Chapter 15: Robotics

"This drone ship carries drones that are for construction of pretty much everything. Not only that, but the drones themselves can also be produced; we can make more of drones of our own and we can make them look however we want them to. We are limited only by the amount of power we have," Kristy said.

"Make them look like wild animals?" I asked

"Yes that is possible. I believe we could create as many as 250 more drones and still manage control of all of them," she said.

"Wow, that would be great. Well let's talk about that after the ship arrives. When was it going to land?"

"If all goes as planned Sunday night. And Justin, our guests will be arriving in ten minutes," Kristy said.

"Ok, let everyone know please; we're going to need help and they will probably be hungry. Please let our new AI friend know that I would like people to see her land if possible. We can make a show out of it to convince the new people," I said walking out front.

They did indeed arrive in about ten minutes, all 186 of them; damn that is a big convoy. Finding parking for 56 vehicles was not easy, but we had a ranch so we managed. I was watching the people unload when Patricia and Amy joined me; I picked up Amy and put her on my shoulders.

"Did those people come to camp too?" she asked.

"Yep they sure did. It was getting too hot for them at home," I said.

I was standing with Amy on my shoulders when Frank brought over some of the visitors. As they were walking over Amy called out "Pam!" and wanted down. No sooner had I put her down than she ran over to a teenage girl and hugged her.

"Justin I would like you to meet Dan Smart and his daughter Pamela," Frank said.

"Nice to meet you all, I can see that the little Angel had the same affect on you guys," I said laughing.

"Yeah that's for sure; she wouldn't have been at the orphanage if I would have had more time on my hands," Dan said.

"Well she was well cared for, and now she has lots of mommies and daddies. I admit when we saw you coming up the mountain, you scared the crap out of me. I'm glad Frank recognized your daughter," I said.

"Well we weren't planning on coming just yet, but the city cut the power to our entire area. They needed more power for the 'important' areas I guess," he said.

"No need to worry about that here, we have plenty. We are also holding a meeting tomorrow night at 8:00 pm so we can tell you everything that is happening; there will even be a little Q & A session afterwards."

I told Dan about our lodging situation and he worked out who would get rooms first. Between the other families who happily gave up spare rooms and our house, we got everyone situated. After that we all headed in for a late dinner, I finally got to sleep about two in the morning.

Sunday I woke up to the sound of a herd running through the house. Oh yes, that's right; the kids went to bed on time and we were the ones up late. I got up and pulled Patricia into the shower with me to wake her up. Afterwards we got dressed and went to check on Amy, but she was already gone. We left the house and headed for the cafeteria for breakfast.

I was eating my breakfast when my com chirped. I looked at it but it was just a national newscast stating the power grid in California has collapsed, and as long as the heat keeps up, there was no hope of fixing it. Maybe this would work out for the best? The people might leave California and go somewhere with power. I quickly finished my breakfast and went to the office to watch the news.

It turned out that California's had power failed because the other states had cut them off! The demand for power was too much for us to handle ourselves, so the systems failed. Now I flipped over and was watching the surveillance feed, but I didn't see any traffic. I had figured everyone would be leaving. With the power having been on and off again for days now, I bet they expected it to come back on. Or they might be waiting till it's cooler at night before heading off.

Jessica showed up a while later. "What's going on?" she asked

"The neighboring states just cut California out of the power grid; the power system is dead," I said.

"Damn! Are the people going to all leave or what?" she asked.

"I don't know. They don't seem to be doing anything yet. They may think it will be back on, or they may be waiting till night."

"Well the temperature has not been as bad today; maybe they will get out tonight."

"We could also hope the heat-wave peaked. Maybe it's not going to get any worse, and we just need to live it out."

It was the next newscast that worried me; there were reports that the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant went critical before the power went out. I quickly brought up the plant on the monitor —the plant was in trouble! I could see smoke coming from certain sections, and a fire was burning in one portion. It was the cars that were leaving in a big hurry that worried me the most; it appeared the military base next to it was being evacuated as well.

"There all running, it's going to blow!" I said.

We were still watching the feed about thirty minutes later when a burst of smoke or steam burst through one of the domes. Well I figured that's it! Better run quickly. "Kristy!" I called out.

