30

Next on the itinerary is checking over the supply rockets in the spaceport.

Leaving the moon is easier than leaving Earth. For one, the elevator port is fully operational. This space elevator endlessly cycles goods and people from the orbital docking bays to and from Moltke City. Kosmo and you enter the trolley. He stares out of the window as you take a seat next to someone else.

Perched beside you is a young woman with thick, curly brown hair and the long, thin limbs that mark out a person born and raised in low gravity. She sits on the headrest, her feet on the chair, knees wedged into the seat in front.

She sees you looking. "You'd think they'd make the seats the right size for people that actually live here." She extends a hand to shake yours. "It's Rheita Petavius."