Philip woke up when someone grabbed his shoulder. He flung his arm out and elbowed his attacker in the face. The man grunted, and Philip sat up. The man stood up from the floor, rubbing his cheek.
"Ow!" the man complained. "Did you have to hit me that hard?"
Philip laughed, then yawned. "If you don’t want me to hit you, don’t attack me while I’m sleeping."
"Yeah yeah. By the way, one of the President's advisors has come to meet you. You're to be ready in five minutes," the man said, then left the room.
Philip groaned, then got out of bed and grabbed the clothes he had set out the night before. Ducking into the bathroom, he changed, washed his face, and combed his hair. Walking out the door, he stopped by the mess hall and grabbed an apple for breakfast. Near the exit of the hall, one of the lieutenants stopped him.
"Major Reese, Sir, meet the advisor and General in the command building, Sir."
Philip nodded, and the lieutenant saluted to his retreating form. Outside, Philip looked up at the dark sky, then down at his watch. 1:17 am. It was way too early to be up.
Sighing, Philip walked forward away from the mess hall and his barracks. The military base consisted of a main gate with a single road into and out of the compound. Right behind the wall surrounding the base were the barracks. Lower ranked soldiers were closer to the gate, with higher ranks deeper in. The quarters for the highest in command were in the very back, furthest away from the gate. Beside them was the command building, where the General met with his officers and politicians. Philip’s barrack was near the back, just a bit before the mess hall, which was directly in front of the command building.
At the door, a captain stopped Philip.
“State your business with the General,” he barked.
“I was told to meet with the President’s advisor and the General in the command building, Captain,” Philip calmly replied.
The captain saluted. “Yes Sir, go right in Major Reese,” he replied.
Philip dipped his head in thanks, then opened the door and entered the building. The door closed behind him with a “thud,” then the building was quiet.
There were two doors off the entryway; one to the right and one to the left. The light was on in the room to the right, so Philip knocked on the door and opened it, saluting. Inside, the General sat on a padded chair at the head of a circular table. One of the walls held a clock and map of the world, fully labeled, and the other wall was a television.
The General acknowledged Philip’s presence with a curt nod, then motioned him to sit down. Philip brought down his arm and walked over to the table, sitting in the chair to the left of the General. The time on the clock was 1:23, then 1:30, then 1:45. Finally, around 2:00 am, the door to the conference room opened to reveal two men. One was Colonel Klein, wearing a blue turtleneck with his army jacket overtop. The other was unknown to Philip, with light skin red hair and bright green eyes. He wore a suit and tie, with black rimmed glasses resting on his face.
The General stood up and stepped away from his seat, spreading his arms in welcome.
“Timothy, it’s good to see you again!” he exclaimed.
Timothy bowed slightly. “And you as well,” he replied.
The General gestured to Philip, and he stood up and bowed.
“Timothy,” the General began, “this is Major Philip. Philip, this is Timothy, advisor to the Kind of England and the President of North America.”
“Nice to meet you,” Philip said, bowing again.
“And you as well, Supreme General Philip,” Timothy said, smiling.
“Huh?” Philip started, confused at the title Timothy had used.
“Supreme General of the Allied Forces. What a fitting title for my son,” the General said with a sigh.
“He’s your son?” Timothy asked, surprised his childhood friend had a son he didn’t know about.
The General grinned. “Marci and I eloped right after my promotion. I took a week off and we went to Hawai’i.”
Timothy rubbed his eyes. “Well then, your son now has a higher position than you,” he turned to Philip, who was still in shock from the sudden promotion. “Come, Supreme General. We need to get to England by teatime.”
He walked out of the room, and Colonel Klein, who had been standing outside the door, followed. The General smiled at Philip and nodded, and Philip nodded back then left, closing the door behind him.
Philip followed Timothy and Colonel Klein through the base and to the gate, where the car was waiting. Colonel Klein opened the door for Timothy and Philip in the back, then got into the driver seat. It was silent as they drove the few minutes it took to get back to the airport, where Timothy’s plane was waiting. Timothy got out of the car and headed straight for the plane.
“Have you flown?” he called back to Philip.
“I passed the test, but that was years ago,” Philip responded, stepping out of the car and closing the door.
