From: Koenraad Gertodtenhaupt

To: Soloviev, Nikolaos

Delivered-To: Soloviev, Nikolaos

Date: 14 Sep 2421 06:31:42 +0000

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Subject: Re: Weekly report: 27 March 2419

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Kolya - I've read your report of the 10th. I'm glad to hear that

you're getting things back on track out there!

It's especially good to hear that the last of your crew has

recovered from whatever bug you all caught after the crash. I won't

lie: you had us all worried, Kolya. To lose so many people right

off, and then to have everyone who was left fall sick...I was

afraid we might lose the whole colony.

On that note, it's great news that the interim hab is completed,

and your hydroponics are coming up cleanly. By the sound of it,

you'll be able to keep yourselves fed and housed until the second

expedition arrives. It's grim to say, but given the reduced

carrying capacity of what's left of your startup equipment and

supplies, the loss of so much of your crew in the crash might prove

the saving grace of the colony as a whole. In any case, whatever

you and your remaining people are doing, you're all really pulling

through for us, and I want you to know we know it.

By now you'll have heard of the new treaty between the Moon and the

Titan colony. It's pretty tense here at home these days. Nobody's

talking out loud yet about a war, but it's in the air; nobody wants

to come out and say it, but everyone knows it's coming. And it's

going to be bad, when it finally does get here. You know, I heard a

couple of days ago that the silo ships have started shifing

orbits. That hasn't happened since the Titan crisis. They didn't

launch then, and neither did Luna, but now...

That's why it's more important than ever you stay alive and healthy

out there, Kolya. All of you. It's not just about money and status

any more, not for me. I think it's going to be very bad here before

long. Worse than it's ever been. I'm not sure how many of us will

make it through, and as delicate as Earth still is...You and yours

out there, at Ross and Gliese and the other colony systems, you

might be the best hope our species has left. You need to protect

that hope above all else.

And that's why I'm not sure what to think about your crew members

who've been mutated as a result of the disease. Are you sure you're

safe? Those of you who are still human, I mean. Twenty-seven of

them...That's almost ten percent of your entire remaining crew. Are

they still the same people they used to be? Do we really know what

they might do? What they have, what's happened to them. Can we be

sure it's not still contagious, or that they might not try to

infect everyone else with it somehow? They're not human any

more. Can we really assume they still have the best interests of

humanity at heart?

Kolya. You're a compassionate man, and I know that. It's one of the

reasons we've had such an effective working relationship for so

long. But you know as well as I do that, in times of terrible

crisis, sometimes compassion has to be put aside for the greater

good. You and the others who are still human carry a share of what

may be the only hope left for humanity, once the war is over. I

know you'll all do whatever you have to do to protect that hope.

Let me hear from you again soon, Kolya. Everyone back home is

counting on you.

Koenraad Gertodtenhaupt

Senior Vice President, Business Development

Ross 128 Ventures, LLC

"Developing new worlds"

kgertodtenhaupt@ross128-ventures.com