They Also Serve

A pilot arrives at a lunar outpost to find the surface dome hastily moved underground after a nearby planetary species launches a crude remote craft. The base commander recounts how competing factions on the planet boast and test rockets, and how any sign of an external presence would likely unite them against outsiders. The story follows the crew’s awkward adjustment to subterranean quarters, the commanders’ anxious calculations to avoid detection, and the institutional paralysis of waiting. It examines the perils of inadvertent contact, enforced noninterference, and the ironic consequences of technological one‑upmanship for those observing from the margins.