by Paula Austin

     John Koenig’s feet grudgingly carried him toward his post at Command Center. It wasn’t that he wanted to shirk his duties, he would rather die first. Too many times he had put himself in the way of danger in order to save the remaining population of Moonbase Alpha. Now he just felt impotent. In the past few months Alpha’s systems had begun to deteriorate rapidly. Systems that had been patched and rebuilt were giving in to the wear and strain of everyday existence. There were no more replacement parts, nor materials to make them from. Even if replacements had been available the manpower on the moon was reaching an increasingly critical low. The hardships and alien attacks they had encountered since leaving Earth’s orbit had left them with barely enough skilled technicians to keep the moonbase operational. For all intents, it appeared to John Koenig that Alpha had reached the end of it rope.

     As he approached the door to Command Center he aimed his comlock at the door’s sensor. The door opened slowly emitting a low groan.  He shook his head in resignation. Inside he noticed that Tony Verdeshi was leaning over one of the scanner consoles talking to someone in a low tone.

     “I’m afraid she’s done for, sir.” said a maintenance technician from his position on the floor. He was working in an open panel.

     Koenig leaned over to get a closer view. “What’s up?”

     Tony straightened up and rubbed the side of his neck. “Oh, it looks like the port side long range scanners are out for good. We’ve tried rerouting it, but there just isn’t anyway to bring it back online. Marco has tried every trick in the book, but nothing.”

     Koenig frowned. He knew how much losing that scanner might cost them. They would be largely blind on that side of the horizon. Anything could sneak up on them or get past them without their knowledge. “I know you did what you could, Marco” he said to the technician.

    “Thanks, Commander. I’ll see if I can scavenge some parts, but I wouldn’t count on it.” he picked up his tools and exited Command Center giving the noisy door a sympathetic look as he left.

     Before the door could close Helena Russell, Alpha’s chief Medico entered carrying a large folder. From her expression it was obvious that it wasn’t a social visit. “Hi, John. Tony.” she ran her hand across Koenigs unshaven chin. “New look, John?”

     Koenig raised a self conscious hand to his face. “No power or water this morning. You got out just in time.”

     “Did I? Hmmm....” Helena was giving Koenig a look that spoke volumes.

Tony turned and started examining the overhead screen trying to give the couple some privacy. It was no secret that they shared quarters, but Tony felt like an intruder.

     Helena returned to her professional character. “Don’t go Tony. What I have to say you both need to hear.” She held out a chart towards Koenig that she had brought in with her. On the cover it read: Life Support Log.

     Koenig scanned through the file as he listened to Helena’s news. “After the damage was assessed from the last space warp we found some fairly serious problems. The CO2 scrubbers are down to 35 percent efficiency. We have depleted all resupply inserts and lack the raw materials to make new ones.” She ran a hand through her hair like she usually did when she was worried about something she could do nothing about. “It’s not urgent right now, especially with Alpha’s depleted manpower there are fewer of us producing CO2, but none-the-less it will become a problem. A insurmountable problem.”

     Koenig’s face became clouded. “How long?” the affection had left his voice. The commander was in control now.

     “I can’t say for sure,” Helena sighed deeply “Two or three months. Unless we lose another, the who knows. I recommend that all off duty personnel restrict their activities.”

     A frown crossed Tony’s face as he looked at his commander. By his expression he could tell John was thinking the same thing. Moral was already at an all time low. Fights had began to break out all over the base and he doubted if it would improve conditions if he told everyone not on duty to sit in their quarters doing nothing. How much more could they ask Alpha’s population to endure? What do you do when hope is running out? Tony knew they needed one more miracle, but held out little chance for one.

     “Commander!” Sandra Benes voice rang out. “I have something on the long range scanners.” Sandra began to furiously punch buttons on her console.

     As a group, Koenig, Tony and Helena moved toward her. Helena unconsciously crossed her fingers and Tony said a prayer to the virgin Mary. John Koenig held his breath.

     “What have you got?” John spoke quietly, as if a loudly spoken word would jinx them.

     “It’s pretty far away, but it appears to be a solar system. One sun, one planet and one moon. The scanners are not very dependable right now. It will take a few minute to organize this data. Perhaps if Maya were here to assist...”

     “Call her in, Tony.” John said firmly. 

