Solitude

I wake up already knowing that today will be the same as the day before and the day before that and so on for as far back as I can remember. My life is a never-ending string of days filled with sameness. Even the landscape stays frozen in place, offering me nothing but consistency to view. I’ve known people who long for peace and quiet, but to them I say, be careful what you wish for.

Solitude is something that has never frightened me. On the contrary, I enjoy it. I have never understood why solitary confinement is considered a form of punishment. Before finding myself in this situation I longed for time alone. I have always wanted nothing more from life than to be left alone with an enjoyable book to keep me entertained. I don’t know about you, but I find people annoying at best and overall, extremely frustrating. At least this is how I felt up to a year ago. Now everything is different. Let me explain.

Six years ago, I, along with five others, was selected to be the first crew to construct and inhabit a permanent structure on the moon. Each of us spent two years training for this mission and understood that we would not be returning to Earth for up to three years. While we trained on Earth, supplies and building materials had been transported to the moon. Every aspect of the mission was well planned. Mission control sent construction robots first to put the basic habitat together. We followed six months later to complete the structure.

My fellow travelers and I arrived without a hitch and went right to work. Although we lived as a community, I had ample time alone to conduct experiments and take in the vastness of space. Each of us had found our perfect world. Unfortunately, perfect is never permanent.

We had been on station for fourteen months when four of my team went to explore an unusually shaped crater with the rover. As I found out later, the crater had a strange shape because the walls were unstable. It was slowly collapsing in on itself. Gravity is minimal on the moon, but the weight of the rover plus four passengers created a catastrophic cave-in. The rover and my colleagues tumbled down the crater wall ripping their suits. Death was instantaneous. Now we were two.

I reported the tragedy to mission control and was surprised by the lack of empathy those on Earth showed. When I asked when they were sending a ship to retrieve the bodies, my colleague and me. All they said was they would get back to us in a day or so. Something wasn’t right.

Our station can pick up satellite feeds as they orbit the Earth. This included news broadcasts. In the year and a half that we were on the moon the political landscape had taken a drastic turn for the worst. Three regional wars had erupted, and the global economy was on the verge of collapse. The government cancelled the upcoming elections and declared Marshal law. The planet is in chaos. Space travel is now considered a frivolous expense.

Suddenly, all the news feeds broadcasted the same headlines worldwide.

Tragedy on the Moon!

Moon Base Alpha was destroyed by an asteroid. No survivors.

“Mission control, Alpha Base, do you copy?”

“We copy Alpha Base.”

“Control, what’s this crap about we are all dead up here. When are you coming to get us?”

“Alpha, the government has ruled that rescuing you is not cost-effective. There will be no further communication. Thank you for your service.”

Static was all that could be heard on the radio after that.

My fellow castoff lasted for two weeks before taking a walk outside without her suit. Now it’s just me. I have enough food and oxygen for three years. Occasionally I attempt to contact mission control without any success. Now every day is identical to the one before it, except for today. Today I have a visitor.