"Oh no," Chris moaned, "they're at it again!"

"Yap!" Rufus agreed.

John approached Steve and tapped him on the shoulder.

"The envelope," he whispered.

"Ah yes," Steve said, "I'd forgotten all about it. Come with me John, we'll open it together."

"Sure?" Asked John.

"Sure." Steve replied, "We're all in this together...No more secrets."

John and Steve separated themselves from the rest of the pa.s.sengers and opened the envelope.

"Dr. Forester," it began, "you have been chosen to head up Lark. You have already been informed as to the purpose of your mission, and, as you are reading this, you must have arrived at the Moon. This alone is a tremendous accomplishment, but we have greater things in store for you and your companions. When you have settled at MBA we want you to access Lark and keep it alive. You will have overall responsibility, with other experts taking charge of the various sections. Your good lady-wife will head up the botanical department, a most vital part of Lark. Major Hammond will be head of the engineering department. The others will make themselves known to you when this letter is read out to them. May I take this opportunity to thank you all for your contribution to Lark, and the saving of the human race.

G.o.d be with you all, Samuel B. Wilson - President.

Chapter Six.

Chapter 6.

Life on Moon Base Moon Base Alpha was still unfinished. Though large, there were some sections still under construction, and so were off limits. The necessary materials were in storage, but there had not been enough time to complete the building work. The six residents of MBA began to show folks to their quarters. Nancy Fuller took charge of the Foresters.

MBA consisted of a main dome, this is the one that was visible from s.p.a.ce, and two smaller domes attached to its sides. The smaller domes were the living quarters. The main dome backed onto the side of a cliff face, which took about a third of its floor s.p.a.ce. There were some very substantial looking steel doors in the cliff face that were sealed.

On reaching their quarters, Steve noticed another envelope on the coffee table. It read, 'For Dr. Forester's eyes only.' Steve went into the bathroom and locked the door. On opening the envelope he found a metal tag on a chain. A note simply read, 'This tag contains the access codes for Lark. Keep it with you at all times, and only pa.s.s it on to your successor.' Steve slipped the chain over his head and went to rejoin his family.

The quarters were well laid out, the Foresters had three bedrooms.

"Some have two and some have one," Nancy said, "and there are more in the other dome should they be needed. Each has its own kitchen and lounge. You'll find all the drawers and cupboards filled with clothes, and just about everything else you may need. We have vast stocks of food and plenty of water, and supplies of just about every kind you can think of. General Hammond planned this place very well."

"Yes, he certainly did," Steve, acknowledged. Nancy was about to leave when Steve said, "Please tell everyone there'll be a meeting in the main dome tomorrow morning at ten."

"Yes, sir," she said, leaving the room.

"Yes, sir?" Clare quizzed.

"Yes, they've put me in charge," Steve confirmed. "I guess I'm the boss."

The main dome of MBA was divided into three sections: a central hallway where they had all arrived, and two smaller part.i.tions. The one on the left looked as though it was designed to be a laboratory area, still very much incomplete, whilst the other was the command centre. The command centre was fully operational, with Bill Somers in charge. Eric Hadden, the other technician, was the equivalent of a highly skilled handy man, who could turn his hand to almost anything.

10-am came, and everyone gathered in the central section of the main dome. Steve called them to order and began by saying, "Well, here we are, a remnant of humanity, sent out to survive and thrive in a place such as this. It's clear now that the authorities back on Earth don't expect to survive for much longer, else they would not have sent us here. As it is, our arrival seems to have been a little premature..."

There were some t.i.tters.

"Before we do anything here, I want you all to know what General Hammond and the president wrote to us."

With this, Steve sat down and John Hammond stood and read out his father's note, and the president's letter. There was unanimous approval of Steve's leadership. John took his seat. As Steve rose to speak, all the residents of Moon Base Alpha stood to their feet, and applauded. Steve was mightily embarra.s.sed, and yet kind of proud to see his own wife and kids applauding too. Had he really brought them up so well?

Steve waited for the applause to stop. "I'm honoured," he said, with moistening eyes, "to even be here with such wonderful people as yourselves. I do not feel worthy to lead you, and I don't intend to. What I want to do is encourage you all to fulfil your own potential. If I can achieve that, I will have been a good leader, now, enough of the speeches. Those who are section heads stay behind, all the rest of you...Go explore!"

The meeting broke up, and Steve took the section heads into the control centre and introduced Bill.

"This is Bill Somers, he's in charge of this control centre. This is our nerve centre, all communications arrive here, and all other operations are controlled from here. Get to know the stuff that's important for your section. Start to learn how things work, and then teach others. The more backup staff we have, the better. OK, that's it."

The section heads began their first task and Steve left them to it.

"Eric!" Steve called out to attract his attention.

"Yo," came a solitary voice.

"I want you to find Jimmy Peebles, and start to teach him everything you can. He's a good kid and bright too."

"Yes sir," Eric replied.

Steve took a deep breath, stood up to his full height, and shouted out, "FROM NOW ON, NO ONE CALLS ME SIR, MY NAME IS STEVE.".

He relaxed and said, "Oh, by the way Eric, how come we aren't hopping anymore?"

"I wondered when you'd notice that." Eric replied. "It's all down to the power generators beneath us. A by product of the generating process is a static field, well, you know how static electricity makes things stick together..." Eric stopped and waited for the penny to drop.

