The Commander Read online

  Boyle took a step back in the warship’s corridor. “Invaders?”

  “Oh, yes,” Amanda confirmed. “But let’s wait until we’re back on the planet and I can give you a proper briefing. We’ve got handouts.”

  “Back on the planet?” Boyle squeaked.

  “That’s correct. Didn’t we say? I think we’re already in orbit. Isn’t that right, Captain Brady?”

  Brady picked up on his cue and opened the doors to the bridge. A few of his crew members were sitting at their stations. But the only thing everyone saw was the thirty-foot-wide window at the front of the bridge. Few people on Earth ever had a view like this one: The deep black nothingness of space and the blue marble of Earth shining brilliantly below.

  # # #

  Luke waited patiently for fifteen minutes while the visitors stared out into space. One by one they moved up to the glass where they clustered together in silence. Luke appreciated how they felt. It was less than a year ago when he got his first surprise trip off planet.

  When they finally started murmuring to each other, he gave a discreet nod to Brady.

  “Okay, everyone,” Brady said aloud. “We’re going to start back. Would all of you please grab hold of that railing? It gets a little disorienting.” He waited while the visitors took a firm, if worried, grip on the long grab bar. “Ching Shih, can you take us back to Baggs, please, and set us down where we were before?”

  “Course set, Captain,” the ship answered.

  The planet below filled the window’s view as Ching Shih dipped her nose down. She established a needle-nose force field that spread out thousands of feet in front of her hull so she would penetrate the atmosphere with little effect. No fiery trail would herald her passage; just a sonic boom that no one on the ground would ever hear. The massive gravity drives at the back of her truncated hull pushed her gently toward the surface. She entered the atmosphere headed almost straight down at a mere seventeen thousand miles an hour.

  Descending through sixty thousand feet Ching Shih spun effortlessly around her vertical axis and those same drives pulsed again at a fraction of their power, braking softly, reducing her speed from Mach 30 to a few hundred miles per hour. She lowered the nose so she was in a level flight with respect to the surface and used the main gravity plates under her hull to slow for landing, ultimately setting down once again in the exact spot she had lifted from less than half an hour ago. Ninety seconds had elapsed since her captain gave the command to return to the planet.

  “Arriving at destination, Captain,” Ching Shih announced in her quiet, musical voice. Inside her command bridge, the cup of coffee resting on the console in front of one crewman had not budged. Her crew sat relaxed in their seats.

  The visitors, by contrast, maintained a death grip on the grab bar, their expressions reflecting a mixture of terror, shock, and disbelief.

  “Thank you, Shih,” Captain Brady said graciously. “Commander, let me walk you out. Everyone, please follow me.”

  # # #

  On the flight line, Hubert’s team had set up a large pavilion tent next to the two space shuttles. Annie had the hotel send over two of their airport vans, which were parked near the tent. A couple of the attorneys were loading their bags into the back of the vans.

  Luke shook hands with Major Key and invited him to stay around if he wished. “We wouldn’t want it on a regular basis,” Luke said. “But if you want to delay departure, just to get an idea of what’s going on, then by all means feel free. But tomorrow, this ramp area is going to get crowded.”

  The major accepted the invitation provisionally, depending on guidance from headquarters; all hostility gone from his attitude. He turned away to head back to his two Ospreys.

  “Hubert?” Luke said, turning to find the man.

  “Right here, sir. I mean Commander.”

  Luke took Sheppard by the elbow and pointed toward the terminal building. “There’s a Mrs. Linda Cummings in there.”

  “Right. I saw her.”

  “Think of her as my mom. She’s not, but that gives you an idea of what she means to me. I’d like you to put a security detail around her. Keep it unobtrusive. Let her do whatever she wants, but stop anyone from hassling her. That means government, cops, and especially media or sightseers.”

  “Got it.” Sheppard turned away to bark orders at his men.

  Luke saw Annie talking to Leslie Boyle and Amanda. He walked over to join them.

