Free Fiction River: Moonscapes by Fiction River Page A

life sentence to Charon was her punishment for actively disobeying the Popess, it seemed fitting to pit one philosopher against another in her symphony, just as Aristophanes had done.
    Carrie had also zealously studied languages, philosophy, and their relationship to science. As if the bots knew what she needed next, she would be led to find crossover books for her to read—books that intersected with science and religion or language and culture. That was when she developed her plan—a plan to finally win her complete freedom from Earth.
    An alarm sounded, and the five camera screens, which had provided the primary views of space, switched on all at once.
    “Recording,” Hydra said. “Do you have questions?”
    Carrie shook her head. She wasn’t sure when she’d decided to stop talking to Hydra. It had been some years ago. There simply seemed no reason to interact with a computer that didn’t care. She had also vowed not to share anymore than absolutely necessary with whoever was monitoring her on Earth, billions of miles away.
    “The prisoner is required to enter perceptions in her diary,” Hydra reminded her. “I would be loath to punish the prisoner again, if the prisoner refuses.”
    Carrie laughed at that. The bots could inflict pain at any time, but never enough to kill her. She’d given up on enticing Hydra to deliver pain and remind Carrie that she still lived. Her body was no longer of prime importance. Only her mind mattered now.
    Yes, she would enter her perceptions in her diary. She would draw pictures of the moon to provide an artist’s view for those data crunchers back on Earth who would only see Charon in terms of its chemical makeup. What would the people of Earth see in pictures instead of words? She refused to play their game of defining emotions. Instead she would create emotions in them and see how they liked it.
    Carrie placed the stylus on her screen and selected white, blue, and grey as her color palette for her first painting. Then she turned her gaze to the cameras as they caught different angles of the moonscape. As expected, it appeared covered with ice. Large rock outcroppings were evident and she noted a possible hill or small mountain in the distance. She quickly rendered what she saw in three different viewpoints. She was sure to add a perspective of Pluto as a moon of Charon—even though it was the larger of the two satellites. That should give them a different perspective.
    She added a corona of light around the dark Pluto on her drawing, and then followed that light to illuminate certain features of the planet. This was a more romantic drawing than the realistic depictions on her screens, but that was what she believed would get people excited—would begin to build her popularity.
    Could it be true that somewhere on Charon plumes of water were erupting? An ice planet provided water, when heated. If they found a way to heat specific areas, humans could eventually be sustained in domes. With Pluto’s slight atmosphere having more methane, some scientists believed Charon was the better choice for future settlements and a launching place to move beyond the solar system. Of course both worlds—Pluto and Charon—would take decades to build and maybe over a hundred years before an attempt at human habitation. Both worlds would take a millennia to terraform. Carrie wanted to make Charon the world of choice. She wanted to prove to Earth that the smaller, the lighter, the one furthest from the center was the most beautiful.
    As the pod passed over the dark south pole and headed north, Carrie couldn’t help but notice the constant presence of the larger satellite. What must it be like to live on the Pluto-facing side? To stand upon Charon and see a moon larger than that world? Would it feel comforting or menacing? Would her body respond to the constant tidal pull or would it become normal? She hoped at some time in the future, the computer would allow her to pass between the two