Free Over the Moon (Star-Crossed Book 1) by K. McLaughlin

she asked.
    “Come see,” he said with a grin.
    Burning with curiosity, she followed him around the ring of domes. Two domes down, they were in a section she hadn’t explored yet. It had been so hectic these past days – there just wasn’t any time to go wandering.
    “What is this place?” she asked. It was obviously a research lab of some sort, and pretty well appointed. It wasn’t bio-research, but she recognized tools for geology, chemistry, and there was plenty of gear here that she’d never seen before, too.
    “It’s the home of my pet hobby,” Patrick explained, making an expansive gesture with his arms. “It’s where we work to better understand the moon.”
    “You do research here?” she asked.
    He stared at her for a moment, a quizzical look on his face. “Yes. That’s why the station was built here in the first place, you know.”
    She hadn’t. It wasn’t something she’d paid much attention to, beyond hearing bits and pieces in the news about how things were going on the one and only very expensive lunar station. It made sense that there was research going on here, but – if she was honest with herself, she hadn’t expected Patrick to be one of the people doing it. She’d had him pegged as a pilot, administrator type. She needed to re-assess her preconceptions!
    And damned if that didn’t make him seem twice as sexy.
    “Come on, I’ll show you the Hopper,” Patrick said. She followed him through the room, and down a short hallway. At the end was something that looked a bit like the hatch on an old submarine, hanging open. He grabbed the rail at the top and swung himself through.
    Carmen followed a bit more tentatively, not really sure what she was going to bang into if she went too fast. She realized as soon as she crossed the threshold that she’d entered a vehicle of some sort. The space inside was a sphere of transparent material with two seats, both side by side and facing the front. A broad control console rested in front of the seating. Looking through the glass, she saw thrusters attached to the body of the thing, outside the dome. And landing gear.
    “It’s like a little spaceship?” she asked.
    “More like a submarine designed to operate in low or zero gravity,” Patrick replied. “Come sit down, and I’ll close the hatch.”
    She sat. He pulled the hatch in behind her, and turned a wheel, locking the door into place. Then he took his place in the seat next to her. Patrick flipped a series of switches, and the console came to life.
    “Base, this is Hopper One. Detaching clamps,” he said.
    “Roger, Hopper One. Good hunting,” said a voice over the radio.
    Patrick touched a control on the console, and the entire sphere jolted a little. Carmen found the web straps of a seat harness on either side of her and belted the straps into place.
    “Just the magnetic locks letting go,” Patrick said. “You ready?”
    “Ready?” Carmen said. For what, she wanted to ask. But he took her response as an affirmative, not a question. Patrick gripped two control joysticks on the console, pushing a button on one.
    Just like that, they were airborne! Carmen gasped, watching the domes recede under them. The floor was as transparent as the rest of the dome. She saw jets of something that looked like smoke or steam when Patrick hit the thrusters, but aside from that she had a clear view of the land below. She gripped her seat firmly with both hands, hanging on for dear life.
    “How high are we?” she asked.
    “The altimeter is right there,” Patrick said, pointing to a display with numbers that were climbing steadily. “We’re a hundred feet up right now, see? I’m going to take us up to about five hundred and stay there. You OK?”
    Carmen closed her eyes, and then opened them again. She looked ahead, where she could see the horizon of the moon’s surface spilling away before them. It was a glorious sight. Finger by finger, she forced herself to relax her hands.
    “Yeah, I’m