CH48
They step out of the wall into a small space with what looks like a glass wall on one side. Beyond the wall is a guy standing at a console of some type.
"ID confirmation, please."
Rick steps up to the glass and places both his hands on the glass. "Daeron-Celebrendal. Alpha, Zeta 4563, Evergreen."
"ID confirmed. Welcome aboard Mr. Castle. Please ID your friends for the record."
"This is my daughter, Alexis, and this is Katherine Beckett." Rick responds.
"Scans indicate Miss Beckett is a local."
"Correct, she has an appointment with the medical staff to undergo testing."
"One moment please, Mr. Castle." …... "Alexis is confirmed and the appointment for Miss Beckett has also been confirmed. You may proceed. Safe Travels." And the glass slides to each side revealing an opening they can pass thru.
"It's good to have you back Mr. Castle. You too Alexis. I have a message from Meg and Jen, they would like to meet with you when you have the time."
"Thanks, I'll contact them and see what we can arrange."
"This way guys. …. Girls," scrunching his face that he just called his favorite two women guys.
He leads them out the door and down a hall to another door and waits. In a moment the door opens to reveal a really small space. Stepping in and waiting for the others, Rick calls out "Medical." And the door closes.
Kate is thinking it is an elevator of some kind however she does not feel anything. It does not seem to be moving. A short time later the door re-opens and Rick steps out and waits for the others to follow.
Down a hallway, they come to a door that has some really weird looking markings on it and next to it, Rick presses a panel under some of the weird markings and the door slides open.
After entering they approach a table in front of an open hallway. Rick approaches and talks to the lady at the desk.
"Nae-saian-luume. Manke-naa-lye-omentien, Amin-n'rangwa-edanea, Beckett."
The lady at the desk touches something on her desk and speaks. A minute later a door down the hallway opens and a lady in a uniform steps out and approaches. Stepping up to Kate, "Arwen-en-amin, Ireth-Elensar." Holding out her hand. She shakes her head, "Sorry, force of habit. Welcome, you can call me Dr. Lee. I will be the lead medical for your testing while you are staying with us. If you are ready, we can get started."
"I'm going to leave you here and go see if I can talk with Meg and Jen. You are going to be busy for a little while. Alexis will stay with you. And she knows where everything is and how to use the communication system if you want to talk to me."
"If they are done with you we can meet for lunch."
"Thanks Castle." Kate leans in to kiss Castle quickly. Then takes Alexis's hand and follows her doctor.
Following the doctor thru a door she sees a much larger room with several beds in a semi-circular arrangement. The doctor walks over to one and turns to Kate, "Take a seat please and we can talk about what we are going to do today."
"How long is this going to take?" Kate asks.
"That is part of what we are going to talk about. First we are going to do a very in depth examination. We want to determine your present health. After that we will take some samples from certain areas. We will then use these samples and introduce the medical Nanites to determine if you will have an unwanted reaction to them."
"Provided that we make it pass these tests, we will then take in depth samples of your major organs. These will then be examined to determine their viability to be used should the need arise. If necessary we will repeat the process until we get the samples we want."
"After confirmation of the samples they will be frozen and placed in storage. Then we will introduce the Nanites to your system. After completion of this we will keep you for 24 of your hours to make sure that your system does not try to reject the Nanites or you have any other symptoms of rejection."
"You understand what the samples we freeze are used for?" Dr. Lee asks, wanting to make certain Kate understands in case she needs to explain.
"Yes, they will be used to 'grow' organs to replace mine should the need arise."
"Correct. You are comfortable with this?" Dr. Lee wants to be certain.
"Yes!" Kate responds while looking at Alexis who is also in the room.
The doctor turns to look where Kate was looking and sees Alexis with a giant smile on her face.
"I see," turning back to Kate with a knowing smile on her face, "Let's get started then, shall we?"
Three hours later, after being poked and prodded and questioned about every family member she could remember, Kate and Alexis are leaving the Medical area.
"Dad arranged for us to eat dinner. You are going to love it!" Alexis is so excited she is practically bouncing. And leads Kate to an elevator and asks for "Arwenamin." When the door re-opens they see Rick standing there waiting.
"Hey, pumpkin." Crushing his daughter in a giant hug. "How was your exam?" He asks Kate and gives her a chaste kiss.
"I think they poked and prodded places I didn't even know I had." Kate responds humorously.
Chuckling, Rick walks up to a lady at a small tall desk. "We have reservations for Castle. And we will need menus in English, please."
"Of course, Mr. Castle, right this way." And takes three menu tablets with her. Upon rounding a corner, Kate loses her breath and mindlessly just walks straight for the wall of windows. Barely paying attention to where the others are walking.
She stops at a table up next to the wall of windows and pulls out a chair for everyone. Rick and Alexis sit, however Kate walks right up to the window and looks out. With her jaw on the floor and not breathing.
The lady who led them here just puts Kates menu on the table and turns to look at Rick smiling, "I will be back in a few minutes to ask for your drinks." And looks at Kate and smiles wide and then walks away.
Kate is just trying to take it all in. She sees a monstrously huge open cylinder looking space, with buildings on the entire surface. All around the surface of the cylinder. There are large dark panels that seem to be floating over large sections. There were short buildings, tall buildings, one huge park like place and several smaller ones spread out all over. Far in the distance she sees a huge open space with no buildings. Also right in the center were six clear tubes, starting just above her and off into the distance that she can't see an end to. The tubes are extremely bright. Then she sees some little dark pods traveling very slowly in each of the tubes, going each direction. All of the buildings had different color schemes. Kind of reminding her of a color scheme in pictures of Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark. It was beautiful!
