by Phoenix Hays
“Touch it again, dad,” Joe said from the doorway.
Victor reached up and touched it again. The panel switched to a crystal-clear view of the other apartments across the expanse from theirs. Joe and Ayrin, awestruck by the sight, joined the adults in front of the window.
“What is this place?” Mary asked in wonder.
“This is Site B,” Victor said. “If anyone had a doubt that Duke could pull this whole thing off, I hope you’ve changed your mind now.”
A dinging sound came from the other room.
“I’ll go see what that is,” Victor said, walking toward the entrance to the apartment.
Mary, Joe, and Ayrin followed him and stopped just outside the bedroom doorway.
A green light flashed in the bottom corner of the TV.
“Duke Evensen is calling,” the drone said. “I can activate a video conference remotely. All you need to do is let me know you want to answer the call.”
“Please connect,” Victor said, as his eyebrows rose and the corners of his mouth turned down. He saw that the other family members had similar looks of being impressed.
The TV flickered on to reveal Duke’s face.
“I hope I’m not intruding,” Duke said. “How do you like your residence?”
“It’s great,” Ayrin said.
“I love the bunk bed!” Joe said.
“It’s wonderful, Duke,” Mary said. “Thank you so much.”
“It’s my pleasure. How do you like the view?”
“It’s nothing short of breathtaking,” said Victor. “I have so many questions.”
“Of that I have no doubt,” Duke said. “If you would like, I can give you a tour of the facility in the morning.”
“Can we come too?” Joe asked.
“Of course, my boy! I’ll let you guys get settled and after a good night’s rest, we’ll meet up on the overlook at 8 A.M.”
CHAPTER 43
At 7:55 A.M., Duke, Patrick and the Bayhams stood together at the entrance to the residences. Even though the Bayhams had seen it from this vantage point and their room, the expanse in front of them was still awe-inspiring. They marveled at the walls of curved squares lining the walls on either side of the landing they stood on,. The walls reached hundreds of feet above and below the landing. At the center of many of the squares were rectangles of bright or diffused light. Joe felt dizzy and took a step backward from the drop off beyond the wall in front of them.
“For obvious reasons, we call this the overlook,” Duke said. “This is the primary entrance to all of our housing. We do have secondary and emergency access to this area, but only the overlook has the smart-vator.”
“Why do you call it a smart-vator?” Mary asked.
“Since a regular elevator only goes up and down in a straight line, we thought it made sense. Our smart-vator can take passengers in any direction to reach their desired destination. Now, if you will follow us back to the gym, we can start the tour.”
Duke turned and opened the entrance to the gym. He ushered Patrick and the Bayhams through it and closed the door behind him.
“Please follow me.” Duke strode toward the left side of the gym. “This gymnasium has multiple basketball courts that can be converted to volleyball courts.”
The group approached the glass wall and Duke ushered them through the door. Treadmills, racks of free weights, and 10 different types of exercising equipment filled the room.
“I encourage all of you to take advantage of this place,” Duke said, raising his arms as if to offer the equipment to them. “It’s a good stress release as well as a way to keep yourselves active.”
They meandered around the equipment as Victor headed toward the middle of three doors on the far wall.
“Are these—?” He turned back to look at Duke.
“Hand ball courts, yes. Do you play, Victor?”
“It has been forever but I used to,” Victor said with a smile.
“We’ll have to play some time, but that will have to wait for now. If you will follow me, we’ll head over to the agri-bays.”
“What are agri-bays, sir?” Joe asked.
Duke turned to him. “Agri-bays are where we grow and process our food. Come on, I’ll show you,” he said with a smile. Duke led the group back out into the gym and took them toward a door near the corner on the far side of the gym.
The group followed him. Once they reached it, they saw the plate next to the door that said, “Authorized Personnel Only.”
Duke stopped and faced them.
“I am more than happy to show you what is beyond this door. All I ask is that you do not touch anything. You will all be fine by staying inside the pathways lined with emergency tape. We take many, many precautions to ensure that our food is safe, healthy, and delicious. Any questions?”
Everyone looked around silently and then looked back at Duke.
“No? OK. Here we go.”
Duke turned back to the door and waved his ID card to unlock it. As it opened, the group walked through and were immediately flanked on both sides by the black and yellow tape Duke had referenced. Joe raised his hand to block the light reflecting off the polished floor.
“My apologies, Joe,” Duke said with a chuckle. “We work very hard to keep this part of the facility extremely clean.”
“There are so many plants,” Ayrin said.
“Look at the tomatoes!” Joe exclaimed.
On the left side of the walkway were three rows of tomato plants. The plants were loaded with large tomatoes that were beginning to turn red. To the right of the path were rows of plants that held oversized peppers of various shapes and colors. The rows followed the walkway for hundreds of feet, and then the plants on the left changed from tomatoes to corn. On the right, beans were growing beyond the edge of the pepper plants.
“Victor, look at the walls,” Mary said.
