"When we woke up, many of us couldn't even remember why we were here but all of us felt the same deep-wrenching sadness that threatened to tear our very souls apart. The End had come and we were left behind."

July

Shaeleah

"We don't know what's out there!"

"Well we know one thing for sure, if we stay here we will die."

"There are supplies-"

"They won't last! Don't you get it! There are too many of us."

I could hear the voices around me – all of them were shouting. Of one hundred and twenty 'survivors', thirty of us had awakened so far. Nyx, the AI had said we were 238 years in the future, that civilization had ended a mere 24 hours after we had been put to sleep. She… it... had played a message from my father, the last standing President of the United States of America explaining that everyone was to die. It was crazy, hearing those words come from my father's lips. It was just a joke right?

"We must start thinking of the future." I watched as a young man stepped forward, his face hardened with conviction. His hands moved erratically as he spoke, almost as if the movement fueled his determination. "We cannot live within this facility. The AI said as much, we are to use this in cases of medical need or defense. Other than that, we should limit the resources we spend here."

"And what would you know?" Someone from the back shouted. "You're just a damn Guardian, a meathead! You're here to protect us, not lead us!" I could hear quiet laughter and the man smiled for some reason. I watched as his eyes turned towards me and felt the urge to sink into the shadows.

"You're right, I wasn't placed here to lead you. She was."

It was like my very soul froze when everyone's eyes turned to look at me. I didn't want this. I didn't want to be here dammit! I was supposed to be with them… I could hear the soft mocking remarks that followed.

"Just because she's his goddamned daughter doesn't mean we have to listen to her." A woman shouted as she forced her way to the front of the small crowd. "It's a new world, isn't it? Then it's time for a new government!" There was a loud 'Yeah!' from the back of the room. "Or we could just get rid of her!" Someone else yelled.

"I would advise against this course of action." The AI's voice echoed around us and everyone, even myself jerked in reaction to her suddenly dark computerized voice. "This facility, and every supply bunker you may find, requires either Lady Shaeleah's fingerprint or a manual key held by the president himself."

"The fuck!" Everyone shouted it, even myself. "That cannot be possible." I leaped to my feet, out of habit. I didn't have anyone to shout at, only the damn building itself. "Why would Papa do that. What if I died? Then what would have happened to these people?" I turned in a circle, shouting each question.

Several people echoed my words, anger bringing color to their words. "What is done, is done." The AI said. "To ensure the survival of his only child, the President resorted to such measures." Everyone fell silent after that – even the AI for a time.

We sat in silence, each of us complementing the situation or drowning in despair, I wasn't sure if there was a difference between the two myself.

"Nyx, tell us about the facility?" I asked. I needed to distract myself from the fact that everyone's lives now weighed on my shoulders – which was no choice of my own.

"Construction was complete twenty years before the Collision, most of the technology was brought in one year before ensure only the best of programs and machinery were used. There is one medical bay, primarily geared toward childbirth as well as a very diverse sperm and egg bank.

The government knew it was impossible to freeze enough living people to ensure the healthy revival of the human race. To combat inbreeding and to keep the genetic code fresh, many specimens have been preserved for this purpose. Alongside this, I am now better equip at tracking DNA and each of the bloodlines that will soon evolve from each of you henceforth. This program will be of much benefit in the breeding years to come.

This facility also holds a massive storage of equipment, food supplies, and seeds – nearly anything you could need to survive and rebuild civilization as you once knew it… in due time. The day of vast technology has passed and for the unforeseeable future, my program alone stands as the last piece of tech. With this in mind, your ancestors sought to save as much of their civilization's vast knowledge as possible and stored an extensive library within this facility. A small workshop has also been included, with minimal supplies."

"Wait." Someone interrupted the AI. "You said you were the last piece of tech on earth right? What about space? You haven't said anything about all those satellites the governments have up there?"

