Mr. Lachsteigen sat in a restaurant in Heathrow Airport, London. He browsed through "The Financial Times", noting the prices of various metals, silver, platinum and gold. He had been to the Central Selling Organisation at one of ten annual sites for buying rough diamonds. He now waited for a flight to the leading diamond-cutting centre in New York. A few minutes later he set off to board his flight and the plane departed for New York at noon. Early on in the flight an airhostess offered him champagne but he refused. He asked for fresh orange juice instead. Then he set into his seat like jelly in a mould and thought deeply of how his life could have been. He could have been like everyone else. He could have been less wealthy and would have been valued for who he was and not by how much he owned. He could have had friends, someone to trust. He looked out the window. The sky was growing deeper in colour and an orange hue like amber was creeping into it from the West and sticking under the delicate wisp-like clouds as sap would adhere to an insect and smother it until trapped in hard incandescent amber forever. To those peering in from the outside, time seems to move slowly for wretches encased in ornament, as distant objects do not pass out of sight at any noticeable rate until innumerable lengths have been journeyed or incalculable measures have been made. The moon was now clearly visible, in the first quarter stage, trailing motionlessly and its luminosity silvered the waves of the dimming sea below. The splay of light was fading. Soon all that could be seen in the sky was the brilliant Moon and Mr. Lachsteigen hesitated from falling into an uneasy sleep. When the aeroplane landed in La Guardia Airport, New York, Mr. Lachsteigen was driven to a first class hotel. He made his way to his pre-booked room, no. 777. He settled in immediately and ordered pears and yoghurt to be sent to his room in twenty minutes. Less then twenty minutes later, there was a knock at the room door. Mr. Lachsteigen strode to open it but was surprised to see four men standing at the door. "FBI," one stated and they displayed their badges. Mr. Lachsteigen examined them closely, then asked "Is there a problem?" "Could you come with us please, Mr. Lachsteigen," the agent replied. "Have I done something wrong?" "I think you should come with us right away, Mr. Lachsteigen, and we will explain everything." Mr. Lachsteigen followed them warily and they led him to a helicopter on the roof. They mounted the helicopter, which took off into the air. Mr. Lachsteigen was seated beside a man in a black suit and glasses. "Greetings Mr. Lachsteigen. I hope we haven't caused you any inconvenience but your presence has been requested by the Government of the United States. I'm Frank Macmillan, head of NASA. I'll explain everything when we arrive back at NASA Headquarters. For the Moment just sit back and enjoy the ride." Mr. Lachsteigen felt reassured. Maybe NASA wanted to use some precious stones to make lasers or something like that. For the next few hours the helicopter hummed like a mosquito to Washington DC. The sky was opaque and blue and no clouds stratified its smooth, cabochon surface. The inlayed sun gilded the plains below, which soon passed beyond the horizon behind the helicopter to reveal new terrain ahead. Some time later, the helicopter descended and hovered above ground level for a while before it touched the "H" on the heliport. The mumbling of the rotating blades diminished to a murmur. The agents escorted Mr. Lachsteigen into a building close by and led him along plain corridors to a small room where he and the man in the black suit with glasses entered. Everyone else remained outside. The door was shut and locked. The box-like room was featureless except for a rectangular table and two straight-back chairs, one at each end of the table and the silver metal door from which the two men entered. "Take a seat," said the man in the black suit, while gesturing to a chair at one end of the table. Mr. Lachsteigen obeyed cautiously. Now he eyed the man closely. He had deep, black hair and bushy eyebrows and his glasses were quite thick. He looked like a mathematician. Then the man said "Barely a handful of people in the world know what I'm about to tell you, Mr. Lachsteigen. I ask you to remain calm and I'll explain everything, slowly and clearly." Mr. Lachsteigen prepared himself for bad news. "For more than a decade we have been building and completing a space station on the Moon. The space station now has enough food in storage to feed a thousand people for a hundred and twenty years. It is a huge dome of glass several metres thick and has a radius spanning many kilometres. Within the glass dome there is an ecosystem similar to that on Earth. The atmosphere consists of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide, like the Earth and there is soil and water for plants to grow. Nothing can escape from the dome and nothing can enter except light and heat from the Sun. At present, the dome can facilitate up to eight hundred people." Then Mr. Lachsteigen asked, "What has any of this got to do with me? "I haven't quite finished," replied Mr. Macmillan. " About two months ago a comet was observed approaching the Sun. Within these two months we calculated the path the comet would take on its journey through the Solar System. It is estimated that, due to the gravitational pull of the Earth, the comet will collide with the Earth on its return journey from the Sun. The comet could be as much as a thousand kilometres in diameter, the impact would probably wipe out all life-forms, with the exception, perhaps, of some primitive bacteria and the simplest plants or fungi. We think the comet is composed of an iron-nickel alloy. Such a comet would be very difficult to exterminate by the use of nuclear missiles. We think the only hope for the survival of the human race is to send a selected number of people to the space station on the Moon to live there until it is safe to return to Earth after the dust cloud caused by the comet has cleared." Mr. Macmillan paused and an empty silence filled the room. Mr. Lachsteigen became more aware of the box shaped room. All the walls were white, the ceiling was white and the floor was also white. There were no windows and nothing could be heard from outside the room. Then Mr. Macmillan began again "There are already five hundred and twenty scientists, astronauts and ecologists in the Dome Space Station. We have decided to send two hundred and eighty of the fittest, most educated an most intelligent from different countries of the developed world to ensure the survival of the human race. We tried to include as many languages and religions as possible. We have selected you, Mr. Lachsteigen." "Why me?" enquired Mr. Lachsteigen. "For a number of reasons. We know you're a very intelligent man. You studied languages in university and can speak more then ten fluently. This would be very valuable for communicating between peoples of different languages. You are also Jewish. We try to include as many people from each religion and race as possible. We have to satisfy the survival of all types of people, variety is one of the qualities of mankind. There is another factor. Being the wealthiest jeweller in the World you are obviously very rich. We thought you could use this money to fund the space station project and we'll ensure you get more rights and privileges in the Dome. Money won't be worth anything on the Moon and won't be much use when you're dead either." Mr. Lachsteigen was transported to the Kennedy Space Centre on Merritt Island in Florida. A week later a space shuttle was launched to the Moon, with Mr. Lachsteigen and other selected people. This was the last time he would see the Earth because the Dome Space Station was on the "dark" side of the Moon, which faces out into space…