“Mary! We won! We won the all expenses paid vacation to the Lunar South Pole Base.”
“What Leroy? To the moon? Since when?”
“That contest I entered a while back.”
“Well, not me, I’m not going. It’s cold, there’s no air, and you just look at dirt and dust through portholes. So, not me.”
“It comes with a bunch of side trips to the tourist spots. People pay a whole lot of money for these moon vacations. There’s good views of the Earth and the commercial hotel has a bar, slots, and entertainment.”
“What about this place? Who’s going to feed and milk the cows?”
“Fred’s boys can handle it. They’ve helped out here often enough, and they owe us.”
***
“Hurry honey, we’ve got that moon buggy trip to the bottom of Shackelton Crater today. It’s supposed to be big and deep, and we get to visit the water mines and the research station at the bottom.”
“Yeah right, just let me finish getting ready. I’m not used to bathing with wet naps and I’m not going to be cooped up in a submarine on wheels with a bunch or rich celebrities and politicians smelling like I slipped in the holding pen.”
“Nobody is going to smell you in the pressure suit.”
“Maybe not but we only put the helmet on in an emergency or when we go outside, so just let me finish my hair and makeup.”
***
“Well, I guess that was more interesting than I expected,” Mary said as they climbed back into the moon buggy.
“You bet it was, and tomorrow we go to the far side and visit that astronomical observatory.”
They took their seats and buckled in, but the vehicle failed to move. One of the crew entered the main cabin and said, “We appear to have a problem. The external drive isn’t engaging so they are sending a repair crew from the base. It’ll probably just be a couple of hours. We will be serving drinks and snacks shortly.”
Leroy unstrapped and moved forward. “I could take a look.”
“Everyone needs to stay in their seats. Sit down sir.”
“Really, I’ve fixed drives for everything from Gators to combines. Let me take a look.”
“Lunar Base Control, this is MB2. We have a passenger onboard that’s some kind of mechanic. He wants to check out the problem with the drive. Says he has a lot of experience.”
There was a delay, then, “Hmm, give him a headset, it’s been a long day.”
Leroy talked to base personnel for a while and said, “Shucks, I’ve had to crawl under tractors in deep snow and do repairs wearing heavy gloves many times, so no problem.”
He then looked over schematics and drawings on the view screen while continuing the discussion with Lunar Base Control. They described how most critical components are located inside the climate-controlled vessel but that the feed-through and harmonic drive are exposed and have been known to freeze up or have dust buildup issues. After a bit Leroy said, “Okay, I’ll take a look.”
***
“Well, that was an eventful day.” Mary said after returning to their compartment in the hotel.
“You bet it was and I maybe they will want to hire me.”
“Yeah right, that’s not happening. We’ve got cows to milk anyway.”