Moon Fall
Chapter 7 - Red Sky at Night

“Peter?” She asked tentatively as he stepped back letting her enter. She was carrying a large dufflebag and she set it by the door as she came in, the door shutting behind her. She didn’t take her eyes off him and she brought up a hand. “May I?”

Peiter gave her a withering look. “This isn’t the first time you’ve seen regression before.”

“No, but this is pretty drastic.” She touched his neck lightly. “Even the scar is gone.”

He flinched slightly but she moved her hand to his face. “Plus you look like you’ve lost some weight, I hear that’s an effect, but... why? I thought you were against it?”

“It was an accident.”

Her face grew hard. “Accident?”

He scratched his scalp and gave it a few seconds thought and then went to his desk. “Hold on.” He turned on his security shield and brought up the video’s and data he’s collected from his last few days. Going over everything he’d seen and heard and recorded since leaving nothing out. He trusted Grace more than pretty much anyone else on Whitehome and he also didn’t want to be the only one mulling this stuff over, he even included his dreams since regression.

Halfway through Grace brought out her personal pad and showed him the data she had brought with her. It was geological data from abandoned drill sites that still had seismic recorders buried miles deep into the coral. There was dramatic vibrations from within the planet and the intensity followed the orbit of the two moons, meaning that Moon Fall was indeed causing planet wide seismic activity, though so far on a minimal scale.

Upon replaceing out that some domes had been evacuated Grace was shocked, she had not heard anything about domes being evacuated.

They sat down at the desk and he leaned in, his elbows resting on it’s edge. “So with the communications cloud down and only local to inner dome net up it’s safe to say the situation is being controlled to lower the damage that could be caused by fear.”

“That’s still not right though, people have the right to know if there is something happening here. What if what we don’t know about this planet is about to bite us in the ass?” Grace said angrily, her eyes were bright and alert. “I can’t believe the President would try to hide something like this on a planetary scale, he can’t possibly think things will just go back to normal after this.”

“He can just blame it on the fact that we’ve have never experienced Moon Fall before and this could be something we have to deal with every hundred years or so.”

“Should the rise of sysmatic activity and the widening of the equatorial winds both north and south warrant at least a discussion on evacuation? Shouldn’t it have been up to a council vote? Make it public?”

Peiter brought up a screen near the wall and requested outflight data for all ships leaving Whitehome. “There has been an increase in departures planet wide. Twenty percent increase in scheduled departures and there is even a Authority report of unscheduled private departures, to be exact.” He tapped a few times on the counter top and brought up another screen.

The screen opened up to reveal a young red headed male with a thick red mustache and handlebars going down the sides of his mouth. His freckles dotted his face and he sported a trimmed unibrow that hadn’t been trimmed in a few days. The background looked like that of a cockpit of a shuttle.

“Bruce, this is Peiter.”

There was no recognition on the man’s face at first. “Right, Peiter who?” He moved around the screen as if he didn’t care about the call.

“It’s me Bruce, forced regen, had an accident the other day.”

That didn’t really seem to get the guys attention. “Right, hang on.” He said flipping some switches and tilted his head as he put on some kind of head gear with mic. “Shuttle Dock, this is Colypso requesting clearance and a flight path for departure.”

“Colypso, this is Shuttle Dock Authority, permission granted but there will be a fifteen minute delay for an open window.” A female voice came over that both Peiter and could hear, though muddled.

“Uh, Shuttle Dock, Colypso here, did you say delay?”

“Sorry Colypso, we have our hands full hear with twenty new arrivals for Moon Fall and seven private ships currently in line for departure. The LAI’s are having a difficult time and are now shuffling around flight plans through commercial lanes. We’re experiencing some really high traffic, station security has been alerted and planetside authorities say it should lighten up soon.”

“Twenty, arrivals?” Peiter fround. He hadn’t said it very loud but the number didn’t seem right.

“Understood Dock, waiting clearance.” Bruce turned back to face them and shook his head. “Alright, sorry about that.”