Timothy tossed him a headset and goggles, then climbed into the plane, not looking back. Philip watched him go, then sighed and laid the goggles over his eyes and the headset over his ears. Colonel Klein handed him a duffle bag, which contained clothing and other essentials. Philip nodded his thanks, then also climbed into the plane and slammed shut the exterior door, locking it. The plane was a small passenger plane, with room for eight passengers in the body. Philip tossed the duffle on one of the seats nearest the c***pit, then entered it and slid shut the door.
Inside the c***pit, Timothy was in the pilot chair, preparing for takeoff. He motioned for Philip to sit down, and Philip sat in the copilot chair. He turned on the headset, and a little green light showed up in the corner of his vision. It was the same light as the one on the side of Timothy’s headset, indicating it was in working order.
Philip radioed the airport tower to request permission for takeoff.
“Tower, Pilatus 348 Bravo 2 is ready at runway 1.”
After a moment of static, he got a reply.
“Pilatus 348 Bravo 2, proceed to runway 1.”
“Copy that. Proceeding to runway.”
Timothy maneuvered the plane onto the runway and readied the engine for takeoff. The tower cleared them for takeoff, and they raced down the runway and into the sky. There was less turbulence this time, and the clouds had moved in to cover the moon and obstruct the stars. As the plane neared cruising altitude, the clouds turned menacing, and unleashed a torrent of rain upon their small aircraft.
They were in the air for longer than Timothy was on the way over, but after almost six hours of flight they landed in London, where the King of England and the President of North America were meeting. They got out of the plane and turned it over to Timothy’s assistant, then got into an armored car with tinted windows and headed out into the city.
“Where are we going?” Philip asked.
Timothy smiled. “We need to pick up a couple colleagues of mine before we meet with our world leaders,” he said.
Confused, Philip sat back and looked outside the car, admiring the lights of the city at night. Soft yellows and oranges came from windows of buildings, some tall some short. Blues, reds, and greens came from signs, proclaiming stores were still open, or already closed.
The car stopped at one of the smaller two-story buildings, small but not so small as to be purely residential. It looked to Philip to be more of a small warehouse with a house stuck on back. Timothy got out of the car, and Philip followed him to the door.
“Elizabeth!” he called. “Luke! Are you two in?”
“We’re coming!” said a faint female voice from within the building.
A second later, the door opened to reveal two people, a man and a woman, both wearing white lab coats and protective glasses. The woman was tall, with her curly light blond hair tied up in two ponytails. The man was shorter, with short, straight hair more orange than blond. A blue liquid covered the man’s lab coat, and his hair was sticking straight up. Still, he was smiling as he shook Philip’s hand and introduced himself.
“Hello,” he said, his accent more prominent than the woman’s, “my name is Luke Boone, and this is my wife, Elizabeth Boone.”
“I am Philip Reese,” Philip replied, though he was slightly less enthusiastic than Luke had been. “I hear we will be working together.”
Elizabeth took Philip’s hand from Luke and smiled. “Indeed,” she said. “Luke and I look forward to working with you as well.”
Timothy cleared his throat, and Elizabeth let go of Philip’s hand and turned to Timothy.
“Well then,” Timothy said when he had their attention, “I do believe we should get back on the road.”
Philip nodded and got back into the car, this time stepping between two seats into the back row. Luke sat next to him, with Elizabeth in the middle row and Timothy in the passenger seat.
“One more person to pick up,” Timothy turned around to tell them, “then we’ll head back to meet with the President and the King.”
With that, the car sped back into the night. This time, they were on the road for over an hour, leaving the city and heading into the countryside. When they could no longer see the bright lights of the city through the mist of the early morning, the car stopped.
“We’re here!” Timothy happily said, getting out of the car.
“Here” seemed to be a roadside picnic area, with a cluster of white rocks next to three picnic tables under a shade structure. Timothy walked up to the largest rock and pushed it. It rolled to the right, revealing a passage. Just inside the passage was a man, tall and wearing all black. His hand was at his side, and as Philip got out of the car and moved behind Timothy, he could see the gun beneath the man’s hand.
“Who are you?” the man asked, his voice deep and ruff.
Timothy smiled and spread his arms, indicating he was unarmed. Philip guiltily refrained from looking in the direction of his own weapon, a M9 pistol, hidden beneath his loose jacket.
“I am Timothy Sharpe, advisor to the King of England and the President of North America.”
The man took his hand off his gun and nodded, stepping to the side to let Timothy through. Timothy looked at Elizabeth and Luke, still in the car, and walked over, telling them to stay there. Heading back to the entrance, he nodded to Philip.
“Come with me,” he said, entering the passage.
