THE MOMENT
"Are you sure?" Commander Lyra asked as she took in the report. She sat in her office, in the makeshift Martian base, with her full attention on the rugged Major.
"Yes, Commander," the Major nodded. "It's steel, and the structure looks like an office building. It's definitely man-made."
"I see," she nodded. "Is there any chance of uncovering it entirely?"
"We think so," he said. His answer came with a broad smile. He was excited and there was no question why.
"Wonderful. Get to work, and I'll make the report to-," She began explaining, but a look of concern flashed over the Major's face. "Something on your mind?" she asked.
"Corporal Michaels," he said. "She was kind of rushed in at the last minute to replace Corporal Reyes; she's been rather enthusiastic about this find. Too enthusiastic...," he added.
"I see. Send her in and I'll make a determination," Commander Lyra said.
"Right away!" He nodded, then made his way out of her office. Lyra chose to wait on reporting because she assumed she'd have company in a moment, and she did. A knock came from the door.
"Come in," she replied and Corporal Michaels walked in with a beaming smile.
"You wanted to see me commander?" she asked. "The Major told you what we found, right!? Isn't it amazing!? What does it mean? What will they think back on Earth?"
"Sit down, Corporal," Lyra nodded at the chair in front of her desk and Corporal Michaels happily sat down.
"You're not in trouble...," Lyra began with that and the Corporal's smile vanished. But, she sat up attentively instead of interrupting. "You were a rather hurried, last minute addition to the crew. As a result of that, you've missed some of the finer, more detailed briefings. We caught you up as best we could," she gestured at the woman sitting in her office on Mars to hint that she'd made it this far. "You're here; but, now we need to catch you up on the rest."
"We're.... not telling Earth..?" she asked. Corporal Michaels was intelligent and she had an instant guess. Lyra nodded, then shrugged.
"We're reporting it to our superiors; but, more than likely it'll be kept from the public, and the government."
"From... the government? Then who are our superiors?" she asked.
"That was one of the key details you might've missed," Lyra nodded. "This mission is a private endeavor. A corporate sponsored exploration; we report directly to Sharp Development. I should say, you report directly to Sharp Development," she rephrased it as she put a hand on her chest to make it clear. "I'm a Sharp Employee," she said.
"You can't...," Corporal Michaels shook her head. "I mean... it's EVIDENCE OF SAPIENT MARTIAN LIFE! The Government has to know! It's my duty to--"
"You're wrong," Lyra shook her head.
"I'm sorry?" the Corporal asked. But, Lyra nodded.
"I'll admit, if this found structure WAS evidence of alien life, the government would have every right to know," she said.
"It's a building on Mars! What more evidence do you need?"
"It's a man-made building on Mars," Lyra nodded. "Not assembled by extraterrestrial life forms."
"What? You can't know that, we just found it!"
"It's already been verified," Lyra answered. "More specifically, it's a Sharp Development building on Mars. The key briefing you missed explained that we're here looking for something, and we've found it."
"How...?" Corporal Michaels was at least open to the idea enough to hear the reasoning. She had limited experience with Sharp Development before she joined the crew; but, everything she'd seen told her they were a very capable and secretive company. Her mind immediately jumped to assuming a teleportation experiment went awry and sent the building to Mars. How else would it get there? How else would Commander Lyra be so sure it was the building she was looking for?
"I'm afraid that's quite classified...," Lyra said. "But, there is no doubt that is what we're here for."
"And what about when we go back?" the Corporal asked. "I'm just supposed to lie to everyone and say we found nothing? I'm supposed to lie to my government?"
"They lie to you, I think it's only fair," Lyra giggled. "And, in this case, Sharp Development supersedes the government. You can consider it an order to lie."
"I don't think I like that order....," Corporal Michaels thought aloud. And, Lyra sighed apologetically.
"I'm sorry you feel that way...," Commander Lyra said. "I don't enjoy making threats; but, my job often requires doing things I don't enjoy. I must point out, that as a late addition to the crew... you are the only one to feel that way. "