'How's the oxygen now, Mark?' asked Blake.
'Eleven minutes – and I see buggy one on the horizon trailing a cloud of dust,' I said.
'Sounds good.'
'Hi, Mark?' said a female voice over the radio.
'Yes. That you, Linda?'
'Super-heroines to the rescue. I've got Mary with me. We can see you, Timocharis Delta and Roy's wreck. Will be there soon. Mary says she'll teach him to drive later,' said Linda.
Roy choked off a laugh. It was unlike him not to make an instant retort. I figured he was embarrassed.
The rescue buggy was approaching the top of the crater. One helpful aspect of the moon was that the horizon was so close – they'd reach me within a couple of minutes.
Roy's voice cut in. 'Great care as you come around the crater, Linda. We don't know if there are more of these pits.'
'Yes. We must find out about this accumulation. Most unusual,' I said.
'We're taking care, Roy, but we accelerated when we got into your tracks. Coming around the crater now. Still following your tracks. Be there shortly.'
'Stop behind buggy two and I'll come aboard,' I said.
Mary said, 'I've suited up and am driving now, Linda's suiting up as I speak.'
I fought my way to my feet. The difficulty of getting to a standing position was why we normally remained standing when wearing backpacks.
Buggy one came to a halt a couple of metres from buggy two and the dust pit. I made my way around to the door which was being opened for me. Within two minutes I was inside.
'Just for the record, Blake, I've three minutes air remaining. Think we should consider additional supplies mounted outside the buggies in future.'
'Yes, that's a bit tight, Mark.'
Within a few seconds, my backpack was recharged with power and oxygen. Linda and I climbed out of the hatch to assess buggy two.
'We can get a good fixing on the rear strut, Blake. Will it take the strain?'asked Linda.
'Send us an image and I'll forward to NASA,' said Blake.
'Image sent. Taking and sending more,' I said.
The buggy was lying almost on its side with all three starboard wheels in view. The front pair were rotated hard right, which was Roy's last action before it tumbled into the pit.
'If we attach the tow cable to the rear strut, that should pull it up if you keep a steady reverse drive running, Roy,' said Linda.
'I'm strapped in and ready,' replied Roy.
'Turn the buggy around, Mary, with the rear end towards us, please,' said Linda.
'Will do.'
Linda and I stood still, awaiting NASA's response and taking in the view of Earth hovering in the sky, so near yet so far. Buggy one backed up about forty metres and turned through 180º.
'I'll never tire of this view,' I said, looking at the Earth.
'No. Beautiful. So beautiful, you forget how unforgiving the moon can be,' said Linda.'Three minutes!'
'I could have extended that by further pressure reductions,' I said.
'Not by much. Suppose we'd broken down en route?'
'I'd have tried to open the emergency panel.'
'An emergency external supply is the answer. I'll do a report when you let me have your notes.'
'Right.'
'Reversing,' said Mary.
We moved to one side of buggy two to keep out of the way. Reversing lights flashed their warning and, if this had been inside the garage dome, we'd have heard loud beeps, once a second. The moon was a world of almost perfect silence, only broken by the odd sound travelling through my suit.
'That's it, Mary. Stop there and power down while we work on attachments,' said Linda.
'Linda?' said Blake.
'Receiving.'
'You've a go on attaching the cable to the rear strut, but NASA says, "no jerking".'
'Roger that, Blake.'
I opened the cubbyhole beneath buggy one and removed a four-metre, multi-strand steel cable about a centimetre thick. At each end it had a simple but heavy-duty snap hook. Linda ran her cable through the tow bar and attached her hook. Cautiously, I made my way towards the rear of our buggy. I felt the edge of the pit with my foot when I was still a metre short of reaching the strut.
'I'm at the pit edge,' I said.
'How about going around via the axle?' asked Linda.
'Your wheels still locked, Roy?'
'Roger that, Mark.'
I skirted the pit until I was adjacent to the rear axle. If I leaned forward, I'd be able to touch the wheel.
'Blake, no real choice here. I'm going to have to jump onto the wheel,' I said.
'No alternative?' asked Blake.
'Don't think so,' said Linda.
'Okay, Mark. Attach your end of the cable to your suit clip, then go for it.'
'Attached.'
I jumped. Pressurised gloves, even with silicon grips, were not the most suitable garments to try and get a grip on metal or the tyre material of the wheel. I began to slip, heard Linda shout out to be careful, and then managed to wedge my hand between the alloy hub of the wheel and the steel shaft.
I heaved myself forward – much easier than it sounds under a sixth of Earth gravity. Now I was secure, lying across the wheel. I could unclip myself and reach across to clip the cable to the strut, but it would leave me untethered.
Linda had anticipated the problem, and had already attached another cable to buggy one. She called out, 'Grab this second cable, Mark.'
She threw it. The first attempt sailed over me and the hull of buggy two. 'Coo. Forgot my own strength,' she said and laughed.
I managed to grab it on the second attempt, worked it back through my hand, clipped it to my suit and then unclipped the original cable to attach it to the strut.
Now I sat on the wheel and threw myself forward, Linda taking up the slack. I was safely back on luna firma.
Linda climbed back into her buggy and secured the hatch. I stood away from the action to report on what was happening.
Buggy one eased forward.
'Slack taken up,' I said. 'Begin low-rev reverse drive, Roy.'
He acknowledged the instruction, then the wheels began to spin.
'Okay, Mary. Slowly forward.'
The back end of buggy two began to rise out of the pit and, once the rear wheels were on firm ground, the whole vehicle tipped back to an upright position. In less than five minutes both vehicles were standing on the moon's surface.
I disconnected the cable and stowed it back on buggy one.
'That's your cable returned,' I said. 'I'm going to join Roy, take a rest break and after a meal we'll continue with the survey.'
I made my way around the buggy and found Roy had already opened the hatch. I climbed in gratefully. After we had repressurised it was a delight to slough off my suit.
'There's a no-go on that, Mark. NASA want all four of you back at Moonbase to check out that buggy,' said Blake.
'Looked fine to me,' I said.
'They want it checked,' said Blake.
'Okay, following the girls back,' said Roy.
'We'll try not to lose you,' said Linda.
'Dream on,' said Roy.
Both buggies headed round Timocharis Delta and then west towards base.
© Tony Harmsworth 2019