Chapter 20

The humans followed the holographic projection as she guided them through the station. They'd docked on one of the lower levels so they had to travel up. "There are 5 different power rooms located throughout the station." Amy said as they walked down a corridor The others followed silently not even realizing that she'd yet to tell them what was located on this level. "Each are fully capable of suppling power to the entire station if necessary."

"Isn't that a bit much?" Derrick asked. "What if one of them explodes?" He was a worried about what would happen if something so large exploded, his mind also thinking along the lines of a nuclear melt down.

"That is no longer an issue," Amy said confidently. "The crystals are the reason for our huge power reserves. These special crystals allow orders of magnitude increases of output power depending on the size of the crystal. And each one is located in it's own cascader or amplifier compartment. Each power room uses what are for us normal power crystals and draws the power directly from them. Connected to each chamber are crystals or batteries for lack of a better word. If a cascader is actually destroyed the power contained is shorted to the ships outer hull which increases our shields. Also each cascader compartment and power room is located 100 yards from any critical or manned compartment and is in cased inside a 100 feet of composite-steel armor. Which could contain the explosion of 3 of these crystals at once."

"Wow!" Derrick said fully impressed.

"Every step was taken to provide security for those that would work and live here on the station. Even the outer hull is four times thicker than original specs called for."

"Original specs?" Derrick asked confused.

"She's referring to the designs of the stations from my home galaxy," his young space friend answered. "Though they've obviously been modified to better suit the needs of this system."

Nodding his head in understanding Derrick continued to follow Amy who was wearing a similar outfit like the ones she wore on the Space Dock but now the color of violet. He watched as she came to rest before a pair of double doors noticing for the first time since leaving the lift how far they'd walked.

"Here we are," she said in a sing song Vanna White kind of way. And then the doors opened. The lights inside were off with only the glow from outside providing any source of illumination. Derrick walked in first followed by the others. He continued on for several feet before stopping wondering why the lights hadn't come on yet.

"What's going on..." he began before he could here a soft whining sound coming from before him. If he'd been looking over his shoulder he'd see Amy silently getting the attention of the others.

"Sorry about that, I'll have to run a diagnostic ... oh wait there it is." and then the lights came on and Derrick almost pissed himself.

A large piece of metal slammed to the floor causing an incredible shake. He slowly looked skyward following the gray metal until his neck was fully extended and he was forced to lean back in order to see what he assumed was a BIG ass robot leaning over to look back at him ... it then pointed what couldn't be mistaken for anything but two REALLY BIG ass guns at him and then said aloud in a computerized voice.

"Freeze or DIE!" it roared as yellow lights began glowing from inside the barrels.

"Holy shit!" Derrick said hitting the deck trying to get out of the way of the oncoming blast. It wasn't until he slowly removed his arms from over his head that he heard the laughing.

"You expect me to believe this shit?"

Erica and her husband Robert were seated in what used to be the Dean's office at the university. Most of the things had been removed leaving all the walls bare save for a Map of the campus and the city in which it resided. The room now only contained the original owner's large oak desk and leather chair. The married couple sat before the desk in black leather arm chairs that forced them to sit at a lower level than the man behind the desk. Forcing them to look upward at him. It was an old trick that made them seem smaller to the man of authority who now controlled the immediate area.

Erica had just finished her spiel about the new city. Telling him the history as it were of the people that now inhabited it. The room hosted 6 other bodies as well. Their two guards Jennifer and John stood behind the two chairs, their weapons slung over their shoulders in a carefree manner. The last four stood along the wall behind them. Weapons still in their hands, ready to react if the foursome decided to do anything stupid.

"Sir," Erica began. "What I have spoken of is true."

Daniel couldn't help the deep chuckle that escaped from his chest. Of all the things he'd seen in his life, especially over the last 10 years, but space men. That was one that was just hard to swallow.

"Excuse me Mr. Johnson," Robert broke in patting his wifes hand signaling that it was now his turn. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Why not," Daniel said waving his hand for the man to continue. "But I tell you, you have no chance to top that," he said motioning toward Erica implying toward her story.

"Take a moment with me if you will. It is 15 years ago today, you are sitting at a bar. You'd just gotten off of work and your on your second beer. I come in sit down next to you and order one of my own. Are you still with me?" he asked making sure he still had Daniel's attention. When he received a nod of confirmation he continued.

"We strike up a conversation and I ask you in full seriousness whether or not you believed in zombies, what sir would you have said?"

Daniel had closed his eyes thinking back to such a long time ago. When he had in fact just gotten off and was then sitting in his favorite bar. He could even picture a younger version of the man before him, barely old enough to get past the door. But as Robert finally got to his point Daniel was forced to open his eyes and once again return to reality. "I'd have said you were crazy, punched you in the face and through you out myself," he said sitting up in his chair.

"Well now Mr. Johnson. Here we are, today, sitting in this room and I ask you sir. Do you believe in zombies?"

After everyone had had their laugh at Derricks expense they continued on with the tour.

"I thought the Mech facility was going to be on Mars?" Derrick had just climbed down from one of the many Mad Dog models. It was the most numerous built as it was the easiest to be controlled by an AI. As human pilots were trained they would then get to choose their own models.

"It will be sir. I currently have 300 spider-bots working on the facility. It will be completed and fully operational in four weeks," Amy said relieved that the joke hadn't caused any hard feelings. "I simply felt that it wouldn't hurt to begin construction here since this level and the one above it were vacant."

"Good thinking," he said smiling. "What else ya got?"

The small party continued on with the tour seeing all the various work, living and recreational areas. An hour later and Amy was showing them to their rooms. The two men's rooms or apartments as it were, were located on the same level. They each consisted of three bedrooms with there own full baths. An office with large desks, chairs and a couch on the far wall. You entered in a large living room with seating for eight and large view screens that currently showed an expanse of space. It's inky blackness dotted with hundreds of stars that seemed to wink at you in farewell as your gaze moved away.

"These rooms are fantastic," Alley said darting from one room to the next exploring.

"I'd have to agree with her," Jane said stepping close to her man. Laying her hands on his strong chest she leaned close and kissed him softly on the lips.

"I'm glad you like them as this will be our home for quite some time."

"It's good to be home," she said kissing him again while reaching one hand up to pull his head closer for firmer contact. They stood there bodies pressed against the other until they heard a giggle from one of the bedrooms. Lips finally coming apart they turned to see Alley peeking around the corner one hand over her mouth trying unsuccessfully to stifle her laughter. "We'll finish this later," Jane promised giving him one last lingering kiss before breaking away from his embrace to go chase after her little sister.

He laughed at the pair as the door slid closed as they ran into the hall. The image of Christine materialized at his side just seconds later. "Have you asked her?"