Free Space Case by Stuart Gibbs Page A

land a rocket!” Chang whooped. “Way to go, Katya!”
    Nina whistled shrilly, interrupting the celebration. “All right, everyone! We all have work to do. Those of you on cargo transfer duty, suit up. Those of you on the welcoming committee, be ready to meet your assignments. Everyone else, stay clear of the staging area. We’re going to have enough bodies there as it is.” She strode out, having masterfully destroyed any sense of joy within seconds. All the adults dutifully filed after her. So did I. The other kids remained in the rec room. The moment the last adult was out the door, I heard Cesar switch off the rocket feed and turn on Squirrel Force for Violet and her friends.
    I’d never been assigned a duty for the arrival of a rocket before, so I’d never had a reason to be in the staging area when one came in. It was far more exciting than being asked to make myself scarce. Dad, Chang, Mr. Grisan, and a few others piled into their space suits, prepping for cargo duty. Mom, who’d been assigned to greet Dr. Kim, and I clustered near the main air lock with the others on the welcome wagon. I ended up in the back of the crowd, but I could still get a glimpse outdoors through the air lock window.
    After a few minutes, seven people in space suits rounded the blast wall.
    Katya King and her copilot, Buster Reisman, were easy to pick out, even though I couldn’t see their faces through the reflective visors of their space helmets. They bounded alongwith the confident, easy grace of people who had been to the lunar surface many times before, covering several yards with each step in the low gravity.
    Their fellow travelers moved differently. None had ever been on the lunar surface before, and all were having significant trouble figuring out the low gravity. They wobbled, stumbled, and bounded too far. One tripped and face-planted in a pile of moon dust.
    Only five of the new arrivals were officially Moonies, who’d be staying for years. The rest were temps: people who only came for brief stays. Temps might be contractors who installed new equipment, mechanics who repaired broken machinery, or engineers surveying the construction site for Moon Base Beta. In a few days they’d hop on the return rocket and head back home to earth. I wasn’t even sure how many temps were scheduled to arrive at MBA this time. Besides the seven people en route to the air lock, I knew there were other passengers I couldn’t see, ones who’d remained at the landing pad to unload the rocket.
    Dad, Chang, and the other Moonies who had cargo duty were suited up by the time the new arrivals reached the air lock. The cargo team passed through first, emerging onto the surface of the moon, where they did their best to greet the new arrivals. (Space suits are far less bulky than they used to be, but it’s still almost impossible to shake hands in them.)
    The cargo crew then headed for the landing pad. The new arrivals passed through the air lock into the base and the celebration began.
    Greeting new arrivals is always one of the happiest times at MBA. All of us at the base are thrilled to have new people there. And all the new arrivals are thrilled to have finally made it. (Despite all you’ve heard about how modern spaceships are so elegant and spacious, they’re not; after a few hours on board, you still feel like a sardine in a can.) The moment the newbies popped their space helmets off, the base was alive with excitement. All the adults cheered and hugged one another.
    I was the only greeter who’d never spoken to my assigned newbie. I’d seen some things about her on the news, but since that was vetted by NASA’s PR department, I knew it might not be reliable. (News reports about Roddy had often referred to him as an “impressive athlete”.) Other than knowing what Kira looked like, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
    I wormed my way through the crowd, pausing