PhantomCruiser
Wanderer
Phantom Manufacturing’s fourth mission to the lunar surface left this morning. The cargo/command ship Nightingale departed Wideawake International's general purpose launch platform in a beautiful pre-dawn launch.
Phantom’s public relations department reports that this is “A ‘Pax and Pony’ transfer”, meaning people (pax) and mail/supplies (pony, alluding to the pony express). Today’s launch will deliver crew members, additional fuel cells for electrical power during the lunar night, the first major piece of mining equipment, and what the crew has been calling, the “go-cart”, also on the manifest is a last minute surprise; at the insistence of Phantom’s CEO/COO John Kirby, along for the ride in a specially packed container is a flat of eggs. “I know those guys up there are probably tired of freeze dried food and milk in little boxes. I never could stand for that for too long, so I’m sending up some eggs and a few other things”.
When asked about the other “things”, Kirby just grinned. “I’ve known Gus (Schlouch) for more than 35 years, he’s a big fan of classical music, so are all of the other guys up there. When you get to hand-pick the crew of a project this big, it helps to know some of their background. For instance, I know Gus snuck his oboe onto the initial flight and that he’s been using the HAB as his own practice studio. As it happens, his new doctor plays cello, one of the Spectre guys plays viola. So, tucked away as part of the cargo (and protected) are a viola, 2 violins and a cello and new reeds for Gus. It wasn’t cheap to do and it cost me to shift some cargo to a later flight, not to mention a 'good firm talking-to’ by a few accountants, but, since it’s my company, I can pretty much do what I want for my friends up there.”
It seems that Copernicus base may soon be in the record books for having the most remote musical quartet performance in human history.
Gustave Schlouch was unavailable for comment about the upcoming delivery, but Kevin Whittaker, one of the mission specialists at Copernicus was thrilled. “I haven’t play violin in years, but I’m really glad to hear that Gus will be getting some new reeds. He cracked his last one recently and tried to make one from scratch using one of doc’s tongue depressors. It was awful, truly awful.”
This will only be the second manned flight so far for Phantom, and the crew should arrive in lunar orbit in about three days. After the cargo is offloaded, the Nightingale will rendezvous with the Sally Oakley to install fixtures that will eventually facilitate a future truss assembly that will allow the Sally to mate-up with the Molly Malone. Both cargo ships will serve as the initial modules of an expandable lunar space station.
Phantom’s public relations department reports that this is “A ‘Pax and Pony’ transfer”, meaning people (pax) and mail/supplies (pony, alluding to the pony express). Today’s launch will deliver crew members, additional fuel cells for electrical power during the lunar night, the first major piece of mining equipment, and what the crew has been calling, the “go-cart”, also on the manifest is a last minute surprise; at the insistence of Phantom’s CEO/COO John Kirby, along for the ride in a specially packed container is a flat of eggs. “I know those guys up there are probably tired of freeze dried food and milk in little boxes. I never could stand for that for too long, so I’m sending up some eggs and a few other things”.
When asked about the other “things”, Kirby just grinned. “I’ve known Gus (Schlouch) for more than 35 years, he’s a big fan of classical music, so are all of the other guys up there. When you get to hand-pick the crew of a project this big, it helps to know some of their background. For instance, I know Gus snuck his oboe onto the initial flight and that he’s been using the HAB as his own practice studio. As it happens, his new doctor plays cello, one of the Spectre guys plays viola. So, tucked away as part of the cargo (and protected) are a viola, 2 violins and a cello and new reeds for Gus. It wasn’t cheap to do and it cost me to shift some cargo to a later flight, not to mention a 'good firm talking-to’ by a few accountants, but, since it’s my company, I can pretty much do what I want for my friends up there.”
It seems that Copernicus base may soon be in the record books for having the most remote musical quartet performance in human history.
Gustave Schlouch was unavailable for comment about the upcoming delivery, but Kevin Whittaker, one of the mission specialists at Copernicus was thrilled. “I haven’t play violin in years, but I’m really glad to hear that Gus will be getting some new reeds. He cracked his last one recently and tried to make one from scratch using one of doc’s tongue depressors. It was awful, truly awful.”
This will only be the second manned flight so far for Phantom, and the crew should arrive in lunar orbit in about three days. After the cargo is offloaded, the Nightingale will rendezvous with the Sally Oakley to install fixtures that will eventually facilitate a future truss assembly that will allow the Sally to mate-up with the Molly Malone. Both cargo ships will serve as the initial modules of an expandable lunar space station.
