Discovering Alien Technology Part Two
Copyright© 2026 by GMet
Chapter 20
Friday, July twenty-fourth, I was up early and reviewing all the projects with Base while doing my usual triathlon.
‘Everything is on schedule with the secret Mars base and the builds for the portals and wormhole ships,’ Base informed me. ‘The base is basically complete, at least for non-human occupation. We will need a month to build adequate facilities for you and others should you wish to stay there but for now we’re pouring all our efforts into the ships and portals.’
‘Excellent, it will be interesting to see how humanity takes to portal travel,’ I responded.
‘Next, space station builds are progressing at normal speed and are on target,’ Base continued. ‘Additional AddlerFours are being put into use to deliver pieces of the station as well as supply both the Moon and Mars bases. They will also be used soon to start our mining activities out in the Belt.’
‘Good on both fronts,’ I said.
‘We’ve taken the opportunity to do a full check on both S1 and S2 after the Great Slave Lake tests and found no structural or system issues,’ Base went on. ‘They have been resupplied and will be ready to go when you and your ladies are.’
‘Thanks for doing that,’ I subvocalized. ‘I was thinking we should bring along some more security for the AddlerFour when we fly to Japan and for the test ship and the submersibles at the Trench.’
‘Unfortunately, we have no surface ships to accompany the test ships or the submersibles,’ Base responded. ‘We could have AddlerFives accompany the AddlerFour across the ocean and perhaps shadow the surface ship. Additional security robots could be added for both the AddlerFour’s stay in Japan and to accompany the S1 and S2 on the surface ship to repel boarders. They could have additional weaponry such as railguns and field mounted lasers for the ship. I suppose we could add some defensive weapons to the exterior of the subs should they be attacked underwater. Probes could be mounted to act as torpedoes and railguns would work for short range weaponry. The AddlerFives would make short work of any surface vessels and even help with an underwater attack by dropping probes to seek out the attacking underwater vessels.’
‘All good ideas, I think we should implement all of them just in case,’ I agreed. ‘We’ll be near American, Chinese and Russian territories and they might want to take advantage of that. Please see if there is any chatter from all three please.’
‘I have not discovered any as of yet but will increase my monitoring of their military and spy agencies,’ Base stated.
‘Okay, what else do we need to discuss?’ I asked as I moved from biking to running.
‘The new airplane models are near completion including the F1 flying car model,’ Base said. ‘I will let Cassie update you on the Mars mission but I have nothing security wise to report at that base. Well drilling is expanding in the western provinces after your initial test from a couple of days ago. We’re also starting the builds for twenty more desalination lines here so we can deliver them to the west coast. The two for the east coast have arrived and are being installed in Halifax and in Newfoundland. Those should be ready in a week and they will have an even larger contingent of people to watch that startup. Europe, the Nordic countries, most of the Eastern States, the islands of the Caribbean and even some representatives from South America and Africa will be there.’
‘So, everything is on time and going according to plan,’ I summarized. ‘I suppose we better be at one of those startups before I have to stay put in Sault Ste Marie for the foreseeable future. Any other issues anywhere?’
‘A few instances of someone trying to take apart robots and even a heath pod, but the AI fragged all of the sensitive technology before shutting itself down and destroying itself,’ Base told me. ‘I’ve already informed Rachel about the issue and she has the law firm suing the people and companies or governments involved.’
‘I’m sure she will hit them hard and let everyone know that she is doing that before someone else tries it,’ I responded. ‘I’m surprised it hasn’t happen more frequently already.’
‘It’s not easy to penetrate the materials we use and they are too valuable to destroy with experimentation,’ Base explained. ‘Other than that, everyone in the family is healthy and security and finances are excellent. I am monitoring all nearby countries for suspicious activities as well as the town of Dryden for any infiltration by foreign governments or corporate spies. All is as well as we can make it.’
“Excellent, thanks for your diligence in all of this,’ I replied.
‘You are most welcome, it’s been exciting to be doing something after being alone for so long,’ Base responded.
