

D.R.E.K.

A novel for the open minded

By Neil Crenner

Published by Neil Crenner @ Smashwords.com

Copyright 2013 Neil Crenner

Smashwords Edition

This electronic book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This electronic book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

D.R.E.K.

A novel for the open minded

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CONTENTS FOUND WITHIN

PROLOGUE

1ONE .Our Story Starts Here

2T00 .Drek Encounters Something New

3TRE .The Oval Speaks Tonight

4FOR .Drek Sexualizes

5FIV .Drek and Adam Depart

6XXX .San Franco Awaits

7SVN .Sun Dego Enlightens

8AYT .Antarctica Awaits

9NIN .Drek and Adam Arrive in Antarctica

-0TEN .Time to Leave

Epilogue

About the Author

Also by the Author

Acknowledgments

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D.R.E.K.

A novel for the open minded

PROLOGUE

"To wipe away the tears

No more pain, no fear

No sorrow or dying

No waiting or crying

These former things have passed away

Another life begins today"

Revelations 21:4

1ONE ~ Our Story Starts Here

1Circa 2187 A.D.

When Drek woke up he was lying next to the pool of water, his mouth was dry. It was the middle of the day and the sun was straight up in the sky. He rolled over on his stomach and cupped his hands and drew the water to his mouth. He gulped it down over and over again. It was cool to his mouth and the dryness went away. He needed to drink as much as possible as quickly as possible before the Scanners discovered him. What were the Scanners? Why did he call them that?

He drank one more time and then he heard a loud noise far off. He looked towards it and saw a cloud of smoke rise up to the sky. He knew the Scanners were close. He stood up and grabbed his pack, threw it around his shoulder and scampered towards a small hill. He needed to hide quickly in the hole. The Scanners didn't see him in the hole when he hid there before. For the past few days he had trekked out daily to this pool of water to drink. It seemed to come from a spring in the ground. It occurred to him that he wanted to discover why and how the spring was there, and then maybe one could be found near his base camp, which was outside the perimeter of the Scanners. The Scanners stopped once they came to the edge of the desert and never went into the forest. He didn't know why he felt this way but he wanted to find out.

He quickly ran to the hole and climbed in and ducked his head below the surface. He would rest here for a while since there was no way to outrun the Scanners; he had tried the first day and almost lost his life. They would hover past him and be gone. Then he would head back to his base camp. He sat there and thought of the past few days. He had not seen another like him. He had not seen another living thing. He was all alone. He couldn't remember much of anything at first and then he would have a memory and he would have all these thoughts rushing into his head all at once. He began to understand his surroundings and they were becoming more familiar. Memories came in bits and pieces on the first day, and then on the second day they were coming nonstop. He remembered everything by day three. Almost everything because he still wasn't sure what he was. That was the strangest feeling.

He heard the scanner, it stopped at the spring. Oh no, he forgot to cover his tracks, they would be scanned! Just then he heard a strange, loud noise. Water went so high that it splashed near the opening of the hole. Then he heard nothing. He waited a few moments and crawled out of the hole. He looked over towards the spring and the scanner was on the ground near the edge of the water.

He slowly and quietly walked towards the Scanner. It did not move and he walked up to it He realized it was much larger on the ground than in the air. They usually hovered out of reach and appeared to be smaller. He walked around the disc shaped thing and then he reached down and knocked on it. It was shiny on the top side and soft to the touch. It felt strange when he pushed on it with his fingers and it didn't seem to be alive. There were no apparent openings and he wondered how it scanned for things.

He lifted it up from where he stood and saw a dark spot underneath it. He wanted to take it back to his base camp but thought it might be traced back to him. It was light weight, not much lighter than it looked. The size was awkward; it was about as wide as his grip could reach with both arms outstretched. He lifted it up and sat it on his head. It was very light weight indeed. He headed back towards his Base Camp, shaded from the sun.

When he arrived at his Base Camp he saw that there must have been a visitor. He sat the Scanner down against the large log and then went to check his hut. His small hut had been disturbed. He smiled knowing that they did not find his fruit. He went behind the hut and into the woods and looked up. His fruit was still there hanging high above in the tree. Whatever it was, it didn't take his fruit. Was it searching for fruit he wondered? He went into his hut and lay down on the hammock. He was tired and wanted to sleep. It would be cooler when night came and he would eat then. He would return to the spring in the morning for more water. He closed his eyes and fell asleep and began to dream.

Drek woke with a start. He heard a noise outside. He grabbed the knife he hid in the hole of one of the hut poles and went to the door and peered out. The Scanner had lit up and was moving about. He opened the door and went to see if it was alive. It hovered just about a few feet above the ground and kept bumping into the large log. It was trying to hover in the direction of the water pool but the large log was in the way. He grabbed it and flipped it over.

It immediately went dead. He thought it must be in some sort of limp home mode. Why that thought came to him he didn't know, but he had it. He also knew that whatever made it wanted it back. He sat it down on the log and then took his knife and pried at the dark spot. The knife tip broke and that annoyed him. He pounded on the dark spot with the back of the knife. He felt around the edge and found nothing. It was as if it were one piece of material. He pushed it away from him and scowled. It slide off the log and hit the ground with a thud. It was not alive anymore.

He walked around the hut and into the woods to the large tree and untied the rope allowing it to slip thru his hand; he caught the bag suspended over the limb and untied it. He walked back to the log and pulled out a container that was white and soft, he pulled on the tab and inside was the fruit and he ate it. He enjoyed it tremendously. It tasted so fresh and he couldn't understand why. Once he opened the containers he had to eat all the fruit. If he let it sit for more than a few minutes it would immediately wilt and dry up.

He found the containers in a stream on the other side of the forest, which was almost an entire day's walk. There he found the containers floating near the edge of the stream in an eddy, spinning in circles. The first day he had swum up the stream until he came to a large hole in the rock with hard sticks in front of the hole. He didn't know where it led, but it brought him the containers. How he knew they were containers he didn't remember, but knew that they had fruit inside them. He would collect all the containers floating in the eddy and put them into his bag and then he would take a swim in the stream and cool off. Afterwards, he would trek back to his base camp.

His base camp had a sign above the door that said Base Camp. The rest of it was worn off. Drek didn't remember how he arrived here. It seemed so strange that he just happened to be here, but where was here he thought? He woke up three days ago lying on the large log in front of this hut that said Base Camp. He had no memory of what he was. He lay on the log a long time trying to remember what he was until his thirst made him get up and go look for water. He found the pond in the desert by the shimmer of the sunlight on it. He somehow knew it was water. He also found the Scanners. Upon returning to his hut that said Base Camp, he saw the rope tied to the large tree and looking up he saw the bag and untied it. Somehow he knew that the bag had fruit inside it.

The night came and it was cool and before he went to sleep he decided that he would put a large rock on top of the Scanner so that it would not try to get away in the night. He knew that it would try to return to whatever owned it. He climbed into the hammock, shut his eyes and went to sleep in the nude. He would dream about another place. A place where others like him were in a large open place that was very beautiful, with bright colors everywhere. The others laughed and talked to one another. He dreamed this nightly.

He woke up the next morning. It was once again bright and sunny. He lay there in his hammock waking up and thought about the spring and returning to it for more water. He got up and dressed. He had three outfits to wear, each a different color. He decided to wear the lightest outfit that resembled the color of the trees. It was a very comfortable one piece that he stepped into and then it would close up by itself. It kept him cool out in the desert. He went outside the hut and the Scanner had moved a little in the night, but didn't go far. He took the rock off of it and saw that the dark light had a red glow inside of it. It was alive again. He looked closely at it but couldn't imagine what it would be. He sat it back down on the log and sat the rock back on top of it. He grabbed some fruit from his bag and headed off to the spring.

It felt hotter today he thought as he trekked out onto the desert plateau. Eating his fruit and tossing the containers into the air behind him. He soon arrived at the pool of water which he believed was caused by a spring. He knelt down and cupped his hands together and drank the water. He had brought his water bag this time and filled it up. He didn't see any Scanners. He headed back to base camp.

Upon arriving he found that another had come to his hut, and this time they left something. It was a large box. Drek opened it and found it full of objects he had never seen before. There was a flat shiny piece that showed his image in it, a strange thing that had pictures of a face with hair and a face without hair. Some containers of liquid that smelt good. He found a small orb that he picked up and sat it on the shelf. It immediately began to make noise. At first Drek couldn't comprehend what it was, but as he listened to it he began to enjoy it.

There was a new larger water bag, which would hold more water than the one he had. Now he would not have to go so often to the spring. There was a strange shiny piece. He picked it up and touched it. A picture of himself was before his eyes. He was shocked. He thought when did that happen? Where did that happen? A few moments later, another picture was there of him. Younger though. He stared at the piece, another photo popped up and it was him again, with no face hair and smiling. He did not remember any of these places that he was standing at. He wondered what had happened to him that he couldn't remember these places.

