When Wally finally wound down, the questions started in earnest. Each of Jim’s lieutenants had questions relating to the safety of the tunnel and what to do in case of problems. Jim also talked about how to best approach any strangers he and Gina might encounter along the way and at the other end of the line. He particularly asked about other entrances to the tunnel system, which Gina thought was a really good question. Who knew what might be in those tunnels? It was a good idea to know how and where they could get out if they had to.
“There are access tubes leading to the surface in several places along the tunnel’s path,” Wally explained, indicating various points on several different drawings. “After the blast doors, which we keep closed for safety reasons but will be opening and manning while you’re gone, there are no access points for about fifty miles. Then they begin to appear closer together. Mostly, that section of tunnel is in the literal middle of nowhere. The terrain is too rugged for even the hardiest of mountain men to live in, so chances that anyone’s found their way into the tunnels is remote at best. If you find the way blocked ahead of where we scouted, you can always climb out of the pod and hike to the nearest access tube. There should be a ladder leading upward and the way should be clearly marked. At least, all the tubes we’ve encountered in the length we’ve been able to search were well designated and in good condition.”
Gina liked the sound of that. She’d never been fond of enclosed spaces and wasn’t looking forward to spending so much time underground. She wasn’t claustrophobic, but the thought of being underground in unexplored sections of tunnel that had somehow survived the earthquakes and upheaval of the cataclysm gave her the creeps. It was good to know there were ways out should they run into problems.
The questions eased finally, after about an hour, but the biggest question of all loomed big in her mind. Finally, she just had to ask.
“This is all great, but when do you plan on us going?”
Jim looked at her, and she had a hard time reading his expression. “The sooner the better. How about we set out this afternoon?”
“All right.” Well, he certainly didn’t let any grass grow under his feet, did he? Gina was taken aback by the speed with which he was acting, but she knew it was for the best. The human race was already behind the eight ball. The sooner they came together to fight for their freedom, the sooner they would be free.
She thought it was appropriate that the struggle for freedom start in North America. The place that had once been the home of the greatest human democracy ever to grace the planet. It would start here, in the center of the old United States, hopefully in partnership with the Canadians. But they were all humans now, not Americans or Canadians. Just humans, fighting not for a country, but for freedom itself. Hopefully it would start here and spread to every corner of the globe.
From here, smaller pockets of human resistance in what had been Europe, South America, Africa, Australia and the Asian continent would be united in the fight against Alvian domination. The Zxerah kept tabs on human activity all over the world, ready to coordinate and aid where possible when the time was right. Any day now, the time would finally be right.
Chapter Nine
Gina noted the path Jim led her on after returning her pack. Someone had filled it with provisions for their trip. He hadn’t been kidding when he said he wanted to leave immediately. No sooner had the meeting in the conference room broken up than they were on their way down a series of elevators into the depths of the facility.
She noticed she wasn’t invited to see any more of the base than she’d already seen near the top and what she could glimpse on her way down. She wasn’t being given the run of the place, but she didn’t mind. She’d build on the kernel of trust from their shared past while she traveled with Jim to Canada—and hopefully back. By the time they returned, he would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was on the level. By that time he might have begun the even bigger leap of faith to trust the Patriarch, but she wouldn’t push it. It was enough that she’d be getting this group of people in touch with the others.
If there were, indeed, any to find living in the Canadian facility. She thought there were. The best intel they had said it was more than likely a group of humans had taken up residence, but nothing was one hundred percent certain. That was why she had to go and check things out herself.
Under normal circumstances, they would have sent a human scouting party to verify the theory before they did anything else but events were happening quickly now. The Patriarch had sped up his plans for a reason known only to him, but her trust in him was absolute. He’d never harmed her or any human. He’d never led her wrong. He’d done nothing but help her since the moment she’d passed his test of combat, and the Zxerah had been true friends to humanity ever since.
It would take time to convince Jim and his people, but it would happen. In the end the truth always prevailed.
The elevator dropped rapidly, taking them to another level. They got out, and Gina followed behind Jim, flanked by Wally and his son, Dex. Jim’s three stooges brought up the rear as they made their way to another elevator that took them down further into the reinforced concrete citadel.
Each level was clearly marked though the paint had faded with time. Gina saw some evidence that they’d made an attempt to keep the place in good repair. A small maintenance drone whizzed by on the side of the corridor at one point as they walked along. There was definitely some high tech equipment in the place and the added bonus of scientists who probably knew how it worked to keep it that way.
“Did you and your family ride out the crystal bombardment here?” Gina asked Wally as the other men discussed schedule alterations during Jim’s absence.
“The first round hit while I was on duty. After the satellites went down, the commanding officer let us get our families and bring them here. He was a good man, General Yeager.” Wally’s voice throbbed with emotion, and his eyes filled with moisture that he refused to let fall. In that moment, Gina saw the toughness behind the man that had allowed him to persevere, and she knew where his son got his grit.
“Did you go out and get them? I mean, by that time, transportation was pretty iffy, right?”
“I took one of the SUVs. I went with some of the others who had family living in the same neighborhood. We went in the dark of night, during one of the clear times when the bombardment engines were on the other side of the planet. We went in, grabbed as many possessions as we could, whatever vehicles and tools we could salvage and anything else that looked useful and caravanned back. There were few people left in my old neighborhood, but I took the lady next door and a few others with me. General Yeager, God bless him, didn’t turn them away. He made room for everyone and led us all in those first few days of utter confusion. We were doing well until the aliens started appearing. He sent out some of the soldiers to do reconnaissance, but most of them never came back. The few that did told us how the aliens were capturing people and taking them away. That’s when he drew everyone inside and locked down the facility.”
“Didn’t the Alvians search this far? The entrance on top is pretty visible despite the damage from the bombardment, and it’s been years. They had to have seen it.”
“Oh, they did,” Wally’s mouth tightened into a grim line. “We had to abandon the first few levels and hide below. We hunkered down and made it look like the place was empty. After descending deep into the ground, they seemed to give up when they hit the lowest level of blast doors, just as the general hoped. He said they probably figured it wasn’t worth the effort of blasting the doors and bringing the entire mountain down on their own heads since it looked like the inhabitants of this base had abandoned it long ago.”