The Moon Patriation Project: Origins

Geoffrey

The United Nations convened on a hot, humid, summer afternoon. It was the kind of day where the grime of the city seemed to stick to your skin, lodge its way inside your nostrils, and the only way to quit the dirt was to take a shower, a cool shower. Geoffrey left the UN, looking out on the East River, thinking it was too bad it wasn't really a swimmable river. The Big Decision had been made today, and certain humans wouldn't be too worried about New York, much less the Earth's heat and humidity nor the viability of a good swim in the East River for much longer. There was an outpost on the Moon, and there was a very robust plan to patriate Earth's satellite.

The Big Decision was the vote to move forward with sending people to THE MOON. The criteria had come back from all of the research teams: the biologists, medical researchers, engineers, economists, sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, ethicists…all the -ists. They decided to take a Noah's Ark approach. They would bring a male and female from every country on Earth who fit the strictly defined attributes run through model after model to project a huge (not infinite) number of successful outcomes. Administratively, there would be a team from the research disciplines who would also go to continue researching and monitoring activity and outcomes. It would be a melting pot in the sky. Geoffrey, an economist with a Ph. D. from McGill ("That's right, it's the Harvard of Canada," he often answered when it took a moment for people to make the connection that he was Canadian), was selected as one of the research team delegates. He knew there was a possibility he would be sent and had started wrapping up his life as neatly as he could in anticipation. He ended his relationship with Candice from Toronto. He had really liked her and in some small part of his brain, he hoped she would fit the criteria to go to the Moon, but after seeing the finalized list, he knew she wouldn't make the cut. Geoffrey was young, though, and there would be plenty of people moving to the Moon, and there was every chance he could meet someone. He hoped so, anyway.

Geoffrey made his way back to his hotel, and once in his room, he dropped his messenger bag on one of the red and blue plaid club chairs by the window, and hung his suit jacket on the back of the desk chair. He toed off his shoes, set his phone on the nightstand, and fell back on the bed. The hotel had really fabulous pillows—plush, cool, soft, covered in crisp, pristine white cotton pillow cases—and sold them online. He thought about buying some, but he didn't want to spend the money before knowing what the Moon Patriation Project (MPP) would provide. He also didn't know the timeframe for departure. He reached for his cell phone and voice dialed his mother.

"Geoffrey. How did it go today?" She answered on the first ring and didn't wait for his greeting.

"It passed. The Moon project is moving forward. I'll be going to the Moon. It's surreal. I can't believe it. I mean, I believe the project exists and all that, I just can't believe I'm going."

"Ah, honey, I'm proud of you and I'm sad, too. Do you know if they'll ever let you come back to Earth? I'm sure now they have to hammer out all the details, but it makes me weepy to think once you leave, I'll never get to hug you again or kiss your cheek or mess up your hair or see you sitting around the family table for Christmas again."

"I know, Ma, I know. I'm going to come home and stick around for a while before they announce what all the patriation plans are and what kind of preparation will have to be done."

Elena

Six months after the Moon Patriation Project was announced, the United Nations' MPP Team began contacting individuals who fit the criteria for the MPP. Elena, a twenty-eight year old single physician in Athens, Greece, was at a taverna along the sea when the call came. She didn't recognize the number, and she almost didn't answer, thinking it was spam. At the last minute, the decided to take the call. She didn't believe the caller when he said she fit the profile for the Moon Patriation Project and asked her to come to Parliament to meet with the MPP Research Team for an intensive overview of the project and why she was selected. After the meeting, she had 48 hours to decide whether or not she would commit. She knew she would commit, if they would have her. She loved her job and her patients, but she wasn't leaving much else behind.

Giuseppe

It was a Saturday in the springtime. Giuseppe was visiting his grandmother's vineyard in Tuscany for the weekend. Giuseppe made his family proud with his accomplishments professionally and personally. Giuseppe was high up in one of the banks and dealt with high net worth individuals. He was also a retired Olympian. He didn't win any medals, but he performed well in speed skating for Italy.

Giuseppe still skated each day, just as he had since he was a teenager, but now he skated for fitness, not competition. He coached a few teenagers who had potential and wanted the insights from an Olympian to learn everything it took to get to the Olympics.

"It takes a lot of money." Giuseppe wasn't going to lie to anyone that getting into skating didn't have economic barriers to entry. He was fortunate to have a family willing to support him financially while he pursued his dream. The skates, the uniforms, the safety gear, the trainers, the coaches, the transportation, the food…everything. He tallied up the expenses for one year, and the costs of everything blew his mind. If he hadn't been able to rely on his family's help, he would have been busy balancing university, training, and looking for sponsors to foot all the bills. But Giuseppe was fortunate to come from a family with deep pockets.

