All seven heads turned at once. They were looking in all directions and a few weapons were raised as most tried to get to their feet.
“Easy, easy. Lieutenant McIntire, U.S. Army. Are you ESA?”
The men below started laughing and patting each other on the backs when they finally spied Sarah and the sergeant looking down on them.
“ Oui. Captain Philippe Jarneux. I have six men and we are very low on O. Are you carrying extra?”
“Yes, we have plenty.” Sarah bounded easily down the slope. Not wanting to fall and embarrass herself in front of the French, she slid part of the way. She was surrounded by the ESA astronauts as her men came over the ridge with the sleds of supplies. She was being pounded on the back by some very grateful ESA men when Mendenhall stepped up to her.
“I see you’ve made some new friends,” he said as he watched Sarah be the hero. Then, before he knew it, he was being pounded on the pack holding his oxygen. “Hey, hey,” he cried, as he was hit so hard he felt his feet lift from the lunar surface. As he watched, the entire U.S. team was being congratulated. The scene was a good one. They had just gained a partner in the exploration of the crater.
Sarah pointed out the four sleds and the containers of oxygen lying on them. Every one of the seven ESA astronauts was down to two hours of O in their tanks.
Sarah stepped away and tried to reach Altair.
“ Altair 1, this is Lewis and Clark, do you copy, over,” she said, as she checked to make sure she was still on the open frequency.
All she heard was static. She was joined once more by Mendenhall, who looked at his own frequency setting and then at Sarah, with worry on his face.
The French air force captain stepped up and listened in as Sarah tried again.
“ Altair 1, this is Lewis and Clark, do you copy, over?” Sarah said, trying to keep any worry out of her voice. Upon exiting the Altair, their communications had been crystal clear. Now there was nothing but static.
“If I didn’t know better, this sounds like the jamming we ran into in Iraq in the first few days of the war,” Green Beret Sergeant Martinez said as he tapped his own radio display on his wrist.
“Lieutenant, you were right about the Chinese not being devious enough, but this is more in their line of operation,” the sergeant said as he broke away from the smiling and happy ESA men.
Sarah, Mendenhall, and the French commander turned toward the sergeant as they saw him looking up and back at the place where the Americans had just been.
“Oh, shit,” Sarah said as she saw a sight that froze her blood.
“Well, I guess the Moon’s becoming a very crowded place,” Will said. He slowly brought up his weapon, but knew if he made it look too obvious the twelve trained guns would make short work of them.
Lining the top of the ridge were twelve red-clad Chinese soldiers and they had very lethal weapons. They were aimed at the sixteen ESA and NASA personnel, who had just lost their enthusiasm about joining forces.
“This could get real ugly,” Sarah said as she raised her hands into the air, the group now surrounded by soldiers of the People’s Republic of China.
The Moon was indeed becoming a very crowded place.
Collins and eighty-five men remaining of the Columbus team waited for any indication of trouble. Jack was standing silently fifteen feet from the double doors. Every few minutes he would see movement in the darkness beyond, but it was nothing more than fleeting glimpses of the men. Because of his order, which he had given on a hunch that really made no sense, Collins knew information making its way back to him could take a while. His hunch may be right, or it may be just paranoia, but they hadn’t heard or felt any of the mysterious vibrations since the order not to use the radios or anything else electronic. He also knew that the German SS had left this place without emptying it of its technological riches for a reason, and all of this at a time when their armed forces could have used the miracle weapons that were obviously buried in the second gallery.
Jack turned when he felt someone step up behind him and saw the faint lighting from above shining off the glasses of Niles Compton. Collins turned back to the doorway in front of him.
“I wish you would stay back until I get the all clear from Mr. Everett and Sebastian.”
“I need to be here, Jack. I-”
“Just when are you going to tell me what the hell is going on, Niles?” Jack turned and faced the director.
Niles took a deep breath and looked around him at the young faces of the soldiers. There were Poles, U.S. Marines, Japanese, Australians, and others who were no more than babies. He felt responsible for bringing them to this awful hole in the ground.
“Jack, there was a time when I wouldn’t give a military man the time of day. Not that I didn’t respect them. I just didn’t think about them.” Niles leaned against a large stone and removed his glasses as he spoke low so no one else could hear his words. “Now look at these kids. They never ask why, or what for. They go where their countries say to go and do what their countries say to do.”
Jack turned fully and watched Niles stare at the ground. The dim lights hanging from the top of the first gallery cast eerie shadows that made Compton look gaunt and sallow.
“Since I became involved with the Event Group and became responsible for these boys, it’s come full circle. I am intimidated to a point that I hate ordering dangerous field missions because I can’t stand to lose anyone. These kids expect that their leaders are doing what’s right, and that makes them obligated to obey an order, no matter how crazy that order may sound.”
“Guilty consciences from a commander, at least from the good ones, will always haunt those that give the orders, Niles. Hell, all those kids out there are good. They depend on smart people like you to give them something to work with when the shit hits the fan. Not necessarily to have everything explained to them up front, but to know that later on in life they won’t have to hang their heads in shame for something they were ordered to do.”
Niles placed his glasses back on and stepped up to Jack. He placed his hand on the taller man’s shoulder and lowered his chin.
“That’s what I’m trying to explain to you, Jack. In the past I have always regretted sending my people-you and your men-out into dangerous places where sick people would kill them for a scroll of paper. But this time, Jack, I have no such qualms about sending boys into harm’s way.” Niles looked up at Collins and the determined look on his face sent a chill down his spine. “Everyone here-you, me, those kids in there and out here-we’re all expendable. I can’t tell you until the president says to, but believe me that I want you, of all people, to know what’s going on here. But I can’t tell you. I wanted to tell you that privately when there was no one around but us, so hopefully you could see my frustration at not explaining things. Just suffice it say that we need this technology and we need it fast. Get it. If you have to take a chance at losing all these boys, do it. We have to take what’s here, what’s on the Moon, and we have to reverse-engineer whatever we uncover. We have a very short time to do it-maybe two years, maybe three, four at the outside.”
Jack watched Niles turn away when he heard the other scientists coming over, silently arguing some point or other. Niles placed his hands in his pockets and turned back to face Collins.
“There’s a storm coming, Jack, and I don’t know if the world will survive it.”
Collins turned back to face the front and looked over at the Vietnamese sergeant as he knelt at his position, waiting for the word to advance. The sergeant turned away and said nothing.
“We have company, Colonel,” Tram said. He raised the M-14 up slightly, but lowered it when he saw the large American naval officer emerge from the double doors.
Collins stepped forward, relieved to see Carl as he slung his M-16.
“Sebastian is securing the front of the gallery. It’s a deep one, vast, too much to cover with only two teams. We found a generator room with old Nazi equipment. We are attempting to get the lights on. You won’t believe this, Jack,” Everett leaned breathlessly against the same large rock where Niles had been a moment before. Collins chanced a look back at Compton and saw that he was watching him closely. The words the director had spoken were beginning to drive a wedge into his thoughts. Without explaining anything, Niles had let on how desperate they were to recover anything inside. How sending Sarah, Will, and Ryan to the Moon was only a small part of that desperation move. He turned back to face Everett.