"Status unknown. The governments did move their satellites out of the projected meteorite path and further into orbit in an attempt to avoid any damages that might occur during impact. As of this point, I am unsure if any might have survived. If intact, they will prove to be a valuable asset in the future."

"Well, then how can we… I don't know, get in contact with them?"

"There is a signal tower located within this mountain that could reach any satellites that are still functioning in orbit but I am unable to engage the mechanism. In order to raise the tower, the pathway must be cleared of any possible debris and manually powered on at the site."

"Then if we get it working, maybe we can get satellite imaging or even GPS!" A young woman with long pale blonde hair shouted excitedly. "Listen, everyone, rather than fighting about who's in charge, accept the fact that Shaeleah is our only hope at opening those supply bunkers or even operating this one! We also need to get Nyx into those satellites as quickly as possible, find those bunkers and fucking move on!"

Her cheeks were quickly turning pink in embarrassment but even I was moved. "She's right," I said into the following silence. "Like it or not, we need everyone in this room if we want to survive. Don't you get it?" I looked around at everyone. "We were the first to wake up…. we are the new Government."

"No one asked you, you Mexican scum." A tall young man stepped through the crowd and I felt equal parts fear and rage well up within me.

"Seriously?" I spat. "At a time like this, you want to be a racist jackass? Don't you get it? There are no more fucking races!" I was shouting now. Losing myself to the dark emotions that I had barely kept under control for the last seven hours. "There is only us – the last of the fucking last. We are only human here, you better quickly understand that."

It happened so quickly that I wasn't sure I even processed it. My words angered the man, enough so that he surged forward with a snarl and all chaos broke loose. Seven men jumped in front of me, pushing me behind them as seven more forced the man to his knees.

"There will be calm in this facility!" The dark-haired man from before shouted as he stepped forward towards me. "My name is Captain Antonio Garcia and I will have order here."

"Says who?" The angry man spat as he struggled.

"By the seventeen years, I trained to keep your sorry ass alive in this new world. Let me make this clear, I and the 14 awake, plus 45 who still sleep, were all trained for this and are all loyal to the new government… to Princess Shaeleah."

"Each of you is here to fill a role, a role crucial to the survival of the human race but let me assure you." Antonio looked down at the man darkly. "If you prove to be a threat, we will eliminate you. We always have books and an AI, you see." He smiled then, a cold-hard smile that chilled my soul.

"Well then," the blonde girl nervously eyed Antonio and attempted a smile as she turned her focus to me. "My name is Anna, and my specialty is Tech. I'm sure, with your permission, of course, I'll be working closely with Nyx."

"Of course," I stammered quickly. "Captain, surely there is no need to continue to hold him. I'm sure…"

"Grant. I specialize in farming." He roughly shook off the hands holding him in place and got to his feet. "Looks like suppression has survived after all." He muttered darkly.

"Only now, we are all minorities." I snapped at him. "Don't try to be a victim Grant. Look around you? You see it right? An even mix of your 'so-called races'. We are all minorities. Whites won't rule supreme here."

"Well said," Anna whispered next to me with a wink in my direction. "Now then, as the new government of 'minorities' shall we convene to decide what to do next? Nyx, how do we open the door."

"Exiting the facility requires opening three main hatches, each of them can be manually opened by Shaeleah or auto opened by myself." The AI responded. "However, I urge you to take extreme caution. While the earth has been deemed survivable for the last 100 years, I cannot be sure of what lies beyond those doors."

"Alright then, our first goal is obvious then isn't it?" I spoke aloud, more to myself than anyone else – it seemed to help. "Assemble a small, mobile team that can get Anna to the tower. Engage the lift system and get it operational so that Nyx can search for satellites."

"Perfect!" Anna smiled, pumping her thin arms in excitement. "If this works, I can surely boost Nyx's range to help us on the outside. I'll just need a few odds and ends but I'm sure I've got plenty to work with, Nyx mentioned a workshop. Now then!" Anna spun on her heels. "Who's the engineer?"