He received a call on his cell phone from a number he didn't know, but the header on the call simply stated UNITED NATIONS. Surprised by the label, Giuseppe answered. The caller explained the Moon Patriation Project, which Giuseppe knew about from the news, and that another candidate had declined participation due to having had a baby with his girlfriend and not wanting to leave either of them to go to the Moon. Giuseppe was invited to Rome to meet with the MPP Research Team. Like the other candidates, he had 48 hours following the meeting to decide whether or not he would participate.

Anita

In Stockholm, Anita, a highly sought-after engineer, was finishing a drawing of a bridge she was designing for a client in the US. She would take her dog for a walk after saving her design and then meet her friends for lunch and shopping. She failed to answer her phone during lunch. After returning home, she checked her voicemails to find a message left by someone from the United Nations about the Moon Patriation Project. She didn't hear the telltale sounds of an auto-dialer and didn't think the call was a scam. The caller, Geoffrey Flaubert left his callback number and email address. The email address seemed to be legitimate. She would return the call before she preparing dinner. She wondered if she were selected for the MPP if she would be allowed to take her dog.

Prem and Anu

Their wedding had lasted for days and days. Anu could still see the faint lines of henna on her hands. She felt very fortunate she and Prem had a love match, and she felt even more fortunate she and Prem were from the same caste. Their parents had known one another for years. She and Prem had grown up together. She pursued computer science, and he pursued microbiology. They waited until finishing their respective Ph.D.'s before scheduling their wedding. They didn't want anything to take away from the festivities of their special time. They honeymooned in Bali and had been home only a short time before the call arrived. Prem was in the shower and didn't answer his phone. Within seconds of the unanswered call, Anu's phone began to ring. It crossed her mind it might be one of Prem's parents trying to reach them.

When she looked at the display on her phone, she saw UNITED NATIONS MPP. She and Prem were well-acquainted with the Moon Patriation Project. Everyone on the planet knew about the UN's desire to colonize and patriate the Moon. Wouldn't it be something if she AND Prem were selected? Obviously, one wouldn't go without the other. They had just married. Anu answered the call and spoke with Geoffrey Flaubert. After a brief explanation, Anu put her hand to her heart to announce she needed to get her husband out of the shower.

"Prem! You have to listen to this phone call. It's Geoffrey Flaubert!"

"Who? Who is Geoffrey Flaubert?"

"From the UN. He's with the Moon Patriation Project. They want both of us."

Prem and Anu met with Geoffrey the following day but knew within seconds of ending the call they'd be fools not to take advantage of the opportunity.

In all, there were a pair of people from all 193 UN participating countries (save Vatican City) and one pair from Palestine. There were also 36 people from the MPP Research Team. A little over one year after The Big Decision, all 424 souls met at Cape Canaveral, Florida. There would be six ships leaving for the Moon with the MPP participants, and another three ships carrying nothing but supplies and provisions. Every person had been trained thoroughly on eating, drinking, toileting, hygiene, plant propagation, cleaning, health and wellness, mindfulness, etc. The orientation had been necessary, critical, and all of the Moon residents were grateful for the exhaustive training and education.

***

In the beginning, there was the Moon, the people, the outpost town, and the Moon Patriation Project Research Team, and it was good. There were people on Earth who monitored and communicated with the people and the Research Team, and this was also good.

Geoffrey became friends with many of the candidates he brought into the MPP. He was a trusted confidant. He never lied or exaggerated. He never crossed his fingers and held them behind his back, and he never did the 'wink-wink-nudge-nudge.' He always told it like it was. One evening, he found himself sitting in the singular lounge in the outpost and struck up a conversation with Elena, the candidate from Greece. She brought him a tall, icy glass of club soda. The Moon was cold. Refrigeration and the ability to make ice, or freeze anything, really, were not an obstacle on the Moon.

She sat across the table from Geoffrey, putting her own club soda down on a napkin made from bamboo pulp. They had a greenhouse and cultivated the invasive species because it was hard to kill and an almost infinitely renewable resource. In the dim lighting of the lounge, Elena's dark eyes glittered. Her black wavy hair was held back in a messy bun with ringlets framing her face.

"I know you know why I was selected to join the MPP. You've probably seen the data for every person here. Data points, right?"

