telling and retelling of the Apollo story since I've been over it so many times, but the Zen garden on the Moon helped me find a bit of peace.

I'll give it a waxing half Moon.

Back to the Lunar Library

[murphydyne]

Short Story Six-Pack

We start in the 1950s, with the November 1952 edition of Astounding Science Fiction and the story 'Last Blast' by Eric Frank Russell, which weighs in at 43 pages.

On the Moon, a small team of men is manning a science station engaged in getting a core sample of the Moon as deep as they can go. They're approaching the 1,000 foot mark when the first inklings of something terribly wrong on Earth start to arrive over the radio waves. Some bad characters have done something truly terrible, and soon the whole of humanity is embroiled in a struggle for survival, while the crew can only watch in increasing despair. They give up on the coring just shy of the 2,000 foot mark. Things are not looking so good when a ship arrives, but a ship unlike any they've seen before. They soon find themselves back on Earth, only to find that the situation has not really improved, as the conquerors aren't terribly interested in humanity, only their technology. But which is really the smarter race?

Further into the decade we have the January 1955 edition of Fantastic Universe Science Fiction, and the story 'Jettison or die' by F.B. Bryning, weighing in at nine pages.

Moon Rocket Seven is half way to the Moon when they figure out they have a problem. The course numbers are off, and a quick search reveals the reason - they've got a couple of stowaways. Standard Operating Procedure is to immediately jettison stowaways, but it turns out these guys are VIPs expected on the Moon. A long trip through a short airlock is out of the question, but the spacecraft is now desperately short of reaction mass for maneuvering. Some desperate orbital mechanics almost saves them, but they still can't land, even if they are running low on oxygen. How? How can they make it?

Jumping into the 1960s, we have the August 1966 issue of Analog: Science Fiction/Science Fact and the short story "Spirits of '76" by Joe Poyer, weighing in at 16 pages.

"Over here, ladies and gentlemen, is the original Charter by which the Republic of Luna declared its independence from the United Nations". The time is the future, and tourists to the vibrant free-economy of the Republic of Luna get to see the society of the future, founded for high and noble purposes. Or was it really? The real story is a bit more on the sordid side...

Marshall Dillon is sent by the UN to deliver eviction papers to Mr. Robert Thompson, who has set set up shop all alone near the north Lunar pole and is considered to be trespassing on U.N. territory. He's got to be careful - the last representative nearly got a rear-end full of buckshot from the ornery farmer. Shotgun at the ready he dismounts the rover and confronts the homesteader. I'm not trespassing, replies Mr. Thompson, and I'm not breaking any laws. Come inside, let me explain.

Inside, the Marshall discovers that Mr. Thompson used to work in life support at the base, but over time managed to salvage and scrape together enough materiel to create his own outpost. There, he put his farming skills to good work creating a life-support operation more than sufficiently robust to keep him alive, and even provide for the manufacture and distillation of various spirits: wine, whiskey, brandy, and more. He actually does a robust trade with the various bases, and his product would be sorely missed if he were evicted. The sampling of spirits and discussion of Lunar law continue deep into the night, with liberating results.

Fast forward to August/September 1970 and Galaxy Magazine Science Fiction brings us the story "Moon Heat" by Ernest Taves, weighing in at 12 pages.

The Great Beldini is a magician extraordinaire, and a public display of a Moon rock gives him a chance to exercise his skills at sleight of hand and score the biggest opportunity of his life. He's not entirely sure what he'll do with it, but his girlfriend should be impressed! She's not, and lets him know in no uncertain terms that the Moon rock is going right back to NASA. He promises to get right on it, but an unexpected visit gets the rock back to its rightful owners.

Moving into the 1980s, we have the November 1985 issue of Analog: Science Fiction/Science Fact and the story "The Darkling Plain" by P.M. Fergusson, weighing in at 35 pages.

James does construction work on the Moon with his smart blade Gertrude, a 180 ton computer-controlled bulldozer. Not just any computer either, but a synthetic DNA biosynthesized analog. So he has a wired 'woman' as the interface with the computer, very convenient for taking care of manly needs without the illogic of a real woman, though James would swear that the computer behaves like a woman.

On a dig they uncover a little something unexpected, what appears to be a spacecraft that has been buried deep under the regolith right where they're going to put a dome. They investigated, and the analog finds herself cut off from her mainframe once inside the ship, forcing her develop an identity separate from the computer core in the bulldozer. They discover aliens in stasis chambers, and after freeing them a new dilema develops. Who on Earth (or the Moon) can be trusted to put this discovery to use for the benefit of humanity, and not just themselves. After a few inter-computer consultations, the conclusion is that no one can be trusted with the knowledge, which means they've got to come up with a new plan.