  “Hey, babe,” Annie said. “I was telling them about our recruiting flight tonight. I thought it might be a good thing to put on the news. It will let people know that it’s us who's recruiting. May as well get some free advertising.”

  “Great idea,” Luke agreed.

  “We’ve got some media checking into the hotel. They’re starting to show up from Reno. If you can keep an eye on Leslie here, Amanda and I will go round them up.”

  “Sure. What about your big media briefing?”

  “We don’t have enough time before our recruits show up. I thought we’d bring back some of the media, let them film, then go back to the hotel for the brief. There will be a lot of Q&A afterward.”

  “Can I skip all that?” Luke asked.

  Amanda answered his question. “I think that’s probably a good idea,” she said diplomatically. “Annie and I will take care of the briefing and the Q&A. I got a question, though. Any chance we could get Carrie down here? She would be a real hit with these reporters.”

  “I’ll call Roth right now,” Luke said. “I don’t know how Carrie will take it though. She’s always seemed shy.”

  “We’ll take care of her,” Amanda promised.

  Luke got Roth on the phone, who agreed to send Carrie right away, along with a couple of pilots. “You’re starting to collect a lot of shuttles down there. I’ll tell them to bring a few back.”

  “Okay,” Luke agreed. “Just leave Sadie here for me. I’m not sure we ever got the Gulfstream out of here either. You might want to take her with you.”

  “We’re on it,” Roth said and signed off.

  Leslie spoke behind him. “Who were you talking to just now? How are you doing that?” Leslie was standing next to her cameraman and was holding a microphone out toward Luke.

  He looked at the mic and took a deep breath. He should have kept one of the girls here. They wouldn’t like him talking to the media on his own.

  “Looks like you want an exclusive interview,” he said.

  “If you’ve got the time,” she replied in her innocent voice.

  George, I want you to monitor this. Stop me if I start to say something wrong.

  As you wish, Commander. It shouldn’t be a problem. Annie would tell you to ‘just be yourself.’

  “Let’s get comfortable at least,” Luke said to the reporter. They walked over to the pavilion and commandeered one of the tables and a couple of chairs. Leslie took a moment to stage the location so the giant warship was in the background. Luke answered her questions, sticking to the script that Amanda had prepared.

  He told her about his initial meeting with Sam and the mission that had been thrust upon him. He explained how he and Annie had set up the Moonbase for their first recruits and their growth since then. Luke smiled as he described their success in establishing a colony on Mars just a month earlier. Shuttle traffic was going back and forth daily, adding to their knowledge base and helping them prepare for the next larger leap to the stars.

  Leslie fixated on one point. “You mean it’s just like a Star Trek replicator? It will make anything you want? Jewels, money? That sort of thing?”

  “Not exactly. But the main thing is no one uses it for that. No point.”

  “No point?” Leslie found it hard to accept. “But a person could make themselves fabulously wealthy with one of those. Why wouldn’t they?”

  “You’ve got that wrong, Leslie. Why would they? On the moon, we created a society that values everything but wealth. We measure our worth in what we do, not what we own. We’re tryi
ng to save mankind. We want to protect our solar system. Who cares about a box of rubies?”

  “I would!” Leslie said firmly. “Can I have one of those replicators? Or you can just replicate me that box of rubies. I’ll make great use of them. I can promise you that!”

  “Sorry.” Luke smiled sympathetically. “If you want to emigrate to the moon, you can have all the jewels you want. But if you did, I doubt you’d want them anymore.”

  “I don’t understand. Aren’t you going to use that technology on Earth? You could change the system.”

  “That would be intrusive. I’m not smart enough to change a system that already takes care of seven billion people. To even try would be dangerous.”

  “But you could feed a lot of hungry people,” Leslie insisted.

  “That’s true,” Luke agreed. “But so could you. There is more wealth on this planet than most of us can imagine and it’s not up to me to tell anyone how to spend it. Besides, I think what we’re working on is important. Saving mankind?”

  “Well, what if people down here don’t like the system? What if they want a chance at what you’re keeping for yourself?”