"Yes," she said as she appeared and looked at me. I pointed to the monitor.

"It would appear they just had an accident," I said.

"I will keep track of wind patterns and the extent of contamination. We will soon have drones that can clean up the mess," she said.

"So the reactor goes and again nobody will know about it unless they were next door, or their hair falls out," I said. I tapped on my com and called my brother into the office.

"What's up?" he asked as he ran in.

I pointed at the screen and said, "Can you call someone and let them know?"

"Yes," he tapped on his com, called his contact in Washington, and reported the information.

"Not that they will be of any help, but at least they know. Do you know what happened?" he asked.

"The other states pulled the plug on California's requests for additional power, and then this happened," I said.

"So the power is out for good?"

"It appears that way."

I moved the surveillance to the CHP office Mike was from and noticed no activity though the parking lot was full of RV's. Well, they will be on their way soon, I thought. I let Mike know to stop by and make sure they head out tonight. I scanned around the area and saw very little activity, just a few cars on the freeway headed north.

I went back to the cafeteria to have an early lunch; I had a lot to do before the meeting tonight.

Afterwards I headed back to my office and I worked on the presentation with Kristy. It started at the beginning and ended with the battle in space, leaving the outcome in question, as like it is. After we completed the presentation for our meeting I decided to go for a run, just a quick run around the buildings. I got back and took a quick dip in the pool; with the heat and all the new guests it was very crowded. I guessed we'd need another one.

Finally at about 7:00 pm I went to the cafeteria to get ready.

"Hey you're early," I said to Mike as he walked in.

"Oh just relaxing; we have everything ready for our flight," he said.

"Oh I wanted to tell you the street in front of your CHP station is full of RV's. You may want to swing by and tell them the power will not be back on. Take Smyth if you want," I said.

"Ok I'll do that as well. I don't think Riggs's convoy will happen now anyway, but I'm going to take measures just in case," he said.

Gloria had a sandwich buffet set up for everyone and people had started to arrive. As we grabbed plates I was introduced to everyone I had yet to meet. Kristy was taking all the security work so everyone could attend the meeting; it didn't seem to affect her any. It was about 8:15pm when Kristy said everyone was here, except for Patricia, Jenny and the kids. We didn't want to scare the kids so we'd decided to keep them away; their parents could explain it to them later.

"Attention everyone please! I would like to thank you all for attending our first of many meetings. This meeting is to inform you about what is happening to this planet and how long it will last. Then I will get into information most of you do not know. Some of you won't believe me, but you will when I'm done — I guarantee it!"

I started on the weather problems and the causes, explaining how the last war had acted as a catalyst. I told everyone we didn't know how hot it was going to get, but we did know it was going to last a while. I gave them the information on New Nation and the weapons cache that we took from the airport. I went over the shooting of the mayor and that his family ran off with the captain. I then told them that as of today, California was without power and would stay that way for the foreseeable future. I also told them of the meltdown on the coast and the possibility of radiation.

"Now some of you already know what I just said, but so far I think everything is believable. The next part only few of you know, but it's the truth, and I'll prove it."

I started with meeting Patricia and camping in the mountains, and then I went on to the cave in and the construction of the outpost. Nobody had made any comments but I didn't think they believed. Then I went on about the dreams Mike and Frank had and their source. I called both Mike and Frank up, and they gave a brief description of their dreams and what they had done about them. I said that when we detected the ship, we were able to monitor its transmissions and pick up on the dreams as well. I told them what was going to happen on Monday.

"On Monday a fleet of ships will arrive. Some will be Lodi who are friendly, and some evil race, not so friendly. The fleets will begin to battle it out. Earth will be in the way and get hit several times. We have been in communication with the ship currently in orbit. It has agreed to transmit the battle information to the Lodi in the hopes they might be able to save more of us. This facility is safe from the battle either way; we will, however, all be underground for safety. Knowing that it could not survive the battle, the ship currently in orbit has agreed to land and help us with anything it can. It will leave a small drone in orbit to transmit the message when the other ships arrive. Now I know some or all of you don't believe me, so before we get to the Q & A part let's all meet with the kids out front for a show. OK! Lets Go!" I said.