A Tourist Got Stuck on the Moon?

The tourist, who has been branded with the nickname “Crusoe”, comes from a small island country of Nauru back on Earth. He won the ticket in a lottery and became the first Moon visitor from his nation. However, the payment for the round trip booked with Space Charter Services was clawed back by the bankruptcy court and left Crusoe with no seat on the return flight. His small nation does not have funding to return their citizen back to Earth either. 

Nevertheless, It looks like Crusoe is pretty happy with the outcome, as he finds conditions on the Moon are an improvement from those back home. Base authorities have a legal obligation to provide Crusoe with daily food and shelter. It means that they could have an unwanted guest on their hands. 

Crusoe has racked up a debt with First Moon Hotel and has been formally  asked to leave. Since then, he has been relocated to personnel’s quarters as Hotel officials scramble to figure out how to evict him. Some have suggested putting the castaway to work, but as Crusoe is not trained or certified to work on any of the Lunar base facilities, the odds of this happening are slim. 

Meanwhile Crusoe has become a celebrity back on Earth. He has tried to monetize his status by running a podcast and fulfilling random requests from earthlings’. Crusoe was writing fan’s names in Moon dust for a fee, until his Moonwalk privileges were revoked. Then he was trying to broadcast Moon Reality TV from the observation deck until he was banned from there. Now he is making a video diary of daily life which has already caused complaints  from the crew. 

The most likely fate awaiting the marooned traveler is that he will be shipped back to Earth on the base’s begrudging expense. However, if Crusoe finds out that legally he doesn't have to go back to Earth, then this could be the beginning of a tense stand-off situation. An online donation fund has already collected half of the money for a ticket back - but what if Crusoe does not want to return?