"That would be me, the name's Bryan" A young man with disheveled dirty blonde hair stepped forward with a bored face. "Let's just get this over with. I don't know about ya'll but I'm tired as fuck."

It started as only a few people laughing but soon everyone joined in. "Seriously dude? We just slept for over two hundred years!"

"Yeah, well it was tiring." Bryan scrubbed his hand through his hair. "Let's get a move on already," turning his head up he began to speak to Nyx. "So where are all these supplies, if we wanna climb a mountain we are going to need a hella shit."

"In the End… we are all just tools to be used."

Tony

I breathed a sigh of relief as the Govs finally began to talk about a plan of action. Awake less than twenty-four hours and already I was quelling wanna-be rebels. The Princess, Shaeleah, turned her dark gaze towards me and I straightened my back. The fact that I found her beautiful meant nothing in today's world – my only goal was to keep her alive long enough to establish a foothold for humanity. That wasn't too much to ask a 19-year-old, right?

Adverting my eyes, I moved her out of my range of vision and leaned over to speak to Zach, my second in command. "We should send most of the guard out with the two Gov'ies, the rest can stay here in the facility for the time being," I muttered quietly. "I hardly think Princess will risk wake anyone else up at this point."

"What's this princess crap."

Even after all the years of training, she'd still managed to sneak up on me. It took all my restraint not to strike out, caught off guard as I was. Even Zach jumped. "The hell?" I snarled, taken back by her sudden presence. Even with all these people around me, I should have noticed she moved… right?

"Hello?" She spoke again, an edge of uncertainty to her voice this time. I shook my head and stood at attention.

"My apologies, Princess. It was our last order from the President. That we ensure your survival, rise to power, and to sow the seeds of rebirth. We thought it was odd, to go from a democracy to a monarchy but hey, who were we to decide. Every history starts with a single ruler."

I paused, understanding how fanatic I must sound. "It's crazy ok… Long story short, all of our families… they were given spots in bunkers. They might not have lived long… but at least I… we know that they didn't die in the Collision. They got to live out somewhat of their lives and maybe… just maybe we can find their descendants. Its a pipe dream but one that fueled us enough to be here."

"Oh." She said at length and I could see a resemblance of understanding in her eyes. "Well then… then I can count on you?" She asked.

"Always, Milady." I bowed.

When she had walked away, Zach rapped me on the abdomen. "Fuck man, go any more chivalrous and the rest of us will have to start kneeling just to keep up." Under his breath, I could hear him mutter – "she's hot as fuck though, let's just hope she's as smart as the old man said."

Eventually, after much debating between the 'brains', which in the end had to be settled by the Princess, we were finally getting to gearing up. A series of floor lights flickered to life, leading myself, Anna, Bryan, and seven other guardians to the supply room. It turned out to be similar to the pod rooms, incredibly high, and circular with only with a rolling ladder and a shit ton of drawers. One by one, Nyx began to open them.

"You will find everything you need: packs, sleeping gear, tents, flotation devices. Food can be found here." Yet more doors opened. "Tools such as climbing picks, axes, and knives. Clothing and footwear are located here. Ropes can be found also, please look at your leisure." Still, more doors were opening and we could only watch as Nyx revealed decades of planning.

As everyone else stared in disbelieve, Zach and I each grabbed a pack. It was like we could read each other's minds as we grabbed two of everything, running through our mental lists once and then twice to ensure we had everything.

"Only take enough food for three days," I said over the low hum of the crowd. "If this mission takes any longer than that, we will come back to restock."

"Here, maps. Until I can get Nyx into a satellite, we have to do this the old fashioned way. Nyx said the tower was built at these coordinates." Anna and Bryan joined us a moment later, maps in hand. "The Princess found them by the way. I'm going to take a wild gander and ask, is everyone supposed to take up that honorific?" She asked on the sly.

"Not really," Zach replied for me after I hesitated. "The Guardians, sure, but the rest of the populace don't have to and I'm sure many of them will oppose, being "American" and all. However we, the Guardians I mean, took bets on how long it would take to start a monarchy from this ragtag group."