He had seen his reflection in the pond when it was very still, now he had a tool to cut his facial hair. He looked at the tool that would shave his face. He opened it and looked at the photos. He pressed a button and touched his face. The hair fell from his face, it startled him. He grabbed the shiny piece and looked at his face. He tried it again. The hair fell once more. He moved the tool all over his face. He then moved it over his head and all his hair began to fall off. He moved it all over his head and around his neck. All his hair was on the ground. He looked in the shiny piece. He liked the way he looked. He felt cooler too. He went outside into the sun and his head felt warm. He didn't like that. He went back inside and looked in the box, there he found something round, and he placed it on his head and then went back outside. . It shaded his eyes from the sun.

The hat kept the sun off his head and out of his eyes, he loved it. He remembered when he brought back the scanner on top of his head; it kept him shaded and much cooler. He went back inside and touched the orb; it began to make noise once again. Now it was time to eat, he headed towards the back of the hut to get some fruit.

When Drek had finished eating the fruit from a couple of containers he thought that he might need to head back to the stream to collect more containers. That would take him half a day to get there. He heard a noise and the scanner was moving again. He went over to it and it started to hover higher. He grabbed it and pushed it down. He didn't want it trying to get back to the desert. Whatever owned it would come looking for it. He decided to take it to the stream with him and leave it there. He lifted it up and put it on his head, and headed towards the stream.

Carrying it would make the trek longer, but he had cleaned off his hair and he felt cooler. He began to head toward the stream. When he was about half way there, he heard some noise ahead of him and he decided to go around it. He stopped first and listened. It sounded like nothing he had ever heard. He knew the path and that if he went around it he could climb up on a hill and see below. When he was at the top, he sat the scanner down and looked over the edge. Down below he saw something that was not a scanner but not like him either, it had four legs. The Scanners couldn't come thru the forest because it was so dense, but this thing was walking the path that he had taking to the stream. It was very slow and there was a light flashing on top of its head. Was it looking for the scanner he had taking he wondered? He decided to leave the scanner there on the rock. He then climbed down the other side of the hill and proceeded to the stream. It was easier to walk without the scanner but now he had no shade.

He soon arrived at the stream and there in the eddy he found the containers. He put them in his bag and then took his outfit off and jumped into the stream. It was cool and he enjoyed lounging in it for a while. He stared at the sky and it was hot today. He got out and lay on a rock that was warm. His body felt cold. After drying in the sun, he redressed, grabbed his bag of containers and headed back to Base Camp.

He had forgotten about the machine he had seen and the scanner of the rock. When he arrived at Base Camp, the Scanner was there on the log. He looked around. How did it get back here he wondered? He went inside and took off his outfit. He went to the back and put his containers in the bag and hoisted it back up into the air. Afterwards he went to look at the Scanner. It was not moving and no light was on. He put the rock back on top of it and went to lie down in his hammock. He had a book he found on the shelf, I am Robot. How he knew how to read was beyond him. At first glance he didn't notice the books. Days later he wanted to pick it up and read it. He turned the pages and he knew the words. He would read until he fell asleep in the hammock.

2TWO.........Drek encounters something new

The next morning he awoke and there was a noise outside. He got up quietly and grabbed his knife. He peaked outside and saw another like himself. His back was to him. He opened the door and the other turned around.

"Oh I see you are up. How are you doing?"

He was a bit shocked by how much the man looked like him. He was wondering why they looked alike.

"Who are you? Have you come for the Scanner?"

"I am David" He held out his hand and he didn't know what he was doing.

"We call it a handshake. We do it when we meet other humans. Oh I forgot that you still are remembering after I gave you the drug. Here I brought you something"

David reaching into his pocket pulled out a small black shiny Oval thing.

"What is it?"

"It's a history book that you put inside your ear and listen to it. Pull it apart and put each side into your ear, like this" David twisted it a bit and it split in two and he stuck them in his ears. "You try" He handed it to him and mimicked what he saw David do. When he placed it inside his ear he heard a voice talking. It was very soothing. He took it back out of his ear and put it back together.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"I have come to give that to you so you can learn about whom we are and what has happened to us. Once you learn all of that then I will return and give you more info"

"That is all? Are there more like us? Are we the only ones?"

"Of course not, but you will learn about it all from that" and he pointed to the small Oval. Now I have brought you something else. He stepped aside and behind him was the strangest thing he ever seen.

"It's a solar cycle. You can move around much faster than on foot. You must only use it during the sunlight. Here try it"

He walked over to it. It was shiny like the Scanner and very odd. It had a seat and a stick and two large thick round things in the front and the back.

"This one is for off road, but be careful once you get up to 15, you will not want to go any faster. The tires are made of bamboo, no more oil to make tires and all the old ones were recycled"

"Recycled?" he asked.

"Listen to the Oval and it will explain most things. I must go now. I have another solar cycle at the edge of the desert that brought me out here. I told them I was looking for some wild flowers in the forest. I already found some and have them here"

"When will you return?"

"You see the Scanner? I can watch you with it. I had it knocked out of commission; they think it sits at the bottom of that spring in the desert. I needed a way to watch you and see how you are doing. When you want me to return, show me this and I will come back" He gave him a small chain. "Wear it around your neck so you don't lose it"

"Are you the one who brought me the box?"

"It was not I but another that I used. I needed to know how long it would take me to get here. I have been watching you thru the Scanner, which is why it hovers. Keep it in the sun so that it will stay charged. Also the Oval, place it in the sun everyday and it too will charge"

"Do we all look alike?" he asked.

"So you do notice that I resemble you. No we don't but you will find out soon enough, it's all in the Oval"

"Why are you here?"

"I told you, I came to bring this to you so you can learn about us and to help you make the trek to the stream much faster using the solar cycle"

"How do you know about the stream?"

"I am the one who sends you the containers"

"Why do you do this?"

"Well that is the only way to keep you alive and you are very important to me"

"I am, why?"

"Because you are unique and part of me. You will learn all that when you listen to the Oval"

He was so surprised by all he heard and he was glad that David had come. He was beginning to wonder so much about what he was it was.

"I will listen to it over and over again"

"I am sure you will. Are you reading the books I left you?"

"Yes, I know how to read, but don't know how I know. Some things in the book I don't understand"

"It was the drug that made you forget"

"A drug made me forget?"

"It was for your own good but never again. From now on you will never be drugged again"

"I was wondering for days what I was"

"Yeah the drug has that effect upon you. It will take some time, but you will remember more especially when you listen to the Oval. It will turn your memory back on at certain points"

"I am glad to hear that. I don't even know what I am"

"You are a human"

"Human?"

"Actually a DNA Replicated Embryonic Klone. I call you Drek"

"Drek? That is a human?"

"Yes. Your name is Drek and you are a human"

"Drek is my name and I am a human" he repeated.

You are looking healthy. Is there enough food? You are not sick ever?"

"Yes plenty of food. What is sick?"

"When your body hurts is sick"

"No my body does not hurt"

"Good to hear that"

"Now I must be going. Handshake?" David asked as he held his hand out once more.

"Yes!" Drek grabbed his hand and shook it. He felt something in David's touch that made him quiver all over. He didn't know what that feeling was.

"Okay until next time then. I will be watching you via the Scanner. Remember show me the chain around your neck when you want me to return"

"I will. I will. It was nice that you finally came. Now will I be alone again?"

"Nope, I also brought you this" There was another box that he had not noticed. David opened the box and lifted out this small thing.

"What is it?"

"This is a puppy, a very young one. I have brought you some pills. You add them to water and the puppy will drink it"

"What do I call it?"

"That is for you to decide, it is yours now"

He took the puppy. It was light like his clothes and it had the softest hair. It had floppy ears and a little tail.

"Don't worry. Soon you will think up a name for him" David said with a smile.

"Okay I will wait until I listen to the Oval and my memory comes back"

"That will be very soon after listening to the Oval"

When David started to leave, Drek felt a compulsion to hug him. David reciprocated by hugging him very tightly.

"Why did you do that?" David asked.

"I just felt compelled to do it and I let my instinct takeover"

"You are going to be fine. I must go now. I will be back to visit you again very soon. Take care of your puppy" David walked off going towards the desert.

//

3TRE ~ The Oval Speaks Tonight

He watched David disappear and then he looked at the puppy which he could hold in one hand. He looked at the bottle of white pills. They had words on them. He read them; add one pill to water 2 times per day.

Inside the box, there was a bowl and he took it out and put one pill in there and poured it full of water. The puppy drank from it like he was thirsty. He watched it and was fascinated by the little thing. He realized that puppies must drink as humans did. He was a human and his name was Drek.

He picked up the puppy and went inside. He got onto the hammock and put the puppy on his belly. He then placed the Oval into his ears and began to listen to it.

