Chan slept as well as he could. The moon’s gravity wasn’t like Earth’s at all. Even with a sealed environment, making it appear “Earth-like,” it just wasn’t. He always felt like he was floating away, or like someone was tugging on his body in either direction, it was rather disruptive to his sleep. He missed being back on the planet, were he could step outside and breath in the morning air and view the sun in the sky. His dreams of it were few and precious, but always he dreamt of being in his bed, and getting a solid sleep. How he envied those days, and those nights.But, as always, he roused from his slumber and realized who was a fault for all of this—it was him.
Was it by choice though? Really? The government was kind of responsible in the blame as well. They pushed to have a biological weapon, something to use against their enemies, and keep countries like The United States on their toes. Communism, for all its immoveable politics and stance on unity, did have some good ideals in there, he felt. But, for the most part, he also knew it had too numerous bad points about it as well, with terrible consequences from being so stark and militant. He would never voice theses opinions openly, not if he wanted to go to prison for doing so, or worst… he dared not think of it.
When he looked at the time, he shot up to his feet.
“It’s nearly five! I’m Late!”
Chan fiddled with his hair, rushed over to his kitchen sink, splashed some water on his face and drank some out of the running tap. He gave his clothes a sniff. They were still okay, of a sort. There was no time to change. He scrambled in the room, looking for deodorant or cologne, and only found an air freshener spray. He shrugged, sprayed it on himself, and headed out the door. The over powering smell of lemon wafted off of him, causing several passerby take note of it by giving a sour face. He was too frazzled to care about that. He quickly hustled from out of his unit to the street below.
He had only ten minutes to get to The Garden Of Memories, where Nathan was waiting for him. If hung about there for too long, the authorities might start to get suspicious, they might question his being there alone, or even arrest him. Chan turned his light run into a full jog. Again, that conflict with the moon’s unusual gravity. A jog would turn more into a sprint or long leaps. That would draw too much attention, especially from the police. They might ask, “Why are you running? What’s your hurry, old man?”
But he didn’t care at this point. His friend was waiting and he didn’t want him to get into any trouble. Nathan, for all his irritating quirks and Canadian sense of humour, was still his only and loyal friend on this base. Chan dodged lots of people on the way, running down side streets and back alleys that were a tightly spaced. That shaved the time down, he figured maybe a few minutes, and panted heavily from the excursion of it. He’s not a young man anymore, his heart was palpitating wildly, he wasn’t the sort of man to do exercise on a regular basis. His doctor would be stressing this point to him if he could see him now.
“Shit! Five minutes…” He glanced at holographic clock on a storefront he ran past. “Got to hurry.”
A few more long sprints and he was nearing the corner to where the Garden was. As he saw it within view, he slowed his pace and tried to regain his lung capacity. The sweat clung to his face and beaded all over. He glanced about to see if there were any security cameras or guards in the vicinity. Thankfully not, he gave a deep sigh of relief. He slowed his jog to a casual walk, and entered the grand archway of the Gardens. The Garden Of Memories, was the only greenery in the entire Lunar base. It was a rounded section full of lush green grass, blossoming cherry trees, and plants of every variety. There where paths cutting through like many parks he had seen before on Earth. Wooden benches were randomly placed on the edge of those paved walkways running through, and saw his friend Nathan reading a book on it.
Chan calmly joined him and collapsed upon sitting down. Nathan paused in his reading and gawked at the sweaty, heavily out of breath man beside him.
“Jesus… what did you do? Run here?”
“As a matter… a matter of—of fact… I did…” He huffed in and out. “I overslept… sorry.”
“Nah, do’t be…” Nathan grinned, placing his book down. “I just don’t want you to have a heart attack, I don’t really care to do CPR on you, we’re not that close, ya know?”
Chan gave a simple laugh. That surprised Nathan, normally Chan was as stern as rock, no laughter at all, well… maybe not from his type of light-hearted sarcasms. He patted his friend’s arm and waited for him to catch his breath. Once he was good, Nathan started to explain the reason for the meeting.
“Look, I know you’re worried about the plan, but I’m telling you, we can get out of here. There’s an opening on the far side of Lunar China City, I’ve got a friend who found it and has been kind of… well, smuggling in some stuff for me.”
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“Really?” Chan glared with surprise. “How? Wouldn’t they be detected if they got within a few feet of the place?”
“Normally, yes…” He conceded. “But, there are sections of this vast construct where the imagers can’t scan or monitor twenty-four-seven.” He inched closer to Chan, trying to keep their conversation low. “Anyway, the guy can signal his people, get us on their light moon-rover, and take us to the American base just beyond China’s border. They’ve got lots of energy packs to keep the thing going, and…” He paused, taking a moment to look around to see if anyone was watching them or listening in. He continued on once he felt it was safe. “They’ve got weapons, just in case we do run into any trouble, say like… boarder patrol.”
