Monday November 9, 2071

Barry Oaks was tired and hungry after having just completed a 14 hour shift operating the excavator deep within the Shackleton crater. In the deepest parts, temperatures have been found to get down below -397 F, making it one of the coldest places in the known solar system. He’d just discovered a huge pocket of frozen ice just 15 meters below the surface. As one of the crew, an excavator’s job was to mine raw materials and water, to supply the two rotating, donut shaped Trojan colonies positioned at L4 and L5 Lagrange points in the Earth, Moon orbital system.

Artemis Base Luna was just one of twelve Lunar bases that consisted of six bunkers. Artemis was built into the sides of Shackleton Crater near the South Pole of the moon. All six bunkers formed a hexagon with a circular area in the center surrounded by a geodesic dome, serving as a garden. The entire base depended upon solar panels to heat the complex. The problem with solar panels is that the dust tends to stick to everything because the moon’s surface is charged with up to several thousand volts. Shocks were common and they’d been trained in how not to get themselves fried.

Barry parked the excavator and walked towards the portal. Though the sun was brightly shining, the sky was black and clear. Stars didn’t twinkle like they did on Earth, they appeared as bright pin pricks. Earth floated like a blue and white orb just above the horizon with just a sliver in darkness. He thought of his wife and daughter as he picked out North America.

Barry turned a heavy wheel that opened an air tight door. Once inside he had to turn a wheel on the inside to close it. Two more doors just like the first to go through before entering a pressurized room filled with a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen. These rooms had vacuums to suck away the dust. 

Once inside Barry strutted down a short corridor eager to tell his team mates the good news. Before reaching the common area of the bunker named Artemis Beta, he stumbled and flew into a wall. It was still hard getting used to the lower gravity of the moon. If he weren’t careful, a small leap or skip could propel him head first into the ceiling panels. 

As he entered the common area, he noticed his coworkers Zhang, Josh, Fred, John and Kate gathered in front of the large monitor mounted on the wall in the cafeteria looking rather grim.

His buddy Zhang Yu, grabbed him by the arm. “Have you seen this wild shit going down on Earth? Some terrorist just took out the president and most of the congressmen. in DC.”

“Don’t be joking like that, it ain’t funny.”

“No joke, dude. The fucking world is on edge,” Josh said, raising his voice.

Barry pulled off his helmet and sat down in one of the chairs as a frantic, older male newscaster relayed the unbelievable breaking news.

“Two hundred confirmed deaths, many found in various degrees of decomposition. Yes, you heard me right. Many of the bodies were found stripped of all flesh. This gruesome scene was observed shortly after a man described by eye witnesses as the Angel of Death, was found exiting the Capital building and bursting into a cloud of flames.”

“The vice president has been taken to a secure location as martial law has been established in the DC with Army tanks and helicopters being deployed to stop the massive looting and chaos happening in the streets.

“Earlier this morning, Wall Street was subject to a massive attack similar to the one in congress as well as the cyber attacks that wiped out the bank accounts of most Americans and half of the world.  A terrorist attack is suspected, but we still have no idea who or what was behind these incredible deaths.”

“Oh my God, what does that mean for us?” Barry said, glaring at the screen with his mouth hanging open. 

“It’s the end times I’m telling you. My grandma said Jesus would return and the wicked would be punished. You can’t get any more evil than politicians,” said Josh Campbell, the tall, blonde engineer from Tennessee, rubbing the small silver cross dangling from a chain around his neck.

“I don’t believe in God. This is the act of terrorism. People are starving and desperate. The government will get this under control,” said Zhang, shaking his finger at the screen. “China would have crushed this insurrection early on.”

“I’m scheduled to go home in three days. Do you think they’ll still be coming?” Kate said, looking up with teary eyes. She sat on the edge of the chair shaking like a small dog. 

“I’m sure they won’t forget us. We’re the future of mankind for God’s sake, Isn’t that right, Josh?” Fred, the youngest member of the team, said rubbing his fresh crew cut.

“Yeah, don’t you fret none. They wouldn’t dare abandon us. Barry said, picking up his phone. He dialed the number of his wife in Columbus Ohio, but it went straight to voicemail. He dialed again and got the same thing. “God dammit! What’s wrong with the phones?” he said smacking his phone.

“Smacking it ain’t gonna help. I tried my family a few minutes ago and got the same thing,” Josh said all wide eyed and shaking. “Our preacher always said Jesus would return like a thief in the night.”

“Don’t you be scaring the boy with all this foolish talk, Josh. It’s probably just some nut case with a grudge against the government,” Barry said, turning to Fred placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “We’re gonna get through this shit.”

