Free The Earthrise Trilogy by Colin Owen Page A

just taken on a new meaning.  
    "Lark." Steve said.  
    "The Lunar Ark," Clare replied.
    "Right, section heads, here are the plans of the layout, off you go and explore. I want a report from each of you detailing what we have here, and what we can expect from all this."  
    Some very excited people left the control centre in a hurry.  
    "Listen," Eric said, opening a window.  
    "It's birds, I can hear birds daddy," Shelley said.  
    "And cows and sheep too," Chris said.  
    "I don't know about you lot," Steve said, "but I'm going for a walk in those fields."
    They found their way out of the control centre and down onto the grass. It had the most wonderful smell, and the air was so fresh.  
    "What kind of power is it Bill?"
    "It's hydro electric Steve, it all runs on water, there's no pollution here at all, well, except for what the animals produce..."  
    "Point taken," Steve said looking at where his feet were treading. Steve allowed himself quite some time walking, it was so refreshing to find all this here, even the type of lighting used resembled daylight.  
    "Another Star Labs invention," Bill said, as Steve was looking. "That and the reflective coating on the cavern walls. Together they create a very reasonable facsimile of daylight, and everything is timed to resemble day and night. We just arrived in the middle of 'their' night."  
    "They must take some juice Bill."  
    "Not as much as you might think Steve, but in any case, we have more than enough power here, and we're only running half of the generators."  
    "Wow, I must say I'm impressed. General Hammond was a real visionary, it's a pity he's not here to see its fulfilment."
    Several hours later everyone gathered back at Lark's entrance and returned to the surface. "It's getting late," Steve said, "we'll meet tomorrow at 10-am for those reports."  
    The company split up and went to their respective apartments. Steve and Clare took a stroll around the lab section. Kay had done a really good job, it would all be operational within the next couple of days.  
    "You've been very restrained Sweetie," Steve said to Clare, as they headed to their apartment.  
    "What do you mean?"  
    "You haven't told me about your plants."  
    "Ah, I see, well you'll just have to come and look for yourself." She answered, a little smugly.
    ❧
    Tea at the Foresters was its usual mix of fun and bedlam. Shelley had volunteered to say grace and boldly launched out with, "Dear big daddy, thank you for this food and all the wonderful things you've put in those big larders, amen."  
    Clare had to look away to hide the laughter. Fortunately, Rufus had jumped up onto the sofa, which gave her the excuse she was looking for.  
    "Rufus, get down!" She hollered. Rufus just looked back at her, bemused, and flopped onto one of the cushions. Steve lost it and burst out laughing, tears rolling down his cheeks.  
    "O how blest we are," he cried out towards the ceiling.
    Tea was wonderful, as usual, but today, a joy had hit them all, together with a sense of peace, that could only be described as supernatural. Steve looked at Clare who was grinning from ear to ear.  
    "I don't know Hun," she replied to his unasked question.  
    "I don't know what we did to deserve all this," he said, at length, "but I for one am grateful to be here." Then with eyes closed he mouthed, 'Thank You Lord.'
    ❧
    The next day, all the section heads gathered to bring their reports. Eric had managed to complete the work on one of the unfinished sections of the main dome, a conference room.  
    "Very nice," Steve commented as they all filed in. "Find a seat everyone and let's begin."  
    Farming volunteered to go first. "Well," Gareth began, "we seem to have around 50 acres of grazing land, this is what you saw yesterday. Beyond that are another 50 acres with all kinds of vegetables planted, and there's yet another 50 or so acres with fruit trees and bushes. Livestock comes to almost 500 cattle, 1000 sheep, and we