One Giant Leap

by Keith Martin

  Free didn’t give them days to get packed and risk trying to drive out to the lab. She would simply contact a woman who was known in her field of study and ask if she would lend a hand. As soon as she agreed to Free would ask her for the address she was at, at that moment. A gunship would take off and head out to do the pickup. In route more time then not the ship would make two pickups before returning to the lab.

  Free was bringing in enough women to man every station in the labs with three shifts working day and night. She wanted three hundred women on campus and her Command was increased to a force of four hundred and fifty to assure the work was done without interruption.

  Free had more housing brought in for all the scientists and security staff. The Scientists got their housing installed in makeshift neighborhoods around the lab complex for easy access to their work. Heavy lift choppers brought in the prefab-container units by the dozens for a week and set them in place for quick connection to power, water and septic systems.

  The security staff housing was split in two, half was at the lab in the converted hanger and office complex at all times for lab security duties, the other half were spread out in forward-posts surrounding the grounds and all were within sight of each other. Ten women to a post with a constant watch maintained by providing each post with a completely glassed in solarium on the outward facing side of the post cabin. She used these rooms as the common areas with video games, a fully stocked kitchen and laundry area. All surrounded with an amazing view of all that surrounded the compound.

  As her crews sat around they inadvertently stood watch over their areas of operation. Twenty-four/ seven each post had a woman at the security desk monitoring her areas security screens, motion and seismic detectors. No one was entering the compound without the security force knowing before they reached within a half-mile of the complex.

  Overlapping layers of security guaranteed there would be no mistakes made. Free had everything cleared down to mown grass two hundred feet out from this security line. All brush and low branches removed from the tree line for five hundred feet more and remote activated landmines were installed to augment their forward firepower if it was ever needed.

  Free just dug in for the long haul. The first four months of her mission were a frenzied battle to get the lab stocked with personal and ready for what ever came next. Then she started to have her personal begin turning the whole lab campus into a garden and small farm that could feed them all without any outside help. She had the land and the hands to get the job done. She wanted to be ready if she had to stand her ground on the campus and she was going to make sure the whole staff could be maintained on her watch.

  * * *

  Contact with Earth was spotty at best at first. Ashley delivered more information from the lab then from any other source on the planet. She and Otto talked every few days as the virus took over the planet and it was a comfort to her to hear his voice with her world and way of life crashing in around them. But once the virus took its hold Ashley was so deeply engrossed in her work weeks passed as she focused on nothing but finding a cure.

  Otto had the same drive for survival that his offspring had brought to bear in this time of need. Joshua was Commissioned by his sister as soon as he set down his last flight up from Earth to back their fathers play and help get the base up and operational as quickly as possible.

  Otto had the Moon buzzing with work night and day for the first 2 months after the last flight from Earth had landed. Every section of base brought up from Earth now lay out in a massive horseshoe shape with great halls lined with living units stacked two deep and laid out on both sides. All now fully occupied and alive with all the couples and folks that had agreed to bunk together. The rest were still in a greenhouse waiting quarters to be finished in Alpha chamber. Because they chose to stay behind and endured life in this mass bunkhouse they would be given the first living quarters brought online when Alpha was completed.

  The extra greenhouses Otto ordered were erected and coming online quite well. They had a Biologist from UCLA running the greenhouses and he knew more about growing crops then anyone Otto had ever met. Everywhere he went on his tours of inspection he found everyone lending a hand.

  It didn’t happen over night at all. It was only through massively long hours of work by everyone on S.M.B. that 6 months found most systems online or nearing completion. Crops were ripening for harvest and Otto loved touring the greenhouses so he could graze a few bites of vine-ripened vegetables as he chatted with Keith Irwin about the works progress.

  * * *

  After six months of experimenting Ashley stopped trying to find a cure to the virus and started to look for ways to live with it for the time being.

  She knew that in an atmosphere without oxygen the virus died. She did hundreds of tests to prove that this would truly work knowing what it would mean to the personnel on the Moon.

  She took a full month to subject hundreds of different materials and surfaces to a zero oxygen atmosphere making sure her research would keep the Moon safe from the virus. They could now transport tools and other non-porous supplies to the base.

  The Moon had gone two hundred and twenty four days without a supply run. There were not enough supplies on the Moon to sustain life there indefinitely and having even the simplest supplies being transported again would make life easier on the Moon.

  A protocol was established to make these shipments possible.

  First: The shuttles would be flown remotely to keep men out of Earths atmosphere at all times.

  Second: The shuttle cabin would be purged of all oxygen as it crossed to the Moon and sealed to hold the zero oxygen atmosphere.

  Third. The cargo would only be strapped down so that all of the cargo could be exposed to the vacuum of space as it crossed back to the Moon.

  Forth: The shuttle would hold for six hours in space with the cargo hatches open to expel any oxygen from the Earth in the cargo bay or in the cargo.

