It was a very long and sobering ride back to Lunar One. Many of the passengers from the international space station where tight lipped and very quiet during the long ride back to the moon. Some of them couldn't peel themselves away from the window as they looked back at Earth. The entire planet was black with the exception for the point of impact which was now an enormous red circle, filled with nothing but molten magma that was hard to miss when looking back at the charred planet. It wasn't until the moon was becoming incredibly larger in their windows when the questions started. Morgan was honestly surprised they hadn't started a lot earlier.
"Morgan," Phil said as he sat down beside. "How long are we going to be able to hold out on Lunar One?"
"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure." Morgan answered.
"What about our bodies?" Elizabeth asked as she forced herself to bring up one of her fears. "How long can we last off of Earth before our bodies and bones begin to feel the difference?"
"There is gravity on the moon." Morgan replied.
"The moon's gravity only sixteen percent of what our bodies are used to," Liz countered, "That isn't enough. Our bones are going to weaken and possibly break if we are not pushed down as much as we are accustomed to feeling."
"Relax guys, they have that covered." Morgan said as he tried to calm them both down. "There is a lot more going on up there than you realize."
"What the hell does that mean?" Phil fired back.
"It means you guys are lucky we were doing things behind everyone's backs up there." Rogers called from the cockpit. "If we hadn't, the human race would have less than a month to live, if that."
"I don't like the sound of that." Elizabeth said as she floated closer to Captain Rogers. "What kind of things were you doing up there?"
"Sorry Ma'am." Rogers said with a playful grin. "That's classified."
"Seriously?" Liz asked, feeling rather annoyed.
"Seriously." Rogers repeated, "I'd rather wait and let you find out for yourself rather than try to explain something you won't believe until you've seen it yourself anyways."
"I'm guessing the base is a lot bigger than what everyone has been seeing on their telescope." Phil surmised, "Most of it is sub-terrain, isn't it?"
Morgan nodded to confirm. "Yeah, that's part of it."
"How much bigger is this place?" Liz asked.
"A lot bigger." Rogers answered.
"How much bigger?" Phil demanded.
Morgan quickly jumped back in. "Big enough to give us all a fighting chance to survive an extinction level event."
"What about water?" Phil then asked. "How the hell are we going to get supplies when there are no more shuttles to go back and forth to make deliveries? How much water is left up there?"
"I'm not sure." Morgan honestly answered.
"Don't get mad at him, Phil." Rogers called back, "Morgan's been there less than a week. He barely had a chance to scratch the surface himself. The water issue will be fine. We have a good reserve on the moon and if we run out there are back up plans in place to cover further deliveries."
"Deliveries from where?" Morgan asked, as this was news to him.
"I could tell you." Rogers said with a smile. "But you'd never believe me."
"Try us." Phil said with a serious tone in his voice.
Rogers sighed. "If we get desperate, we can have some supplies delivered from another galaxy."
This caused an uproar in the cabin as they had no idea where these other 'deliveries' were going to come from.
"Who makes these deliveries?" Morgan asked, "Little green men?"
"No!" Rogers shot back, "They're actually gray."
"You honestly expect us to believe that?" Phil asked.
"What the hell have you people been smoking up there?" Liz also asked, slightly angered.
"Look, everyone calm the hell down." Rogers shouted to everyone in the cabin and there was suddenly silence. "I'm not pulling any of this out of my ass. Morgan has been there and he's seen some of the great things we've built on the moon with help from our intergalactic buddies. Do you think we could have mined out that much sub-terrain space without assistance? Where the hell do you think the artificial gravity came from, Morgan?"
"Hold on." Phil said as he stepped in. "Artificial gravity?"
"That part is true." Morgan quickly replied, "It replicates Earth's pull to minimize the damage to our bones and body. So you won't have to worry about that issue on Lunar One."
The passengers in the cabin had more questions, but they were interrupted when the panel lit up to indicate a transmission. Rogers flipped the button and opened the lines. "This is Captain Rogers aboard Lunar Shuttle."
"Lunar Shuttle, this is Lunar One." The other side replied. "Please give us an update on your status."
"We are heading your way, Lunar One." Rogers replied. "Please be advised that we are also carrying six additional passengers."
"Lunar Shuttle, where did you pick up these passengers?"
"The international Space Station," Rogers answered. "I took orders directly from the President prior to asteroid impact that if the planet took a hit that I was to bring them all back to Lunar One with me."
There was a long pause. "You are cleared to land, Lunar Shuttle. Site commander will meet you at the dock for further briefing."
