The Interplanetary Visit

The Beginning of the End

Saterina shot out of the sea surface smiling. The Jupitian pod could only take a maximum of ten thousand atmospheres. It was getting cold. The air would be heavier and additional pressure would crush the Jupitian pod. There would be no escape.

Soaring above the cloud level, she flew her pod to the land IDS base. It was underneath the Andes. The blast from the Jupitian warship had damaged the building, and they had switched their secret operation to the underwater base for the time being, but, during this time, repair work had been under progress.

The Andes base was under the entire mountain range. There was a small secret opening at the base of the mountain. The opening always got higher over the years as the mountain grew under the tectonic influences. As a precaution, the entire base was lined with Plutonian alloy to withstand the tectonic forces, after the blast, it was now reinforced with titanium. A bigger opening for the IDS warships was at the peak of Andes. The Andes base was evidently bigger than the underwater base. However, unlike the underwater base, this base is less decorated. Repair had just been completed, and the decorations were not yet in place. For the time being, engineers still swarmed the place, finalizing the repairs. Yet, there was no lack of computers.

The layout of the base was like that of a human structural building with one level above another till the hundred and fiftieth level. The seventy-fifth level was where crucial establishments were. That way, it was high enough to avoid unwelcome visitors from land, and low enough to avoid any unwanted company from visitors from the air.

The structure within was lit with powerful ceiling lights that took the entire ceiling. Each individual story was lined with research labs, computer labs, flats for the personnel working on that level. Saterina was indeed ingenious, isolating every level to the workers on that floor. That way, individual levels did part of a major plot and plan without the knowledge of the big picture. All data would be then sent to the seventy fifth level where it would be assembled and analyzed.

The destruction of the underwater base was nothing but a minor setback. She could always arrange another blow up of Jupiter at this base. She laughed. The Milky Way was hers for the taking, and this time no one can stop her!

Meanwhile, back at makeshift PEIDB headquarters, the director was seated before his laptop in his temporary pathetic one-quarter-the-size-of-his-original-office office. Though it had only been days since the PEIDB headquarters was shaken to its near destruction, the efficient repairs were nearing completion and the director could not hope it to be completed sooner. He hated the current pathetic office under the Gobi Desert with a huge cactus as an opening as he had to vacate the entire PEIDB premises for rewiring and repairs. His mainframe had been restored with significant data loss, but primary functions were up and ready. The building was still closed, but the mainframe was already up, running and connected to his pathetic little laptop. The laptop spoke in the mainframe's voice.

"Ultra-high frequency scan detected Jupitian pod beneath Titanic site. Jupitian pod found in unidentified off-stealth hi-tech building..."

Without waiting for the computer to finish its sentence, the director ran out calling out to as many agents as he could see with his new eyes as they set off for the Jupitian pod before they missed it again. Even as he ran, he wondered what the building was.

Meanwhile, the Jupitian pod shell was starting to crumple again.

The air inside was getting compressed, and it prevented further compression. All due to the pod's accurate calculation of letting water in. Beeping loudly, the pod's excited voice came on, "Ken! Wake up! You've got school!"

Although school was not the issue here, the pod knew that it could help revive a re-adapted to near human mentality Jupitian.

Miraculously, Ken stirred. He opened his eyes to see the ceiling a meter from his nose and dark red blood from his forehead in his eyes. He focused on the ceiling, using his telekinetic ability to push the ceiling back. Struggling with the compression, he commanded the pod, "Report... pod status."