The Commander

by CJ Williams

  Luke paused and looked thoughtful. “Okay. You’re saying don’t trust the government.”

  Sam shook his head. “Nope.”

  “Well, then. I need to create my own organization. I assume you’re going to give me the technology I need?”

  Sam nodded.

  “If I need to keep the government out, I should set up operations that are beyond government interference. Otherwise people will find out. It’ll be impossible to keep a lid on the technology. The feds would be all over it. Wouldn’t you think?”

  “That’s a reasonable assumption,” Sam agreed.

  “If the solution is a space-based force, I’d set up operations in space. Maybe on the moon to start. If you can’t give me that much of a head start, then I don’t know.”

  Sam leaned back and for the first time since Luke had met him, looked surprised. “I’ll never understand how they do it, but maybe they’re right. You might actually be the right guy.”

  # # #

  Sam pointed at third door in the row of storage units. Luke stopped the pickup and killed the engine. “This is the one?”

  “Supposed to be. I rented unit twenty-three. It’s keyed to your thumbprint.”

  “How did you… Never mind.” If Sam could fly in from outer space, then getting Luke’s thumbprint probably didn’t rate that high on the difficulty scale.

  Luke got out and approached the roll-up door warily. Sam’s idea of humor would be to fill the inside with starving Dobermans. Luke pressed his thumb to the strange lock and it clicked open. He removed the lock from the handle guard and lifted the roll-up door. Nope, not Dobermans. It was much worse. He counted sixty pallets stacked with what appeared to be solid gold bars.

  Sam joined him at his side. “This is the financial resource I was talking about. It’s not unlimited as you can see, but this should get you started.”

  Luke frantically scanned the driveway hoping no one was looking. “This has to be a couple hundred million dollars,” he said.

  “Closer to two billion.”

  “You didn’t think it was a problem storing that much gold here?”

  “Don’t worry,” Same said. “I paid the rent through the end of the year.”

  Luke sighed heavily and closed up the unit. With the door securely locked, such as it is, he got in his pickup. “You have anything else to help me get started?” he asked worriedly.

  “I saved the best for last. Let’s head back to the hangar.”

  # # #

  Luke examined the spacecraft skeptically. “You want me to fly this thing? Without any training?”

  “I think you can handle it,” Sam replied. “It’s got an autopilot system that makes it fairly easy. Kind of what you would call cruise control.”

  Luke pushed the Open Door button on the key fob. The lights flashed, the canopy disappeared, and the fuselage door slid open. This thing is exactly like a minivan.

  “Watch your head,” Sam advised as they boarded the shuttle.

  Inside, it was much wider and more spacious than Luke would have guessed. He had expected the main fuselage to be filled with engines and fuel tanks. He asked Sam about it.

  “Good question,” Sam replied. “Look there.” He pointed to a series of wide, lightly colored circles on the underwing. Those provide lift. You’ll find bigger ones on the back end. Essentially, they generate anti-gravity; we call them gravity drives. You’ll learn more about that later.” He gestured toward the front.

  The cockpit included a control panel across the front and a center console between two comfortable captain’s chairs. Outboard panels ran along either side.

  “Where do I sit?” Luke asked. “Left side or right?”

  “You can control the shuttle from either position, but custom dictates that the pilot sits on the left.”

  Luke took his place and Sam slid into the co-pilot’s seat. In a slightly louder voice Sam said, “Full instrumentation.”

  The control panel came to life with cockpit instrumentation that was at the same time familiar and yet far advanced beyond Luke’s experience. The last military jet he flew had a glass cockpit, meaning the displays and controls were programmed into the aircraft’s display panels. The functions changed dynamically depending on the activity at the moment.

  “Most of this will become obvious as we go,” Sam explained. “If you have a question, just ask. This is Sadie, by the way.” He gestured to the shuttle in general. “She’ll answer your questions and keep you out of trouble.”

  “What’s that?” Luke replied, pointing to a dark stripe on the left of the main control panel.

  “Throttle,” said a light, feminine voice. “Non-linear input.”