The voice said: Drek you are a cloned human. DREK is an acronym for DNA Replicated Embryonic Klone and from the humans prior to the ones of today. You were brought here to the Base Camp by me, David, a scientist who made you in a lab using the DNA Replication from another man who had been frozen right after passing away naturally. Not 100% of his DNA was used, but a good portion, he had sperm still intact and this was the most valuable part. The freezing process destroyed some of the RNA and I used my own to help with the DNA Replication. It gave the sperm life after being defrosted. I also had to use frozen eggs from a women who had never eaten from the fruit. They had been frozen a very long time. I had to use some of my RNA to help the DNA come back to life as well. That is why you look like me, because I used my RNA in both the sperm and the egg.

I grew you in a test tube for one year in my lab. You were not the only one that we were growing. Somehow you were the healthiest. I realized that you were going to be the one who would survive. I didn't know that they wanted to take you and experiment on you once you were alive. We alternated your sleep between the new mineral and the direct sunshine. You responded well to both. We also gave you the fruit.

In the past, at the beginning of the decline in births and the high mortality rate, many people were used as slaves to make babies. They ate well and lived freely, enjoying sex as much as possible to try to encourage new births. However, they could not reproduce. They were all stillborns.

Scientists at the time were puzzled. The fetuses only lived for a few weeks in the womb and then died. So after a few weeks into pregnancy, the scientists induced labor on the women while she was unconscious to take it to study it and try to find out why the fetuses died in the womb after a few weeks. The women never knew that she was pregnant. This went on for many years and the Scientists could never find out why the fetus died. After decades women stopped having a menstrual cycle. They no longer produced eggs. Their bodies had changed. Humans can no longer reproduce. So humans are nonexistent outside the cities. There are 13 cities left on the planet that house humans but the number is unknown. Three of these cities are in this hemisphere that was once called the Western Hemisphere and was once the United States of America. Allassworth, Sun Franco and Sun Dego are all that remain.

It was the year 2033. All fossil fuels had been consumed. Canada had that last remaining fuel in its Shale beds. Automobiles had become highly fuel efficient but eventually a new kind of solar power replaced all combustion engines around the world. With this technology all things ran on solar. Our atmosphere around the world began to get cleaner than before the industrial revolution in the 1880's. Soon the temperatures started rising.

At first scientists were baffled. They believed that harnessing the sun would cool us down, but actually the polluted atmosphere kept us cooler. When we cleaned up our atmosphere more of the sun's rays heated up our planet due to the prolonged degeneration from pollution. This caused the magnetic poles to diminish to the point that the earth's daily rotation slowed down to 38 hour days from 24 hour days. This took a number of years to happen.

Antarctica began to melt so fast, Florida was taken by the sea. They decided to offset the melting of the poles by directing all rain water into our south western states. No rain water was to go back into the oceans. They did this all over the planet. They built walls around the cities to keep the threat of flooding away. The atmosphere was unstable and mega storms would form and flood areas quickly.

When the Antarctica began to melt scientists were sent there by the Corporation to excavate the first mountain range. What they found changed the world. A new mineral was found that could make plants grow ten times faster.

At first they thought it was useless. Then by accident discovered how it worked. They sifted the mineral and isolated it from all other minerals. They put it between two pieces of glass and then covered a plant with it. The plant grew so fast it absorbed all the water in the soil. So then they went to hydroponics. The plants thrived using this method and they grew a plant in seven days.

It was then experimented with fruits and vegetables. They had a garden of beautiful plants within ten days. They were going to feed the world with these plants. They had to invent a new container for the fruits and vegetables that protected it from the sun's rays. If left out of the container it would dry up super fast when exposed to the sun's rays.

People loved the way these fruits and vegetables tasted and the world began to become a vegetarian society. Then the world changed again. They discovered a fruit that was native to the Antarctica that tasted like a plum. When people began to eat this particular fruit grown under the mineral they began to live longer and diseases began to disappear. First AIDS disappeared, then cancer. All diseases began to vanish. People were living longer and healthier lives. The first drawback was that people needed to sleep 13 to 15 hours per day. This seemed perfect since the night had become around 19 hours.

Then there was another change. More and more still births were being reported. Many peopled vowed not to eat the new fruits and vegetables, but they lost out. So for the past 150 years no children have been born on earth. People were living much longer; most only died from an accident. People stopped caring about having children since theirs aged very slowly once they began to eat the fruit from Antarctica.

It is now 2187. People have forgotten about procreating. Seniors began to age backwards to the point of looking like 15 year olds. It was the fountain of youth. Hospitals and nursing homes became hotels and studio apartments for awhile. All wars ended and peace was found everywhere. People who were blind could see, the deaf hear and mental disorders disappeared. All the drug companies collapsed. Funeral homes closed down. Drugs and alcohol were no longer consumed because the people didn't desire them. Smoking faded into the past as well.

People were also more at ease with their sexuality. It's as though everyone became bisexual. They would have sex with both male and female, it didn't matter.

Children grew at a much slower age. The education system had to be changed. They only went to school for one month a year. Soon they didn't care about education anymore. Something was changing in their minds.

The last drawback was that both adults and children eating the fruit were highly susceptible to the sun's rays and could burn easily in a matter of minutes. Special clothes were designed and creams created to protect them, because once damaged by the sun it was irreversible.

Animals began to become extinct as well as all marine life due to the global warming, the atmospheric changes, and the flooding. Only a few cats and dogs survived that were fed the fruit in an experiment devised by the Corporation. When they were fully on the fruit they lived longer as well but they could not reproduce anymore either.

In your case the mineral helped you grow ten times faster, and in three years you grew to be an adult. That is why you have a limited amount of memories. But as you grew up in my lab I taught you and you learned quickly. You will not age anymore and how long you will live I am not sure.

I am planning to grow a female in the lab that you and she might be able to conceive. That is still unknown. We used all the 13 frozen eggs we had and I used some other scientist's RNA on those test tube babies. None of them survived. You are the only one, the last one. I told the Corporation that you died one day after the others and they never questioned me. I knew you were going to live but I had to burn up something that resembled you in the furnace. The Corporation didn't want your remains to be saved.

You grew so quickly that I told the Corporation you were my new assistant, because at one point you went from being a child to an adult. I was truly amazed at your growth rate. You were very good in reading and remembering. You spoke quietly and you when you read you listened to classical music. Drek remember the small object in the box? That plays classical music. You never questioned me about who you were or why you were here. I thoroughly enjoyed raising you for three years.

Then it came time to see how you would do outside the city. I found this place, the Base Camp on an old map and came out here and scouted it out. I brought you here one day and told you that you would live here for a while. I wanted to see how you would do with all your skills. However, I gave you this drug that turns your memory off for a short time. Although it is only for a short time, it has a residual effect and it is different in all people.

You will start remembering all the things that I taught you. You will live here for three years while I grow a female test tube baby. I found one last frozen couple who died naturally, the Corporation doesn't know about my project. I will use another's RNA instead of mine if need be. In the mean time, I will check up on you and give you everything you need to live a safe life. I will try to visit you as often as I can. The Corporation has become lacks in its mission to make humans procreate. You can read all you want to fill your time. I will bring you more books but the Oval also has books on it, but you can't read those, just listen to them. Speak to the Oval and it will give you instruction.

I want you to be the new Adam and Eve, so ask the Oval to find the Bible, an ancient text that the first humans followed and believed in. Listen to it.

In the next day or so you will begin to remember your entire three years on this planet. I hope that it will not be overwhelming. I feel like you are my son, but also my friend. You have me in you. The next time I come out and you've listened to this, there is about 150 hours of information on here, I will bring you a solar talkie that you can call me up on and talk with me. I will try to stay longer next time. I didn't want my first visit to be overwhelming to you. I knew that you had found the box when you came out shaved and wearing nothing but the hat.

Just then the puppy began to stir. Drek rubbed its head and it went back to sleep. The voice continued. Are you wondering about the puppy? Yes that was my first experiment and I made two dogs, male and female and grew them in the lab. Once they were adults they mated and had a litter of nine. That is Sheba's eighth pregnancy. The Corporation was so impressed and excited about my experiment they instructed me to make a human in my lab and supplied me with the frozen bodies of the first humans. I was not sure that trying to make 13 test tube babies at once was possible but I am glad that you survived; the only one.

You see somehow when we made the dogs using DNA Replication from frozen dogs from before the fruit eating dogs, they were able to reproduce. These puppies also do not age very quickly so he will be a puppy for a long time. You will find him to be great company.

Now back to you. If I can grow another female like yourself, then maybe when you mate you will be able to reproduce and humans will carry on. Eventually all humans will die if we do not solve this problem.

The voice continued. By the year 2025, there had been so many wars around the globe and then China's collapse when there was the Great Revolution, it soon became a third world country once again. The world population had shrunk from 9 billion to just 5 billion people worldwide. That was due to a shortage of food and so many diseases that were being spread too quickly. When they discovered the fruit and how it stopped people from being sick and dying, then people accepted the fact that women were not reproducing. They didn't want to go back to a world with 9 billion people again.