Behind the peppers, employees had anchored plants 10 feet up the wall. Their vines extended out and down, weighted by hundreds of cucumbers.
“You can imagine that space is at a premium in an underground complex,” Duke said. “Our teams have come up with some creative ways to grow plants that don’t necessarily require a conventional growing platform.” He motioned his hand at the wall behind the tomatoes. It held rows of narrow containers with clear sides that showed carrots, onions and beets growing in the dirt. To the right of those containers were rectangular shaped holes in the wall where lettuce, kale and several kinds of spice plants grew out into the light of the room.
“This is something to behold, Duke,” Victor said. “And it shows how you’ve been able to provide vegetables for the effort, but what about meat?”
“That’s a great question,” Duke said. “Let’s head down the third aisle up ahead on the right.”
They passed the first two intersecting paths, made the turn around the end of a row of jalapeno peppers and Duke stepped forward to a set of double doors. He opened one and stepped to the side to let the group pass through.
Joe and Ayrin stopped just inside the doors and stared slack jawed at an expanse even larger than the garden room.
“What is that sound?” Ayrin asked.
“Look!” Joe said. “Chickens!”
The area to their left was fenced in and a small shed stood at the far back corner. Chickens walked around, bobbing their heads to poke at the grass around the structure.
“These chickens are used for their egg production,” Duke said. “The next pen is where our meat chickens live.”
The group passed enclosures with various animals ranging from chickens to goats to sheep to pigs and cows. Many of the enclosures had Space Vision staff working with the animals – milking cows, collecting eggs, or feeding pigs. As they finally reached the end of the room, they stopped and turned around, taking it all in.
“Does this provide enough food for the entire company?” Mary asked.
“That’s a great question,” Duke said. “The agri-bays are where we innovat
e and hone the craft of working with food production in tight spaces. We have a working farm on the surface at the rear of the compound. Between it and the orchard, we generate enough food to sustain our operations here. The food from the agri-bays is being prepared for storage.”
“So why keep the animals down here and not on the farm?” Joe asked.
“This area allows us to refine our efforts to provide a good living environment for the animals while also limiting the smell and impact to those who would be living alongside them. There’s going to be a lot of people and animals within a small area, and something as simple as animal dander and odor could really be an irritant that causes major problems.”
“That makes sense,” Victor said.
“Can we see one of the rockets?” Joe asked.
“I have to see one of those,” Ayrin said.
“I think we might be able to work something out,” Duke said. “Follow me.”
The group headed out of the agri-bays, back into the gymnasium and then into the hall of conference rooms and work stations. As they progressed back to the hallway where they first exited the elevator from the shack, the traffic steadily increased from open walking space to the point they had to weave between scientists and engineers bustling one way or another. Drones flying overhead accompanied Space Vision staff as they all headed toward their various destinations inside the complex.
Suddenly, alarms sounded and emergency lights flashed above the doors to the hallway. People began running in different directions.
“What’s going on?” Victor asked.
“We’re about to find out,” Duke said. “This way, please.”
Duke led the group over to a conference room door just as the last occupants hurried out.
“Adam, status report,” he said as he closed the door. “Patch the security channels into my location.”
“On screen,” Adam said over the muffled sounds of alarms and people rushing back and forth outside of the conference room.
An image of a large brown delivery truck with a white logo on the side appeared on the monitor hanging on the wall.
“Is that the road that leads to the small building we came in?” Joe asked.
“I think it is,” Ayrin said, leaning forward and squinting.
“It is,” Victor said, nodding.
“Yes,” Duke said. “That is the main access road. Watch.”
Richard Carter’s voice sounded from the speakers.
“Thompson, what’s your 20?”
“I’m exiting the building now,” Thompson said through the COM.
The front door of the shack opened and a man in business attire — Thompson — stepped out. A man in a brown uniform stepped down from the truck that had been parked in front of the shack. The two carried on a conversation for a few seconds. Thompson shook his head, and the brown uniformed man got back in the truck.
After the truck pulled away, Thompson lifted his wrist to his face. His voice played over the speakers.
“Thompson, here. Cancel the Series 1.”
Lights in the hallway grew in brightness as they returned to normal levels after the emergency lights stopped flashing and the alarms ceased.
“It was just a delivery driver that had a wrong address and drove past the guard station because nobody was there.”
“Adam, give me a view of the guard station,” Duke said.
The screen snapped to a view of the front of Site B and showed the brown truck turning onto the road. Behind it the gates stood wide open.
“Why are the gates still open?” Duke asked.
“There seems to be a malfunction with the gate system,” Adam said. “I’m unable to close them remotely.”
“Thompson, get out there and manually close that gate,” Richard ordered.
“Richard,” Duke said, “I expect a report on why that gate malfunctioned.”
“Yes, sir.”
“False alarm, folks,” Duke said, turning to the others in the room. “Shall we continue our tour?”
