“How was it possible to cover that much space with this net?” I asked, blown away by it all.
“Once we had it figured out, it came down to 3D printers… a lot of them. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with some of the world’s foremost engineers and a lot of resources. We had printers sent from all around the globe, and it only took two months to make it. After multiple glitches and setbacks, we were up and running six months ago,” he said, walking into the base. We followed behind. The doors slid shut as we cleared the opening, clinking shut with finality, and we were closed in.
“What about people in the area? How could you keep this secret?” Mae asked. We were all full of questions.
“We picked an isolated spot, but one that was quickly accessible from most of the United States. It had a low ratio of people per square mile because of the hard ground and lack of farmable land, so Dalhousie took a tenth of the state and relocated everyone within a hundred-mile radius, or wherever they wanted to go. With half the houses vacant in the States, it wasn’t that hard. Now, if you’ll come with me, I’ll show you to your rooms to freshen up. I heard you had a long day.” Trent didn’t pry any further on our adventures, and I was thankful for it as we made our way through the rocky terrain, on foot at first, until one of the carts we’d seen on the video in Washington swung by and picked us up. It sat the four of us with no problem, and we were whisked away to a group of shipping containers a mile or so away.
We’d headed in the direction of the vessel, and now I could see the large building beside it: the warehouse we’d seen the ships in on the video. I got a tingle thinking of those gray ships, red lasers blasting out of them, cutting the ground in front of us on our way south to get to Florida.
There weren’t many people lingering around, and those that I saw were uniformed like the guards had been. Not quite military, and not quite police, but something in the middle. The accountant in me wanted to see the books for this place, if they even bothered keeping track of it anymore.
The shipping containers were stacked on top of each other, so they were around ten high, and twenty left to right. There was an intricate step and balcony system, making them all accessible from the ground, and each had its own door. I remembered seeing an article on the web a couple years before about people using containers like this for homes, and I could now see they’d done the same thing. If I wasn’t in a dome hiding alien spaceships, I would have been more impressed.
“This is an interesting setup. Who stays here?” Mary asked Trent from the backseat.
The cart stopped, letting us out. I said thank you to the driver before he took off, leaving us standing at the base of the Lego-like structure.
“We have a more permanent structure for the staff, guards, engineers, and physicists. Dalhousie and the General have another complex where they stay if they’re around these parts for a visit. You guys are the first to stay here, with the exception of your friends.” As if on cue, a dog barked, and in the artificial daylight, I saw Carey bounding toward me, tongue flopping out the side of his mouth, his ears flapping up and down with each hop.
“Carey!” I called to him and lowered to my knees, enveloping him in a hug as he jumped on me, getting a wet face for my efforts. “Who’s a good boy? I missed you, bud.” He seemed to like that as he wiggled around me, rolling on the ground before saying hi to Mary, with a hesitant greeting for Mae.
Magnus and Natalia walked toward us, coming from behind the container complex, holding cups of coffee. Magnus had a tennis ball in his hand, and I assumed he’d been playing fetch with Carey in the grassed area behind the buildings.
I had a vision of a bad sitcom taking place here, about the crazy characters living in a complex of shipping containers in an alien ship research facility. I’d call it the Earth Defense Farce.
Nat picked up her pace when she got closer, and Magnus raised an eyebrow at seeing her obvious concern. Her having friends had thrown him for a bit of a loop, seeing a new woman blossom in her. She gave us each big hugs, and Magnus came in and did the same.
“You guys do know we only parted ways two days ago, right?” Mary asked, and it surprised me it had only been that long. It felt like at least a week.
“But you got to do all the exciting stuff, while we were cramped up in…” Magnus waved his arm in the air. “Whatever this is. Everything go okay?”
Trent stepped forward, and it seemed like we’d forgotten the engineer was present. “I’m going to bed now, but I’m sure I’ll see you in the morning. Choose whatever rooms you like. They’re unlocked, and the keys are inside the desk drawers.”
We said goodnight, and before we knew it, the gang was back together.
“Welcome to the Earth Defense Unit,” Trent said before walking away.
The words were meant to be friendly, but they carried a weight with them: a sense of finality.
“Well?” Magnus prompted.
“Yes. It went well. Almost too well,” Mae said. “Do you think we could freshen up and get something to eat? Maybe we can tell you our tale with Dalhousie there to save the redundancy.”
Magnus looked a little taken aback, but he let it slide. “Sure thing. You guys have had a stressful couple of days. Take a unit. Nat has eleven, and I took twelve.” He smiled at me. “What? We like to be close. It’s safer that way.”
Mae was already walking to the complex, and soon she was inside the bottom left unit, Number One.
“Is she okay?” Nat asked Mary in hushed tones.
“I think so. The hybrids are in a tough spot, and those two crazy bastards aren’t helping things. I’m just glad we caught them before they could do any more damage.” Mary walked on, taking Unit Five. “Dean, you coming?” she asked, and for some reason, I wasn’t sure if she was going to take her own room or not. I guess that answered that.
“We’ll just be a few minutes. Then you guys can call us a cab, and we’ll go for dinner and drinks, maybe some dancing,” I joked, and Magnus guffawed for my benefit.
“Sounds like a plan, I’ll bring the Hummer around,” Magnus said, and Nat gave us a small wave. Carey looked confused for a second, but soon he plopped along, following us inside the room. I shrugged at Magnus and shut the door.
The room was bigger inside than I would have guessed. To the right was a living room, with a door at the end of it, leading to a bedroom. The kitchen was on the left, and a bathroom straight ahead. Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with the effective setup.
We found food on the kitchen shelves, mostly stuff with long shelf life, and the bathroom was stocked with toiletries. It was like our own little hotel in a dome in the desert.
Ten minutes and a hot shower later, I was snacking on some crackers, while Mary was drying her hair. A knock clanged on the door, and Carey ran to it, giving it a bark for good order. Mae was there, in a uniform like the ones the guards were wearing.
“Did they not bring your luggage to your room?” I asked, since ours had made it there five minutes ago.
“They did. I just wanted to be in the part. If I’m Earth Defense, then I’m Earth Defense.” Her back straightened as she said it, and I thought there was a sense of pride emanating from her.
“It looks damn nice on you,” Mary said as she stepped into the room. “Mae, are you okay?”
Mae stepped in, grabbing a couple of crackers and leaning down to pass one to the begging cocker spaniel. He graciously accepted. “I will be. I feel responsible for what Leslie and Terrance have done, killing those people, working with humans to attack. We have to find out how deep the web goes.”