I was asked by the Corporation if I could try to create the dogs first and then humans. I want to make you a mate so that you can start the human race again. This will be your role. Once you create enough new children, they can grow up and reproduce. You have your puppy in the mean time. Listen to the books on the Oval and enjoy yourself.

All people alive today live like you do. They sleep 13 to 15 hours, and are awake eating, sexualizing and playing the rest of the time. Humans have no ambition but to do these things. All progress has deteriorated and if not for the creation of simplified robots in 2027, all humans might be lost due to this lack of ambition. At that Drek took the Oval halves out of his ear and put it back together.

He gently got up and put his puppy in the box David gave him and then sat the Oval on his shelf and laid back down on the hammock. He fell asleep.

Drek dreamt he was in a dark pool of water and there were ships around him. He wasn't afraid of the dark water. It was not daytime, but somehow there was light and he could see the dock, a small wooden one. He swam over to it and then he saw this huge creature come up and swallow the ships. He jumped out of the water and ran down the dock until he was far from the water. He turned and saw the creature swim away. Was it some prehistoric reptile? Where did it come from? He woke up. He heard the puppy crying. He got up and fed him the pill and water, the puppy drank up all the liquid. He was an adorable little thing. He picked it up and got back into the hammock and put the Oval halves into his ears. The puppy loved lying on his belly and soon fell asleep again. The voice started and he was listening to the news of when they first discovered the mineral in the Antarctica. It was news that was heard around the planet.

Another voice began speaking. 5 million people on the earth, the world was starving and war raged everywhere. All trade had been stopped due to the spread of diseases. The United States of America had absorbed Mexico and most of Central America. Canada was by all definitions absorbed as well. The Panama Canal became a barrier from South America. There they had erased all of the rain forest and disease was rampant. People were no longer open to helping people out.

Humans had become survivalists. The diseases of the world were too hard to control. It was so much easier for humans to allow the diseased to die with the hope that the disease would die with them.

Drugs like antibiotics became useless to the resistance of so many years of using them. People didn't want to go to the hospitals for fear of contracting a fatal virus. People had started growing their own gardens on their roofs, safer up there to grow it because of thieves. That all started with people collecting rainwater. Wells had been drilled very cheaply at first. Fracking was considered the dirge of our society, and those areas where they had done it were destroyed by quakes and flooding.

When the Corporation first discovered the mineral, now named Biochrome, they thought it to be useless. It seemed to glow opaque in the sun. It was just by chance that in the lab there was a scientist, who was studying and growing plants from seeds. He had bought them on the black market and they were organic non GMO Mustard seeds. He had them in one storage area that had a window in it. A solar window they called it. He had set them in one of the specimen trays and it looked like very small piles of soil.

The mineral, named Biochrome, had somehow been placed above of the seeds. The next morning when that scientist came to gather the seeds, they had not only sprouted but grew so quickly they absorbed all the water from the soil and died. He immediately notified the rest of the scientists and so they started experimenting.

That is the beginning of life on earth as we know it. Within one year the food was being grown and consumed on a mammoth scale. The Antarctica mountain range was practically excavated to sea level. Once this happened, they had to build a wall around it so they could dig deeper. The United States of America sent their military down there to protect it and the United Nations made a pack with the Corporation to buy the mineral at 1,000 euro's per kilo. They thought it outrageous and threatened to go to war over it.

The US military surrounded the Antarctica 24 hours a day for the next 15 years. We were the only ones with nuclear weaponry and that was due to us disabling all countries from making any nuclear weapons. People were still growing their own old vegetables, but there was a phenomenon beginning to happen to people who ate the fruit discovered in Antarctica. They were becoming immune to diseases.

Once this was known, the very rich got together and bought up the Corporation. It was more of a coup then a buyout. It was rumored that they hired special retired military to come in there and take over the company. They were heavily armed and had a place in Montana, guarded 24 hours per day. These were the top 13 richest men in the world. They became the Corporation. They set the price for the mineral 13 times higher. Our government caved in and continued to protect them from the world which was beginning to riot over the mineral and there was civil war in every country where the mineral was being sold. The population is less than one billion people at this time.

After 15 years, the contracts expired and the Corporation refused to sell the mineral anymore. They claimed to have run out of it. They allow reporters with cameras to come into the walls that surrounded the Antarctica and showed the world that they had hit a super massive slab of the mineral that had hardened and was over 5 meters thick. They were trying to drill thru it to see if any of the mineral could be loosened. They failed to do that thus far. The slab of Biochrome was extremely hard and tougher than diamonds. So now there was only so much food that could be grown with what they had.

The people who ate the fruit from the Antarctica were continually becoming healthier and younger. Soon those who had first refused to eat it were run out of the cities and left to scavenge for themselves. Great walls were built around the cities and mesh UV filters covered them. The Scanners were built and placed outside the perimeter to protect the city walls and killed anything that moved. Man or beast. This lead to even a greater decrease in the population and if you were not already one of the first, then it was too late. Millions outside the cities died from starvation. The fruit somehow not only made humans younger and disease free, it made them content and ambitionless. People became apathetic and didn't care about the rest of the world. As long as they had their fruit, that is all they cared about.

At first people sold all their belongings and moved to large communal areas where they pooled together all their monies and would buy the fruit together. It was a new way of living. People didn't care about material possessions any more. It was as if they were so content with the fruit and sleep. Sleep became everyone's favorite hobby.

Technology had gotten to a point where it was as small as possible and used solar energy for its power. People seemed to forget about having phones, TV's and even automobiles. Survival was no longer an issue, but the collective mind set was not to be individuals but be a communal world. Even the owners of the Corporation soon discovered that money was no longer useful.

Now the fruit is grown and given out freely to whoever wants it. Work is done by robots. Cities are more like stadiums. People wake up every day and eat and visit all together. They don't need much entertainment to keep them happy.

They are continually happy and content. Mankind has never known such peace and tranquility. How long shall man last in this state without procreating is what the Corporation is asking themselves?

Drek took the Oval out of his ears and thought about himself and his puppy, he was the key to mankind's future, if and when he had a mate to procreate. He got up and wanted some fruit. He went outside to get it and thought about how lifeless and none adventurous he was ever since waking up that day next to the pond. He had no thoughts of exploring or finding out if others were about. All he did was lounge around, sleep and eat, just as David spoke of. He was no different than all the rest of the humans. Or was he?

He knew something was amiss because when David was leaving he felt such an urge to grab him and hold him and not let go. He wanted to know more, about his past and the photos of himself but then he remembered they were of David not him. He was only 3 years old in all reality. He needed to make his own memories. He got the bag down and pulled out some containers.

He sat on the log and ate the fruit. The puppy was crying again. He went inside and brought it out and sat it on the log next to him. It stopped crying. He knew inside that he wanted something more than just what he had been doing. When he listened to the history from the Oval, it made him feel something inside. He couldn't just be some human that sat all day feeding his face and sleeping his life away. He put the Oval into his ears and began to listen once again.

The voice began to speak. When global warming started, the magnetic poles were affected dramatically. They actually began to diminish very rapidly. When this happened our rotation started to slow down until a day was 37 hours long. Our moon had slowed down as well. This caused the tides to become less and less. The oceans heated up and the smallest marine life began to die off, the beginning of the food chain. When they began to die off, the marine life that ate them began to die off. It caused a domino effect.

Before going completely extinct many animals' species were frozen and are stored in underground facilities with the hope that one day we can unfreeze them and reproduce them in the lab. Those facilities rely on solar energy to power them and keep the specimens frozen for future use.

Drek took the Oval out of his ear, picked up the puppy and went inside his hut and lay on his hammock and went to sleep.

4For ~ Drek encounters Adam

The next morning he heard a noise and it startled him. He jumped out of the hammock and ran to see what was outside. He couldn't see any one or thing. He went outside and looked around. He heard another noise. He walked around the hut and towards the back into the woods. He looked up at his fruit and it was still there. He turned and began to walk back. Then he glimpsed a movement in the deep brush. He yelled out, "Hey there" No answer. He started to walk towards the brush. "Is anyone there?"

"It is I Adam. I am from the city and I am lost and hungry. Do you have some fruit?"

"Come out where I can see you Adam"

"I can't come out into direct sunlight. It will burn me"

"What are you doing outside the city?"

"Please I am so hungry. I need some fruit"

"Okay, okay. I will get some for you" Drek went to the rope and untied it and let the fruit fall down. He took a couple of the containers and took them to the bushes where a hand reached out and grabbed it. He then went into his hut and picked one of his outfits and his hat and returned to Adam who had eaten both containers.

"Was that enough?"

"Oh yes. I am feeling so much better now"

"Here take these and put them on. This you stand into and it will close up by itself. Then take the hat and place it on your head like this" Drek showed Adam. He handed them to him thru the brush.

