CONTINUUM Serrano Point: 2028

CHAPTER VII

-Friday, August 11 2028 (15:27)

Savannah walked out of Serrano Point's control room and started making her way towards the nearest elevator. She was followed by two of her guards.

"Commander," a voice called out. Savannah turned and saw Caroline making her way towards her.

"Colonel," Savannah said.

"Ma'am, I was wondering if I could have a word with you?"

Savannah nodded. "By all means. Walk with me," She continued making her way down the hallway, Caroline following closely behind. "Apparently some of the power pant's uranium full rods have been spent and need to be replaced. I'm told that there's nothing to worry about, but it still makes me a bit nerves. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"I'm not sure that this is the best time for this, but one of the Hydroponics Labs has made some rather impressive innovations, they want you to do the whole 'tour their facility' thing. I thought it looked rather interesting, so..." Caroline shrugged.

"What have they done?"

"I, don't really understand the details, basically they've found a way to grow more plants with less resources. If implemented in the other Hydro labs, and it probably will be, it would greatly increase our food production."

"Your right, that dose sound impressive. And it has been a while since I left Serrano Point. On the other hand-

"On the other hand this isn't exactly the best time to leave, what with," a group of soldiers walked past, "everything."

They had come to the elevator. Savannah stopped in front of the doors, deep in thought. Finally she turned to face Caroline. "What the hell. Which lab is it?"

"Ah, four, Ma'am."

"Right, inform the Base Commander that I will visit the facility at his convenience."

"Yes Ma'am," Savannah pushed the button next to the elevator doors and a few moments later they opened. Caroline watched as Savannah and her guards entered the elevator and its doors slid closed again.

Savannah felt the elevator sway slightly as it started moving. It came to a stop on the sixth floor and the doors opened. Leaving the elevator the Commander and her guards went down the hallway and around a corner. There was a large glass door leading to a room with a table and several computers. In the room there was a group of people, among them Catherine and Michael. Spotting her Michael excused himself from the group and made his way to over to door. Opening it he stepped out into the corridor.

"Ma'am," he said.

"Hellic, I just wanted to stop by and see how things are progressing. I heard that you were having problems?"

"Ah, a few. We're having trouble with the TDT's energy matrix. According to our calculations the thing will be unable to channel the large amounts of energy it needs and the entire thing will blow out."

"That sounds bad," Savannah remarked.

"Yeah well, we think we may have a solution," Michael said. "Originally the TDT would have been separate from the actual room. It would basically have been this large platform siting in the middle of the room with half a dozen of these large pylons surrounding it. Now it looks like were going to have to build it into the floor and ceiling of the room. Which is going to take a bit longer."

Savannah nodded. "Right, how long until you can start building the thing?"

"Storage Room Four has been completely cleared out, once we have a workable blueprint, which will probably take another day or two, we should be able to start."

"Good. How are things going with," Savannah nodded at Catherine. "her."

Michael looked around at the Shapeshifter. "Alright. Socially she's a bit, awkward, but considering her ah, background, I guess that's not too surprising. But all and all she not that hard to work with."

"No, I don't suppose she would be," Savannah said. "It's not the first time she's worked with engineers. Anyway, keep me informed of any developments."

Michael nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

-Saturday, August 12 2028 (17:14)

There was a knock on the door to Derek's small office. "Yeah," the Lieutenant Colonel called out as he shifted through the haphazard pile of papers that covered his desk in search of a small file.

Kyle entered the room and placed a gray folder on top of his brother's desk. Derek gazed at it for a moment the looked up at his brother.

"Yeah, because I really needed another one of those."

"It's the roster for my unit," Kyle replied evenly, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Right," Derek picked the folder up and spent several minutes looking through it. "Looks good," he said, turning to the last page and after fishing a pin out from beneath a stack of paper putting his signature on the bottom. He then handed the folder back to Kyle. "Anything else I can do for you, Captain?" Derek asked with a small smirk.

"Ah, not that I can think of."

"Good," Derek said. "Now go forth and prosper," He waved his hand in the direction of his door.

"Right, I think I'll interpret that as 'dismissed'." Kyle briefly considered saluting, but decided that under the circumstances it would only get him another sly comment, so instead he just turned to leave.

"Kyle," Derek called out just as his brother reached the door. The young Captain turned to face him. "Your doing good."

"Thanks, Derek," Kyle said. They looked at each other for a moment, then Kyle left Derek to continue his search for the prodigal file.