“Welcome to Moon Base.  Welcome home.”

 Peter waited while his brother handed a little girl over to an elderly woman.  He hugged him tight, only then realizing how alone he’d felt for the last two weeks.  Leaving an arm around his shoulder while turning them both towards the chamber where the sorting out was going on, he realized his hunch was right when Colonel Griffin joined them on Sam’s other side.  That just made his surprise even better.

 “Well, little brother mine, I made sure we would be roommates when we were digging out living quarters.”  He ignored the softly voiced exclamation and continued on.  “Yep, I had them hollow out a nice little three bedroom suite for you and me.  Who do you think should get the third room?”

 Sam’s tense shoulders relaxed and he looked at him hopefully.  “Colonel Griffin?”

 “Funny, somehow I knew you’d say that.  Welcome to the family, Colonel.”

 “Thank you, Peter.  I appreciate that.”  Green eyes gazed at him speculatively then softened when they moved to his brother.  “Your family continues to surprise me.”

 “The Hamiltons will do that do you.  Damn, I forgot to tell Toby about the Hamilton curse.”  Peter snapped his fingers and made another mental note.

 “The Hamilton curse?”  Sam had that endearing little wrinkle between his eyes.

 “We can’t drink more than three drinks without weird things happening.”

 Seth broke into a low laugh while Sam blushed from the neck up.  Peter sensed a story but knew it would have to wait.  They’d reached the great hall where the rest of the new settlers stood and sat in anticipation of seeing their new quarters.

 “Welcome to the Moon.”  The small woman with the black eye patch stood on a chair so everyone could see her.  “The computer screens around the room have all your room assignments for now.  Once we’re settled in, we can make changes as needed.  For the moment, we’ve divided everyone up into the sections where they’ll be working.  The families are clustered around the school rooms.”

 A groan from the children interrupted her and Peter saw her grin blossom.

 “There will be no classes for three more days but then its back to lessons for all of us.  Grownups and children need to learn about this New World we inhabit.  Safety first, last and always.  I don’t want any accidents to mar this adventure.  There are rules to living underground on a world without any breathable atmosphere.  So those lessons have first priority.  Peter Hamilton is our expert because he’s been living here for almost two weeks.  Peter, raise your hand please and list our safety rules.”

 Peter raised his arm and made sure that everyone saw him.  “First rule - Oxygen is precious and there will be no smoking or fires of any kind.  Our air mix is volatile at the moment and we have to bring it with us.  Second – water is worth its weight in gold because every drop has to come from Earth.  Don’t waste it.  Third – never ever play with the airlock controls or you will kill everyone in the base who’s not in a suit.  That’s it.”

 “Thank you, Peter, we’ll go into more detail later in our safety briefings.  The first three ships landed all of you and your personal luggage.  The next three will be bringing up more of our supplies and we’ll need your help to unload everything.  So, as I call out your names, I’d like you to gather yourselves into the four corners of this room.”  She paused, chuckling.  “Well, if this round room had corners.  For the moment, let’s just pretend.  Doctor Sam, over here.  Colonel Griffin, on this side.  Peter, stay where you are.  Running Elk, if you’ll just stay where you are.  Thank you.  Now the first names will stay in this hall with Doctor Sam.”

 Peter watched while the crowd slowly divided into units with some of Seth’s Marines with each group.  Taking his group, he led them back to the air locks.  While they waited for the ship to dock, he went over the safety rules again, one by one with more detail and explanation.  They all listened intently and he could tell that the Marine noncom in charge was making notes.  He brought up a schematic of the base on the computer set into the wall.  Pointing out the food preparation area and storerooms, he showed them where the first shipment would go.

 The ship next up was bringing food and the paraphernalia needed to cook it.  Peter was really looking forward to something other than MREs.  They were filling but bland.  The soft chime rang and he showed the men near him what to check for while waiting for the docking to commence.  More importantly, he showed them the breathers that hung in little pockets set into the walls and told them there would be drills for the first few weeks until grabbing one and putting it on became second nature.

 The second chime rang and he pressed the sequence of keys that would open the outer door, allowing the supplies to be off loaded into the first chamber.  While the ship unloaded, he went over the five sections of the base that were currently available.  The meeting hall, offices and command center were all located in the main hub.  The schoolrooms and family quarters filled all of one spoke.  The ship docks and pilots rooms stretched out at an angle to them.  The medical bay and science labs were closest to the living quarters.  And last but not least the hydroponics hall, water storage tanks and power battery rooms all stretched out deeper than the other parts.  Like the spokes of a wheel with the meeting hall at the center, he pointed out where the next space would be mined to provide room for machine shops and fabrication sections.

