The New Guy in Moon Base Twelve

Chapter Five

The greetings committee made their way out of the building, through the double-lock doors and into the vacuum. All around them was the familiar sight of blackness interrupted by stars. To their left was the other official Moon Base, and a few hundred yards ahead lay the heap of scrap and junk known as Moon Base Twelve. They stepped along side by side, faces shielded only by their breathing masks and foil skull wrappers. Gelano opened the outer door of the hut and after the other three had entered this chamber, pulled it closed, and opened the inner door. As they entered, The New Guy looked up at them, startled. He had been turning over some metal plates, inspecting the pattern of scratches on their surface as if he could read them like a book. Now he lowered his arms and gazed at the newcomers as they removed their masks and hoods.

"Hello," Maya Nguyen said mildly, bowing slightly out of diplomatic habit. The New Guy awkwardly returned this gesture and the greeting, in a cracked voice that seemed unused to speaking. Maya introduced the members of the group.

"My name is Maya Nguyen," she said, slowly. "This is Michael Gelano, our Chief Engineer. This is Fydia Sooth, Communications, and here is Rayburn Willis, Science Officer."

"Hello, Chiefs," said the New Guy, looking mainly at Gelano, whose presence typically overwhelmed the scene, his shining dome nearly grazing the ceiling of the shed.

"What is your name?" Maya asked. The New Guy didn't seem to hear her at first. After studying Gelano, he had just begun to move on to the others when she'd spoken. She waited while he turned his attention to each of them, scanning them with focused eyes. When he returned his attention to her, she repeated her question. He didn't seem to understand it. She tapped her own sternum with her right palm and repeated her own name, then asked, for the third time, about his. The New Guy nodded, and said,

"Martin."

"Is that your first or last name?" interjected Gelano, despite Maya's attempt to wave him away from speaking. The New Guy studied Gelano's face again for a few moments, before replying.

"Martin," he said.

"Where did you come from?" Maya said rapidly, before Gelano could get another word in. The New Guy took a step toward them - they were all in a line a few feet away from him - and cocked his head slightly to one side.

"America," he pronounced.

"Or course America," said Rayburn Willis, shaking his head. "This IS an American base!"

Maya sighed. Her moment of first contact had come and gone, and she'd only gotten one question in. From here on she would have to take turns along with the others. She did think that sometimes the whole sharing thing could go too far.

"Do you know where you are?" asked Fydia Sooth, sensing that it was her turn to speak. She was picking up a weird vibe from The New Guy, then even more of one as he leaned his face toward her and said,

"Of course the moon."

"What are you doing here?" Gelano burst in.

"Who sent you?" Willis demanded.

"One at a time, please," Maya said to her own people, straining to remain calm. They were all beginning to show signs of agitation and distress, reminding her of Galen's condition.

"Oh," Martin said, "of course the commission."

"We've spoken with Mission Control," Maya said.

"Where's your ship?" Willis interrupted. "Where did you land?"

"What are you doing here?" Gelano repeated, taking a large step toward Martin, who retreated two steps and drew his shoulders together.

"People, please," Maya said again. "Let's take a moment, okay?"

Fidya, Gelano and Willis responded automatically to this familiar instruction, and fell into the standard yoga posture. This was the settlers' common tactic for handling any impending stress. As the others focused on their breathing, Maya sized up The New Guy for herself.

He was ugly, no doubt about that. He reminded her of a caricature of a cave man, though thinner. She couldn't determine his age. He could have been anywhere from mid-twenties to mid-forties, she reflected. He seemed uneasy, uncertain, uncomfortable. "I could call him the Un-guy", she inwardly joked. She tried but failed to place his origin by his accent. It was unfortunate that nearly all regional American dialects had been killed off over the previous century, replaced by the bland standard TV-speak. Still, there was something slightly off about his speech, something not quite conforming, but she couldn't place it.

"Are you hungry?" she asked him. He shook his head.

"Thirsty?" Again he gestured that he wasn't.

"Is there anything you want to tell us?"

"I don't think so," Martin said.

"This is ridiculous!" Gelano blurted out, unable to restrain himself any further. Maya reached out and put a hand on his arm. She could feel the tension in him as if he was electrified. This was not a good sign. Gelano was a person of enormous strength, which was useful for drilling but not so handy in emotional situations. Maya was thinking they should re-group, and re-consider their whole approach to The New Guy in Moon Base Twelve.

Martin showed no indication that he intended to respond to Gelano's question, but he did raise his arms and half-hid his face behind the piece of scrap metal he was holding. He seemed to be trembling just a bit. Maya stepped forward and then turned around to face her group.

"I don't think this is going very well," she said, quietly.

"There's something so wrong about all this," Fydia offered.

"I don't like it," Willis agreed.

"Let me squeeze it out of him," Gelano suggested with a grimace.

"No," Maya quickly replied. "Let's all think for a moment, listen to our bodies. It's having some sort of effect, can you feel it? Like with Galen."

"Yes, you're right," Fydia acknowledged after a moment.

"He's just pissing me off," Gelano grunted, and then added, "and I don't think I've felt this way in a very long time."

"We need more information," insisted Rayburn Willis. "We don't really know anything about this guy."

"I'm sure we all agree," Maya said. "The question is, how? What we're doing now doesn't seem to be working."

"We should get out of here," Fydia said, peering over Maya's shoulder at Martin, who was still semi-cowering behind the jagged plate.

"Keep him quarantined," Willis put in. "We can't let him get away."

"It doesn't look like he has any apparatus," Gelano said. "I don't think he's going anywhere."

"That's just impossible right there," Willis said. "It doesn't make any sense."

"I agree with Fydia," Maya said. "We should all leave now."

Everyone nodded, and Maya turned back around to face Martin.

"We're going now," she told him, "but we'll be back. Please be prepared to answer our questions."

Martin shrugged and opened his mouth as if to say something, but then seemed to change his mind and, blinking rapidly, felt behind him for the couch he'd been lying on when Galen had first discovered him. He lowered himself slowly onto it as Maya and the others turned and exited the inner door.