----- Sometime before that -----

In the end, it was not any of the major private or state owned s.p.a.ce agencies that established the first permanent moon colony, but the Artemis collective. Formed in the year 2010 by a series of medicine, manufacturing, aeros.p.a.ce and energy conglomerates it initially looked to be just another PR move and went under the radar for the general public. But in 2020, 10 years after their establishment they unveiled plans to form a lunar colony within 5 years, backed by their unveiling of the Artemis 1, the world's first fully functioning SSTO. An SSTO, or Single Stage To Orbit craft is a s.p.a.cecraft able to reach a stable orbit without shedding any hardware or staging propellant tanks, in essence, a s.p.a.ceplane straight out of science fiction.

The Artemis 1 was able to straight up just fly into s.p.a.ce by utilizing a revolutionary new engine design that was able to breathe air inside the atmosphere like a commercial aircraft, and in s.p.a.ce function like a normal rocket engine by supplying liquid oxygen to the fuel mix. Overnight the Artemis collective turned into a sensation, they suddenly had usable technology governments and companies around the world had spent billions of dollars unsuccessfully developing, and it looked like they were going to dominate the private s.p.a.ce industry, but in the end that was not the case. 'The Artemis 1, and all future design variations are only designed to, and will only ever carry Artemis collective payloads and personal' with that single statement the anonymous head of the Artemis collective underlined that they were not looking to enter the commercial s.p.a.ce industry, and went on to establish a gateway station in moon orbit within that year. After the initial gateway station was established the Artemis collective only seemed to increase launches to an almost daily occurrence, with an ever increasing fleet of SSTO's they moved tons of cargo into 200 kilometer parking orbits, and then to the gateway station. The first moonbase, dubbed Site 1, they had promised was landed in a crater on the dark side of the moon exactly 5 years after the original announcement, with the fist crew inhabiting it a mere month later.

5 years after that historical event it was finally revealed why the base had been established, and presumably billions of dollars had been poured into the project, the Artemis collective had achieved viable fusion energy. By fusing deuterium, a relatively common hydrogen isotope with helium-3 mined and refined on the moon they had replicated the endless power generation of the sun, in a neat and clean package completely safe for the environment with no carbon emissions and only extremely minor leftover radioactive material, it was able to produce a magnitude more energy than even the most advanced nuclear power plant. Within that year the first reactor opened in Shenzhen China, entirely fulfilling the region's energy demand and proving the concept, rus.h.i.+ng the world into the age of fusion power, with The Artemis collective as the sole supplier. The year 2030 marked multiple milestones of for the collective, Site 4 and 5 had opened on the moon and they now supplied 65% of the world's energy needs, but more importantly for the 24 year old certified pilot and PhD in engineering and theoretical physics, Isabelle Hansen, the year marked the first time in the Artemis collective's sought new employees, not only for normal operations, but also maintaining their ever growing lunar operation.

[Age?]

"Emm, 24."

Finding herself in a tiny room with only a single chair, which she sat in, Isabelle faced a computer monitor and microphone speaker combination that was currently interviewing her.

[Confirm age]

"24 years old"

[Any history of radiation exposure?]

"What?"

[Failure to answer immediately affects this interview negatively.]

"Um, I've been x-rayed a few times."

[Calculating score of the interview, standby….]

"..."

As her robotic interviewer fell silent, Isabelle wondered why she flew all the way to central Africa for a job interview that appeared to fail harder than when she forgot she applied as a college lecturer, and gone directly into the interview after a solid week of drinking at a festival.

[Interview complete, please leave the room]

"Eh?"

[Vacate the room, or you will be vacated.]

"O-okay.."

In the end, she had no idea how she did. Leaving the cramped interview room she pa.s.sed multiple lines of people in ties and left the Sci-fi like branch office and started looking for a taxi. Reaching the airport she took the first flight home, after suffering next to a crying baby she, at last, reached her hometown. Haggard like an exploited blue collar worker after a week long death march she deeply sighed, creating a cloud in the early morning fog.

"I need a beer… Or 10."

Looking around for an open bar she dragged her suitcase behind her looking for a place to drown her sorrows, until she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket,

"Mom please, not now… EH!?"

Expecting a ma.s.sage from her overly worried mother, Isabelle lazily dragged out her phone to check the message, coursing her to make an exceedingly stupid sound as she rapidly refreshed her email client.

"Eh? EEEEHHHHHHH!!?"

"SHUT UP, PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!!!"

"SORRY!"

Since coming out of airplane mode she had received a single new email.

FROM: The Artemis collective

SUBJECT: Result of the interview

-------------------------------------------------

Congratulations!

We have reviewed your qualifications and the recent interview, concluding that you fulfill the basic requirements for the next round of selection. Please report to the collective branch office #5 in New York within 10 days for physical evaluation and training.

For the betterment of the human race

The Artemis collective.

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"I definitely need a beer.."