Last up in our six-pack of short stories is the Mid-December 1992 edition of Asimov's Science Fiction with "Supply Run" by A.J. Austin, weighing in at 10 pages.

Traverse Vehicle 249, the Blue Stallion, is on its way to Moonbase with a load of supplies when the crew starts to notice that they seem to be a bit off course. The nav says their course is true, but the shadows and terrain are wrong, so they decide to stop and try to get their bearings, somewhere near the southwest edge of Montes Riphaeus (7S, 28W). Whilst breaking for lunch, they feel, rather than hear the whump! of something impacting on or near their cargo. Looking out, they see an armed figure. Checking through the frequencies, they find a Beware! Trespassing! message on a loop. Oops! Time to get out of here! But the tread on the trailer is damaged. They're having difficulties, and the Russian kid on patrol duty is freaking out. Luckily he's a poor shot in the Lunar gravity. They need some cover, so they decide to jettison some of the cargo. Something at the base is going to miss those cans of Coca-Cola, but they sure are pretty when they burst in the Lunar vacuum. The escape thereby becomes one for the record books.

There you have it. Quite a variety of Moon stories across the decades. My preferences lie with the stories that don't have aliens of them, and 'Spirits of '76' especially appealed to the libertarian in me. 'Supply Run' was fun, and can almost be seen as having an antecedent in 'Jettison or die'. 'Last Blast' was a bit scary to the economist in me, even if it did end on an up note. Overall, I think the spirit of the independent Moon farmer in 'Spirits of '76' makes it my favorite of the bunch.

[murphydyne]

"Moonfall" by Jack McDevitt

Published in April 1998 by Harper Prism, it weighs in at 464 pages. No errors noted.

The year is 2024. The Vice-President of the United States is headed to the inauguration of Moonbase (based on the Ben Bova design) in Alphonsus (13.4S, 2.8W). At the L1 space station the Percival Lowell is in the last stages of preparation for its nuclear-powered voyage to Mars. On Earth, people await the coming Solar eclipse. Near St. Louis, an amateur astronomer spots something unusual in Pisces during the totality. A bright light that shouldn't be there. Perhaps she's discovered a new comet?

Oh boy, has she ever. This is no ordinary comet. It's huge and it's travelling at interstellar velocities, meaning really, really fast. The smart guys get to computing, and they figure out that the Earth is safe...but the Moon is going to get a really, serious, giant hyper-mega-super impact that will effectively shatter it. They need to get everyone off the Moon, fast!

It's a challenge for the entire world, and they're not sure they can get everyone off in time. Foolishly, the VP has promised to turn off the lights and lock the doors. No one expects the VP to actually do what he says, he is a politician after all, but Charlie Haskell is not your typical politician. The pressure's on as Comet Tomiko heads for the Moon at a fast clip.

The real disaster is after the comet hits, and bits of the Moon start flying everywhere, including towards Earth. The impacts start off the east coast, and then start heading west as the world turns. The government, fearing a panic, had been trying to assuage everyone with words of comfort until they could be more certain as to how things would play out. As a result, millions die when the tsunamis start hitting both coasts. All confidence is lost in the institutions of government, and the United States of America is in danger of degenerating into militia warlord factions. And that is just the first salvo, the lightest stuff.

Soon, Skyport, still in its polar orbit, spots Possible Impactor #38, or POSIM-38, or just the"Possum". It's big, and it looks like it's going to hit somewhere near St. Louis and create an extinction-level-event. The evacuation of the Moon took some losses on the fleet (and lives), but the rag-tag assortment of the nuclear-powered Percival Lowell, the graceful SSTOs, and the clunky Minibuses might be able to do something about it.

The slipcover of the hardbound copy has the tagline "The Most Awesome Catastrophe Ever", and this one certainly ranks an 11 on the scale of disaster stories. There are a lot of plot locations, so there's a lot of jumping around as the threads of the story are woven together, making for a brisk read. The science underlying the story is unfortunately all to real, if speculative.

