by Keith Martin
Joshua sat there working with his father creating the lists of goods that would be needed and looked over the supply inventory on the Moon. He was amazed at how clearly he was starting to see the future hearing his fathers’ words and watching the lists grow. His mind was chewing on this as his father asked? “So how long will it take to get a loaded G class to the Moon, down loaded and returned to Earth for a new load?”
“We can do 5 missions in 48 hours if we push it hard.” Joshua assured him.
“Will we even get all the living units off the Earth at that rate?” Otto shot back “How many units are ready to be delivered now?”
“Four hundred and nine units are on station ready for transport now Sir.” Pete answered as he checked the inventory.
With 5 G class shuttles to work with it was going to take the better part of 50 days just to transport up the base they would be living in. They didn’t have the time they needed to save Mankind. It was that easy.
Otto talked with the Commander at Vandenberg and he agreed to use the living units as cargo containers for supplies. He vowed to fill every inch of space with any and all the supplies he could get his hands on. That would at least give them a fighting chance of surviving.
* * *
The unloading crew was in place as soon as the shuttle was pulled to the loading dock. Pete opened the cargo bay doors and they got to work like a nest of ants on a piece of rock candy. The first container to be pulled was the one holding Vic Price. They knew by now he was very ready to be out of the cell that had transported him to the Moon.
Otto took control of the forklift that held this container and moved it into the central hall of the base with Joshua and Pete at his side guiding him on his way. “This will be a real surprise for Vic Dad.” He gave his dad a sideways grin. “I say he kills you for this one.” He placed his bet.
“Ya think? This will pay him back for the ticket he wrote me for speeding on my own land when he was a rookie.” He responded and they all chuckled.
“It’s your grave Dad, dig on, I’m willing to watch.” He advised with a big smile. He loved the way his father and Vic played these little games on each other. It was a power struggle that was never going to end and would always be a part of their friendship.
They all knew that Vic didn’t like big crowds. It was what pushed him out of the city and caused him to join the Fish and Wildlife Division. There he could be out enjoying nature and doing good for his community, he loved the work and those on the right side of the law loved the job he did with it. Those who broke the law paid the price.
Otto asked the base Commander to call a general assembly to welcome Vic to the Moon and to have a word with all of them to get everyone on the same track. All 235 personal on base and not on shift at that time showed up to get any news from Earth and enjoy this little joke. Joshua posted men at all corridors to let everyone know what was up and asked them all to keep quiet.
Otto was driving slowly with Vic’s container in tow to keep Vic quiet inside as everyone got together. “Everyone not off-loading G-1 is present Commander.” One of the men informed Joshua.
Joshua signaled for Otto to set down the container where they all waited in the main hallway. They all just stood quiet and waited. It didn’t take long.
“Hello; let me out of this thing.” Thirty seconds passed then. “Bang, bang, bang.” A few people jumped as Vic rapped on the side of the container. “We could use a piss break fella’s. Remember us… crossed from the Earth in a box.” Everyone started to chuckle and Vic heard it. “Ok Otto, now open this thing up, Joshua Aaron Chisholm, open this box. Otto I’m going to kill that boy of yours for this.”
Joshua hit the locking switch and the container opened to a roar from the crowd. “Welcome to the Moon Vic.” Joshua greeted him with an out stretched hand.
If a look could kill, Otto and Joshua would have both needed a grave. “You too Pete?” Vic pointed a warning finger at the green pilot. Then a smile filled his face and he started to shake hands stepping through the crowd. He was being introduced to all by the Base Commander who was at his side. Otto was close behind so that he too would catch the introductions. Vic was pretending Otto no longer existed.
The Base Commander led them to the Mess Hall and showed him to the men’s room. “You’re a real friend Commander, unlike these others.” He again pointed at Otto and Joshua then went in to relieve the pressure.
By the time Vic and all the crossing crew were finished the two hundred-seat mess hall had taken on the air of a full-fledged mission briefing. The seats and the walls filled with personnel so that all would be on hand for this briefing. The room buzzed with excitement, it was standing room only in no time and then they just filled all the floor space.
Vic found Otto and Joshua standing with the Base Commander, they removed their space suits with Vic’s help and he asked. “Well Otto you got us here. Now what?” Vic challenged him just to get things rolling.
Otto used a chair to climb onto a table so he could be seen and heard by all and asked for quiet. The room quieted quickly.
“Thank you all for this warm welcome to this most impressive Moon base.” He addressed the crowd. “I am Otto Chisholm, Commander Chisholm’s father.”
“I’m not going to stand here and blow sunshine up your skirts, by now I’m sure you all know what is happening down on the surface of the planet. It’s just short of hell down there. Whatever it is, it’s killing every man it comes in contact with. I have been informed that it’s not going to simply die out over the sea as it crosses the Atlantic. I am informed that it is believed to have come from space, a new life form. What we have all wondered about for all our lives and we all looked for since we took to the stars for the first time has found us? Its visit to our big blue rock could just be the end of mankind.”
