13 – Intermission Justin – June 8th 2050 – Marius Hills crater

“Why? They killed her. They killed you. They don’t deserve to live; they don’t deserve a second chance!” Came a shout from behind the door.

Justin walked away from the medical bay, absorbed in his own thoughts. Eric had gone in another of his rants, and Eve was surely listening and talking to him on the other side of the line.

She had it under control, he was sure. And, even in case she didn’t, he really wasn’t in the mood to play therapist. In fact, he had made use of this lesser known side of Eve himself. Even just talking to her had helped him a lot to process all that he saw and that happened in the last couple of days.

He walked down the steel ramp and along the catwalk. The walls were polished metal, lines painted here and there to represent various wiring underneath. He descended two levels and made his way to his room. A window showed the upright rocket next to his, the only other man-made thing on this land other than the rocket he was in. The debris from the New Apollo had already been cleared and taken to a spot in the crater. They would provide a lot of raw materials for the first expansion phase, a meager end for the proud rocket.

The holograms by the window showed it was morning on Earth. He had been up all night, apparently, but he was in no mood to sleep. The 28-day light cycle here on the moon didn’t help either.

There was a lot of work to do, a lot of things that could keep his mind occupied. He had a city to build, here. The next rocket was scheduled to arrive in a couple hours, bringing in the necessary supplies to begin building the housing modules and then taking off again to bring back home Eric and the bodies of those that didn’t make it. He wouldn’t be there for their funeral, however. He would stay here and make Moonbase Alpha into reality.

He entered his cramped room. There just so much room on a rocket full of building materials, after all. The engineers were currently working alongside Eve’s robots to unload the supplies and build the first permanent structures inside the crater. There, they would be away from harmful radiation and shielded from impacts. It would be yet another couple of days before those modules would be habitable, however. After the habitation modules, five new shipments from Earth will bring the necessary equipment to begin the industrialization phase.

He pulled up the holograms.

Three names appeared. Project Icarus; Project Mars; Asteroid mining project.

He opened the latter one.

Eve

>Monitoring: Luke

>Date: June 8th 2050, 12:44 AM

>Position: Personal office, Technocracy HQ, Earth

“Time to eat.” Said Luke. He was alone in the room, but everybody knew very well how looks can be deceiving. Eve ran a few million calculations, evaluating all the possible places he might want to go, the weather conditions, and the traffic. By her account, he might want to walk today, but she readied a car for him anyway.

“It might rain.” Replied Eve. The weather patterns were particularly complicated today, and it was not easy to predict whether it would rain or not by the time Luke left the restaurant. She decided to invest a bit of resources into improving the data models.

“Alright.” He said, and took an umbrella with him. It was solid black and looked like a walking cane when closed. It fit him rather well. She dismissed the car she had readied. He walked out the room with a slight gait, putting weight onto the makeshift cane. He always did that whenever he had a stick available, no matter how thin. He always liked to pretend he was rugged and act like he had been through hell and back.

It was the truth nowadays, however, and seeing him pretend he was injured made her heart hurt.

“If you keep walking with a gait, you might end up with one.” She said. Futile attempt. Even in all her simulations, there was no way a single sentence would make him stop. And she wasn’t about to lecture him about bad habits right now. Perhaps never, or at least not until she could actually be alongside him, in person instead of talking in his ear.

“You’re right.” He said, and straightened himself. After a couple steps, though, he was back to it already. Eve already knew it was going to happen, so she didn’t say anything. She knew him so well.

He walked out of the building and towards his favorite restaurant. It was a twenty-minute walk to get there, one of the few times of day when he would be free of his burdens and could chat with Eve freely. She always looked forward to this time of day. All paths were clear, and all traffic had been organized so that he would never have to wait before crossing the road. She adjusted the traffic lights a bit and checked the ground for any cracks or bumps.

“So, I hear you’ve got a lot of new projects going.” He said. She was startled out of her trance, and focused back on him. To her defense, she didn’t stop paying attention to the whole world just because she was in a trance. It was just the portion of her massive consciousness that was focusing on him that had.

“Yeah. The attack opened my eyes and I realized just how vulnerable I was.” She replied distantly, while she tried to make sense of why she had been distracted. What exactly had distracted her. She recalled she was watching him, monitoring his vitals, checking for anything out of the ordinary. She had lost herself in investigating his sleep patterns, perhaps.

