Gold on the Moon

By Rolando José Olivo

Once upon a time in 2067, one hundred years after the Outer Space Treaty that prohibits the appropriation of natural resources in space, from the Olympia space station, the Commander Howard Pickpower and his crew are in charge of various activities: development of miraculous vaccines, carry out tests with solar energy, destroy space debris and potentially dangerous meteorites or asteroids, and analyze the composition of celestial bodies, searching for new materials and investigating existing ones.

A sensational discovery in the hidden zone of the Moon, faithfully kept in secret, sets off alarms in the Olympia and its governing bodies (the International Space Agency and the United Nations Security Council). So much so that its geopolitical implications could lead to disregarding the Outer Space Treaty and space legislation, and initiate a stage of space mining, with armed conflicts among several nations or a world war.

Meanwhile, five spaceships from different governments and corporations, motivated by the leak of information and rumors, are traveling to the far side of the Moon. Commander Howard Pickpower is instructed to prevent the moon landings, but has problems with Captain Tishy Glassvery, who is determined to take command of Olympia, and reveal to the citizens that indeed: there is gold on the Moon!

In the same way, Howard Pickpower and Tishy Glassvery have a strange love-hate relationship. But, in the end the forces of love will decide their destiny, and that of humanity!

So, what will happen when citizens know the truth? What will be the geopolitical and economic implications? How will the special legislation remain, given the eminent disowning of the prohibition of appropriating space natural resources? Although surely, there will be an unusual beginning of the new space age...

Chapters of the novel

Chapter One. The Majesty of the Cosmos
Chapter Two. A Sensational Discovery
Chapter Three. The New Exploratory Missions
Chapter Four. The Great Space Accidents
Chapter Five. The New Leadership at Olympia
Chapter Six. The Revelation of the Big Secret
Chapter Seven. The Unusual Beginning of the New Space Age
Chapter Eight. The Return of a Commander
Chapter Nine. The Great Failure of Space Missions
Chapter Ten. The New Beginning of the Space Age

Epilogue

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rolando José Olivo
• Release date: Jan 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9798215288566

Rolando José Olivo

[e-mail] Instagram: @rolandojolivo Systems Engineer with 3 postgraduate degrees: Master's Degree in Applied Economics, Diploma in General Management and Specialization in Management of Social Programs (Summa Cum Laude). Work experience in companies in the oil sector, occupying these positions: Planning and Logistics Manager, Project Coordinator, Financial Advisor and Consultant. Consultant in the economic and financial area. Writer of books on economics, management, self-help, novels and Christianity, among others.

Book preview

Gold on the Moon,

A Story of Love and Betrayal in Outer Space

Under the surveillance of the powerful artificial intelligence...

Rolando José Olivo

Index

Copyright

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One. The Majesty of the Cosmos

Chapter Two. A Sensational Discovery

Chapter Three. The New Exploratory Missions

Chapter Four. The Great Space Accidents

Chapter Five. The New Leadership at Olympia

Chapter Six. The Revelation of the Big Secret

Chapter Seven. The Unusual Beginning of the New Space Age

Chapter Eight. The Return of a Commander

Chapter Nine. The Great Failure of Space Missions

Chapter Ten. The New Beginning of the Space Age

Epilogue

Copyright

Title: Gold on the Moon.

Subtitle: A Story of Love and Betrayal in Outer Space.

Copyright © Rolando José Olivo, 2024.

USA: Smashwords, Inc.

ISBN 979-821-52-8856-6.

Fifth edition of January 2024.

Author and translator: Rolando José Olivo.

First published in Spanish as: Oro en la Luna: Una historia de amor y traición en el espacio exterior (2023).

Romantic and science fiction novel.

This literary work and its characters are fictitious. No reference is being made to living or dead people. Not even historical figures. Any similarity is coincidence.

Warning: This novel is not suitable for those under 18 years of age. It contains language of sexual content.

The images of the cover images were acquired from Getty Images:

1. Astronaut floating above the space station:

Credit: freestylephoto.

ID: 1010952102.

Date: August, 2, 2018.

https://www.istockphoto.com/es/foto/astronauta-flotando-por-encima-de-la-estaci%C3%B3n-espacial-el-cosmonauta-en-el-espacio-gm1010952102-272445786

2. Spacecraft prepares to dock with the international space station:

Credit: 3DSculptor.

ID: 646851776.

Date: March, 1, 2017.

https://www.istockphoto.com/es/foto/la-nave-espacial-se-prepara-para-muelle-con-estaci%C3%B3n-espacial-internacional-gm646851776-117352833

Dedication

To outstanding writers who have inspired me to write this sensational story and others:

Isaac Asimov, the master of science fiction and visionary of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Sidney Sheldon, remembered for his charisma and impressive human qualities, who published several stories of great heroines.

But Tishy Glassvery doesn´t end up being a heroine...

Prologue

The Outer Space Treaty is the legal basis of international law in outer space. It came into force on October 10th, 1967 and most countries in the world have signed it. This agreement prevents military activities in orbit around the Earth, the Moon and other celestial bodies (including the installation of military bases, weapons tests and the use of nuclear weapons). It also prohibits appropriating the Moon, the celestial bodies, and therefore their natural resources, granting governments the power to supervise the activities of third parties in outer space.

