“He said we’re on our own,” Teague told the others. They were sitting in his office. Natalia Romeo, Skyler, and Jasleen, each of their faces a mask of disbelief.

“Jesus,” said Skyler. “What does he expect us to do? Raid that other tunnel? We’re scientists, not soldiers.”

“Acceptable losses,” added Jasleen. “If things get bad up here, they can simply stop bringing supplies. This thing, whatever it is, won’t spread to Earth.”

“That’s cruel and terrible,” said the doctor, her face a scowl of revulsion.

Jasleen merely shrugged. “That’s survival. There are three hundred people up here and almost ten billion on Earth. Next to that, we’re collateral damage.”

“It’s hard to launch a military response when we don’t really know what we’re dealing with,” said Romeo, hoping to derail an argument.

Teague held up a hand in a placating gesture. “No one’s leaving us up here to die. We’re going to get through this. I told General Steen about Leneski and Daedalus, and he’s going to look into it. In the meantime, we just need to get through the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Earth has its hands full.”

“That isn’t going to go over very well with base personnel,” said Romeo.

“We have a coronal mass ejection bearing down on us,” said Skyler. “We don’t have a choice.”

Teague tapped his chin. “How’s our food production?”

Romeo consulted her slate. “Same as always. We can currently meet around thirty percent of Luna 1‘s food needs, with a seventy percent assist from Earth.”

“All right, let’s do all we can to increase that output,” said Teague. “And we’re instituting rations. Tell everyone it’s an experiment. A test of our capabilities. The goal is to become self-sustaining, right?”

“It’s going to mean doubled shifts,” she said. “Lots of overtime.”

“People will hoard food and water,” Jasleen added.

“And we don’t know what the CME is going to do to us,” Romeo finished.

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“How’s that looking?” Teague asked.

“Orbital Mechanics estimates that Luna 1 will be at least partially in the path by the time it gets here.”

“Here’s hoping we only receive a glancing blow,” said Teague.

“Either way, it will affect our power grid, at least temporarily. It’s possible it could fry our solar array as well, leaving us on backup battery power until we can send out a team to get it fixed.”

“Which we can’t do while we’re being bombarded by highly magnetized solar particles,” said Teague. He had attended numerous briefings about the dangers of solar flares and coronal ejections. Long-term space habitation made it an occasional if not routine possibility. But he’d never actually lived through such an event unprotected by Earth’s magnetosphere.

“Let’s see what we can do about boosting our backup power,” he said. “Rolling blackouts, something. If we do that, and everyone sticks together, I think we can tough it out until this chunk of the Sun passes.”

“What about Proteus?” Jasleen said, arms crossed. She looked quietly determined about something, and Teague wasn’t sure he wanted to find out what.

“Whoever is down in those tunnels is in as much danger as we are,” said Teague. “They’ll have to take the same precautions.”

“Not necessarily,” said Romeo. “Underground they’ll be slightly more protected, which includes whatever they’re using for power generation. The original Luna was supposed to have been constructed twenty feet beneath the lunar surface to protect base personnel from cosmic rays.”

Teague sighed. “Well, they still can’t do anything, like attack us, while the CME is plowing through. Going outside during the event would be a death sentence.” He thought of the thing that killed Morrison, and then Morrison himself, walking around outside without a moonsuit, and wondered if that was still true. “Look, Jasleen, do you think we can handle this?”

The security chief uncrossed her arms. “For a few days, yes. Rations. Backup power. Luna 1 personnel are nothing if not hardy. But any longer than that? I can make no guarantees.”

“I’m hoping you won’t have to. All right, everyone. You have your assignments. Dismissed.”

He waved to Jasleen to stick around as Romeo and Skyler left, then he sealed the door and locked it from his desk.

“What is it?”

“The General sent a care package up. It’s unmarked and doesn’t appear on any official manifests. He said it’s in case things go pear-shaped, and that you’d know what to do with it.”

Jasleen stared down at him, a million questions warring for dibs on her vocal cords.

“When I spoke with him earlier, he also said it might be time to unbox it. Know anything about this?”

“No, Commander. He never said anything to me. Any idea what it might be?”

Teague shook his head. “But I want you to go find out before that CME gets here. Keep it at the ready. I trust the General’s instincts and if he’s worried, we should be too. I’m afraid before this is over we’re going to need every edge we can get.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Jasleen spun on her heels and left the ready room.