I'm now glad I stopped writing at chapter 51 because I found a few spots that should have had some points of view from those on Mars. Getting them written now and will be in later chapters before posting.

Thanks to the guest reviewer for the kind words and I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the story. Well... on with the show.

Chapter 37

Sarah's Crazy Idea

At first the disappearance of Sarah Spencer caused some concern in the Railgun Complex, but at the end of the first day, she began calling in department heads and other specialists in groups of two or three at a time. When the first group left her new office, the next was not called in for almost an hour and so over the next few days, people were able to compare notes on what information Sarah had sought and what the topics of conversation had been. What they ended up with was like trying to make sense of a small pile of jigsaw pieces from six different puzzles.

While all this was going on underground, Blue came to his own life changing decision and moved out of the Complex. There were several reasons behind his transference to the ship and the main one was the new joy he felt walking on the beach just before sunrise and around sunset. Living on the ship was also handy because he was close to the work he was doing with Willow's new Ships Contents Relocation and Permanent Storage team, also known as SCRaPS, along with the opportunity to talk to Maximilian DeGroot whenever he felt like it.

Blue mainly sought information from DeGroot about his family, but the odd little man was more willing to share what he had learnt about the history of the Dragon Riders. Whenever Blue's head could take no more of his strange flying lizard obsession, he could leave easily without fear of DeGroot trying to follow him; the man had nervous fear of what Captain Branson would do if he pushed the boy too far.

For the people of the fleet, all the talk of leaving the planet and going to Mars sounded too unbelievable to be taken seriously, but there many other aspects about the offer to stay at the Railgun Complex that were very appealing. Fresh food was available both on the surface and in the underground farms and the accommodation was of a very high standard when compared to living on a ship. Life in the Complex was something like what they had hoped to find in Europe with the added advantage of protection from all but the biggest of meteors; even the work was reasonable thanks to the all machinery at hand.

While most of the visitors were still trying to make up their minds, some had already started to settle in and were working on the farms and in mechanical maintenance. There were even a few who seriously wanted to learn more about the possibilities of a future in sapce and sought out demonstrations of additive manufacturing and computer animations of both current abilities of supply launches and future plans for the resumption of human space flight. Fariz and a few of the other former Railgun builders took the opportunity to move back into the complex, now that the doors were permanently open again. At the same time, some of the Railgun staff took the own opportunity to move out and enjoy the surface world once again with many doing a home swap with Fariz's friends at the town to the south.

Probably the biggest change for the original inhabitants of the complex was inclusion of several children from the fleet, plus a few more young adults. Their presence made Professor Adisa realise he should be considering an education project of some kind. There was one new visitor however, who had Calla and Emerson excited and their mother Ursula worried. The Linwood children were in the outer warehouse with their father and Captain Branson greeting yet another vehicle bringing people in from the fleet, when a young lady with straight black hair alighted from the four-wheel-drive.

"DOOM!" Calla cried out when she saw her friend and rushed into her arms.

"Hey Squirt, where have you been hiding?"

"I am so glad you're here; this place is really boring."

"Calla; watch your mouth" Maynard scolded.

"I am sure you two will not be causing any trouble while we are guests here" Reed Branson declared sternly.

"Best behaviour Captain Bligh" Harriet Doom stood up straight and saluted, making Calla giggle.

"Hello Harriet" Emerson greeted her with a dopey grin.

"And you'd better watch your mouth too" Doom waved her fist in the young man's face.

"MISS DOOM!" Reed repeated.

"Best behaviour Captain" she repeated.

Harriet Doom was not really a trouble maker but she enjoy having the reputation, which annoyed Branson and worried Ursula Linwood. The sixteen year old young lady also tried not to be a bad influence on Calla, but it was hard not to be when the youngest Linwood spent so much time as her shadow.

"If you want we can ditch the old folk and head outside for a while" Calla whispered "I've got so much to tell you."

"Hey I'd love to Squirt, but I really gotta get a feel for this place; read the vibes and work out if it's the place to be."

"Bummer" Calla sighed "I suppose if you have to."

"I do" Doom smiled.

"Please keep up" Branson called out as the group walked off.

"Coming oh Glorious Leader" Doom said sweetly.

To Harriet Doom there was nothing worse than a bad leader; some were incompetent and others were vague; but then there was the virtual dictator who believed they had a right to rule. People like this could be dangerous if they felt threatened, even by a young lady and so she had created a character to play on a full time basis. If they believed she was just rude to everyone, she could subtly point out the flaws in a leader and their method of rule so others would not just follow them blindly, and without invoking any kind of malicious retaliation.

If Reed Branson knew about this, he would also know why she had followed his leadership for so long; for he had passed the test in her eyes. Harriet Doom had witnessed for herself the care Branson had taken to keep the fleet safe and the peril he had often put himself in, rather than risk someone else's life. Deep down inside she had great respect for him, but she would never dare show it openly.

