Chapter 8
"The construction crews should be landing on Third Earth by dinner and New Thundera by lunch tomorrow. What has RoBear had to say?" Lion-O asked Tygra during their video call. The lion was in Mwende's private office using a secure line. The President of the Unified Nations of Mars had sent the security forces he'd discussed earlier to check out the locations that the scientists had come up with. It would take a few hours to get to each one so there was no word yet.
"The Berbils are willing to help and RoBear is sending some of his people to New Thundera to assist our crews. We're not going for anything crazy but for temporary purposes huts with facilities will have to do. It's a big undertaking but I think if we hope to have anything permanent by winter we'll have to split teams in order to get somewhere," the tiger explained.
"How long do we think this will take?" Lion-O was beginning to wonder if they had time to get everything in. They were in summer now but by the end of fall, that only gave them about five months to get housing together. It was a very short window for so many people.
"Well it's going to go a lot longer than the five months I figure we have. The temporary housing will allow people to move off of the ships that are coming in but right now I'm counting on people remaining in some of the ships, simply because we do not have the time nor the manpower to do what needs to be done," Tygra heaved a sigh.
"I figured as much. Between the Thundarian crews and the Berbils, how many can we give toward the effort?" The King asked.
"About a million people per planet. It's not bad but when you're building for three billion it's like a drop in the bucket," the tiger shook his head.
"Well we have about one and a half million from Mars coming to each planet. That should give us a boost but I see what you mean," Lion-O was sure that they would be able to do a lot but he could see how the numbers just wouldn't mesh. Even in working three shifts, around the clock, the housing needed would still be larger than the manpower could generate.
"We're asking people who wouldn't necessarily have tradesman kind of skills if they want to help. The workers will need to be fed, housed, and assisted with tasks that could be done by people without the technical knowledge of engineers, architects, and tradesmen. We've got a lot of people trying to help too so that's a good sign," Tygra tried to bolster his leader's confidence.
"The good peoples of New Thundera and Third Earth once again to the rescue. All right well we'll keep you in the loop. Thanks for all your hard work," the lion smiled.
"We'll keep you in the loop as well. Stay safe Lion-O. Pass my best to the others," Tygra smiled back.
"Will do," and with that the phone call ended. The King of New Thundera headed out of the room and was met by Mwende at the door.
"Things moving along?" He asked.
"They are. Though I worry about the timeline if we can't stop this earthquake machine," Lion-O said honestly.
"So do I but in times like these it is good to have new friends," the President gave him a slight smile. Lion-O opened his mouth to say something when the ground beneath their feet began to move.
To Be Continued…