Star One: Tycho City Survival (11 page)

Mase nodded as
he watched Anthony leave. It felt good to have helped his friend. He just
wondered how many others he could help also.

-

President
Kateland let out a long, haggard breath. Tim McPhryson had just briefed her on Farside’s
discovery.

“Are they
certain about this?” she asked, standing up and coming around her desk to stare
directly at McPhryson.

“Yes,” Tim
replied. “Jane Kinsey and Warren Timmons have run the data through the NASA
computers and have come up with the same results. We’ve known for a couple of
days; I was just waiting until the results were confirmed before notifying you.”

President
Kateland gazed at her Science Advisor with eyes that didn’t want to believe
what she had just been told. “Tim, you’re telling me the world might be coming
to an end. How am I supposed to take that and, more importantly, what am I
going to do?”

“We need more
information,” replied Tim, sounding extremely serious. “We need to know for
certain how this is going to affect our solar system and Earth.”

President
Kateland sat down in a comfortable chair across from Tim and looked intently at
the younger man. “Did Colton or Larson have any recommendations?”

“Yes,
several,” replied Tim, opening up a large folder he had with him. “They want to
send the Jupiter ship out to the neutron star for a thorough investigation.
They also want to make both Star One and Tycho City self-sufficient and try to
ride this thing out.”

“Can the ship
go that far?” Kateland asked, her eyes widening at the thought. This was much farther
than a trip to Jupiter.

“Yes, with the
changes that Steve and Mase authorized for the Jupiter ship, it’s well within
its range.”

“If this
neutron star is as dangerous as they say it is, can Star One and Tycho City survive?”

“Possibly,”
Tim replied with a hint of hesitation in his voice. “They would need a lot of
supplies and help from us to make it feasible.”

President
Kateland was quiet as she considered her options. “What about here on Earth? Is
there any way for people to survive the worst case scenario?”

“Only by being
deep underground,” Tim responded. He had already discussed this with some
experts. “We will have to work up what would be needed and what we can do in
the time we have left.”

“Underground,”
President Kateland repeated, her eyes narrowing. “Is that the only choice?”

“The only
viable one,” answered Tim, evenly. “I wish I could tell you there were other
possibilities, but until we know more, I can’t.”

“Very well,”
President Kateland replied with a heavy sigh. “Begin drawing up the plans for
these underground bunkers. We will use whatever resources we need to make this
happen.”

“What do I
tell Steve and Mase about the space mission?”

“We launch
that ship on this mission and we’re going to ignite a hornet’s nest,” answered President
Kateland, closing her eyes briefly and then opening them. “Only a few people
know we have a fusion reactor on it.”

“Senator
Farley,” nodded Tim, knowing whom the president was referring to. “He may have
to be brought in just prior to the launch and briefed. Maybe when he understands
the gravity of the situation he won’t protest.”

“I doubt it,” responded
Kateland, letting out a deep breath. “How soon do they want to launch the
mission?”

“Three weeks,”
Tim replied.

President
Kateland nodded. “Contact them and let them know they have my tentative approval.
We will give them the final approval for launch when we get closer to the
launch date. Once you have finished that I want to set up a meeting with the
NASA people and some of our own experts to discuss what we need to do.”

“Yes, Madam
President,” Tim responded. He stood up and left the Oval Office, shutting the
door quietly behind him.

President
Susan Kateland stood up and walked over to the large window behind her desk and
gazed out. If what Tim had just told her came to pass, she might very well be
the last president of the country. When she had run for office, she never
thought she might see the end of the world. She stood there for quite some time;
for some reason her office seemed unusually cold. She felt so helpless knowing
there might be very little she could do to prevent this coming catastrophe.

-

Linda was
sitting at her desk feeling numb. Mase had just called her into his office and
told her everything that was going on. He had patiently explained to her all of
the ramifications and promised that he would do everything he could to get her
sister Karen up to Tyco City. He had stressed that they were going to do
everything in their power to try to survive here on the Moon.

