Star One: Tycho City Survival (16 page)

“We have
talked to several of our structural engineers,” Adam replied. “Andrew Carnegie
believes with a few modifications he can strengthen the dome of the reflector so
it will withstand a strong moonquake.”

“How?” Mase
demanded, already suspecting the answer.

“With Luxen,”
Charles answered, his eyes taking on a serious glint. “Andrew believes if he
can put a half inch layer of Luxen around the dome it can survive.”

Mase let out a
heavy sigh. “I just don’t know if we will have the Luxen,” he responded,
shaking his head. “We are going to be pushed just to have enough to build the
new Tycho City cavern and the smaller ones next to it.”

“Commander,
all we are asking is that if we can use Luxen to strengthen the dome a small
number of people be allowed to stay,” Adam implored. “Just thirty people would
allow us to keep the complex online and make repairs if they’re needed.”

Mase was
silent for a full minute as he thought about what the two were proposing. He
admitted to himself that having the complex operational could be extremely
beneficial.

“All right,”
he finally said. “But only if we have the extra Luxen for the dome and some of
your living quarters. I won’t risk your lives needlessly.”

“We can accept
that, Commander,” Adam replied with a relieved smile. “We wouldn’t be
suggesting this if we didn’t think we could do it.”

Mase nodded. Once
they knew if they were going to have the extra Luxen, they could discuss this
again. “How are things running without Pierre and LeAnn here?”

“Fine, Sir,”
Adam replied. “Charles and I have assumed the duties they were doing. I am
taking care of the dish antenna array, and Charles is handling the reflector.
So far, there have been no problems.”

“I’m glad to
hear that,” Mase responded. He knew the two were extremely talented and had
expected no problems from Pierre and LeAnn’s absence. “Let’s go on a quick tour,
and then I need to return to Tycho City.”

-

On Earth,
President Kateland was meeting with Jane Kinsey, Tim McPhryson, General Karver,
and Vice President Edwards.

“What’s the
latest from other countries?” asked President Kateland, looking over at the
vice president, who had spent the last several days flying around the world
talking to key U.S. allies.

“Britain, Japan, Australia, and Canada have followed our lead and pledged to support us,” Edwards
replied. “They have declared states of emergency and are in the process of
determining the best locations to build underground bunkers. France, Germany, and South Africa are planning on building bunkers, but their governments have
stressed serious doubts about their survivability in the conditions we have
described.”

President
Kateland nodded and turned her attention to Jane Kinsey. “What’s happening at
the cape?”

“We are
preparing to go to around the clock launches with the shuttles, including the
six military ones,” Jane replied. “There is some concern about possible
attempts at sabotage from several radical groups. We have had several reports
from the NSA about potential threats. ”

“We are
placing an aircraft carrier battle group off the coast next to the cape,”
General Karver added. “We are also in the process of moving two full marine
divisions around the cape facility to protect it. That will include missiles
that can shoot down anything threatening.”

Tim McPhryson
looked questionably over at the president. “There are reports that Senator
Farley has called a special session of Congress to attempt to impeach you and
put a stop to our efforts to prepare for the neutron star. He has also asked
you to resign.”

“Yes,”
President Kateland replied, her eyes heavy with concern. “I have the votes to
stop the impeachment proceedings and Farley knows I won’t resign, but I fear
the senator and his allies are going to be an ongoing problem.” Then, in a more
serious tone, “We need to move quickly; the future is growing more uncertain
every day.”

-

Mase was
eating lunch in one of the small restaurants in Tycho City when he received an
urgent summons to report to his office. He looked over at Anthony as he stood
up. “Something’s going on; Linda just called and said she needs me back at the
office immediately.”

“Mind if I tag
along?” Anthony asked.

He had hoped
that Jolene could join him and Mase for lunch, but she had gotten tied up in a
meeting she was having with Steffan Darrow. He knew it had something to do with
the ecological habitats that were going to be built next to the new Tycho City cavern.

“No, come on,”
Mase replied as he turned and began making his way toward the door.

A few minutes later,
the two stepped into his office. Linda came out of the main conference room and
gestured for them to follow her. She had a look of worry and possibly fear on
her face. “You need to see what’s on the viewscreen. Isaac and Captain Daniels
are already here.”

Going inside,
they saw Isaac and Captain Daniels sitting at the conference table. They were
staring at the large viewscreen on the wall, which showed a scene of turmoil.

“What’s going
on?” Mase asked. Then his eyes widened in shock when he saw what they were
looking at. On the screen, he could see an overturned army personnel carrier
and numerous soldiers standing around with assault rifles. Even more
frightening were all the bodies lying on the ground.

“Did the
soldiers do that?” demanded Anthony, finding it hard to believe the military
would commit such an atrocity.

“They were
fired on first and then the crowd rushed them,” Captain Daniels replied in a
deeply worried and constrained voice. “Some of those soldiers are very young
recruits just out of boot camp. They panicked and fired into the crowd.”

Mase turned to
listen to the news announcer.

“This
was the scene in Los Angeles earlier today after Senator Farley denounced the
president and the establishment of martial law,” the monotone male reporter’s
voice said.

“Senator
Farley is calling on people across the country to denounce the government of
President Kateland. He is demanding the immediate rescission of martial law and
the resignation of the president,” the newscaster paused for a moment and then continued.
“The senator is quoted as saying it was the president that brought about the
riots today, the worst of which was in Los Angeles. The death toll is expected
to rise to over 100, with nearly 1,200 injured in the rioting and fighting.
Military casualties are reported at 22 dead and 37 injured. The Senate is
expected to vote tomorrow on Senator Farley’s bill restricting the president’s
use of funds in this supposed national emergency.”

