The Commander (13 page)

“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 trying 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.”

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.”

“Sounds good, Adelia,” Luke agreed. “Keep at it. Now, we have one special visitor that you all know. Everyone welcome Samantha back. She has a special announcement to make and I’ve been saving her for last.”

Samantha smiled a thank-you to the people around the table.

“So, Samantha,” Luke continued. “Tell us your news.”

“Thanks, Luke. It’s good to be back. I love being the mayor of Mars, but I’ll never forget that I got my start right here. Now, I don’t want anyone to take this announcement personally. I know there are some newcomers here who haven’t heard about our
secret
plan.” Samantha put air quotes around the word ‘secret’.

“Just you, me, and Roth,” Luke said.

Samantha took a deep breath. “I’m here to declare that Mars is an independent planet; independent of Earth and of the moon.”

Luke grinned at the startled expressions around the table. “And?” he prompted her to finish.

“And we want to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Milky Way Alliance. And the moon and any other planets that may soon be colonized.”

Roth started applauding, which sparked a similar response from everyone else, their confused expressions notwithstanding.

“Relax, everyone,” Luke urged. “We’ve been planning this from the get-go. We’ve just been waiting for Samantha to get her government in order. Good job, Sam.”

“We’re not ready, of course, not completely,” Samantha confessed. “But if we wait until we’re completely ready, we’ll never get there, so I decided to take the plunge. Long live Mars. How about you guys?”

Luke looked at his friend. “Roth?”

Roth had a dour expression on his face. “Why are you guys in such a hurry? I’m nowhere near close. Do I need to do this now?”

“That was the plan.” Luke reminded him.

“Give me another week,” Roth protested. “There are still people I need to get up-to-speed.” He looked around the table. “You guys are about to become cabinet members. Double the pay too.”

“Thanks a lot,” Ambrose bitched. “By my figures, that’s still zero.”

“It’s more than I’m making,” Samantha offered.

“Okay,” Luke interjected. “We’ve all talked about establishing a government and I know that no one is interested but I’ve said this before. The people at this table are not going to be around forever. We’ve seen enough bad government on Earth to know it’s not an easy thing to do. So let’s start now, while we’re small. Maybe we can develop a system that actually works. We’ll never be successful if we don’t have a functioning bureaucracy, but without oversight to control it, a bureaucracy can become an oppressor. This should not be a surprise to any of you.”

“I got it,” Roth said quietly.

Luke looked at Roth and nodded. “Okay, one week. I’m taking that as a promise.”

“It is.” Roth sighed. He looked at Samantha. “How’s the training ground going for new colony leaders? We’ve sent three mini-colony expeditions so far. Are those guys working out?”

“Two of them are,” Samantha said. “Kane and Lorita did a great job, but I had to pull Jed Morton. He was overwhelmed; he wouldn’t delegate or trust his people. And I had complaints from some of the women. Too many to be a misunderstanding.”

Roth nodded. “Okay. That’s kind of a surprise. I thought he was a hard charger.”

“He is, just in all the wrong ways.”

“What about the rest of his colony. Are they ruined?”

“No, one of them, a young man named Solomon Andrews, took charge. He’s an impressive leader so they’ll be fine. When is the first true colony ship going out, by the way?”

“Thirty days,” Luke answered. “
Assuming
our probes confirm what the astronomy guys are telling us. I’ll feel a lot better once we get the first ship away. To actually be seeding the cosmos, that’s kind of a big accomplishment. We’re making progress.”

# # #

“
Sadie
?” Luke asked. “Can you take us down a little bit? I’d like to see how it looks from below.”

The ship moved smoothly to give him a better vantage point. “Correction completed, Commander,”
Sadie
responded.

Luke craned his neck from the pilot’s seat to examine the Isaac Newton Gateway. Adelia and her team finessed the planetoid’s position while they moved it into orbit. Luke noticed absently that they were presently over the North American continent. It seemed appropriate somehow that the Gateway started its life over Baggs, Nevada. “What do you think, babe?” he asked Annie.

“I think you’re making your PR Director’s life difficult. First, you add a moon to Earth’s orbit and now you’re saying that you’re releasing the independence proclamation tomorrow. That’s a lot of changes for the people on the planet.”

Luke shrugged. “Can’t make an omelet, etcetera.”

“I know. It’s just got to sting for all those politicians. They hate not having control.”

“They never did. But what do you think of the Gateway?”

Annie paused to actually
look
at the massive space station. “It’s beautiful of course. How could it not be with Adelia working on it?”

She was right. Most of the planetoid’s external surface had been sheared away, leaving broad, flat surfaces from which thousands of windows shone brightly. The upper surface of the small moon was cut away on two sides, leaving a central superstructure that towered over two giant landing pads, each of which could hold four of the future colony ships.

Brilliant lights kept the landing surfaces illuminated whether in sunlight or darkness. Dozens of flitters buzzed around the exterior. Adelia’s finishing work was continuing even as the massive station was moved into its permanent orbit.

“It’s a big billboard for us,” Luke said. “The low orbit means everyone on the planet will see it on a regular basis. The politicos might resent it, but I’m hoping that to the average family, it represents a ticket to a new life.”

“So what about the politicians?” Annie asked. “What do you hope to achieve by even meeting with them?”

Luke sighed. “I don’t know. It won’t hurt to hear them out. Maybe if we give them a little consideration it will make life easier for potential colonists. What I don’t want is a situation where people who want to sign up with us have to sneak around.”

“What do you mean by ‘a little consideration’? You mean pay them off?”

Luke chuckled at her words. “Well, they are politicians after all. But no, that’s not what I meant. I was thinking of giving them a non-voting seat on the council. Donate some space in the Gateway; it might help to make up for the loss of the space station.”

“I’m not saying those aren’t good ideas. But I don’t have a good feeling about this. These guys remind me of the spoiled traders I had to deal with when I was at Royal Deutsche. You can’t please them. They feel entitled and they’re never satisfied. Just a bunch of malcontents in a peanut gallery.”