"You mean, the whole place is statically charged?"

"Yep, got it in one. The domes are constructed in such a way that they hold a negative charge, with the electrons pulling down towards the generators. The pull is about three quarters of Earths gravity which is enough to keep everything within the field down."

"Who discovered that one?" Steve asked.

"It was Vinkle," Eric replied, "he really was something."

They made their way over to the lab section. It was s.p.a.cious and seemed to have everything they needed, but most of it was still in boxes.

"We need to make a start on this as soon as possible Eric. See who we have who can help you." Eric went off in search of Jimmy.

"Anything I can do?"

Steve recognised Kay's voice and turned to face her. "It's so good to see you here Kay."

"They figured you'd need an a.s.sistant, so here I am," she smiled.

"Well, this place needs some life breathing into it, why don't you make a plan of how you want it set up."

"Fine by me," Kay said, and went off to set about it.

Steve headed back to the control centre, he was curious to know what was happening back home. "I wonder how long it will take before I call this place home?" He muttered to himself. "Hi Bill, is there any news from Earth?"

"Dunno," Bill replied, walking over to the coms panel. Steve watched as Bill tuned in to terrestrial TV, he found CNN.

"Good evening, this is the CNN evening news. There is a mystery virus devastating Europe. The World Health Organisation estimates that there are seventy-five million dead worldwide. There have been new outbreaks in Australia, Canada and London. The search for a vaccine has so far proved fruitless. There will be an emergency meeting of all the heads of state here in Washington DC on Tuesday. Anger is rising that Russia has still not released the antidote, and sabre rattling has started in some of the far Eastern countries. China has closed its borders, as have India and Pakistan. There is a very great sense of unease in these regions as tensions mount."

"That's enough Bill, it's too depressing."

There were, as yet, no rules on MBA, but everyone just seemed to fall naturally into their usual work patterns. Come 6-pm, the main dome was empty except for Steve and Bill.

"I hope things find a natural order here Bill," Steve said, "I really don't want to have give orders."

"Don't worry Steve, everyone here knows exactly why they are here, they're as keen to get on with it as you are."

"'Night Bill."

"'Night Steve." They parted.

Steve made his way back to 7 Alpha, which was his new address. He opened the door and was greeted by the most wonderful smell, Clare was a whiz in the kitchen.

"Had a good day daddy?" Sh.e.l.ley asked.

"Just wonderful sweetheart, how about you?"

"Oh, it was OK, we went with mummy to see where all the food is stored, and there's loads!"

"Hi Hun," came Clare's voice from the kitchen.

"What's for tea Sweetie?"

"Come and see," she said, so Steve went to find out.

"Hey dad, there's another dog here," Chris said, excitedly.

"Good, that means Rufus will have a friend."

"It's a lady dog!" Chris shouted.

"All the better for Rufus," Clare giggled.

"Yap!" Agreed Rufus.

"I managed to pick up some news," Steve said softly, not wanting to involve the children. "Over seventy-five million dead so far, things don't look so good. There's to be a meeting of the heads of state tomorrow in Washington, DC, let's hope they can find a solution."

"OK, tea time," Clare called out, "everybody to the table."

"Goody, I'm starved," Chris said.

Everyone sat down and Clare dished up the meal.

"Who wants to say grace?" Steve asked, looking at the kids. This was something new for the Foresters, they didn't normally bother, but somehow, it seemed right to do it now.

"I'll do it," Clare said, closing her eyes. "Lord we thank You for all the good things we have here. Please help those whom we've left behind. Amen."

They all said, "Amen."

"Right tuck in," Steve said, "we don't want any puny moon men."

"Or moon women," Sh.e.l.ley added.

"Yap!" Agreed Rufus.

It must have been 3-am when there was a tapping on the Forester's door. Steve got up and opened it, it was Bill.

"Sorry to wake you Steve, but you need to come and see this for yourself."

Steve shut the door quietly and followed Bill to the control centre. When they got there, The TV was on and the news announcer's voice was trembling.

"It's just terrible, the death toll is catastrophic. Missiles are still landing both in Pakistan and India. Most of these countries main cities have been destroyed. America, China and Russia are on full alert, and the United Kingdom has recalled all her troops. We must all pray that today's world summit will come up with a way of pulling us back from the brink of destruction."

"Earlier," Bill said, "I heard that the virus had broken out in New York; it seems that there is no way to stop it. The president has declared martial law and mobilised the army. There's blind panic down there Steve, and there's nothing we can do about it."

"We can play our part Bill, by being successful up here. Thanks for waking me."

He slapped Bill on the shoulder and went back to bed. Clare sensed that something was wrong, but didn't question Steve about it, she knew he needed his rest; tomorrow would be a big day.

Somewhere around 9-am people were gathering in the main hall waiting for Steve to arrive. He didn't keep them long.

"Last night we had news from Earth that India and Pakistan had gone to war and used nuclear weapons."

There were gasps.

"Today there is to be a world summit in Washington, DC, so we are going to monitor the TV stations. We will keep you informed as and when things happen."

Steve stopped for a few seconds in thought, and then carried on, "I know this is hard for you, we all have loved ones back there, but we must concentrate on our task here, if only for them. We owe it to them to make a success of this project. The odds of their survival are thinning, but the odds of our survival grow with each day we exist. Let's remember that, and do it for them."

He pointed out through the dome's canopy to the earth, which suddenly seemed so far away.