Linda took a
Kleenex from the box on her desk and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Mase had
also told her there would be a general announcement to everyone living and
working on the Moon in a few more weeks, but for now the information was still
classified. She would have to be very careful what she said around her friend Jolene.
Jolene was currently staying with her until she could find a place of her own.

Taking a deep breath,
she forced herself to calm down. She needed to speak to Margaret Sullivan on
Star One about some supply schedules Mase was asking about.

-

Isaac Anderson
and Steffan Darrow were standing in the new excavation for the deeper section
of Tycho City that was scheduled to be built later. They were two hundred feet
farther beneath the lunar surface than the current city was. The walls of the
small excavation were still bare, and only a small portion of the roof was
finished. They had to come through a large airlock just to enter the work area.

“We’re five
hundred and twenty feet below the surface,” Isaac commented as he spread out
some schematics on a large desk that had been set up inside the excavation. There
were several work lights above them illuminating everything. He also had
several blank pages that he could write on.

“Figuring the
curve of the roof for a cavern the size we’re talking about, that puts the roof
within three hundred feet of the surface,” Steffan commented with a frown. “I
don’t know if that’s enough protection.”

“That’s too
shallow,” stated Isaac decisively, folding his arms across his chest and
looking around. The excavation had barely been started, so it wasn’t too late
to make changes.

“What if we
dig down another one hundred and fifty feet?” suggested Steffan, glancing over
at one of the large excavators that were setting nearby. “Assuming we make the
cavern larger and longer, the center height of the roof would be around two
hundred and fifty feet. That would leave a little over four hundred feet of
rock and dirt above us.”

“I think two
hundred feet for the central height would be plenty,” countered Isaac, wanting
the extra protection above them. “That would give us an additional fifty feet
of lunar rock and soil.”

“Tycho City is currently 2,600 feet long, 600 feet wide, with a center height of 120 feet,”
mused Steffan. He sat down at the desk and began quickly sketching a new
cavern. “We have a little over 2,500 people that make Tycho City their home. Assuming we have twelve months to finish the new cavern, I would propose we consider
a longer length of, let’s say 7,500 feet and the width at 800 with a center
height of 200 feet.”

“That would
allow us to set up a reasonable environment,” Isaac said thoughtfully as he
looked down at Steffan’s sketch. “If we construct our buildings and living
quarters with several floors underground we could greatly enhance the number of
people we could support.”

“I suggest
making the underground levels with airlocks in case of decompression in the
cavern,” added Steffan as he added a note to his drawing. “We could put our
people in them for safety if we experience moonquakes from the close approach
of this neutron star. Once the quakes subside they can come back out into the
cavern if everything is deemed safe.”

 “We’re going
to need a lot of Luxen to do this,” Isaac commented with a frown as he bent
down and punched in some figures on a small laptop. “We’re going to need our
own fusion reactor, perhaps two of them, to furnish our power needs.”

“Wow,”
commented Steffan, shaking his head at what was ahead of them. “I guess we’d
better talk to the commander and let him know. We were going to install one
later, but I guess we need to push getting the first one installed as soon as
possible so we can get started on a second one.”

“That will
also allow us to produce our own Luxen,” Isaac pointed out.

“I’ll turn
these sketches over to some of my engineers and get them started drawing up a
final plan for the commander to approve,” Steffan said as he stood and picked
up the papers he had been drawing on. “This is going to cost a hell of a lot of
money.”

“I don’t think
money is going to be an issue,” Isaac replied as he thought about what was
ahead of them. “We just have to remember we only have twelve months to complete
the biggest engineering project ever attempted on the Moon.”

“It’s going to
take a lot of manpower and equipment,” Steffan added as he looked over at
Isaac.

“We’re going
to have to pull in some of our miners and mining excavators from the lunar
surface,” Isaac said. “It’s the only way we can get this project done.”