Ellie Strickland, the communications officer, rushed into the room. Her thin red lips pinched tight and her hair in a tight bun. She stood erect and raised her head to speak.  “I see you already heard what’s happening. I just got a message from General Olson. He just said that the military’s on full alert. There’s to be no communication between us and the civilian population due to ongoing threats. He said to wait for further instructions.”

“What in the hell does that mean?” John Graves growled as his bulk towered above the thin officer. “Does he think we’re some sort of security risk? I need to talk to my family, Ellie. I didn’t sign up for this gig only to be told I can’t call home. Fuck this shit!” he shouted, slamming his fist against the wall.”

She took a deep breath and sighed, looking him right in the eyes. “I’m sure this is only for a short time. Things are crazy down there. We need to stay calm and remain professional. We ALL want to talk to our families, John. Just give it a little time,” Ellie said trying to calm the men down, but she too felt the unease and uncertainty of the moment.

“Have we had any communication with the Trojan colonies on L4, or L5? ” said Kate Miller sitting on the couch in her red sweat clothes, her knees knocking together as she spoke.

“Yes, they seem just as worried as we are.” said Ellie.

“So who’s got the damned Phoebe transports. They were supposed to be here two days ago,” John yelled. “I don’t feel comfortable not having at least one of them here.”

“L4’s got both of them right now. The other one’s docked at L5, but it’s being worked on. They’re supposed to be sending one here tomorrow,” Ellie said. “Any more questions?” she said looking at the sad faces.

“What about that damned special transmitter and computer array at Center Bay?” Barry said.

“We don’t have enough fuel to reach it, and besides, it will take weeks to get there.”

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I gonna get fuckin’ drunk,” John said walking towards the liquor cabinet.

“No, we are not going to do that, John. We need to keep a clear head and continue to do our jobs,” Ellie said sternly.

“And what are you gonna do if I don’t?” John said mockingly, standing beside the liquor cabinet with his large arms resting on his hips.

“Please, John, I don’t want to have to write up up for insubordination,” she said glaring at him. 

“Oh, you’d do that wouldn’t you,” John said moving towards her as he towering above her.

Barry jumped in between the two and put his hands on John’s chest,  pushing him back from Ellie. He whispered in John’s ear. “Come on man. She’s not worth getting in trouble over. Let’s go chill out in the rec room. We need to burn off this frustration.” He winked at Ellie as he led John towards the gym.

Barry and John got on the treadmill and ran in place. John was sprinting, making the machine hum. His body was glistening with sweat as he was chugging for breath.

“You trying to beat my black ass in a race, John?” Barry said, picking up the pace to match John.

“Fuck no…I just…can’t stand…that…fuckin’ cunt,” he said gasping for air. He slowed down to a walk. “That lezzie bitch has had it in for me since I got here.”

“Don’t let her get to you, man. Things are just gonna get a lot worse, and we need to keep a level head. Our families are depending on us. I need to take a shower, eat and get some sleep. I just finished a long shift,” Barry said heading for the shower. “By the way, I forgot to tell you, I hit a large pocket of ice.”

John looked back and cracked a slight smile, then gave a thumbs up.  

The next day, Barry returned to the excavators, along with Fred and Josh. His hands shook from the worry he felt for his wife and family back home. He wanted to check his bank account. Rachael might be without money or food, he thought. He sighed and shook his head. The communication silence angered Barry, but he fought back the urge to complain to his superiors. Even a hundred years after the Civil Right era, it was still hard for a black guy to get a good paying job as an off world engineer.

When their shift was over, Barry and the guys rushed back to the common room. When they walked in the room, he saw his friends sobbing uncontrollably. He hesitated for a moment, hating to ask the question. “What happened now?”

“Someone let loose a killer plague. It’s like nothing they’ve ever seen before,” Zhang said, staring at Barry with puffy eyes. China reports over 3 million deaths so far. I need to see if my family is okay.“

“I need to call home, now!” Barry said, reaching for his phone.

“Barry, we’ve all tried. All phone service is down all over the world. We’ve lost contact with Houston,” Ellie said, staring at the monitor. Her lips were scrunched up into a tight ball, but it was her wild eyes that gave away her fear. 

“What? But aren’t they in a bunker or something?” Barry said, pacing the floor. “Houston is supposed to be one of the most secure sites on Earth.”

Captain Tim Baker, a small, thin, balding, middle aged man entered the room shaking his head. No one stood as he entered except Ellie who called out, “Attention!”

