“Lucy, where are we and what else is on the floor?” Paul quickly got a reply, “You are one level below the hanger bay in which you arrived. On this level are the food stores, general warehousing, weapons armory, indoor weapons range, droid repair and storage, general maintenance machine shop, air handler and scrubber units, water filtration and sanitation room, and the nuclear refuse disposal unit.” Paul responded with, “Show me.” Lucy directed them down a 40 foot wide cement floor corridor toward the next door down the corridor. As they approached the hanger size roll-up door, a green light came on in a control panel by the door and the door began to open. As soon as it was high enough for them to enter, they stepped into a dimly lit warehouse. Paul said, “Lights” and row after row of lights came on. This was obviously the general warehousing area. The floor was a brilliant, almost blindingly bright-white, the shelving was a highly polished metal that almost looked chrome plated. The aisle was wide enough to drive a semi-truck and trailer through. The shelves where far from full, but Paul could at a glance see it did contain spare parts for various equipment in Mountain City, extra furniture for the Cities housing units, chemicals for the indoor pool, filters for the air scrubbers and a wide variety of other items necessary to maintain the facility.
Paul asked Lucy, “I suppose you have complete inventories on record of this and the food warehouse.” “Need you ask?” came Lucy’s reply. Zimuel shook his head at how quickly Lucy had learned Paul’s sarcastic sense of humor. They next entered the armory. The door was security controlled and Paul had to do a voice recognition and retinal scan to access the room. The place was immaculately clean and organized. Row after row of the most sophisticated weapons Paul had ever seen. There were no Glocks, Heckler and Koch’s, or even the latest creations from Barrett. This place had stuff Paul could not even identify. Zimuel and Tlase were even more shocked since all weapons of this type had been banned from Xhondar for over ten thousand years. “Lucy report!” She at once replied, “These are the weapons Illinasos developed after coming here from Xhondar I. These are a totally new generation of weapons. The weapons transferred here from Xhondar are in the underground storage facilities 1200 miles north of here. I will prepare a neurological transfer of data for you in order to update you on the capabilities of each weapon. For example, the weapon to your right is a fully automatic 10mm plasma rifle. It fires at a rate of 600 rounds per minute at full automatic, will hold 50 rounds, has an accurate range of 4000 feet, is equipped with an infrared sighting system, night vision sighting and life form sighting. The life form sighting will find a target even if it is behind a wall, underground, or covered with a cloaking shield. It will also determine if the life-form is human, animal or alien. Each 10mm round has a total destruction radius of 10 feet.” Paul picked up the weapon; it weighed less than his M-16 when he was in the Army; almost felt like a toy. He was surprised when he pushed a button on the side he assumed would release the ammo-clip. When it released, he was more shocked to see that if was fully loaded with small 10mm rounds just a little longer than his old 38 Special; the thought that this little shell could destroy and area 20 feet across was unimaginable. He placed the weapon back on the shelf and fingered a considerably larger and bulkier weapon across from it. “That is a 50mm shoulder fired plasma cannon. It has an effective range of 5 miles and total destruction radius of 100 feet. The weapon holds 10-50mm missiles and can target by using IR, Heat signature, engine vibration, enemy weapon signature and visual. It does not miss, whether the target is moving or stationary.” Paul shook his head and told the others, “I could spend a couple of days down here just trying to figure this stuff out. As much as the Rambo in me wants to stay, we better keep moving.
Lucy led them to a door at the back of the armory and into the indoor range. It had to be at least 200 yards deep and had 6 firing stations. It was well lit and had an automatic target placement and retrieval system. Lucy informed them that the room was built with concrete made here on Verron and was lined with steel also from Verron. Both could resist a direct hit from a plasma cannon, antimatter rifle and even a photon torpedo. With their combined strength together, she could think of only one thing that could damage the wall and it was classified top secret. As they finished the tour of this level Paul was then led to a secure door like none he had ever seen. Lucy informed Paul, “This is a nuclear blast security entry. It and the walls around it can withstand a direct nuclear, plasma, antimatter or photon attack. You and only you are authorized to enter by yourself, others must be escorted by you. I would highly suggest, since you are quick to change procedures and names of things that you do not deviate from this procedure. It is the highest security location on Verron and that includes the antimatter reactors.” Paul replied, “I will honor your advice and I will escort my two companions as you suggest. Where does it lead?” “To the lowest level of Mountain City, approximately two miles below the surface of Verron,” answered Lucy. Paul could feel his claustrophobia kick in, but managed to say nothing.
Paul did a full hand print, voice recognition and retinal scan before the door to the waiting elevator would open. The elevator door must have been 6 feet thick. The elevator was a good size freight elevator, large enough that you could easily drive a loaded forklift into its bay. The trip down was smooth and very fast for a two-mile ride. When the doors opened they stepped out into a large naturally made underground cavern. It was at least large enough for two side-by-side football fields (American or European). The floor had been leveled and covered with the same super hard concrete used in the rest of Mountain City. The bright overhead lights where floating in the air. Not a one was bolted or tethered to a wall or cave ceiling. The low light quickly brightened to that of a baseball field at night. There were several large doors exiting the cavern. “So what’s down here?” Paul asked. Lucy illuminated the closest door to the right, indicating where to go first. When Paul got to the door he was once again greeted with a control panel that required voice recognition, retinal scan and a hand print. He muttered under his breath, “This is ridiculous.”
