“I know you can’t handle any more good news, but we have a bit of a situation.”

Teague stared down at his ex-wife’s face in his slate, his shaking hand making her image flicker.

“What is it now?”

Hydroponics tech Sylvia Ramirez is pregnant.”

“What?” Teague didn’t know what he had been expecting to hear, but it wasn’t that.

“I just got her test results back, thought you should know.”

Teague rubbed his face. His first day felt like ten. “How did this happen?”

He regretted as words the moment they left his mouth.

A grin played on Skyler’s lips. “Really? Do I need to have the talk with you?”

“You know what I mean,” Teague said, more forcefully than he intended. “We have procedures in place so this kind of thing doesn’t happen.”

Skyler giggled. “When our parents were children, Earth's population was approximately four billion. Now it's close to ten. Policies and procedures have never stopped that from happening in the entire history of humanity.”

“But every female on Luna is required to take birth control. It’s a mandate of their employment.”

Skyler shrugged. “She said she forgot.”

Teague breathed a heavy sigh. “Well. What do we do?”

“Nothing we can do,” said Skyler. “She says she’s keeping it. We could send her home, I suppose, but I don’t know what reentry would do to the embryo.”

“How far along is she?”

“About six weeks,” said the doctor.

“All right. Well, we know childbirth is dangerous up here, but we had to research it sooner or later. What do you need?”

“Childbirth is dangerous on Earth, but since it’s technically forbidden on the Moon, we’re not geared for it. But we can be by the time she delivers. I can print almost everything we need. I’ve already started running off an incubator in case we need it. But I can’t plan for everything. I’ve delivered lots of babies, but never on the Moon. No one has. We’re in somewhat unknown territory.”

“But you can do it.”

“Yeah. I can do it. As long as nothing goes wrong.”

“OK. Who is the mother again?”

“Sylvia Ramirez. She’s a hydroponics tech. Husband works there too.”

Teague nodded. OK, whatever you need to do. I want her monitored closely.”

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“I know my job, Harry.”

Teague ran a hand over his face again, this time finding stubble. “Right. I’m sorry.”

“We’re watching her like a hawk. I’m more worried about you. When is the last time you slept?”

“Not since we arrived. A day on the Moon is twenty-three Earth days. Kind of plays hell with the ol’ circadian rhythms.”

“Well, you need to adjust. Get some sleep. Doctor’s orders.”

I’ll get some sleep in a couple of hours. I promise.”

Skyler broke the connection.

Teague turned toward Leneski, who was sitting across from him at the restaurant, a huge smile plastered on his face.

“What?”

“This is great news,” he said. “Especially after that punch to the PR balls we just took with the shuttle incident.”

“Jesus, Mike. Four people are dead, one of whom was supposed to testify before Congress.”

“And their problems are over, while ours are just beginning,” Mike said. “Look, the shuttle thing is a fiasco, no question. But the Ramirez pregnancy is a gift. Think of the attention—the funding—we’ll get now. Luna 1 has been relegated to the back page. The shuttle explosion put us back in the forefront, but for the wrong reasons. This pregnancy news will reverse some of that. Get ‘em talking about something else for a change. Think of it. The first human being born on another world. All eyes will be watching the Moon again. For the right reasons this time. This kid could be just the kick in the pants we need. You’ll see.”

“I hope you’re right,” Teague said. “I really do. But in the meantime, we still need to find out what the hell happened to that shuttle. And I need to get some sleep. Doctor's orders.”

* * *

Skyler broke the connection and slumped back in her chair. Her own office wasn’t as large as Teague’s, but it was serviceable, and she had already started unpacking, making it her own. Luna 1 had been without a chief medical officer for several months, and it showed. Their intake procedures had gotten sloppy and they were inundated with patients complaining of ailments that any well-equipped medkit on base could fix. But after a hard several hours Skyler felt like she had made a dent.

The last of day shift’s patients had finally left, and for the moment the medical blister was quiet. Skyler’s thoughts refocused on Sylvia Ramirez. She hoped the fetus could adapt to the difference in gravity. To the radiation levels. To a myriad of things evolution down at the bottom of a gravity well had not prepared it for.

Mankind had to be crazy for coming out here. The weightlessness. The vacuum. The hard radiation. For a species that evolved in a gravity well, surrounded by a thick, breathable atmosphere and a strong magnetic field that kept cosmic radiation at bay, space was a dangerous place. Humans had proved they could live in the spaces between the stars for short periods, but what about the long term? How would they grow food? Have babies?

It was a critical question she had asked herself many times. She told herself this was just another step in human evolution. The first of their hominid ancestors who descended from the trees into the vast, dangerous savanna had a similar problem. There they were, safe in the trees, where there was plenty of food and they were free from predators. They had to learn to stand and walk upright in order to see over the tall grasses and evade predators. They had to learn to sweat. But without their risk, without their flagrant disregard of the dangers involved, humanity in its current form wouldn’t exist.

It wasn’t a perfect analogy. Her hominid example still had gravity, air, and protection from ionizing radiation. But she still felt it was an apt comparison. She didn’t know the answers to her questions, but that’s why Luna 1 existed. To find out. And that’s why she had come up here, despite her general misgivings. And in spite of the man who asked her.

Harry Teague. There was a time she would have followed him anywhere. She probably would have traveled with him into the photosphere of the Sun if he was going. But she had matured much since their younger days. She had lived a life completely separate from him, continents apart, setting up plague hospitals in Uganda, salving near-fatal sunburns in the western allegiance zones. The Moon was her next great challenge. If mankind was going to be crazy enough to brave the inimical, airless void, she was going to help them if she could. And if a child was going to be born on the Moon, she was going to do everything she could to give it the best chance at survival.

Skyler stood and exited the office. It was time to follow her own advice and get some much-needed rest. If today was any indication, tomorrow was going to be a doozy.