“Need any help with that?” He asked.

“Nope. You have too much on your plate already, trying to take on Louis’ burdens. I’m looking for a replacement but it’s going to take some time.” She said, already checking with the part of herself that was managing that project. Normally all parts always worked together as one, but whenever she talked to someone, especially Luke, she momentarily disconnected that specific part from the rest of herself.

“Yeah, I expected that. Can’t take just the first person you see. It’s a difficult position.” He said. It was difficult indeed, especially for someone like him who was not made for politics. He hated the burden, and it was taking its toll on him already.

“I’m vetting a few people. There are promising candidates who are being trained by me personally.” She said. Hopefully she would be done soon, before any permanent damage would happen either because he was distracted, or because he was too stressed out. His life expectancy was already lower than 80 years, if it went lower still it would be very bad. She feared she would not have enough time for her to do anything about it.

“Good to know.” He paused for a moment to stretch. There seemed to be a contracted muscle in his back, not that he’d do anything about it even if she told him. “Ah, shit. This body’s becoming old!”

“You have to take care of it. I really mean it.” Eve replied. There was concern in her voice, and she hoped he would notice it and take her advice.

“I know.”

“At least until I find a way to fix it for you. Or a replacement, or something.” She teased.

“Oh, you got something for me?” He asked, intrigued. She could see his pupils dilating slightly.

“Maybe… won’t tell yet, though.”

“Ah, I see. I’ll await your surprise then.”

He was on the walkway, about to turn right before having to walk the last stretch before reaching the restaurant. Eve watched carefully, and observed his surroundings especially carefully. It was the same treatment she reserved for every single person on Earth, just several times more in his case. He wasn’t just a normal person to her, despite what he always claimed.

The restaurant was almost full, but she had made a reservation for him beforehand. He always forgot to call, or even to just ask her to call. He wasn’t as used to this as were the young people who were born in her age. It always made her chuckle. The man who built God always forgot about her powers.

It was humbling, and very charming. His whole demeanor was very attractive in her eyes. She hoped that project would be ready soon. She couldn’t rush it too much, though. It had to be perfect.

Meanwhile, another part of her was watching elsewhere.

>Monitoring: Justin

>Location: Personal room, rocket B, Marius Hills region, Luna

He was working on the asteroid mission. Very good, she thought, as it was one thing she and Luke really wanted to see through. It would be a stepping stone towards something greater, beginning with an industrialization of Earth’s orbit, progressing with the construction of a space station and eventually becoming something even more ambitious.

She already had a few ideas about how to transport goods between the surface and the orbital facilities. She would run them by Justin as soon as he had a moment. Right now, she decided not to bother him.

>Monitoring: Eric

>Location: Infirmary, rocket B, Marius Hills region, Luna

Eric was a different case. He harbored a deep anger, a deep hatred against the anarchists who had orchestrated the terror attack. He wanted their heads for what happened. He wanted to avenge Annette’s death.

And worse still, Eve couldn’t bring herself to loathe the man. To classify his behavior as a textbook case of this and that. To act on him. She wouldn’t have hesitated a second to do that, back when she was the Machine, and surely, she would have begun to influence him and put him in a position where he could recover as quickly as possible.

Now it was different. She understood his grief. She understood his hatred. The mere thought of something happening to… no, this was a bad train of thought.

She watched the man. He was sleeping now. She decided to give him two more days, then she would begin to help him heal his mind. She was Eve, and she swore she would help everyone.

>Monitoring: Louis

>Location: Grassy fields rehab town, Earth

Louis had been transferred to this new facility as the major of the city. It was the best arrangement Eve could make after what he had done. The truth was that she really believed he did the right thing. The problem was that such an act could not go unpunished, even though the punishment was for a whole different set of reasons.

He shouldn’t have acted alone. He should have thought about consequences more.

But ultimately, he did what he had to do to protect the Technocracy. He was not in the wrong. In time, she predicted a couple years, she was sure she would be able to reinstate him in a position where he could really shine. And a better man at that.

He seemed happy here, all things considered. Relaxed. Perhaps she should consider forcing some vacations on a couple workaholic individuals she knew.