The Old Mine

15: Grounded

                   "Okay," Brett laughed at the way Cal was refusing to back down, it felt refreshing to him. "We have settled right near the base, all jumpers are required to live on sight, for quick travel when needed." His face fell "That means you're probably going to be living here..."

                   "No, we aren't jumpers. They are concerned about why I was the L.U.-1" She shrugged "It would be too risky to let me jump...they aren't letting me get out there to be caught by those idiots."

                    Bret smiled at her hopeful "So what are you going to do?"

                    "Recke and I are negotiating a recon team, one that is only used to rebuild the future and maintain the database. We would only jump in the cases of emergency, when they need the experts on the case."

                    "Does that mean Recke and his team are moving out of here too?" Bret was suddenly excited "Because we have an empty house right next door." He pushed her down the corridor away from the big window.

                     "What is in all these shops?" A cloud of smoke came wafting their way just as she inhaled "Ew, what is that..."

                    "That would be one of the delicacies here... let's just call it space rat and it smell horrible but tastes pretty good." She leaned away from him and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, it's the only thing that we're allowed to hunt here."

                     "They sure love white here, and what is that metal?"

                     "Something mined here, don't ask me to pronounce it...it's insane."

                    "The Gambler's mine is coming, where is that crystal used?"

                   He pointed at the windows and outer walls "Mainly in the outer surfaces, to prepare it just right makes it kinda like a mirror in a way... it prevents intrusion and maintains the base outside of time. The mirror surface helps the hollo-emitters too."

                     Cal watched as people floated by overhead with large pallets, their clothes were a mixture of past fashion except for a rare outfit here and there that looked like it was pure metal, giving off an iridescent shine. "Wow..." metal wires wrapped around some people's arms... in seconds she realized those were computers. Every free inch had a plant growing in a pot, there were herbs of all kinds, fruits and vegetables just growing in the walkways. "This is all so amazing."

                    "Yeah get this, one jumper... your mom actually, she liked to bring back extinct animals for pets." They rounded another corner and there in a shop were dodo birds and blue footed boobies.

                   "Are you serious?" She laughed "How do they taste?"

                     He laughed "Yeah no..." he quickly led her in another direction as people around them went slack jawed at her comment.

                    The floor shifted from the white sheen of metal to a pebble floor that made Cal want to remove her shoes "Are we close to an area I can walk around barefoot for a while?" Cal yearned to get the feel of the ground beneath her feet.

                    "Yeah," he led her to a booth in a nearby restaurant "How about I order us some food while you stretch your legs."

                    "I can't believe you're richer than me..." she stood up and started slowly making laps around his booth holding onto the back of the bench. Bret smirked at her comment as he sat down. "You seem to have grown up rapidly." She laughed at his smirk turned to nervousness and finally noticed that everyone around them was staring "What is up?"