After a few minutes Adam slowly began to come out of the brush. "Are you sure this will protect me from the sun?"

"Yes I am sure of it. Now come out here" Adam stepped completely out of the brush and stood there in front of Drek. Drek was amazed. Adam looked so different than him. He had brown hair, hazel eyes and dark skin. He was shorter but much bigger and wider than himself. The suit barely fit him in the arms, chest and legs. He was bulging out of it but the suit somehow fit itself around his bulky body.

"Now follow me Adam" Drek went around the hut and sat on the large log, Adam followed him. "Have a seat"

"Oh finally a nice place to sit down, I don't care to sit on the ground" Adam climbed up on the large log.

"Did you just say you don't care?"

"Yes I did. Why do you ask?"

"Because I thought that all the humans were complacent"

"Well I am immune to the complacency of the fruit. So I do care about things"

"Wow, well I am so glad to have met you. Are you comfortable?"

"Yes I am now. I am very content now" Drek wanted to know more about Adam. He was excited that there was another human who felt like he did.

"So tell me why did you leave the city Adam?"

"Well I know that my father was an immune and he was not affected by the complacency of the fruit. He worked for Corporate who asked him to go to Sun Franco, to work in their lab there. He said it would only be there for a short while, a few months"

"So he went?"

"Yes eagerly. He had spoken to me the night before he left. He told me to always try to seek out new things and be adventuresome and not be complacent. That is why I wanted to venture out of the city. I wanted to see what was out here and if I could walk to Sun Franco"

"But when you left the city you found out that the sun would burn you?"

"Yes. I didn't want to believe that it would but when dawn came I had to hide from the sun in the day and could only be out at night. I was afraid that I would be burned and die and I wanted to return to the city but I got lost in the forest since I could only walk at night under the moonlight"

"You found me by accident then?"

"I found a path and began to follow it. When the dawn came I hid in the brush and fell asleep. I woke up and was hungry for fruit and I saw your hut"

"How long have you been out of the city?"

"I think three moons now"

"That is a long time without fruit"

"I had brought my own fruit but I ate it all in two days"

"You would have died out here if you had not found my hut"

"I am so thankful to you and I love this robe. Why don't I burn from the sun?"

"It's not a robe but an outfit. It is made to protect you from the sun"

"I never thought about that before. We only wear silk robes in the city. I have never seen robes like this" Adam exclaimed. "I mean an outfit"

Drek paused a moment and then ask him, "Why are you so big?"

"I like to climb and run and explore and my muscles grow naturally larger but I don't know why"

"So your father has not returned?"

"That has been many moons ago. I am not even sure how long he has been gone"

"I see. So you want to go find him? Do you think something bad has happened to him?"

"That I don't know. I wish that I could talk to him"

"The man who created me in the lab, he may know your father. He too is immune to the fruit and does research to try to have humans procreate once again"

"Who is this man? How do we talk to him?"

"You see the Scanner over there?"

"Is that what you call them?"

"Yes. He has made it to watch me and watch my progress being out here"

"We can talk to him then?"

"Yes we can try"

"Let's do it now"

"Okay" Drek got up and walked over to the Scanner. He waved at it. Saw the light turn on and then it glowed. "Come here. I want him to see you. That you are here"

Adam came over to the Scanner and stood next to Drek. He put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.

"Hello" Drek said to the Scanner. No response.

"Maybe he is not there"

"Hello I want to talk with you"

No response. "We shall have to wait then" They went and sat back down on the log and Drek asked Adam more questions about the city. Adam described it in great detail and the people and what they did all day. Drek felt like he didn't belonged there.

"I want to see inside the city. I used to live there with David" Drek finally exclaimed.

"So how long have you lived here?"

"I am not sure, but I think the city would be nicer"

"It's complacent and boring. Now tell me more about yourself"

Drek told him all of what had happened since he had found himself by the pond. He told him about David and how he had been made in a test tube in his lab. He tried to explain it to Adam, but that was not getting thru to him.

"Let's go to the stream"

"I want to wait till dark unless it's under the shade"

"I have never been there in the dark. We can wait. Oh the solar cycle won't work in the dark"

"What is a solar cycle?"

"David brought it for me and I can ride on it to the stream and it is very fast but it only runs in the sunlight"

"Well let's go just before dark"

"But then we will have to spend the night there"

"Tomorrow we can go and try to find a place in the shade"

Just then he heard the Scanner make a noise. Drek jumped up. "It's David, he is here now"

They both walked over to the Scanner which was floating in the air just above them.

"Drek, I told you to wave the necklace in front of the Scanner when you wanted me"

"Oh I forgot about it. I will remember next time. I have a new friend, Adam, he has come from the city and he is immune to the fruit"

"How immune is he?"

"He said he detests sitting on the ground"

"Well I believe it then. How about the sun, has he burned?"

"Not yet, he has stayed hidden in the shade during the day and only walked around at night"

"Where is he?"

Adam was standing behind Drek and leaned to one side.

"Hello David. I am Adam"

"Hello Adam. What are you doing out there?"

"I am searching for my father"

"Who is your father?"

"He is a scientist, his name is Joe. He works for the Corporation"

"Where is your father now?"

"The Corporation sent him to Sun Franco to work for a few months"

"He has not returned?"

"It has been many moons and he has not returned and I have not talked to him since he left Allassworth"

"I wish that I could help you, but since visiting Drek out here, I believe I am being watched more closely. I will try to be out there in two moons"

"Who is watching you?"

"The Corporation is watching me. They wanted me to help them with" David paused. He didn't finish the sentence.

"Want your help with what? Like how they wanted my father's help?"

"Yes, but for something else entirely different"

Drek chimed in, "So we will see you in two moons?"

"Yes, at early dawn" The Scanner went dark and slowly floated down and sat upon the log.

"What do you think David was talking about?"

"About procreation and he doesn't know that I told you about it. What do you think your dad was working on?"

"I don't know, he never talked about it to me"

4FOR ~ Drek Sexualizes

"So do you want to go to the stream?"

"Yes we have two moons before David comes"

They got onto the solar cycle and headed towards the stream. Adam held onto Drek tightly as they rode. Drek felt comfort from this. When they arrived, they stopped near the bank and got off. Up the stream there were trees that grew over the stream. Let's go there to swim in the shade. When they stripped their suits off, Drek noticed Adam's body was different than his. It gave him a strange feeling inside. He liked the way he looked. Adam jumped into the water first and swam out to the middle.

"Are you coming?"

Drek quickly jumped in and swam after him. The current was gentle and the water was cool and refreshing.

"How did you know how to swim?"

"I just walked into the water and started swimming"

They swam to the other side where there were large flat rocks at the edge of the stream. Adam climbed out of the water and laid down on one. Drek watched, staring at Adam's body that didn't look like his.

"I wish that I could lie in the sun"

"You'll burn"

"In the city I swam all the time and laid in the sun"

"But the filter protected you"

"Yes it did" he answered.

Drek stared.

"I am cold here in the shade. Hold me"

"Hold you?"

"Come here and lay next to me. Your body will warm me up" Drek climbed out of the water and lay next to Adam. Adam pulled him next to his body. Drek felt Adam's skin up against his and a strange sensation arose from the flesh between his legs. Adam had his eyes closed and his arm under Drek's neck. As they lay there Drek began to feel his flesh grow harder. He looked at it and it was standing up. Adam opened his eyes and they gleamed. He pulled Drek's head close to his. Drek was wondering what Adam was doing. He then felt Adam's lips on his lips. Adam turned on his side and was lying almost on top of him, his hand on his flesh, rubbing it gently. Drek then felt something warm in his mouth. He pulled away, but Adam's hand pushed him back to his lips and his mouth was full again. His flesh felt harder and his mouth was wetter. He moved his tongue against Adam's. It was exciting to him. His heart was racing. He had never felt this feeling before. They continued to kiss for a while and then Adam slowly moved down Drek's chin to his neck and his lips touch him softly. Drek put his head back and enjoyed this feeling. Adam moved down to Drek's flesh and engulfed it with his mouth, sucking on it. Drek couldn't believe how good it felt. The warmth of Adam's mouth and tongue on his flesh. It made his body jerk involuntarily. He loved it. Soon his body jerked again and he felt a beautiful sensation in his whole body. He lay back down, breathing in and out. His eyes closed. Adam came back up to him and kissed him softly on the lips. He spoke into his ear.

"Did you like that?"

"Yes I did. What were we doing?"

"We were sexualizing"

Drek's mind flashed back to the Oval and what he had heard on it. He had never sexualized before and now he understood why humans did it so often. He had never had such a feeling. All over his body he felt limp. Adam lay on top of him and they fell asleep.

Drek woke up and Adam was still on top of him. He said Adam's name softly. Adam woke up and rolled off of him.