Everyone agreed, and they headed back out to the hallway amid a renewed bustle of Space Vision staff. They passed through the double doors at the end of the hall and were greeted by a continuation of the flow of staff and drones.
Duke led them past the elevator to the surface and up to the doors at the far end of the entry hall.
“Stay close together, everyone,” Patrick said.
CHAPTER 44
Beyond the double doors, a beehive of activity swarmed in the great round room. Joe and Ayrin took a step closer to Victor as a group of people in lab coats — scientists — walked quickly in front of them. The scientists entered a conference room to the right that was already half full of people. Moving the other direction was a formation of drones carrying mechanical equipment. They flew to the center of the room and began rising up into the large opening in the ceiling. Another set of drones floated down in the opposite direction and lowered into a similar hole in the floor.
“What is this place?” Joe asked.
He and Ayrin stepped forward to the guard rail lining the edge of the floor. Just visible at the edge of the darkness was a metallic cone-shaped object.
“Is that a rocket?” Ayrin whispered under her breath.
Duke nodded. “That, my friends, is one of our ATS rockets.”
“That’s so cool,” Joe said. “Dad, that’s a real rocket that’s going to space!”
“I know, son,” Victor said. His gaze turned toward Duke, his eyes serious.
“Come, come,” Duke said. “Let me show you the rest of it!” He guided the group over to one side of the room and ushered everyone inside of a rectangle lined by hazard tape. Duke turned and pushed some buttons on a keypad mounted on the wall. As he pushed the final button, he turned around and a series of bars rose up from the floor. They began connecting to each other to create a lattice structure. As soon as it finished, the rectangular panel shuddered and started heading downward.
The group gasped collectively.
The lift left the bright light of the round room behind as it lowered past the thickness of the floor.
“I can’t see anything,” Ayrin complained.
Both kids leaned forward to see the rocket as the bottom of the floor rose past the edge of the platform. Bright light through the hole in the floor above them gave way to the darkness as they traveled downward. Slowly, their eyes adjusted to the dim orange light provided by lamps mounted on the walls.
Joe peered down into the depths. “Whoa, I can’t see the bottom.”
“This is one of our Odyssey rockets,” Duke said. “They function as cargo rockets that we will use to bring supplies to Sanctuary. We plan on launching the first of these to dock with Sanctuary next week because construction of the superstructure was just recently completed.”
Looking up, Joe and Ayrin could still see scientists and other staff working on the ringed floor above them. They watched more drones head downward, passing them and disappearing into the depths. The rocket fattened from the cone at the top, and the shiny silver metal glinted in the faint light.
“This is one?” Mary asked. “I can’t imagine two or three of these attaching themselves to each other.” She looked down into the darkness and gripped the rail in reaction to the dizzying height.
“Two or three,” Duke said. “I wish it were that simple. When it is all said and done, Sanctuary will be a combination of ten or so Odyssey supply rockets: two more that carry our agricultural programs and two special transport ships that will carry personnel. We call those craft Wilbur and Orville.”
“Like the Wright brothers?” Joe asked.
“Smart boy,” Duke said. “Much like their first successful flight, our mission is groundbreaking and the first of its kind.”
They began to pass black and white check markings wrapping around a portion of the rocket. Below the markings was a row of different flags from all over the world.
“That’s weird,” Ayrin said with a frown. “Ther
e’s no pattern to those pictures.”
“What are all those flags for?” Joe asked, looking up at Duke.
“Patrick, I believe that was your idea,” Duke said, turning to the man.
Patrick cleared his throat. “In discussing our efforts with many of the staff at Space Vision, it seemed important to them to remember how this effort was coming together. We decided to represent each member of Space Vision by putting their home country’s flag on the Odyssey rockets.”
The platform continued its descent. The massive rocket in front of them increased in diameter. Access walkways extended from its sides and connected with openings in the wall of the silo.
“What you are seeing there,” Duke said, pointing at the walkways, “are loading catwalks for the cargo this ship will carry. Those torpedo-shaped structures on either side of the ship,” he gestured below the platforms, “are the booster rockets that will fire at launch and detach after expending their fuel.”
The platform slowed and came to a stop just above the launch pad, leaving the group in front of large fins and massive engines at the base of the powerful machine.
“These are the primary engines that will carry this rocket to its destination to become a component of Sanctuary.”
Joe and Ayrin gazed up at the towering rocket and the small hole in the floor above them.
“And with that, friends, we come to the end of the tour. I hope this has been inspiring to see what you are all helping to make possible – the survival of the human race.”
Duke turned, pushed another button on the control panel and the platform began its way back to the room at the top of the silo.
CHAPTER 45
Victor looked around the Bayham’s living room and smiled at the excited talk after the tour of Site B.
“I can’t believe they have so many animals here,” Joe said.
“Seeing that rocket was amazing,” Ayrin said.
“Alright, alright,” Mary said. “Let’s settle down and get ready for bed.”
“Awwww!” The two kids said together. They both got up and slowly headed toward the bedroom.