Chapter 2: More Questions than Answers

Mark was trying to calm down from all the new questions that flooding into his mind. Every time Moon would answer one of his other questions another would crop up. So far he had been shocked to find out that not only was the Moon that he saw not real, she wan't even a real person. She was the Artificial Intelligence construct for the facility. He still wasn't sure what all that meant but she assured him that he would understand better after she started giving them both lessons during their sleep, which led many, many more questions on its own. He had also learned that the facility could, in fact, sustain both Lana and himself for as long they needed it too. The replicators could produce anything they desired. Moon had asked them not to go outside until they had a better understanding of their current situation, but that later they may need to go back to their civilization to gather more help. After trying to explain many of the more advanced functions of the facility Mark and Lana becoming more confused. Moon suggested they get their communication implants so that she could start their lessons for their new life, then they could go to sleep for the evening.

Both received a small implant, just behind their right ear, that would allow them to communicate with each other or Moon anytime they needed to. This implant also allowed Moon to implant knowledge directly to their brains while they slept at a much greater rate than they could hope to learn it otherwise.

Mark awoke to find the form of Lana snuggled up against him. He decided right then he could definitely get used to sleeping like this. The next thing he noticed was that he could somehow understand how different things around the room worked, things that just last night had baffled him, he now understood. He could now pull up information at the desk terminal at will, so he ordered coffee from the replicator with help. Now that he was feeling pretty good about himself, he took a shower and found a uniform hanging in the bathroom waiting for him. One of the first things he noticed was that Moon had given him a uniform with the rank of Commander already on it. He decided that he would ask her about that later, but for now he went to wake Lana and see how she had slept. He found her sitting at the desk terminal when he walked back into their bedroom.

She looked up and said, "Good morning love. I trust that you too have found all these wonderful toys much easier to use this morning."

He just laughed and said, "Yes, you could say that. Why don't you get ready and I'm going to see if Moon can answer some questions now that I might understand her answer better."

Lana said, "Okay, but don't get too far ahead of me, I want answers too." She then hoped up and jumped into the shower to get ready for their first full day in the facility.

Mark decided it would be better if he waited for Lana, so he settled for looking over some of the layouts for the facility at the desk terminal. He had not realized just how big this place was yesterday, when Moon had been talking to them. It had four of those huge hangers that they had first entered, each with a different size class of ships in it. The one they had been in housed the small craft only. It ranged from unmanned probes all the way up to frigates. He couldn't imagine what the really big stuff would look like if all he had seen was small craft. The next hanger housed all of the medium sized craft, being designed and tested at the facility before it had been hidden. These were mostly non-combat ships, being designed for survey and exploration or courier ships. Of the other two hangers only one actually had a ship in it and that was the only ship in that particular hanger. It held a partially finished Battlecruiser. Although Battlecruisers were not largest ships in the Empire's fleet, they held many different roles. He was surprised to find this little treat waiting to help further their cause. The last hanger was empty because the ship that it had housed was completed then carried most of the facilities personnel back to the Empire and safety. It could be used to build another ship in the cruiser-size range though. He also found out that the facility housed different areas of research, other than just ship design. one area had been assigned to research advanced weapons and deployment. There was another wing separated from the rest of the research facility that he could not find any information about what was actually researched there. There was also a control center for the base and a residential wing that housed all of the living quarters. About this time Lana came out, dressed in her new uniform, which bore the rank of Lt Commander. Well, just more questions for Moon he thought and then said, "I think we should head over to control center and get Moon to answer some questions before we get to work today."

Moon seemed to have been waiting for them to arrive in the control center. She simply said, "I bet you have some questions for me today."

Mark smiled and said, "Yeah, and maybe today we will be able to understand what you are saying. My first question is what's with the ranks on our uniforms?"

"Well, I had to give you a rank since you enlisted and the base needed a commander and during your sleep you showed more of an aptitude for command than Lana did so, you Mark, are now Commander Evans, Commanding Officer of the Three Moons Research and Development Facility. Ms. Stevens is your second in command. I started lessons last night that would aide you in these positions later once we start bringing in more people." Moon said.