NICOLE PLIMOC
I had to get out of the base. After what had happened with Vycon Dase, I could not stay there. I could not risk the chance of running into him and having him treat me so coldly again. My heart could not handle it. I did not want to see Sergeant Banks and have him try to get me to marry him. I just desired to get away. That was why I requested to go to the copper mine on the outskirts of the coastline. It was along the Gulf of Mexico, south of Houston by several miles. I wanted to oversee and check on the production of the shield. By all accounts, it was almost ready, but I wanted to see it for myself, or at least that's the excuse I told my superiors in order to go.
I walked around the copper mine, impressed with the work that had been done. It truly was a benefit to us to have the Grantsions helping us. I could see a difference in the morale of the Earth army soldiers; they were looking more confident now that the shield was going into place.
“Let me show you how it works,” a Grantsion lieutenant said to me as he stood in front of the console.
“Yes, thank you very much,” I said to him. There were a few Earth soldiers standing by that had been trained as well in the way the shield worked.
“In order to activate the energy desired, this lever needs to be pumped ten times,” he said pointing to a very large flat handle. “Then once it is charged, this light here will come on, and that is how you will know that it is ready. After that, it is a combination of buttons: first this square button, followed by the round green one. Then the shield will appear. Should I demonstrate for you?” he said.
“It is partially ready. What you will see is an incomplete dome over the copper mine. But even that is better than nothing.”
I watched as the lieutenant went through the motions of everything that he had just told me. He pumped the handle in order to charge it, and the light came on just as he had said. Then he pushed the combination of buttons. I looked out the window and was surprised. Out of thin air, a large dome appeared over the entire mine. It looked like a big glass dome, but it wasn't glass. It was simply a high energy field.
“You see that in the west quadrant there is a large gap about fifty those energy amplifiers are being worked on today. But it would take a few days to get it up and running.”
“Then that is where the majority of our defenses should be stationed. It is in need of the most protection. We cannot have a Waysaw ship getting in here in order to disable the entire shield,” I said.
“Precisely. We have the majority of our defenses there, both Earth and our own. You are good with strategic placement, human female,” he said.
“Thank you. I will send my report of this back to base, good work. We are very excited about this technology; the Waysaw will not be expecting us to have it,” I said very excited.
“No, they will not. It will be a surprise for them, and they will not be ready for it. Defeating them is a victory for us as well,” he replied.
“Yes, it is. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get to the communications room,” I said.
“Yes, I need to bring down the shield. It is not exactly fully charged yet; we need it to rest in order for it to have the most energy possible from your sun,” he said as he took the shield down. It was fascinating to watch it disappear as well.
“What happens if it does not have enough energy and there is an invasion?” I asked.
“It will simply need to be manned and charged with the lever off and on. Nothing for you to worry about,” he said.
I walked away and went to the communications building. I sent a report to the tower base. I received a message back; it was from Sheila. I was surprised. I was not expecting to get a message from her.
I opened the video message. “Nicole, how are things at the copper mine? Things are exactly the same here at the base. Sergeant Banks has been looking for you. I don't know what he is up to, but it can't be good. He is being very strange; I just thought I should warn you. Anyway, I miss you and hope to see you soon.”
The message ended. Her words had me on edge. When I was on the base, I was there to defuse tensions; now I was away from the base, and Sergeant Banks would be free to spread his hate. I had not thought about this when I left. I was so concerned about needing to get away from Commander Vycon Dase that I had screwed up.
I worked all afternoon in order to get my work done and get myself back to the mine. I should not have left in the first place, but I had to get away.
When I was done, I left the communications building walking across the mine in order to schedule a transport back to the tower base. But as I was walking, the air raid sirens went off. Shit! We were about to be under attack. I saw the shield go up and battalions rally to the shield opening. It was sudden chaos. The Waysaw ships were fast, and that meant we had ten minutes before they attacked, if they were heading to this mine.