July 9, 2021

They come in groups of fifteen from 180 different countries. This week they are from Romania, Iceland, Taiwan, Argentina and South Africa. Next week, there will be fifteen from five other countries. Only one percent of them will get to the moon, but they want to be well trained should they be among the lucky few.

They come in through a large bay to get as close to the center of the field as possible, since they cannot move around well in environmental isolation gear. There are 90 thousand square miles of moonscape available, but no one has found a use for it beyond astronaut training.

The trainees all follow the same path which is marked with signs every few feet. One sign warns not to get within 50 feet of the stumps projecting from the ground. The stumps are remnants of trees where all but a cellulose shell has vaporized. A spark could ignite them into a violent explosion.

Besides the heat the main force to be overcome is the toxic gases. Polyfluorohydrocarbons bubble to the surface constantly, which can burn holes in usual fabric. So the trainees cannot use the same space suits that they would use on the moon. Mixed in is heavy metals including mercury, cadmium and lead which have been oxidized to volatility reducing visibility to 80 feet on average.

The heavy metals were the result of sewage sludge dumped onto the ground to improve agriculture, as the original soil was little more than sandy clay. The sewage was supposed to improve the texture and add nitrogen, as all forms of ammonia fertilizer were outlawed.

The heat resulted from carbon dioxide in the air shifting westward until it got to the ocean where it stopped and accumulated. Over time, it incinerated everything within a hundred and fifty miles of the coast and vaporized accumulations in the soil.

At one time the area was part of the United States, back when there were fifty states. Now it is unapproachable beyond a small area used for astronaut training.

All in the mind.