“Looks like you’ll be waiting a while Bman.” Peiter used the old handle Bruce used when he first started shipping to Whitehome.

Bruce had been a simple green pilot in a commercial delivery company that brought seeds and manageable earth for agricultural purposes. So Peiter had met him a few times along with several other pilots.

Bruce leaned towards the screen, his face now taking up most of the view now. “Oh hell, Peiter? Is that you?”

“Yup. In the renewed flesh at it where.”

“Wow, that stuff really can do the job. I’ve never actually seen a full on regen before, well I mean not a before and after. I mean I’ve seen older people and those with missing limbs and so on coming onto the station but never really paid much attention to the ones coming back from the planet. I don’t ship people so, the only place I hear stories is at Jackies. I’ve had my own tweeks but a full regen, wow, and not one someones ‘says’ they’ve had. Pretty amazing stuff. Gotta see it to believe it yeah?”

“How is Jackie?” Peiter asked curiously.

“He’s good, his son’s Derek and Liam just passed flight training back on Io and are shipping out. I hear there’s a big to do with these modified SHIV drives they’ve been putting in. I’d get one but I don’t have the credits. Could trade in all my ships save the Colypso here, but then I’d have to start from the ground up.” Bruce sighed and sat up. “So, what’s up?” Bruce’s eyes raised. “And who’s the coppertop?”

“Names Grace.” She said before Peiter could introduce her.

“Hey ya, don’t see many red heads these days, is it natural?”

“Easy Flyboy, remember what side of the monitor I’m on.” Grace grinned.

Bruce blushed and gave a little chuckle.

“Bruce.” Peiter’s voice held a hint of warning but his face showed a whithered look. “I didn’t call to discuss follicle pigments, gene heredity, or whatever else you two were planning on discussing.”

Grace tapped him on the arm. “You talk to him, I’m gonna use the bathroom.” She whispered as she leaned to his ear.

He nodded and she grabbed a bag and went into the bedroom.

“Whew, way to go Professor.” Bruce said using the old nickname he’d given Peiter. It wasn’t exactly a nickname as Peiter had taught terrestrial terraforming and botanical cultivation techniques. For a while Earth Gov had requested he come to Earth for a symposium. He’d been a guest speaker considering the difficulties of dome agriculture. There had been a mix up on the tickets from Gleise Alpha Station to the Sol system and Bruce had given him a lift on a trading vessel. Peiter had lots of time to practice his speech, but since he was using his collar it hadn’t been the most enjoyable traveling experience at first.

Peiter shook his head impatiently considering canceling the connection. “Bruce, I heard something about increased arrivals?”

“Yeah, think it’s for the Moon Fall celebration planetside. We’ve had Glecian, Thurod, and even Vans Feds come through. IT’s gonna be a heck of a party. Kind of weird though.”

“How so?”

“Well at first there was this large amount of private shuttles coming up from the southern domes, but then traffic stopped. I’d say fourty or so ships, some cargo ships, just up and docked with the Collusian Station and are still docked there. Something about there are some folks who were worried about Moon Fall. Figure it was just the crazies with tinfoil worried the magnetic forces were gonna mess with tehir brains or something.” Bruce swirled his hand near his head. “Couple of them got arrested when a brawl broke out on the dockside.”

“They still there or did they...”

“Shot out of system as soon as they got their ships stocked, and departures okayed.” Bruce made a wizzing sound and flew his hand out of view. “Heard another rumor they were evacuated from the domes, something about a government coverup. You know, the usual kind of crazy stuff you hear from health nut colonies like this.”

Peiter’s heart skipped a beat. “Bruce, about how many people do you think could have been in those shuttles?”

Bruce frowned. “Several hundred thousand or so, maybe more. From what I hear, some were private, mostly family full, shuttles some were larger cruisers and cargo ships.” He leaned back and grabbed a pad from his controls and flipped through the screens contents. “I’m currently waiting to head out with one man who missed his shuttle.”

“I thought you stopped doing interstellar tourism.” Peiter said, half joking.