  Fifth: The cargo bay and cabin would be flooded with oxygen before landing on the Moon and tested for signs of the virus. If any virus were found at this stage on the crossing the cargo would be returned to the earth.

  Once she figured she had it all worked out she called her father to give him the good news. “Dad I’m sending you an Email and you need to look it over right away, we figured out how to get some supplies to you on the Moon. I know by now you need it.”

  “Ashmo there is no way the men here on the Moon are going to allow anything from Earth the come up!” Otto knew there was going to be a mess of objections stacked upon objections from the crew when word of this got out. Nothing so devastating to the race was going to be taken lightly by the only men still living. “I’m sorry Baby Girl but these men are going to refuse anything from Earth right now. It will take time and communication between Earth and the Moon to make this happen. We will come around to your way of thinken. But it will just take time. Ashmo the men are understandably freaked out and so am I to tell the truth. So lets start a open discussion with all parties involved and work things out.”

  Check lists where made and these lists had to be followed to the letter. To fill this need for pilots women were crash trained for these missions. He was not going to take any chances with even one man’s life just for a load of supplies. S.M.B. got its first Flight School rolling with an all female flight training to make supply runs. Joshua and Pete were given the duty to train them all.

  Joshua ordered simulators to be created to train the woman in a real world situation. Like a video game he would just program in all kinds of kinks and see how the pilots reacted until they all reacted without thought, instinct had taken over and they were seasoned pilots before they had ever left the ground.

  It took 6 months to completely train the woman and ready them for missions. This gave Otto time to get the male population ready to except loads of supplies from Earth. At first no one was willing to let these flights happen at all. Understandably fear prevailed at first. But as
time passed and all had time to see the logic in this protocol created to again have supplies flowing from the planet. By the time the first load was approved there were lists from every department of needed supplies ordered up from Earth.

  * * *

  Ashley knew she’d over designed this protocol. In a just few seconds the entire free-floating virus mass would be dead in the vacuum of space. The six-hour hold assured that no virus would make it to the Moon.

  The good news was that the virus didn’t stick to any non-organic material once it was subjected to the vacuum of space. Thus, needed equipment and mining supplies would start to stream into the caverns of S.M.B. once again.

  Things like building panels and windows, hand tools and support beams, all made the crossing again.

  It was a start; Ashley and her team were making some progress.

  The construction on the International Space Station, the Moon and on Mars could all go forward now that structural supplies could once again flow.

  Otto was surprise it happened so quickly.

  * * *

  A world of women started to grow from the ashes and rot that had once been the world of man. It took two years for the ashes to clear from the skies and for the stench of death to filter out of the seas of the planet.

  Mother Earth was bouncing back from the worst destruction in recorded history. As Ashley had advised President Humphries, the Earth was repairing the damage done by over population.

  The seas again where teaming with fish. The land animals were making a comeback. But it was still going to take years to repair all that had been destroyed. Some life no longer existed, what remained was fighting for its place in this new world.

  * * *

  President Humphries started establishing a single New World Government as soon as she exited the White House after the insect population dropped off. She worked slowly contacting all the countries that’s still had some form of government. First she offered whatever help she could to those most in need and then they started to talk of what would be best for the planet, not for a single country. An accord was reached to live in peace by all countries without a seconds thought. What man could not accomplish in thousands of years the women of Earth accomplished in a scant few months.

  Then a single policing force was established with members from every nation to quell the gangs, riots or policing needs of the planet. There were no more confusing laws from state to state, and country to country, changing with the whims of men running these governments. Logic was used to create good solid laws, with little or no gray areas in a court of law. Right was right, and wrong was wrong again.

  9 The New World Government

  ‘The New World Government’ became the Earths center of power 30 months after the virus hit. Made up from a collection of ruling bodies called ‘Chairs’ each country or state had a Chair or Chairs in this governing body. The Master Chair was the leader of the entire Body and guided the meetings. She had no true power; her position was to guide the will of the Chair’s and present issues needing a vote.

  The total number of Chairs rose to over a thousand worldwide. Each nation wished to have a vote in the way things were going to be done now that woman had inherited the Earth.

  Their first order of business was to outlaw war. War was an invention of man and was not needed on a planet governed by women. Each Chair was ordered to supply the World Protection Force with five hundred women for any policing needs on Earth.

  Individual countries could not have their own forces or armies. The W.P.F. would be deployed anywhere there was a need. For the most part the force was used to crush guerrilla militias that had sprung up, and end the crimes being perpetrated on the innocent. They only used small arms and they wore thick body armor. To oppose them was a foolish thing to do.

  They also operated as the world police force. Local police were not needed. Only the W.P.F. was used and laws were simplified.

  All the old world laws were abolished first. Then it was passed by a unanimous vote to make all laws clear for all to live by.

  Don’t Murder.