Everyone except Barry stood. The Captain sighed, “I know this fucking looks bad, but we need to keep it together. If we’re to make it back home, we need to continue what we are doing.”

“Why should we? If our families are dead, what is the point of going back? Who’s gonna save us now?” Barry said, resting his head in his hands. His eyes were wet with tears.

“General Teirnan assured me they are working on sending a ship to pick us up as soon as one is ready,” said the Captain.

“What about our damned Phoebe? Ellie said it was going to be here today.” John said sarcastically.

“Unfortunately, they cancelled the delivery,”said the captain.

“Oh Fuck me!” John said, leaning back in his chair dragging his palm across his face. “I need my God damned cigarettes.” 

“It’s the four horsemen of the apocalypse,” Josh said, holding his Bible open to Revelation. “When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a pale horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hell was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

“Shut the fuck up with all that religious bull shit! Its not the end of the world yet,” John said, clenching his jaw and growling at Josh.

“Wonder if it’s true? Are any of you ready to repent for your sins. God will punish the wicked,” Josh said, raising his Bible in the air.

“You done it now, you Goddamned freak,” John said, running at Josh and pinning him against the wall. Josh got loose and punched John on the side of his face which sent John into a rage, tackling Josh to the floor punching him over and over.

Barry and Fred ran over to break the two men apart. Josh spat and kicked.

“Let go of me, Barry. This is between me and this fucking prick,” John yelled.

“Break it up men! Now that’s an order,” Captain Baker yelled. “Stand at attention.”

All four men stood, breathing heavy. John looked over at John gritting his teeth.

“Now that’s enough. There is going to be order here. If we want to survive, we need to work together and keep our wits about ourselves. We need to believe that things will be okay.”

The next day, panic broke out among the colonists of Trojan L4. Five men shot and killed eleven colonists, then stole the two functional Phoebe transport ships and piloted them back to Earth. Unfortunately during the melee, the outer shell of the torus was penetrated by stray bullets and the pressurized atmosphere was venting into space. Barry and the rest of the crew would not learn of this news until a few days later. 

“Artemis Base Luna, this is communications officer Marko aboard Trojan L4. The situation here is dire. We were able to seal off two sections of the torus, but unfortunately it was the sections housing the gardens. We lost our entire crop and oxygen levels and pressure is low. I’m afraid the colony will fail within a few weeks unless we can get help.”

“Trojan L4, this is Ellie. I am so sorry. There is nothing we can do. We don’t have any Phoebe transports either. Have you heard anything from L5?”

“Negative, there’s been no communication since last night. As far as I know, they don’t have an operational Phoebe either.”

“You hang in there Marko, hopefully L5 heard your distress message and is repairing their Phoebe now. Perhaps communication is just down.”

“I hope so, Ellie. I’m really scared. Pray for us.” There was a sigh and then silence.

Ellie sat back in her chair and covered her mouth with her hands. She decided it was best not to tell the rest of the crew.

The crew continued to work despite the bad news. All communication between the Earth and Moon had ended with that last transmission that Ellie finally decided to share with everyone else. Nearly two weeks went by and finally there was one short text message that appeared on the monitor. 

“I hate to be the one to bring you this news, but most of the major cities are empty. The plague has killed off nearly a billion of the world’s population. Dead and dying are lying in the streets rotting. There will unlikely be a rescue mission to retrieve you in the near future. You are on your own. Good luck and God bless you,” Lt. Dan Wagner.

The crew sat quietly as if in shock.  Barry gulped and started breathing quickly. Fred stood up and ran to the lavatory. We could hear him throwing up his meal. Kate put her head in her hands and sobbed.

“What the fuck! How in the fuck are we gonna get home? I don’t wanna fuckin’ die here!” John said, flipping over a table.

Barry walked over and put his arms around John. “We’re gonna get out of this shit, dude. We just gotta find a way.”

Josh sat with his hands in prayer. Tears rolled down his face, but he didn’t say a word.

Zhang moved closer to the screen and mumbled something in Chinese. 

“I don’t wanna fuckin’ die. My God damned wife and kids are back there and I can’t do a damned thing for them,” John said, sobbing into Barry’s chest. 

Barry walked over to the keyboard and typed message after message, pressing send, but no reply.

“They can’t just abandon us. There’s got to be some way back,” Barry said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I’m gonna check on Fred,” Kate , walking to the lavatory. She tried to open the door, but it was blocked. “Fred, are you okay in there?” There was no answer. “Fred, honey, please open the door.”

