Star One: Tycho City Survival (35 page)

“It’s all
yours, Stephanie,” Mase said as he stood up.

Stephanie
nodded. She had a special team that broadcast the news and several others that
enjoyed doing the music. “I hear you’re having a cookout tonight.”

“Yes, we’re
celebrating our anniversary. Today makes three years since Linda and I got
married.”

“Save a steak
for me,” Stephanie added with a smile. “I bet Anthony is happy we finally have
steaks again.”

“Definitely,”
Mase replied with a grin. “The new animal habitats have allowed us to greatly
expand our cattle herd.”

“Don’t spoil
Anthony and Jolene’s kids too much,” Stephanie went on. “Their little boy is the
spitting image of his father.”

“And the girl
looks just like Jolene,” Mase added. Mase didn’t add that he and Linda had an
announcement for tonight. In six more months, they would be having their first
child.

-

Trace stood
looking out the thick, reinforced window in the new structure they had built
just outside the bunker. The large, two-story building was very similar to a
hotel. The second floor contained twenty-four small suites of rooms, each with
a small living room and a spacious bedroom. The outer walls were made out of
thick concrete blocks with multiple layers of insulation.

The bottom
floor contained a large cafeteria, comfortable rooms with couches to relax,
several rooms set up to watch movies, a workout room, and even a sauna. There
were also a few more living quarters on the bottom level. A concrete tunnel
connected the new structure to the bunker. The bunker itself had been expanded
over the years with added rooms and larger quarters.

“I like living
here,” spoke Emily, walking over and putting her arms around Trace. “It’s so
nice to be able to see outside.”

“I didn’t
think we would ever get this built,” Trace said as he looked out toward where a
large greenhouse stood.

This one was
much more substantial and could be used nearly year round. The only time it had
to be shut down was for six weeks when the temperature outside became too hot.

“I’m glad the
people from the other bunker came to live with us also,” Emily said. “It’s good
to see new faces.”

Trace nodded.
They had found another group of survivors just east of Tulsa. There had been twenty-six
in the other group and the two separate groups of survivors had decided to
combine their resources and build this new structure where they could all live.

It had been
necessary to repair a couple of bridges and a main road, but it had been worth
it. It had allowed them to greatly expand their search for material to build
the new building.

“Let’s go
downstairs and watch the news,” Trace suggested. He enjoyed watching the
broadcasts from the Moon. “Then later, I understand they’re broadcasting music
from the sixties.”

Emily laughed
and punched Trace in the side. “I can’t believe how you like that old music.”

Trace smiled.
Life was getting better every day. He was just glad he had Emily and Nate to
share it with.

-

Mase was in
the backyard of the small house that he and Linda lived in on the outskirts of Tycho City near the outer wall.

Standing in
the small backyard, Mase took in a deep breath. Taking a long fork, he checked
the steaks that were cooking on the grill.

“Still not
done?” asked Anthony, impatiently. He had been starving ever since Jolene had
told him they were going over to Mase and Linda’s for steaks.

“Be patient,
Anthony,” Phillip said with a friendly laugh. “The steaks will be done when
they’re done.”

Mase looked
over at his brother. It was great to have his family and friends all here
together. Phillip and his wife and their two kids, Anthony and Jolene and their
two young children, and then of course there were Karen and Anthony’s younger
sister Jean.

“The rolls are
done and the salad,” Karen said as she walked over to gaze at the steaks on the
grill. “I even managed to make up some potato salad to go with the steaks.”

“Potato salad!”
Anthony said, his eyes lighting up. He hadn’t had any potato salad in years.

“Yes, potato
salad,” Karen repeated with a big smile. “We have plenty of eggs from the
chickens, and we just harvested our first really big crop of potatoes.”

“How was your
trip to Farside yesterday?” Mase asked. Anthony still insisted on flying the
shuttles and had flown some food supplies over to the observatory complex.

“It was
routine,” Anthony reported. “Charles is all excited about a new comet he has
discovered. He says it will pass close to Earth and will be a spectacular sight
in the night sky.”

Later everyone
was eating and enjoying casual conversation. Mase looked around and smiled. It
was at times like this that he knew everything was going to be okay. He heard
the phone inside the house ring and wondered who could be calling. Since things
had calmed down, he received very few calls in the evenings.

Linda went
inside and then, after a few moments, reappeared with an incredulous look upon
her face. “That was Adam Strong over at Farside. They have made a fantastic
discovery!”

“What now?”
Anthony said feeling a cold chill run down his back. He well recalled the last
fantastic discovery the Farside scientists had made.

Linda grinned
and then made her announcement. “The comet that Charles discovered yesterday is
not a comet.”

“Not a comet?”
Anthony repeated. “Then what is it?”

“It’s the
FarQuest, and it’s rapidly approaching us,” Linda announced.

“The FarQuest!”
exclaimed Mase, standing up feeling an excited chill run up his back. “That’s
impossible! It went through the black hole!”

“Well, the
astronomers have used the Albertson reflector, and they have confirmed that it
is indeed the FarQuest and will be in communications range early tomorrow
morning.”

Mase looked
over at Anthony, his eyes shining with excitement. “I think we need to be in
the Control Center bright and early tomorrow. I just don’t see how this could
be the FarQuest. If it is, they would have to have travelled faster than light
to return here. We know the system they went to was over 57 light years away.”

“This means
they made it!” Anthony exclaimed with a big grin spreading across his face.

For the next hour,
they all were talking about the possibility of this indeed being the FarQuest
and what it might mean. In all the excitement, Mase and Linda forgot to make
the announcement about Linda being pregnant.

-

Mase and
Anthony were in the Control Center early the next morning. On the main
viewscreen was a faint dot.

