Earth's Revolution

~11~

After being allocated food duty, we walked back up the stairs and into the fortress. The inside was beautiful, stone walls with tapestries and a carpeted floor. Above hung chandeliers where millions of diamond-like beads glinted in the light of the sun. Statues and busts lined the sides of the main hall as we hurried passed them and turned into the kitchen. I didn't have time to admire the stone counters or metal old-style grills before boxes full of food cans and water bottles were pushed into my arms.
Maria, Jacopo and I spent the rest of the afternoon moving things into the base, first helping the kitchen, then the tech department, and finally supplies. Towels, clothes, cutlery... even couches.
By the time the sun was setting, the entire fortress was empty and the base was ready for the storm. Exhausted, we all collapsed into the recently moved couches in the common room. Looking around, I noticed we were all in all probably 25 of us. It had seemed like more before, when everyone was bustling around the place. Here, we didn't wear masks, all of us comfortable with the other. I spotted Sara talking to someone I didn't know and as I watched she turned and beckoned us there.
"Hey, Leah am I right?"
"Hey! Yes, that's right."
"This is Alan, the leader Jacopo was telling you about."
"Hey, nice to meet you," he said.
"Nice to meet you too," I replied, smiling nervously. Looking at him, I saw he was hardly the oldest person here, which surprised me a little, but before I could ask any questions, Maria walked up behind me and joined in on our conversation.
"Hi guys. How long do we have left until the solar storms start?" she asked.
"They are due to start tomorrow according to our scientists," replied Alan.
"So soon... but I am glad we got the bunker ready in time, that's a huge relief for me," sighed Sara.
"And yet you barely even moved any furniture," he laughed, "Don't worry, I know how important the computer work is. Did you manage to back up all of the data we have in case it gets fried?"
"Yes don't worry, I managed to do that with the help of a few other IT walkers. I ended up going to the computer lab because it was easier there. I made a huge file that is separate from the computers, that way, if there's a technical failure, all of our data is safe."
"Perfect, thank you so much." He turned to Maria and introduced himself, "By the way, I'm Alan."
"Maria," she replied.
"We need to plan out tomorrow then," interrupted Sara, "how is this going to work with the flares?"
"Let me ask Max how far along they are on the project." He called over someone who I presumed was Max, a dark haired man in his twenties.
"Hi Alan, what do you want?"
"How far along on the project are you?"
"It's going pretty well, there's about less than a week of testing left I estimate, and if all goes well it will be ready in a week then."
"Great! So we will be able to send out teams soon to plant the technology."
"Exactly. We've also researched these flares and developed flare-resistant tents."
"That's perfect, tomorrow we can allocate roles and teach people how to deal with the solar storm. I think we can have it here in this room then, but for now people should rest. This can wait until tomorrow and we're all tired out from moving stuff all day long."
I yawned suddenly, and checking the time on a clock hanging on the wall, I realised it was quite late already. There were no windows here, logically, so I hadn't seen the sun set or the stars come out.
"Hey look, it's getting late," Alan turned to Maria and I, " You must have had a really long day so I suggest you go sleep now. In fact, all of us need to sleep and prepare for tomorrow." He called out to the room and announced it was time for us to rest. "We meet here tomorrow at 8am before going off to breakfast." The common room slowly dispersed as the Walkers filed out slowly, calling out their goodbyes, until only the four of us were left.
"I have to go inform the guards of our meeting tomorrow, goodnight guys!" and he left hurriedly.
"That was the leader right?" whispered Maria, and I realised no one had told her that.
"Yes, and you should follow his orders and sleep now," replied Sara, "I'm going to go to bed too." She walked out and we followed her out into the corridor, where we went into our separate rooms.