Both men
became silent as they left the excavation. They had a lot of work to do, and
they were just realizing that every minute of time was precious. The neutron
star was coming and nothing they could do was going to stop it.

-

The next week,
Mase was at Farside meeting with Pierre LaRann and LeAnn Kelly. “Are you sure
you want to do this?” he asked, looking at the two in disbelief. He couldn’t
believe what they had just asked him.

“I don’t think
we have a choice,” replied LaRann, taking off his glasses and laying them on
the conference table. “We need some people on the mission that understand what
the ship and crew might be facing, and that’s LeAnn and I.”

Mase leaned
back and let out a deep breath. He had informed Pierre the day before that they
would be sending a space mission to the neutron star to study it. He had been
surprised when Pierre had asked him to come to Farside to discuss the mission.
Mase had never expected LaRann and Kelly to volunteer to go on it.

“Who will take
care of things here?” asked Mase, knowing that the two would leave a big hole
in the Farside staff.

“Adam and
Charles can handle what needs to be done,” responded Pierre, glancing over at
LeAnn.

“This is a
once in a lifetime opportunity,” LeAnn spoke, her eyes glowing with excitement.
“How can we not go?”

Mase nodded
his head; he knew the two were right. They were the type of people they would
need on the mission to ensure its success. “I will contact Commander Larson
later today. How soon can you be ready to go to Star One?”

“We can be
ready in forty-eight hours,” Pierre responded. “We still have a few things we
need to do here before we leave.”

“Very well,”
Mase responded with a sigh. He hated seeing the two leave. “I will have Anthony
fly you up to the station the day after tomorrow.”

“Thank you,
Commander,” Pierre replied with a pleased smile on his face. He was looking
forward to examining a neutron star up close.

-

Several days
later, Mase read the latest message from Steve on Star One. As he had expected,
Tyler Erin had been named commander of the neutron star mission. The crew had
renamed the ship FarQuest, which to Mase seemed appropriate considering how far
they were going. He had also talked to Pierre and LeAnn earlier. The two had
arrived on Star One and were already in the process of making sure the ship was
equipped with the proper equipment they would need to conduct their
observations.

“Are they
really going to the neutron star?” Linda asked from across his desk where she
was sitting.

It seemed to
her that this mission was a horrendous risk. She still couldn’t believe that Pierre
and LeAnn had volunteered to go. They were much braver than she was.

“There’s a lot
of information that we’re recording that seems to be off,” explained Mase,
recalling what Pierre had tried to explain to him. “We have to send a ship out
there so we will know exactly what’s in store for us.”

“I guess I
understand,” replied Linda, feeling a cold chill run down her back just
thinking about being cooped up on a spaceship for the amount of time it would
take to complete this mission.

“How’s Jolene
doing?”

“Great!” Linda
replied her face breaking out in a smile. “She’s taking her new job assignment
very seriously and has been talking to Julie Gray on Star One every day. She
wants to adopt some of the same techniques Julie’s using to set up our own food
and oxygen systems. Of course, the new Tyco City cavern is going to be so big
it will be entirely different than what Julie is doing on Star One. Jolene says
it poses an entirely new set of challenges.”

Mase nodded.
He had talked to Julie in depth about Jolene and had been pleased to learn that
Julie had a very high opinion of the young woman. Mase had a suspicion that if
Julie didn’t have Kathleen Preen as her chief assistant she would have offered
the job to Jolene.

Mase knew he
needed to meet with Jolene and explain to the young horticulturist the urgency
of what he needed her and the specialized group she would be working with to
do. He also had a few more people he wanted to bring up from Earth to help her with
the project.

“Linda, have
you spoken to Karen about coming up to Tycho City?” Mase asked. He had already
approved and filled out the necessary paperwork for the young woman to come up
to the Moon. He knew it had meant a lot to Linda when he handed her the
completed paperwork and saw the relieved look in her eyes.