"A Day's Work On The Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moscoe Mike)

Bummed, I spent four hours in my bedroom making sandwiches, pizza and whatever else was ordered by the crew that really worked on the Moon. I didnТt see anything I couldnТt have seen standing at the counter of the local Pizza Heaven. Big bummer.

Still, I didnТt let that bother me. Jer was at my elbow, his reader plugged into my station, tapping away at any outlets the program gave him. He didnТt hit pay dirt that first night, but he was pretty sure he would. "Your DadТs using tougher lock-outs than they do." Probably because they trusted their employees more than Dad did me.

Still, it took Jer the better part of two weeks to get all the way in. Every time heТd get past one lock, heТd hit another. "This is more fun than a game," he muttered as I watched bread rise and two pizzas bake. It was just a job. The third week was when it got interesting.

I got my paycheck and Jer cracked into the rovers. To keep Mom happy, I put half my check into the college fund. The other half went for two monster hard drives. While I cooked, Jer downloaded for all he was worth. By the second shift, we started dual operating. Jer set up some simple alarms on the oven and cook-bot and I watched them on one monitor screen. On the other three monitors, we started touring more of the Moon than weТd ever seen before. Not all the rovers are available to rent. Usually the newer ones are still knee deep in science where they were landed and not yet really roving. We got that feed. I got to where I could take an order and get the bot going on it without taking my eyes off of the real Moon feed. It was great.

Then we hit a problem.

It really wasnТt our problem. I mean, my job was going great. But it was sunny down in California, and the surf was up according to the weather report Jer called up. Anyway, my delivery driver must have headed for the beach, cause he sure wasnТt on the job. ItТs Friday night on the Moon, and all these folks just want to kick back. IТm cooking like mad, and the delivery bot is sitting out thereЦtotally parked.

So I loaded it up and took it for a spin around Diana Base. And discovered why you had to be checked out on that dang thing before theyТd let you drive it. Knocking on doors and delivering the stuff was no problem. Getting there was not fun.

Like everything about Artemis, Diana base was being built on the cheap. To get as much air and dead space between the people and radiation from space, they were digging the base down as far as they could; I learned that in school. Driving around the base showed me what that meant. On the surface, under the bubble domes, things look spacious. Once you get underground, itТs cramped. If you donТt watch your bot every second, it can run into things. The map is a help, but theyТre changing things all the time, and a pile of crates or a parked construction rig may be blocking what looked like the fastest way from here to there.

I had to really think about where to drive that bot. And you better not run into anything. I almost did a couple of times when I misjudged how wide the space was. Scraping against a wall would be just a matter of paint. Knocking over a couple of boxes, even in Moon gravity, made a mess and might break something. I was careful.

An hour into my shift, my supervisor showed up apologizing about her beeper batteries being dead and I guess ready to take the delivery bot out. I heard a surprised little "Oh," when she saw where it was.

"WhoТs doing the cooking?"

"I am," I assured her. "IТve got alarms set, and when the delivery botТs in a safe stretch, I do a quick look around the kitchen. EverythingТs fine."

Her "WeТll see," sounded like one of MomТs more dubious ones, but after five minutes, she was back. "You have gotten things under control. I like your alarm routines. Do them yourself?"

"My friend, Jer, did them for me. ThatТs okay, isnТt it?"

"So long as youТre doing your job, I have no problems. Neither does Artemis. I think we have a vacancy for a driver. Let me brief you on how itТs done." So, for the rest of the shift, I learned her tricks. She kept her own map of Diana base, updating it constantly with a little routine that showed which passageways were temporarily blocked, which had been permanently changed, but not yet entered into the main map, and where you might be able to slip by. She even had a shortcut that took her through one of the labs. "Be real careful if you do that one. Sometimes they work late. Until theyТve ordered something, donТt go in there. But once youТve delivered to them, theyТll usually let you cut through. Gary, the supervisor there, loves flat bread, so if youТve got any spare ends, and heТs working late, drop him off the ends and youТll have a friend for life, or at least the rest of your shift.

The things you have to remember!

I got a promotion, and a bonus for my double shift. Jer and I spent the bonus on one of those new seats. YouТre riding around the Moon, going up, down, riding over a little crater, you can see the camera jarring, but the seat under your pants is still acting like a chair in your bedroom. This new seat changed that. You go up, it leans back. You go down, it leans forward. It bumps when the rover bumps. It was almost perfect.

But not quite.

"Mom, I really need a helmet. One thatТll let me see all around."

"Well, dear, save up for it."

"IТve almost got enough. If I didnТt have to pay into the college fund this month, IТd have it."

That brought Mom out of the project completion schedule she was updating for an insurance company. "Honey, we agreed that half your check went into savings."

"I know, Mom, but if I put all of next monthТs check into savings, I could be using the helmet this month. Some of the scraps IТve been in Тcause I didnТt quite have as much clearance as I thought wonТt happen when I have a helmet." Mom and Dad should understand that. They were all the time upgrading their systems to stay competitive. Rarely did any of the people they contracted with pay for an upgrade; still, they were always happy to make use of ours.

I could tell from MomТs look IТd won. I gave her a hug and headed back up stairs. Jer had been comparing helmets, searching the net for the best one for me. When IТd left heТd narrowed it down to three.

"I think you ought to buy this one," he said as I came back in. HeТd never doubted I could talk Mom around. "Both these come from the same factory in Burma, but this one has Indian software. ItТs a lot cleaner."