Chapter 46: The Devil's Puppet Show - Part III
15th March
Old Settlement, Artemis, State of Luna
Frank's constitution passed, but I can at least take satisfaction in the fact that we were able to make an amendment to it. Though how that amendment passed, confuses me. It was only thanks to Kyle Matthews very strangely going against Frank's intentions. What does that mean? Does it even mean anything?
I found it. The place where Yohn is buried. On the moon, there isn't any graves. Everyone gets cremated, and the ash is scattered on the outside. The exceptions, however, are the first twenty. The twenty of us agreed that we would all be buried here, just a few hundred metres away from the domes we spent those first years in. It was actually pretty hard to find: the flattening out of the cavern floor, and the rise of the prefab blocks all around has changed it too much. You'd think that they might've made this a tourist destination, just like the tents are, but apparently Frank convinced them all to leave this place alone. It doesn't seem like Frank to do something like that. I would've imagined he would say something like 'it doesn't matter, the dead won't care'. It isn't like this place is hidden, but it isn't on any maps, nor is it advertised as a tourist spot. There's six graves here now. Yohn's is the most recent one by almost two years. Two died in the old days in accidents, before the whole cavern was oxygenated. Seeing their cold, blue, frozen bodies had been horrific. That's when we buried the first of us. Another two committed suicide, shortly after the mass immigration began. When they found out that their bones and muscles were too deteriorated for them to ever return to Earth again, it was too much for them. This world is so desolate after all. We thought that we'd be able to go home after our job was done, but when they found out it wasn't possible… Another, just two years ago, died of cancer, most likely brought on by exposure to radiation. I'd imagine quite a few of us will end up that way. The twenty of us spent two months on the surface, with only a thin coating of aluminium to protect us from the radiation. We all took too much radiation. Perhaps none of us should've had children.
"Well if it isn't Mei."
The voice I here from beside me is more than familiar. So much so that I know without a doubt who it is before I turn around.
As I turn to face her, I say, "we shouldn't be meeting, Nozomi. That's what we decided…"
I stop short when I see Nozomi. Standing next to her is a child. A tall child at that. A lunar-born. I can tell from their face that the two are related, or more specifically, that Nozomi is the child's mother. Like the other lunar-born children, I can't tell how old or what gender the child is. But I can tell, without a doubt, that it is Nozomi's child.
"His name's Kibo," Nozomi says, noticing my stare, "I wasn't trying to meet. I just decided to go for a walk after work. And you happened to be here as well."
I don't know whether to believe her or not, but it doesn't seem like it's going to matter. Nozomi sits down beside me, with the child, Kibo I think his name was, on her far side.
"What does it mean? Kibo?"
"Hope."
"Hope, huh…" I smile, "that seems like a strange name for this place."
"Really?" Nozomi looks at me quizzically, "how so?"
"It just doesn't seem like we have that much hope here."
Nozomi looks at me as if I'm misunderstanding something important. But I'm right, aren't I? What hope do we have here? We hope to live and thrive here on the moon, but how can we do that on such a dead body of rock? Especially if Frank takes control, there'll be nothing left. No hope. Frank says he wants to create a better world, but his better world… it's misguided. Or at least the way he intends to create it is no good. He can't achieve his goal if the method is wrong. That's why we need to stop Frank.
"Do you really think that?"
I look at Nozomi, contemplating her question.
"Of course. How can we have hope in this place?"
Nozomi sighs, then laughs lightly, "close your eyes."
"Huh?"
"Just do it. I'll explain how we have hope. Even in a place as desolate and lonely as the moon."
I don't entirely understand what Nozomi means, or what she intends to do, but I close my eyes anyway. I'll see what she intends to say.
"Think of Earth. Just anything. How does it feel, what does it look like, what does it smell of. Anything. Then tell me what your seeing. Feeling."
It sounds silly, stupid even, to me but I agreed to this, so I have to go through with it now. I try to think about it, I really do. Someplace called Earth. A distant world I used to call home. All these years later, what is it that I remember?
"The sea. I used to love the sea. Such a vast body of water, the crashing waves and the call of seagulls. The smell of it all. The blast of wind on my face… the air tastes sweet and salty, and fresher. I remember watching the clouds, making out shapes, then watching them collapse, merge, and form something new. It was always so green, so bright, so colourful. And it didn't feel so… sterile. It's beautiful."
"Now open your eyes, and tell me what you see."
I open my eyes and give myself sometime to adjust, before I begin my answer.
"Grey, black. Dust, rock. Concrete, basalt. This world… there's nothing to it. It's dead, and always will be dead."
"If it was dead, then why are we here? This place… the moon, it's our home now. Yes, it isn't like our old home, and of course it isn't. I could ask a hundred thousand people, and they could probably all tell me something different about Earth to what you said. But that doesn't mean we can't change it. You say that all you see is grey and black, maybe you're right. That's mostly what we've got, but it isn't the only thing. There are places here that are alive. The market in New Singapore, the town centre in Dunstan, the hydroponic farms in Iowa… their designing gardens now in Stockholm. That we could all have in our apartments. Of course, we can't recreate Earth, but that doesn't mean we can't create a place to call home here. The feel of this world, the atmosphere of this world… the musubi, interconnected energy, of this world. Yes, it is different. No, it isn't Earth. But it is our home now, for better or worse. We just have to do our part to make sure that it is for the better."
I'm not sure that I completely comprehend what Nozomi was trying to say, but I think I get the general sense of it. We do have hope, even here on the moon, so far from our home. This world isn't as dead as I think, because we're here. Because we can change this world to adapt it to be a better home for us and our children. That, I believe, is what she was trying to say.
"Thank you."
"Your welcome."
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