     Two long hours later the remaining command staff sat in the conference room pouring over the data that had been collected. Koenig felt a sense of urgency to get as much information as possible. He didn’t tell anyone else, but he felt this was Alpha’s last chance.

     “Okay, let’s go over what we have on the planet one more time. Preliminary data indicates a breathable atmosphere, ambient temperature is tolerable, plant life and vegetation seems to prosper, but no animal life.”

     Maya interrupted “None we have detected yet, commander, but our assessment is far from complete.”

     “I understand, Maya” John waved a dismissing hand in her direction. “Still, we have to consider this a very likely home. The problem is we are only in range six days and that is barely enough time to complete Operation Exodus successfully.”

     Alan Carter who had been sitting quietly in his chair listening suddenly became animated “Operation Exodus? John, you can’t be serious. It would take weeks to gather enough information for a decision like that.”

     “Weeks that we don’t have, Alan” Koenig stared Carter in the eye. “We haven’t got the luxury of time and we sure as hell don’t have time to sit around waiting for a ‘perfect’ planet. Let’s face it, we’ve wandered around in space looking for the right home. It looks like we might just have to take what we can get. We don’t have time to be choosy.”

     There was silence around the conference table. In light of their own situation it was difficult to disagree, but no one wanted to give up hope of returning to Earth and their loved ones. Sandra, who seemed the least at ease with the prospect spoke up.

“What if we get to the planet and find our situation just as dire. There can be no turning back. I, for one, prefer to die here on Alpha.  Besides, Maya’s calculation showed we should be returning to Earth within 25 years. Could not a few of us stay with the moon?”

      Looking down Koenig softened his voice. Sandra was like a daughter to him and he knew how scared she was and how scared she could be. “We know we only have a few months left on the moon. Already our life support systems, scanners and everyday machinery are breaking down and becoming irreparable. We can barely keep Alpha running as it is. We are extremely undermanned and soon we won’t be able to do anything but watch each other die. We have to commit one way or the other, we can’t survive  in either place if we split up. I don’t see any choice but to initiate Operation Exodus immediately. At least on the planet we have a fighting chance. I think we should have an open vote now. This isn’t a democracy, but I want your opinions.”

     They looked slowly around the table at each other trying to read each other’s thoughts. No one spoke immediately, because no one was comfortable with their choices.

     “Okay, let’s see a show of hands in favor of Operation Exodus” Tony said raising his own hand slowly.

      One by one they went around the table. Helena, hand raised; Maya, hand raised; Alan, slowly raised his without looking at his companions; Koenig raised his own. Sandra sat silently for a moment then slowly raised her hand “I have reservations about this decision, but realize we must move as one.”

     “Thank you, Sahn.” Koenig said as he squeezed her shoulder gently.

     Alpha was gutted and unrecognizable as Koenig made his final inspection of Command Center. The lights were dim and he barely made out the figure of another person in the room. As he approached, he realized it was Sandra sitting alone in the dark. He took a seat beside her and looked around in the darkness. “You’ve done a good job, Sahn. I’ve depended on you a lot these past years and you’ve always come through. Even though you got dealt some pretty tough breaks. It shows you’re a strong person and we are going to need strong people to survive on the Terra Alpha.”

     Sandra sat silently for several seconds unsure what to say. Should she tell the truth: she thought they were making a mistake? No, she had always stood by the commander and she would do so even now as her heart ached. She would leave a lot behind. Lost loves

and memories both good and bad had made her the woman she was. Saying goodbye to Alpha would be saying goodbye to so much more to her. Still, she felt she had one last duty. “Commander, before I leave for the surface I would like to leave a message for anyone that finds the moon. Something to let them know what happened to us.”

     Koenig considered the request for a moment. It seemed reasonable enough, and would give Sandra a measure of closure. Besides, if the moon did make it back to Earth it would be helpful. “That sounds good. You’d better make it quick though. I’ll have Alan wait for you.” He got up and looked around one last time. So many memories. “See you on the surface.” He said as he turned and left.

     Sandra got up and went to the recorder. What would she say and would her words ever be heard she wondered. She keyed the microphone “Moonbase Alpha calling Earth.....Moonbase Alpha calling Earth.....”

Paula Austin

1999