Fabulae Lunae Vignette — Decisions

Fab­u­lae Lunae Vignette – Decisions

A short scene from the Fab­u­lae Lunae series.

Lunar noir hard sci­ence fic­tion: Jus­tice is per­son­al, and back­up is three days away.

The back bed­room in Hous­ton is the office. Nils Carmike fin­ish­es the let­ter and sends it to the print­er as Katie walks in. He set the room up so that she could reach him when he was in space. It became unnec­es­sary for a dif­fer­ent reason.

He is writ­ing his res­ig­na­tion let­ter. Y+13. They have no inten­tion of send­ing him to the Moon again. With­out the Moon, he says, there is no point in being an astro­naut. She says that is sil­ly. There are oth­er des­ti­na­tions. Not for me.

Katie is already mov­ing. She will call Mom. They can go back to Dal­las. Do not expect her to live down here near the hur­ri­canes if he will not be an astro­naut any­more. Three a year since Yel­low­stone, he says. None with­in two hun­dred miles. She is glad. Now, they will not have to wor­ry, and she can see Mom more than once a month. Fine. Dal­las for now. Back by six with the let­ter delivered.

He is not back by six o’clock. Din­ner is a mess. The text said that Milt and I are talk­ing, and be home lat­er. She had want­ed to cel­e­brate. His pas­sion made her a wreck. A nor­mal life was the point, from her side of the room.

He is leav­ing the Agency. He is going to the Moon anoth­er way.

He had already print­ed the let­ter of res­ig­na­tion. Katie has already called the movers to go home. Nils has already talked to Milt. The tears are the moment he under­stands he restored his own hopes by destroy­ing her hopes. She will nev­er join him in space the way he imag­ined. This is before the trails. The Agency seat is gone. The Moon is not.

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Fur­ther Reading

• Deci­sions — the com­plete vignette
• The Luna­dyne Inci­dent and Oth­er Stories
• Thun­der Moon Tussle
• Mask of the Joy­ful Moon

The Joy­ful Moon is still watching…

and the past refus­es to stay buried.

— Torn MacAlester

Still rid­ing the trails with Nils, Gen, and the whole Fab­u­lae Lunae crew

🚀🌕