 A third chime rang out and he checked the computer read out then did a visual check as well before he triggered the door open.  The supplies were stacked on wheeled dollies and they emptied the chamber then Peter let Gunnie operate the door and check for a correct seal before leading them to the meeting hall and down to the chow hall.

 Some of the women and children were waiting for them to off load the crates of supplies then they wheeled the empty dollies back to the loading dock.  Peter asked the soldiers about conditions back on Earth and they willingly filled him in.  Interestingly enough, every other sentence had the name Ruth in it.  He listened intently to the reports of violence and hysteria that were still sweeping Earth.  Peter had never felt so removed from the bizarre events on his home world.

 For a moment, he thought about it but he couldn’t dredge up any emotion except impatience.  The future was here and now.  Why couldn’t they see that?  He’d stopped listening to the media feed from the satellites because of all the nonsense they spouted.  And it took valuable time away from the creation of the base.  Time had ceased to have any meaning to him.  There was time for work and time for sleep.  That was it.  He was looking forward to catching up on what the rest of the world was doing.

 While they were moving the next load, he wondered why Ruth hadn’t co-opted the media and allowed them access to the aliens.  He would have but then he didn’t know everything that was going on.  There had to be a big picture somewhere but all he knew was the moon and the flying that he’d been promised after he finished being a miner.  Ruth had approved all of his suggestions and explained the deviations from the original plan each time they talked.  And they’d talked every day so he was pretty well up to speed on the timetable.

 He was really looking forward to sitting down with Sam and finding out how the rest of the family was doing.  He’d caught some odd under currents in the two conversations he had with his parents.  Of course, that might be because of Sam’s surprising news or Toby’s thwarted desire to come.  Peter came back to what he was doing when the most wonderful smell wafted down the corridor.

 Fresh baked bread.  He sniffed again and followed his nose, pushing the next shipment on the squeaky dolly into the great hall.  The elderly man from the arctic was checking off each crate from a clipboard list.

 “It looks like those are medical supplies, Captain Hamilton.  All the kitchen crates have arrived and been unpacked.”

 “Great.  I’ll wheel these down to the medical wing.  If you’ll just direct the others after me, I’d appreciate it.  You know my name but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten yours.”  Peter grinned down at him.

 He smiled shyly and put out his hand in a quick clasp.  “Joe Peterson, man of all work.  I don’t really have a title.  I just help out where ever I can.”

 “Man of all work, I like that.  That’s exactly how I felt the last two weeks.  Perhaps we can talk later.”  Peter smiled and changed direction, pushing the supplies down the corridor to the medical lab.

 Sam was directing the placement of the big equipment like the x-ray machine and the diagnostic beds.  They only had time for a quick exchange of questions and answers before Peter had to get back to unloading.  Now that the first load had arrived, some of the Ikiiri were lending a hand so the work went even faster.  The next time he passed through the great hall, he saw Queen Terana and Ruth sitting side by side on the floor in front of all the children.

 The little ones looked spell bound by whatever the Ikiiri Queen was saying and for a moment, he wished he could sit and listen to a story.  He’d heard many from the Ikiiri he worked with and he looked forward to hearing more.  They really needed someone to make a record of everything that was going on.  These stories would go to start a new tradition for those who made Moon Base their home.

 The baked bread smell was augmented by something spicy that drew him like a magnet.  He remembered the beautiful red head from the arctic, pulling the first of the loaves from the oven and setting them out on the counter to cool.  Seeing Peter, she smiled and beckoned him over.

 “Peter, I’ll bet you’re the one who’s been eating all the MREs.  If you can wait five minutes you can have the first slice of this loaf with some butter and honey.  I’m Marag Campbell if you’ve forgotten my name.  I’m Seth’s cousin and he’s already told me that you seem to be all right with their news.”

 “Well, it was a surprise but as long as Sam’s happy then the least I can do is be happy for him.  For them both.”  He fell silent when two women joined Marag at the counter.

 Peter was wearing one of the translators so he understood their speech even though it appeared Marag didn’t.  They were chatting about the space and the storage rooms behind the kitchens.

 “Will there be enough room, do you think?”  He asked them, surprising them into English.  “And what are your names?”

 “Dawn Rivera.  And there is so much room that we can not fill it up.”  She spoke up shyly.