‘I’m glad you’re happy and have a purpose again,’ I said. ‘We’ll have to continue to expand our activities to keep you engaged.’
‘I’m sure you’ll find new areas to explore and help humanity,’ Base stated.
‘If not me, the girls will come up with something soon enough,’ I retorted with a laugh. ‘Speaking of the girls, I better hurry up and get home to make them coffee and breakfast.’
I sped up my jog into a run to get home before they woke up. I had a shower, got into some shorts and a tee shirt I always stored in the downstairs bathroom before heading up to the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot and start a big breakfast. I was just in time to serve Cassie and Riley as they headed to the spaceport earlier than the others to handle the Mars mission and the various builds.
“Ladies, you look wonderful this morning,” I said as I served them coffee, eggs, bacon and toast.
Both glared at me before taking sips of their coffees.
I just grinned and ate some of my breakfast while keeping an eye on the new batch of food for the next three. It took ten minutes before the caffeine kicked in and they woke up sufficiently to communicate in more than glares and sighs.
“So the water projects all went well?” Cassie asked.
“Yes, the subs passed with flying colours, the well drilling was a success and the desalination plant went online with no issues,” I replied.
“What’s next?” Riley inquired before taking a bite of toast with some egg and bacon on top.
“We fly to Tokyo, Japan and load the two submersibles on the ship and it sails off to Mariana’s Trench while we sign off on the partnership for the underwater habitats,” I responded. “I’m not sure who is coming along, probably your mother and maybe mine.”
“I’ll be coming to meet Emiko Yamamoto as will probably one of Sage or Reece,” she said. “This one has her hands full with the Mars mission so her and Dad and one of the older sisters will stay behind.”
“Okay, that sounds reasonable,” I responded. “I figure we’ll be there for three to four days to travel to the trench, launch the subs, then have the subs dive down slowly to the trench, traverse the length of the trench and eventually make it back onboard to the ship and finally get back to Japan. That should give us enough time for all the meetings with Hitmatzu and the various government people to get things started on the test habitat at least and maybe do a bit of exploring Tokyo and Japan.”
“When are you leaving?” Cassie asked.
“I’m not sure, the water project coordinator is still asleep,” I admitted.
They both laughed at that.
“How goes your projects?” I asked.
“Mars mission is on task and on schedule,” Cassie replied. “Today, they’re going out in several rovers to explore the surface in all directions. Three astronauts to a rover along with two robots so six rovers will go out. A few astronauts will stay behind to act as mission control and potential emergency teams in case anyone gets into trouble. They will switch up tomorrow and go in any direction that the first teams deem favourable. Other experiments are being done in the meantime with some plant growing starting in the new greenhouse. Low gravity experiments and other tests to analyse rock samples that they’ve gathered will eventually follow. They have lots to do.”
“Sounds good,” I responded before turning to Riley. “And you, my dear?”
“We’ve got most new projects designed, including the flying car and the mining ships so the builds are starting for those,” Riley answered. “It seems you haven’t created anything new for a few days so we had the chance to catch up to you. The commercial airplanes are well on their way to completion and the designs for the underwater habitats are in their hands so we’re just monitoring ship and station builds. I’m helping out Cassie until you get back to work inventing things.”
They both grinned at me after she said that so I just stuck my tongue out at both of them, causing them to laugh.
“All kidding aside, we could use the time to just get some builds done while you work with the Japanese on the habitats,” Riley continued. “After that you’ll be moving to the Soo and getting the house in order before the first practices in two weeks so you don’t have a lot of time to get things done.”
“I’ll keep my ideas to myself until then so you have something to work on when I’m playing hockey,” I told her with a grin. “You’d better hurry and get everything off your plate so you’re ready for the next wave.”
“You can hold them longer than that,” she griped.
I just grinned and finished my breakfast as did they. They went up to get ready for work and wake up the others while I cleaned up the table and did our dishes. The table was set just in time for the next three ladies to come down and start on their coffee while I portioned out the food to their plates.
