The Order of Today - Part I

8th March

Fort-Leiher Offices, Yttrium Valley, Artemis

"We should keep waiting it out. See which way the wind blows."

William Fort, my cousin and the President of Fort-Lieher, was talking to me from the other end of the line. His rhetoric, however, was starting to annoy me. The refusal to take a side was starting to annoy me. The fact that there was a four second delay on the line was starting to annoy me.

"Look here," I began, unable to hold back my frustration any longer, "what reason is there to keep waiting? Jianyang and Medano have both taken sides, China is preparing military 'training exercises', if we don't take a side soon, we will just end up caught in the middle of the two. We can't just keep waiting it out, we'll lose everything on the moon.

Ever since this afternoon, when the Chinese government announced to the world what Frank Scuderi planned to do, things had begun to intensify at an alarming rate. Within minutes of their government's announcement, Jianyang also condemned any attempts at lunar independence. I guess that makes it clear how China discovered Scuderi's plot. Following this, Ms de Vries announced that Medano would be willing to back an independent lunar movement, if there was an independent lunar movement in the first place. Stuping woman. The cat's already out of the bag. Both Huesong and Ingprad had yet to announce anything official, but both, Ingprad especially, seemed to be in support of Scuderi, from talks I'd had with Hue-Song Jun and Rachel Larsson.

During the four second dealy for my message to travel to Ecuador, and then for William's reply to reach me, I stared intently at the screen willing him to see my point. William was in Ecuador which had recently been 'acquired' by Fort-Leiher. Starting about ten years ago, some of the world's largest corporations began to acquire smaller nation-states. This was done by moving large amounts of assets into the target country, which then accounted for a significant majority of the country's gross domestic product. As one of the largest transnationals, Fort-Leiher had done this in Albania, Mauritania, and now Ecuador. The main offices of the corporation were still in New York and Leverkusen, but much of their manufacturing, human and capital resources, had been moved into the three aforementioned countries. There was also talk of potentially expanding and acquiring a fourth country, probably somewhere in Africa, but it was getting harder and harder to do so. Nation-states that were unacquired by transnationals, were beginning to band together, coalescing into what has become known as superstates. The European Union, Asia-Pacific Economic Coalition (APEC), and ASEAN, are all examples of this. Smaller states banding together, often under the leadership of one or two larger states, to combat the growing power of the transnationals.

On the screen, I saw William's mouth begin to move, "I get it. However, the best move for now is to see how it plays out. We will have to make a decision, yes, but there is no need yet. Mr. Scuderi hasn't even announced his planes publicly yet. Who even knows when he does plan to?"

I sigh. He didn't get it after all. I don't think I can convince him. You really feel the physical distance between the moon and the Earth at times like this. Up here, I am surely in the better position to make decisions regarding issues on the moon.

"What would you do if it was your decision, Charles?"

The question throws me, and I have to take time to think about it. I haven't really thoughr about it much, because I knew it wasn't going to be my decision to make. Do I think that an independent moon is beneficial to Fort-Leiher? How would that work? What would our position be on the moon?

"I'm not against the idea of an independent moon," I begin slowly, "but I don't think that Frank Scuderi's moon is what we want. What Frank will bring to the moon... to the world as a whole... is not going to be beneficial for anyone but himself. Him and his moon are not the best options for Fort-Leiher."

I say the last line with conviction. That's right, Frank Scuderi is not the right person to lead the moon, or anything, really. A lawless man, who has failed to bring law to the moon. I think he overestimates his own power. He believes that from the moon, he can force the giant transnational corporations and superstates to accept whatever tinpot government he sets up? What a fool. Transnationals like Fort-Leiher and superstates like APEC are too powerful in their own right to ever be pressed into submession by a single state. By a single man. And besides that, his character is not befitting of a world leader. Frank Scuderi is a godless man who believes in no power but himself, he rules the moon as a tinpot autocrat, and he sleeps with anyone and everyone. Men, women, crossdressers even, if the stories are to be believed. No, his world, the world that he wants to create, is not something that should ever be pursued.

"I see," something in William's tone seemed somewhat sad, "it is my decision, however, and my orders are to wait it out for now. There will come a time when we have to make a decision, but it is not now."