As soon as the heavy vault door opened he changed his mind. As far as the eye could see in this huge underground vault were pallets of gold bullion, stacked in obviously very stout pallet racks. All three of them said, “Good Lord!” at the same time and looked at each other realizing they had picked this saying up from Paul. “I feel foolish to ask, but how much is there?” Lucy casually replied, “There is 100,000 tons of gold bullion or at current Earth bullion rates 4 trillion dollars. There is an additional 70,000 tons of platinum or just almost 3 trillion dollars.” Paul was speechless as he looked at Tlase and Zimuel. Tlase asked, “Lucy, what’s in the drawers along that wall?” Paul had been so awe struck by the news of the gold and platinum that he had not even noticed the drawers Tlase was referring to. He walked over to the closest drawer and opened it. The drawer was full of thousands of uncut diamonds. He noticed that the drawers were labeled by the average carrot size of the diamonds in the drawers, ranging on average from 50 to as high as 600 carrots uncut and a few drawers labeled with averages of 1500 to 4200 carrots. Paul opened the drawer labeled 4200 carrots and was struck dumb by the fact that the drawer was completely filled with hundreds of uncut diamonds that looked to be 4 to 6 inches in size. He recalled the Star of Africa and that it was supposed to be one of the largest in the world at about 3000 carrots and valued at a couple billion dollars. He knew he would destroy the diamond market on Earth if he ever released these gems. About two isle over began rows of drawers full of uncut emeralds and over from that what looked like rubies. Paul reached in the drawer and picked up an uncut ruby about the size of a golf ball and tossed it to Tlase saying, “Think someone on Xhondar can cut that into a nice necklace and a set of earrings?” He paused a moment and tossed her another one the same size, little did he know that he had just given away close to a million dollars. They looked through a few more rows and saw black stones and blue stones that looked familiar, but Paul had no idea what they w
ere. As they left the vault Paul was deep in thought about his new found wealth. This was all his and he felt certain that the people back on Xhondar were not aware of the many secrets held by Illinasos Xhondar, he was truly an extraordinary man. Locking the vault behind him, Paul said, “I hope it won’t hurt your feelings if you’re only allowed in there with me.” Zimuel smiled and answered, “Man, I wouldn’t even trust myself and I definitely wouldn’t trust Tlase.” Tlase hit him quit hard with her elbow, but did manage a grin. She then turned to Paul and asked, “Can I borrow some money?” Paul looked at the two stones in her hand and replied, “You just did.”
They went to another heavily secured door and went in more easily than the vault. Inside was the most advanced research lab Paul had ever seen. This time it was Tlase’s turn to be blown away. “From what I can determine by just looking, Illinasos has made some pretty drastic changes to what is considered the most advanced lab equipment on Xhondar. Why shouldn’t it surprise me, he invented most of them in the first place. I will need to spend some time down here looking over his files and playing with some of this equipment in order to determine exactly what he has accomplished. I guarantee you it’s going to be very significant.” Paul spoke, “Lucy I hate to so quickly break my promise, but I want Elder Tlase to have authorization to access this lab at any time. She is the only one on this planet who can understand exactly what has been done in here. I can’t be running down here every time she needs to work, you’ll have to clear her for opening the nuclear blast doors, the elevator and this room, only.” Tlase nodded her understanding and Lucy replied, “As you wish.”
There were two more doors with security measures in place. Lucy informed them that one was the antimatter reactor that powered Mountain City and suggested that they not go in there without proper protection. The other secured door was more secure than all the others. Lucy made it perfectly clear that only Paul was to enter this area. He went through the usual retina, hand and voice recognition and gave Lucy a new pass code to replace that of her former master, only to be used by his voice. He went through that door into a clean room, where Paul was instructed to change into a sterile suite provided for him in the chamber. Illinasos must have been taller and a few pounds heavier than Paul, since the suite was a bit large. Next he stepped into a decontamination chamber and could feel his body being cleansed by some kind of particle beam. Finally he repeated the retinal scan and voice recognition. Since his hands were covered in gloves there would be no hand print this time. Paul then entered the room beyond. This room contained Lucy. In a room so bright and clean that every surface looked like a mirror, there was but one control console in the middle of the room, and two large monitors on the wall. As Paul entered Lucy asked him to sit in the large chair by the controls. She asked him to please look in the bottom right drawer of the console and remove the headset that was located in the drawer. She then explained that it would be to his benefit and to hers if they understood each other better and knew each other’s thoughts.