“Good morning ladies,” I said as I started cleaning up after myself. “How was your sleep?”
“Too short,” Teigan groused.
“What she said,” Reece agreed as Sage nodded.
“Clock is ticking, can’t waste the day,” I responded with a grin. “Does anyone need anything else before I quickly go up and change?”
They all shook their heads so I went to get changed. Riley was just getting dressed so I stopped to give her a hug from behind and caressed her before she could slip her blouse on.
“Don’t get started or we’ll be here another hour, or longer if the others come in,” she told me while squirming out of my hug. “You had plenty of attention last night.”
“Can’t I just get a hug from my girl?” I asked innocently.
“A hug without all my clothes on leads to all my clothes off soon enough,” she retorted as she quickly put on her blouse. “Cassie and I need to be in mission control soon so you’ll just have to wait.”
I gave her a pout but she just rolled her eyes at me and finished dressing.
“Are you coming in today?” she asked as she grabbed her purse and checked herself out in the full length mirror.
“Probably, but that depends on when we go to Japan,” I answered. “Let me get dressed and we can ask the water boss before you leave.”
I quickly pulled a shirt and casual pants on and grabbed my phone, wallet and a pair of socks before following her down the stairs. I loved watching her derriere in her tight dress pants as she descended like the goddess she was. She smirked at me when she caught me looking when she turned at the bottom of the stairs.
“You’re gorgeous, I’ll always look at you,” I told her, unapologetic.
She went up on her tippy toes and gave me a quick kiss but danced away when I tried to hold her. I gave her another pout as she scooted to the kitchen. I followed and watched as she kissed Teigan and then the two older sisters good morning.
“So, when do we leave for Japan?” she asked Teigan.
“I don’t know, ask the boss,” the blonde groused.
“He said the water boss would make the decision,” Riley told her. “You’re the water boss so make a decision.”
“Fine, we’ll leave on Saturday as they are thirteen hours ahead of us so we’ll arrive on Sunday with enough time to acclimatize for our Monday morning meetings with them,” Teigan informed her. “I don’t know what time will be good but it will take us less than an hour to get there and we will have to unload the subs and get them on the ship and off to the trench before we can get to our hotel. I’ll work everything out today and put out a schedule as soon as I’m at work.”
“Alright, that’s all we need for now, we just needed to know if we had to leave today or not,” Riley responded. “I’ll see you at work later.”
“Okay,” the blonde said with a smile.
Cassie came down and wished everyone a good morning before Riley and her headed to the garage.
“What’s on the agenda today ladies?” I asked as I sat down at the table.
“I have a few meetings on the Mars mission and I’ll work with this one on some of the demands for desalination plants around the world,” Reece informed us. “The UN wants to get involved to get some in Africa and other places that can’t afford conventional plants.”
“That sounds like a productive day,” I responded. “Sage, how goes the shelter building and the permits?”
“Great actually, we got approved for everything so your dad had his construction companies at the building starting the renovations yesterday,” Sage replied with a smile. “It will take a month or more so we’re using that time to hire all the people we’ll need to staff the shelter. We’ll need janitorial staff, counsellors, cafeteria cooks and wait staff, managers and so much more. I’m conducting interviews for managers to get them on board to help decide on the rest together. We’re using a conference room in the clinic for the interviews for now.”
“That is great news,” I told her. “That’s going to keep you busy for a while.”
“I’d say, probably for months,” she agreed.
“Alright, how about you,” I asked, turning to Teigan.
“I’ll be spending today getting ready for Japan while going over all the requests for deep wells and desalination plants,” Teigan answered. “Add in the submersible trial final planning and it will be a busy day.”
“Good, I like that everyone is being productive,” I said, keeping a grin off my face.
For some reason, I got three frowns at that comment so I grinned at them and got up.
“I’ll be heading in now and I’ll see you later today,” I told them. “Drive safe ladies and have a good day.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Reece said, waving me away. “Go be cheerful somewhere else.”