Finally her attention is distracted, "Kate, Kate. MOM!" Turning to look at Rick and Alexis, she finally notices that Alexis is tugging on her and Rick has a huge grin on his face.
Blinking back tears, "It's, …. It's, Beautiful!" Kate whispers out. Kate finally sits and just stares out the window with her mouth opening and closing like a fish.
"What are the bright tubes down the center?" Kate asks a question.
"Those act as the sun. They are always on." Rick explains.
"And the little dark objects that travel in them?"
"Those are used to help regulate the amount of power in the tubes and help with the day/night cycle." Rick again answers.
"And those big black panels hanging in air?" Kate asks another question.
"Technically those are hanging on a series of very fine and tightly strung wires. They are also part of the day/night cycle." Rick provides.
"And nobody falls from, ... up there?" As Kate points to the buildings and people that are on the 'Roof' hanging upside down.
Rick chuckles. "No they don't fall. The environmental system includes an artificial gravity system that keeps everyone on the ground."
"This place must use a lot of power." Kate comments.
"The main power plant is way down there at the end of the ship. The power core is made up of several generators all along the outer hull." And Rick draws a circle in the air. "From there it is sent out to a number of sub-stations to power the buildings and other equipment."
"Those must be some generators." Kate comments, amazed.
"I've never actually seen them. And i don't know how they work. Not really my field of expertise." Rick tells her. "Lucile might know." Rick adds.
Breaking away from the view, she picks up her rather thick looking menu and opens it to find that it is back lite with the menu raised in black.
Impressed again her mouth forms in a 'WOW' look. "Drink?" Rick asks.
The server comes back and asks for drinks. "Iced sun tea, Strawberry Lemonade with real strawberries, Mixed Berry Smoothie."
"Thank you, It'll just be a minute." And she walks away.
"THANK YOU, CASTLE! This place is amazing! You grew up out there." Kate asks while pointing out the window.
Alexis just nods her head. "It's actually where you and Alexis will be staying while you are here for the testing. You see that mostly Orange colored area, kind of up the 'wall' on the right side?" Rick asks while pointing.
"In there is the apartment where you will be staying." Rick explains.
"You're not staying?" Kate questions sounded saddened and surprised.
Rick shakes his head, "No, I'm going back to the house. To help the guys in case Bracken does something that we need to counter."
"You'll be safe here and Alexis will be here to keep you company. Plus she knows where everything is. Think of it as a vacation. Someplace you've never been."
"Why did we arrive in that 'room'?" Kate questions.
"There are only 3 places on the Evergreen that you can open a Transmat wall. All the other places are shielded to prevent unwanted guests from dropping in."
The server comes back with the drinks. "Are you ready to order?"
"We'll start with the 'Vietnamese Rice Paper Spring Rolls for the Appetizer. I'll have the 'Smoked Brisket, with the 'Vegan Sex' Salad." Rick says.
"I'll have 'Duck La Orange', with the 'Spinach Salad with Salmon'" Kate asks.
"I'll have 'End of the Rainbow', with the 'Roasted Tofu Salad'" Alexis asks.
"I'll be right back with your appetizer."
They spend their time making small talk while Rick and Alexis spend half the time trying to get Kate's attention, since she spends most of the time staring out the window to look at the view.
"Has anyone left room for desert." to which everyone says, hhmmm.
"It looks like we will pass, thanks."
"Please enjoy your stay with us." And leaves.
They all get up to leave. When they reach the elevator pod. "This is where I'll leave you. I'm headed back to the house and check up on everyone. Alexis will show you the way." Rick takes Kate in his arms and kisses her. And Kate deepens the kiss instantly.
"Eeww, guys! Children present." Alexis tells them, more teasing than mad.
"Sorry, pumpkin." And Rick hugs and kisses on the cheek too.
Rick calls for a pod and steps in and waves bye. Alexis then calls for a pod and Kate and her step in.
"Each section is color coded. Ours is Orange, so you press the Orange section." And does so.
After exiting, "This is the Port pod travel station. From here we take a pod tagged in our color and call for one." Upon entering the pod that arrives for them. "Better hang onto me. It can be a bit frightening at first. But it is really cool." And Alexis touches the symbol for their destination.
The pod Kate notes could easily handle 5 or maybe 6 people and the walls appear to be some kind of darkened glass on all sides and the top.
Soon the pod is moving and very quickly is outside the ship in a clear tube. Since Kate can see darkness and stars in the distance. She quickly grabs a hold of Alexis and sucks in all her breath.
"We are in a sealed pod with atmosphere for hours if needed. The tube is double wall with a gas in-between that acts as a warning of a leak. It is made of the same material as the windows in the living room at home." Alexis explains.
While Kate is watching there is a sudden flash that races over her head. "What was that?"
"That was a pod in the tube above us traveling back to where we just came from. There is also a tube below us."
"How many tubes are there?" Kate asks amazed as she looks out.
"There are 6 tubes on this level and 6 more on a level far below us. With the opposite side an exact replica."
Soon the pod comes to an end and opens up in a pod transit center similar to the one they just left.
"From here we walk." Alexis tells Kate.
As they walk Kate takes in all the buildings. They are all based off of the color Orange just with slightly different shades and accent colors of various colors.
Alexis eventually walks up to a door. "Place you hand on the door mom."
Kate places her palm on the face of the door.
"Confirm Katherine Beckett. Access code 'Alexis, gamma, gamma 5697, Evergreen.'"
The door quickly clicks and pops open for them to enter. "Now all you have to do is touch the door to open it Mom."
Note to self; Check to see if the front door of Castle's house works the same way?