  “Then that would be great. In fact, we’re recruiting people as fast as we can. I can’t imagine a day when we’ll get too crowded. If anyone wants to move to the moon and become part of our team, they just need to look online. Starting tomorrow, recruiting agencies around the world will be posting all of the job openings we’re trying to fill.” Luke warmed to the recruiting pitch. Leslie’s questions had teed it up perfectly. He recited as many of the details as he could remember until Hubert caught his eye.

  “That’s it, Leslie,” Luke said, bringing the interview to a close. “Hope that worked for you.” He went over to join Hubert. “What’s up.”

  Hubert looked into the sky. “Someone’s coming.”

  It was the new transport, replacing their faux-Boeing 737. The new spacecraft was shaped much like their other shuttles, boxy and bulky rather than smooth and cylindrical like an airliner. And it was bigger. The new fuselage was thicker than current wide-body jets and half again as long, sort of like an oversized train car. Inside, the spacecraft was designed for comfort. Capable of carrying five hundred passengers, the seating was wide and spacious.

  Moments later Annie was back. She brought three hotel vans full of media people. She and Amanda arranged a quick walkthrough of the new shuttle. As they were finishing up yet another shuttle, Sadie-sized this time, arrived, carrying Carrie Faulkner. Annie introduced Carrie to the crowd. She was rewarded with loud applause and celebrity-like adulation. Luke was surprised to see a different side of Carrie. In front of the cameras she was vivacious and outgoing, an instant hit with the broadcasters.

  A line of buses arrived and Hubert’s men quickly processed them through the airport’s security gates. The thought flickered through Luke’s mind that he should probably institute some kind of passenger screening. As word spread, no doubt there would be crazies trying to get into one of their shuttles.

  Annie noticed Luke was yawning and came over. “You look shot,” she said. “You’ve had a long day.”

  “No longer than you and Carrie. And look at her. She’s going strong as ever.”

  “She’s a lot younger than you, babe. You need to knock it off.”

  “I’m not going to argue. But I’m reluctant to head home. I suspect there are paparazzi all over the place by now.”

  “I’m sure Captain Brady can fix you up with a room for tonight,” Annie suggested.

  Luke nodded. “I’ll go check. And one other thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Great job today. All of your preparation paid off.”

  Annie squeezed his hand. “I think so too. I got a call from Roth a few minutes ago. The news shows are still on our side. He said this is our honeymoon period, but he won’t guarantee how long it will last.”

  Luke thought about it. “I hope it lasts a long time. You and I need to focus outward now. We’ll get some people down here to keep the system running. But tomorrow, we have to start looking toward the stars.”

  Day 369—Population 13,059

  Luke nodded his thanks for the update to Morrow who was seated across the conference table. It had been weeks since the last senior staff meeting. It was nice enough to skip a few meetings, but today it was time to get back into the gritty details of growing Moonbase and expanding humanity’s footprint in the galaxy.

  A familiar face was missing. Daniel Perez, his security chief, had promised he was staying on the moon but then changed his mind. Not to go back to Earth; he decided to stretch himself even further. A week earlier Perez and his family migrated to Mars on the regular shuttle Luke established between the two planets. Brandon, the HR director, was another Martian convert.

  Hubert Sheppard, formerly of Wehrlite Security, was the new security chief. His tough exterior hid a common sense outlook that Luke admired. In the days following the space station incident, Sheppard impressed Luke with his ability to organize and lead his people. Once things settled down, and Perez announced his intention to emigrate, Luke invited Sheppard to Moonbase. While there, Luke arranged for Sheppard to have a sit-down with Roth. Sheppard agreed to head up the new Moonbase security position.

  Luke directed his attention to another new face, Adelia Perkins. She was in charge of building the new space station that was currently under construction.

  “Adelia,” Luke said. “Welcome to your first lunar staff meeting.”

  Adelia bobbed her head with a return smile that took in everyone. “Thanks, Commander. Good to be here.”

  “So what’s new?” Luke asked simply.

  “I can give you an update on your new space station.”