The Stuart sisters gave me identical glares so I quickly left the kitchen and found Pete, my security robot, waiting for me in the garage. We piled into the C1 designated as mine and drove to the spaceport. Pete followed me into my office and I started working on a defensive submersible design to ward off underwater attacks by attack subs or smaller submersibles. Base and I made it wide and relatively thin, with a clear cockpit for two pilots side by side. It would be very agile, able to turn on a dime and accelerate as fast as a fighter jet. It would have full shields, rail guns, lasers for close work and tubes to launch probes to chase and destroy anything that attacked it or whatever it was defending.
‘I’ll make a couple up right away and we’ll have them ready in an AddlerFour to drop over the sub test area if someone gets too close during the trials,’ Base subvocalized. ‘We have all the material and components, we just have to shape a few outer panels and put it together.’
‘Great, it would be good to have them for this test and then for security at major underwater habitats,’ I replied.
After he got the build going, we spent some time upgrading the security robots that would be accompanying us to Japan. Each were already programmed with various martial arts training but we added other fighting styles and made sure every known move and counter was added and practiced. Furthermore, we added a sword to the current arsenal of a couple of titanium rods they could pull out to defend themselves and their charges. Each got a small laser that they could fire out of their forearm. Finally, we upgraded their shields to be able to project out to ten feet in a sphere to protect their charge and themselves from projectiles.
Each robot came in while their charges were in the spaceport headquarters and got the upgrades during the day so that they were all available when it was time to leave for the day. I grabbed some pizza for supper and headed home with Pete in the C1, the girls all leaving before me. They grabbed one of the pizza boxes as soon as I got into the kitchen and quickly each had a couple slices on all five of their plates. I kept the meat lovers and sat at the end of the table, keeping the box close after grabbing four slices to start.
“You’re keeping that box close, scared we’re going to take some of it?” Cassie asked.
“It’s my precious,” I said in a passable Gollum voice.
That got them all laughing at me but I kept my eyes on them as they each finished their slices and looked for more.
“You’re really going to eat that whole pizza by yourself?” Reece asked.
“Probably not the whole thing but at least a few more slices,” I told her.
“Then you can share at least one more for each of us,” she said primly as she walked around the table with her plate.
I grudgingly gave her a slice and then the others when they came around and then piled the rest onto my plate.
“You should have gotten us two pizzas,” Teigan told me.
“I’ll certainly do that in the future,” I agreed. “You guys devoured the first one like wolverines.”
They gave me a humph and then quickly ate their extra piece before going to the fridge to pull out a pre-made salad and splitting that up between the five of them. I quickly finished my slices and put the two cartons out in the recycling bin in the garage before putting the dishes into the dishwasher.
“So, when we leaving tomorrow and who’s coming?” I asked when I returned to the table.
“We’ll leave at ten am and get there in less than two hours so noon here or three pm on Sunday in Tokyo,” Teigan answered. “Reece and Riley are coming along with Rachel and your Mom. We’ll get the subs onto a truck, take it to the harbour and load them up on the ship right away so it can leave for the trench. Then we’ll spend the night at our hotel close to the Hitmatzu headquarters so we can walk to our meetings there in the morning. Emiko is going to meet us at the airport with a large passenger van and help get the subs to the port and loaded on the ship before driving us to our hotel.”
“I’ve attached a few more security robots to the trip that will have to go with the ship to protect it and the submersibles,” I added. “A couple AddlerFives will also accompany us on the trip and then will fly security for the Trench mission. I’m trying to get a defensive submersible ready to help protect the deep sea submersibles but it will probably have to be dropped by another AddlerFour a few hours after we take off as they are still being manufactured. Teigan and I will have to monitor the test while also being involved in the meetings with Hitmatzu. I assume all the legal stuff will be ready to sign before we get into the nitty gritty of the new designs and then visit the proposed sites for the habitats.”