Geoffrey was prepared for any conversation that centered around candidate selection, and he knew the rhetoric, but he wouldn't spin any untruths. "Everyone here is more than data points. Initially, you all started as data points, but you went through the process. After the initial meeting, there were so many tests. Not everyone we contacted made it through the entire battery, which meant we had to go back to the data to find others who closely fit the criteria. Then, we began again."

Elena nodded. The testing was intensive and invasive, physically, personally, psychologically, and spiritually. After her first battery of testing and evaluations, Elena went back to her hotel room wrung dry. She drew a bath and sank beneath the froth of the Epsom salts and let her tears mix with the bathwater.

"Do you know how I grew up?" Elena drew circles in the condensation forming on the sides of her glass.

"I don't think I do. I'm sure someone here does, but I don't." Elena wasn't meeting Geoffrey's gaze. She was intent on not looking at him while she told her story.

"My dad killed my mother when I was four. We didn't have money, but we had a spare room, and we took in a boarder. His name was Apostolos. He was tall, rugged, handsome from what I can remember. My father was a small, angry man who was very jealous. My parents had an arranged marriage, and he looked on my mother as a piece of property and a brood mare. He didn't like how my mother and the Apostolos were friendly with one another."

"He watched their easy banter, and day after day he grew angrier and angrier. My mother, she was a great beauty, and my father was aware he was punching above his weight, which made his jealousy even greater. I was four, and my brother was two when all this was happening. My father was a fisherman and was on a boat all day every day. He left before sunrise and was often not home until sunset. When he returned home, he wanted to see his children but not interact with them, eat his dinner, then go to bed. That was his routine."

"One day my father went to the boat, and there was something wrong with the vessel. Everyone was sent home for the day. I didn't know any better, but Apostolos was 'helping my mother with her hair.' Her hair was very long and straight, like a glistening curtain. It was black like mine, but when the light shone on it just so, it picked up the darkest hints of umber. Her eyes weren't dark like mine, but hazel. I think people call them 'cat's eyes.' She was stunning."

Elena stopped speaking and opened the locket around her neck. Geoffrey leaned in, squinting to see the tiny photo of Elena's breathtaking mother.

"When my father came home, he quietly made his way to the back of the house and found my mother and Apostolos in the ensuite bath. She was flushed, her hair wet, and Apostolos was, what I thought at the time, very sweaty, and shirtless. My father silently went to his nightstand and retrieved a handgun. My brother and I followed behind our father and stood just inside the bedroom and watched him take the gun to the bathroom door, which was slightly ajar. He shot once, twice, and then he turned the gun on himself. In that moment, my brother and I were orphaned."

Geoffrey gave a small gasp. "Oh, my god. Did you see it all happen?"

"I didn't see what happened to my mother and Apostolos, but I did see the blood pooling from the bathroom into the bedroom. I did see my father. In one moment he was standing, red-faced and furious, and then his face was gone, and he crumpled into a heap on the floor, his own blood mingling with my mother's, and probably Apostolos's as well. I walked into the bathroom to see if there was a chance my mother had survived. All three were dead."

"What happened? You and your brother were so young." Geoffrey reached across the table placing his hand atop Elena's.

"Our relatives were far too old to take care of toddlers. We went into care with several families, and after a short time we were split up. I was never in the same school long enough to form attachments and make friends, and knowing this would be my life, I worked harder than every other student in school. There were days I was hungry, and sometime I was dirty, with greasy unkempt hair. My clothes were either too big or too small. There were years when my toes poked through the holes in my shoes. I knew my only way out was through academics. I went to university at sixteen. I became a medical doctor at twenty-two. I applied for every scholarship and form of assistance I could find."

The two of them looked at each other. Geoffrey looked at Elena in awe, and Elena's eyes had become glassy as she told her story. She slowly turned her hand, palm up, so Geoffrey could grasp her hand in his.

"See, Geoffrey, I've seen the statistics of what should have happened to a kid like me. My brother and I always kept in touch, no matter where we were. I told him to work harder, be smarter and better than everyone else in his class. He became a nuclear physicist. He wound up being adopted when he was pretty young, and it might have made him a little softer, a little less driven than I am. He became secure, I suppose. And I do believe every child should have a sense of security. I was like the rat in the maze, though. I would have chewed through another rat to get to the cheese. I knew love for four years of my life. Four years. And now here I am. Do you think there's a chance I can learn to love someone here? That someone here will find me lovable? These are the questions keeping me up at night. I have beaten all the odds academically and professionally, but personally? I don't know."

While they sat there holding hands, Geoffrey thought, 'I could love you. If you let me, I could love you.'