"Well, I suppose there is nothing more romantic than feudal Japan and its honor driven culture. Perhaps we should mold ourselves after them?" I caught the blonde winking at Zack from the corner of my eye.

"Then Milady, my loyalty will stand with you, second only to our Fair Lady Shae."

"As should be expected," she flirted back. Good lord, flirting just couldn't wait, could it? I didn't roll my eyes, that would have been girly and rude, but I did have to turn away in order not to gag. Instead, I leaned down to fiddle with my pack, allowing my best bud some time to be a guy.

"Well then, good luck and safe return, my Knight." I could hear Anne's footsteps walk away.

"Score!" Zach clapped me on my shoulder as he laughed in my ear. "Thanks, man, I knew I could count on you to phase out of the conversation. Best wingman ever, dude!"

I just shook my head, hookups were hardly the objective here but who was I to ruin his mojo with my over-serious nature? "Alright then, now that you are fired up to get back to your lady love, can we get a move on?"

Zach just laughed and clapped my shoulder again. "Yes, Sir!" Shouldering our packs we both turned to look at the rest of the small group.

"Ready, Sir." Liam, Elija, Lucas, Ethan, Aiden, Wyatt, and Jayden stood alongside Anna and Bryan – each with their pack ready. The Awakened gathered round as the group stood before the door. "Alright Nyx, open it up!"

The first door creaked and cracked as the first of three-century-old seals were finally broken. They stepped through the first archway just as the second unlocked, dust spraying from between the metal of the mechanism.

"Is it getting colder?" I asked. Next to me, Zach nodded. "Yeah, man."

As the last door swung open, we realized why. "Strange, a snowstorm in July?" Nyx's computerized voice echoed above us. "By my calculations, it should be summer according to last recorded climate norms. It seems those are now irrelevant."

"Well shit," I said. I was speechless. "Mission canceled. Nyx shut the doors." The heavy metal clattered as it moved, scraping along the floor at it slowly sealed itself once more.

Shae had followed us to the bunker doors. "We cannot be sure of the terrain much less the weather at this point. We need to wait until this clears up before we try leaving this place." The princess said over the doors shutting.

From beside me, Zach agreed. "Anna, is there any way you can get us some eyes out there? While the doors are closed?"

The blonde girl shook her head. "Not at this time. These bunker doors would surely negate any connection I could build at this time. Sure I can get a camera up and running but not through these doors. I would need the tower operational first."

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "Then we wait," I said. "The only way we can keep watch on the storm is to keep opening the door every few hours."

"Well then, I'll be going to check out this workshop. If we've got a day or so to wait, then I need to know what I'm working with." Anna said as she waded through the crowd to Shae.

I could just make out them speaking of it when I turned away. "Alright, everyone clear out. Back to the main room. We shall begin handing out basic supplies momentarily."

"To be important but not bound… that was my goal."

Anna

After telling Shaeleah my intentions, she permitted me to enter the workshop. Nyx was quick to inform me that my fingerprints were now given particular access to many of the facilities utilities. Feeling slightly good about myself, I picked up my pace and skipped through the quiet corridors of the facility, humming a tune my mother had once loved. It was painful to think of her, even now, three years later – I wasn't counting time spent sleeping either. Cancer was a bitch but at least now, perhaps we stood a chance of it never resurfacing again.

The workshop was far larger than Nyx had let on. Her description of "small" was quite wrong in my opinion but a surge of excitement was all I could feel. I pushed aside my darker thoughts, wished mother my love and took a deep breath as the heavy glass doors slid open. I had expected at least some amount of noise, given the bunker doors, but they easily glided over their guide-rails. Sweeping my eyes across the room I had to admit, Nyx hadn't been wrong about all the tools. With a grin, I got to work.

