Nebula by Howard Marsh Page A

forth banter all the time, and Brad was content to let B have the last word.
    Before Harry could speak, Billingsley continued, “So, now I suspect that you might enjoy a tour through Nebula Prime and then a briefing on the things that we are doing and why we need your help.”
    They began to walk toward one of the doors at the end of the landing area. It slid open as they approached, and Harry could see what looked like a long hallway with doors on each side and a large room at the end. It reminded him of a hotel corridor leading to the reception area, with guest rooms along the sides.
    “These are some of our living quarters,” Billingsley said as they walked along the corridor. “As you know by now, all of our Level-4 personnel live in either Prime, Two, or Ops. These are like small towns, with all the creature comforts that we can provide, given the unique situation that we live in. We have several nuclear power stations in each of the three, so we can provide air, water, light, and the other necessities. We can even grow a good bit of the food that we need, so we could live on our own for a long period if necessary, maybe up to a year or two.”
    When they reached the large room, Harry could see that it was in the form of a hexagon, with identical doors on each of the walls.
    “All of our undersea structures are designed with hexagonal symmetry. Our mathematicians convinced the architects that this was a good way to build, and no one has the nerve to argue with our mathematicians. The hub, as we call it, is where we are now. There are six branches, as you can see. All of them have either living quarters or offices along the walls and a large functional area at the ends. You arrived at the transportation area, which is the largest since it has to accommodate our spacecraft and our undersea vehicles. A few of them were parked near where you disembarked. The other five are central cores for meeting spaces and work spaces. You’ll get a chance to see them while you’re here or at other times when you visit.
    “Now let’s go to the conference room where we can fill you in on what we are really up to and where you fit into all of this. We went to a lot of trouble, and I suppose caused you a lot of pain, to get you here, so you’re probably curious about it, eh?”
    Harry nodded but said nothing. He was torn between still being angry and starting to accept the fact that this might not be so bad after all. He just followed along as Billingsley walked toward one of the halls, toward a moderate size chamber at the end.
    “Right, so here we are at the core of our main meeting area. This is a small core, no need for a lot of space like in the transportation area. It just connects to the six conference areas that are through the five doors. It also serves as a place where we can take breaks during long meetings.”
    They went through one of the doors, and entered a large room that continued the hexagonal design and that was obviously a conference room. It contained a conference table at one end, a large number of chairs arranged in the normal fashion, facing the conference table. A large screen display was on the wall behind the conference table, and a speaker’s lectern was to the right. Billingsley motioned Harry to a seat at the table.
    “So,” Billingsley began. “Let’s get down to the business of the war that we’re in. Would you like a cup of coffee or some water before we begin?”
    “No thanks,” Harry replied, finally breaking his silence.
    “Right, so we’ll let the good colonel start.”
    Brad remained seated as he launched into his briefing, first explaining the source of the information regarding the alien force, its strength and potential strategy for the attack.
    “We told you previously that we are able to translate a bit of the alien language. That was an understatement. We’ve had so much time to study their messages and data files, and we’ve applied so much computer power to the job that