Alexei was chattering too much to notice my silence. He tossed the makeup kit to Mickey. "Here, you get started. You and Douglas, use suntan number nine, da?You are Lunar prospectors. Douglas, you are here longer; use a lot, get very dark. Not to worry. Is permanent color. Takes at least a month to fade. Face and neck only. Mickey, you will not need as much. You have only been here a year. You do not work outside so much. Only some."
Then he went burrowing through silky nylon things, sorting and tossing. "Brengle‑Tucker is good man. He order everything for his pretty wife. Even fancy underwear. Just in case someone looks up receipts, this shows he adores her, leaves nothing out. First rule of smuggling, Charles–do not give reason for someone to be suspicious; always give them something else to look at. Like underwear. Most people do not look under underwear, that is why you hide your dirty books under it. So here is nice underwear. Don't look funny at me, Charles. You are not your panties. And clean underwear is always welcome, even if it is pink and has lace trim. Is Loonie lesson, never look gift underwear in crotch. Clean underwear is as valuable as water. Sometimes more. Here, this will fit you too. You are not much bigger in the chest than I am." He tossed me a padded bra. Stinky giggled. I glowered at him.
"Is this reallynecessary–?" I started to object.
" Da!"he nodded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Is good disguise. I have wear it myself sometimes."
I looked at all the unfamiliar clothes he had pushed into my arms, with a feeling of dismay. "Why can't you just call your Mr. Bagel?"
"Is Beagle, not Bagel, and is not good idea. Not from here. Is too much expensive. Costs much fuel. Emergency is over. And will make more risk."
"But I don't want to do this!"
"Oh? You will run across moon, naked to the sunlight, risking death with every step, all without question–but you will not wear a bra even if it means saving your life?"
I looked to my older brother. "Douglas–?"
"Hey, I have to pretend I'm your husband."
"Can't Mickey be my husband?"
"No. He's already mine."
"You know what I mean–"
"Come on, Charles. Please?" Douglas gave me the impatient Mommy look. "Pretend it's Halloween."
"No," Mickey interrupted, in a voice like he was giving orders. "That's the wrong approach. Chigger, pretend it's a play.And you're the star. Everyone is watching your every move and listening to your every line. So you have to get into your character and stay there, because all our lives might depend on it."
"Oh, that's good," said Douglas. "Make him self‑conscious."
" Her,"corrected Mickey. "And you too, Douglas. You have to stay in character too. All of us. From now on, this is Maura, and you're Samm. And Bobby is … "
"Valerie," I suggested.
"No, I'm not!" he snapped right back. "I'm Patty."
"Patty–?"
"Yes, Patty!"
"Okay. Then I'm going to call you Pattycakes."
"And I'm going to call you Mommy."
It must have been the startled look on my face–both Mickey and Douglas laughed out loud. Alexei said, "Hokay, then it's settled. Now, hurry and dress."
Mommy?
ALL ABOARD
There was no official record of Janos, Maura, and Patty arriving on Luna, but that wasn't unusual. Luna didn't police her borders; thousands of illegal immigrants dropped off the Line every year, riding cargo pods to various hard‑to‑reach locations. No one knew how many hidden colonies there were, although satellite‑based observatories had mapped over eleven thousand cargo pods, unmanned stations, and automated industrial installations capable of sustaining human life. It was estimated there could be as many as two thousand more habitats, either buried or camouflaged.
Another way to estimate the total number of human beings on Luna was to measure total power consumption. The entire moon took its power through the cable system. Superconducting wires carried power from the bright side to the dark side, wherever it was needed. Because the Loonies believed in wasting nothing, everything was monitored. The numbers on water usage, heat radiation, oxygen recycling, waste production, and food consumption were all part of the economic balance. How much did Luna need for her own people? How much could she export to Mars and the asteroids? Once all the various industrial and agricultural processes were factored out, once the exports were subtracted, there was still a considerable discrepancy between projected and actual consumption of resources.
Luna's officialcensus reported 3.2 million permanent residents. The unofficial census estimated that there were another 50,000 Loonies living off in the hills. Some of them were fictitious identities like Samm Brengle‑Tucker and his family; no one knew how many; but the fictitious families made it harder to track down those who were just invisible.So nobody knew for sure how many invisibles there were.
People went invisible for lots of different reasons. Some of them were hiding from Earth authorities or bounty marshals. I could understand that. Others wanted to live alone so they could practice their own way of life without interference from anyone else. I could understand that too. And some of them were invisible because they really hated other people. And that one wasn't hard to understand at all; sometimes other people were really hard to put up with. I wondered what it might be like to live so all alone–hiding in the darkness, hiding from the light.
And then there were the others …
Some of the invisibles were out there in the shadows because they were doing things they reallydidn't want anyone else to know about. That was scary. I couldn't imagine what those things might be. And I didn't want to imagine.
Alexei Krislov paid for his own train ticket. Samm Brengle‑Tucker bought tickets for himself, his common‑law wife and daughter, and his half brother, Janos Brengle‑Palmer. Then Alexei passed out cash cards to everyone. "Just in case," he said. "But even cash cards that come from Earth can be traced eventually, so only use for emergency. Please. Remember, you are invisibles and hope to stay that way."
"Won't people ask questions?" I asked.
Alexei shook his head. "People come in and out from the cold all the time. Go visiting, go shopping, then disappear again. There are many invisible networks. Most Loonies know better to ask. Someday they might want to go invisible themselves. Loonies respect each other's privacy. No questions, no touching, no personal remarks. Is because we do not have much real privacy–we share too many cramped little tubes for too much of our lives–so we have to create privacy in our heads. Earth tourists do not always understand this. Too much touching and pushing, they think they are being friendly. On Luna, if someone touches you and you do not want to be touched, is very big, very bad mistake. Slap hand away and say, 'Don't touch me, dirtsider!' Is very nasty insult here. Not to worry, you will have Samm and Janos to protect you. You will stand close between them. Just remember who you are."