The next three days passed in a haze and for the most part, I worked continuously. Zach would bring food to distract me, even going so far as to remind me that I needed to sleep but I was finding that part difficult. Perhaps it was due to being put in a frozen sleep for so long but my body simply refused to shut down until it was completely exhausted now. All around me were parts, odds, and ends, half-finished projected, and completed ones. It wasn't until now that I realized just how messy the place was.

I need a breather… I thought to myself, pushing away from my current project. When I looked up Zach was there like always. Personal guard?

"They are opening the doors today. Tony checked outside and said its beautiful, a bit chilly but still doable."

Stretching my arms above my head, I nodded with a smile. "Sounds good, to be honest. I think I need some fresh air or I'll go insane. Now that I've been knocked from my trance, I'm not sure what to do with myself." I chuckled.

Zach shook his head and pushed away from the wall. "Well come on then. I've got our packs ready."

I slipped around the workbench, making sure to brush my fingers across his lower back. "Thanks for that then," I said with a flirtatious smile. Zach was cute and just my type, might as well have a bit of fun, I thought.

"Anything for Milady," he teased back.

The walk to the bunker doors was filled with easy-going flirting, quick smiles and brief hand touches. Neither of us wanted to be called out on our behavior and besides, we hardly knew each other but hell we had all the time in the world to fix that.

"Glad you could join us," Tony said as we stepped into the outer chamber. Zach just laughed it off, playfully going in for the one-two punch game that they seemed to play when in good spirits. Men, I would never understand them.

"I'm not sure what you've been doing Captain but I've been busy. And unless you know how to fix this tower without me, I suggest you just hold your over-eager jets." I retorted cheekily.

Tony hissed, jerking his hand back and waving it like it had been burned. "Feisty this one reminds me of a Latina." He laughed. "Good comeback. I like you already."

I just barely heard Zach's, "told you". I shrugged my shoulders and said. "I come from a family of men, you gotta give as good as you get."

Tony gave me a nod, a gesture of respect I guess and then turned to our small team of seven. "Everyone ready?" He asked.

The obvious question was yes and one by one we stepped out into the snow. During the last three days, it had built up, easily reaching knee-deep and it was fucking cold. I was a southern girl and I hated the cold.

"Nyx said the tower was behind us so turn around…." I said as I did just that. My eyes widen in shock at what I say. Nyx had told us that the facility had been built deep within the base of the Absaroka Mountains and yet as I looked at what lay behind the bunker, I could not even begin to call it a mountain.

"It's gone…" Tony said beside me. "The whole damn mountain range has eroded… and yet that… cylinder is still there."

"That is the tower," I said quickly. "They must have encased it in the same material as the bunker doors if the mountain was destroyed… Good thing too." I added as an afterthought.

The sun was extra bright, maybe due to the snow or the fact that I hadn't been outside in three days, but I had to squint to properly look up at the top of the tower's casing. "Is that a rock?" I asked as I lifted my hand to block the sun.

"Fuck if it is… that's a huge fucking rock…" Zach muttered. "And its right on top of the damn top of the tower. Why couldn't that have just blown away like the rest of the shit."

To say that the mountain was completely gone was incorrect. A better description was that the Absaroka Range had been turned into a mere cliff and much of the debris from above had fallen around the bunker below, much to our disadvantage. On the other hand, the sheer cliff was protection from the winds – if only on one side.

"We can work with this…" I muttered more to myself. "Just give me a bit to think of a plan and we will get that sucker off there…"

"Explosives?" Shaeleah gave us a look of complete hesitation. "You are telling me that you want to 'whip up a small batch' of explosives to "pop" the rock off the tower and to where?"

"Who cares," I said. "Look, wherever that rock ends up… it's staying but I can assure you it land safely away from the bunker. We don't have the tools or the manpower to get that sucker anywhere else other than where it lands. Tony already knows the plan, just give me the go-ahead and in less than an hour we will have our tower."

Shaeleah sighed, her shoulders going lax as she nodded. "Fine, but make sure everyone else, besides your team, is inside before you go setting that thing off."

