Chapter 5

An hour after breakfast the spaceship arrived at the base. The group watched from the sitting room; Zeke and Sori sat together and talked, Walter ignored them.

The base didn't look like much. Just a long, featureless, white cylinder floating by itself in space. Like in the hologram room, no windows, seams, or other markings showed. And without any marks or reference points, determining the actual scale of the base was impossible.

As the ship maneuvered around to the end of the base, a dark circle became visible in the center of the cylinder's hub. Only when the ship flew into this dark circle and docked in an enormous hanger along with countless other ships, did the true size of the base become apparent.

"It's enormous!" said Susan.

"Why so big?" asked Mark.

"The base is divided into a multitude of different environments, each with a unique atmosphere, climate, and gravity," said Sori. "Centrifugal force simulates the gravity, and the different levels provide the necessary gravity variations."

"With all the different habitats, you must be very careful where you go," continued Sori. "Entering the wrong habitat could prove fatal."

The computer would warn them against inadvertently entering a hostile habitat, but they needed to know the environment encoding scheme if they were to live aboard a multi-environment station. Four numbers represented an environmental profile which described the impact of all environmental factors on an individual. Given the number of combinations of environmental factors such as gravity, temperature, pressure, and atmospheric components; the details of the profile were complex. However, the mapping was done is such a way that it was easy to quickly determine an individual's tolerance of a particular environmental profile.

"The human environmental profile is 91-8-136-57," said Sori. "And this ship is currently set to 88-12-130-66. My profile is 87-17-128-72. Since our numbers are not too far off, we are both comfortable. Do not enter an area where any of the numbers differ from your profile by more than 30, it could be dangerous."

"What about eating?" asked Zeke. "Is there a profile for that too?"

"We have a similar method for that," said Sori. "Food has a planetary origin and a six number profile, yours is 12-32-393-102-1-52. Deviations of any number by less than sixty are edible. Depending on individual tolerances, you might deviate by as much as two hundred before it becomes poisonous."

"The planetary origin," interjected Mvek, "is a better method. Keep to food from Earth and you will be safe."

"Will there be meat on the base?" asked Walter. "I'm getting tired of this vegetarian diet."

"It's really vegan," interjected Dan. "No animal products at all. I miss them already."

"Yes," said Sori, looking at Mvek. "your normal diet is available. Although it is not polite to mention such things in public."

"Oh, sorry Mvek," said Dan.

"I am used to worse practices as a recruiter," said Mvek, "but new recruits on the base are much more easily offended by talk of eating animals."

"Worse?" asked Walter. "Well, as long as no one starts eating me, it can't be much worse."

Zing! Walter always came up with the good ones, hopefully Mvek was not offended. How did an offended Mvek look anyway? Zeke considered, and decided to see what the computer had on alien expressions and moods.

"Before I lose interest in food for the remainder of the day," said Sori, "we have arrived and docked. We will help you pack your belongings, and get you started with your training at the base."

Packing went quickly for Zeke. He didn't have much except for the few things salvaged from the car and the clothes Mvek had given him. It all went into a single hovering anti-gravity container. Sori explained the container would go into storage for now and later find its way to Zeke's new quarters on its own, once Zeke had selected a quarters.

"You mean our quarters are not already assigned?" asked Zeke.

"The location of your quarters will depend on the skill you choose to train in," explained Sori. "Quarters are located in proximity to training. And, depending on the training selected, some quarters are specially designed to enhance training."

"I'm going to miss you," said Zeke, giving Sori a hug.

"Do not miss me," reminded Sori. "We will see each other again, and others on the base will share your time."

Some of the others took longer to pack, but before too long everyone was assembled and Mvek led them into the base. Sori and the Greys remained aboard the ship.

The base had an entirely different look than Mvek's ship. The docking port joined smoothly with a large circular chamber, about forty feet in diameter. The walls were a bright white, and merged seamlessly into floor and ceiling. Illumination spread evenly throughout the room, with no apparent source. The only items not white were Mvek's ship and a fifteen foot diameter blue circle in the center of the room.

Mvek led them to the blue circle, which Zeke guessed was related to the disk used to board Mvek's ship. Apparently the others thought the same and were soon standing within the circle. Mvek gestured and a railing appeared.

"Computer," said Mvek, "transport us to indoctrination."

The platform smoothly rose towards the ceiling, which opened into a fifty foot diameter tube with the same bright white walls. Strange, thought Zeke, the opening to the tube had not been visible from the ground. Filing this detail away for the future, Zeke continued to look around. One side of the tube had a definite end, but the other stretched into the distance, seemingly forever. The platform moved rapidly towards the end they couldn't see. Surprisingly, there was very little wind or noise.

For a moment, Zeke was disoriented, but then realized the tube must run the length of the cylinder that was the base. A few other platforms were zooming through the tube, but passed by too quickly for Zeke to see the occupants. Zeke did see other tubes branching off from this one at regular intervals, possibly this was the main way of getting around on the enormous base.

Within a few minutes they turned into another tube and came to a halt in a white room like the docking port, but with three blue platforms on the floor and several open archways on the walls.

Another blue platform came to a rest beside them, the single occupant was six feet tall, with five furry blue legs, three purple tentacles at the top of a stalk, and no visible head. It crawled off the platform and left through the archway on the left.

"Computer," said Mvek, "blue guide to indoctrination."

A glowing blue ball appeared before them, then moved to one of the archways and hovered. Mvek motioned for them to follow. They went down a short hall; the blue ball stopped at the only open archway. The group entered a large room with alien furniture designed to accommodate a variety of species. The ball disappeared, this room was their destination. It was unmistakably a waiting room. Alien, artistic, and white, but a waiting room nonetheless.