“Yes, Mom has it all under control,” Reece answered. “She’ll have to read the final contract, luckily they agreed to use English as the contract language, then the three of you will sign all the contracts. That should only take an hour of so and then you and Riley can go over the final designs while Teigan and I start the merging of the program management tasks while the moms get into the permits and authorizations needed to get the test habitat started as well as for Tokyo Harbour habitat. We’ve got three days of meetings and a site visit for the smaller habitat all planned out in the week’s agenda. When you’re not involved, you can keep an eye out on the sub trials at the Trench.”
“Sounds like a full schedule,” I commented.
“It will be,” Teigan agreed. “Add in lunches and dinners out with various their management as well as with the Japanese government officials and we’ll be tired when it’s all done. They even want us to go see some shows and maybe even go out to nightclubs.”
“I doubt we’ll be going to nightclubs at our ages, including Reece being only eighteen, and our moms probably won’t want to be out late either in a strange city,” I responded. “May a show would be nice if we’re not to exhausted or even a sightseeing tour of the city or nearby countryside.”
“All good ideas,” Riley agreed. “There are some temples, shrines and the Imperial Palace that are supposed to be fantastic to see.”
“There are some great parks and city towers as well,” Teigan added.
“Not to mention the shopping districts,” Reece put forward with a grin.
I rolled my eyes before saying, “It would be nice to see Mount Fuji, the Bamboo groves and maybe the ancient cedar forests I’ve heard about. I’m not sure if we have enough time to see all of those things outside the city but with their bullet trains the trip won’t be too long.”
“Those would be nice to see but we’ll have to add a day at the end to fit those in,” Teigan responded. “I’m good with that but not sure if everyone’s schedule has an extra day in it, especially yours.”
“That would make it July thirtieth so unless something goes off kilter with the Mars mission, I should be okay to get to the Soo by the first Monday of August, the third I think,” I told her. “We have just about everything ready at the house so only a trip to the grocery store should be needed. The first optional practices start the second Monday so I’m good, especially if the C1 is delivered for me to get around down there.”
“Alright, we’ll work with some of the people at the corporation to schedule some time at some of the city’s sites and then help plan a sightseeing trip to the mountain and other places via the bullet train,” Teigan said as she pulled out her tablet.
Reece and Riley sat down beside her and they got into it while Sage and Cassie pulled theirs out and worked on the Mars mission or the shelter rather than watch the three discuss the trip.
“You two don’t want to come and see the sights with us?” I asked. “We can fly you over in the AddlerEight in a couple of hours and you could join us after a couple of days of meetings.”
They looked up and at each other before turning to me.
“I don’t want to be away during the Mars mission so thanks but I’m okay missing this one,” Cassie said. “Thanks for thinking of us but maybe next time.”
“I’m going to pass on this one as well, the shelter project is just getting started and I don’t want to miss a thing,” Sage said next. “I’m sure we’ll all have time for other trips soon enough. Thanks anyway.”
“No problem, if you change your mind, just jump on an Eight and come on over,” I responded.
Everyone got busy so I went up and packed up some suits in a garment bag and then good casual and just comfortable summer clothes for the touristy trips, along with the usual underwear, shorts and tees and my toiletry bag into my suitcase. I laid out the three ladies’ suitcases on the bed and then relaxed while watching a movie while the three started packing their stuff. I had to get them extra garment bags and another couple suitcases before they were finally done in time to head to bed.
Cassie and Sage spent time with me first and then with the other three women in the other bedrooms while I fell asleep, exhausted.
Saturday morning I did my usual outside training and then did a workout in the gym downstairs before showering. Breakfast was waiting for the ladies when they eventually got up and then it was a rush to get ready to go. I packed the suitcases and garment bags into the C1 and gave Cassie and Sage hugs and kisses and then waited another ten minutes before the Owens sisters and Teigan were finally ready.
The four of us drove to the spaceport with our security robots who helped haul all the luggage to the AddlerFour, including the Moms’ suitcases when they pulled up beside us a minute later. We took off ten minutes later, with two AddlerFive fighter jets as escorts.
