Nu Trilogy 1: The Esss Advance by Charles E. Waugh Page B

imbedded in the core. The ships contained enough consumables in their bowels to support a caretaker nursery staff of 2,000. Each ship also contained the parts necessary to construct six interstellar ships that would be required upon arrival. They would be needed to begin the search for the home of their first nursery planet.
     
    The six inter-galactic ships would be released at intervals that would allow them to arrive at the new galaxy far enough apart that their expansion would not encroach on the others for a long period of time. Also, the redundancy of sending six increased the chances that at least one would make the journey successfully.
     
     

Chapter 22 – Transition
     
    It had been exactly one week since Sted’s interviews at AMC and Lockheed. His exit interview with Vice Admiral Bunting had been quick and painless. He had palmed his signature on four different forms on the vice admiral’s desktop station, the most important one being his recognition of the Navy’s right to recall him to service in case of an emergency.
     
    His goodbyes with Emily and Alice were much more difficult. He had established a strong bond with each during the months of his recovery and considered both to be special friends. Without them, he would have probably died in his own self-pity. Now he was making a fresh start with a bright outlook. How could he ever repay the debt he owed these consummate professionals?
     
    All of this was playing through his mind on the shuttle ride from Tranquility Base over to the AMC Headquarters facility in the walls of the Shackleton Crater near the lunar south pole. With a shrug, Sted tried to change his focus from the past to the future. He had to compartmentalize his emotions and concentrate on his upcoming meeting with Cam Dunston and his staff.
     
    As the shuttle rose over the rim of the crater, Sted saw the lights from the landing field at the edge of the crater floor, about four kilometers below the rim. The landing field was in perpetual darkness, just as the heights were in almost perpetual sunlight.
     
    “If you look up and to your left, you can see the corporate tower rising above the crater rim,” the shuttle steward said as he sat down next to Sted and strapped in for the landing. “Mr. Dunston’s office is on the top floor of the tower, where he gets sunlight into those beautiful windows almost ninety percent of the lunar month.”
     
    “How do I get there from the landing field?” Sted asked. “I have an appointment with Mr. Dunston as soon as I arrive.”
     
    “Don’t worry. Mr. Dunston will have someone waiting at the shuttle station to take you directly to his office. I have given instructions for your gear to be moved directly to one of the corporate apartments high on the crater rim and facing outward. The windows in those apartments have a beautiful view looking directly toward Shoemaker Crater.”
     
    As the shuttle settled onto the lighted landing pad, Sted noted a much larger cargo loading area half a kilometer away. Shipping cranes were unloading large containers and placing them on what looked like railroad flatbed carriages. The tracks led into a large, open passageway in the wall of the crater. It looked like an efficient way to bring in parts and supplies for building the assay ships as well as consumable supplies for the local population.
     
    “Does AMC have any mining operations nearby?” Sted asked.
     
    The steward nodded. “Definitely. This location started as a mining operation and only became AMC’s headquarters after the discovery of the platinum group metals in abundance from the asteroid impact that formed this crater. In fact, this discovery was the reason for organizing AMC in the first place. The revenue from the original mining operation funded the entire corporate startup that became Asteroid Mining Company. If we found this many valuable metals in what was left in the impact crater, imagine what we might find in some of the asteroids