Brotherhood

The Heart Of The Moon

Blake was starting to get the hang of walking in the lower gravity of LB1, but still found himself clinging to handrails along the walls. He scowled at the people walking by, moving in that shuffling gait as if they'd strolled around on the moon all their lives. His own gait was awkward, bouncy, and frequently putting him at imminent risk of hostile contact with the walls or floor. But at least everyone seemed friendly. Calls of "Hello, Mr. Shelton!" and "Welcome to LB1!" followed his progress, usually accompanied with cheerful smiles and frequent offers of assistance. The latter usually came after he'd had to grab frantically to something to keep from landing on his ass.

He wished the brothers were with him. Unum had offered him the chance to remain, but all three of the brothers had urged him to explore. They'd explained that the base was neatly divided into three main sections, all properly labeled. Blake wasn't concerned about finding his way back to Shard section. He considered Operations, but figured that would be mostly military stuff. He'd had about enough of military stuff for the time being. He could have explored more of Shard section, but that was out, as it was clear that the brothers were in for some sort of dressing down from Unum. It was probably was why they'd encouraged Blake to explore. That pissed Blake off. It wasn't their fault Adam had been stolen from them, so what was there to yell at them about? Blake wanted to make a fuss. But the three had made it obvious that they didn't want him involved, so he'd had little choice but to leave them alone with Unum. He could certainly understand that they didn't want to be yelled at in front of him. But he hadn't liked the way the brothers had looked when he'd gone and they'd faced Unum, especially One. More and more, Blake found himself feeling protective of One. After everything the young telepath had been through, Blake was glad that the brothers worked as hard as they did to protect him. But no one seemed able to shield One from Unum, and Unum obviously cowed the young Brit like no one else could. It was becoming clear that Blake needed to continue his chat with Unum about many things concerning the brothers.

For now, it looked like he would be visiting Data section.

To cheer himself up, Blake sang as he went. "Fly me to the moon, oh let me swing among those stars! Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars. In other words, hold my hand! In other words, baby, kiss me!" The song had been stuck in his head since he looked out the window. He got some looks, complete with more smiles and the occasional rolling eye. Blake assumed that he certainly wasn't the first person to go down the halls for the first time on LB1 singing it. He didn't care. It helped to lighten his mood.

Blake followed the signs, turning into the hall leading to Data. He noted that the main entrance of all three sections was sealed by a huge metal door with a scanner next to it. Blake raised his watch to the scanner. There was a beep, a green light came on, and the door opened. Unum had told him that, at security level gamma, Blake would have full access to all but the most classified areas, which was a far greater security clearance than the brothers. Blake had quickly figured out that, since the main doors to each section were marked gamma, this meant the brothers couldn't leave their own section. That was another item to address on Blake's agenda. If he really was going to end up in charge here, there would be a lot of changes made, and giving the brothers far more freedom was near the top of his list. It was absurd that they were locked in their own section until someone Blake's level or higher let them out. That made Shard section almost a cage for them!

Data section was somehow even busier than the central hub he'd just passed through. People in lab coats were scurrying about, carrying clipboards or notepads or data entry devices. Others were standing at terminals along the wall, typing at touch screens or looking at information. Like everywhere else, Latin letters marked the doors, indicating security level. Ignoring the few beta doors he knew he couldn't access, he poked his head into the first gamma door and discovered what looked like some sort of biochemistry lab. Different colored liquids bubbled through glass tubes while techs worked. It was interesting. Blake watched for a while, returning the friendly waves he received. Then he moved on.