a wide variety of behaviors with the Alphans, depending 
upon one's characteristic nature and temper. Some had 
declined into a dull resignation or to sudden Religiousness.
Others however, wanted to no longer hold themselves back 
and developed hedonistic tendencies. And then there were 
those too, who, after their long years of living together 
in close proximity, let their dammed up resentment against 
one another suddenly run free. 
   All these behaviors however had one thing in common:  they 
had an extremely negative affect on the official discipline in 
the base. Already there had been several instances of 
functional disturbances which had endangered the security 
of the under-lunar building complex. 
   John Koenig was determined to not allow general 
choas to run loose. As a commander, he was responsible 
for all - for those who had already let themselves go, 
and perhaps even more so for those who had not yet 
given up despite all hopelessness. 
   Nevertheless, he could not deny that the intergalactic 
emptiness, into which the Moon had now dived, also 
affected him. The view of the screen strengthened this 
depression still. The conception that the next star system, 
the Andromeda Nebula, was around two million light-years 
distant, had already frightened him actually. Even when 
considering the fact that the Moon had a relativistic velocity 
compared to the far spiral nebula, it would still require an 
eternity in order to reach Andromeda. And humans of the 
Earth were not created for that eternity.
   The Commander turned away from the screen and slewed 
his armchair away from the remaining crew members in the 
Command Center too. They all sat at their computer consoles 
and monitors and followed their

17