Lunar One

Chapter 15: The Town Hall

     The town hall took place in Lunar One's main hanger, which was the only area big enough to fit most of the people who resided there. Close to two hundred and fifty people packed themselves into the massive room, eager to speak about what happened and what the lunar base intended to do in the near future. Commander Gordon as well as Doctor Hoffman thought doing an open meeting would be wise to update people on what was going on and assure them that food supplies and other vital necessities were in good shape. IN other words, there was nothing to worry about on Lunar One. This was to be more like a briefing, but since not everyone on the base were soldiers, which is why Hoffman warned the commander to be patient with those who wanted to speak out and maybe ask a question or two. Gordon was confident that he wouldn't be interrupted to the point where he wrote down notes to make sure the briefing went as smoothly as possible. He was taken by surprise about halfway through when Morgan Taylor was the first to raise his hand. Gordon looked over at him, curious about what the young Doctor had to say.

     "Doctor Taylor," Gordon said, placing his notes down on the podium they had pulled in there for the meeting. "Do you have something to add?"

     "More of a question, actually." Morgan said, standing up so everyone could see. "I was wondering if you had any idea when we would be holding the next election."

     "The next election?" Gordon repeated.

     "Yes, shouldn't we elect our next leader?" Morgan then countered.

     "What makes you think Lunar One will have one?" Gordon retorted.

     "This base is build and commanded by the United States of America, was it not?" Morgan asked, eager to know the answer.

     "You know it was." Gordon replied.

     "Then this base is supposed to follow all the rules," Morgan continued, "Especially the constitution; the very same document that you and every soldier on this base took an oath to uphold against all enemies, foreign or domestic."

     At that moment, everyone turned to face Gordon to hear his answer.

     "I don't understand what you're asking," Gordon said, clearly stalling.

     "Chances are, our Commander in Chief is dead." Morgan called out, "Since the entire chain of succession is likely dead as well, wouldn't it be our responsibly, no, our duty to elect a new President?"

     At that very moment, most of not all of the soldiers in attendance began to clap and cheer as they were strong supporters of democracy. Gordon looked around and began to realize that fighting this idea was futile. So he decided to attack the idea from a different angle.

     "We have no proof the President is dead," Gordon argued, "She has a bunker that was quite capable of surviving. We should make every effort to make contact before writing her off."

     "That's not a bad idea," Morgan said, "But we should still elect a new leader to take over until those communications are restored."

     Gordon rubbed his temple. "When do you suggest we hold this election? November is a few months away. Do you mind if we do it on the first Tuesday like we always do?"

     "Sounds like a plan to me," Morgan replied, "But if you plan to run, Commander, I should remind you if you run for President then you would have to resign your position with the military."

     There was a hush amongst the audience, as most of them were aware of the many guidelines that limits what an active solider can or cannot do when running for public office. Gordon did his best to remain calm despite just being asked to step down from his command.