by Chris Hechtl
“Okay, this isn't just a simple place to hide until the bombs stop, is it?” Paul asked.
“No. We don't know how long we'll have to live there. Keep that in mind. And we'll need multiple ways in and out. Preferably dispersed so we can sneak people and goods in without being seen,” Elliot warned.
Paul made a puttering sound. “Okay, this is one big project. I'm going to need funds, plus every construction crew we've got. All the equipment … this is going to kill our schedule,” he said.
Sharif opened his mouth to protest, as did Debbie, but then they both closed their mouths and grimaced.
“Everything is on hold as of this moment. The schools, industrial park, spaceport expansion, new airports, everything.”
“We're going to need a lot of storage underground plus greenhouses,” Debbie said out loud as she sat back.
“Okay, get on your search and work on the list—wish list plus the essentials. Paul, get the space going. Find some architects and engineers to help.”
“Righto,” Paul said, still unenthused but at least on board with the project, Jack noted. “I never thought I'd live troglodyte though.”
“I met a couple of families who lived in a missile silo,” Elliot said. All eyes turned to the Neochimp. “It was before the war. I'm trying to remember some of the stuff they told me about. I'll try to get you a list. We'll need armories too and a firing range.”
“Everyone can send him a list. Paul, you've got your work cut out for you. Get on that now. If necessary, we'll pull apart buildings for the necessary materials. Whatever is needed.”
Paul blinked at him, then whistled. He realized how serious Jack was at that moment. Slowly he nodded.
“Okay, we've all got our marching orders; let's get with it, people,” Jack said as he rose from the table. The others followed suit.
~~*^*~~
Max and other explorers found a series of caves right off. Some of the spelunker club had already mapped the nearest caves. Engineers and architects surveyed those immediately. Paul Aguilera shifted construction resources to the caves even before the engineers and architects were finished. That stopped all construction in the cities and elsewhere on the planet.
People who were nervous about the aliens stepped up. A few even volunteered to move underground, giving Paul an additional workforce. He kept muttering about Pern and holds, but he seemed more enthused by the project.
The first day they officially kicked off the project Paul checked out the raw caves for himself. He was pleased that despite the fall weather the teams were ready to camp outside and get the project done.
When he went inside, he was more impressed. The first cave they had started on had a wide entrance and a large network of room-sized tunnels inside.
“With the right paint, windows …”
“Windows?” Paul asked, turning to the construction worker.
“Yeah, sure. We can paint 'em or set up a video screen to act like a window. I've seen it,” the Neogorilla said dismissively.
Paul slowly nodded, feeling a bit better about the idea. “Okay, he said.
“Just watch out for those women. They'd want curtains and such,” the worker said as a female worker came by. She took a mock swipe at him, then continued on her way.
Paul nodded. “Okay, shoo,” he said waving his hands to get the worker and others moving again. “We don't have a lot of time, folks. We don't know how long until the aliens show up, so let's make the most of it. Every moment is precious.” He picked up a coil of hoses and then followed a couple of them into the cavern deeper. It was a bit dark despite the lights, but he just thought of himself in an asteroid or in a basement. It helped a little.
~~*^*~~
Paul, Red, Sharif, and other volunteers or department heads worked on engineering weapons and supporting logistics in between other projects. When Paul had enough space for industry, he went after it. Sharif, however, held out or dragged his feet until Paul showed up to confront him face-to-face. “Come on man, we need to move at least one now. We've got the room and power.”
“How?” Sharif demanded as they looked around the long room of 3D printers. The printers were great for prototyping or building one off parts. The prototypes ended up being cast for resin casting or for metal casting later … if they passed muster.
“How what?” Paul asked.
“How do you have power?” Sharif amplified.
“Oh,” Paul snorted. “The cave I've got in mind has an underground water source. It's near a river. We added a waterwheel turbine.”
