Snow dressed up, ate her meal and after the blessings of her family, she left the hotel. On the ground floor, she had a bullet proof car, and a team of national military personnel standing by to secure her. There was also a middle-aged woman present to greet her. This lady was her Personal Assistant. The rest of her staff was waiting for her in the office of the finance minister.

The young man watched her go away before she waved at them from the window of the vehicle, and Lily turned to look at Leo as she said, "Baba, my Ma has grown so strong. I am proud of her."

Leo chuckled and picked her up before he replied, "You speak as if you are the mother."

Lily chuckled, and the two of them went back upstairs. The staff of the hotel that saw the interaction were smiling.

...

After the two people got ready, they all stepped downstairs, as they were going back to the Angkor City, Snow would be moving in to live in the state approved bunglow, and it would be some time before the place is refurbished according to what the family wanted.

Leo didn’t mind moving in only when the decorations and cleaning was complete, but he would not stay here as he had his own things to do. The family moved out in their own car and then took the plane heading back to the Angkor City.

The process was seamless, and after they were heading back home from the airport, Lily asked, "Baba, I have been waiting to ask you, how is the completion of the Lunar Base? Can Uncle Jim complete it on time?"

Leo nodded and replied, "I talked to him in the evening yesterday, the progress is steady and by tomorrow they should have finished dealing with all the tests and the results would be out."

Lily agreed and said, "Good, I would wait for the news."

...

The family came home, Leo got busy with writing the applications for Lily’s school transfer and then also had Percie purchase some property near the house Snow had been allocated, he didn’t know if the place was too small or if they could make relevant adjustments for the kids, because if you go to the government property everything would have to be approved by the government and if the kids wanted something too big like a tree house, than it would be seen as a security hazard, and so, Leo wanted to hold a private property in his hand for moments like this.

This was his way of handling things, he could not pick just his wife or just his kids. He was a family man and he had to pay attention to both of them. After he finished dealing with some things, it was evening and he called Snow.

The call was answered by a woman, who was not Snow, and the lady said, "Sir, Madam is having a meeting with the District Management People, I will remind her to call you back later, or if you have any message, please tell me."

Leo frowned but then he realized that Ministers were not allowed to keep the personal mobile on their person when they were handling high level meetings and Snow had also given up her communicator. Thinking about it, Leo said, "Miss Stephanie, can you tell her that the Lunar Base has finished testing and the results would be out on the news channels in a few hours at the latest. So we would be glad to have a proposal on how much the tax the finance ministry is seeking on the new level of space travel."

The assistant was surprised, she didn’t think that Leo would call her for this, and just when she was about to tell him that he should approach through legal channels and not the backdoor of the family relation, the young man said, "I am only calling to give her the heads up because the finance department of the company would be reaching out to her in a couple of hours."

Yes, if the proposal was given to Snow suddenly, she might have been caught off guard and then some people in the opposition would make things difficult for her lack of readiness and giving benefits to her husband.

The assistant thanked him and the call came to an end.

...

After a couple of hours, the media channels caught the whiff, and Percie organized the press conference, and she greeted the people with a smile and said, "Greetings everyone, thank you for coming over at such a short notice, tonight I have troubled you to pass on a word.

The word that would open new doors to the world, and add a new dimension to what success really means. With great pride and pleasure, the Cardinal Group would like to tell you that the Lunar base everyone had been looking forward to has now finished construction and the final tests for the pressure system are about to go on, so I would like to ask you all to join us and see the marvel created by the hands of your fellow humans."

She pressed the button on her communicator and the feed from the Lunar Base was opened for the people to look. They were all shocked, and didn’t expect that they would be able to see such a marvel. Then a man appeared before them all, and Percie said, "This Gent on the screen is the Chief Engineer of the project, and he will be overseeing the further proceedings." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Just when Jim was about to introduce himself and then say a few things to the people his communicator rang, and it was an important call, "Ummm, it is from Young Miss so I have to pick it up."

The people paused, and the call was connected, and Lily’s voice sounded on the screen, "Uncle Jim, good evening."

Jim replied, "Good evening, Young Miss. Is everything alright?"

Lily replied, "Yes, it is fine, are you okay?"

Jim replied with a smile, "Yes, I am fine. Did you call to say something?"

Lily replied with a crisp tone, "Yes, you see, Baba told me that the Lunar base will be going through the final tests today, so I wanted to ask you that only go forward when you have made sure that everyone else is safe. I understand that you all have been doing good quality work but it is still uncharted territory for the human kind to create a liveable structure in the space.

I wanted to tell you all that regardless of the result, we are all proud of you, and happy that you have led the human race to set a foot on the moon which might turn into something permanent. Also, I wanted to wish you all the best, and please be safe. May the Goddess Of Mercy watches over you all."

The media people all covered their mouths, they thought Lily was so kind to even reach out to an employee and wish him well. Just then Jim wiped his eyes and said, "Yes, Young Miss, we will take all the precautions."

Lily hummed twice before she said, "Good, I am waiting to party on the moon, Thank you everyone."

Jim chuckled and the call was disconnected, and the media people all chuckled as well. Then he sighed for a bit before he replied, "Well, let’s get on with it, shall we?"

Then he put on a helmet on his head, secured it and then after a few seconds, he asked for the people to clear the site, and only when everyone was clear of the base, the final testing began. The alarms all worked properly and the air pressure was also properly addressed, the gravity plates worked well too.

After half an hour, Jim declared that the tests were complete and a few team members went inside the base and removed their helmets, this was the final test, and when they were all fine after two minutes, they cheered.

The entire news became a sensation for the people of the world. The Lunar base, a structure on the surface of the moon. A celestial body which had half the gravity and no atmosphere, had a place where humans could walk normally without any space suit, this was a novelty that many of the scientists have been looking forward to.

The media calmed down after a few minutes, when one of the people asked, "Miss Hibiscal, when would the Cardinal Group allow the scientist and researchers to go to the lunar base and conduct deeper space research?"

Percie Hibiscal smiled and replied, "That would be initiated after a month, because at the moment, the base has just completed and the scientific equipment had not been procured. The base can now support a hundred people, but it is just a basic shelter with an above average computer and communication facilities."

The reporter asked, "Are you saying that President Cardinal and Minister Yue would be prioritizing the party for their daughter over the research on deep space?"

Percie smiled and replied, "I would like you to ask this question to President Leo Cardinal himself. It just so happens that he has been on call with me since the conference began."