The room grew so silent; a pin could have been heard if it was dropped.
“It is now up to us, we here in this room, and on this base. It will take all of our effort and cooperation to survive. Life as we knew it is over. Washington was hit, all men there died, we have no leaders. We are here, and the Earth is a quarter of a million miles away. We will have to govern ourselves from now on. My son Commander Joshua Chisholm tells me that your Base Commander is an extremely competent leader. Well now he has a chance to prove that to us all. I say we all stand beside him and build a new life for mankind here.”
The room erupted in a wave of agreement, and Otto had to raise his hands to quiet them.
“Right now we must get ready for the flow of supplies and personnel that are on their way from Earth. The population of this station will grow by two thousand or more in the next few weeks. We must be ready to house them, to feed them and to put them to work. We have to save those who will help find a way to save mankind, the men who have the knowledge to build what we will need to find a new planet to move to. Let’s not trip up on this one people; this is life or death, not just for a few individuals, but also for all humans. We can’t fail. We must succeed. All of us are the ones who will save mankind.”
He stood taller than Joshua had ever seen him. It made his heart fly with pride. He never knew his father could take Command of such a mission and it filled him with a power he had to make sure was bonded into every soul on the Moon. He leaped to the tabletop and raised his fathers’ hand clasped in his. “ARE YOU WITH US?” He screamed to the crowd like a coach juicing up his team.
A roar rose up that deafened the ears and filled their hearts with hope. Otto had banded the crew of S.M.B. into one working unit with just a few words. He had also inadvertently established himself as a true leader. He was now a force that would be looked upon to help guide mankind on this journey of survival.
Joshua was the first to shake his hand and he asked his father. “Dad what did you just get us into?”
“A fight, thank God your on my side!” His father replied and they embraced as his dad pulled him in. “Now help me so I don’t mess this one up!”
“I have your back Dad, lets just get you a real tour of the base and we can start working up a list of supplies we will need.” Joshua was rolling and was going to lend a hand anyway he could. He had some things Otto needed to see right away that those on Earth had no idea existed on the Moon.
“Son. “ He hugged him again. “… I’m going to miss you for a while. Report to your ship at once and get to Earth for another load. I want all crews on full alert and there is no time off.”
“Yeppers, sounds like a plan.” The Base Commander gave his approval to those orders as he walked up to meet with Otto, because those where going to be his orders for Joshua anyway.
The crews of the Moon and the International Space Station had always been a tight nit family. So they took to this new role as the saviors of mankind with ease. They set right to work doing all that would be needed to reach the golden ring and keep mankind living in the Milky Way Galaxy.
The news from Earth and the schedules of shuttle landings rang from loud speakers all around the base. No crew was short of help. Men and woman worked long hours only stopping for meals and sleep then returning to work. The base was running like a fine oiled watch.
All questions were answered at Command and Control. The Base Commander recruited 20 more personnel to staff the station at all times. There was never a moment when there was not a warm body sitting at the control desk. This made the work on base go that much smoother for everyone.
The chow hall went to a twenty-four hour schedule as soon as Otto finished his speech. There was no way they could keep meals on a set schedule with the coming and going of crews to meet shuttles and personnel arriving from Earth. The chow hall was never meant to feed such a large population. But with the doors open full time and shifts working staggered hours it would all keep flowing.
It all started to flow so quickly that it soon threatened to overwhelm the systems of the base. As each system began to fail volunteers from Earth would put their efforts to the tasks and things would again run smoothly as they should.
In the first 48 hours after the virus hit the planets surface each of the G-Class Shuttles had made 3 crossings and the population of S.M.B. had grown by four hundred and fifty highly skilled men and two hundred women.
The computer system at the base was being totally updated by a crew from UCLA. When they finished with their work it would not only be the most powerful network online, it would also be the most user friendly ever created. The computer lab at the college was dismantled and transported to the Moon with the first wave of men from UCLA. By the time the third wave of personal was ready to head up to the Moon a donation was given to the college from the Emperor of China, a cargo container filled with 26 tons of the best laptops, mainframes and servers money could buy. The whole load was diverted to the Moon without a seconds thought.
They were installing computer stations everywhere around the base. There was no place on base that a computer could not be reached within a few seconds. Each persons ID swipe would be used to gain access instantly giving each member of the base personal a personalized interface with the computer.
With this advent Vic enacted the Moons first law on his fourth day on the Moon. He did so by addressing the entire base from Mission Control. “I need everyone’s attention. I being the only law on the planet I will today enact the first law on the Moon with the help of your vote. This law will be; anyone caught installing a virus into the computer network will be returned to Earth. Man or woman. There will be no reprieve. All those in favor of this as our first law need only to remain silent to cast your vote; all those against this law please contact me right away at Mission Control. That its all.” And he was thanked for it as he walked through the halls afterward. No one wanted this system to be tampered with by some hacker. No one argued about this being law on the Moon.
