Free Moonbase Crisis: Star Challengers Book 1 by Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, June Scobee Rodgers Page A

his waist and began to remove the protective packaging from a canister.
    “In its zero-gravity environment, the International Space Station Complex manufactures highly efficient solar power films,” Fox explained. “They shipped this extra equipment from Earth orbit, along with modules for an eventual ambitious expansion of the base here. But, alas, plans were curtailed, and the new array was never set up. The collectors are quite fragile, so be very careful.”
    “Why do you need so much power for only four people at the base?” King asked.
    “There are eight at the moment,” Song-Ye pointed out.
    Fox gestured to the four solar-power collectors linked together in the crater. Looking like a chain of satellite antenna dishes, the arrays were connected to one another and also to cables that ran back to the moonbase modules. “While the base can function with the amount of power we already produce, it’s always wise to have an extra safety factor. There are countless unknown hazards in space. We make our own air and water, and grow our own food when possible. Our goal is for Moonbase Magellan to be entirely self-sufficient someday—and that requires power. Because we’re in darkness two weeks at a time, we have to store up as much energy as possible during the sunlight period.”
    “They look like big windmills,” Dyl said.
    “No wind out here,” King observed.
    “Solar wind,” Fox corrected. “A constant stream of cosmic rays and solar radiation falls on the lunar surface. We can use the sunlight for energy, but it also poses dangers. By regulation, we’re limited in the number of hours we can spend outside in our suits per week. Unfortunately, with such a small crew, we’ve sometimes had to push that a bit.”
    “Well, now you’ve got us to help,” Dyl said.
    “Yes, though for many tasks, you cadets will need significant training,” Major Fox said. “This is a delicate process. I assume you’ve worked as a team before?”
    “No, sir,” King said. “At least, not with each other.”
    “We barely know each other,” Song-Ye muttered. “We just met.”
    “But we’re ready to learn,” JJ hastened to add. She didn’t want the major to decide that they were useless and send them back inside. “Just show us what to do.”
    Under Fox’s direction, his four assistants removed the components from the storage package. Together, they assembled the solar-power array, checking and double-checking each step, and then spent hours raising it and anchoring it. Finally, when all the systems checked out, they connected the power-distribution cables to batteries and to the rest of the network.
    The work wasn’t all drudgery, especially for JJ. Each time she was asked to get something or put it away, she added a skip or hop to the task. Soon all of them were incorporating leaps and twirls into their assignments, experimenting with the low gravity, though only when they weren’t near any delicate equipment. Even Dyl got comfortable enough to bounce from place to place as he worked.
    Then, as if it were a film of mirrored spiderwebs, they unfurled the fan-shaped solar collector. Fox used instruments to adjust and aim the reflective fan so that it would gather the maximum light during the long lunar day
    “Thanks to your help,” Fox said with genuine gratitude, “Moonbase Magellan is now more self-sufficient than it has ever been. And watching you enjoy your assignments has reminded me how much I enjoy working here.”
    They had worked so smoothly together that the solar-power collector was finished ahead of schedule. With two hours remaining of their suit time and life-support packs, Major Fox led them over by the steep crater wall, where pipes and canisters and enclosed machinery had been set up. JJ thought the area resembled a small oil refinery.
    King sounded mystified. “Is that some kind of industrial complex? A mining operation?”
    “Maybe they found a vein of gold on the Moon,” Dyl joked. “Or