"I think we need to head back to Base Camp. It's getting late"

"That nap felt so good"

"Yes. Sexualizing made me sleepy"

"It often does"

They swam back to the other side and dressed. The sun was still high in the sky. They took the solar cycle back to Base Camp and ate some fruit.

"We forgot to get more fruit" Drek exclaimed.

"Is that where you get your fruit from, the stream?"

"Yes, David sends it to me from the city"

"We can go back tomorrow and check that hole you mentioned?"

"It has hard sticks in front of it that you can't pass thru"

"We can go back tomorrow and check it out"

"We have plenty for today" Drek said with a smile. They went inside the hut and Drek fed the puppy. Adam had never seen a puppy before and it fascinated him. After the puppy finished lapping up the milk, Adam picked it up and sat on Drek's hammock.

"What do you call your puppy?"

"I haven't named him yet. I haven't thought of one. What should I call him?"

"I would call him Ince"

"Ince?"

"Yes he is so small and cute"

"Okay then, I will call him Ince"

"Is this where you sleep?"

"Yes and it's big enough for the both of us"

"I hope so; I don't want to sleep on the floor"

"Let's listen to the Oval" Drek suggested. He took it off the shelf and twisted it apart. He put one piece in Adam's ear and the other in his.

"Now lay back and get ready to learn" Drek instructed as he crawled onto the hammock and lay next to Adam. They lay there together and listened for a couple hours to a novel entitled, Fahrenheit 451, Part One: The Hearth and the Salamander. Both of them were amazed at such a world that was so different than the one they lived in. When they were finished, they laid there for a while in silence.

"Why would humans burn books?" Adam finally asked.

"Because it made them think about things that were a threat to the government"

"Now we don't have a government, just the Corporation. No one even reads books except us, and we are just listening to them"

"Did you not enjoy listening to it?"

"Yes I did. I enjoyed lying next to you too"

"You are good company. Even more than Ince" Adam laughed at this. They got up and undressed and lay back down on the hammock facing each other. Adam reached his arms around Drek and pulled him closer.

"I will sleep well tonight"

"Why, because of me?"

"Yes, in the morning you will understand" Soon they both feel to sleep. Drek began to dream.

The next morning Drek woke and Adam was still sleeping, his back was towards him. He moved closer to Adam and put his arm around him and felt his muscles. He had hair on his chest and belly which was soft to the touch. He kissed Adam's neck softly and it tasted sweet. He did this for a while and then Adam woke up. He turned towards him and they began to kiss each other with their tongues. Drek loved the feeling and he didn't want to stop. His flesh grew harder and he pressed it up against Adam's hard flesh.

Adam eventually stopped and turned on his back and asked Drek to engulf it. Drek moved down towards his flesh and mimicked what he saw Adam do the day before. He like the feeling in his mouth of Adam's flesh, it filled his entire mouth. He moved up and down on it as Adam began to jerk his body wildly. Then he felt something warm in his mouth, it tasted sweet. He swallowed it. Adam guided him back up to his face and kissed him gently on the lips.

"Did you like that?"

"Yes, what was wet in my mouth?"

"That is the gift of life"

"Is that procreation?"

"No Drek, only a female can procreate. She takes our gift of life and uses it to procreate"

"How do you know this?"

"My father explained it to me"

"What is a female?"

"She is like us but her flesh is inward, inside of her and she takes our flesh inside of her to accept the gift of life"

"Then she procreates?"

"She does, but shortly after" Adam stopped. He didn't know how to answer.

"The fetus dies and is a stillborn"

"How do you know about that Drek?"

"I listened to the Oval and it told me"

"Ask it to tell you about the female gender next time"

"I will. I would like to find out more about this female gender"

"The only difference between us is our flesh. Ours is out and females are in"

"No other difference?"

"None that I can see"

"When we were listening to the Fahrenheit 451, the males and females had more differences to them. The way they looked, dressed and acted"

"That was a long time ago. Humans don't act that way anymore. We are more the same than we are different now"

"How do you know this?"

"I have lived with them in the city all my life. I see how closely we look alike from the neck down. Our faces are all different. Our eyes are different colors. Our hair is different colors. Our bodies are basically the same. Some are taller than others or larger than others as well"

"Not all of them are big like you?"

"No, most of them are very thin and small. They don't use their bodies very much so their muscles are small"

"Why don't they use their bodies like you do?"

"The fruit takes away all ambition for them except pleasuring themselves with one another"

"Like what we did earlier?"

"Yes. Do you want to do it again?"

"Yes me this time. So why do we kiss?"

"It naturally stimulates our flesh to get ready"

"It does do that"

"Quiet now and kiss me Drek" They began to kiss once again.

Drek pulled away and asked, "Why do you call it kiss?"

"Because that's what it's called. Now kiss me"

They sexualized each other many times that day and then fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning Drek woke up and Adam was not in the hammock. He got up and Ince was not in her box. He went outside and there on the log, Adam sat with Ince. He was talking and caressing him.

"Good morning" Adam said as Drek came out.

"Good morning?"

"Yes that's how we great each other"

"Where did you learn that?"

"I heard it in the novel. They said that to each other. Do you not remember?"

"Yes I do. Good morning," Drek quipped. "I see that you like Ince"

"He is adorable. He's so small and cute and soft. I like to rub his fur"

"Why do you like to do that?"

"It is pleasurable to me. Is it not to you?"

"Yes it is, but you do it different than me"

"We are all different Drek; none of us are the same. Here have some fruit" Adam stretched out his hand towards Drek. Drek came and picked it up and began to eat it.

"What do you think is in the pills you give to Ince here?"

"I thought it was the fruit"

"I don't see how they get the fruit so small. Those pills are not the same size as our fruit here"

"I don't know. We should ask David when he comes. He will be here tomorrow"

"I hope so"

"I see you have on my hat"

"As long as I am outside the city, I need to wear it. It is mine for now"

"Yes, yes you do. I am sure David will bring me another one"

"Shall we go to the stream after this?"

"Sure I want to see the hole. It might be a way back into the city"

"When you left the city, how did you get out?"

"Let's go to the stream and I will tell you on the way" They put the puppy back into its box and headed off to the stream.

"My father told me about these tunnels that were under the city. They have not been used in many years. They were used to remove human waste"

"What is that?"

"Before we started eating the fruit, everything that we ate and drank came out of our bodies changed. It was waste. They used the tunnels to take it away"

"Where did things come out of our bodies?"

"That I am not sure, ask the oval sometime. Now my father told me that the tunnels led outside the city. So after that I found a hole in the ground that was covered with something very heavy. It was very hard. I got it up and off and climbed down into the tunnel. I began to explore it. I spent many hours down there"

"What did you do?"

"I just walked most of it and when I came to a wall, I turned back and tried another tunnel. It goes on for a long ways"

"No one uses these tunnels?"

"I never saw anyone down there"

"So you think the tunnel at the stream is one of these tunnels?"

"I hope so"

They arrived at the stream and Drek pointed upstream where the opening of the tunnel was. Adam waded into the water with his suit and hat on and Drek followed. They approached the opening and Adam saw the fruit.

"Look fruit!"

"Yes gather it up. Here is my bag" Drek opened his bag and Adam put them in it.

"I see these sticks are very hard. Like the cover over the hole I found. They are strong too"

Adam looked around and saw a large rock on the shore. He went over to it and picked it up. He brought it to the hole and began to slam it against the sticks. A loud noise came from him doing this.

"Stop! Stop! It's loud"

"I need to see if we can break the sticks. I can't stop pounding yet" After a while of this he stopped.

"I am tired. Give me some fruit"

Drek opened one of the fruits and handed it to Adam. Their hands rubbed up against each other and Drek felt his flesh move. He wondered why it did that. He wasn't kissing Adam just touching his hand.

Adam ate the fruit and then after another short pause, he started pounding on the sticks. After a while of this, he noticed than one was breaking. Then another one was breaking. He kept pounding on them with the rock. He paused when he broke one more.

"This will take all day. You have only broken four of the sticks. There are five more"

"We don't have anything else to do so let me try some more pounding"

Drek shrugged his shoulders and then swam out into the center of the stream. He stared at Adam who kept pounding. Finally, all nine sticks were broken.

"Come here. I have broken all of the sticks"

Drek swam over to Adam and helped him push the sticks into the stream.

"So now what do we do?"

"Should we go see where it goes?"

"After you" Drek said and leaned over and kissed Adam.

"Why did you do that? Do you want to sexualize?"

"I did it because I had an urge to do it, but I don't want to sexualize" Drek answered.

Adam looked at him funny and then climbed into the tunnel. It was tall enough for Adam, but Drek had to bend over a little. They started wading thru and walked for a long time until it got very dark.

"Adam it's getting too dark, we can't see"

"We need a torch"

"What's that?"

"Something that burns and we can see in the dark. Maybe David can bring us one"

"Shall we tell him too?"