If you will place the head set on your head and sit back and relax for about two hours, I will complete the process. When finished, I will think like you think and you will understand fully my capabilities. I will possess the memories and knowledge that you have obtained throughout your lifetime and you will have mine. You will no longer need to ask me a question; you will know the answer through me. By completing this link you will essentially be as smart as me. You will, for example, immediately know how the weapons in the armory work, you will be able to fly any craft on this planet; my knowledge will be your knowledge. This is one of the most guarded secrets on Verron. This is how Illinasos was able to accomplish so many great things while on this planet. He was a very brilliant man, since he created me, but all of his knowledge after that came from me. No one knew this except Master Xhondar and me. You are now the new Master and no one else can ever know this secret unless they are to replace you. Unfortunately, no human lives forever. Now tell your friends to wait in the lab and let’s get started.” Paul had Lucy tell Tlase and Zimuel to play in the lab for a couple of hours and he’d join them later. He then placed the weird looking headset over his head and adjusted it according to Lucy’s instructions to assure the connections were properly made, then sat back in the chair. The chair was so comfortable, he fell asleep.
“Wake-up Paul;” Came a very sweet yet almost sensuous voice. Paul slowly opened his eyes and realized he had not heard the voice through his ears, he had heard it in his head. He opened his eyes farther to reveal a beautiful image of an incredibly gorgeous woman on one of the monitors. He couldn’t help but stare. The woman had dark-red hair and the greenest and most piercing eyes Paul had ever seen. Her complexion was perfect with just a slight pigment, like a very light tan. The lips and mouth were full and her smile was radiant. She was dressed in a light flowing thigh length black gown. Her legs and the rest of her (from what he could see) was pure perfection. He had no point of reference, but she appeared to be rather petite. For a moment Paul felt as if he had seen this woman before. He asked, “Do I know you? You look familiar.” The voice, this time audible, answered, “I should look familiar. I came from your mind. This is the composition of what you imagine to be the perfect woman. I decided to use it for my own. It’s much nicer than the one Illinasos had in his mind, and this new voice is much warmer and less harsh than my old one.” Paul spoke with amazement, “Lucy? I would have never recognized you, you’re beautiful.” The image on the screen literally beamed with gratitude and slightly blushed from Paul’s complement.
After staring a few more minutes in silence, Paul finally spoke. “Lucy, it’s kind of creepy; you knowing everything that goes on in my head. Nothing personal, but I now have no privacy. If you can see the image of my fantasy woman that I’ve never shared with anyone, what else can you see?” Lucy in total honesty answered, “I see a man who is claustrophobic, who is totally driven to succeed in anything he does, who loves his God, his family and his friends. I see a man who is scared to death of failure and who can’t begin to imagine the consequences of failing and a man who is overwhelmed by his new world, his new wealth, his new abilities and the demands that are on him. I see a man that wants to make a difference. I see you. And I am here to help you be successful at everything you desire to accomplish.” Paul removed the headset and put it back in the drawer, looked around the room and back at the unbelievably gorgeous woman looking back at him and replied, “You know me better than my own mother. In fact, I can think of no one who has me figured out like you do.” “That’s because our minds are one. Mine may be a bit bigger than yours but we are united as one none the less. You will soon find that I will do things as you think them and not wait for you to verbally ask. I will see what you see, hear what you hear, think what you think; I’ll know when you’re tired, angry, nervous, hungry, or frustrated. My job is to help you get through these things so you do not have to do everything yourself.” Paul softly muttered, “Geej, I have my own personal Santa Clause.” Lucy asked, “What is a Santa Clause?” Paul laughed, “Ha, so you don’t know everything I know! Santa Clause is a mythical being on Earth that gives gifts to people all over the world;(he sang) ‘He knows when you are sleeping; he knows when awake; he knows if you’ve been bad or good; so be good for goodness sake’.” Lucy’s image smiled that brilliant smile on the monitor and replied, “Here we would call Santa Clause, God; he does the same thing that this mythical being does.” Paul shook his head at the insight from a machine and smiled. “You’re right, but God does a better job, and he loves you whether you’ve been bad or good.”
Lucy put on a pouty expression and asked, “Paul, please don’t call me a machine.” Paul instantly felt bad for offending his new friend. Friend; this was going to take some getting used too. “I promise I will not call you a machine or a computer; only Lucy.” He got up from the chair and walked around the room. He could see the image on the screen following his movements with her alluring green eyes as he walked around and too
k everything in. After a moment Lucy said, “Paul, I want you to see something. See the large floor panel just under this monitor?” (Paul walked over to it) “Lift the panel by those recessed handles.” The panel opened with an air-tight swooshing sound. As he looked down Paul could see almost a mile below to the bottom. The huge structure was filled from top to bottom with Lucy. Paul had heard about Super computers with huge underground processors and he knew that there was probably something similar to this on Earth, Xhondar and other worlds, but he felt certain that there was nothing like it anyplace in the Universe. She then had Paul open a ceiling panel with a drop ladder; sort of like attic stairs. He climbed to the top of the ladder and looked around. The chamber above went up almost as far as the other went down, however this chamber spread out in every direction with row upon row of controls and processors and wires. As Paul came back down the ladder Lucy told him. “No one is to be allowed in either chamber except you. I am capable of doing my own maintenance and repairs, but if the occasion should ever arise that I need a human to take care of something, you are to be that human. I will be more than capable of instructing you on what to do.” Paul replied, “As you wish” and noticed a big smile from the Lucy image.
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