Reporting to First Base - Tales from the Fringe(s) -Episode 2

"I'm a Gedanke and
Armageddon can honk an' toot
to wit, to hoot
we're goin to Shoot De Moon Ah!
We're goin' to Shoot De Moon Yea!
"

RatH felt the incessant hum in his head, of this ancient battle chant of the fringes, to be very overpowering. He actually sang out loud here and there. Manya was quite amused and smiled at him, but he didn't mind.

Shoot the Moon. The idea of attaining a low energy transfer to the moon, through ballistic capture. It was a one of high school First Principles, for the Fringe Junta at any rate. And though RatH didn't know it as yet, a trip along this trail was precisely what he was about to embark on.

Would you believe it! The Summons.

RatH was required to report to the Board at Imbrium City, in person. Whoa! This was strong, even given the whole New Deal thing.

Neda, she looked like on fire. It was so very hectic, what with people come, people go. A couple of guys came over with her, control staff. Barely got a chance to say hello, promptly forgot their names. "The Executive Board is all worked up about you" was the one thing Neda managed to tell him, but she didn't have any more detail on it.

So, he was to get himself over to the moon, with the returning astronomers. A total change of scene. Ed was so much into his truk music, his presence was akin to that of a forest spirit, there but invisible. And RatH had good vibes with Manya, so the journey was quite pleasant.

"So you ruffled Hartono's feathers, hey!", Manya said.

Hartono was the AP Chief of Staff. As yet, there was only a formal notion of lunar polity, and nominal electronic presence of lunar currency. The one sociopolitical aspect acquiring realization was administrative and civil services, and now, of course, the AP.

"Oh well, you're mostly set for Eratosthenes. Hartono has set up office at Eudoxus. He'd be going to get back to his haunts soon so you won't get so very much trampled." And then she went on to detail the history of how Eudoxus and Archimedes were the originators of analysis, differential and integral calculus, and before he knew it,

Ascent Engine (the phrase had stuck, even for off-planet maneuvers) -

396,600 kilometers to go -

Moon -

Digital elevation map, Vertical descent phase, .. soft landing, .. surface, .., Sue.

He was thoroughly mystified and stared at her signature on his messenger. "Self and Imre will meet you at the lobby when you get here." Sue Chen. Sure RatH knew of her. On the commodore radio out at the fringes, there was so much exchange of news and views, much of it to do with the moon.

Sue was a most strange potion. Shanghai stock that showed in her no-nonsense ways. For as long as anybody could remember though, her family was from San Fransisco. She herself had come on over to the moon when 21. She was amongst the sparse band of humans who were by inclination immigrants to the moon. Most people harbored yearnings for their home on earth and went back and forth on as to where they wanted to be in the long haul.

Got off at Copernicus, goodbyes, papers, rent-a-rover, and head on to Imbrium. The Scooter Z* series were the best of the HoveRrrRovers, dubbed as the horrors. The horror was for the "preferred" members of the rent-a-rover, so he gathered that he'd made it into somebody's good books.

There were roughly some 300 people at any given time, of whom about a third or so were out at Imbrium.