However, what would happen if gold was discovered on the Moon and beyond? Will governments and citizens be willing to respect the 1967 Treaty?

Gold on the Moon is a romantic and science fiction novel that presents this situation: it is discovered that there is gold on the Moon and on other planets, moons, meteorites and asteroids in the Solar System. At first, this discovery is faithfully kept secret, but in situations of this nature, it is almost impossible to avoid a leak of information. Likewise, with these great possibilities of enrichment it is not feasible to maintain the aforementioned Outer Space Treaty. This is the story of Commander Howard Pickpower, Captain Tishy Glassvery and two other crew members, aboard the Olympia space station, each immersed in their personal problems (coming from dysfunctional families), who discover lunar gold, and the commander and the captain become involved in a political game, with many interests involved, being the protagonists of a sensational adventure of love and betrayal, in outer space...

Chapter One. The Majesty of the Cosmos

At twenty-two hours on October 10th, 2067 (official Greenwich Mean Time), from the Olympia international space station, in orbit around the Earth, Commander Howard Pickpower observed the skies. He came from the north of Ireland, once part of the extinct United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was in his fifties, and because of his service record, as a scientist, five years ago he was selected as head of the Olympia. However, in the complicated organization of the space age, composed of military and professionals from different countries, under the coordination of an American central authority, he was marginalized. In this regard, the commander had many dark incidents on his record and personal life for inappropriate behavior. Certainly, he didn´t know whether this was a real promotion or an exile to a prison that revolved around the Earth.

Instead of looking at the beautiful planet, he looked through the back window, focusing his view on the stars, fascinated by such an incredible and pleasant spectacle. This helped him to improve his bad mood and temporarily dispel his multiple concerns.

Time passed and the commander didn´t realize this. Rather, he felt a certain sensation of peace and security, with more nostalgia than joy, which would only be momentary and could not be compared with the silence of the universe.

"No wonder of the Nature resembles the majesty of the Cosmos!" He thought. "Why it feels so calm? Is there intelligent life in the universe? Will we ever find out that maybe we are not the only ones? When will we colonize other worlds? Is it true that the particle collider detected the smallest subatomic elements and tachyons[1]? Will the new warp engines work[2]?"

Over and over again, these questions came and went in his mind.

Returning from his imaginary trip to the stars, longing to one day be able to witness this technology, dreamed by science fiction writers, and at the same time, remembering some routine activities, since he had difficulty falling asleep, he stopped seeing the sky, and standing up, he opened the apocryphal book The Sidereal War of Sábato Fauntleroy. He had acquired this novel clandestinely because it was banned in some northern nations, and was interested in learning directly about the ideas of that famous author, who lived underground, supposedly in a small southern country.

Nonetheless, the commander knew that if he was discovered reading that literary work, he would be expelled from the International Space Agency, stripped of his military insignia, without the right to a retirement and with a prison sentence of at least ten Earth years. Although last year, he decided to take that risk because he had suffered many disappointments, both personally and professionally, he was at the limit of what a human being can tolerate, and his fifth marriage was not going well either, and it looked like an almost certain divorce, but what bothered him most wasn´t the romantic breakups, rather that he hadn´t been able to have children, considering that for some reason, unknown to doctors and other researchers, his sperm cells didn´t fertilize the eggs of his wives, and he felt a latent resentment because his second wife, Isis, and the third, Andromeda, made fun of this, calling him the Neanderthal man.

*****

Suddenly, his confusing moments of peace, mixed with bad memories, ended too quickly, giving way to feelings of anguish and worry. This was something surprising and unexpected! Not even his military training could free him from the impressions he perceived when this situation arose. The commander began to float quickly and almost collided with the ceiling of his small office/room. Thank goodness that at that moment he was standing in a safe place! "If I had been kissing or hugging a woman…" That was what he thought quickly, without fully understanding his complex sequence of thoughts, although the truth was that for the moment, and even in the coming weeks, the only woman on board, his subordinate, the attractive captain, Tishy Glassvery, was not going to succumb to his desires...

A little alarmed, he shouted with all his might:

Not again! No! How is it possible for the gravity mechanism to fail so much?

However, everything he said was recorded by the central computer and they could even consider him crazy and unfit for office, if this prodigious device decided to send this conversation to his bosses, on the Earth, without following his next order to delete it. In addition, the cases of inappropriate behavior that remained firmly in his file were like chimeras that didn´t die. Every time he sent his allegations and any other evidence to his lawyers on the planet, expecting that the military court would analyze them and dismiss some accusations, other charges appeared, not only from the plaintiffs, but from other supposedly aggrieved women, and some of his ex-wives.

Despite the risks and affected by his latent state of panic, the commander could not contain himself. He continued shouting loudly:

What is the central command waiting for? A serious accident? When are you going to install the new version of the gravity system?

He no longer cared if they heard him. Although, as he hoped, in a few seconds, the computer answered:

Prepare for gravity restitution!

In five seconds…

Four.

Three.

Two.