“Oh,” Sharif rumbled, rubbing his chin. “Okay. Take numbers five and nine,” he said, pointing to two machines. “Five has a hot end jam. It's a pain in the ass to clear so Red hasn't bothered this week. It's a tear down. Nine has a similar problem. We've got to do something about this brittle filament. Either find a way to improve it or … something,” he said lamely.
“Okay. I guess we can start with them,” Paul said with a nod. He turned and called a couple guys in.
Sharif blinked. “What now?” he asked.
“No time like the present,” Paul replied with a shrug.
~~*^*~~
In the middle of the night, two hours after they'd gone to bed, Menolly went into labor. Her groan of pain and flaying hand woke Jack up.
“What is it?” he asked worriedly. She groaned again, sitting up. She grimaced. “I think I just peed myself,” she said.
“You …,” Jack saw a wet stain with his enhanced vision. “Jeeves, lights. I think we've got a situation,” he said as he sat up.
She was two weeks early; stress induced from the threat of the invasion had most likely caused her to go into labor. “I thought it was heartburn from the marinara!” Menolly practically wailed.
“We've got to go. Jeeves, we need medical transport now,” Jack said, getting out of bed. He quickly threw on some clothes as he went around the bed to assist his wife.
“I feel like a beached whale,” she muttered, trying to sit up. “So much for a water birth,” she grumbled as she got up on shaky legs. She groaned again.
“Another?”
“Yeah. They are coming fast,” she hissed, clenching his hands.
“Fingers crossed this is a false alarm but with our luck …”
Jack felt intense relief when he got her to the porch and saw a white boxy ambulance land in the driveway behind his truck. “Damn good timing,” he said admiringly as the paramedics got out.
“I think her water broke or it's about to,” Jack called out as their neighbors turned on their lights to see what was going on. Quickly and carefully they got Menolly down the stairs and into the open ambulance.
Jack climbed in as the paramedic began her assessment. He had enough time to close the door and find a seat just before the craft lifted off.
“Easy,” the paramedic said as Jack was thrown off balance. “I'd tell you to buckle in, but we'll be there in a second or two.”
That wasn't quite accurate. It took a full minute for the aircraft to orient on and travel to the hospital. They landed to find a sleepy nurse outside.
The paramedics and nurse pulled Menolly's stretcher out of the ambulance. Jack followed, anxious and worried.
“You have horrible timing you know that?” the nurse said with a shake of her head. “Doc McDullan is off fishing, and I'm trying to find Doc Gurney.”
“I'll take a vet at this rate,” Menolly hissed just as her water broke.
“Find a room fast,” the paramedic said. “Try not to bear down just yet …”
The nurse poked her head under Menolly's wet nightgown. “We've got a crown! Too late,” she said. She looked up to Menolly as the stretcher stopped. “No time to get to the maternity ward. You are delivering this baby now,” she said.
“Here and now,” the paramedic agreed as another contraction hit Menolly.
“Did you give her anything to ease the contractions?” another nurse demanded as she ran up to them.
�
��No. No time,” the lead paramedic replied as the first nurse urged Menolly to bear down. Jack caught her hand and felt her bear down, crying out as the birth commenced. He anxiously watched as the baby was born. Max arrived on the scene just as the baby came out and gave a bawl of anger at the cold room and bright lights.
“Oooh,” the nurse cooed, chuckling as she soothed the child. The second nurse darted off, only to return with the on-duty doctor and towels.
“Get that dog … oh,” a nurse said when she saw Jack's dark expression and Max's look. “Um … never mind,” she said turning away as the doctor clamped the umbilical cord.
“She's a girl,” the nurse cradling the baby reported as the doctor took her in the towel and cleared her airways with swabs. He carefully checked her over.
Jack disdained cutting the umbilical cord, favoring his wife with a towel to wipe up her sweat and tears. “Good work,” he said.
