Story Bazaar

Personal Diary of a Lunatic

March 2025:

This is my diary for folks back on Earth. We've been up here now for five years. We got here because an Entrepreneur decided to use his rocket company to secure a future for Earth...

Of course, anybody who reads this, if I ever send it back to Earth, will know why we came here; but, they won't know how things have changed...

And, yes, I'm a "lunatic"---we all decided we are, 'cause it originally meant "of the Moon"...

I like the Moon, always have. Still, living and working here makes it even more amazing. We get our air and water by processing rocks. We use the metal that's leftover to build our shelters; sure, we came up here with enough to survive, the thousand of us; but what we were able to do since then is pretty remarkable.

Back to what folks on Earth who might read this in the future won't necessarily know: the people in charge up here aren't working for Earth anymore, don't care about Earth anymore, would rather Earth just went away...

We were supposed to be an outpost of humanity---people who would breed and prosper and come back to Earth when it wasn't radioactive anymore...

I still can't believe they did it---threw all those bombs around. But then, they boxed themselves in. Every single interaction was us versus them, me versus you, profit versus people. I suppose it was bound to happen...

But, to watch the folks up here, carefully chosen people, duplicate the thinking that nearly killed the Earth. What a shame...

But... I have to live here, I have to work here, I have to hope that soon I can start talking to certain people I can trust, so we can, maybe, turn things around...

January 2026:

We're getting no more radio signals from Earth. But, we do know plenty of people are still alive, if plenty can mean thousands.

We don't know how long they can hold out...

There are a few of us working on a plan to construct a small rocket that could be sent to orbit the Earth, gather images, and radio them back.

All we have to do is convince the few who've taken control that it's worthwhile...

If we can't do that, we might have to do away with the leaders; but, that has to be the worst solution; still, there has to be some solution, I mean there's no logic in staying alive and not helping the Earth.

May 2029:

Been very busy...

We might have convinced some of the leaders to get back on track and make this a project to save Earth again...

March 2031:

One man has grabbed complete leadership for himself. He's got about 20 security forces around him. But really, this seems better to me than when there were a whole crew of leaders. I hope it doesn't come to war...

September 2032:

Been busy... The leader was vanquished by his security forces 'cause we were able to "educate" them...

April 2033:

We're building the rocket to send to Earth orbit...

December 2034:

Images radioed back from Earth showed definite signs of fresh farming activity---many locations...

We're tired out but happy.

May 2035:

We decided to rename our colony "Unity" since that's what it's going to take for us to help Earth from way up here; but, we were selected for our scientific and practical knowledge and we'll share it with Earth---send more satellites, drop some radios---only when we're sure their unity has them well on the road to recovery---I mean, from what we can see, they're not college graduates, if ya know what I mean; so, until they're back to what we're calling "developed agrarian", we can only cheer them on, in our hearts...

Still, I think I'll stay up here because it's going to take Earth a hell of a long time to get to the level of living comfort that we have here on the Moon...

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December 2058:

The past couple of decades have seen a lot of progress, here and on Earth...

I'm going back as soon as we finish the shuttle; so, I really don't have to keep this diary anymore---didn't do such a good job at it anyway---never liked writing much...

I suppose I've been talking to myself all these years...

But, this colony will continue without me and it will continue to help Earth...

Still, even though I've been up here a long time, I really do have to go home...

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