Luke Marusiak - Lifeboat Moon

Mark considered the workmanship in activity with satisfaction. The best way to win against despair , he thought, is constructive organized work. The efforts of the united crews uplifted everyone. The bustle of activity after the Manufacturing Pod leak and the Japan Station call fully engaged the crews of both moon bases. Three teams were working continuously in shifts to make living in the cave a viable option.

“Okay, ease the section down,” Mark said on the plexiglass work shift communications channel. A group of four from Moon Base Armstrong lowered a plexiglass section. One thing Mark and the moon base crews learned was that working in one-sixth gravity allowed a few people to move a lot of material. “There, that’s good placement. Let’s line it up to the previous section.”

“We got it,” Jim Staid said.

“Good.” Mark was pleased that Jim not only came through his Manufacturing Pod leak ordeal in good health but also proved to be a motivated leader. Jim confided to Mark that he wanted his work and achievements to be worthy of Gitanjali Chatterjee.

“Now let’s align the double hatch section,” Jim said to his team. They had started from the staircase base with the plexiglass tube. That was Yumi’s idea. The plan was to use manufactured material for any distance not covered by the tube. That and Zeke’s spray sealant with the new silica magnesium compound would be enough to provide an end to end pressurized tube.

“Major Martelli, this is Shift Manager Henderson,” the call came from Moon Base Armstrong control room.

“This is Mark, go ahead.”

“Thad and his team have excavated an entrance into the med-bay. He’s going to bring some of the big equipment here to store in Habitation Tube Three.”

“Sounds good. Remind everyone to watch their air and check their spacesuit seals.”

“Will do.”

Mark and Sally hadn’t embraced again — not since the Manufacturing Pod leak. Like Jim, Mark felt he had to earn Sally’s respect through his work and achievements. He didn’t know if that was a hardwired desire or not. He didn’t care. Sally was worth fighting for and in some sense, he viewed his efforts to make the cave viable as efforts to prepare for their future family. There was no future in the fragile Moon Base Armstrong — only the cave offered that vision.

“We’ve mapped the second branch,” Yumi’s voice came over Japan Station’s team channel. “And we’ve got two panels in place at the cave mouth.”

Mark monitored three communications channels even though he could only talk on one at a time. The fourth open channel, Thad’s backside crater work team, he left for Sally to monitor from the control room. That kept things organized and the right people informed. The communications protocol worked well.

Mark quickly got adept at switching between the Moon Base Armstrong, Plexiglass work team, and Japan Station work team channels to provide comments. He switched channels to talk to Yumi. “Good work Captain Kaneko. Did you find any issues with the cave floor?”

“No Major Martelli,” Yumi answered. “Only cave Branch One, which you and Shift Manager Henderson mapped had a falling floor. Cave Branch Two is solid and branches multiple times itself. The variable we must consider is that all branches incline upward to the cave entrance.”

“Thank you Captain Kaneko.” Mark kept the formality when talking to Japan Station. He knew that made it easier. As Japan Station monitored Moon Base Armstrong’s communications, they kept that channel formal as well. The informal stuff was kept to the work team communications.

“You got the hatch aligned ass-backwards,” Jim said to a team member. “We need to turn it around.”

Mark looked at the plexiglass tube work and reckoned Jim handled it well. He bounded up the constructed staircase and entered the cave. Yumi saw him and came alongside. Mark pointed to the panels her work team assembled at the cave mouth. “Do those seal well with the irregular structure of this opening?”

“We took our flexible silica magnesium compound and applied Doctor Ben-Ami’s spray technology,” Yumi answered. “This is working very well.”

“It looks good. Do you have ideas on how to level these branch inclines?”

“Our radar mapping shows where the cave floors are solid. There are very large inclined sections in Cave Branch Two. We can excavate half of the section on the high side and use the material on the low side to level it.”

“Makes sense.” Mark stared at Cave Branch One and felt a chill. “I hope the floor is solid throughout.”

“We’ll manage even if it isn’t. You and Shift Manager Henderson showed us what to look for. We radar scan ten meters in front of our mapping team at all times. If there’s another weak spot, we’ll find it.”

Mark turned to leave but Yumi grabbed his arm. He was surprised by the gesture and turned to her. She pointed to her helmet indicating she wanted a private conversation. Mark looked at his communications request indicators and opened the private channel. “Yes?”

“I must tell you that Director Hayashi and I are still concerned that the cause of the pod crash was never satisfactorily solved.”

“Captain Kaneko, we know exactly what happened.”

“Major Martelli, you know that a remote controlled beacon crashed the pod but you can’t be certain Shift Supervisor Arthur Sledge was alone in this sabotage. And you don’t know the cause of your Manufacturing Pod’s recent leak.”

“Captain Kaneko we know Shift Supervisor Arthur Sledge was in possession of our post gamma ray plan that had culling as a prime feature. This caused his despair. We got all of Moon Base Armstrong aligned. The Manufacturing Pod leak happened at an already compromised seam.”

“But you haven’t re-entered the Manufacturing Pod to inspect it. The length of the crack is suspect and your Manufacturing Pod Manager Jerome Papadopoulos is puzzled. Once we move to the cave, our living structure will be stable but our organization structure is still tainted with doubts and mistrust.”

“Captain Kaneko, Doctor Ben-Ami believes the biggest enemy isn’t a person. He believes our biggest enemy is despair. Despair that we lost everything with earth and won’t be able to survive.”

“We have many in our crew who despaired but it isn’t over survival, it’s over the immense loss. The loss of earth weighs heavily on us all. Some believe we have no right to survive with our ancestors and history destroyed.”

“Do you think despair is a threat?”

“Yes but to state it frankly, Director Hayashi and I still have suspicions on people you rely on.”

“Who are you concerned about?”

“You are still relying on Captain Thaddeus Rudzinski, Shift Manager Douglas Graham, and Shift Supervisor Charles Tully when one of them could be the saboteur.”

“We will check the Manufacturing Pod crack before blaming anyone else.” Mark didn’t like the constant accusation but Yumi had a point. Once the combined crews were all in the cave, their vulnerability to sabotage would be total. One despairing person could destroy this last remnant of humanity.

“Why isn’t the pressure in the Manufacturing Pod higher than 630 Torr?” Sally asked. “Is it leaking?”

“No,” Doug replied. “I turned off the air supply to check on the pressure change. I’m convinced we’re risking the whole base by messing around with the Manufacturing Pod.”

Sally referred to the log. “From Chuck’s entry, there’s no change in the pressure over ten hours. We should get it up to 760 Torr so we can check the seam and retrieve equipment.”