"We can try; they turned around and headed back to the opening. They climbed over the sticks and into the stream. It was refreshing. The tunnel was hot and their skin warm.

"Let's relax a little, maybe take a nap in the shade nude"

"Okay. I am sure you're tired"

They swam to the shaded area and climbed onto the flat rocks. Adam stripped off his suit and rolled it up making it a pillow. He lay down and patted the rock next to him. "Lay here" Drek mimicked Adam and lay down next to him.

"I like to be by the water"

"Why?"

"It's relaxing and helps me sleep. I am tired from pound on those hard sticks"

"That was a long time. Lay there and sleep a little" They both fell asleep for a few hours.

When they woke it was almost near dusk.

"Adam we need to go. It will be dark soon" They jumped up and dressed and swam to the solar cycle and headed back to the Base Camp. Right as the sun was sitting they arrived.

"David told me not to go over 15, but with you it made it more stable"

"Oh it did. I am a little sore from it"

"You will get used to it. Now let's eat and then listen to a book on the Oval in the hammock"

"I might go to sleep"

"If you sleep that is fine. You wore yourself out pounding today"

"My muscles feel bigger"

"They look bigger"

They ate the fruit, fed the puppy and lay down together and listened to the second part of Fahrenheit 451. They turned off the Oval and fell asleep in each other's arms.

//

//

//

//

5FIV ~ Drek and Adam depart

The next morning Drek awoke to hear David's voice. He squeezed Adam tightly and then whispered in his ear. "David is here. Wake up Adam"

He got dressed and went out to meet David.

"Hey Drek" David said with a smile and handshake. Drek grabbed him and hugged him tightly.

"Good morning" Drek responded.

"Wow that's new"

"We were listening to Fahrenheit 451 on the Oval"

"I see. You are learning then just by listening"

"Adam is too. He should be up by now"

"I was just going to ask you about him" David replied.

"Let me go see if he is awake" Drek went back into the hut and Adam was dressing. He walked up to him and kissed him softly.

"Why did you do that?"

"I wanted to and so I did. Come David is waiting"

"I need my hat" They went outside.

"Good morning David" Adam said.

"Good morning to you Adam"

Adam was surprised at how much Drek and David looked like each other.

"So Adam, I was trying to find out more about your father, which can be difficult since only Corporate has any information about his whereabouts. He did go to Sun Franco like you said and that's basically all I found out"

"So we don't know anything more" Adam said solemnly.

"I have brought you two solar gliders that you can use to fly to Sun Franco and search for your father"

"Is it like the solar cycle?" Drek asked.

"Yes but you are up in the air and not on the ground. These are also solar powered so you can only fly by day"

David went to the glider and pulled out a small pack. "Here, I brought these for you. Pack up what clothes you have in there and anything else you feel you need" He tossed the packs to both Drek and Adam. They looked at them at first. "Let me show you" David insisted. He went into the hut and grabbed the clothes that hung on the hook. He brought them out and laid them on the log. He took each one and folded it neatly and placed it in the pack. When he was finished, he showed them how to seal it. There were too seals. They both looked and smiled at David.

"But I don't have any clothes"

"Here, I brought you some" David went back to the glider and opened another small compartment. He pulled out a very small pack. "Inside here are 3 suits. I believe they will fit you"

Adam looked at Drek and said, "He does surprise"

Drek nodded, "I told you he would do that" They both laughed.

Adam took the pack and went inside the hut. He stripped off Drek's suit and put on one from the pack. This suit fit him better and was not so tight around his muscles. He went back outside the hut.

"They will keep your body temperature constant and protect you from the sun as well"

"I see. They feel good too" Adam exclaimed.

"I thought you might like them. So now for a lesson on flying" David began to explain to them both how flight occurred and the mechanics behind it. After going over it with them for awhile he let one of them climb on and practice.

Adam climbed on his glider and pressed his hand on the handle. It began to hum and it lifted off the ground. He was surprised at the feeling it gave him.

"Now turn the handle forward slowly and you will begin to move forward" Adam did this and the glider jolted forward. Adam let go and it immediately stopped.

"You'll get used to it soon enough. Now for you Drek, climb onto yours" Drek did as instructed and he followed the steps. Within a matter of minutes they were both flying in circles above Base Camp.

"Come on down now" They used the other handle to lower themselves. "Now listen when you get to where you are going, make sure you hide these gliders. See this?" David grabbed a small clip on the side. "Remove this when you leave them and no one can take off with them. Don't lose the clip"

They both listened to him.

"So what will you do now?" Adam asked David.

"I will take the puppy back with me on the solar cycle and continue my work.''

"Is there any way for us to communicate with you?" Drek asked.

"Yes, put these around your necks, they are communicators. However they only work at certain times of the day, in the morning and at sundown. Put it in your ear and I will be able to talk with you"

"Why?"

"Because the satellite signal is too weak at other times of the day or night"

"What is a satellite?"

"It's a machine that orbits around the earth in the sky. At one time we had over 15,000 up there. Then a meteor shower knocked out enough to make them crash into one another"

"What is a meteor?"

"It's a large rock flying in space. The Corporation sent up one of the last satellites before the last world war. However, most of the equipment to operate it has fallen into disrepair and we don't have enough men to work on it. We need more immune men to learn and operate the machines"

"Why?"

"You sure like to ask why Adam. Because soon the human race will become extinct if we don't learn how to reproduce and be immune"

"When will that happen? Humans becoming extinct?" Drek asked. He had learned all about the animals becoming extinct due to the fruit and the non fruit eaters.

"Maybe in a few hundred years, maybe thousands of years, it depends on how long the current population will live. So in the mean time I am working on trying to get humans to reproduce"

"That is what you are working on in the lab and why you made Drek?" Adam asked.

"Well I made him to be one who might be able to reproduce. Now I am working on making a female that can reproduce and together they can start the human race over again. Like it once was before the discovery of the fruit"

"See Drek, you were made for a purpose" Drek smiled at this.

"Yes he was and so I want you both to be careful and when you find your father. Bring him back here. The gliders can hold two men"

"What if we don't find him?"

"Look until you do find him. I feel like he has knowledge that can help me with my work" David uttered.

They looked at each other again. David reached over to both of them one at a time and hugged them and kissed them on their foreheads. "Go now. Remember, the gliders use the sun for energy. You can't fly them at night"

Drek and Adam both nodded their heads.

"Now be sure to use the navigation map so you don't get lost. It will show you were to go. Sun Franco has been entered onto the map. I did that for you"

They both looked down towards the small map in the center console. Drek didn't really understand what he was looking for, but he knew Adam had better understood it when David explained it to them.

They climbed onto their solar cycles and began to hover higher now and as they did they took off into the sky, heading west to Sun Franco. David stood and watched them. It was still fairly early and he knew they had many hours of flying time. They might even make it there before sundown. He grabbed the puppy, slipped it into his shoulder pack and headed back to the city on the solar cycle.

Adam was flying slightly ahead of Drek. They had reached an altitude of about 1000 feet above the ground and were traveling at roughly 100 miles per hour. This they saw on the center map. They had still never embraced the metric system. The map said they would arrive there in 19 hours. Just as the sun was setting. Adam felt a great joy in his heart. He knew that he would be seeing his father soon. Drek followed Adam as they glided towards their destination.

After a few hours, Adam began to get hungry. Sitting on the glider leaning forward behind the windshield was somewhat tiresome. He began to slow down and drop down closer to the ground. Drek followed him. He put the small cone in his ear and instructed Adam to do it. Drek spoke and Adam could hear him perfectly.

"Wow, I didn't know that we can use them to speak to one another"

"David told me about it and that it only has a distance of a few hundred feet.

"So why are we descending?"

"I am hungry. I thought we would have a break"

"Do you think that is safe to do?"

"Yes, let's glide for a while until we see a clearing" They glided on until Adam found a flat area that seemed safe. It was a bit rocky and sandy. He sat the glider down and hopped off. He grabbed the clip off and attached it to his necklace. Drek came down next to him and landed his cycle.

"This looks safe enough"

"Yes I believe so" Drek turned off his glider and hopped off. They had brought fruit with them and pulled it out of a small compartment. "Let's sit over on that rock" Adam pointed to a larger rock that was flat. He walked over there with his fruit and water bottle. Drek followed.

"So what do you think?"

"We have seen no life for the past few hours. Everything seems deserted. No animals either"

"Did you expect to see animals?"

"I didn't know what to expect but I was hoping I would see something"

"Maybe the animals are sleeping and they come out at night"

"I don't believe there are any out here. It is just one big desert"

"So then we should be safe" They sat on the rock and ate their fruit and drank their water. Adam was finished and he leaned over and kissed Drek.

"Why did you do that?"

"I felt like doing it. Didn't you like it?"

