Chapter 4
They exit the shuttle and enter a small auditorium. They find a seat and the 3-D orientation video begins. The video begins with the history of manned space flight, including a brief history of the Apollo missions. The viewer "flies" from one Apollo landing site to the next. When the Apollo narrative is over, they fly back to the Vacation Station. The station is located at a feature called Reiner Gamma, in Oceanus Procellerum, on the western side of the near side of the moon. They are about seven degrees north of the equator. The chief advantage of being at Reiner Gamma is that it is a lunar swirl, or a naturally occurring magnetosphere that is thought to be a remnant of the magnetic field that existed on the moon over four billion years ago. The magnetosphere provides a measure of protection from the solar wind so that only minimal man-made protection is required. The lunar swirl has the added benefit of concentrating hydrogen and helium-3, excellent sources for making water and nuclear fuel, respectively.
The video includes many relevant scientific topics, as a large proportion of tourists are wealthy people who made their fortune in the high tech industries. In other words, they are brainiacs who would appreciate the highly technical lecture.
The video then presents the moon station itself. The viewers fly through the corridors and buildings comprising the station, from the viewing halls with their large glass windows, to the dining room, to the rec rooms, and the living quarters. They are spared the technical operations facilities for security reasons.
The construction of the moon station was clearly a very impressive, very expensive endeavor. Building it was not a trivial task, as the video says. There are two principal men who are responsible for its creation. Pretty much everyone on earth knows this part of the story, but the makers of the video couldn't very well let their contribution go unacknowledged. This is fortunate since Amy has never heard of these two men. The Doctor has only a passing knowledge of them. All he had known was that they founded the first moon station. One founder is a financial genius, while the other is a technical genius. The financial genius is a young prodigy of a venture capitalist named Kurt Adams, the richest man in the world. The technical genius is a physicist and chemist named Deepak Sharma, said to be the smartest man in the world.
A brief history of their lives follows. Adams made his first million Euros by the time he was 16 years old, and hit the one billion mark when he was just 23 years old. Now, at the age of 39, his estimated net worth is three trillion Euros. Even so, he is quite reclusive and not well known, spending most of his time on the moon these days. Sharma, at 78 years of age, never became particularly wealthy. People often joked about how he had made a million millionaires but never earned a dime for himself. That wasn't exactly accurate. He earned enough over the decades to become comfortable, but just. Neither man had ever married. They were too busy working 18 hours a day.
When the video is over, a guide announces that both men are presently at the station and just might be spotted on a rare excursion among the tourists. This excites Simon. He idolizes Sharma. Amy thinks his excitement is cute. At first he was annoying but she now finds him rather charming in a geeky kind of way. Not unlike The Doctor.
"Can't wait to meet your hero, eh?"
"I was hoping he would be here. He doesn't get out much, though."
"Well, I hope you meet him, Simon."
The Doctor is intrigued as well. He can't wait to give Sharma, and Adams for that matter, the psychic paper test.
After settling into their rooms, The Doctor and Amy head to the viewing halls. Although they had both seen things that would blow away the most experienced space traveler from Earth, even those who had spent some time on Mars, they find the views rather pleasing. Earth is a sliver about a third of the way up over the eastern horizon, where it would stay always. The sun is about a third of the way up over the eastern horizon as well, but not too close to Earth. After their week on the moon, the sun would be over the western horizon, covering half of its 2-week transit across the sky. By then most of the earth would be in light.
Amy likes the viewing hall with the sandy floor the most. The windows come down to the interior white sand, at the same level as the moon dust outside. The white sand is almost the same color as the moon dust, which retains the high albedo that is common in lunar swirls. This gives the illusion of being outside. They even have intermittent fans to add to the effect. Amy got her beach after all.
The Doctor and Amy spend their first day reading at the beach, hitting golf balls thousands of yards while clothed in moon suits, and going on a short moon rover tour. To measure the days, they use the time zone of eastern Brazil so that they will be in sync with the earth based part of the operation. The sun barely moves during a 12-hour "day".
"I'm glad you talked me into this, Doctor," says Amy while relaxing on the beach at the end of their first day. "I am having fun. And relaxing too. You were right."
"I don't like to say I told you so, but…"
"Yes you do."
The Doctor smiles. "Yes, I suppose I do." He opens his book. He's almost finished with his Sherlock Holmes stories. Just a few pages to go.
Before he can finish, though, he and Amy hear a small commotion down the nearest corridor. Simon runs to them from the corridor.
"They're coming this way!"
"Who?"
"Adams and Sharma! They're meeting people and signing autographs. Come on!" Simon runs back to meet his hero.
Amy is not particularly interested in meeting the founders of the moon station, but The Doctor is very keen. "Come along, Pond."
"No, that's okay."
"Oh, come on."
"No… I'm good."
"I'm going to test my psychic paper on them."
"Oh. That might be interesting."
As they get up, Adams and Sharma enter the beach area. A small crowd follows them to get selfies and autographs. Simon is already talking to Sharma, apparently in his usual annoying manner. Sharma appears to be trying to get rid of Simon. He won't even look at him. As they approach, Simon turns away from Sharma, looking somewhat downcast.
"I think I talked too much. Again. He barely looked at me."
"I'm sorry, Simon," says Amy. "You'll get another chance, I'm sure. I'll coach you on how to talk to him next time."
"Thanks, Amy."
The Doctor ignores Amy and Simon and pushes his way through the small crowd to get to Adams. "Excuse me. Excuse me," he says to the perturbed tourists. He pulls out his psychic paper and shows it to Adams. "An honor to meet you, Mr. Adams. My card."
Adams offers his hand as he reads the card. "Pleased to meet you. Mr. Smith."
The Doctor gets what he wants from Adams and without another word, pushes his way through Sharma's crowd of admirers.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. An honor to meet you, Dr. Sharma. My card." Sharma looks at the card with a puzzled look on his face.
Sharma offers his hand. "And you are?"
"It says right there," says The Doctor, tapping the "card".
"But it's blank."
The Doctor looks at the card. "So it is." He walks away without another word and walks up to Amy, who is still comforting Simon.
"Well?" says Amy.
"Sharma." He nods toward Simon. "Two in two days."
"Two what?" asks Simon.
"Oh, it's nothing," says The Doctor and walks away.
"What's he talking about?" Simon asks Amy.
"I have no idea," Amy lies.