It is entirely possible that there are interstellar objects travelling at interstellar speeds. There is nothing but void to stop its path from intersecting that of the Solar sytem. Physics is not our friend when it comes to comets. They come in fast and hit hard, and when the ancients ever spoke of a "sword of God", they were probably talking about a comet. We know that sufficiently large impacts will knock pieces of the Moon towards Earth, as the only Moon rocks in the hands of private individuals here on Earth are from recovered meteorites (usually from deserts or Antarctica) whose petrology identifies them as coming from the Moon. We know that an impact in the ocean will create tsunamis, which can be devastating to coastal areas.

The counter to all of that is that the odds of an occurence within the average lifetime are vanishingly small. Consequently it's not good fiscal policy to take prophylactic measures. It's sensible government policy, as the consequences of an occurence are staggeringly huge in terms of lives (of voters), infrastructure (built with pork $), and productive capacity (tax base).

The counter to that is that it could happen anywhere in the world, and so it makes no fiscal sense to prepare in the U.S. for an impact in Australia. (or maybe it does...) No one is willing to step up to the plate to provide leadership (because the political downside is that if it doesn't occur you look like an idiot), and since no one is willing to properly fund and staff the United Nations it can't do the job either, even if we tell it to. So it's left to the amateurs to watch our night skies near Earth. Legions of watchers around the world looking for that object to call their own, or trying to spot an impact on the Moon. You should think about doing your part...

It's a pretty good story. It's hard to get to close to most of the characters, since you never know which of them will be wiped out in the next accident. It has your typical heartwarming ending full of hope and promise in spite of the hundreds of millions dead around the world and countless trillions in destroyed assets.

I'll go with a waxing three-quarter Moon on this one, at perigee.

NB: For videophiles, a few movies that might be of interest:
-Earthstorm: not because it's any good (it's not), but because it features an impact that fractures the Moon and threatens to destroy it if not stopped by a Master explosives and demolition expert.
-Asteroid: passable made-for-TV-movie fare, it features not only an impact in the heartland, but also a massive impact in the heart of Dallas that leaves a massive crater that dwarfs the skyscrapers.
-Super Comet: After the Impact: a fictional documentary of life after a comet misses the Moon and hits the Earth, creating global devastation. A bit over the top, but you know, so is a comet impact.

Back to the Lunar Library

[murphydyne]

Perry Rhodan #1: "Enterprise Stardust" by K.H. Scheer & Walter Ernsting

Published in 1969 by Ace Publishing, it weighs in at 98 pages.

With nuclear engines, Mankind is ready to push to the Moon. In the U.S., the Dept. of Space Exploration has picked a crew headed by Perry Rhodan, a stern but skillful leader. The launch is 100% on the money, and they're on their way. Two miles above the Moon, Perry orders his crew into spacesuits, and with the assistance of tracking data from the space station they begin their descent. Suddenly the signal is jammed,and without impulse they fall beyond their target near crater Walter (33.0S, 0.7E) and beyond the rim of the Moon, perhaps near the Liebnitz Mountains, cut off from Earth.

Something on the Moon interfered with the signal, and Perry Rhodan is determined to find out, but first he wants to get a relay up so they can talk with Earth. Taking a tractor/tank, they set out. Once they get to where they can see Earth, they try to get a signal out, but a bolt of green lightning from somewhere completely overloads the communications equipment. They set out to try to find the source, near the Lunar South Pole. Someone else had gotten a rocket to the Moon and was sabotaging Perry's mission!

Leaving the tank, they follow the direction finder closer and closer to the other rocket. Then they see it. A massive sphere that has crashed through a crater wall and embedded in the other side, undamaged by the impact. Clearly these hostile forces did not originate in Asia. Seizing the manly initiative, he strides to the ship for first contact...


This series was apparently quite popular in Germany back in the day, and using the hyper-advanced alien technology the plotline quickly leaps into the farthest reaches of the galaxy. In part it's a cautionary tale about the perils we faced in a nuclear holocaust back during the Cold War, and how uniting to reach out into space was the better route to go.

I'll give this one a waning quarter Moon.

Back to the Lunar Library

[murphydyne]

Gambler's Star Book Two: "Legacies and Lies" by Nancy Holder

Published in 1999 by Avon Books, it weighs in at 292 pages.

Deuce McNamara, adopted into the Borgioli family on the Moon, has lived the thrilling and dangerous life of a casino liaison and is love with an ex-showgirl with an amazing head on her shoulders. It's a dangerous life amongst the casino Families on the Moon, with paisanos getting whacked left and right in the struggle for power and prestige (and money) on the Moon. All of this is thrown into chaos by the arrival of industrialist Hunter Castle, who has many secrets and wants to build a casino town on the Far Side of the Moon.

