It was completely flat and featureless, quite free from the myriad cracks and fissures that scarred all the rest of this barren world. No one could have told, merely by looking at it, whether the Sea was liquid or solid. The brilliant, blue-green light of the mother world flooded this strange land with a cold radiance-and cold it was indeed, perhaps three hundred below zero on the exposed surface. Above it hung the waning crescent Earth, poised forever in the sky from which it had not moved in a billion years.

Beyond „Selene's” observation windows, its gray, dusty surface marched onward unbroken until it reached the stars. But to all of them, the Sea of Thirst was a novelty. It was a fairly good working rule, Pat had discovered, that all the old people came from Earth, while the youngsters were residents of the Moon. There were only four or five passengers on the low side of thirty, and they were probably technical personnel on vacation from one of the lunar bases. Most of the passengers were typical tourists-elderly people, visiting a world that had been the very symbol of inaccessibility when they were young. There were no familiar faces this was a new bunch, eager for their first cruise. But what she thought of him, he had never really discovered. He always tried to think of her as 'Miss Wilkins,' not Sue, when they were on duty together it helped to keep his mind on business. In the rear-view mirror he could see Miss Wilkins, very smart in her blue Lunar Tourist Commission uniform, putting on her usual welcome act.

As the passengers filed aboard „Selene”, jockeying for window seats, he wondered what sort of trip it would be this time. ISBN 0-15-630110-5 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-12345 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To Liz and MikeĬhapter 1 To be the skipper of the only boat on the Moon was a distinction that Pat Harris enjoyed. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without pemlission in writing from the publisher.

A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke