The View From The Moon

I

The anticipation was unbearable. The twelve-hour shuttle ride with my fellow condemned inmates was worse than the actual cells that awaited us. When they condemned me to the Lunar Penal Colony for the rest of my life, I knew there was no escape and there would be no pardon.

Although the domed ceiling in the main hall boasted a nice view of Earth, All I could see from the small window in my cell was the courtyard wall. Always dark and seldom occupied, it was still far better than the windowless cells reserved for the problem inmates in D block. Personally, I saw no reason to upset the guards; they were pissed-off to begin with just stationed there. All they expected of me was to keep my cell clean, not complain, and most importantly, keep quiet. For my good behavior, they rewarded me with as many books as I wanted.

I don’t know if I got used to prison, or I just became numb, but after a while, I began to enjoy my solitude.  Occasionally, I would hear the guards beating someone somewhere on the block, and it would only remind me of where I was. Other than that, things were fine. When they sentenced me to life in prison, they wanted the likes of me out of their corrupt little world. They couldn’t face a loud voice that spewed offensive topics like, say, the truth. That’s okay. Sure, this place is full of murderers, thieves, dissidents and the homeless, but also full of writers, artists, scientists, and a man like me with opinions that foolishly questioned authority. Incarceration in my twelve-by-fifteen cell succeeded in shutting me up, but it’s also keeping them away. It’s all a matter of perspective. This is my sanctuary away from that miserable society. I prefer to look at it like we are the elite locked in the mountain riding out the apocalypse.

II

I had no idea how long I was here when strange things started to happen, my guess is the better part of a decade. There was no way to know for sure. I became friendly with one guard. He was also an avid reader and we would recommend and discuss books to each other. Anyway, he told me to expect a cellmate because hundreds of new guests were arriving and they were short on space. After we laughed at the new politically correct euphemism for inmate, he assured that he would look out for me. He promised to bunk me with another avid reader. He kept his promise. It turned out my new cellmate was indeed a reader, an astronomer, and a woman!

Whatever the reason, the shuttles arrived like locusts and the spacecraft’s shadows dotted the sky. The well-behaved inmates like me unloaded the cargo and minded our business.  Out of fear of losing my new cellmate, I did what I was told and kept my mouth shut.

After months of speculation, my friend the guard revealed the real reason for the new arrivals. A comet had bumped a big rock somewhere in the asteroid belt and sent it hurtling directly into Earth’s orbit. The rock will be big enough to cause mass extinctions, but humanity would probably continue. There was only so much room in the mountains to hold the elite, and apparently, the value of my home had increased a million fold overnight.

The President ordered our warden to have the inmates transferred to prisons on Earth but he refused. The warden even negotiated pardons for all non-violent inmates. After the upcoming event, I had a choice to make.  

III

Except for D block, where they house the murderers and rapists, the cell doors were generally kept unlocked and we all moved freely about the premises. The guards didn’t even carry their clubs anymore. I must have read every book in the library and have since started over. Since our pardons, we have become Equal Status Citizen’s, which is a rank I never achieved back home. On Earth, one needed lots of currency to become ESC’s. I didn’t have much money and couldn’t buy my way out of the Toilers. Even the Thinkers, such as my cellmate and new wife, couldn’t vote.

We all watched the meteor pass overhead and towards Earth. To the layperson, it didn’t seem all that threatening. From our perspective, it looked like a tiny spec moving slowly in front of the sea of stars. In reality, it was a massive iron rock twelve miles across headed toward the coast off Greenland. The scientists were right about the two hundred meter wave that circled the globe four times. Half the population perished. They were lucky meteorite didn’t hit landfall, or maybe we were lucky. We still had years of food stored but we eventually sent two-thirds of the newer guests back to Earth so we could remain self-sustaining.

My cellmate and I live in a single room with one bed, one table and one bookcase filled with our favorite volumes. She added some fabric to the walls to cover the stone and the grey steel and it feels homey now. She turned out to be quite creative and managed to partition the bathroom off with plants and fabric. There's nothing else I need. I volunteer in the galley and she is useful studying the stars in the observatory. My friend and former guard runs the library and lets me have first crack at any new arrivals from Earth. He seems to have an endless supply of funny anecdotes and jokes. Who knew?