With that, he ended the call. I've never liked William. Although he is my cousin, he's more than ten years my elder, and that meant he was more like an uncle to me. My father was the previous President of Fort-Leiher, but William had always had something that I myself lacked. He was charismatic, a great negotiator, and especially cautious. These talents had made him much more favoured than me among Fort-Leiher's executives. And when my father retired fifteen years go, I had been seen as less experienced and had a much smaller reputation. So, the presidency fell to William instead. I try not to be bitter about it, but it still ticks me off. I went to the moon, because I thought it was my last chance to replace him as president. Under my leadership, Fort-Leiher became one of the five tigers of the moon. But whilst I did that, William expanded Fort-Leiher's terran assets, even acquiring another country in Ecuador.

Fine, maybe he was the better choice for president after all. But that doesn't change the fact that I have the greater experience in lunar affairs. Should he not defer to my judgement in this scenario? Fuck William. Fuck Frank. Both of them can go rot in hell for all I care. It would make my life a lot easier with both of them gone.

I sit in my office for a little while, calming down. I look at the news on my phone. No change. I assumed Scuderi would be making an announcement sooner rather than later, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Did he get cold feet? That seems unlikely. From his attitude the other day, this seemed like something that was in the working since he even stepped foot on the moon. As if he believes this was his destiny. The working of whatever, if anything, he believes in. Who knows what he is planning? Every decision he has ever made has never made much sense to me. Although, I didn't previously know that this was his goal all along.

I can't be focusing solely on Scuderi, however. His mind is clearly already made up, that this is what he is doing, and therefore if I want to stop him, I need allies to oppose him. Fuck what William said. I'm here on the moon, I need and should be the one to make decisions on the ground here.

As for Scuderi, I'm sure most of the Earth will be against him, but he still can take control of the moon from up here. Afer all, he claims he has the capability to defend Artemis from the Earth. And with the establishment of the colony on Ceres, there is no longer any resources the moon relies on Earth for. Water can be imported from Ceres if necessary, food can be grown in labs and hydroponic farms in the Stockholm and Iowa lava tube systems, energy can be provided by helium prospecting on the Mare Serenitatis, and building material can be synthesised from carbon. So, in the short-term at least, the moon can be self-sufficient. The only problem with Scuderi's plan, is that it is unsustainable in the long-term. The journey from the moon to Ceres and back, is almost two years, even with the most recent technology, which makes reliance on water from Ceres unsustainable. The moon is also still in need of a much larger population to be truly self-sufficient, and the only source of people in the universe, is the Earth. So, if Scuderi can't end any war for independence in a short time frame, he will be forced to surrender. If he has organised opposition here on the moon, it will be near impossible for him to achieve his goal.

But who will oppose him? I think Scuderi was smart in approaching the economic leaders of the moon. After all, the current state of Artemis is a capitalist utopia. No regulation, no government intervention, and that makes the coroporations the rulers of the moon. Of the five tigers, Medano is allied with Scuderi, and Jianyang against him. The rest are on the fence, undeclared, for now. It must be mentioned, Scuderi also has the backing of Artemis Energy, presumably. On the moon, I act with the authority of the entire Fort-Leiher organisation. My word is as good as the word of Fort-Leiher's president, but it will not go down well with said president if he learns what I plan to do, so I need to keep this secretive. That means if I contact either Hue-Song Jun or Rachel Larsson, I need to do so in private. Of course, I have ways to do that, but the question is whether I can trust either of them to silence.

Ms Larsson has indicated since the six leaders met, that she will likely act in opposition to us, Fort-Leiher. This only makes sense, due to the lunar market competition between our two corporations. Ingprad and Fort-Leiher, collectively control about ninety percent of the synthetic food market on the moon, and the share is split almost fifty-fifty. This has made the two natural rivals, and so it would be beneficial for the survivor if one of us were to collapse, or at least lose our lunar presence. Because that is what is at stake here. Backing Scuderi and having the independence movement end indisaster will lead to the destruction of any corporation that supports him.

So, that leaves Huesong as the only real option for me. Hue-Song Jun is on friendly terms with Scuderi, but she holds her cards close to her chest. And I'm sure her friendship with Scuderi means little to her, especially when it comes to her family's corporation, Huesong. Huesong is perhaps the second largest corporation on the moon, behind Artemis Energy, and one of the olderst. Their opposition would mean something. That decides it. I have to win over Hue-Song Jun to my cause then with that, Ingprad and perhaps even Medano, will join us in opposition, and the independence mobement will be defeated. I can't imagine how delightful it will be to see the look on Frank Scuderi's face when he realises all his years of work to get to this point will be for naught.