“Help you folks,” a voice that made us both jump called out of the gloom.
We turned to see a beefy-looking man with black whiskers shuffle into the light. Dressed in dirty white space overalls with a vintage NASA baseball cap, he bumped and dragged on a pair of crutches as he came toward us. One leg seemed to be paralyzed and scraped along behind him as he approached. The twisted member looked out of place on his otherwise perfect, muscular body.
“We need some gear,” I said. “Is any of this operational?” I asked, pointing to a space suit.
“Most isn’t. Some is. All looks good, though. Unless you’re needing it for a project of some sort, you can save a bundle by buying things that are just lookers.” He laughed. “Guess I’m talking myself out of some money, here.”
“We need equipment that’s functional. For…experimental work,” I said, trying to be as vague as possible. Not that he would believe that we were about to fly to the moon in a van. I just didn’t want to tell the truth and have him call the loony bin.
Nikki pulled her list out of the hip pocket of her green coveralls and handed it to him, “We’re interested in these. Do you have any of this stuff.”
He took the list, pushed back his cap, and read as he balanced his weight on his crutches. I walked away from him to inspect some of the space suits more closely, wondering where I had seen his face before? The bum leg suddenly jarred a memory: A supply ship that had fallen into the moon. One man rescued the survivors in a heroic effort that cost him the use of his leg and later his career. The black beard and athletic frame… There was no doubt in my mind. Jake Jozek.
“Big Jake.”
Or was it. I walked back to Nikki’s side.
He gave us an odd look.” I think I’ve got most of this. You folks planning on going to Mars or something?”
Obviously he knew his business. Neither Nikki nor I knew what to say.
He went on, “You know, I’ve been in space. Even on the moon once. You folks have something pretty specific in mind. It’s none of my business but—”
“Big Jake Jozek?” I asked, desperately trying to change the subject.
“Yeah,” he laughed. “Didn’t know anyone still remembered. Anyway… I think we can work something out, here. Come on back to where I keep the good stuff.”
We followed him as he scraped and dragged himself across the concrete floor toward a small door at the back of the barn. “Didn’t know anyone still remembered me,” he said. “They just brought me back, pinned a medal on me, and that was that. Now, they’re dismantling everything.
We should be going to the planets… Instead the fools are abandoning the Moon. Just when Earth needs other resources, they’re quitting.” He turned and smiled, “Please ignore the rantings of an old fanatic.”
. I tried to smile reassuringly so he wouldn’t jack up his prices. Nikki said nothing He paused before the door, took out a magnetic key, unlocked the padlock, and pushed the door open. The hinges gave a high-pitched squeak that ended in a moan. He reached into the darkness and flipped on a light.
The door opened into another huge room filled with more equipment. Unlike the room we had seen, the equipment in this room looked spotless, obviously arranged in an orderly fashion.
Several bots glided about with dust rags as if to demonstrate how carefully the equipment was being cared for.
“This is my good stuff. No one but the folks that deliver and unload the gear I buy even know it’s back here. Been saving it for the time when I can buy a rocket—if and when one becomes available—and make my own way back into space. Earth’s not home anymore. Not with this bum leg. It holds me back. It doesn’t matter in space.”
“What kind of prices are we looking at for the gear we need,” I asked.
He laughed. “The stuffs not for sale. Woe there. Don’t give me those long faces… I do have a proposition to make to you.” He paused a moment and turned to stand directly in front of us. ” I can see from your equipment list that you have something special in mind. You get me back into space and I’ll make it worth your while. Get me to the Moon with enough gear to get set up in an abandoned base, and I’ll supply you with what you need for free.”
Nikki and I stood still, not wanting to betray ourselves. Was this guy on the level?
“Uh. Just a minute. We need to have a conference here,” I pulled Nikki over to one of the spotless corners of the room as a bot scurried out of our way.
“I don’t know about this,” I whispered.. “We should probably get out of here. This guy might not be on the level and he’s already guessed what we were planning.”
“He wouldn’t have admitted knowing what we were planning if he were just going to turn us in. I think he’s serious.”
“But there’s no way we can mount an expedition for all three of us to the Moon. And how do you know that he won’t turn us in?”
“Why would he turn us in?”
I paused. “That is a point. He did get booted out of space. Probably has some real grudges, too…”
“Why not trust him? I bet he’s serious about getting back into space.”
“OK. That’s probably right. But I’m not sure if we have enough lifting power to carry all we need. Let alone another—”
“If we accelerate constantly, the trip could be short and—”
“Can you really lift the three of us and some gear?”
“Sure. Well, almost sure that we can do it. I did the calculations last night for two of us. But I think we could squeeze in three. And I’m sure we can trust him. We could use a little help from someone that knows what’s on the Moon.”
“Well… I doubt that we’ll find anyone else with this much good equipment. OK. But let’s not let him know too much at first.”
Having said that, I spilled my guts. More or less. We didn’t tell him HOW we were getting to the moon. Not at first; I didn’t want to scare him off. But I did admit that we were going. “But our first trip will be without you until we get the hang of things,” I finished up.
He was equally forthcoming. “No way. If you have enough lift to get the gear you’re needing into space, you can take one more hand on board. Either I go or you look somewhere else for your gear. And I can promise you, you aren’t going to find anyone else with this quality of equipment.”
I bit my lip. He was like the kid that owned the bat and gloves and ball; he was the only game in town.
“I tell you what,” I countered. “Let me show you what we’ll be traveling in and you’ll probably want to wait for the second round trip. But you can’t tell anyone what you’ve seen. It can be hazardous to your health.”
Once we’d gained his promise, we drove the van into the barn. He looked at it and then at us as if we were crazy. I smiled as the little wheels started to move in his head. He tilted his head to listen to the constant whirl of the engine. “What the…” He walked around the van. Nikki was driving so I got out.
I motioned to the open door. “Get in.”
He handed me his crutches, backed into the passenger’s seat, and pulled himself into place.
Nikki flew him around the inside of the barn.
“I can’t believe it. I must be dreaming,” was all he said when he settled back on the floor and hopped from the van.
After a moment of thought, he put a huge “Closed” sign on the front door, locked up, and almost without another word we started assembling everything we would be needing for our trip.
We stopped for a quick lunch and then worked well into the night. About every fifteen minutes Jake would say, ” I can’t believe it. I must be dreaming.”
First we made a big pile of everything we needed, then we started figuring the lift potential as well as trying to figure how to store everything in the van. I could see it was going to be one tight fit. At best we’d be like a bunch of soso’s stuffed into a vacuum-packed can. At worst, Jake would have to stay behind. And I wasn’t so sure he would agree to that.