After docking with the platform and ushering the passengers into the station airlock, the addition of artificial gravity still took their first international guests by storm. Yet it was the size of the terrain within the base that took their breath away. The fact that the base was large enough to house hundreds, possibly thousands of people at any given time was simply jaw dropping. It gave them the full scope of how deceitful the Americans had been regarding their colonization of the base and especially the military's role in it.
"This isn't a space base." Elizabeth said as she looked around the massive hangar and especially at the uniforms most of the people there were wearing. "This is a military installation."
"This entire base is a violation of every interstellar treaty your country has ever signed." Phil added.
"No offense," A voice called out, "But the nations we signed those treaties with no longer exist."
Everyone turned and it was Commander Gordon, with several armed guards following behind.
Rogers stepped up and saluted. "Sir, I apologize for not asking before bringing extra souls on board. I am however working on orders from the President. If the asteroid hadn't hit, we would have landed at Andrew's to protect Lunar One."
"That's alright, Captain." Gordon said as he returned the salute. "Given the situation, you did the right thing. Dr. Morgan, welcome back."
"Thank you, Commander," Morgan replied. He wasn't in the mood for small talk but went with it for now.
Without hesitation, Commander Morgan pointed at one of the six new arrivals. "Take that man into custody."
Four of the guards grabbed one of the international guests at gunpoint and put him into cuffs.
"What the hell?" Morgan called out, as he along with the other international guests were stunned by it as well.
"Sir," Rogers called out, "What's the meaning of this?"
"Demetri here is a part of what used to be the former Soviet Union." Gordon called out. "While I have no doubt he's a nice person, for the time being his stay will be in the brig until we've gotten to know him a little more. As for the rest of you, you come from nations that are allies with the nation we represent. You will he given a bunk and the trust of this station until you do something that tells us otherwise. Do anything to upset me and you'll be joining Demetri in the brig. Are we clear on that?"
"This isn't right." Morgan called out.
"This is just us being cautious." Gordon answered. "Demetri will be given a chance to join our colony, if he cooperates with us."
Demetri didn't say anything but nodded and proceeded to leave with the guards to the brig without any resistance.
"That is a good first sign that he will likely be out of the brig a lot sooner than you think." Gordon confirmed, "Now, these people are going to lead you to a room for de-briefing. Please follow them and answer every question we have. Thank you and welcome to Lunar One."
The other astronauts from the space station were stunned and unable to respond. They had no idea what a foothold the US military had on the base and could clearly tell they had to earn their space there and it was going to be run like a military outpost rather than a colony of Earth. It was a stunning revelation that was not lost on a few of them, but they said nothing to avoid being tossed into the brig with Demetri.
Morgan did his best to comfort Elizabeth until she reached her room. They were not allowed to share a room as Morgan was lead to his own room and left in there to wait for someone to talk with. It was about forty minutes later when someone came in to talk with him. It was Commander Gordon himself. Morgan sat up when the Commander walked into the room.
"Sir." he quickly said without saluting.
Gordon quickly took a seat. "I apologize for making you wait Dr. Taylor. I wanted to speak with both you and Captain Rogers myself. Whose idea was it to pick up the international astronauts?"
Morgan paused for a moment. "I can't remember."
"What do you mean?" Gordon asked.
"Well it was all so intense." Morgan lied, "Racing back to Earth to make contact and warn them about that big rock. We burned off a lot of fuel and needed to go to the station anyway to refuel for the ride back. I forget who floated the idea, but we knew leaving them there was a death sentence."
"How so?" Gordon asked. Morgan was pretty sure he knew why but was playing dumb to hear it from him.
"Even if the rockets worked and shattered that asteroid into pebbles." Morgan started, "The debris would have obliterated the station anyway. We also knew that if the asteroid hit, Lunar One would need as many souls as possible to ensure the preservation of our species."
"That makes sense," Gordon said as he seemed relaxed. "What do you think of our new guests?"
"I like them," Morgan honestly answered this time. "They're no slouches. In order to get to the international station you have to be the best at something. They'll all make great editions here at Lunar One."
"That's a fairly good point," Gordon said as he sat up. "I'm just worried about some of them pushing back against how we run things here. Would you be willing to help us keep them in line, at least until they get used to how things are run here?"
Morgan didn't like how that sentence was worded but understood that he didn't exactly want to push the commander, not this early at least. "I will do my best to keep things running smoothly, Sir."
"That's the answer I was hoping for." Gordon said as he stood up. "A lot of the international guests are jumpy at this point and we're concerned about it."
"It's a lot to take in, Sir." Morgan said as he also stood up. "I almost freaked about it myself and we're both from the same nation. It's going to take a little longer for them to accept what we've been doing but I'll do my best to comfort them."
"Excellent." Gordon said as he shook Morgan's hand. "Follow me and let's get started."