“Like trying to shit a bowling ball,” Menolly murmured as the nurse handed her the little girl. “But worth it. So worth it,” she murmured tiredly. It was a tender moment with the new family.
~~*^*~~
“But … but the museum …,” Bess sputtered at Jack, near tears as she tried to lay her case out.
“Is on hold,” Jack said patiently. He shot a look at Debbie; he'd humored her in coming in and abandoning Menolly and Allysa. The baby was still having trouble sleeping at night, and he'd been up all night with her so Menolly could get some rest.
Debbie, for her part, just shook her head. “Look, I get why you want the museum. I was all for it. For the moment, we're going to have to keep the virtual museum going and store what you've got.”
“But …,” the woman sputtered stubbornly.
“What we can do is move everything to the caves,” Debbie offered. “We can even give you some space for them.”
The woman scowled. She couldn't complain that the caves were too wet; everything she had to display was a replica. “But …”
“The library is shut down too. Every project is now shut down until further notice. All resources are going to the emergency preparedness projects. We need to be prepared if and when the aliens show up.”
“But …”
“You wanted to hear it from the governor, now you have,” Debbie said firmly. “Come on, I'll get someone to lend you a hand.”
“But all that planning and work … wasted …,” the woman said as she hung her head.
“It's not wasted; it's just put on hold. We'll put everything in storage. Look at it this way, you can plan and make more things to display! Write-ups, the works,” Debbie said.
“But I can't make anything else if all of the industry is used for the caves …”
“No, but we can plan what you can make. I know it isn't a lot, but we can do something. We're also going to need to move the museum servers underground so they'll be protected. We don't want the aliens to get a hold of them or destroy them, right?” Debbie insisted as she eased the woman out of Jack's office and past Jasmine.
Once they were gone, Jack shook his head as Jasmine came into the office. “That one has been a pain for days,” Jasmine murmured.
“I see that. She'll be quiet for a little while, but when the sky doesn't fall, she'll start in about how we're Chicken Little,” Jack observed. Jasmine blinked at him in confusion, pausing as she laid out a chip set on his desk.
“Never mind,” Jack said as he brushed her hand aside to take up the first chip in the pile.
“Okay,” Jasmine said as she left the room and shut his door.
He put the chip in the reader but paused when he heard her raised voice stopping someone from coming into his office. He rubbed his brow and then checked the cameras. “Let them in. This had better be quick,” he said as Leroy came storming into his office with his wife. “Leroy, sorry about the pool project and the school, but you know we've had a shift in priorities,” Jack said smoothly as he rose from behind his seat.
“Don't give me that drivel!” Leroy complained. “And save the machinations you just put on poor old Bess! I saw Debbie escorting her out. You know we need a proper school system, complete with an administration complex, stadium …”
“It won't do any good if the aliens come and bomb it into dust!” Jack roared, cutting the other man off. Leroy stopped to stare at him.
“Look,” Jack said as he saw the other man's wife grab her husband's arm and tug on it. “I agree, a school is important, vital even. But we have got to get a handle on the emergency program first. Until then, we're going to have to make do with what we've got. Once we've gotten the fortresses set up and if the aliens haven't shown up, then we'll shift back to the expansion plan. Until then we're going to have to suck it up,” Jack growled.
“Come on. You aren't getting anymore headway and you said your piece,” Leroy's wife said urgently. “Sorry,” she muttered.
“I am too,” Jack said, sitting heavily. “I don't want this, but we're going to damn well be prepared for anything come hell or high water,” he said firmly as the intruders retreated.
“Or alien invasion,” he muttered as Jasmine closed his door once more.
~~*^*~~
Jeeves processed the data from Magellan as well as the speculation that the crew and others had brought up. The A.I. couldn't answer some questions, but he did present a report on his findings during a meeting. Jack and the others listened patiently to the qualifiers. “What you've got is more questions in other words,” Sharif said, clearly frustrated.