 “We’ve got more shipments coming day after tomorrow.  The holiday shut down our supply lines until then.”

 Marag frowned.  “Good heavens, that’s right.  Tomorrow is the 25th.  I wonder if Ruth remembered that.  And whether we have presents for all the children.”

 The other spoke up at that.  “I am Mary Two Feathers.  There is something for all of them, mostly clothes and a few toys.  If we could bake some cookies tonight?”

 “What a good idea.  Of course we can.”  Marag sighed in relief.  “But for now, Peter, I think this loaf is cool enough to cut.  Do you have time to sit and enjoy it?”

 “The last load is in and being distributed as we speak.  You’ll probably have a crowd in a few minutes.”  Peter watched her hands gracefully cut the loaf into slices while one of the others put out butter and a jar of honey.

 “Good.  The lasagna is done and ready to eat.  Mary, would you cut the Captain some so he can sit down and avoid the rush?”  Marag directed her assistant while she continued slicing.  Five loaves were taken care of before Peter got a plate filled with a large wedge of lasagna and several slices of new bread, liberally spread with butter and honey.

 He sat down at one of the tables and enjoyed his first bite of new bread.  Chewing slowly, he savored the burst of flavor across his tongue.  Food fit for the gods he decided and took another bite.  This time he chose the lasagna and a string of cheese wrapped itself around his fork so he had a tug of war before he could really chew it.  It was even better than his mother’s was although he would never admit it to her.

 As if thinking about her could conjure up family, Sam walked in and made a bee- line for the serving line.  He could hear him laughing with Marag and what ever he said made Mary smile as well.  When his plate was full, he sat down with his brother and took a bite before rolling his eyes and making a thumbs-up gesture to the cooks.

   “So, get all the supplies stored away?”  Peter asked around another bite of bread.

 Sam nodded vigorously and swallowed.  “For now, I just put everything on a shelf.  Tomorrow will be soon enough to figure out a system so everything is easily found in an emergency.  The bandages and first aid supplies are up front in case we have an emergency before the night is out.  If it is night.”

 “It’s kind of hard to get used to.  The clocks are set to Earth time, specifically Eastern Standard Time for now.  I haven’t seen daylight since I got here so that’s something you’ll need to take into account.  I noticed the lights you sent up are in the range to treat a SADD disorder.  Most of them went into the hydroponics lab for the plants because Professor Henri, our horticulturist, insisted.  I find myself spending time there for a while some nights before I go to bed.”  Peter shrugged.  “It seems to ground and relax me so I can sleep.”

 Sam nodded unconsciously while he ate.  “Everyone’s circadian rhythms will be out-of-sync for a while.  We’re going to need to run three shifts to get everything done so we’ll have to take that into account.  I’ll tell Ruth and let her think about it.”

 “What’s it like to work with her?”  Peter was curious.

 “She’s an amazing woman.  I don’t think she sleeps much because she’s too busy thinking.”  Sam paused and considered his statement.  “But she doesn’t just think, she works bloody hard too.  I’ve never known anyone like her and that’s not even including her ability to heal.”

 “Excuse me?”  Peter paused with his fork half way to his mouth.

 “You don’t believe me.”  Sam grinned at him affectionately.  “That’s okay.  In time you’ll see what I’m talking about.  Hopefully not too soon.  It takes a lot out of her.”

 “Okay, it’s weird but no stranger than the dream I had last night.”  Peter grimaced.

 Sitting up straight, Sam dropped his voice and asked him urgently.  “What was it about?  Who was in it?”
 
 “The Goddess, I guess.  Except she wasn’t a polar bear but a woman dressed in red.  We walked out on the moon’s surface without suits.  She called me her knight and told me that change was inevitable but caution was required.  And something about an enemy who is well hidden.  Then she quoted Shakespeare and told me to be wary and protect her Avatar.”  Peter finished the last bite of bread.  “That’s Ruth, right?”

 “Yes.  That sounds right.  We brought one of the opposition with us.  You remember Father Adam?  He’s not very pleased with the whole pagan goddess thing.  I wish that she’d let us do more of the work.  She’s running herself ragged as if there’s some invisible clock ticking away and she has to get everything done before it strikes midnight.”  Sam sighed.

 “So she’s our Cinderella?”  Peter grinned.  “But I understand what you’re saying.  Every time we spoke, there were ten more things for my to-do-list.  I still haven’t gotten to the end of it.”  Peter grimaced and shook his head.  “But now that you’re here, maybe I can finally get in some flying.  So far all I’ve gotten to do is oversee the modifications to one of the scout ships.  The Ikiiri are so much bigger than we are that all the controls needed to be modified for me.  But I did manage one flight and it was glorious.  Twice around the moon and back, but I could have just kept going to Mars it felt so good.”