“This is far too complicated…” Chan gruffly bemoaned. “We’re going to get caught… I’ll be publicly executed as a traitor.”
“Not if we play our cards right, Chan.”
“I dunno, Nathan.”
“Hey, don’t you want to see your family again, or don’t you?” Nathan gave him a reassuring pat to the shoulder.
Chan grimaced and stared out to the garden. The scenery was beautiful. It was like being home on Earth. The round and pristine tended park was calming, tranquil even, it made him think about the times he go on a picnic with his wife and daughter. Happier times that he did so yearn for again. He could almost picture it in his head; his wife laying out the blanket, placing the food for all of them to enjoy, and his daughter playing with him as they waited for the set up to be finished.
“The Garden Of Memories, indeed…” He stated. “That’s all we have left, no thanks to me… and the military.”
Nathan took note of his somber attitude and gazed out to the garden in kind. He nodded agreeingly and passively motioned to it with his hand.
“All of this wasn’t your fault, you know. Yes, it was a tragic outcome of that union, but… you didn’t do this. Your family is still out there, somewhere, they’ve got to be. I’m not giving up hope for you Chan. You’re a good man.”
Chan scoffed at that remark. “Right… cause I did it for the good of all mankind, huh? No, I did it because I was a selfish and greedy bastard. A true countryman, a communist through and through… bullshit. Truth is, I did it just to see if I could. I never thought about it ever being used in real life. Stupid, I was utterly stupid for trusting our government.”
“Not so loud…” Nathan hushed at him. “We’ve got to stay careful.”
“Right-right…” Chan nodded apologetically. “Sorry, I’m just tired. So when is the next window of opportunity? When will those guys show up?”
“He’s got a new shipment coming in two days… kegs of American beer…”
“American beer?” Chan gawked. “There’s no beer in any of the bars… other than our own brands.”
Nathan glared at him sarcastically. “Oh, you… where do you think all of that comes from? They just re-label it all and pass it off as if it does come from those companies. Not that any of them still exist.”
“There’s only one left… I’ve had some of theirs, it’s passible.”
“The point is…” Nathan scowled at him. “Those containers they’re shipping them in are big enough for us to be put into. We could lie in there, and not be detected. They’re chilled, so, our bodies wouldn’t give off a heat signature. The metal would also hide our impact trackers.” Nathan pointed to the back side of his neck. “They’ll be muted. They won’t have a clue as to where we’re at.”
“Do you know how stupid that is?” Chan retorted with a raise brow. “A chilled container? That’s the vacuum of space out there, it’s always cold. And what of the radiation? Hm? Four hours is a long time for exposure. Even in metal containers. You can’t tell me they’re that protected.”
Nathan threw back his head in frustration and rolled his eyes.
“Oh, geez… will you stop. Gawd!” Nathan stood up and grabbed his book tightly in hand. “You’re always looking for an excuse not to go. Are you, or are you not, wanting to get back to your family? Yes or no?”
Chan let out a slow sigh. He looked at Nathan, then the garden before him, and then back at the Canadian scientist. He didn’t say anything back, just a quick nod of agreement and leaned back against the bench arched backrest. Nathan seemed satisfied by that and gave a light tap of his book on Chan’s right leg.
“Ill give you the details later in an encrypted email. I’ll make it so that it erases once you’ve closed it out. We’re on our way out of here buddy, just keep tight, okay?”
“Yes…” Chan answered back. But noticed Nathan still staring at him. “Okay, yes, I got it.”
“Good…” Nathan nodded. He started to walk away and out of the Garden park.
“Wait, Nathan…” Chan quickly called to him. His friend turned around before taking another step. Chan got up and walked over to him. “I don’t understand how you seem to know all this. Where, how, why you have all these so-called special connections…”
“I’m good at what I do…” He shrugged. “Plus, I’ve been really wanting to get out of here anyway I can. I mean, let’s face it, I’m the only white dude in this place. A Canadian one, at that, right? China never seemed to care much for us Canucks. I”m pretty sure they’re watching me all the time, but, I’ve not been much of a threat to them… so… maybe their bored of me already?”
“Right…” Chan snickered. “Don’t be so sure.”
“Exactly,” Nathan grinned. He came over and gave Chen a hug. “DOn’t worry so much. I’ll get you out safely, and you can see your family again, okay?”
“Yes—yes of course…”
Nathan gave him one last friendly pat to the shoulder and headed out of the Garden. Chan watched on as he sat back down onto the bench. Nathan really was a true friend to him. A rarity in his life, yet, he still wasn’t sure if he could trust him one hundred percent. Was that because of his suspicious nature, dealing with people stabbing him in the back all the time? Or was it something else, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on? It didn’t matter. For now, he would enjoy the park one last time, and reflect on those memories once more.
“Maybe I could take a quick nap here… just a few minutes, before it all goes away.”