It’s funny the inherent inequalities of life still existed on Luna VII, the moon’s most advanced colony. As a result, Eddie was no stranger to the struggle of human existence. That’s ironic because Luna VII promised to be a “New World”. At least that’s what it read on the holo-board above Eddie’s apartment. Eddie was nearly 50, which made him one of the oldest people on the moon. It had become home to the young and brilliant those who would make their impact on society throughout research and leave for retirement on Earth, to be nearly 50 on the moon means you needed to be filthy rich to live comfortably, Eddie was barely surviving. Eddie had found his most stable rent earner thus far, he worked as the janitor for a high-end spacecraft storage. It paid the rent, gave him money for meals what it could never do though was shield him from the scorn and taunts of the population, who suffered from severe ageism. To them Eddie was a leech sucking up precious resources and not giving back enough to lunar society. Janitors were not really a huge necessity, the job was given out of sympathy by the storage owner also Eddie’s landlord. Truth was there really was no place for Eddie in Lunar society, or any society. The world had become so automated humanities only true work value lay in the minds of the hyper educated and creative. Eddie simply was a relic. Eddie lived his life day by day and found an escape for himself in his work.
When no one was around at night, Eddie was no mere janitor, you see he became Captain Eddie brave space voyager and merchant. His ship, that whichever he sneaked onto for the night. Tonight it was a class 7 L-Cruiser, the very latest in luxury personal space transportation. The ship’s technology was on par with some military ships, the price as well. Captain Eddie sank into the custom leather chair, Eddie had never felt leather before, he had never seen a cow in real life. Due to their extinction, the only two remaining were in the Earth capital zoo. Earth, another thing Eddie had never seen apart from pictures and the Lunar sky. Firmly grasping the leather steering Eddie began creating scenario after scenario in his head, about his grandiose adventures aboard his ship. For a few moments, Eddie felt like his own man, capable of blazing his own trail. “It’s just a fantasy”, he whispered to himself softly as he got up. Arising from the chair he turned to exit the cockpit and his gaze fell upon a portrait next to the exit. Eddie’s heart sank, the handsome facing staring back at him couldn’t be more than 20, half his own age. “Ha…haha….HA…..AHAHAHAHA!” hysterical laughter was all Eddie could manage. This child was living his fantasy. His head sank against the portrait and the laughter turned into sobbing. You see Eddie knew he would never accomplish his dream, from birth the stars were never in Eddie’s favour.
His parents were from two worlds, not literally, however. His father was an accountant, a near extinct profession. By chance, he meet his mother, a young lunar geology prodigy. There’s was a whirlwind romance that led to marriage and conceiving Eddie within months, naturally, the next step was to migrate to the moon. Halfway through the trip, a rogue satellite struck the shuttle, the shock sent Eddies mother into labour. She died giving birth. You can say Eddie was the sole survivor of his family on that trip. While his father made it physically he was now a broken man. They settled on Luna VI which, at the time was the most recent lunar colony. Eddie’s father had been a dentist on earth, so he continued this practice until he was laid off. The hospital said he lacked any drive, and robots were far more precise now. Truth was he lacked the will to live if not for his son nothing might have kept him going. He ended up taking a job as a manager for distant mining outpost. They resettled there and this is where Eddie was brought up. The education there was as basic as it got, along with every other aspect of life, but Eddie’s father pushed him and got him extra lessons. For it was his son’s dream to become a rocket engineer. This way he could make it safer for everyone to travel through space and so that they would never face the loss he did. Eddie was no slouch either given his mother’s gift for academics he thrived despite limited resources. When he turned 18 Eddie left for Luna VII the newest colony, there he was gonna enroll in the only Lunar college to become a space craft engineer/pilot. Upon his departure, his father told him to remember these words, a old earth phrase “Every cloud has a sliver lining”, Eddie had been his father’s sliver lining.
A week later, his father died when a malfunction sent lunar rock hurling in all directions at the outpost. Eddie struggled through college and eventually flunked out, he just couldn’t keep up, his existence became the struggle it was today since then. He always felt his life had been a mistake, in a time where society had become so precise Eddie felt he was a cog in the machine.Suddenly it all became to much and Eddie felt burdened, in a time where the universe was being explored and life was more grand than ever Eddie felt completely alone. “Every could has a silver lining” he kept repeating it to himself over and over as he sobbed. He knew what it meant, every bad circumstance has a positive, he just didn’t belive it. “Every cloud has a sil…..There are no clouds on the moon” Eddie growled to himself. Throwing his head back Eddie slammed it against the potrait. Blood and tears flowed down his cheeks and over his lips, making his sobbing sound all the more pathetic. His cries became increasingly louder and louder…
Create and Inspire