 Sam grinned.  “Well, big brother, I expect she’s going to want to see what you can do tomorrow.”

 “Nope, tomorrow’s Christmas and I think we have other plans.  Mary said there are presents for the kids and even though we don’t have a tree or a Santa, I think we can cobble something together for everyone.”

 “Oh dear, I never even noticed the date.”  Sam’s face fell.  “I didn’t get anything for Seth.”

 “Now, I have to say that you surprised me with him.  Are you happy?”  Peter watched his brother’s face light up with joy.
 
 “Yes.  He’s the person I’ve always been looking for.  We met in Kosovo my last night.”  Sam began the story and soon had Peter laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

 Now he knew why Sam had blushed and Seth had laughed when he mentioned the Hamilton curse.  It sounded like his brother was safe and happy with the Colonel and Peter was glad he’d designed the three-bedroom suite to accommodate them all.  Even if one room didn’t get used.  Maybe they could turn it into a study or something.  He made a mental note to suggest that later.
 
 The room had filled up while they talked and it looked like their table was needed so they took their dirty dishes over to the counter and Peter showed the kitchen crew how to work the sonic dish washer.  He could see the doubt on all their faces but he assured them that it worked just as well as soap and water.  They nodded but he could tell they weren’t convinced.

 He dragged Sam away and down the hall to their rooms.  Peter couldn’t wait to see his brother’s face when he saw them.  The suite was just three doors down from the command center in the spoke that led to the medical wing.  When they came to the two foot deep doorway, Peter went first and Sam followed.

 “There’s no door.  Why isn’t there a door?”

 “We forgot to get any.”  Peter gave way to laughter.  “I had them cut the openings to the size of a standard door so we could bring up doors later and somehow anchor them to the basalt.”

 “Is that what this is?”  Sam ran his hand over the walls of mottled gray-green and black.  “They look like they’re made out of opaque glass.”

 “The equipment vaporizes the rock and leaves behind this finish.  I don’t pretend to understand it.  We need an engineer or a scientist for that.  But at this depth, the moon is mostly made up of basalt and other volcanic rock.  We need more geologists.  Poor Dr. Longer is working 20 hours a day but he’s so happy he practically floats.”

 “We need a lot of specialties really badly but we need people we can trust.  The only way I can see that happening is the fact that you can’t lie to Ruth.”

 “What?”  Peter couldn’t have heard him right.

 Sam’s grin told him he’d just gotten paid back for the door-thing.  “You can’t lie to her.  It’s part of her gift.  Hey, that’s my dresser.”  He poked his head into the first room off of the common room.  “How did you get this up here?  And my clothes are here too.  How?”

 “About five minutes after Wolf’s friends picked up Mom and Dad, another crew moved in and gathered up my stuff and yours.  They’ve been up here ever since.  Kind of a nice touch of home.”  Peter leaned against the doorjamb and watched his brother give a sigh and run a hand over the maple dresser.

 “It’s not fair that Seth won’t have anything of his.”

 “Oh, I don’t know, Sam.  I found a surprise in the next room.”  Seth’s voice came from over Peter’s shoulder and he watched his brother begin to glow.  “It looks like the same crew stopped by my apartment and brought up my stuff.”

 “That’s why I didn’t recognize the furniture out here.”  Sam joined them and Peter watched the way they gravitated together even though they didn’t touch.

 “You never got to see my one bedroom apartment but basically this is everything I had in it.”  Seth looked at the pictures propped up against the wall, the oak bookcases filled with books and the lamp on the side table that had no place to plug in.  He waved a hand at the glowing fixtures that ran along the join of ceiling and wall.  “Do all the rooms have these lights in them?  And how are they controlled?”

 “They’re voice activated, run by computer and in all the rooms and hallways.”  Peter waited in anticipation of what they’d find in the room between Seth’s bedroom and his own.

 “Um, Peter.  Why do we have a composting toilet in the bathroom?”  Sam’s voice sounded just as bewildered as he expected.

 “Recycling is going to be a very big part of our lives, my friends.  Nothing and I do mean nothing is thrown away.  That includes all waste products, air and water.  The Ikiiri have the most fantastic air scrubber.  That’s down the base-spoke where the water is stored.  Every room in the base has a duct going to and coming from the scrubber.”