  Don’t harm others, or ones self.

  Don’t steal.

  Don’t drive intoxicated.

  Don’t harm the environment.

  They stopped right there, all agreed that to enact any more laws would just confuse things again.

  * * *

  They collected all the nuclear weapons on the planet for safe disposal. There was no need for them any longer. The warheads would be taken apart and all nuclear waste was taken to New Mexico to the National Nuclear Storage Depot. Warheads came in from across the globe for destruction and storage of the nuclear fuel. Spent nuclear rods arrived daily as the clean up of the planet continued.

  War ships, tanks, warplanes, big guns, bio and chemical weapons were to be either destroyed or scrapped for their steel. It would take years to take all of this material apart and utilize it for peaceful purposes. But they got started on it right away and it was the quickest source of raw material to feed the fires of the industry as the women started to relight the flames of progress.

  Only small arms possession would be permitted on Earth. But everyone had the right to possess a firearm if they felt inclined to do so. As it turned out most women on Earth now walked around carrying at least one pistol to make sure their safety was assured. It was just wise to do so. All the wildlife was starting to flourish again, some of it would hunt small women. There was a need for prudence.

  The next order of business was to eliminate currency from the business world. Trade was the new way. The need to amass fortunes was no longer important to the new government or to the women of the planet.

  There was plenty of food to feed all of the citizens of Earth. With two thirds of the population dead and gone the need for food was a thing of the past. No one went to bed hungry anymore.

  The advancement of knowledge was now the force that drove womankind into the future. They had to learn how to not just run the planet, but how to bring industry back to life; growing as the need arose from a population that aged and diminished all the time.

  K-12 was still required of all women; colleges were free of charge and open to all. They were quickly setting never before reached standards of learning in every field of study.

  The field of cloning was on the forefront of this new push to gain knowledge. It was considered the only way the human population would be able to survive living on the infected planet.

  Behind cloning, the fields of space engineering and rocketry were on the front of the learning curve. It was believed that short of cloning humans for the rest of time, finding a new world was the only way to save humanity.

  The Chairs agreed that these two fields of study would have to be the focus of learning at all universities. In every field of study the classes overflowed with women hungry for a chance to be a part of whatever mankind had to face next.

  Things on the Moon were also going well. A vote was taken and the laws of Earth were adopted on the Moon.

  It was also voted on and passed, that construction of underground chambers on the Moon was to never stop. Living space would always be needed and when the need arose they would have all the room required.

  Everyone was also asked to try to refrain from procreating until the Moon was fully self-sufficient.

  In the first two years on the Moon there had been just fourteen deaths, five men and nine women. All were due to mining accidents.

  In this same period of time there were one hundred and twenty eight babies birthed on the Moon, Sixty-eight boys and sixty girls. It proved that in the future room would be needed to house growing families on the Moon.

  * * *

  Otto knew that the greenhouses were going to save everyone on the Moon. He worked until they were all up and doing well and every space that could be used to grow was now filled with plant life. On his orders the inside of S.M.B. was starting to look like a jungle.

  An electrician installing lights informed h
im that all the lighting on the Moon was full spectrum light to help those living on base to make the vitamin D they would need. “Kind of like sun lamps all over the place but without all the heat!”

  Containerized and hanging plants were everywhere and there was only edible plant life on the Moon. As citizens walked down the halls of S.M.B. they could graze on the fruits and vegetables that grew along their path; some referred to the base as Eden.

  It would be years before the fruit trees grew large enough to really produce. But they did provide some fruit for the children, their color and scent added to the life of the base everywhere.

  True self-sufficiency was still a few years off, if it could be reached at all? But as it was on Earth, no one on the Moon was going to go hungry. Not on Otto’s watch.

  The Moons livestock consisted of chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, pigs, goats, sheep, cattle and fish. [Trout, bass and catfish.] To pollinate the crops they had honeybees and to help make soil they imported red wigglers and nematodes. They also had ants and a hundred different species of beetles. These insects made the greenhouses into true ecosystems.

  Otto’s ordered a vacuum chamber constructed between the greenhouses and the base to keep all the crawling things in their proper area. All it took was spotting a spider’s web in a corner in the greenhouse and he had to ask? “Ok.... Chief..... spiders? On the Moon?”

  “Hi Otto.” The commander of the greenhouses Keith ‘Chief’ Irwin responded. “I was at this meeting about a week after you got up here, you remember you were there. We walked down to the greenhouses that night the whole bunch of us, remember that Otto? Because I got plenty of witnesses that heard you ORDER ME PERSONALLY to create a biosphere, a living ecosystem. You said for me to make sure I had everything I needed to make this a reality. So... spiders too. And a few hundred different types of bugs that will help break things down like human waste and such. Help turn it all into good soil after we add the decomposition byproduct with it before replanting. Did I mess up Otto?” He painted on his most innocent face and waited for an answer.