“Pretty much,” Jack agreed with a nod. He drummed his fingertips on the table in front of him, making everyone maintain their attention on him for a minute. Finally, he shrugged. “Okay, here is what I'm thinking. We need as much lead time to evacuate as we can. Consequently, I want to overhaul the sky watch program—broaden its focus, add the area where Magellan jumped in as a priority scan area.”
“The problem is, we've got a lot of sky to cover,” Sharif warned. “And only so many cameras and processors.”
“He is correct. I have 10 percent of my resources working on the sky watch as it is,” Jeeves warned.
Jack frowned thoughtfully. “I see. Jeeves, remind me to have someone break out the servers we've got in reserve. I know they are supposed to be there in case of breakage, but we need them. We'll set them up in the caves however,” Jack said.
“Noted,” Jeeves replied.
“I'll make the space and get someone on wiring it,” Paul said wryly.
“Yeah, that too,” Jack said.
“Anything else?” Sharif asked.
Jack nodded. “Well, get with the astronomers. I know we've got people on the ground who still love astronomy. Get on the social media and ask them to keep an eye out as well. That's the best I can think of short of finding a way to build more satellites.”
Debbie nodded and made a note on her tablet.
“Which isn't going to happen anytime soon. We've got other, more pressing priorities,” Sharif stated flatly.
“Exactly,” Paul agreed over the radio. He couldn't afford to burn the time to come into the office to listen to a meeting. Jack had agreed heartily. “I need everything I can get if we're going to get these evac sites prepped and ready. Are we really going to begin moving into them early?”
“Anything we can do without. Nonperishables can be stored there, that sort of thing. Any volunteers who want to live there, that sort of thing,” Jack replied with a nod. “Any excess supplies, we'll need barracks, bunk rooms for people.”
“Textiles are a problem. I'll look into it,” Debbie said.
“Everything is going to be a problem if we're expecting to make it underground. We're going to be short on resources,” Sharif warned.
“We'll stockpile what we can when we can. We'll recycle too. Second to your project in priority is the resources needed by the militia,” Jack said.
“How is that going?” Sharif asked, turning to General Elliot's image. The general had also not burned the time to
come in for the meeting.
“So far so good. We're still getting back into shape. I've lost four pounds just from the cardio,” the general quipped with a grin. “We're running low on ammunition though.”
“Why?” Debbie asked.
“Marksmanship training. We need to get everything up to snuff,” the general replied.
“Ah,” Debbie replied, making a note.
“I'll see what I can do. You are saving your brass, right?” Sharif asked.
“Of course. I've even got a few of my people working on reloads with the kits they brought. But they are low on material there too,” he said.
Debbie made another note.
“We could also use uniforms and some other gear. I shot you a list, Jack,” Elliot said patiently.
“I …,” Jack frowned as he checked his implants. “Okay, I tagged it but didn't get into it too deep. I'll pick it apart.”
“Forward it to me. I'll see what I can do on my end,” Sharif said. Jack looked over to him and then nodded. He accessed and then sent the file.
“Got it,” Sharif said after a moment.
“I'll look into the uniform situation. You are using the uniforms that people brought with them, General?” Debbie asked.
“Yes, but some don't fit like they did back in the day, and a few are worn. We're also not sure about the markers on them.”
“Markers?” Debbie asked, looking up.
“We have ID markers on the uniforms. You can't see them unless you look at them under the right conditions with the right spectrum of light. But we don't know how the enemy sees. We don't want to give ourselves away,” the general explained.
“Ah.”
“We can come up with new uniforms, but they won't have the abilities or fit and finish of the originals, General,” Jack warned. “Our textile industry is rough. It's not set up to create smart fabric that can wick away moisture, keep you warm, and hide your body heat.”
“I gathered that. But having a spare is better than going buck ass naked,” the general said. “Though for Neos like us, we can handle it. Winter time though I'd prefer at least a hanky for a loin cloth,” he drawled.