“Well special case. This guy caused a scene station side and got arrested by Csec, was screaming about quakes and damaged domes. He apologized and paid a lesser charge and they released him. I got a request from the station master himself. Seems his detention made him miss his shuttle, so..” Bruce paused and tilted his head from side to side as he’d had to mull over the idea, “since I’m heading his way, I was asked if there was room to provide ‘hospitable transport’.” Bruce coughed the last bit out.

“No good deed.” Peiter warned Bruce.

“Hey, I do the station head a favor then he owes me, is my thought.” Bruce shrugged. “Guys got a bunk and most of his gear was on his originating shuttle. He’s got a few cloths and no real personal belongings to clutter up the area. He’s pretty much kept to himself really since he’s been onboard, think he’s had a few regens, paperwork says he’s seventy four but he looks like he’s twenty four to me.” Bruce shrugged.

“You’ve had a regen, right Bruce?”

Bruce nodded. “Yup, originally it was for my arthritis, but this was ten years ago and they were developing a new regen tank and I knew a few people so I opted for a few extras but it only took out a few grays and suppled the old skin, nothing like what you got.” Bruce rubbed his chin. “It’s nice but I don’t think I’d do it again.” Bruce tapped a few keys and flipped a few switches. “You said yours was an accident?”

“Yeah, details are in the file I sent you.”

“Gotta say you sound a hell of a lot better.” Bruce chided.

Peiter gave him a whithering look. “Yeah well, now I got people who don’t even recognize me.”

“Changed your looks a bit, changed your voice, your almost a new man.” Bruce paused then leaned to the screen a bit. “You planning on starting over? If you need a lift all you gotta do is say the word. I’ll be back in thirth six hours, depending on traffic.”

Peiter sat there a minute and looked to the bedroom, the smell of water from the shower filled his nostrils. “You’re already heading out and I have to attend the Moon Fall festival. I’d say I’m too old for packing up and moving on but...” He raised his hands. “Right now I’m still trying to wrap my head around stuff that’s going on here.”

Bruce made a face and leaned back and tapped a few keys and then put a hand on his headphone. “Bman to Cutter, Bman to Cutter.”

Peiter could only hear Bruce’s side of the conversation as the conversation was purely audio.

“Cutter, you got any shuttles still in dock at North Dome? Can I ask you a favor? I have a friend who might be wanting to dustoff at some point, think you could leave a skip synced to this pilot. I’m sending you his credintials.” Bruce turned to look at Peiter. “You still certified right?”

Peiter nodded. “You don’t...”

Bruce cut him off like he was hearing someone else. “Right, yeah. Thanks Cutter, big thanks. I’ll owe you a few shipments. We’ll get together later and sort it out.” He smiled and cut the line and turned back to the screen. “Got you a shuttle doc. I know you didn’t ask but with things being as they are, I’d kinda like to make sure you had a backup if you just can’t stand it down there anymore.”

“I really don’t think I’ll be needing it, but thank you Bruce.”

“No problem. I owe you. So...” Bruce flipped a switch. “You think there’s something to this rumor business? I could talk to the guy I’m shipping. See if he knows anything.”

Peiter nodded. “Please, send me whatever you think is relevant. Honestly Bruce, something weird ‘is’ going on. I’ll send you something to look at and if you think it’s important show it to your man there, alright?”

Bruce gave him a one handed salute and closed the link.

Peiter made a quick scan of where the shuttle Bruce had secured for him was docked and slipped the location data into his pad. Peiter gathered the datapacket he’d made up and sent a copy through twelve secured satelite relays and encoded to an old shipping code format he knew Bruce would be able to decipher. After the file was sent he returned to the bedroom, but before he entered he ran a finger over the side of the door turning on the intercom.

“Uh...” He wasn’t sure what to say at first so he covered with information. “Bruce got us a shuttle, in case things get too hectic.”

The door opened and Grace stood there in a white robe drying her hair with a towel. She was looking at the wall above the counter which was showing an orbital view of Whitehome. “Look.” She pointed at the image.

It was a stationwide distribution. Suddenly Alexi’s face appeared, hanging in mid air.