One…

Certainly, Howard Pickpower was prepared to deal with these unpleasant events. But several years ago, his knee was broken in a similar incident. Next, he jumped on his bed and prevented any damage to his body. The commander sighed with a gesture of relief, while his face recovered its normal color, since the artificial intelligence recognized that the gravity mechanism failed, by expressing gravity restitution, which meant that this machine was not going to retaliate against him and would dismiss his comments.

Anxiously, he listened to the final messages from the computer, which were expressed in a slow, concise, clear and deliberate manner. Obviously, the artificial intelligence knew that after a crisis, it had to be cordial with human beings, and communicate the relevant points, little by little.

Gravity satisfactorily restored.

There was a pause of ten seconds.

No material damage neither human injuries.

Another pause of ten seconds followed.

Yellow alert!

This pause was longer, lasting twenty seconds. The machine hoped that human brains would have no problems adapting to the new situation.

Second warning: yellow alert!

The next pause lasted fifteen seconds.

Third and final warning: yellow alert!

And this was a pause of seven and a half seconds.

Howard Pickpower had fun watching the pause times, calculated precisely by his atomic wrist watch. This device could only be used by commanders of spaceships and space stations, and high-ranking military personnel.

75% chance that the gravity system will fail in the next seventy-two Earth hours.

Unusual decrease of 3% in the oxygen levels of the crew.

Possible cause: anxiety.

Recommendation: all should return to anti-stress therapies.

Commander Pickpower, what follows will only be heard by you.

The pause lasted twenty seconds, while Howard Pickpower felt his heart palpitations, and perceived that his dose of valerian, consumed six hours before, was no longer having an effect.

Your anxiety is due to lack of exercise in recent months.

Take another dose of valerian.

I am sending the recommendation that you should return to Earth as soon as possible.

Howard Pickpower’s mood quickly changed from being nervous to having an unleashing and uncontrollable fury, exacerbated by the machine’s callousness. He shouted again, although louder than a few minutes ago:

Computer! No more recommendations until further notice!

The strange supreme being, known by many names, replied: due to your level of authority, the order is only valid for four hours and will be suspended if there is a red alert.

Please take your medicine and rest commander. It is for your own good and that of your family.

The machine sounded more human. Although it had also learned the hypocrisy and bad tricks of other people. What was Howard Pickpower’s family? Of unknown parents, abandoned at birth, raised by a childless couple, and also with four failed marriages, while the fifth was going down that same path. It was a matter of time. To the horror of Howard Pickpower, who now required medication to control his blood pressure, he knew that the omniscient machine was aware of his personal situation, and that its algorithm would also predict the end of the relationship with his beloved Elimnys. He didn´t know if that artificial intelligence system, modified by its creators to adapt and understand human behavior, was playing with him or trying to give a message of encouragement. The reality was terrifying, it would have even been preferable to live with an old computer, a Frankenstein model, that at least would be honest with him and didn´t hide the purpose of its ideas.

*****

Howard Pickpower thought for a while. Undoubtedly, it was time to sleep. In a few hours it would be another new Earth day, but in the space station there were no days, rather the night was endless and eternal.

He focused his mind on the past, remembering that in all these years, he continuously complained to his supervisors about the constant changes in the station’s staff, and that he could only come down to visit his wife every nine months, and stay only twenty days on the planet. He was also concerned that there was no replacement for his position and his professional career was virtually at a standstill. Perhaps he didn´t perceive it that way, but his claims were carefully analyzed by the bosses of the International Space Agency, and despite his personal problems, there was a hidden interest in keeping Pickpower in that position, and even promoting him to general, in the future, if he fulfilled a delicate mission that would soon be presented to him. Yes! Howard Pickpower was easy to handle and threaten! It was neither his ability nor his merits what they were mainly considering; rather he was staying aboard the Olympia because he could not refuse to carry out the orders of the central authority. He suspected this, but it was impossible to confront the powerful American General Alan Oddnews, head of the International Space Agency.

Although Pickpower had already a new crew since three months ago, who had orders of not abandoning the space station, in the next two years, and even if he hadn´t the best officers, at least he had some certainty that there would be no changes for a long time, nor would he have to dedicate titanic efforts to training new crew members.

The other officers were: Captain and Programmer Tishy Glassvery (the second on board), thirty-five years old, and the two American nuclear engineers, George Halzmin and Robert Mikkson, both over sixty years old.

Pickpower was grateful because the team was working very well. Relations among them were cordial, he was granted the recognition and respect that other officials of the International Space Agency denied him, it was easy to give orders, without many explanations, and the assigned objectives were being satisfactorily fulfilled. At this rate, within six months or a year, Commander Pickpower could demand one or two more promotions, or a reassignment to the planet, near his home.

Mentally, he reviewed the latest missions commissioned, which could only be carried out with the wonderful technology of Olympia, the space station that writers and scientists dreamed in the 19th, 20th, and even during the mid-21st centuries. These included four fundamental activities: first, synthesizing miraculous vaccines, second, testing solar energy, third, removing debris in orbit, and fourth, doing various research on the Moon, Mars or on any nearby meteorite or asteroid.

Since last