The Commander Read online

  Luke’s comment provoked exclamations from his staff. “Are you kidding?” Samantha said. “We went over a thousand this week.”

  “I know. But it’s not enough. As soon as we finish the design for large ships, I want to open a colony on Mars. We don’t actually have any assurances that we’ve got five years. It could be tomorrow. We’ve got to send colonies to other star systems yesterday, so if the Bakkui show up, at least our species will survive. Anyone think differently?”

  A general murmur of agreement ran around the table before Luke continued. “Speaking of large ship construction, what’s the status?” He looked at Morrow.

  Public speaking was not Morrow’s forte, but when he did contribute to the discussion, everyone listened carefully.

  “I’ve been working with George and our engineers. The good news is, it is possible to manufacture a large-scale replicator the size you want. But it can’t happen here at Moonbase because it’s just too big. If we locate it outside, which is what we need to do, it’ll be visible from Earth.”

  “So where are you thinking? Luke prompted.

  “Far side of the moon. We can make it as big we want. Just put down a few acres of tarmac and go for it.”

  “What about NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter?” Roth asked. “Take it out?”

  Morrow nodded. “No choice if you want to still keep this secret?

  “Understood,” Luke agreed. “Kind of a shame to do that to NASA but I guess it’s inevitable. Maybe when this is all done we can recruit some of the astronomers who lost their toy.”

  Morrow cleared his throat. “Yeah. About that.”

  “What?”

  “Let’s start recruiting those guys now. Same time we’re building a construction base, let’s put up a new telescope. Not some puny thing like the James Webb mirror. I’m talking the size of a football field, and a research center to go with it.”

  “I’m not opposed,” Luke said. “But what’s your thinking?”

  “You just talked about your plan to go exo-solar system. Be nice to have a good look at any planets you want to visit before you waste a trip. We need a huge telescope and astronomers for that kind of thing. That’s out of my field. You keep promising to bring on an R&D guy.”

  Day 222—Population 1,498

  Luke smiled at the young mechanic. Carrie Faulkner did not look like someone ready to sabotage NASA’s $500 million Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter program.

  Carrie’s profile said she was twenty-eight and had a criminal justice degree from University of Missouri in Kansas City. Recently she’d worked for Ambrose’s construction team by furnishing new residential units. At Morrow’s request she moved to his department to help with the telescope construction.

  She was wearing a thick pullover under denim overalls. Her ponytail was knotted high on her head and bounced like a flag as she moved about. Slung around her waist was a standard tool belt, which included the beer-can-sized personal force field.

  The personal force field created a flexible gravitational field around the wearer that kept in air and heat. It allowed someone to work on the surface of the moon, or anywhere in space for that matter, in a shirt-sleeve environment and still communicate with others. It was one of those small technological devices from George that blew Luke’s mind.

  Today Carrie’s job was to take out the satellite’s three cameras so they could no longer transmit ground photos of the lunar surface. Once it was disabled, Morrow could move forward with his planned research center and the construction platform for the large-scale replicator.

  Carrie stood next to a small cycle with skids instead of wheels; it looked more like a Jet Ski than anything else. It was a one-man scooter for getting about on the moon and was perfect for outside construction.

  “Are you all set?” Luke asked.

  “Yes sir,” Carrie replied quietly.

  “Tell me what you’re going to do.”

  Carrie patted the seat of the scooter. “This will take me to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. I’ll approach from above and behind so they won’t get us on camera. I’ll transfer from my scooter to the satellite and climb over the back side so I can block the lens apertures of the three cameras with these covers and then tape them down.” She pulled the cloth lens covers from a saddlebag on the scooter and took a roll of duct tape from a pocket of her overalls.

  Luke nodded. It sounded simple enough. He crossed his fingers that it remained so. “Okay, then. Good luck.”

  “Thank you, sir,” she murmured.

  The next day in his office in Baggs, Luke saw a news clip on CNN lamenting the unexplained loss of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Several politicians demanded a congressional hearing to investigate the loss. Others used it as a reason to cut NASA’s funding in the coming year.

  Day 292—Population 7,177

  Luke waited in Moonbase’s main hangar. All of the available shuttles had been requisitioned for one task or another out at the construction site and Annie had taken Sadie to Earth to pick up some new scientific equipment. Luke was momentarily stranded and he had a meeting on the far side of the moon at the new complex that someone had unimaginatively named Far Side.

  Morrow sent word that Carrie Faulkner was on the way to pick him up and Luke hoped she didn’t come zipping into the hangar on her scooter. When visiting Far Side he often saw her maneuvering around the latest of Morrow’s space ships. Even though she was proficient in maneuvering the small vehicle, he didn’t want to be a passenger on the back seat.

  Luke breathed a sigh of relief when she appeared in a shuttle that was a duplicate of Sadie. He tried to exchange a bit of small talk on the way to the site but she was far too shy to utter more than a few one-syllable responses.

  Morrow waited for him inside the massive Far Side hangar. “Sorry about the lack of wheels, Luke,” he apologized. “I’ve already asked George to see to that.”

