MuTerra

just keep everything on a shelf down here made to order.”

Keith looked at the man and smiled. He was not speaking for entertainment purposes, but matter-of-factly. When they reached a junction, they turned to the left.

“This was one area where we discovered pockets of natural gas. We use a lot more caution here as we tap and capture as much as we can. It is piped throughout the complex. Even with geothermal energy, we can’t pass up the chance to tap into other resources. I think they are actually running a pipeline to the top, the top, top, for when we get outside.”

Keith was amazed at the size of the tunnels. It was a major operation. After what seemed like another mile of walking, they came into an open cavern. At the far end was a tubular shaped machine with half a dozen men surrounding it. They walked up.

“You gonna’ be runnin’ anytime soon,” he asked the man who appeared to be in charge.

“Just about to fire it up,” the man replied.

“Let’s stand over there and you can see this thing in action.”

“What’s it called,” Keith asked.

“It’s a TBM, tunnel boring machine.”

Keith nodded his head signaling his understanding. It was massive; at least thirty feet tall, he estimated. When the machine was starting up, the others walked to where they were standing. It was a sight to see for Keith, business as usual to the others. After a few minutes, his stocky escort indicated they should be on their way. When the noise diminished to the point that they could resume normal conversation, they continued on their tour. Keith was shown where they tapped into the aquifer providing them with water, and even how the geothermal power was generated.

When they returned to the office, Keith shook the man’s hand and thanked him for his time. It had been quite an educational and interesting experience. “No problem,” the man said, “we don’t get many visitors down here; in fact, hardly any at all.”

?

The next level he went to was the quartermaster or storage facility. It too was enormous in size. It looked like the same boring machine had gone through here at one time. These corridors however, were separated by steel link barriers with a door in each section. Pallet stacked upon pallet could be seen through the chain links. Few people were observable behind those transparent walls. He walked to the nearest one and examined the contents. There were canned goods, dried foods, lights, mechanical parts, and batteries; anything and everything imaginable. He saw more barriers beyond this one, and turned to see that the other corridors were all arranged the same way. Nobody noticed him as they all continued about their business and he returned to the elevator.

After he ascended a few floors he heard, “Hey Chief, you copy,” the faint scratchy voice announced from his radio.

“This is the chief. What do you have Cam?”

“Chief, your father said he wanted to meet with you. He is coming to your office. I said I hadn’t heard from you, and nobody answered at your quarters.”

“Yeah, I was in the lower levels. The radio doesn’t reach that far. In fact, I doubt it would work any further than where I am right now….I’ll be there in about ten minutes,” Keith finished.

“Got it Chief; ETA, ten minutes.”

He swiped his card and pressed the button for the third level. The number panel inside the elevator was the opposite of what was found in traditional elevators. They numbered from the top down because the only ones that changed were the ones below, which made the uppermost floor, the one his apartment was on, number one.

It had been a few months since he last saw his father. He decided it was best to keep his distance for now. He had not quite forgiven him and did not know if he even wanted to. Whatever he wanted with him was sure to be interesting. It always was.

When he reached his office, Cam indicated that his father was already there. He walked into his office and closed the door. His father was attired in a dark blue business suit, looking like he was fresh from the barbershop; clean-shaven and well-manicured. Keith took his seat behind the desk. “You’re looking well,” Keith said.

“You’re looking good yourself. And I’ve been hearing good things about you,” his father said.

Keith’s expression indicated he was interested in who was providing reports on him, and what exactly that meant, but no explanation followed. “What can I do for you Dad?”

“I’ve just come by to bring you up to date on a few things since I haven’t seen you for some time,” he stated in tone which Keith knew to be accusatory, but not pointedly so.

He continued, “We now have what you could call a board of directors: myself, Dr. Marrow, and Jim Forrest my former senior aide. There are a lot of preparations we need to consider, and not all of them are about what is going on inside.” He let that sink in for a moment.

“You’ve done a great job with your duties here but now we need to add another element to your mission. One of the lower tunnels is essentially unused. It will serve as your new training area. In your armory, there should be a number of paintball guns with all of the supplementary equipment. If you require any more or any additional materials, just let Brian know and he’ll take care of it for you.”

“Okay, we get to shoot each other with paintballs. To what end?”

“You will need to train the men in combat tactics: defensive, offensive, search, and retrieval.”

“Why?”

“You tell me,” his father challenged.

Keith thought about it for a moment and said, “You don’t know what we’re going to find when we get out.”

“That is the general consensus, and what we would like you to limit it to when you explain it to the men. To be more specific, we expect to find both animal life and MuTerra.”

“MuTerra?” Keith asked in confusion.

“Sorry. That is the terminology used in our reports. Mu is short for mutant, and terra means earth or land? ‘mutants of the land.’”

“So what; we’re just going to kill them?” Keith asked in anger.

“If need be,” his father said evenly as he held his son’s gaze.

“We don’t know what we will find Keith. We don’t know if people will be aggressive, hostile, or passive. The same goes with the animals. There is more, but you can understand that precautions need to be taken.”

“What is the more,” Keith asked.

After pausing to study his son‘s face, he decided to go on, “I can see you’re not going to think this through without getting into a fight, so I’ll explain what you would have been able to come up with yourself, given a little time and effort.”

Keith leaned back in his chair indicating that his father would indeed have to spell things out.

“Who else do you think might be out there,” he asked his son.

Keith just looked at him not able to come up with anything in reply.

“How about others like us? We are not the only facility in the world built underground and prepared for such catastrophes.”

That announcement caught Keith unawares. Of course, he knew there were other underground military facilities. Why hadn‘t he thought of that before now, he wondered as they sat in silence. When the moment passed, Keith replied, “So it’s a race then, to see who gets out first to stake their claim.”

“That is a reasonable conclusion, but one that doesn’t have to be as ominous as you make it sound.”

“Are we in contact with any other facilities,” Keith asked.

“Unfortunately, no, we did have a communications system set up, but it has either been a failure, or those we were connected to no longer exist.”

“You said retrieval earlier. What did you mean by that?”

“Exactly what it sounds like; if there are MuTerra....”

“You mean people dad. People like Frankie,” Keith interjected.

“Don’t get your hopes up on what these ‘people’ will be like. They have been exposed to radiation not only through their skin, but also through what they have been eating, and drinking. It is unknown to what extent they have been changed by such prolonged exposure or what effect it has had on proliferation.”

The fact that his father was talking in technical terms, and with such a lack of emotion, annoyed him. It was