The Commander by CJ Williams Read Free Book Online

that was part of constructing a small city. That including providing homes for everyone to live in.
    Samantha sent Luke after Ambrose Baker, the senior manager for engineering and construction at a large multi-national corporation. He, in turn, brought along structural engineers, architects, and an entire construction team. Luke promised the builders a full year contract, with options to stay longer if they wished.
    Everyone hired had to sign an employment agreement acknowledging they would be out of touch for a full year.
    Annie in particular breathed a huge sigh of relief when the construction crew showed up. She had been running ragged, furnishing all of the existing rooms. With the arrival of the construction team, Luke sent Annie back to Earth almost full time.
    She flew to Seattle where she contracted with the international firm, Okada Accounting, to manage their payroll and other financials. Even if their employee’s worldly needs were being supplied, wages still had to be deposited to real bank accounts. Talented scientists could be tempted by exciting research, but people wanted to know there was a paycheck somewhere.
    Luke didn’t want Annie getting bogged down with accounting and auditing requirements. She complained that she could handle those activities; she was an accountant, after all. Her complaints vanished when he tasked her to oversee the infrastructure development of the Baggs airport, starting with a thousand-bed luxury hotel and convention center.
    Luke hated to dump so much on her young shoulders, but her financial skills weren’t necessary on the moon; money didn’t exist at Moonbase. Instead, he needed a partner planetside who knew what was going on. Someone had to prepare for the day when the secret of Moonbase One’s existence became public.
    “It’s going to happen at the end of the first year,” he told her. “That’s when the employment contracts start expiring.”
    Luke hoped most of their recruits would remain on the moon, but if even a few employees returned to their hometown, the word would be out. When that happened, he expected two significant events. First, he could openly recruit people to come work on the moon; and second, their growth would explode. They had to be ready for that growth. It meant infrastructure on the moon, of course, but it also meant preparing a base of operations Earthside. The airport at Baggs was going to be that base and Annie had to get it ready.

Day 80—Population 27
    “We don’t have weapons?” Luke asked. It was an unsettling discovery.
    “None at all,” Lou Morrow admitted. Morrow had arrived the day before to oversee the fleet development for a new space navy.
    Morrow was the second oldest guy on the moon, next to Roth. He had a grizzled look, earned from a lifetime of building mammoth seaworthy vessels. Samantha said that Morrow was the last true visionary when it came to shipbuilding. He was responsible for many of the advances built into new aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines
    The morning after his arrival Morrow went to his new boss, Samantha, and insisted on having an emergency meeting with Luke. In turn Samantha pulled in her boss, Roth. They now sat at the small conference table in Luke’s Moonbase office.
    “But that’s what you’re going to build, right?” Luke asked. “You will meet our need for ships and weapons.”
    Morrow looked at the ceiling. “George, why don’t you summarize what we talked about last night.”
    “Of course, Lou,” George responded. “Commander, Mr. Morrow is referring to my lack of knowledge about weapons systems that are capable of mounting an effective strategic campaign against the alien advance.”
    “What do you mean, your lack of knowledge ? If authorization is a problem, I’m authorizing you to tell him everything you know.”
    “Thank you, Commander,” George replied. “That was assumed. His concern is that I have no knowledge of such weapons.”
    “Seriously? I mean you really