  “No problem. So, tell me about your big drone launch. Everything ready?”

  “I think so. Samantha wants to give you a final run-through before we send them off. Here she is.”

  “Hi, Luke,” Samantha said. She briefed him on the cone-shaped reconnaissance drones. They were durable, fast, and had a special, limited-capability AI that was designed by George. They would go out, reconnoiter, and return. “We call them Hermes probes after the Greek god; they’re fast and stealthy. We’ve tested the prototypes as thoroughly as we can. They’re ready to go.”

  “How long until we hear back?” Luke asked.

  “They all have different targets,” she explained. “The first reports will be back in about six weeks. After that, we’ll get a return with new information every few days. The drones that are going all the way to Bakkui space, what we assume to be hostile territory, will take about six months.”

  “How many going out? I saw rows of them on the pad out front.”

  “Yes, there are four hundred outside. We’ve got another twelve hundred in geostationary orbit overhead. With your go-ahead, we’ll launch everything we have. After that, we have a schedule for a set of two hundred each week.”

  Luke did some quick math. “So a year from now we’ll have sent out around ten thousand drones?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “And how many star systems in our target area?”

  Samantha slumped. “I know. We need to investigate millions of stars. But you said our priority was to focus on the colony ships.”

  Luke waved away her apology. “No, I wasn’t complaining. It just hits me now and then what an overwhelming task we’re undertaking. Frankly, it boggles my mind. Someday, soon I hope, we’ll have enough people assigned to this project that we can send out ten thousand a day. Gathering reconnaissance is vital. But, as you say, so are the colony ships. You guys have done a great job. You’re working miracles. All of you,” he added, nodding to Ambrose and the rest.

  The construction pad was impressive. Four hundred midnight-colored spikes sat ready to launch out to the
edge of the galaxy, seeking an enemy whose strength and capability was unknown. Their return might bring back the secrets of how to defeat the Bakkui, or herald a swift doom for mankind.

  “You want to do the honors?” Samantha asked.

  “No.” Luke acknowledged her offer with a nod. “You guys did all the work.”

  “Very well.” Samantha faced the crowd around the podium. “Everyone ready? Let’s hear it!”

  With an uncoordinated cheer everyone shouted, “Launch the Hermes!”

  One second they were there, the next they were gone, already out of sight, accelerating at unimaginable speeds.

  “That was kinda anticlimactic,” Luke observed. “Those little suckers are fast.”

  “They better be where they’re going,” Samantha replied.

  Day 327—Population 11,122

  It was one of the rare times that Luke and Annie were on the moon together. They stood on a small stage in Far Side’s main hangar. He praised the five thousand colonists who were about to depart for Mars. The settlers would establish new lives on another planet in the solar system, the first humans ever to attempt such a feat. Luke hoped it would be the prelude to a mass migration of humanity to the stars.

  He pointed to the launch pad and the space ship Demeter, named after the Greek goddess of the harvest. The ship looked like the top half of a sphere, the wide base rested on the concrete-like tarmac, slightly over one thousand feet in diameter. The top of its dome was almost five hundred feet high. The interior included twenty separate levels for crew accommodation interspersed with life support systems, workshops, entertainment areas, supplies, and equipment. The cargo holds contained vehicles of all descriptions that would help sustain the new settlement.

  The Demeter also carried replicators of varying sizes, the largest being equivalent to the one in the hangar at Moonbase. And most importantly, Demeter’s AI mirrored many of George’s talents. She and George were linked via their own communication system so that Luke’s team could benefit from the lessons learned by the Martian colonists.

  When the ship landed on Mars, the Demeter would become the center of the new community. A few of the colonists would maintain their residence inside the massive structure, but most would venture out, creating their own homes on the planet’s surface or burrowing into the mountainous landscape. There were five different projects under consideration to provide Mars with a new atmosphere. Luke hoped the initiatives would be pursued simultaneously; that alone would be an exciting experiment from start to finish.

  “The adventure has only begun!” Luke finished to more applause.

  He returned to his chair next to Annie, handing the microphone to the last speaker, the ship’s captain. The colonists were already on board, and the final countdowns were proceeding now that the launch ceremonies for the historic departure of the Mars colony transport were almost over.

  When the Demeter departed, the moon’s population would decrease by almost half. Annie’s recent planetside activities were focused on opening new recruiting centers around the world. Employment agencies in Europe, Asia, and Australia had signed contracts. Globalized recruiting meant the number of lunar residents would be back to the current level in little more than a month.

  Not long ago Annie increased the daily recruiting flights from five to six times per week. The international centers promised that number would soon stand at eight; that meant almost twelve hundred newcomers a week. Roth had adjusted everyone’s work schedule to accommodate the increased training load.

  The captain finished her comments and left the podium at a jog, heading toward the waiting ship.

  “I still think it looks like an upside-down bowl,” Luke whispered to Annie, nodding at the Demeter.

  She gave him a don’t-even-start-with-me glance. “You’re the one who said the cube looked too Borg-like,” she hissed quietly.

  “It was just a comment; that’s all”

  “I hope you learned your lesson.”

