One Giant Leap

by Keith Martin

  Empress May was the first to her feet and cheering for the Chair from France for speaking so eloquently. When the hall became a painful blast of accord from every single Chair in the hall, she knew they now had a real shot at saving mankind for the first time.

  Up to this point the NWG had been a collection of powerful women all scared to death and lost for a direction. All the meetings had been used to simply establish the government and squash any violent faction that grew from the ashes of the virus. Then the focus turned to Cloning and restarting the colleges to train the future doctors that would be needed to keep the population cloned into a future.

  Slowly the colleges brought on engineering courses and started training a new crop of engineers that all knew would be needed to reach any future. The G-Class Shuttle program was being brought back to life. It would be a few years before they would have the needed skills to start launching new G-Class Shuttles. But in the mean time the repair of the work horses that had saved so many men and supplied S.M.B. could now be taken care of on Earth and used to train new personal.

  * * *

  The hall was a din of excitement for fifteen minutes. It only took Empress May standing in her station for a few seconds to bring the hall to silence again. She pointed to the Chair from France as a chair was placed next to hers and invited her to join her. A roar followed the Chair from France all the way to Empress May’s side. They stood hand in hand before them all. Empress May’s hand rose to quiet them and she felt honored by their bond. “We women are a smart bunch.” Empress May looked at her newfound friend. “She has been thinking as we all have and she is right. We too… we the women of China...we also give our all to build these needed ships. We will bring all of our resources to bear and we will fight to save the people of Earth, peacefully!” She turned to her charge and asked? “You had more insight to share with us Linda?”

  She was blown away hearing the Empress speak her first name. “Just call me May or Chair May if you must.” She whispered to Linda.

  “Thank you so much May.” She embraced the Empress. The hall erupted again as Linda just faced them all and began. “We are all facing a hard road.” Was all she said and the hall fell silent to hear her words. “We will need to become experts in space flight, we must learn to fly at the speed of light in order to reach a new planet. It’s just that simple; it will take everything we have. We are talking about hundreds of support ships, the pilots to fly them, the fuel to blast them into orbit to deliver loads of needed supplies. We are talking about half of our planet working to save us by reaching for the stars, and the other half working to feed us all. It will take massive amounts of steel. It will take massive amounts of everything. It will take all of the best minds working together to reach a single goal. We have no choice; no longer are we a bunch of woman from different specks of land around this Earth of ours. We are the Women of Earth and we have only one choice…WE WILL NOT FAIL!!!”

  It took Empress May raising her hand to calm them. She was now completely in control of the meeting and pointed to the Chair who was now standing at the head of her box with a laptop in her hand held high above her head.

  “I am the Chair from California.” She started as she set her laptop on the desk next to her opening it and typing as she spoke loud and clearly. “We have within our lands the base of Vandenberg. It is the supply point for our G-Class shuttles. I have just emailed a friend of mine on the Moon. He will be interested in what has transpired here. I sent him a complete transcript of this meeting and he will make sure there is no invasion of the Moon. You see all shuttles on Earth just departed for the Moon.” She turned to face the Master Chair. “You wanted to incite a war. You wanted to send in the Trojan horse to take over the Moon base. This is what you were asking this body of women to help you do. I know the law for killing is death… so we must do something to anyone who would attempt to drive a governing body to commit crimes.”

  She walked out into the walkways and started to move toward the podium. “Will we, as representatives of the Women of Earth, just sit on our pretty little backsides and allow you to go YEEEEHA!!! LET’S GO CAPTURE US SOME MEN? I THINK NOT! I think it is time for a vote. I move that we retire the Master Chair, for crimes against the greater good of the human race. Anyone say Aye?”

  In one voice, nine hundred and ninety-nine women agreed.

  The ex-Master Chair was escorted out of the room and would be invited to go farm in a remote area of some lonely state. She would learn to be happy there… one day.

  The NWG had a new direction to guide the women of Earth towards. They also had things to work on to make sure something like this never happened on Earth ever again.

  15 Breakfast Is Served

  At 10:00 a.m. there was a knock at the outer hatch of G-3. It was Pete, on time, and with breakfast in hand. Fresh ground coffee beans waited in his pocket for boiling water. He loved how it smelled inside his space suit as he crossed to the stairs of the hatch from his transport. He wanted a cup badly. Otto woke to the sound of the pressure chamber cycling through. He figured he was about to see Pete. The girls were still sleeping. The conversation hadn’t ended until after 4am. Otto motioned for Pete to keep quiet as he passed into the cabin carrying a large box. They went into the galley and started the coffee as soon as Pete got out of his space suit. As it brewed they sat down across from each other sizing each other up.

  Otto was looking at the young flier with a critical eye.

  Pete felt as if Otto was looking into his mind, not his eyes. He felt this was a test of some type and he did not look away. He didn’t even blink.

  “So, I see you still have some backside. The General let you off easy?”

  “Well yes, and no Sir. … I contacted Dr. Mrs. Craft to help to make their quarters more comfortable.”

  “Location?”

  “Directly next to your quarters Sir.”

  “Your idea?”