At a meeting of the family big wigs on Hunter's ship, an explosion takes out most of the power players on the Moon, including apparently Hunter Castle himself. This unleashes a tidal wave of chaos as everyone tries to figure out who could have pulled off an unsanctioned hit on all of the most powerful people in the families. This soon gives way to power struggles within the Families, at about the same time that the Moon Liberation Front of downtrodden workers decides to make a stand. It's a bloodbath on the Moon, and only Deuce McNamara is respected enough by all parties to try to put an end to it.

Still, Deuce is finding out the Mr. Castle had many, many secrets, including the serendipitous discovery of alien technology and advanced fertility technology. Just as things are starting to get settled down on the Moon, the Department of Fairness decides to pay an inspection visit. Deuce foolishly declares that he should declare war on Earth over an open mike, and it turns out that the Department of Fairness had more than an inspection visit in mind and there's a fleet of space vessels arriving at the Moon. Mr. McNanamara may get his wish whether he likes it or not.

A heavily 'Mob'-influenced work, this one features much more killing than the first book. As chaos erupts on the Moon, the plot becomes increasingly more difficult to follow, and at the end of the book you wonder "What just happened?"

I'll give it a waning half Moon.

Back to the Lunar Library

[murphydyne]

"Lunar Concession" by Thornton Ayre

Published in September 1941 in 'Science Fiction' magazine, it weighs in at 21 pages.

In 1987, Dagenham Pye made a round trip to the Moon using practically no fuel. His discovery of Potentium on the Moon promises to revolutionize transport, but he isn't a mining man and wants to sell the mining concession. At a party thrown in his honor, the bidding is between Ann Drew, heiress of the powerful Drew Space Corporation, and Count Vaston Randi, with Ann winning at four million dollars. She puts Clem in charge of the details, and he doesn't trust the Count, who's anxious to learn all of the details. Soon the four of them are off to the Moon (the COunt only because he talked Ann into sneaking him aboard). Things aren't going well on Earth, and nations stand ready to fight. Pye is distraught and takes a long walk out a short airlock, leaving behind a typed suicide note. Now they're stuck, as only Pye knows exactly where the cave to the source of Potentium is located. After some fruitless effort, they decide to drill straight down to the caverns. After some food and rest, they get into the caves and quickly find what seems to be copious quantities of the treasure. Randi turns out to be a spy and Clem and Ann soon find themselves tied up and watching helplessly as nitric acid eats through a rope holding a large rock suspended over a large chunk of Potentium. Is this the end?

A fun old school tale, we'll go with a waxing quarter Moon.

[murphydyne]

"The True History" by Lucian of Samasota

Written some time between 125 AD and 200 AD, my copy is from the anthology "Somnium (or, The Dream) and other trips to the Moon", edited by John Miller and Tim Smith and published in 1995 by Chronicle Books, weighing in at an abridged 28 pages.

Lucian decides one day, in a pique of curiosity, to sail West, through the pillars of Hercules (straights of Gibraltar) with a crew of 50 men. After a day of sailing, the winds pick up, the waves become as tall as mountains, and after 79 days of tempest-tossed sailing they catch sight of an island. They make landfall, and find that both Hercules and Dionysus had gotten that far (from the graffiti they left behind). Exploring the island they find a stream whose water that tastes like and has the effect of Chianti wine. Tracing it to its source they find a spring engorged with grape vines, and women-trees further contributing to the grape-y abundance. Several of the men find the kisses of the tree-women sweet as wine, and attempts at cross-fertilization lead to them becoming tree-men. Lucian and the crew hightail it back to the boat and set sail.

After half a day they had already lost sight of the island, and a sudden typhoon catches the boat and whirls it approximately 1,800,000 feet into the air where it catches a different wind that carries them into the darkness for seven days and nights. On the eighth day they spot a large globular island, drop anchor and debark to explore. They are captured by the local constabulary, the Flying Squad mounted on gargantuan vultures, who takes them to the King of the Moon, Endymion, who recognizes them as Greeks and tells them of his troubles. He's having troubles with Phaethon of the Sun, and he enlists Lucian and his crew for an imminent battle in the heavens for the right to colonize Lucifer [Mars?].

On the side of the Moon, the expeditionary force consists of 100,000 troops, 80% vulture-riders like the Flying Squad, 20% on Saladfowls, fledged with vegetables rather than feathers, and enormous lettuce leaves for wings.