  “I know. I have.”

  “It’s not fair to everyone.”

  “I know.”

  “These guys work their hearts out.”

  “I know that, Annie.”

  “You’re the big boss around this place, the visionary. You say something and people take notice.”

  “Ease up, would you? I already feel guilty enough.”

  “Okay.” Annie relented somewhat. “Just saying.”

  Luke remembered the offhand comment; it had been months ago. By the time he realized that what he thought was merely a humorous observation, had resulted in a totally new design, it was too late to take it back. He pulled Morrow aside at the time to apologize and explain what happened. Morrow was understanding but cautioned Luke to be more careful around the younger engineers.

  It was a fair point. Luke never thought of himself as a visionary or a seer or anything of that sort. But the threat mankind faced was truly apocalyptic. The mission objectives that he pushed everyone toward were understandably viewed as humanity’s last chance. Under such circumstances, it was easy for underlings to create a messianic-like culture around their leader. Adding to the effect was that George always referred to him as The Commander, and everyone else naturally followed that example.

  Once Luke became aware of his growing celebrity status, he strove to underplay it and to keep everyone grounded. “This is just a job,” he often said. “Everyone has a role and we should all do our best.” His attempt at humility only added to his image.

  He was glad that Annie, who knew him when he was just a guy in a diner, didn’t fall into the groupie category. She never gave him slack, and if he was honest about it, he found it a bit reassuring.

  “Good speech, though,” she admitted.

  “Thought I was going to blow it,” he confessed. “I was really nervous.”

  “I don’t think anyone noticed.”

  Samantha, who had been congratulating the members of her team, joined them on the stage. She had tears in her eyes as she took Luke’s hands in hers. “That was such a magnificent speech,” she said earnestly. “It means so much that you put into words what all of us are feeling at this moment. I know it inspired the colonists.”

  “Thank you, Samantha,” Luke replied. “I’m incredibly proud of everything that you and your colleagues have accomplished. You are the real inspiration.”

  She gave him a hug and then returned to her teammates for one last good-bye before hurrying to the Demeter. She was leaving her position at Moonbase to assume the leadership of the new colony as mayor. She had already been elected, along with eight commissioners. Her term of office was for eight years. Thereafter each new mayor would be elected for four years, with a lifetime term limit of eight years. Luke set the policy because he wanted to establish a democratic process from the outset.

  Luke caught Annie glaring at him. “What?” he asked innocently. “I was just congratulating her.”

  Annie shook her head, her expression neutral. “Nothing,” she muttered.

  Luke watched the Demeter depart, completely oblivious to the crowd of groupies at the back of the stage who hung on to every word of his exchange with Samantha.

  Annie discreetly watched their adulation. “You’ll never understand,” she whispered too softly for anyone to hear.

  Day 334—Population 7,010

  Linda greeted Luke with a friendly grin as he entered the airport’s office. “Hi, boss. You picked a scorcher of a day to put in an appearance.” The temperature outside had just nudged over ninety degrees Fahrenheit.

  “Hello, Linda,” Luke replied. “Sorry I’ve been away so long. Where is she?”

  “In your office. And she looks terrible. I’m glad you’re here.”

  Luke gave his secretary a rueful smile and went into his office. Annie was sitting in his chair, slumped over the desk, sound asleep. Linda was right; Annie did look awful. Her cheeks were flushed and beads of sweat dotted her forehead.

  He shook her shoulder gently but she slept
on, not stirring.

  George, she’s not waking up. Are you sure she’s okay?

  The reply was both reassuring and worrying. I’m positive, Commander. She is merely exhausted. I recommend she rest for at least two days.

  Luke scooped her up and walked out of the office. Linda was already holding the outside door open and then scurried ahead to the parking lot where she opened the passenger door of his pickup. “Don’t come back till she’s on her feet,” Linda ordered sternly.

  “All right. But I’m not sure what to do. Should I take her to the hospital?”

  “Don’t be silly. Just put her to bed and she’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t know. What about…”

  “Lucas Barrett Blackburn,” Linda barked. “What is wrong with you? Take her home, take that horrible business suit off her, and put her to bed. And fix her something to eat. Now get outta here.” She slammed the pickup door and stalked back to her office.

  Luke sighed and drove away. Once he got to her apartment, he carried Annie into her bedroom and then shook her gently until she came around.

  “Wake up!” he ordered once she started to respond.

  “Wha…?”

  “Wake up. I brought you home so you could go to sleep.”

  “Wha…?”

  Luke left her sitting on the edge of the bed and hurried out of the potentially disastrous minefield, closing the door quietly behind him. Once safely in the living room, he wandered into the kitchen to find something to cook.

  # # #

  “Thanks, Rosanne,” Luke said. “Keep the change.”

  “Tell her I said to get well,” Rosanne replied.

  “I will.” Luke closed the door and headed back to the kitchen with the two steak dinners he had called for, citing Annie’s illness as the reason for the unusual home delivery. A sleepy-eyed Annie was waiting at the kitchen island. She was wearing a Katy Perry T-shirt under a much-worn, floor-length robe.