I smiled and spun on my heels, I wasn't going to give her time to change her mind. I had already sent Zach to get what I needed, now it was all up to Tony.

Shae

The boom that followed an hour later shook the facility itself. Items rattled off their shelves and anything glass that hadn't been tied down was shattered. We felt the collision as the boulder hit the earth above us as well as heard it. As soon as I could hear again, I was running towards the outside.

"What in the fuck!" I screamed over the noise of the tower team as they cheered.

"We hit water!" One of the Guardians told me excitedly. "Look! The boulder collided with the cliff there and cracked it open. Now water is coming out."

Anna rushed up to me, her face pink from the cold and excitement. "Water! We found water woman!" She grabbed my hands and pulled me into a circular dance, kicking snow as we did so. I was quickly becoming cold, having forgotten to grab a cloak on our way out and pulled away. "I need to get inside." My teeth were beginning to chatter. "You can fill me in underground… where it's warm." I said with a smile.

She nodded, promising to meet with me in ten minutes and I scurried back inside. A Guardian was waiting inside with a heavy fur-lined cloak. "Milady," he said as he held it out to me.

"Thank you," I smiled at him, grateful for the thought and slipped it over my shoulders. It was long and fell to my ankles but the warmth that was already beginning to build up was remarkable. "Shit, why didn't we wear things like this before?" I muttered under my breath. Jackets didn't have anything on these things!

"Society." The Guardian answered back monotonously. "People would have been seen as 'weird' or 'strange' by the general public and ridiculed… Milady." He wasn't looking at me but rather straight ahead and at the cracked doors. We'd only left them open just enough to slip through and then covered the openings with as many blankets as we could. The facility had cooled down because of this but primarily due to shutting off the heating system. Everyone around me was clothed warmly, I could see the layers of clothing that they wore.

"Soon this cold will end and then we will all be complaining of the heat," I said jokingly. "I need to get to Control, but thank you again for the cloak." The young man nodded his head in acknowledgment and I took that as his answer. Smiling one last time, I waved goodbye and began to make my way towards the Control Room. It was opposite of the workshop, which was pretty convenient when I needed to find Anna over the last three days. "Nyx, they have removed the boulder," I called out to the AI.

"So I have heard," the computer chuckled. "I have already run a routine maintenance inspection and all systems should function as expected."

"Then please proceed," I replied as I sat down before the main computer. Three terminals were located here, mine at the top and two more below me.

"Engaging tower now."

A godawful noise filled the facility and surrounding area as the century-old hatch finally broke open and the lift mechanism kicked on. I clapped my hands over my ears with a startled scream. While I couldn't see what exactly was going on, I knew it was complete once the noise finally stopped and I was left with only a steady ring in my ears.

"And now for the big result…" I whispered as I slipped a small wireless communicator into my ear. I could barely hear the telltale boot-up sequence and waited for a few moments before pushing the 'talk' button. "Lady Shae, reporting from Control."

A soft static broke through the silence on the coms before Anna's voice echoed in my ear. "Hear you loud and clear Lady. Communications are now a go! I'll meet you in Control soon."

After confirming, we both 'signed off'. I wasn't sure why Anna insisted on phrasing it like this, it was more just putting the devices into stand by mode until someone paged it. All about battery life… she had insisted.

I had at least ten minutes to kill before Anna would arrive and thirty more before we held the meeting to discuss what was next. The answer was obvious: food and shelter. If what they were saying was true, if they had struck water, then a third of our problem was already solved. Leaning my head back, I closed my eyes – trying to will away the ringing in my ears.

Food… I thought to myself. We don't even know what will grow here. If the weather patterns have changed, this will make farming more difficult. I know little of growing food but even I know some products can't be grown unless certain criteria are met. Not to mention we don't even know if there are any animals to hunt… how are we to make our protein requirements.

And what of housing? We cannot possibly build single homes… but people will detest living in group housing but we have little choice.