"Not very attractive" Harriet declared as she rode the electric cart down yet another corridor.

No one would have guessed from the way she spoke, just how impressed she was with the manufacturing plants, the control room and the Railgun itself. But while others in the tour group had many good things to say about the complex, all praise from Doom was reserved for one of the massive underground farms.

"Now this is more like it" she nodded "Nature in a bottle!"

"It gets better" Calla smiled and called out loudly "MOON!"

Everyone except Emerson and their guide wondered what Calla was doing, but they soon found out when a large white cat with a few grey splotches wandered into view with Princess Sabrina trotting along behind swatting at Moon's twitchy tail.

"Nothing like a cat to turn an underground industrial complex into a home" Doom smirked.

"These are Blues cats" Calla noted.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me these felines are into Muddy Waters and BB King?" Doom asked suspiciously.

"Blue is the only kid our age in the entire place" Emerson informed her "Calla's been doing her level best to kill him ever since we got here; she almost succeeded a few times too."

"They were just accidents" Calla huffed.

"The first time was" Emerson admitted.

"So where is this kid with the cool name?" Harriet Doom asked "I'd love to get the opinion of someone younger about what it's like to live here."

"There's nothing cool about him" Calla sniffed "and he doesn't even live here anymore; he gone down to the beach to live on the ship."

"What ship?" Doom looked confused.

"Didn't you see it when you came ashore?" Emerson asked "It's kinda hard to miss."

"I came here by land" Doom replied "I was on the refinery ship but had to leg it on a Tug Boat when the tsunami hit. When it was over, we went ashore to check out the wrecks but later on some people arrived and said they knew your Dad. I've been at a town south of here for the last few days waiting for my turn to catch a lift here."

"It must have been horrid" Calla sneered.

"What makes you say that Squirt?" Doom tussled Call's hair "The wave was a hassle but when we got to the village, the people there were really cool and hospitable; they took great care of us and the food was good too."

Their conversation, along with the entire tour, was suddenly interrupted when the communication system came to life with the voice of Doctor Sarah Spencer.

"Attention everyone; this is your leader speaking" she began.

The visitors were a little shocked to hear Sarah's stern tone, but then they all heard her laughter echoing through the corridors.

"But seriously folks, I'd like all senior engineers and team leaders to report to the conference room at fourteen hundred hours. This means you too Willow so get your butt on the next transport back here; oh and bring Peter Moke with you. All others please hit the monitors and pay close attention. Any visitors still in the complex... well... sorry but we have to do this, so you can either stay and listen in, go for a walk or grab a bite; there are monitors in the dining room."

"For a second there, I thought she was going to kick us out" Maynard noted.

"Dad, do we have to stay here and wait for hours?" Calla complained.

"I don't think you have a choice" Maynard said "If everyone is called to this meeting, there won't be any transport out to the ship till they're done. Just show Doom the rest of the farm, play with the cats for a while and then we'll all head down to the dining room and listen in over a late lunch."

"The food here is pretty good here too" Calla nodded to Harriet Doom.

And so after killing some time, Branson and the Linwoods took Harriet Doom and the other visitors from the fleet down the dining room as planned; with a little guidance from their guide of course. Even though they had been told all about it, the visitors were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. As they settled down to eat while watching Sarah on the closed circuit TV, Calla saw Willow Pascal hurry into the dining room to grab an egg salad sandwich just as Sarah Spencer appeared on the monitor.

"It looks like we're all here" Sarah noted "except for Willow as usual."

"Yeah yeah I'm getting there" Willow yelled sternly at the monitor "Don't get your panties in a bunch."

"Well almost everyone is here so I suppose we'd better get started" Sarah decided. "Firstly I want to apologise for being incommunicado for the last few days..."

Calla wondered why Sarah had stopped so soon when she heard a door close over the monitor.

"Nice of you to join us... finally" Sarah smiled.

"Down with the new oppressive regime" everyone heard Willows reply.

"Sorry Willow but the revolution will have to wait. Now then... a few days ago, Professor Adisa threw me off the deep end with some very disturbing news about the information we've been relying on from Mars. We won't go into it now but there is a full report available for download to your tablets and I will warn you; it is very disturbing. A lot of you have allowed me to pick your brains recently and from what I've learned, I think I've got the basics of a new direction for the Railgun Project and for all of us into the future."

"The bad news is this; if what we've learnt is true, then we have to face up to the high probability that Mars is no longer an option for us. This is why I've been going through all other alternative ideas and I'm happy to say, it looks like none of you have been idle for the last fifteen years. And so rather than simply give up and stay here, I've chosen a new destination for us; a new place for us to attempt colonisation."

Not only in the conference room, but all over the complex and even on the ship, everyone leant forward a little.

"Starting today we will be working towards going to... the Asteroid Belt."

I honestly don't know what happened to this chapter; the last line was meant to come in about halfway through, but dialogue just kept flowing.

Bye for now and more soon. =^..^=