“Is that
them?” Anthony asked excitedly as he gazed at the screen.

“Yes,” Major
Daniels replied. “They are traveling at an amazing speed and should be entering
easy communication range at any moment.”

“Sir, I’m
receiving a communication message from the FarQuest,” Kelly Stewart reported
from her com panel.

“Put it on the
speaker,” Mase ordered, his eyes lighting up. After so long he was about to
discover what had happened to Star One and the people that had been aboard the
giant space station.

Almost
instantly a familiar voice spoke. “This is General Avery Karver aboard the
FarQuest to Mase Colton. Mase are you still there?”

“It is them,”
Anthony shouted, his eyes lighting up. “If General Karver is on the FarQuest,
then that means that Star One made it safely through the wormhole!”

The entire Control Center grew loud with excited voices, and some people broke down in tears. Their
friends that had left the solar system over five years ago were still alive.

Mase stepped
over to the com panel and pressed the transmit button. “General Karver, this is
Mase Colton. It’s good to hear your voice again, Sir.”

A minute
passed and then the reply came over the speaker. “It’s good to hear your voice
also, Mase,” Karver said. “I am on the FarQuest, and we should be landing in a
few hours.”

“Landing?”
Mase spoke his eyes growing wide in surprise. “How is that possible?”

A minute later
General Karver replied. “We have made a number of changes to the ship,” Karver
explained. “Not only can we land on the Moon, but we can also land on Earth.”

The entire
Control Room grew quiet at those words. If the FarQuest could land on the
Earth, then perhaps they could adapt the same technology to the large shuttles
they had stored in the landing bays.

Anthony looked
over at Mase as he realized the ramifications of what General Karver had just
said. “We can travel to Earth,” he whispered in a stunned voice.

“We won’t be
separated anymore,” Mase spoke as he realized that the people on the Moon, the
Earth, and potentially Star One could travel to see each other again.

Anthony looked
at the viewscreen and the steadily growing white dot that was the FarQuest. “We
can travel to the stars,” he spoke quietly his eyes growing wide at the thought.

“Mase, Steve
Larson told me to tell you hi,” said General Karver, over the com. “You should
know he finally married Christy, and they have a little girl now.”

“Oh crap,”
Mase said as he looked over at Anthony, realizing what they had forgotten to
announce the previous night. “I forgot to tell you that Linda is pregnant; we
were going to announce it last night.”

“That’s great!”
said Anthony, smiling. He knew that Jolene would be really excited to hear the
news.

Mase looked
back at the viewscreen. He knew that, with the return of the FarQuest, their
future was now assured. He couldn’t wait to show General Karver what all they
had accomplished and tell him about the survivors on Earth. He was also sure
that the general would have an interesting and exciting story to tell all of
them as well. Mase smiled to himself; there was no doubt in his mind that the
human race was indeed going to survive.

The End

If you enjoyed
Star One: Tycho City Survival and want the series to continue, please post a
review with some stars. Good reviews encourage an author to write and help
books to sell. Reviews can be just a few short sentences describing what you
liked about the book. If you have suggestions, please contact me at my website
listed on the following page. Thank you for reading Star One: Tycho City
Survival and being so supportive.

I reduced the
price of this book from $3.99 to $2.99 since it starts out with an expanded
version of Star One: Tycho City Discovery. I didn’t feel that readers should
have to buy the same book twice, so I reduced the price to compensate.

There are a
few events in Star One: Tycho City Survival that I only touch on briefly. Those
events are covered in depth in Star One: Neutron Star and Star One: Dark Star.
These two books cover what happens with the space station, as well as other crucial
events on Earth and are a two-book story.

I am
considering several more future books in this series if there is enough
interest and the reviews are good. The new books would involve the survivors on
the Moon and the Earth as well as the survivors from the space station. They
would involve some galactic exploration and encountering alien races both
peaceful and hostile. If you’re interested in the series continuing please post
a review.

For updates on
current writing projects and future publications go to my author website. Sign
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Website:
http://raymondlweil.com/

Other Books by Raymond L. Weil

Available at Amazon

-

(The Slaver Wars Series)

Moon Wreck: First
Contact (Short Story)

Moon Wreck:
Revelations (Short Story)

Moon Wreck: Secrets
of Ceres (Short Story)

The Slaver Wars:
Alien Contact (Novel)

Moon Wreck: Fleet Academy (Novel)

The Slaver Wars:
First Strike (Novel)

-

Dragon Dreams: Dragon Wars

Dragon Dreams: Gilmreth the Awakening

Dragon Dreams: Snowden the White Dragon

-

Star One: Tycho City: Survival

Star One: Neutron Star

Star One: Dark Star

-

The Slaver Wars: Retaliation

Coming January 2014

-

Dragon Dreams: Firestorm Mount

Coming 2014

Turn the page for a brief description of
Star One: Neutron Star and an excerpt from The Slaver Wars: Alien Contact.

Star One: Neutron Star

It is the year 2044 on Earth. At the Farside observatory complex
on the Moon, a startling astronomical discovery has been made. A survey for
pulsars has found an x-ray source in a region of space where none has been
detected before.

Upon further investigation, they find that this x-ray source is
just outside of the solar system. The astronomers are paralyzed by what
they have found knowing what its disastrous ramifications might be.

A neutron star is approaching the solar system. It appeared out of
a small dust cloud that was shielding its approach. Armageddon has
arrived; the star is on a trajectory that will take it through the center of
the solar system. Life on Earth will not survive its passing.

The only hope for survival will be on the massive Star One space
station at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point or possibly in Tycho City deep beneath
the Moon’s surface. It will be a race against time to save a fraction of the
Earth's frightened population.