“They’ve
gone crazy down there,” muttered Isaac, turning his eyes away from the
viewscreen and the horrible scene it was still showing.

“They’re
just frightened,” spoke Linda, shaking her head in sadness. “The Secretary
General of the UN coming out yesterday and basically announcing that he
supported and believed what Senator Farley has been saying only made matters
worse. People aren’t sure what to believe anymore.”

Linda
had also spoken to her sister Karen the night before and had detected the fear
in her sister’s voice about what was going on in the country. She was currently
at their parent’s home in Kansas City. So far there had been no riots in their
hometown, but Linda feared it was only a matter of time.

“I
spoke to Jane Kinsey at the cape early this morning,” Mase said, looking around
the small group. “They are going to start sending one passenger shuttle and one
cargo shuttle up each day for as long as possible. We need to decide where we
are going to put all these extra people.”

“We
can set tents up on the outskirts of Tycho City,” Isaac commented. This was
something he had already looked into. “From what I have calculated we can
easily accommodate several thousand additional people if we do that. We also
have room in Tycho City itself for about three hundred more.”

“Then
what?” Mase asked. “We need room for ten thousand until the new cavern is
completed.”

“I
don’t know,” admitted Isaac, shaking his head. “We’re going to be stressing our
oxygen and water recycling systems as it is.”

“We
need to come up with something,” Mase informed them with a serious look. “If
necessary, we can request more oxygen and water recycling equipment from Earth.
We may be crowded for awhile, but at least we can survive.”

Mase
looked back at the viewscreen. It was showing a scene from another country, and
it was very similar to the one of Los Angles. He just hoped that General Karver
could keep the cape and the two military launch centers operational. They had a
lot of people and essential supplies that were waiting to be brought up to Tycho City, as well as Star One.

-

Later
that afternoon, Mase was sitting at his desk reviewing the latest supply requisitions
from several department heads. Linda opened his door with a worried and
confused look on her face. “I have Adam Strong on line one. He is saying that
they are having major computer problems at Farside, and he needs to speak to
you immediately.”

Mase
nodded and, picking up his phone, pressed the blinking white button. “What’s
the problem, Adam?” Mase asked. Everything at Farside had been running smoothly
up to this point.

“It’s
Teela, that crazy AI on Star One,” Adam said speaking rapidly in an irate voice.
“She has taken over all of our computer systems as well as the arrays. I don’t
know why she’s doing this, but she’s going to break something!”

“Do
you have any idea what she’s doing with the array?” asked Mase, trying to
figure out what was going on. Teela had never interfered with anything on the
Moon before.

“Teela’s
got the array pointed at the neutron star!” Adam replied. “I think she’s taking
some kind of readings.”

“I’ll
contact Commander Larson immediately and get to the bottom of this,” promised Mase,
feeling agitated that Teela would do something like this.

Steve
had only told him a few days back that Star One’s AI was behaving normally
again. Now it looked as if it had developed additional problems. He also
wondered what Teela was doing by taking control of Farside. Why was the AI
looking at the neutron star with the dish antenna array?

Mase
quickly put in a call to Steve and was hurriedly connected by Margaret Sullivan,
the communications specialist on Star One.

“What’s
going on, Mase?” Steve asked in a pleasant voice. “Margaret said it was
urgent.”

“You
won’t believe this,” replied Mase, trying to keep the aggravation at the AI out
of his voice. “But I have just received a report from Farside that Teela has
somehow seized control of the array’s computer systems. This occurred twenty
minutes ago, and she has directed them to make some type of unknown
observations of the neutron star.”

“Are
you certain, Mase?” Steve asked, hardly believing that Teela would do such a
thing. She had been behaving so well recently.

“Yes,”
replied Mase, with growing concern in his voice. “She has overridden our
computer controls completely, and we haven’t been able to regain control of the
arrays. Can you find out what’s going on and have her release the arrays back
to us before something is damaged? The scientists and technicians at Farside
are in an uproar. We have detected a tremendous amount of data being
transferred between the array’s computers and Star One.”

“We’ll
take care of it, Mase,” promised Steve, determinedly. “I’ll get a hold of her
now and see what the hell is going on. She will definitely have some explaining
to do.”

“That
won’t be necessary, Commander,” Teela’s feminine voice spoke, unperturbed,
breaking in over the communication’s line. “I am through with the arrays and
have returned control back to the Farside computers. It is imperative that
Commander Jones, you, and I talk immediately in your office. I have discovered
something of immense significance that will force even Mr. Colton to agree that
I did the right thing. I’m sorry Mr. Colton, but what I did was necessary.”

“Very
well,” replied Steve confused but determined to get to the bottom of this. “But
this had better be good, Teela! I’ll get back to you as soon as I can, Mase.”

Mase
hung the phone up even more confused now than before. What the hell was going
on, even more important, just what had Teela discovered? Mase had a haunting
feeling that it wouldn’t be good.

A
few minutes later, Steve called back and explained that Teela had discovered
something of tremendous importance and needed to use the arrays at Farside for
an additional period of two hours uninterrupted. With a heavy sigh, Mase agreed
to Steve’s request. He had known Steve long enough to know that he wouldn’t be
making such a request unless it was extremely important.

“I
will contact Adam Strong at Farside and explain to him that Teela needs the
array. He won’t be happy, but I will make him understand it’s important.”

“Thanks,
Mase,” Steve replied. “I will be sending you the information that Teela has
come up with on the next shuttle. I don’t want to risk this getting out on our
regular communication lines.”

“Okay,
Steve,” Mase replied. “I’ll be waiting for it.”

Mase
leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes in thought. Just what the hell had
the AI discovered? Mase felt a cold chill run down his back. Whatever it was,
he strongly suspected it wouldn’t be good, and he wondered how it would affect
the FarQuest mission.