CHAPTER FIVE
tao dao diqiu shang
Escape to Earth
That afternoon Ta Shu and Zhou Bao got on the train headed south. Ta Shu fell asleep, exhausted by his walkabout, and he woke only when the train hissed to a halt in Shackleton Crater. The big complex there looked pretty sophisticated after Petrov Station. Not that dissimilar to malls on Earth. Ta Shu recalled the way McMurdo had begun to look like a big city after one had been out in the Transantarctics for a while. It was the same here: Shackleton was the moon’s McMurdo, the outer stations like field camps.
They found that most of the people they met in the big station were still flustered by the arrival of the American lander, which had come down on the northern flank of Ibn Bajja Crater, on a peak of Eighty-One Percent Eternal Light. That was the sunniest local highland not yet occupied by some kind of Chinese structure, which no doubt explained why the Americans had chosen it. Their lander was an old-style space cylinder, massive compared to anything the Chinese used anymore. Aside from a radio alert to the spaceport’s control center as they came over the horizon from the north, they had not communicated with the Chinese before landing. After they were down they had called Chinese headquarters to say hello and invite a group over for a discussion of their purpose.
With Chang Yazu dead, and Commissioner Li Bingwen returned to Earth, the local chain of command was in a state of flux. It was Inspector Jiang Jianguo who asked Zhou Bao and Ta Shu if they would make the first visit to the newly arrived Americans. Ta Shu’s old friendship with John Semple was referenced, and Zhou’s English was said to be the best of any Chinese diplomat now on the moon.
“Happy to try,” Ta Shu said. “Although it sounds as if John won’t be in charge of this American station anymore.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Inspector Jiang said. “It’s still better if you’re there. Personal relations always matter.”
It was a short drive on the ridgelines between Shackleton and the American lander on the outside of Ibn Bajja Crater. Sun low on the horizon, as always. The American lander was a big fat cylinder propped on low stilts. Coming from the Chinese complex, Ta Shu could not help but think this vehicle was just a teeny thing, reminiscent of the Apollo landers that still dotted the near side. Here the Americans’ silver cylinder was about as wide as it was tall, with six legs splayed away from the fat rockets under the body of it.
Zhou Bao drove them up to the cylinder and radioed in. An air-lock door in the cylinder opened, and then a tube extended out and adhered to their car’s door. They tiptoed through the tunnel and into the American lander. The three men in its lower chamber shook hands and introduced themselves: a Smith, an Allen, and another Smith, from NASA, the State Department, and the National Science Foundation, respectively. After they sat down, Ta Shu asked the NSF Smith if he knew any of Ta Shu’s old acquaintances from the US Antarctic Program. It turned out they both knew the current head of the USAP, and Smith brought Ta Shu up to date on his institutional work.
Then with this little gesture to friendly diplomacy finished, Allen took up a globe of the moon and put it on the table they were sitting around. The south pole was uppermost, and marked in red by the various Chinese settlements.
“So, here we are,” Allen said, pointing at a blue dot among the red rectangles.
“Indeed,” Zhou said. “We noticed.” Adding a little smile.
Allen said, “We’re assuming it’s okay with you for us to settle here. We need a station at the south pole for several purposes.”
“Anyone can settle anywhere on the moon that isn’t already occupied by another settlement,” Zhou said. “Outer Space Treaty. China is a signatory, and has adhered to all the stipulations in it. Article 9 of the treaty says that if any party to the treaty has reason to believe an activity planned by another state would cause potentially harmful interference with their activities in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, they may request consultation concerning the activity.”
“Yes,” Allen said. “Actually, we were going to invoke that clause ourselves. We had intended to make a geological survey of this area. We’re afraid your excavations here will make our scientific work impossible.”
Zhou nodded. “The treaty says you can request consultation concerning the activity or experiment in question. So now you have requested consultation, and I acknowledge receipt of same. I will transmit the request to my superiors, and they will be discussing it with their superiors in Beijing. It shouldn’t take long.”
“We understand.”
“Meanwhile, we will surely want to reciprocate by taking a look at your settlement at the north pole.”
“And why is that?”
“Well, it’s an equivalent problem. We’ve been attempting to determine the origin and age of the water ice in the craters at both poles, and we’ve been very careful to keep most of the south polar craters pristine until the proper studies have been made. When it comes to the north pole’s ice, however, we’re concerned, because it seems from our orbital observations that you have been drilling in all of the icy craters up there.”
“You should establish a base up there, like we have down here,” Allen suggested.
“Maybe so. I’m sure that’s being considered.”
They sat there looking at the globe of the moon.
“These issues will be decided in Washington and Beijing,” Ta Shu said. “So maybe you can tell us more about what you will be doing here at the south pole?”
“We have a six-month assignment to set up radio transmitters and do some area studies.”
“That’s a long time to be in a room this small,” Zhou said, looking around. “You are always welcome to come over to visit us in the various facilities we have here.”
“Thank you.”
“Will you have the ability to go back north for visits?”
“When we refuel this base we can take off in it. We’ll need to mine some water and split it before we could do that.”
Zhou said, “We’re keeping most of the icy craters down here pristine, as I said. We can guide you to the craters we are mining, or else we can bring you ice to use. Whichever you like.”
“Thank you. Meanwhile, we’ll be visited from time to time by teams from the north, to resupply and swap out researchers.”
“You should definitely come on over and visit.”
“Thank you. We’ll have to get authorization for anything like that.”
“No doubt. I trust it will be forthcoming.”
“I hope so.”
On the short drive back up to the Shackleton greenhouse, Ta Shu and Zhou Bao didn’t speak for a while. As they approached the garage door, Zhou said, “They want trouble. Not those three men in particular, but someone higher up in the American government.”
“Do you think so?”
“I do.”
“So you won’t give it to them?”
“Right. Never give an adversary what they want.”
“But if they really want trouble, they can get it. They’ll just push harder. Because at some point we’ll have to push back. Right?”
“Imagine when your three-year-old loses his temper and goes after you. He bites, he kicks, he screams. If you’re not careful, I suppose he could kick you in the balls and hurt you. But if you’re careful, you just fold him in your arms, right? Or you let him pound on you for a while, until he’s gotten it out of his system. Right?”
“Three-year-old? Really? Is America like a child god? Rockets in his fingertips?”