  “See what I mean?” Sam said. “Sadie knows everything.” He indicated a joystick on the center console. “Up, down, left, right. Just like you’re used to. There on your left, is hover control. Zero to twenty feet. Let’s go.” He pointed to a green circle displayed on the front panel and touched it with his fingertip. A low hum started and the shuttle said, “Ready for flight.”

  Luke brought the spacecraft into the air with the hover control and then slid the throttle forward infinitesimally. As he did the dark stripe turned bright green under his fingertips. The shuttle responded and hover-taxied out of the hangar.

  “You don’t really need the runway,” Sam said. “Just pull back on the stick and give it some gas. Sadie will compensate for everything as necessary.”

  Luke eased the joystick backwards until the nose was thirty degrees up. He slid the throttle forward to max but the green stripe stopped halfway.

  “Requested power exceeds recommended speed for atmospheric flight,” Sadie advised.

  Sam smiled. “See? She’ll take care of you until you get the hang of it.”

  Outside the view was spectacular. The ground fell away faster than he had ever seen while flying for the military. In the F-35, it was routine to peg out the vertical velocity indicator at thirty thousand feet per minute but he was far beyond that now. As they climbed, the sky turned a dark shade of blue and the curvature of the earth replaced the flat horizon. In less than a minute, they were above the atmosphere.

  “Okay, let’s head toward the moon,” Sam suggested. “Do you know where it is?”

  “It’s late afternoon, so it should be rising in the east.” Luke rolled the spacecraft to the right and pulled the nose across the horizon. The terminator was already crossing the Atlantic coastline. The moon came into view, brilliant against the dark black of space.

  As they rolled out, Luke pushed the throttle up again. Once again the green stripe stopped moving.

  “Exceeding light speed not recommended inside a lunar orbit,” Sadie cautioned.

  Luke looked at Sam with a surprised expression. “Seriously? Faster than light? This thing can go that fast?”

  Sadie sounded affronted. “I’m not a thing, Mr. Blackburn. Light speed is not safe in a crowded orbit. And please direct questions concerning flight parameters to me, not to your passenger.”

  Sam gave Luke a knowing wink. “Sorry, Sadie. My fault for not briefing him about you in more detail. Take us off manual control and set us down inside the Moonbase hangar, would you?”

  “Course set,” Sadie replied.

  “You can practice manual flight later,” Sam said to Luke. “I just wanted you to see how it works. Normally, you tell Sadie where you’re headed and she’ll take care of it. Questions so far?”

  About a million, Luke thought as the spacecraft rapidly approached the moon. “What about g-forces?” he asked. “I didn’t feel any acceleration.”

  “Gravity plates inside the floors and walls. Creates a sort of null-gee environment. Sadie takes care of that too so we don’t get squished.”

  “What about warp drive, Sadie? You actually fly at warp?”

  Luke could have sworn he heard the shuttle sigh. “There is no such thing as warp drive, as indicated in your question,” she answered. “Your reference to warp drive is merely a
concept for fictional entertainment on your planet. The fact is we simply accelerate as necessary to arrive at our destination as quickly as possible. Once outside the planetary orbit, this normally involves some multiple of light speed.”

  “But traveling faster than light is impossible,” Luke argued.

  “Perhaps for you,” Sadie countered. “Not for me.”

  Sam intervened. “Luke, the so-called barrier of the speed of light is like all the other artificial barriers your population has invented. You probably know that scientists on your planet said early train travel at twenty miles an hour would put too much stress on the human body to survive. Then it was the sound barrier, etcetera. On its own, yes, light has a certain limit, just like sound. But what do you think happens if you accelerate to the speed of light and just keep accelerating? You go faster, that’s all. Acceleration is the only limiting factor to speed. Sadie, what’s our acceleration right now?”

  “In terms of local reference, our maximum acceleration for this flight was approximately fifty gravities. However, we passed the acceleration phase several minutes ago and are now decelerating.”