Philip followed, nodding to the guard, who saluted. Philip saluted back, then passed, slightly surprised the guard had saluted to a higher ranked officer of another country’s mil – oh, right. He wasn’t just a major in the North America army anymore. He was the Supreme General of the Allied Forces, which included both North America and England.
Philip sighed, annoyed that he suddenly had such a high rank and important position. Even so, he couldn’t change the decision, so he pushed his annoyance to the back of his mind and continued down the passage.
The passage sloped down for around 100 feet, then leveled off before a large door. Timothy swung the door open, and all activity inside froze as they turned to the door. Philip could see the shock on the faces of the people inside, their projects forgotten and mouths open; their hands by their sides as they wondered who had arrived that were important enough to interrupt their work.
One woman, wearing cropped black pants and a blue tank top, unfroze before the others, putting down the clipboard in her hand and running over to the newcomers. She was tall; shorter than Timothy but probably similar in height to Philip. She smiled at Timothy, and he grinned back, hugging her in greeting. When they parted, she turned to Philip and held out her hand, the smile still plastered on her face.
“Hi!” she said. “My name is Cindy. I’m a mechanic. Nice to meet you!”
Philip reluctantly smiled back. “My name is Philip. I am the Supreme General of the Allied Forces. It’s nice to meet you as well.”
Cindy let go of Philip’s hand and turned back to Timothy, tilting her head slightly to one side and putting her hands on her hips.
“So,” she began, leaning forward, “why are you here?”
Timothy covered his eyes with his hand for a moment before he answered. A small smile was on his face, not matching his serious eyes and tightened muscles.
“The King of England and the President of North America asked me for my recommendations on the leaders of specific projects.” He nodded to Philip. “Our new Supreme General here is one of them. The two armies have combined into the Allied Forces.” He gestured back towards the passage. “Luke and Elizabeth Boone will be our new Head Scientists for a special project.” He looked back at Cindy. “You are needed for another project. I can’t say what the project is, yet. The President and King will tell you when we get back to the meeting.”
Cindy blinked at him, processing the information. Philip was also slightly shocked, as he hadn’t realized Timothy had been picking up such important people.
Cindy raised her hand briefly before asking a reluctant question. “So I need to leave my current project, here, and go somewhere else to work on a secret project from the President and King that only a few people can know about?”
Timothy nodded.
“Will I be able to bring some people from here to help me?”
Timothy scratched his chin. “I’m not sure, but I know you’ll have your own team of specialists to help you.” His watch beeped, and he glanced over at it, then back up. “We need to get going,” he said, rushing back through the door and up the passage.
Philip gestured to Cindy to leave before him, and she nodded and ran after Timothy. Philip nodded to the people still frozen in the room, then exited and closed the door behind him. He also headed back up the passage and out past the guard, who saluted as he left. The rock moved back in front of the passage entrance, and if he hadn’t just been inside Philip wouldn’t have known there was a secret passage.
They got back into the car, with Timothy still in the passenger seat and Philip in the back. Cindy sat next to Elizabeth in the center row, and the driver turned around to head back to London.
In an hour and a half, the car pulled back into the airport and stopped. Timothy got out, motioning for the others to follow his lead. They all did, and Timothy thanked the driver, who nodded and drove away. Timothy walked through the airport, confident as to where he was going. The others followed behind him, trusting that he wouldn’t get them lost.
They walked through a short tunnel, then the passage widened into a lobby area. There were no windows, and the only ways in and out were the tunnel and numbered rooms on the first and second floors of the building.
“Is the tunnel the only exit?” Philip asked, curious.
Timothy nodded. “There is a fire escape from some of the second floor rooms, but other than that this tunnel is the only way in or out of the building,” he acknowledged. “Why do you ask?”
Philip shrugged. “My specialty has always been offense. And, seeing as this is one of the most important places to protect, I want to get a lay of the land before I have to defend it.”
Luke, Elizabeth, and Cindy looked at Philip as if he was insane, but Timothy just nodded.
“I’ll give you the blueprints after the meeting,” he said. “Follow me.”
They went up the marble staircase and onto the second floor of the building. There were six rooms, numbered from 201 to 206. The numbering for the rooms on the first floor was similar, numbered from 101 to 108. Timothy walked up to Room 204 and knocked on the door, then opened it without waiting for an answer. Inside Philip saw three people around a table; two men and one woman. The men were sitting in tall chairs, listening to the woman and taking notes on packets in front of them on the table. The woman was standing, reading from a packet to the sitting men. She stopped speaking when the door opened, and the two men looked up from their packets.
