Resilient - Evolution

Chapter 5: First Impressions

When the transports came to pick up the people at Fort Chaffee, not everyone wanted to go. That was to be expected. Some people get it in their heads that their way is the only way. Dedriech was one of those.

Name and rank were all the information that he would give. None of that really mattered, though. Anything he knew was being assimilated into the memory of the system anyway. He didn't know it yet, but he was already tagged. He could go play his little survivor game and get whatever followers he wanted, but if he ever tried to hurt any other people again or tried to put any other people into slavery again ... it would be like flipping the switch.

Nina wasn't there for this operation. After everything she had just gone through, she had to get some rest. It wasn't the physical rest that she needed. It was a chance to rest her mind and assimilate some of the new information and connections that were beginning to take over.

They sat there on a little island out on Table Rock Lake. Her and Eric took the bikes out for a drive and ended up chasing each other on the water. It was fun pretending that they were the only ones out there. The reality was that there was a swarm following their every movement and watching in every direction to keep her safe at the same time.

The swarm was going to be a permanent fixture to Nina now. She was too important to Tollix, as well as to the people she represented, to be put in harm's way. She was the Key. She was the opener of doors, and the connection to all the different parts of the system.

"I brought some little fishing poles," Eric said. "You want to try your luck?"

"Thanks, but I just want to sit here in the sun and try to keep my mind blank for a little bit," Nina said.

Some Canadian geese flew into the lake and joined a few others already there. They danced with their necks, greeting some long-lost relatives. It was really nice to just sit there on the rocks, not doing anything except watching nature.

After a while, Nina finally said, "It's never going to be over, is it?"

"From what the library told me, this has already been going on since Humans were coming into our prime for the first time ... and that was when there was only one continent on the planet," Eric said. "I think that the more we find out, the more we're going to realize that we've always been a little science experiment for other people around the galaxy. They're like little kids that want to poke the armadillo or the ant hill with a stick to see what happens."

"Speaking of the library ... did you find out anything about where your dad might have gone?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"Nothing for sure. Everything I dig into spins back around to nowhere. I've got a couple of possibilities, though," he said. "The first is a base that they've got down in an ocean trench, and the other could actually be on the dark side of the moon."

"Holy crap," Nina said. "The pressure in the bottom of the ocean has to be pretty intense, and the moon ... really?"

"Do you want to take a trip with me?" he asked. I've got the location for the ocean base."

"I think I'd like to get away for a little bit, but the moon does seem a bit far," she said.

"I'm not quite ready for that either ... yet anyway," he said. "After that deal with Chaffee, we've got to get more people on board as quickly as possible. Groups like that are killing people, probably all over the world. We need people. As many as we can find."

"Gloria had a good idea the other day. We can send out the smaller drones to scout for people and make contact. If someone is interested, then we can bring them on board. If they're not interested, then at least we might be able to help them."