It seemed that the terminals soon outnumbered the personnel on the base and everything that could be controlled by the system was put online. Heating, cooling, lighting, humidity, air mixture. The list grew and grew. On the Moon, the computer was to be a more integral part of human life than ever before. Cameras were installed everywhere to help control traffic and personal flow throughout the base. From the security desk most of the base was now under surveillance as well as cameras placed on hilltops around the base to watch any movement around the base or runways.
The students from UCLA where making a truly ideal life style for everyone on S.M.B. They did not conform to the militaristic lifestyle the base had prior to their arrival. Theirs had been a life filled with freethinking and compassion. They outnumbered the old staff three to one just five days after the virus struck the planet. This wasn’t a takeover in any sense of the word. It was a melding of ways of life that hurt no one. The Base Commander was still in charge and he was their Commander. But the input of those around him now affected the way things were done. It was all for the best. All understood the decisions made on the Moon were going to affect all of mankind, decisions of that magnitude needed input from others to make sure the direction of the mission stayed on track. Here they had some of the planets greatest minds pitching in to help save us all.
* * *
In seven days an addition was built next to Joshua’s quarters to house Otto. As Joshua made crossing after crossing with his copilot Pete; Otto was made an Un-Official Commander on the base. His plans to farm the Moon were going forward and would pay off in time, but he was not going to get to do much of the work himself. The gang from UCLA took his ideas as they spilled from his lips and ran with them. The greenhouses were set up to work on a hydroponic growing system and planting was underway within two days of his landing and every day the crew planting the needed crops grew in size by double. The work was progressing at a rate no one could believe as the greenhouses began to fill with containers awaiting the seeds to busts forth with life.
The base had six greenhouses being constructed, each ten acres in size. Two were ready for crops and the other four were the focus of most of the personal arriving from the planet. Construction moved forward at a blinding rate. They could grow much of their needed vegetables if they utilized the space correctly. It would also act as an oxygen producer and carbon dioxide scrubber for the atmosphere within the base. All in all, the greenhouses would prove to be the most important part of the base. Without them, life on the moon would soon be impossible.
It was all so new to Otto, yet he took to it like a duck to water. He had always been a leader. He led his family as they grew up and took an active hand in their schooling. Those around him looked up to him, and he didn’t seem to know it at all. He did not need power to feel powerful. That was just a natural part of him. It was also something he had instilled in all of his children.
* * *
Vic was given a housing unit installed over the Command and Control Center. He wanted to be on hand when needed at any time. He was serving as the base security officer after all. It was not going to be the most exciting job he ever had, there was no crime on the base, none at all. So he was spending his time helping with the unloading of the shuttle cargos and giving tours of the base to new arrivals. All in all he was fitting in and he liked being on the Moon. Everyone was calling him Officer Vic. Some shortened it down to O.V. It was a new world and he just went with the flow.
* * *
The base was being constructed out of prefab sections and living pods. These sections where shipped up from Earth and installed as needed to create the halls and living quarters of the base. The shuttles were now bringing pods up faster than they could install them. To complete an installation, an area would have to be depressurized during the hook up. This meant shutting down sections of the base for hours while the work was being finished. Each person was given a two hundred square foot living space. The main halls where thirty feet wide with ten-foot ceilings, they were designed to allow vehicle traffic within the base. There were also observation areas that connected the various halls together. These areas where the most grand of all the pr
efab sections, thirty foot ceilings, windows looking out onto the lunar surface and plush furnishings. This was where most people would meet to pass time together. But right now much of this space was being used as a temporary living area for new arrivals. They would have to stay there until their living quarters came online. And that could take weeks or even months at the rate personal were arriving.
The warehouses and shops were by far the largest single structures on the moon, larger than the greenhouses, at more than twice their size. The base had eight of these massive structures. The loading hanger was the largest of them all. It could hold ten Galaxy class shuttles at one time. This huge steel framed building had gantry cranes for the work of loading, and unloading the shuttle’s cargo holds. This hanger was placed right next to the storage warehouses. This made it easy to transfer the loads to the base directly or into storage as needed.
When the base was not moving at breakneck speeds as it was now, the crews sometimes played football or baseball games in the hanger. This helped to bring a little of their lives on Earth up to the Moon for just a few minutes. Right now all the space was being covered in living pods and hall section and boxes and packages stacked so high it looked as if it would take a lifetime to even open it all. And the flow of supplies arriving to the base was at least two hundred and fifty tons a day. Living pods were being stacked outside to spare space needed for other supplies. It was truly a work of military proportions.
The base had two runways to accommodate the real workhorses of the base, both two miles long of ground bedrock. It would have been impossible to bring cement up to the Moon, so they took grading equipment up and ripped down to the bedrock of the Moon and ground it flat and level. It made for runways that were a sight to behold, polished rock bands crossing the lunar surface that showed color bands of different minerals deposited on the surface of the Moon. Tan to dark brown lines of flashing color ran across the runways, polished into the surface to set down on.