“Mr. Sharpe,” the woman said respectfully when she saw who it was at the door. “Is everyone here now?”
Timothy nodded and stepped into the room. Philip blinked, then thought, “Well, let’s get this over with,” and entered as well.
“Yes, thank you Karen,” Timothy said to the woman. He turned to the two men. “May I introduce Philip Reese, the newly appointed Supreme General of our Allied Forces?”
The man on the left stood and came around the table, and the man on the right followed.
“It is wonderful to meet you, Philip,” he said, his accent pronounced. “I am the King of England.”
Philip bowed to him, then turned to the other man.
He smiled. “As you could probably infer, that makes me the President of North America.”
The King of England was taller than Timothy, but shorter than the President of North America. His straight caramel hair went down to just below his ears, nearly covering his dark blue eyes. He and the President both held glasses of dark red wine, bright against both their white shirts and black jackets. The President, unlike the King, had wavy dark brown hair, cut just above his ears, and his eyes were also dark brown.
Philip saw Cindy, Elizabeth, and Luke hiding in the doorway, so he waved them in. Elizabeth came in first, followed by Luke and then Cindy. Timothy smiled at them and turned back from talking with Karen.
“And here we have Luke and Elizabeth Boone,” Timothy said, and they stepped forward.
The King nodded to acknowledge them, then stepped back.  The President nodded to Luke, then took Elizabeth’s hand and extravagantly kissed it. She stepped back, her eyes wide, and he smiled. Philip covered his mouth to keep from laughing.
“And this is Cindy Page,” Timothy finished, gesturing to Cindy. The King nodded, and the President kissed her hand. She blushed, but quickly recovered and smiled, turning to Timothy.
“I have a question,” she said, her voice louder than before but still barely above a whisper.
“Yes?” Timothy said.
“Why exactly are we here?” Cindy asked. “I know Philip is the new Supreme General, but why are Luke, Elizabeth, and I here?”
“A good question, Ms. Page,” the President said, his voice deep and kind. “You three have been chosen to lead certain projects we need to get done quickly and flawlessly.”
Cindy’s mouth opened, and it wasn’t until Elizabeth tapped her shoulder that she realized and closed it. Philip looked around and saw he wasn’t the only one trying not to laugh.
The King recovered first, and he took over the explanation, but he first had everyone sit down around the table. The King and the President sat in the same seats they had before, and Philip, Luke, Elizabeth, and Cindy sat facing them. Timothy stood beside the table, and Karen left to get them refreshments.
“Well then,” the King began, “I assume you would like to know what exactly your jobs will be?” he looked around at the eager faces before him.
“We’ll start with the easiest, Philip Reese,” said the President, and the King nodded.
“Philip, you already know your rank in the military has changed from major in the North America armed forces to Supreme General of the Allied Forces, right?” the King affirmed.
Philip nodded. He knew he was in charge of both the North America military and the England military, but he wasn’t sure what they wanted him to do.
The President smiled and took over. “I’m sure you all know of the terrorist organization, the Assembly of Manically Evil Humans, or the Assembly of MEH.” Heads bobbed up and down all around the table. “Philip,” the President continued, “we want you to stop their invasion and defeat their organization.”
Philip closed his eyes to process the information, swallowing the angry complaint that was threatening to burst out. He opened his eyes to see both the King and President eagerly leaning over the table towards him, hoping for a favorable reply to their unspoken question.
Philip sighed. “Sure,” he said. “I’ll do it.”
The King and the President both grinned, and the President pumped his fist in excitement.
“Next is Cindy Page,” said the King. “Cindy, we would like you to make plans for a build a space station with room for a country of people and a spacecraft capable of traveling at light speed.”
“Sure,” Cindy immediately replied. “I already have a working theory for light speed travel, and the most recent station sent into space was my design. It sounds fun.”
This time it was the King and President who had to blink in surprise and take a moment to process the fact Cindy had immediately granted their crazy request.
“Thank you Cindy,” the President said, having recovered first from the shock. “Lastly, we have Luke and Elizabeth Boone, the husband and wife super scientist team. I’m sure everyone knows Global Warming has been slowly decaying our atmosphere, letting more and more radiation from the sun into places it could affect us. We want the two of you to devise a way to stop the decay. You don’t need to reverse it, although that would be astonishing and we wouldn’t complain. We simply want not to worry about how long we have until we can’t breathe the air.”