  “Perfect. Not everyone here knows about that.”

  Adelia glanced around the table. “As you know, the International Space Station was lost a while back. Luke directed us to come up with a replacement, but wanted it big enough to serve as a launch platform for our colony ships. Ambrose said it would be easier to start with a big rock and just carve it up to our specifications. The astronomy guys found one the right size near Jupiter. We moved it here and at the moment, it’s in a geostationary stationary orbit above Far Side. We’ll move it into Earth orbit in a week or two.”

  “What was it before?” Luke asked. “I know you told me. Caruso?”

  “It was Callirrhoe, one of Jupiter’s moons. As far as I know, no one planetside has noticed yet.” Adelia smiled sheepishly. “I still feel a little guilty about stealing one of Jupiter’s moons.”

  “Think they’ll figure it out?” Roth asked.

  “Someone will,” Amanda predicted. “Probably some teenager in Hoboken. We should be ready. I’ll come up with a statement for release in case someone complains.”

  “Excuse me,” Kathy Lyons, the new HR director, interrupted. “Did you just say you stole one of Jupiter’s moons?”

  Morrow chuckled. “You can tell she’s new. Get used to it, Kathy. Up here we do things on a whole different scale.”

  “But how?” Kathy asked, still incredulous.

  “It was easy enough,” Ambrose answered. “We made a special gravity drive on a fixed platform and took it out there. It had three main drives, rather large ones of course, and four smaller ones for steering. It’s not that big; about five miles across. We took it slow coming back. All of that happened before you got here.”

  Morrow added, “Why don’t you swing by our labs when you get a chance? I’ll give you a quick rundown on some of our other projects.”

  “Okay. Thanks.”

  Ambrose was proud of Adelia’s accomplishments. “It doesn’t look much like a rock anymore. And by the way, we need to come up with a better name than The Rock, or it’s going to stick. We’re open to suggestions.”

  “What about the Isaac Newton Gateway?” Luke offered. “Everything we do revolves around our ability to control gravity. Isn’t he the guy that invented it?”

 
“Discovered it,” Amanda corrected. “But I do like that name; it has a good ring to it. Can we go with that?”

  Roth agreed. “I like it too. Has a nice historical connotation that will sit well with the governments on Earth. I’m a little worried about their reaction when we suddenly add a new moon into Earth’s orbit.”

  There was a general murmur of agreement around the table.

  “Okay then,” Adelia continued. “The Newton Gateway is taking shape. We’ve got people living there full time now. Give me sixty to ninety days and we’ll be in full operation.”

  “Can you make it sixty?” Luke asked.

  “I can if you give me enough people. The sculpting process is going very quickly. The architects finished their surveying a couple of weeks ago and the design was programmed into the new cutters that Ambrose’s people came up with.”

  “What new cutters?” Luke questioned. “I haven’t heard about that.”

  Ambrose spoke up. “Remember the cutting tools you used during your first days on the moon? Sam showed you how to shape corridors and rooms with those saws on wheels.”

  “How’d you know about that?”

  Kathy smiled. “Everyone knows about that, Commander. It’s part of our basic orientation. There’s a video of you wrestling the machines around, shaping the first residences that we all live in.”

  Luke directed an accusatory glare at Roth.

  “Don’t look at me,” Roth said. “I got that stuff from George. He’s the one who turned you into a legend. Part of his grand scheme.”

  Luke fumed inwardly but kept silent. It seemed the more time went by, the more his reputation grew, and none of it was accurate. He’d deal with George later but for now, he nodded at Ambrose to continue.

  “Anyway, we had George build a limited AI to run cutters that are self-propelled. Once the architects finish their design, George feeds it into the cutters. They take off down the corridors and it’s not long before you’re ready to move in.”

  Adelia picked up the narrative. “That’s the easy part. Making it livable is what takes time. Furnishings, decorating, putting in environmental and command and control systems. The cutters take care of a lot, but we still have to finish out the living and working space for a hundred thousand people. That’s what we designed for.”