  “No Sir. It was orders from the General. They have been executed completely. Ton was building before I could even talk with him about it and I got cussed for bothering him while he worked.”

  “And the dress blues?”

  “Orders Sir.”

  “And what did you learn yesterday from all you experienced?”

  “Well Sir….” He seemed to relax and he just told it for the truth it was. “A pair of silver wings does not make an officer. I still have a lot to learn.”

  “Good answer!”

  “Thank you Sir.” Pete stood and served up the coffee. He served Otto first before making his own and sitting back down.

  “What plans are being made for the girls Pete?”

  “Well Sir, first there is going to be the grand tour by transport. Commanders Call first and a little hand shaking here and there, then we show them their quarters. We depart for chow two hours later giving them time to freshen up. After chow, we will have a base wide introduction and a dance in the main chamber. I would be honored if you would allow me to be your driver for all of this. I want to get to know them. It’s like having two long lost sisters just show up full-grown.” He seemed to think about it for a second then added “…. Yea…. And after, with your permission, I will take them for a beer at the club.”

  Otto didn’t answer right away. He was enjoying the young man starting to sweat sitting before him. Even though he loved him like a son already, he still had to play with him a little. After all he was their father.

  “The answer is ‘yes’ Daddy.” Shianne came out rubbing sleep from her eyes.

  “You guys are too noisy.” Ashley joined them right behind her sister. Both kissed Otto’s cheek, and then both kissed Pete’s cheek welcoming him into the family. “If you ever want to take us for a beer, we are willing to go with you. We are even willing to mess with your prey when you’re hunting around us too. So pay no attention to this old man.” Ashley rubbed her fingers through her father’s hair teasing him.

  “Let’s do this right people…” Otto sang out suddenly. “�
� Girls... May I introduce to you, Commander Pete ‘Con Man’ Connelly. Con Man, This little one is my youngest Shianne, and this tall drink of water here, is Ashley.”

  Ashley and Shianne, started to ham it up big time. In reality, they had known Pete for years. The only change was, they could touch him now.

  * * *

  “Why I be so glad to know ya their feller.” “You be one of them there strong flying men aren’t y’all?” “I do declare, that I do think this boy can fly one of them there flying things.” Ashley said.

  And Otto finished it. “Can we send these home and get a trade-in?” He asked Pete.

  Pete was wise and he kept his mouth shut. He covered it with his hand and pointed at Otto in his defense.

  The girls helped with fixing breakfast and they took care of clean up while chatting with Pete and their father. Shianne launched a test out of the blue, they were talking about the shuttles performance with a real heavy load, and she just said. “So… Joshua has told us all about you!”

  “You two seem to be good friends?” Ashley shot from the hip with Shianne’s lead.

  “Best of friends, Miss’s Chisholm’s.” Replied Pete with conviction. “I know that I will never find another friend as I have in your brother. He is helping me be as good a pilot as he is. I pray I can be as good of an officer as he is one day.”

  They were impressed with this young man and figured he would fit into the family just fine.

  “Pete, I’m sorry about yesterday. It was a getting to Dad thing.” Shianne was not too proud to know when she was wrong and admitted it.

  “Accepted, but we don’t talk of this anymore.” Pete said, standing his ground. His words would make him a part of Chisholm tribe and that was something.

  * * *

  As they prepared to suit up for the crossing into the base as the twenty forth hour neared, there was a knock on the outer door and then the sounds of someone cycling through the airlock. Once the inner door opened Dr. Ed Craft stepped in with a Virus Diagnostics Calibrator. He got things rolling while unloading his gear “Wow men can be paranoid when faced with extinction.”

  He looked to Pete, whom had relieved him of the VDC. This was the unit used to calibrate the rate of virus saturation in any sample given. Blood, air or biomass, it could sniff out any trace of the virus. “Set that up Commander: you all get to have a finger pricked.”

  “A last act of defiance from the crew?” Otto asked as Ed got out of the rest of his gear.

  “No, just a method of shutting every cake hole flapping on the base and I think a good protocol to adopt, anyway. I ordered the parts for this little gem up and had it created just in case we ever needed it, and here we are.” He was a man that believed in being prepared and it served him well. “Now I smell coffee and there are free hands in front of me, and I’m seeing an empty hand why?” He looked forlornly at his empty hand. He had no fear of any virus onboard this ship but he had to make sure for the masses that all was indeed infection free. He was a Doctor, and he wanted a second opinion, the VDC would give that to him.

  The tour was a fast one and everyone came out to shake hands. First stop was to see the General. He greeted them like a father greeting his own daughters. He declined Shianne’s invitation to ride with them for the tour. He wanted this to be just for the family.

  The scope of the work under the surface amazed the sisters. They descended into the chamber from the chow hall after a real hearty lunch of barbecued triple cheeseburgers and French fries. Ton had his crew there, training for work that would be needed over the years as the population of the Moon grew. The main chamber was almost completed and now housed most of the base personnel. “You could house thousands here.” Shianne said aloud for all to hear. Her pride in the effort she was witnessing obvious.

  “Or tens of thousands.” A man’s voice came from the gathered crowd.