Philip didn’t understand most of that, as the President had said it quickly and quietly, but Elizabeth and Luke didn’t look confused. Instead, they looked more excited and afraid. After a moment of them staring at each other and wavering, Luke broke away and Elizabeth turned to the King and President.
“We’ll do it,” she said. She laughed. “It would feel strange to not accept when everyone else did, especially as our task isn’t the most impossible.”
Philip looked over at Luke, whom he knew was unhappy about the decision, but Luke had covered his anger and looked quite happy with how things were going. It made Philip wonder if Luke had actually been unhappy, or if he had just imagined it.
Timothy cleared his throat for attention, and everyone looked over at him, all other thoughts pushed away for the moment.
“Perhaps I should show Philip to his command center, Elizabeth and Luke to their new laboratory, and Cindy to her new shop,” he said, looking at each of them in turn.
“That sounds like a lovely idea,” The King said, and the President nodded in agreement.
“Then we will take our leave,” Timothy said as he opened the door and Philip, Luke, Cindy, and Elizabeth ushered out of the room.
They went back down the stairs and through the tunnel, then through the airport and to a runway. There was a plane waiting, and Timothy climbed into the pilot seat. Philip helped the girls onto the plane, then climbed into the copilot seat. When everyone finished getting buckled in, Timothy maneuvered the plane down the runway and into the sky.

Cindy’s mind was reeling as she sat down in the plane next to Elizabeth. How were you supposed to design and build a space station that could fit a country? She had already been working on how to travel at light speed, but building such a large space station, and then getting it into space seemed impossible.
She gripped the armrests as the plane lifted into the air, her annoyance temporarily forgotten. She had always hated flying, ever since her first time. She had been sick, and the landing hurt her ears and they wouldn’t pop. Ever since, she had been terrified it would happen again and hated flying.
Elizabeth reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it. Cindy looked over to see her smiling reassuringly and smiled back, calmed for the time being. She leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath, calming herself further. When her eyes opened, Elizabeth was holding out an earbud. Cindy took it, and Elizabeth put the other one in her ear and plugged them in to her phone. Music blasted from the earbud into Cindy’s ear, successfully distracting both her and Elizabeth from the miles of air beneath them.
Someone tapped Cindy’s shoulder, and she abruptly opened her eyes and looked around. Elizabeth had leaned over the armrest and was smiling. Cindy rubbed her eyes, yawning.
“How long was I asleep?” she asked.
Elizabeth laughed. “It’s only been fifteen minutes,” she said.
Cindy frowned. “It has?”
Elizabeth nodded. “We’re about to land.”
Luke leaned forward from the row behind. “Welcome to Moscow, Old Russia,” he said.
Moscow, Old Russia. It housed one of the largest military bases in the world, which might not sound all that impressive when there are only two recognized countries. It was, however, one of the largest even before the Global Depression, when the entire world’s economy plummeted. The only countries unaffected by the Global Depression were the US and England, both of which quickly took advantage of the situation and took over many failing countries near them. By the time the Global Depression ended, both the countries had doubled in size.
Now, they had formed an alliance and the base in Moscow had taken over the city entirely. Cindy looked out the window to see their plane escorted to the landing strip by a fighter jet that had been patrolling the sky. She quickly covered the window and sat back in her seat, gripping the armrests and bracing for the landing she had seen was almost there.
“Eek!” Elizabeth squeaked as the plane thudded onto the ground. Luke laughed at her, and she reached back to punch him.
“Ow,” he complained, rubbing his arm.
Elizabeth turned away. “It’s your fault,” she said.
Cindy rolled her eyes, then uncovered the window and looked out. The plane was headed for a large dome, wide but not very tall. One section of the dome wasn’t rounded; instead, it had a hangar door. The door opened, and the plane went inside and stopped next to the fighter jet that accompanied it. Timothy exited the c***pit and opened the plane door, then jumped down and ran over to the pilot of the fighter jet.
Cindy unbuckled and stood up, stretching her legs. Philip also exited the c***pit, and he stopped in front of the passenger seats. He helped Elizabeth and Luke unbuckle, then jumped out of the plane.
“Cindy,” he said, reaching his hand up to her. Cindy grabbed it and he helped her jump down. She stepped off to the side, and he did the same with Elizabeth. He offered his hand to Luke with a satirical smile, and Luke ignored him and jumped down on his own. Philip laughed, his voice deep but soft.