There was only a strange silence as everyone stared blankly at each other. Barry, John and Zhang ran to the door and forced it open. Fred was lying in a fetal position in a pool of blood. A bloody shard of glass fell from his fingers. He had sliced his neck from ear to ear. Kate screamed and ran to John’s arms.

“Oh fuck! This just got real,” Barry said, reeling in shock as he bit down on his fingers.

Two months had gone by since that last message and Fred’s suicide. All seven of the surviving men and women assigned to the Artemis were in a state of shock and despair. The crew had continued to do their jobs as if nothing had happened. It was the only way they had to stay sane. 

The days leading up to Christmas seemed a bit stressed. The crew were strangely silent and when they did talk, it was short and snappy. I mean, yeah, everyone wanted to be home for Christmas and wanted some sort of miracle, but there was still no further communication from Earth or the Trojan colonies. 

On Christmas Eve, Barry decided to go to work like every other day. The rest of the crew took the day off to celebrate the holiday. Barry couldn’t see the point of having an idle mind. It was pitch dark on the depths of the crater. He thought of his wife and daughter and wondered if they were alive and celebrating Christmas. Hope in whatever form, had kept him going.  That night after another long shift, he returned from the crater. Once inside the bunker, he noticed something odd as he walked down the hallway towards the common room.  The crew mates were quite drunk, surrounded by garbage and half eaten food. Apparently John had broken into the ethyl alcohol storage tanks and started drinking heavily along with half the crew. In one corner of the room, John and Kate were drunk and fucking like rabbits. 

“You wanna join us, Barry?” Kate said, waving her hands as if riding a bull.

Josh was sitting in a chair, plucking pages from the Bible and tossing them into the air. He held a half empty glass of booze in his other hand.

Barry shook his head, sat down and put his feet up on the table and took a deep sigh.

Zhang sat crossed legged in the corner of the room staring at a pile of photographs he had laid out on the floor before him, mumbling something in Chinese.

Zhang walked across the room and stood in front of Barry. “We’ve formed a suicide pack. You wanna join us? We plan to do it tonight,” he said with a slight smile. “Doc Tsu said he can shoot us up with a lethal dose of morphine.”

“No, no stop this crazy talk. What the fuck is wrong with you people.  We’re gonna get out of this,” Barry said, waving Zhang away. 

“They’re right. You know they ain’t coming for us, don’t you?” Josh said, shaking his head. “Maybe Jesus doesn’t know we are here on the moon. Maybe God has forsaken us,” he said with puffy red eyes wet with tears.

“What does the Captain say about all this?” Barry yelled.

“It was the Captain that suggested it,” Zhang said. “He found Ellie dead in her bunk this morning. She wrote a suicide note then took a lethal dose of morphine.”

Captain Baker, and Doc Tsu walked in the door carrying vials and syringes on a tray.

Josh walked to Doc Tsu and said, “I’ll go first. I ain’t afraid to die.”

As the doctor prepared the syringe, Barry shook his head and said, “You seriously ain’t going through with this, are you? Josh, let’s not do this.”

“Come on brother, do this with me. There is no hope man,” Josh said as tears rolled down his face.  He rolled up his sleeve and presented his arm to Dr. Tsu. “There’s no one coming for us.”

The Doctor administered the injection and Josh laid down on the floor.

John got up off the couch, standing naked with a big glass of alcohol in his hand. He downed the glass and said, Fuck it, I’m next.”

“John, you don’t have to do this!” Barry screamed, but John just turned to Barry and shook his head no.

“Fuck this shit! I’m not gonna be a part of this crazy shit. Fuck it!” Barry stormed out of the room as Doc Tsu prepared another syringe full of morphine.

Barry walked back to his personal quarters and sat on his cot staring up at a picture of his wife and daughter. He donned his spacesuit and plucked the picture carefully from the wall. As he was leaving his room heading for the airlock, he put on his helmet, and glanced back. The rest of the crew was lying peacefully in a circle facing each other. Barry opened the sealed door and walked outside of Artemis base, up a small rise atop the crater wall and sat on the dusty ground as the sun shone down on him, casting sharp crisp shadows. This cold bleak world felt like a coffin. He stared up at a crescent Earth and thought of his wife and child. Were they alive and thinking of him at this moment? He pondered his own death and determined he didn’t want to die, but he also didn’t want to be alone. 

A few hours had passed, an alarm on his helmet was going off warning him that his oxygen levels were getting low. Ten minutes left until oxygen levels were depleted, but Barry sat staring off into space. “I think I’ll just sit here a few more minutes,” he sighed. “No need to hurry.”