 “That doesn’t explain why we have a Clivus Multrum composting toilet in here.  Is there another layer to the base below us?  And why isn’t there a sink?”  Sam sounded so plaintive that Seth gathered him into a hug even though Peter was watching.

 “I’m guessing that water is in short supply because there is none on the Moon.”  Seth’s look at Peter galvanized him into speech.

 “There is another layer both above and below us. And as I mentioned earlier every drop of water had to be brought here.  Part of the arctic made a trip up.  You should have seen it when they lowered the chunk of ice into the water tank before we sealed it shut.  Of course the ‘tank’ right now holds 5 tons of ice water for each person up to 1,000 people.  Instead of wasting water with flushing or showers or sinks, the Ikiiri use sonic waves but that won’t work with waste material.”  Peter smiled.  “Ruth contacted the Clivus Multrum company and ordered five hundred toilets for the base.  After they picked their jaws up off the floor, she was able to arrange a pretty good price and an immediate delivery of the first two hundred.”

 “How did she pay for them?  The money she got from the sale of the translators went to supplies mostly and the transportation of all the things we just off-loaded.”  Seth left his arm around Sam and steered them all into the common room.

 Peter snickered and sank down into a burgundy leather club chair that was the most comfortable chair he’d ever found.  “She acted as the middle man for the company and the Ikiiri.  They fell in love with the idea of using worms for converting waste.  Basically, we got ours for free while the Ikiiri traded their simplest solar power converter to the company for their exclusive use.  The panels convert sunlight directly to electrical power.  We’re using them ourselves.  It’s DC of course so most of the machines you see about you had to be bought from the survivalists and back-to-earth companies in the U.S. and Canada.  The government is going to have a collective hissy fit once they see how cheap electricity could be.”

 “That could start a destabilizing of the economy, not just for us but for the entire world.”  Seth frowned from the matching leather sofa with Sam tucked into his side.

 “It’s a pretty basic principle to hear Regani tell it.  He’s the Ikiiri head engineer.  And from what I can tell, Ruth knows what she’s doing.  Every piece of technology that she was able to wring out of the Ikiiri is going to a different company and country.  There should be enough to go around so long as nobody gets greedy.”

 “Right.”  Sam grinned at him.  “And if you believe that, I’ve got a moon crater to sell you.”

 “Actually, that’s not a half bad idea.”  Peter grinned back.  “Being the only ones up here gets kind of lonely.  It’s a big moon with plenty of room for other bases.”

 Sam’s eyes were at half-mast and his head kept leaning a little closer to Seth’s shoulder.  The Colonel looked down affectionately and whispered something in his ear that brought a sleepy laugh.  For a moment, Peter ached to feel that same warmth and caring but he quickly shook it off.  There wasn’t time for that.

 “Knock, knock.  All right to come in?”  The low voice at the doorway broke into the silence.

 “Please.”  Peter stood and waved Ruth in.  Joe was right behind her.

 “We’re about to call it quits for the day.  We need to meet at 0800 tomorrow in the command center for an initial meeting of the command staff.  The three of you, Marag, Gunnie, the Elders and some of the Ikiiri need to be there.  Then Father Adam wants to hold a Christmas Mass in the meeting hall and I told him that was fine.  Christmas dinner next then presents for the children back in the hall.”  She paced slowly around the room gazing carefully at the bookcases filled with books and the pictures leaning against the walls.  Joe remained by the doorway with a small smile on his face, his eyes never leaving her.

 She radiated controlled energy and Peter watched his brother uncurl from the sofa and unselfconsciously stop her with a hug.  “Everything will be fine, Ruth.  Tomorrow is soon enough to start planning.”

 Sighing, she nodded and hugged him close before stepping away.  “Do you ever get tired of being right, Sam?  Sleep well.  We’ll see you in the morning.”

 Peter said good night to his roommates in a thoughtful mood and wondered why it felt like the lights had dimmed at her exit.  Maybe that healing ability that Sam had mentioned had something to do with it.  Undressing quickly, he crawled into bed and told the lights to turn off.  The walls were so thick that he hoped any sounds would remain muffled.

 It seemed odd that there were over three hundred people filling up the space where only ten humans and twice as many Ikiiri had lived for the last two weeks.  Kind of comforting actually and he smiled when he heard the sound of laughter from Seth’s room.  Very comforting indeed to know he had family right next door.  Thinking about what had to be done tomorrow, he fell asleep while counting his tasks.

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End of chapter 23