“Stay here a while,” he said, turning away from them to walk over to Timothy and the fighter pilot.
Timothy looked up as Philip approached. His headset was around his neck, and his goggles were pushed up into his hair, making it stick up.
“Waz up?” Philip asked, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.
“Just discussing the change of command with Major Lowe here,” Timothy replied, gesturing to the fighter pilot.
She was wearing her headset and under it Philip saw brown hair, dark but not quite as dark as his. Her skin was a medium brown, more like a tan than genetic trait. She had dark green eyes, nearly hidden behind her goggles. Her shirt was also green, covered by her dark brown jacket. Her long hair was in a ponytail in the back of her head, and she twisted the hair around her fingers as she rocked from right to left. When Timothy introduced her, she dropped her right hand and held it out to Philip, who accepted it.
“Janet Lowe, major in the English Army, same in the Allied Forces,” she said.
Philip smiled. “Philip Reese, Supreme General of the Allied Forces.”
Janet gasped and pulled back her hand, quickly tensing into a salute.
Philip laughed and put out his hands, as if he was warding something off. “That’s completely unnecessary,” he said. “I haven’t even had this position for 12 hours yet.”
Janet relaxed. Philip looked back at his plane and gestured to Cindy, Elizabeth, and Luke, telling them to come over.
“Yeah?” Luke asked, crossing his arms.
“This is Major Janet Lowe,” Timothy introduced. “Janet, this is Luke,” Luke waved, “Cindy,” Cindy smiled shyly, “and Elizabeth,” Elizabeth took her hand and shook it.
Janet smiled and began to speak. “It is good to… yes?” She was silent for a moment, her right hand on her headset, pressing it to her head. She let her hand drop and took a step away from the group, turning around towards further into the dome.
“Follow me,” she said. “Our Colonel wants to meet with you.”
She led them to a door leaving the hangar and entering the main base within the dome. Through the door, they saw a long hallway that led them to the center of the dome, with a balcony overlooking the lower levels of the base. Philip leaned over the railing and counted seven floors below them, and looked up to see no floors above. Including the floor they were on, there were eight floors. They went right around the overlook, walking until they were directly across from where they had entered.
Janet knocked on a door labeled, “Colonel Mayes, Supervising Officer.” After a moment of waiting, a young man opened the door and stood back to let them pass into the room.
“Sir, I’ve brought them,” Janet announced, standing at attention just inside the room.
“Come sit down,” a female voice called from behind a screen.
Philip pushed past Janet and walked around the screen, sighing as he expected a torrent of complaints when the Colonel saw him. As he expected, as soon as she realized who he was she clenched her fists and yelled at him, standing up. She pounded her fists on her desk, tensing her muscles as if she was expecting an attack.
“YOU!” she screamed at him. “Why are you here?”
Philip sat down. By that time the others had come around the screen, and they also sat. The Colonel, realizing how she looked, blushed and quickly sat behind her desk, hiding her hands in her lap.
She smiled. “I’m sorry for the unseemly display. I am Colonel Lisa Mayes of the Allied Forces.”
Timothy gestured to each person as they were introduced. “This is Elizabeth Boone, Luke Boone, and Cindy Page. I am Timothy Sharpe, advisor to the King of England and President of North America,” he looked over at Philip and grinned. “And I see you already know Philip.”
“It is good to meet you all,” Lisa said, ignoring Timothy’s comment about Philip.
“Colonel Mayes,” Philip began, “I know you hate me, but you’ll have to put that behind you until our war is over.”
“What?” Lisa asked suspiciously. “Why is that necessary?”
Timothy cleared his throat and took over. “Major Reese here of the North American army has recently been promoted to Supreme General of the Allied Forces. And, as both the North American and English armies have combined into the Allied Forces, he is your superior officer.”
“You’re joking!” Lisa exclaimed, slamming her hands on her desk.
Timothy shook his head. “It was the decision of the King and President,” he said, sounding quite sad indeed. He dropped his head, and Philip saw the small curve of a smile on his face.
Lisa shook with anger, tensed and fuming about Philip having a higher rank. After a moment of outrage, she relaxed her muscles and put a smile on her face, though Philip could tell it was forced. Lisa took a deep breath and let it out, then stood up and walked towards the screen.
“I assume you’ll be taking over command?” she asked.
Philip looked at Timothy, who nodded. “I will,” Philip replied.
Lisa nodded. “Then I’ll give you a tour of the base. Follow me.”
