 What motivates Pop Young to live on the far side of the moon?
There were air-tight bulkheads for safety, and a hydroponic garden to keep the air fresh, and all sorts of things to make life possible for men under if not on the Moon. In the Moon's slight gravity, a man is really adjusted to existence when he has a well-developed case of agoraphobia. The occupation made it absurdly easy to live on the surface of the far side of the Moon, whether anybody else could do it or not. In his mind the need to escape became an obsession on top of the other psychotic states normal to a Moon-colonist. But then an event occurred which bore directly upon Pop Young and Sattell and Pop Young's missing years.
 He is close to Sattell's location, which enhances his memories of his wife and children
 He is being compensated for a wrongful death suit that occurred back on Earth  He is close to Sattell's location, which enhances his memories of his wife and children  If he left his post, there would be no one to monitor the mines in the Big Crack  If he returned to Earth, he would be arrested for the murder of his family