  The forces at play were staggering. The technology to control those forces was inconceivable, let alone to do it in a shirt-sleeve environment.

  “I don’t understand how this can possibly work,” Luke said.

  Sam waved dismissively. “I’m a PR guy, Luke, not a scientist. Sadie can fill you in if you’re that interested. But for now, we’re almost there.”

  Luke turned his attention to the view outside. The spacecraft slowed as it neared the moon’s surface. They descended into a wide crater at least twenty miles across. The bottom was flat and pockmarked with hundreds of small impact points. The crater had high, steep walls. In the shadow of the eastern wall a lighted rectangle opened to a hangar carved out of solid rock. It was six times the size of the hangar they had left in Baggs.

  Sadie pulled inside and rotated slowly so her nose was facing out before settling to the floor. “Arriving at Moonbase One,” she said softly. The canopy disappeared and the fuselage doors opened.

  Outside the spacecraft, Luke pointed at the hangar opening. The doors remained wide open and the view of the crater outside was breathtaking. “Air?” Luke asked.

  “Force fields keep the air in,” Sam explained, pointing at green lights mounted around the opening. “They’re a variation on the gravity plates. The floor is just a big gravity plate. You may have noticed we’re still at one gee.”

  The hangar contained other spacecraft: a one-man flitter, another shuttle the same size as Sadie, and one much larger.

  “That small shuttle is mine,” Sam said. “And that big one is for moving cargo. He’s Thomas. Come on, follow me.”

  A short hallway at the far side of the hangar opened into a large, curved foyer. It was like a food court in a shopping mall. Several small booths were built into the curved walls and the interior was filled with break-room-style tables and chairs.

  Beyond the foyer were more hallways and rooms. Several rooms were filled with construction tools.

  Sam explained. “So far, I’ve put enough of this base together to get you started. You’ve got living arrangements for about fifty people, a few offices, some work areas, and a training room. I’ll show you how it works.”

  Within the hour Luke was cutting new corridors into solid rock. Sam explained the cutting tools were basic matter converters. Where the cutting blade touched the lunar rock, it collapsed to a substance harder than steel. The resulting material served to cover the floors, ceiling, and walls. Different settings gave it a smooth or rough finish. The implements built gravity controls right into the floors. The result was a one-gee environment throughout the base.

  After Luke added a new corridor and two rooms to the base complex, Sam pronounced his instruction was complete. “Let’s head over to the training room,” he said.

  The multi-level room had rows of chairs on stair-step floors. It looked like a college classroom. A podium rested on a small stage.

  “There’s someone I want you to meet,” Sam said. “George?”

  “Yes, Sam,” a pleasant baritone voice replied. “I take it this is Luke.”

  “He’s the guy. Luke, say hello to George. Sort of a Sadie on steroids. George runs everything here at Moonbase One. Consider him a gift from the Nobility to your solar system.”

  “The Nobility? What’s that?”

  “The Nobility,” Sam emphasized. “The rulers, the royals, our divine leaders, whatever you want to call them. Once you get away from the galactic center, they’re just known as the Nobility. Essentially, it’s the ruling families. Kind of hard to explain, but I work for them.”

  “Am I working for them?”

  “Don’t make it more complicated than it is,” Sam cautioned. “To answer your question, no. I doubt you’ll ever see them or hear from them again. As I said, I’m here to do a bit of lawn maintenance. You’re the weed-killer, and George here is your instruction manual. He’s the guardian of all the knowledge I’m leaving with you. As you bring new people here, I’d recommend you let George give them an introductory course. You ought to take it yourself before you get into this much further.”

  “I will,” Luke agreed.

  “Say hello, George,” Sam instructed.”

  “Good evening, Luke,” George said. His warm voice emanated from the ceiling and filled the room.

  “Nice to meet you, George,” Luke offered weakly.

  “I assure you it is my pleasure. I look forward to working with you, sir.”

  “Come on,” Sam urged. “Let’s keep moving. One more thing you need to see.”

  In the food court, Sam waved Luke over to the stalls against the curved wall. A microwave rested on the counter.

