Drummond was unconscious for the better part of seven hours. When he finally opened his eyes, and looked up at smiling face of his own son, it didn't take long for him to realize what Saunders had done. He had already broken dozens of laws, broke protocol and disobeyed orders from everyone in his government, even the President. What harm would it do to add kidnapping an officer to the list of offenses? Drummond groaned as he sat up in bed. As his vision came into focus, he could see Eric standing on the other side of the room, slyly staying out of arm's reach some Drummond couldn't punch him. He looked up at Eric and sighed.
"I should have seen this coming," he started, "Why did you do it?"
"I was worried that the big wigs might try to make you the scapegoat," Eric explained, "Especially if they found out I took your son."
"Is that the only reason?" Drummond asked.
"No," Eric said, sitting down. "I wanted you to be my military advisor. Not only because I trust you but I also know that you trust me. You were willing to leave me to care for your only son. Trust like that is vital is important to the success of this mission. It will make the difference between living and dying."
"That is so cool!" Gabriel called out.
"Yes, it is." Eric agreed,
"I ought to kill you for what you did," Drummond said as he stood up, "But it wasn't like I was an eager participant."
"You were not," Eric admitted, "Even the Captain knows you were taken without consent. He's willing to testify to that as well."
Drummond stood up and then something dawned on him. "How am I standing? I thought we would be in zero gravity in space?"
"That's something me and a team of engineers took care of." Eric answered, smiling. "It's why I needed to lower the capacity to twenty-five thousand."
Drummond held his hands up, "Not in the mood to listen to stuff that I likely won't understand to begin with. The fact is I'm here and you can't exactly turn back and drop me off. Now that the world knows about the existence of our project, it would be best to carry on with our mission."
"I couldn't agree more," Eric said as he gestured to the door, "Follow me and I'll take you to today's briefing."
"Briefing?" Drummond replied, "What briefing?"
"With the other ships," Eric replied.
Drummond took a deep breath. "Lead the way."
It took the better part of twenty minutes to walk down hallways and climb up stairs to make their way to a specific room that was near the bridge. Drummond could tell them were closer to the bridge because the gravity was getting lighter. Once they were in what looked like a situation room, they were able to begin the briefing by introducing Drummond to everyone present.
"Sergeant," Eric said, gesturing to the Captain, "This is Captain..."
"Webber, Anthony Webber." Drummond said, slightly surprised. "We met when I graduated from the naval academy. You made the commencement speech."
"I did," Webber said, smiling, "Good memory, Sergeant."
"What are you doing here?" Drummond asked.
"I was asked to come out of retirement," Webber replied, "This man here made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
"He has experience with both military and commercial boats," Eric added, "He seemed like the ideal candidate to Captain the ship with our most prized cargo."
"What did he offer you?" Drummond asked.
"Safe passage for my son and grandkids," Webber answered, "They're on the decks below. When the Elpis lands, I have agreed to take command of one of the other Stargazer ships."
"Hold on," Drummond interrupted, "When the Elpis lands?"
"Take a seat Sergeant," The Captain replied, "All will be answered during the briefing. Would be better to just get on with is so we don't have to explain it twice."
Drummond had more questions, but agreed that it was better to just sit down and learn through the briefing. When he did so, the screen to his left changed and they were looking at two separate feeds, the Captains from Stargazer four and five. Then another screen showed a face that was familiar to Drummond, it was someone from his own command, someone he hadn't heard from in a while.
"Ms. Jones?" Drummond called out.
"Sergeant," Samantha called back, "Nice to see you again."
"Where are you?" he asked her.
"I'm on Mars," She answered, "I left with Stargazer One."
"You're already on Mars?" Drummond said, looking back at Eric.
"As I already explained," Eric started, "Stargazer One and Two left several months ago. They've made a lot of progress since making it to the red planet."
"Unbelievable," Drummond cussed, "Now I really want to punch you."
"Not now gentlemen," Captain Webber interrupted, "Ms. Jones, please give us an update on the construction of Stargazer Colony."
"We've been making great progress." Samantha replied, "We are two weeks ahead of schedule. Stargazer Three and Four arrived just in time, as we were running low on building supplies when they made orbit. Now that those ships have landed, we are working hard to finish construction before The Elpis arrives."
"The ships landed?" Drummond repeated, "I'm not following this."
"After speaking with several architects," Samantha started, "We determined the original plan, which was to make spider like bases with smaller bunkers was not the right way to go. It would take too much time and supplies to do it."
"I brought in some other architects," Eric added, "And they helped us come up with a better way to construct a colony."
"Is that so?" Drummond asked, "What was your plan?"
"To use the ships," Captain Webb answered, "Stargazer one landed and itself has been transformed into the center of the colony. From there, we use the supplies from Stargazer Two, Three and Four to build connections that will expand both the ship and connect to the other ships. We are using the hulls of Stargazer One, Two and Four to convert them into one massive dome that will house the majority of our residents when the Elpis arrives."
"That's ambitious." Drummond said, "Will it be ready for us when we get there?"
"It appears so, Sir." Samantha answered for him. "When the ships are completely united to create the expanded colony, it will have enough room to house over fifty thousand people, double of what is coming over on the Elpis."
"Why so much space?" Drummond asked, "Why not bring more people if we have the room for it?"
"The spare room is for future generations." Eric replied, "for future families that will be bred over the next twenty years."
"By then we will have converted Elpis into its own colony." Samantha continued, "Which will be connected to the other colony by a monorail."
"What about the other ships?" Drummond asked, "Are they all being converted into future colonies?"
"No," Eric answered, "Stargazer three is going to deliver supplies for the colony and then leave to re-enter orbit around Mars. It will eventually be converted into a space station that will watch over the colony and the planet."
"Stargazer Five and Six will be decommissioned and torn apart after all supplies are exhausted." Webber added, "We will use the outer hull and engines to create transport ships, smaller vessels to keep physical contact with the Stargazer Three once it becomes the Mars Space Station. Stargazer Six will also remain in orbit after it delivers its supplies as well. Once the Elpis has off loaded its passengers, it will relocate to its final resting place, a backup of sorts if we need it."
"If everything goes according to plan," Eric continued, "Stargazer Six could head back for Earth. I'm hoping we can get more supplies and more people on board before the asteroid comes anywhere near the planet. We'll be cutting it close but I think we might have a chance."
"You plan to head back to Earth?" Drummond asked.
"We will," Eric answered, "But only after our work on mars is finished."