Janet stepped forward. “Colonel, should I return to the sky?” she asked.
Lisa shook her head. “No,” she said. “You go down to the sleeping quarters and make sure anyone staying has somewhere to sleep.”
Janet saluted. “Yes sir!” she said. She turned to Timothy. “Who’s staying?” she asked.
Timothy counted them off on his fingers. “Philip, Cindy, Elizabeth, and Luke are staying,” he said. “I’m not, though I will be visiting often.” He gestured in the direction of the government city just outside the base. “I have a house nearby, however, so I won’t need somewhere to sleep.”
Janet nodded and ran off, leaving them alone with Lisa. Lisa also left the room, holding open the door so they could follow. She led them down to the bottom level of the base, which they had partially seen from the balcony above.
“Down here are our labs. We have the most advanced equipment in the world, and our scientists are working on extremely important projects,” she explained, her voice getting louder as she heaped on the praise.
Elizabeth and Luke looked around the labs, their faces blissful and grinning. One of the nearby scientists was about to pour a chemical into a beaker, and Luke ran over to him.
“What are you doing?” Luke asked, frantic. “Hydrofluoric acid can’t be poured into a glass beaker will dissolve the beaker!” he rummaged through drawers and cabinets while the scientist looked on, perplexed.
Elizabeth was also looking through cabinets, and she pulled out a beaker and handed it to Luke, who started when she tapped his shoulder. He turned around and accepted the beaker she had offered. Luke then grabbed the hydrofluoric acid, poured it into the plastic beaker, and handed it back to the scientist, who uttered a quiet “thanks.”
Luke and Elizabeth returned to the group as the scientists continued with his experiment. Elizabeth walked right past Lisa and stopped in front of Timothy.
“Will we be able to choose our own team of scientists?” she asked.
He nodded. “You will have many applicants who will first have to go through Philip and me and then you can choose from them. You can also choose two scientists who don’t apply to join your team, as long as they have either been cleared by Philip and me or have worked with you on confidential or secret projects before.”
Elizabeth smiled, pleased. She whipped around and strode forward, Luke running to catch up; leaving them behind and heading further into the labs. Lisa watched them, startled, then turned to Timothy.
“Is that alright?” she asked, pointed to the retreating figures. “Can they run around like that with no supervision?”
“They’re fine,” Timothy replied. “The King and the President chose them for a special project, and they’re going to be working here so it’s a good idea for them to get a feel for the layout of the lab area.”
Lisa’s eyes widened. “Is anyone in your group normal?” she asked.
Philip laughed. “Nope,” he said. “Everyone was appointed to their current position or project by the King and President.”
Lisa put a hand to her head and groaned, but didn’t say anything more on the topic. Instead, she led them through the labs and up to the second level of the base. On that level was the training area for the armed forces in the base, which included three large rooms in which the supervising officer could change the environment depending on who they were training. The training level also included an armory, filled with racks of weaponry ranging from bows and arrows to small guided missiles.
“There are only small weapons here,” Timothy remarked. “Where are the larger ones?”
Philip laughed. “No one under the rank of a major can access the larger and more destructive weapons,” he said, “so they’re in a separate room only those with the appropriate rank can enter.”
“Ah,” Timothy nodded to show he (sort of) understood.
Cindy wandered along the rows of weapons, running her hand along interesting ones. She paused at one, some rifle she didn’t know the name of. Philip noticed her interest and walked over, smiling.
“That’s one of the more popular rifles,” he remarked. “Does it interest you?”
Cindy shrugged. “I was just thinking it would be nice if I could design weapons like this to help you in war,” she whispered.
Philip put his hand on her shoulder and grinned. “If I ever need a new weapon, I’ll come to you first,” he said.
Cindy looked up at him and smiled back, and they left the armory to rejoin Lisa and Timothy. Lisa led them up to the third level, which held the sleeping quarters for everyone living on the base. They ran into Janet near the stairs, on her way down to tell them their rooms were ready.
“I’ll take you to them now,” she said. She turned to a young man beside her. “Will, go tell Elizabeth and Luke their room is ready and stay with them so you can show them how to get their when they’re ready to come up.”
He nodded and left, running down the stairs. Janet turned around to go back where she had come from and walked away, not waiting for the others to follow.
Cindy nearly had to run to keep up, and by the time they stopped, she was out of breath. They had stopped in front of a door, metal and plain, with a name plaque beside it. The name on the plaque read, “Cindy Page.” Janet tossed an object to Cindy, who caught it. It was a key, silver in color with a hole through the head and a grooved neck.