These forces are supported by a battery of Peashooters, a corps of Garlic-gassers, 30,000 Flea-shooters (archers mounted on fleas 12 times the size of elephants), and 50,000 Wind-jammers (airborne troops that use long night-shirts to ride the winds). These were deployed with the Flying Squads on the right flank, the Salad-fowls on the left, and the others in the center, including 60,000,000 infantry led by Nycterion.

On the Sun's side, Phaethon arranged on his left wing the Royal Ant Force, some 50,000 mounted ants up to 200 feet long, on the right the same number of Gnat shooters (archers on giant gnats), supported in the middle by the mercenaries: Radish artillery, 10,000 Mushroom Commandos, and 5,000 Bow-wows from Sirius, dog-faced men mounted on flying chestnuts.

The flags go up, the donkeys bray, and the battle is engaged. The Moon's weakest flank is the Saladfowl on the left, and it soon weakens and gives before the superior number of Gnat shooters, themselves stopped by the infantry of the Moon. On the right flank, the Flying Squads soon overwhelm the the Royal Ant Force, and the Sun's forces are routed from the field. Whilst the Lunars are looting the battlefield, the Sun's forces rally behind the just arrived Cloud-centaurs, led by Sagittarius and begin a counterattack. Who will triumph in this celestial confrontation?

While entirely a flight of fancy, this was an entertaining tale. Parallels can be drawn to "The Histories" by Herodotus, including the descriptions of the different, though similar, culture found on the Moon. The story's influence on later writers is evident, and it's probably worth looking to find a good translation.

I'll go with a waxing half Moon on this one.

[murphydyne]

"Space 1999: Android Planet" by John Rankine

Published September, 1976 by Pocket Books, it weighs in at 159 pages.

The Moon races on through interstellar space, ever on watch for an opportunity to resettle on a regular planet with atmosphere and water and the like. To keep themselves occupied in their leisure hours, they decide to put on a show. At the premiere, the skeleton crew in Main Mission spots something odd, which is resolved into an apricot-colored planet near an approaching star. Scanning further, they get a signal. Some kind of civilization! They put the signal on speakers to hear a strange and melodious sound, accompanied by strange, benumbing beats. They manage to get an alert out before blacking out...Just as they get things under control, the Alphans are beset by a strange power vortex approaching the Moonbase. Only a nuke can hopefully disrupt the attack...

Despite broadcasts of their peaceful intent (well, besides the fact that the Moon is going to play havoc with the planet, Pelorus, as it makes its closest approach), the Alphans receive no answer. They can't just pass up this opportunity, so Commander Koenig decides to take his command team down to investigate. They don't see any signs of civilization, just carpets of lichens. Setting down, they soon discover that the lichen generates an acid that consumes all with which it comes into contact. Dragging the damaged Eagle onto some rocks to repair it, they soon find what appears to be constructs, though they're blocked from entering them by some unseen shield. The Eagle takes a shot at it, and they burst a hole through whatever the material is. They scramble through just as a repair robot trundles up to see what all of the fuss is about. Following it, they soon find themselves deep underground, and entering an elevator they find themselves anaesthetized. Awaking, they soon find that they're in the hands of advanced robots in a somewhat humanoid shape - androids. At the council meeting, the pure logic and rationality of the machines disabuses them of any consideration of the Alphans situation, especially when Koenig decides to take things into his own hands and attempts to attack the head android.

Awakening again, the Alphans try to figure out an escape, and once again human cunning outwits machine logic, and the Alphans are making their escape into a verdant valley. They soon find themselves in the hands of the last of the human survivors, workers on this planet for Copreon, a planet on the other side of the system. Something happened on the home planet, stranding them in the hands of robots who had transcended their programming, and they had fought to an uneasy stalemate. The Copreons are an old and decadent civilization, but the workers have had the misfortune of having been sterilized prior to their work assignment, and so have their own plans for Dr. Russell and Comms Officer Benes. Out of the frying pan and into the fire for the Alphans, especially once the androids decide to dominate the planet once and for all. Time's running out for the Alphans to get back home!

All in all not a bad story. Freed of the constraints of retelling the stories of the TV episodes, these extra stories are turning out to be pretty decent. We've got two more to go before the start of the second season of Space: 1999, when we're introduced to the lucious Maya, who could animorph into all kinds of things.

I'll go with a waxing half Moon for this tale.

Back to the Lunar Library