* * * *
Alec woke in darkness. He sensed Jodi sleeping next to him. A cool breeze from the air conditioning blew across his face. He could hear the familiar sound of his dogs’ snoring at the foot of his bed. Propping up on his elbows he looked around. The glowing red numbers of a clock showed 8:06. He couldn’t tell if it was morning or evening, but the gnawing in his stomach wasn’t going to let him get back to sleep. He got up to explore their new home… a small apartment, with a kitchen, bedroom and living area. The kitchen was small but fully stocked. Every room had a TV with its own satellite connection. Alec turned one on while filling a coffee maker. The smell of freshly brewing coffee filling the apartment woke Jodi and she joined him at the small table. Alec poured her a cup. “How is our being here helping Jessie?” She asked taking a sip.
“I guess we have to trust Joshua. You know what he told us… he said this was our best chance. I just can't see why we had to drive all this way, if they would have put us in a helicopter, we would have been here a day earlier.”
“Well, we’re here now. We just need to get to work.” They sat quietly watching the news while finishing their coffee. Their new knowledge of the Kan-ji and their involvement in the world’s governments gave them a different perspective of the news... and still there was nothing new to be gleaned... which made it all the more curious to them.
After dressing, they opened their apartment door and were met by two guards who politely greeted them. To their surprise, one of them asked if it was OK to take their dog for a walk. With their blessing he excitedly led Taylor down the corridor. The remaining guard casually led them to the bases cafeteria where Clay and Dolores were already relaxing at one of the tables.
“Well, it looks like we're not prisoners.” Clay smiled “Our doors weren't locked and it appears that we're able leave or enter our rooms whenever we want.”
“Of course you're not prisoners. The residents here consider you to be more like royalty.” Joshua said from behind Alec. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning, smiling, bright eyed with a noticeable spring to his step. “I heard you've had a good night’s sleep. Are you ready to get to work?” He grabbed a Styrofoam cup and filled it. “Follow me.” he rushed out the door sipping at his coffee. The two couples followed him out.
“This place is brimming with excitement now that you're here. You can just feel it.” Joshua answered their unasked questions. “We've been waiting for you to show up ever since I screwed up our first meeting.”
The place reminded Alec of an abandoned military base with its metal walls, the 1960's style electrical work and the ugly green and gray paint. Signs of its current occupants could be seen with the state-of-the-art security devices, cameras and advanced door scanners. There were even some plants and artwork scattered about. The halls were crawling with people, not as many dressed in military type garb as he expected, most wore jeans, khakis, t-shirts, pullovers and button down shirts. Almost everyone they passed gave a friendly smile. Nearing the outskirts of the complex, they noticed fewer and fewer personnel until they reached a large metal door with a hand scanner mounted next to it.
“Alec, your hand please.” Joshua pointed to the scanners inset hand pad. Alec obliged and the door slid open revealing a large underground hanger. Joshua stepped aside waving them in.
Alec looked around in astonishment at the partially lit cavernous expanse. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of aircraft, from trainer jets to cargo haulers extended into the darkness. All were partially disassembled, as though waiting for parts to arrive.
Joshua touched a panel on the wall and more of the cavern lit up, exposing more craft along the far wall to their right. These were various sized transport planes, helicopters, and even a couple of snow cats. All with their engines, wings and blades removed.
“This is our air force, and hopefully our space force.” Joshua bragged.
“Looks to me like they need a lot of work” Alec said in disappointment. He expected to see ships ready to take off. These planes looked like they needed years of work before they would be of any use.
“It's not as bad as you'd think.” Joshua responded to his concern. “We've been monitoring you're development of the ALEC’S DREAM. We obviously don't understand you're technology, but we did see how the ship was modified… and did our best to prepare our ships to take on your devices… and hopefully you have some other surprises for us.”
Alec and Clay walked to the fighter closest to them to look it over where they soon fell into a deep discussion. “Before you get too far into this, I must show you the rest of the base. You'll need to meet the people you’ll be working with.” Joshua interrupted, leading them back.
During the rest of the tour they were introduced to the dozens of mechanics and technicians responsible for maintaining the aircraft. By the time they made it to their offices, they were surprised to find that most of the base personnel had gathered to meet them. They were especially surprised to see Stan standing in the middle of them. “Hi boss.” He said after working his way to the front of the crowd.
“Stan, what the heck... how did you get here?” Alec stuttered in surprise. With all that’s happened over the past few days, it never occurred to him that without Stan’s drive control programming, they would never get off the ground.
“It’s a long story, but for now… let’s just say that it’s been an adventure. We got here just after you arrived.” Stan said shaking his hand.
“We?” Clay interrupted.
“Yea, three of us made it in last night. The rest, families too, should be here in a couple of days. Joshua is quite a planner. We can catch up later. I’ll let you guys settle in.” He said shaking Clay’s hand before slipping back into the crowd. Alec smiled watching him walk away remembering all the flying contraptions they made over the past year.
They went right to work. Clay's bowling trophy was already sitting in his new office and Alec’s hard drive waited for him on a work bench. They had the blanket press setup and the backup tapes restored. To Alec’s surprise, ten more presses were being fabricated. It didn’t take long before Clay was fully absorbed setting up the chain of parts suppliers and manufacturers. He quickly had the staff mobilized; contacting these companies, writing purchase orders, cutting checks and setting up deliveries before the day was over.
It took a bit more time for Alec to get started. He first needed to do some soul searching. It was one thing giving them GraviTych’s technologies and inventions; it was another thing surrendering his most secret ideas. His hard drive contained notes, drawings and specifications of them. That was why he risked his life to recover it. In the end, with their daughter’s lives at stake, Alec knew he had no choice but to open up and give out his secrets and hope for the best when all this was over.
Thanks to Stan, the ships in the hanger were fitted with their gravity drives in a matter of days. His engineers from GraviTych had quickly got the sub-space communications and energy generators implemented while Alec buried himself in his lab to work on weapons.
After a long day talking, arguing and discussing with Joshua about switching the bases power over to their new anti-gravity generators, an exhausted Alec arrived back at his apartments. Jodi was already fast asleep. He grabbed a glass of juice and his laptop and settled into a recliner to do a little private weapons work.
He woke lying flat on the ground. He must have dozed; the last thing he remembered was working out a design on his laptop. Rubbing his eyes, he realized he was back in that odd dream with that 4 dimensional oriental chef.
“Hello Alec.” said Shaun.
Like last time, he was surrounded by the familiar white vortex but now it was his apartment that floated below. Standing, he was able to see more of the base; people walking the hallways, sleeping, working in offices and labs... like his last dream. “Well, hello Shaun. It's been a year since I've had this dream. I thought I was cured of you.”
“What you believe is what you believe. As with me
, I must do what I must do.” Shaun said.
The floor in front of him began to swirl, growing into a small white upside-down tornado until it was nearly as tall as him. He felt like he should run, but instead, he just followed Shaun’s example, and stood there concentrating on the small windless tempest. As the white faded, the shape of a person slowly took shape.
“Jessie!” Alec cried wrapping his arms around her, tears streaming down.
Chapter 15 ~ Exploration
Alec's Dream Page 31