Cindy put the key in the hole in the door handle and turned it to the side. She heard a “click,” and the door opened. Inside was an entrance area, with hooks for jackets or bags and a bench with storage for shoes. There was another door, leading to a bathroom with a shower/tub, toilet, and sink. Back in the main area, there was a small sofa, a dresser, a nightstand, and a bed. The floor was the same as the rest of the base – a blue-grey concrete, but in the bathroom was a dark grey tile.
Cindy took off her jacket and hung it on a hook, then sat down on the sofa and sighed.
“Do you want to stay here?” Lisa asked.
Cindy nodded, closing her eyes and going completely into relaxation mode.
“I’ll have someone tell you when it’s time for breakfast,” Philip said, and Cindy heard the door open and close, then she was alone.
Philip took one last look at the door leading to Cindy’s room, then followed Janet down the hall towards his. It was only a few doors down, and it also had his named engraved on the plaque next to the door. Janet handed him a key, and he stuck it into the key hole, turning it until he heard a click.
He swung open the door, assuming the room would be the same as Cindy’s. It wasn’t. Instead of the door opening and there being another door right in front of it, there was the sofa along with the bench, shoe storage, and hooks. To the right of the door was the bathroom, and Philip turned the corner past the sofa to see the bed, nightstand, and dresser.
“Do you like it?” Janet asked, leaning against the doorframe.
Philip nodded. “It’s nice,” he replied. He turned around and walked back out the door, closing and locking it behind him. “Now, how about you finish showing me around the base?”
Lisa nodded, walking back towards the stairs. Philip and Timothy followed closely, with Janet a step behind. They went up one flight of stairs, stopping for a moment at the next landing.
“These are also sleeping quarters,” Lisa explained, “but this level also has a laundry room.”
She led them to the next level, Level 5, which only had a short hallway with two doors off it. Lisa walked down the hall and opened the door to the right. The smell of bacon and fresh baked bread emanated from the room, and Philip’s nose forced him forward. He peered through the doorway and into the kitchen, breathing in the scent of breakfast.
“I’m sure you can tell this is the kitchen,” Lisa said. “Our chefs make breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday, but if you want something in between there are always snacks in the pantry, or you could cook something for yourself. Just make sure to ask one of the chefs before you take or use something.”
Philip closed the door to the kitchen, his nose still tingling from the fragrance of food. His last meal had been at 4:30 the night before, about fifteen hours previous, and his stomach growled at the thought of food.
Lisa opened the other door, and Philip stepped inside. Boxes were stacked from the floor to the ceiling, some on shelves and some not. There were so many boxes there was almost not enough room for a person to fit between the rows.
Philip stepped back out of the room and shut the door. “Let me guess.” he said, “storage, right?”
Lisa nodded. “If you ever need to store anything, it goes in here.” she smiled. “You might not be able to find it again, however, since there’s so much other junk in there.”
Philip laughed, then headed back towards the stairs. They went up one more flight, to Level 6.
“Level 6 is the mechanic level,” Lisa said. “We also use it for maintenance and stuff like that.”
“Cindy would hate it if she knew she missed seeing her level of the base,” Timothy remarked.
Philip nodded. “I’ll show her after breakfast,” he said.
They went back to the stairs and up another flight, to Level 7. There was a long hallway leading from the staircase, with doors on either side. The doors on the right all had name plaques next to the doors, as did most of the doors on the left. The only door that didn’t was the first on the left. Philip grabbed the handle and pulled open the door.
“That’s the mess hall,” Lisa informed him. “It’s where all the meals are served.” She looked at a watch on her left wrist. “There’s about fifteen minutes until breakfast, so just enough time to finish the tour and come right back down here to eat.”
Philip nodded, closing the door. “What’re all the doors for?” he asked.
“They’re offices,” Lisa replied, “for the planning people who do all the scheduling and stuff.”
“Cool,” Philip said, not really caring.
Timothy sighed. “Planning people are important too,” he said, not expecting anyone to listen.
No one did, so he sighed again and followed them to the last level, Level 8.
“Level 8 is at ground level,” Lisa said. “Mostly it’s just the airport, though the office for the supervising officer is on this level, as well as a conference room.” She looked down at her watch and smiled. “Well,” she said, looking up, “it’s just about time for breakfast. Who’s hungry?”