Living Under Ice

Living Under Ice 10

A/N this is a second attempt to upload this chapter. I have to do so through an android app that has a mind of its own therefore sometimes you see duplicate chapters it won't let me remove, etc. Hope this goes through this time. Please vote for each chapter. Like they used to say at the Barter theater in Bristol, VA which started during the depression. "If you like what you see tell everyone. If you don't then stay quiet." Actually they said "keep your mouth shut." But that sounds somewhat rude. Maybe it wasn't when they first started saying it. If you enjoy, then Please encourage others via social media, etc to also read it. After all, it is free except for that vote at the end of each chapter. Leaving a chapter without pressing that vote button is like leaving a store with merchandice and not paying😊.

The teens first had to put on their protective gear. Each one had a back-pack for air purification. It was capable of completely recycling the carbon dioxide back into oxygen based on some schematics that Samurai had found in ship's records. Of course it required power so the technology, although similar to what the main habitat used was worthless when there was no power. Each suit could keep them comfortable for twenty four hours. The suits were surprisingly light weight with hoods that were clear, but hard. They had built-in communicators so everyone in the group could talk to each other or to home base.

The rest of the habitat was sealed away from what was in use by a thick area of ice. It would take more than a wall being removed to get to it. It would take a hallway or tunnel to get there. As it was, they were going to use the Q-T device to enter the area. There was a two meter cubed area just off the communications room where they went to be moved. The Q-T device could have moved them from anywhere, but it was an added measure of safety for it to move humans from a specified place. The first thing they were asked by Timothy, who was in communication with Samurai, was which module they wanted to enter.

"You mean there is more than one?" Talon asked incredulously.

"Of course," Timothy said. "The plan is to open up one section at a time as it is needed. We wouldn't want to open them all at once."

"Take us to the one you will open first, since that is most important to us. That will at least be opened when we are old enough to be on our own," Johan said.

"You mean after you pair up and are married," Timothy confirmed to the embarrassment of the teens. "That is the plan. The habitat that you will visit will be your future homes. Do you know yet how you will choose to pair up?"

"Embarrassing!" Tablitha exclaimed loudly and then proceeded to instruct Timothy in some of the finer points of communication with teenagers.

Timothy seemed bemused and not fully confident in how to handle similar situations in the future even after the girls tried to explain it to him.

"You are as dense as a teenage boy sometimes, Timothy" Eliza said.

"What do you mean?" Talon asked innocently before a look from his sister told him to drop the subject.

Finally they were all ready and Samurai transported them in pairs to the central area of the next habitat. They were not prepared for what they saw. It was huge. They knew that the Q.T. device was fast and that Samurai was capable of making full use of it, but they weren't prepared for the size. The central park had structural columns in it to hold up the roof, but was easily five times larger than the first one. Timothy explained that more space was needed for food production. The first habitat already had an area like this that had been completed for the first farm. It was about to be opened tomorrow and would be a place for the raising of animals and more plants. There were multiple homes, work areas and a recreation area that radiated out in hallways in three directions from three sides of the chamber. The other side would have a hallway that connected it to the central habitat.