  “Cheeseburger and fries,” Sam said aloud. Seconds later, a fully laden plate appeared behind the glassed door.

  “Preparation complete,” a female voice said.

  “It’s a replicator?” Luke asked.

  “No, not really. That’s another reference to one of your fictional programs, right? I’d say it’s more of what you call a 3-D printer. It uses micro-gravity emitters to rearrange molecules in layers. But you can call it a ‘replicator’ if that’s what you like.” Sam grinned as he removed the hot burger. “Here you go.”

  “I’m not really hungry,” Luke replied.

  “Suit yourself. You might notice it looks like the burger we got in the diner. There’s a reason for that. Remember when I took a picture of it? That wasn’t a camera. Here.”

  Sam handed Luke a flat, plastic rectangle about a quarter-inch thick. It looked like a cell phone without the glass.

  “What’s this?” Luke asked.

  “That’s a hand-scanner. It records the substance of whatever you scan. Once it’s scanned, George will incorporate it into the database, and after that it will be available to anyone here in Moonbase.”

  “Seriously? Do you have any idea what this could do for our world?

  Sam put a hand on Luke’s shoulder. “Yes I do,” Sam said grimly. “Word of warning: do not… repeat… do not under any circumstances let this technology loose on your planet. This one thing alone will destroy your civilization. As far as that goes, any of these toys I’ve shown you today could do it, but the replicator, as you call it, will do it faster than anything else.”

  “Why is that? This could free mankind from hunger.”

  Sam waved away the question. “I’m a PR guy, not an anthropologist. Just trust me on this. George can give you proof if you need it.” Sam headed back toward the hangar. Luke had to walk quickly to keep up.

  Inside the hangar, Sam stopped next to one of the shuttles and pointed. “See that red line on the floor?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s an industrial size replicator. Keep people out of it. George?”

  “Yes, Sam.”

  “I’m taking my shuttle. Can you give Luke a replacement? I want him to have at least two shut
tles after I take Lucy.”

  “Certainly, Sam. Have a good trip.”

  A warning horn sounded and red lights flashed along the walls next to the indicated area. The air shimmered and a shuttle began to appear. The shape solidified and after two minutes the flashing lights and warning horn stopped.

  “Fabrication complete,” George announced quietly. “This is Duffy.”

  The small shuttle looked exactly like Sadie.

  “Okay,” Sam announced. He reached out and shook Luke’s hand. “I think I’ve covered everything. George, you take care of Luke and answer any other questions.”

  “I will, Sam.”

  “Wait a second,” Luke shouted. “What are you talking about? You’re leaving?”

  “Gotta run, buddy. This ain’t the only star system that needs saving.”

  “You said you’d be here for weeks! I just met you today.”

  “Hey, who do you think built this Moonbase? These things don’t happen by themselves. A little gratitude would be nice.” Sam spoke to his shuttle, “Lucy, open up. We’re leaving.”

  “Ready to go, Sam,” Lucy replied.

  The door opened and Sam stepped into the cargo bay. He looked back at Luke. “Good luck, kid. Knock ’em dead. I’m counting on you.” Sam waved good-bye as the cargo door closed, hiding his smiling face within.

  Luke’s protestations went unheard as the shuttle lifted up and zoomed out of the hangar and up into space. He watched the spacecraft disappear into the distance, a fading dot that vanished all too soon.

  “Transfer of authority complete,” said George. “Welcome, Commander Blackburn. Bakkui invasion five years away and counting. What are your orders?”

  “Five years? Sam said it was ten years at the earliest.”

  “Please accept my apologies, Commander. Sam is a PR guy, not a military strategist. He is known to exaggerate quite frequently.”

  Luke clinched his fists in frustration. “Of course. Why am I even surprised?” Luke walked slowly back toward the food court, lost in thought. The task set before him was unbelievably staggering. His mind whirled dizzily as he sorted through the permutations. Maybe I’ve just gone insane. That would be nice. It would be easier to accept, certainly, and probably a lot less stressful.