The ladies congregated in the main cabin while I spent some time on the bridge with the pilots while monitoring air traffic and our projected flight plan. Base and I subvocalized about possible issues, first with the US as we left the Canadian West coast between Vancouver Island and Moresby Island to the North, and then with the Russians as we crossed the North Pacific. We angled south to avoid the long string of islands off the southern coast of Alaska as well as the Russian coast on the Bering Sea. Both countries had air bases covering their coastlines and we were concerned that they may send jets to monitor our flight. We stayed at a higher than normal altitude to avoid any conflicts and made it safely to Japan without any issues.
The Haneda airport had four runways and we were directed to come in from the south and land on the 34R/16L runway, which was their longest. The two fighters landed right behind us and we all followed a follow-me tractor, taxiing through the busy airport until we got near the Terminal Three. We were guided to a larger open space where we finally parked all three space craft.
Security robots quickly exited and surrounded all three craft while other robots gathered up the luggage and walked beside us as we exited via the lower ramp with our security robots. A car carrying two customs agents was waiting for us when we walked down the ramp.
“Welcome to Japan,” one of the men said in decent English after they both got out and met us near the AddlerFour. “Could we see your passports please?”
“Certainly,” I replied as everyone passed over their Canadian passports.
They quickly scanned each passport, looked at each one and then at the corresponding face and then handed them back.
“I believe you’re unloading two experimental submersibles, loading them onto a truck and then loading them onto a ship in the harbour, correct?” the other official asked.
“That is correct,” I answered.
“Are you unloading any other items here in Japan?” the first one inquired.
“We have components for the test habitat that Hitmatzu Corporation will be building on an island up north, along with suitcases and laptops,” I responded. “Representatives should be here soon to help with the subs and then to drive us to the port and then to our hotel. We plan on a three to four day stay, including some sightseeing activities.”
“We will have to inspect everything that will be onloaded,” the second one stated. “I see you have security robots with you and surrounding the plane. Normally we would not allow them into the country or to be in such a security arrangement in an airport, but various government officials have approved of this activity. The area will be monitored by various cameras for both our and your protection.”
“Thank you, there are sensitive and proprietary equipment and information inside the AddlerFour and AddlerFives that other corporations or countries would like to get their hands on,” I responded. “Japan and Addler Enterprises are in a very cooperative partnership on the moon and Mars and we will soon extend that to underwater habitats. That is why we felt secure enough to bring such technology to Tokyo at this time.”
“Yes, all of Japan is very proud of our space program with Addler and we will ensure that your stay is safe and enjoyable and that your planes will be very secure,” he replied.
“As a precaution, the two AddlerFives will accompany the ship to the Trench and provide security during the trip, the testing and the return to Tokyo Harbour,” I told them.
“Yes, we are aware of that,” the second man said. “Have your pilots contact the tower and they will guide them through the airport and onto the runway as soon as they can fit it into the flight schedules.”
“Thank you, we will let them know,” I replied as a van pulled up beside their car.
We all watched as a man and a woman got out and approached our group.
“Welcome to Tokyo,” the man said. “I’m Ichiro Sato, one of the program managers at Hitmatzu Corporation and this is Emiko Yamamoto, one of our project coordinators.”
They both bowed to us and we bowed the same amount they did.
“Hello Ichiro and Emiko, thank you for being here to welcome us to Japan,” I responded. “I’m Ben Addler and this Moira Addler, our CFO, Rachel Owens, our Legal Counsel, Reece Owens, our spokesperson and corporate contact person, Riley Owens, corporate designer and last but definitely not least, Teigan Stuart, our project coordinator for all water projects. We were just finishing up with these two fine customs agents.”
“Welcome everyone and thank you for expediting the customs procedures,” Ichiro responded.
We quickly exchanged business cards as was the custom in Japan.
“I believe you are now ready to unload the submersibles and get them to the ship that will carry them to the Mariana’s Trench, correct?” Ichiro asked.
“Yes, that is correct, after these two agents do an inspection,” I agreed as the two custom agents nodded.
I waved Teigan to the front.