  “Men are all the same, less than twenty five hundred of them, and he wants eight thousand girlfriends. We have to watch that guy.” Ashley smiled, pointing at this miner setting off a roll of laughter. Her words were bonding them into the S.M.B. family. The miners liked knowing these young women were just one of the bunch and not walking with their heads in the clouds looking pretty.

  * * *

  With the standard VP base tour finished Pete took the girls to their quarters; Dr Craft was waiting at the door when they drove up. “Hello, I am Dr. Dianne Craft the Co-Director of the Med Lab’s. On behalf of the women and men of S.M.B. I would like to welcome you to your new homes.” Dr. Craft looked a hundred percent the new age motherly woman. Colorful sundress with sandals, her light blond hair pulled back in a braid that hung to her backside, there were even a few beads worked into the mass of hair. She had blue eyes, and a pair of glasses that looked great on her.

  “You will find that hundreds of the women of S.M.B. have donated little things to make your stay here more comfortable, to make this a home for you both.” Dr. Craft opened the door to the lower unit and ushered them in. Otto and Pete stayed out in the hall for now. The living units were not all that large; they wanted the girls to have room to look around.

  The room was filled with trinkets. Dream catchers, candles burning, quilts covering the couch and the bed, crystals small and large, clear and colored scattered here and there. A rug covered the floor; it looked handmade and was running with mixed colors. Little figurines stood around on every spot that needed something. Some were in the likeness of the G-Class shuttles, and of other ships Shianne had a hand in developing. Everything gave the room a soft warm feeling.

  “I heard in the past you two had bunk beds?” Dr. Craft said as she opened a door that held a ladder next to the entrance door.

  “Yes we did.” Both said as Shianne raced to beat Ashley to the ladder.

  “Who had the top bunk?” She laughed as they struggled to gain the ladder first. Shianne was going to do it first, even with Ashley pulling on her legs as she climbed.

  “Guess?” Ashley teased her sister as she let go to let her win.

  The unit was much like the one below. It just held different trinkets and quilts. But it too was a sight to behold. This unit also had a great window looking out over the S.M.B. complex and the runways could be seen in the distance.

  Shianne slipped down the ladder like a fireman to give Dr. Craft a kiss on her cheek for her kindness. It had taken some doing to pull this off. “They are perfect. How could you do this so quickly?” Ashley asked.

  “I put out a call to all the women on base; everything poured in like water. There are scented soaps and body oils in the shower unit.” Ashley went to see the shower unit while still listening to Dr. Craft telling her story. “We laid it out in the hall as it came and used a crew of eight getting it moved in once we had worked out a decorating plan.”

  “Dr. Craft, you have thought of everything.” Shianne complemented her work. They now had a home on the Moon with a family much larger than when they lived on the ranch in California.

  * * *

  Otto and Pete were called away while this was happening; both were on their way to Mission Control. Something was up, but they were told it was no emergency.

  * * *

  The Doctors eyes where misting up thinking of her daughter and now these beautiful women that had just fallen into her life.

  Shianne gave her a big hug to thank her for all she had done.

  Her mind was racing, Samantha was out with Joshua, trying to catch the heart of these beautiful, intelligent sisters brother. It was the large family she had always wanted, placed in her hands full grown.

  Shianne reached for Dr. Craft’s hand. Dianne took it, feeling the love that would bind them.

  A flood of thoughts hit Shianne hard. She had never heard the name Samantha. She didn’t know Dianne had a daughter. She had never heard who was on the Mission with her brother. She only knew he was training a green pilot. It all came to her loud and clear. Like a computer downloading files she picked it all up. It was a rush of
information crossing minds, and millions of miles all at once. All the hugs and kisses of their first meeting had been fleeting in her excitement, but this time she really took hold of Dianne and found a flood of information.

  Shianne fell into a slight, trance like state. Dianne got scared and called out to Ashley.

  Ashley had seen this hundreds of times; she knew Shianne was just fine. “It’s Ok Doc. She is having a vision… ESP. She is receiving something from you, looks like something vary strong.”

  “Will she be Ok?” Dianne had never seen anything like this before, but she had read about it.

  “It will be over in a few seconds. She is downloading something from you right now.” The pressure from Shianne’s hand was growing almost painful, as she held on tight to Dr. Craft’s hand.

  A smile started to cross her face and the tale was now told. “Here she comes now.” Ashley could tell she was processing the data now.

  Shianne opened her eyes wide and she wrapped her arms around Dr. Craft’s neck and kissed her soundly on her cheek. “Welcome to the family Dianne.” She turned to Ashley and added, “I have news…” Then turned back to Dr. Craft “… And you need to come clean with us.”

  Dr. Craft didn’t know what Shianne was talking about. Her look was of shocked innocence. “What are you talking about child?”

  Shianne’s heart was about to leap from her chest. “Well sit down first.” Dr. Craft did as Shianne directed her lost in the moment. “Tell us what she’s like?”

  Dr. Craft was completely confused. She had told no one of what was going on. It was still just a chance, and there was not anything as of yet that she knew of. There was no way this young woman could possibly know about Samantha and Joshua. It was only the love of a woman for her daughter that had kept her in the loop of her daughter’s plans and she knew it.