Last Flight For Craggy by Gary Weston

give her a name like Starlight. Against
company regulations to humanise inanimate objects. Bloody stupid.
So, damn well talk to me. Hello? Is it something I said?'
    'Craggy. Who
are you talking to?'
    'Hmm? Nobody.
Myself. I've been trying for hours. Can't get past the static.
Damned solar storm.'
    Dillow said,
'Maybe when we get closer to the Moon, we'll get somewhere. Go take
a break.'
    Cragg got up
and stretched. 'Yeah...'
    'Calling
Captain Dixon Cragg. Are you okay, Craggy?'
    'Yes. Is that
you, Carlos? You're a bit scratchy.'
    'Yeah. Carlos
here. Feeling lonely were you?'
    Cragg laughed.
'Just a little. Hey, Carlos. In case we lose you again. We have a
little problem. We lost locks on a pod. It was slipping out and I
had to weld it together to bring it home.'
    'What? What are
you telling me, Craggy? The pods are not lined up?'
    'That's right,
Carlos. We can't land on the cradle, at least not all of it. We
will have to disconnect in space from pod five onwards and let the
rest orbit until we can get it down. You may wish to give it some
thought while we are on our way.'
    There was a
pause as Carlos considered the situation. 'This is a new one. I'm
sure uncoupling pods has never been tried in space before. We'll
figure it out, so don't worry too much. Dillow okay?'
    'I'm here,
Carlos. I'm fine, thanks.'
    'Good. Have a
safe trip. I'll try you again in a couple...days.
I'll...engineering...do about...'
    'You're
breaking up, Carlos,' said Cragg. It was just static now. 'At least
they know our status. The bus is all yours. See you later.'
     

Chapter
15
     
    'Hi. Any more
radio contact?'
    Dillow said,
'Nothing. I made you a feed. Just a salad. It's in the fridge.'
    'Thanks. I hope
they are getting their heads around our arrival. You are certainly
getting plenty of experience on this trip.'
    'Just glad I
have you to hold my hand.'
    'No worries.
I'll have that feed and I'll be right back.'
    Cragg got the
salad from the fridge. Not a huge fan of salads, he ate it without
enthusiasm. Talking to Carlos had cheered him up. He could imagine
the pandemonium on Moon. Taking a pod train apart in space had
never been tried before. Then they had to get five pods onto the
cradle from space. That would get them scratching their heads for
sure. Him and Fawn would be okay. They would just land and settle
the first five pods on the cradle, their job done.
    The days turned
into weeks. They were finally only two weeks from the Moon. Radio
contacts had been few and far between. “Have you got a plan of
action?” he'd asked Carlos on one short opportunity.
    “ Getting there, Craggy,” came back the
reply. “You should know something. Things are getting kinda heated
on Earth at the moment.”
    “ Global warming?”
    “ I'm talking military heat. On the
grapevine. The crazy bastards are about to slug it out
again.”
    “ Shit. Stupid idiots. Any fighting
yet?”
    “ Just name calling and gesturing. So far at
least.”
    “ Great. That's all we need.” The signal had
broken up. “Shit. Cleaning toilets on the Moon is sounding better
all the time.”
     

Chapter
16
     
    Three days out
and radio communication was still down. The blue of Earth was clear
and bright, the Moon on the far side.
    'It still looks
pretty even if it is sick,' said Dillow, looking at the screen.
    'It's the
people that's sick, not the planet,' said Cragg, sourly. 'Once the
humans have finally wiped themselves out, the Earth will heal
itself. Maybe that would be a good thing.'
    'Craggy. Some
of my family might still live down there. Would you mind not
wishing them dead?'
    'I
never...sorry. I forgot. I didn't mean...'
    Dillow couldn't
face him. She stared at the Earth. Craggy was right, but she didn't
want to hear it. Even before they had taken off from Mars, the
jungle drums had been banging. Another famine in the West had the
East refusing to help them out. They could hardly feed their own
people. The West threatened to go get what they needed anyway. The
East had said,