"We will wait here," said Mvek. "Shortly an indoctrination expert will discuss areas of training with each of you."

Zeke sat back and got comfortable. Apparently the aliens hadn't found a solution for waiting, and this would probably take a while. Zeke was a bit too excited to take a nap, so he imagined what piloting a starship would be like.

After a few minutes, Susan started pacing back and forth nervously.

"What's taking so long?" she said, annoyed.

"They'll probably be here soon," said Zeke. "So, what are you going to train in?"

"I want to do something that involves exploring the galaxy," said Susan. "You know, finding new worlds, new cultures. That sort of thing. What about you?"

"I want to pilot a starship, and Walter wants to be captain of a starship."

"Hey, that could work out," said Susan. "Maybe we'll be on the same ship."

Zeke was about to reply when another alien entered. The alien reminded Zeke of a jellyfish, but with the tentacles coming from all over the body. It was circular, three feet in diameter, and transparent. They could see its internal organs and what was likely its brain at the top. Definitely not an air breather, it floated in a transparent hovering container just big enough to keep it submerged.

"Good afternoon, I am Maeoglaiere. I will discuss the numerous specialties available to you and find one best suited to your abilities and interests. Before we begin, please introduce yourselves and tell me if you are already considering a particular specialty."

"I'm Susan Gladshaw, and I want to explore the galaxy, see new planets and discover new peoples."

"I'm Dan, and I'm not sure what I want to do yet. But I'm happy to be here."

"Mike Donaldson, undecided."

"Walter Westerfield, I want to be captain of a starship."

"I'm Zeke, and I'm interested in piloting a starship."

"Excellent," said Maeoglaiere. "Walter and Zeke, how certain are your choices?"

"A hundred percent," said Zeke. "It just feels right."

"Well, 99.999 percent for me," said Walter.

"In that case," said Maeoglaiere, "you two may wish to proceed to your training sections now rather than listen to my lecture on the different specialties. It is primarily for the undecided, although you are welcome to listen if you like."

"Hey!" said Susan. "I'm decided about being an explorer."

"There are different specialties covered by your interest," said Maeoglaiere, "including pilot, captain, engineer, diplomat, and many others. In a moment, I will start the lecture with these."

"Computer," said Maeoglaiere, "red guide for Earthling pilot training, blue guide for Earthling leadership training."

Two globes, red and blue, appeared. Both moved to hover over the archway leading back to the entry hall.

"Maeoglaiere," said Zeke, "may I be assigned to instructor Yzran for pilot training?"

"You may choose any instructor you wish," said Maeoglaiere. "Many Earthlings are more comfortable with an Earthling instructor and we try to accommodate that preference; however, the final choice is always left to the individual. Are you certain of your choice?"

"Yes," said Zeke.

"Computer," said Maeoglaiere, "cancel red guide. Red guide to pilot instructor Yzran."

The red globe vanished and a new one appeared, again moving to hover by the archway.

"Bye Maeoglaiere," said Zeke, "Bye Mvek. I'll see the rest of you later."

Zeke walked towards the red globe and Walter followed. The globes led back down the hall to the room with the platforms. Here the globes separated, each hovering over a different platform.

"I guess this is where we split up," said Zeke.

"I guess," said Walter. "Computer, green guide for finding Zeke."

A green globe appeared, moved over Zeke for a moment, and disappeared.

"Pretty sharp," said Zeke, stepping on his platform. "We'll have to meet up after we get settled in."

"OK," said Walter, "bye." Walter gestured and his platform rail raised; the platform lifted up and out of sight.

Zeke gestured and his platform did the same, zooming down the tube towards its destination; wherever that was, thought Zeke.

The platform arrived in a room just like the one Zeke had departed. It had marked circles for three platforms, Zeke's platform settled into one of them. The railing dropped away and the red globe moved to hover near one of the archways, Zeke followed.

Beyond the archway, Zeke could see what looked like a well-landscaped park. Brightly and evenly lit from an unseen source, the ceiling was a featureless white, and it was impossible to tell just how high the ceiling was. Zeke didn't have to use his imagination much to get the feeling of being outside under a white sky.

The park was about 300 feet across and continued far into the distance on either side, the floor gradually rising and disappearing upwards, following the curvature of the mighty cylinder that was the base.

Smooth, clean white walkways meandered around a multitude of plants with green, blue, red, yellow, and even brown leaves. The brown and yellow leaves looked healthy, not dried up or wilted, so that must be their normal color. Flowers and streaming tendrils displayed a staggering number of shapes and colors. Plants from perhaps hundreds of worlds grew in this park.

Further on, the walkways merged into larger open areas with platforms three feet in diameter, a foot off the floor, arranged in small groups.

And the park was not empty of aliens either. Zeke didn't spot any humans, but he saw some of the Shao, and a few of the furry blue legged aliens. One alien looked birdlike, with backwards knees and a thin neck supporting an elongated head. A single eye in the front below three bumps, a small mouth, and speckled orange and green skin made this alien stand out from the crowd.

Two other aliens also caught Zeke's attention. One was like a centipede standing on its end. It was composed of a dozen flat body segments, each with about a dozen short stubby appendages distributed evenly around the circumference. The lower appendages were used as legs, the upper appendages probably functioned as arms. No separate head, but Zeke thought he saw eyes on each of the segments.

The other alien had a small round body and three slender legs ending in a double flipper arrangement. It's body was about a foot tall and covered in bright green fur, except for three thin, pink tentacles rising about six feet into the air. Each tentacle had an eye on its tip. It looked unwieldy, but the alien moved gracefully down the path.