"Nyx, send for Jake, Bryan, Grant, and Jazmine." I requested. The AI was quick to respond and within ten minutes everyone that I needed stood before me.

"We will be having a group meeting in thirty minutes," I informed them. "We need to discuss now, what we will be telling them then." I took a deep breath and continued. "Our next goals are obvious, I'm sure you know what I'm about to say. Food, shelter, and water. Those are our current needs. Our of the thirty that have awaken, only six of us are considered true government but that is hardly the point."

I turned my eyes to our Architect. "Jake, I need you to design several buildings; a main hall, medical bay, barracks, and government group housing. The main hall, for now, must remain open. It will serve as our first shelter outside of this facility and as the other buildings are completed we will begin moving our numbers into those buildings. You have three days to complete the blueprints for the main hall before we begin construction."

"Of course," Jake nodded. "I will begin this right away." He made to leave but I shook my head. "No, please stay." I requested. "I would like for you to listen to the rest of our plans."

"Bryan, I need you to work alongside Grant to utilize this new water source. We need a means of collecting and storing water in times of drought as well as irrigating our fields. We are no longer aided by machines and everything must be done by hand, if we can limit what we must do ourselves – such as water crops, we will have more time for other things."

"And a shower," Anna added in quickly.

"In order to accomplish everything we need before winter, I have decided to divide our soldiers into four groups of five. My apologies to both Tony and Zach but can I ask that you oversee the lumber production. Two other soldiers will also be assigned a long term position with you, ensuring that your unit is nine-strong, yourselves included, at all times."

"We accept," Tony said without pause. I felt a small amount of guilt all the same.

"Each group of five, this does not count the leaders nor two extra will rotate between the required jobs. Water source under Bryan, food production under Grant, Lumber under Tony and Zach, and Camp Care under myself. We cannot afford even a single day off in this time, I'm afraid. The best compromise I can find is to rotate everyone within the jobs so that all carry their weight equally… for the most part. Camp Care will in time come to feel as if it is a day off, but I assure you, other groups will not need to lift a finger within the camp as it will be our duty to ensure you have hot meals, clean clothes and the other necessities at hand. Merely look at it as a day of housekeeping. "

I took a deep breath and pushed on. "When our water project is complete we will begin construction on the main hall and then the medical building. In the meantime, the lumber crew can take this time to try and get ahead of the construction if that's even possible. If at any point, spare manpower becomes available, they are to report to Tony to assist in the lumber production."

"Jazmine," I turned to our doctor. "Over the next few days, I need you to familiarize yourself with the med bay here in the facility. You are to begin seeing each of your patients and get to know them, their lives may very well lay in your hands one day. I am told that you have a small medical staff but I cannot risk waking them at this time unless necessary so for the time being please do your best."

"Terrace Cultivation," Grant spoke up suddenly. He was scratching his chin in thought.

"Please explain," I said. "You have the floor."

Grant took a deep breath and stood up a bit straighter as he began to explain. "Terrace Cultivation, while heavy on man-power, will satisfy all of your requests but only if this water source of yours is true. If we have indeed tapped into an underground water source then we can manufacture our stream or river of sorts, some of which can be diverted to flow alongside our crops and the rest wherever we need it."

"From this, we can gather the good soil beneath the rocky surface and begin reshaping what remains of the mountain's slope in our favor. We clear away the rocky surface and fortify it with the soil from the irrigation construction. As there is already a natural slope, we merely need to dig up portions of the ground to create a steppe field and construct each row that will descend the hill and with it the water – effectively watering the crops." Grant took a deep breath and continued.

"Using this method, the natural sediments in the soil will flow down as well, regardless of how slow or infrequently we water, it will happen over time. To optimize this, I suggest a patty field be constructed below the steppe field. It will gather all runoff water and sediment, to which we will have to regularly remove to maintain the patty field and relocated back up the slope."

"Impressive," I said with a wide smile. "Bryan, can you work with this?"

The young man yawned as he nodded. "Works for me."

"Then let's inform the others," I said.