Commander

Image by Torn MacAlester using OpenSim

By Torn MacAlester

 

The events in the crater weighed heav­i­ly on Nils Carmike. He near­ly killed his com­man­der, Mose. It was an acci­dent. Though, he felt defeat­ed as he stared out the Moon-ship win­dow, look­ing at the crater where it occurred.

“I need to put you on this new mis­sion,” said Mose. “I’ll need some­one expe­ri­enced and you’re the one that I will choose.”

“What are you talk­ing about? We can’t go back down there.”

“Yes, this mis­sion is over. What don’t you get about that? We made it. Now, you need a new mission.”

“I damn near got you killed.”

“That’s beside the point.” Mose said, “You know exact­ly what they are think­ing back at the Astro­naut office. Every one of them thinks Carmike doesn’t have the right stuff. He doesn’t have what it takes to go to the Moon. Carmike is a lia­bil­i­ty to the mis­sion. He doesn’t do his home­work. Carmike a waste of our time. It’s all bull­shit, Nils. I brought you up here with me because you have what it takes. Because of all that, I have a mis­sion for you.”

Nils looked at his mis­sion com­man­der. “What’s the mission?”

“Get back here.”

“Huh?” Nils asked, seri­ous­ly con­fused about what the mis­sion com­man­der suggested.

“Get back to the Moon,” said Mose. “You need to do it.”

“But you’re retiring.”

“You think you’re so smart, and yet you can be denser than any­one I’ve ever met.”

“I don’t get it,” Nils shrugged.

“How does my retir­ing affect you from com­ing back?”

“I—”

“If you can’t fig­ure it out, then you are dumb as a post.”