"Yes I did. Let's do it some more" They began to make out and soon had their clothes off and were engulfing each other's flesh. They both released at the same time and lay still for awhile. Drek knew they should get going. He felt uneasy. They got dressed and headed to the gliders. Just as they reached them they heard a loud noise.

"What was that?"

"I don't know. Let's get out of here" The noise was loud but they only heard it one time. A noise they had never heard before. They glided up to about 1000 feet and headed west again.

"I don't see anything, do you?" Adam asked Drek as they glided on.

"What could it have been?"

"I am not sure and I don't want to find out. It was super loud"

"Could it have been an animal?"

"I didn't think animals made that much noise. But I don't know, never have I seen an animal"

"If it was an animal, it must be a big one"

"We didn't see anything. Maybe it was just the slip stream David told us about. How the temperature changes during the day causes the slip stream to speed up and slow down"

"Why would the slip stream make such a loud noise? Is it not just wind blowing from east to west?"

"That I don't know. We can ask David at sundown" Adam suggested.

"When shall we be in Sun Franco?"

"I hope soon. I am tired" They glided westward. The navigation showed them that they needed to head north to get to Sun Franco. Adam informed Drek of this and turned the glider to head north.

Several hours later they were near the edge of a large body of water. Adam looked around as they approached it. "Let's head down and take a look closer" He told Drek, who followed him down. They glided down and saw that the water and land met, but they had not yet reached Sun Franco.

"Drek, I think we should spend the night here and try for Sun Franco in the morning"

"Yes I agree, it is near sundown, and we would fall into the water if we continue. I believe that this water is here because of global climate change that happened over 150 years ago. This was California then, but is now submerged. Is Sun Franco still there I wonder?"

"It is on the navigation map David gave to us. Let's send him a message"

"You do that; I am going to go check out the water"

"This is about the time that David said the satellite would be orbiting, at sundown. He switched the transmitter on and began talking, 'David, can you read me? This is Adam.' He stopped and waited. Silence, he repeated to himself.

"Adam, David here. How are you guys doing?"

"Well we are fine. We have come to a large body of water and Drek believes it to be old California"

"Yes that is correct. During the global climate change, most of it disappeared under water. Sun Franco is still there and is an island"

"We were wondering if it was still there"

"It was naturally high enough above sea level to survive, but since its sundown, you cannot fly to it until the morning"

"Yes we realize that. We will camp out here"

"You should not both sleep. One of you keeps an eye out while the other sleeps"

"Why would we do that?"

"You never know what is out there and you are near the ocean. Marine life may exist and hunt at night outside the water"

"We will stay far enough away from it to be safe. There is a large tree that we can sleep in. Set the glider on it and be safe up there"

"That is a very smart idea. Where is Drek?"

"He went to the water to check it out"

"You should go check on him, be sure he is safe"

"Yes David, I remember but I don't think there is much out here"

"You just never know. That land is unexplored"

"Okay, I will glide over there and check him out" With that Adam hovered slowly towards the water.

"You should park the glider in the tree and climb down before it is dark"

"After I check him out I will glide up to the tree. Talk to you in the morning" Adam turned off the transmitter. He glided over to the water and saw that Drek was swimming in the water. He put the glider down.

"Hey Drek! Come out of the water!" He yelled at him as loud as he could.

"What?" Drek was asking back in a yell.

"It is not safe. Come out of the water" yelling again. Drek swam towards the shore and came out nude shaking his head. Adam came up to him.

"I spoke with David and he wasn't sure it was safe to go into the water"

"Why would it be unsafe?"

"David said that there may still be marine life left and that it may not be friendly"

"The water was very still. I saw nothing"

"Yes but David said they may come out at night to hunt and that we should not sleep near the water"

"Where will we sleep?" Drek grabbed Adam and pulled him close, he began kissing him.

"Up in the tree on the glider" Adam finally said after a long deep kiss.

"Why up in the tree. It is very nice and soft here on this sand" Drek reached down and picked it up and let if fall thru his hands.

"Drek just listen to me. I want us to sleep in the gliders, it will be safer"

"Okay, I am fine with that. Let's take them up now before it is dark" They both went to their gliders and floated up to a large tree with branches that were thick. Adam sat his glider on it and made some adjustments to the surrounding branches. "Mine is perfect. Now put yours here so the wings meet and we can sleep together" Drek followed his direction.

"Now how are we going to get down?"

"David said there was an automatic ladder on these" Adam searched near the back of the glider and found a small notch. He pressed it. A door popped open and a rope came out. He tied it around his waist and jumped off the tree. Drek yelled at him. "He too can play this game" He went and found his rope and tied it around his waist and then jumped. When he came down to the ground it slowed to a stop right before he made contact.

"How does it know how to do that?"

"I don't know, but I guess that's why they call it a ladder. Let's go walk along the water" They headed towards the water and it was very silent. The stars were out and shining brightly. The moon was full and bright too.

"There is absolutely no noise. Can you hear that?" Drek asked.

"Why is it so quiet?"

"Because there is nothing out here, it is deserted of life. All animals have become extinct"

"Extinct? Yeah it is when an entire species disappears from the planet. It happened during the global climate changes 150 years ago. Many animals were just eaten to extinction"

"Why do you suppose we lived, us humans?"

"We have intelligence and resources, but we too are going to go extinct"

"We are? Why?" Adam asked.

"David told us because humans cannot reproduce any more. Even though people may live 1000 years. No new humans are being born"

"Is that what your father was working on?"

"According to David it was"

"David said he created me so that I can try to reproduce"

They walked along the sand that met the water and looked down, hearing their feet crunch it. The moonlight all around them.

"I think that is what David went to work on in his lab. He wants to make a female and see if we can reproduce"

"That is why he couldn't come with us?"

"Yes I am sure of that" Drek stopped and looked around. "It is so unbelievable that it is so quiet. Not even the water makes a noise"

"Is it supposed to make noise?"

"Yes years ago there were tides that were high and low, they splashed along the beach, as they used to call it, crashing and making tons of noise"

"What happened?"

"Something to do with the magnetic poles diminishing. The scientists could never figure it out"

"What are magnetic poles?"

"You need to listen to my Oval. It will tell you many things. You can learn much from it"

"But all that is in the past. What can we learn now?"

"I am not sure, but human's technology went so far so fast, it basically caused all this"

"Is that bad?"

"Well I suppose it is not so bad. But what about the people in the city, they are not immune to the fruit and desire nothing more than to eat, drink, sexualize and sleep"

"Is that so bad either?"

"Nope, but soon they will all die and become extinct"

"Maybe we should head back. We have walked awhile"

"Yes I suppose so; it was nice to talk with you. I like your questions" Drek grabbed Adam's hand and they headed back to the gliders.

All of a sudden they heard the water splash and looked out towards the water. Whatever it was, it was gone in a flash. The water was rippling around where the noise came from. "You see there is still life out there"

"Was that life?"

"I believe so"

"Should we wait and see if we see it again?"

"Better to watch from our gliders, the moon is very bright tonight"

"The moon is brighter here than back at Base Camp"

"Yeah that it is Adam. I wonder why?"

The ladders pulled them quickly thru the branches and then moved them back and forth to miss any. They climbed onto the gliders and grabbed some fruit. They lay on their backs and looked up into the skies. "See all the stars?" Drek asked Adam who lay next to him.

"Yes" Adam said as he ate the fruit and looked up.

"At one point they had all become hard to see because so much light was produced on earth"

"Why have light at night?"

"It was a 24 hour world back then"

"24 hour?"

"Yes, people were up at all hours of the day and night, doing things, living, and working. They needed light"

"Was this bad?"

"Nope, but eventually this is what it led up to"

"It is a beautiful night. Hold me" The held each other and kissed. Soon they were engulfing each other's flesh. Afterwards, they laid there under the stars and feel asleep.

The next morning, a cool breeze was blowing over them. They awoke and the sun was shining brightly.

"Wow it went fast. It is so bright too"

"I think it's the water, it makes it seem brighter"

"This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen"

"The water is very beautiful indeed and very still. I wonder why the breeze doesn't make waves"

"Waves again?"

"Never mind" Drek kissed Adam and then got up to look around. Up in the tree they could see a long distance.

Drek pointed northward. "See there is land there. That must be Sun Franco. It is surrounded by water"

"How will we get inside the city?"

"I am not sure. We just have to fly over there"

"Will we eat fruit first?"

"Yes, I'll have a piece" Drek said and sat down. Adam pulled out two containers.

"Do you think that the fruit will grow out here?"

"I am not sure; something should be growing out there. I see plants and trees for miles. It is still very quiet"

"I can hear the wind blow the leaves"

"Yes the wind does make them move against one another and it makes a soft noise"

"We had no wind last night"

"Yes I was here too" Adam said with a smart tone in his voice.

"Where did you learn that from?"

"Learn what?"

"You were being a tease"

"What is a tease?"

"You were saying something with the tone in your voice that I should know that"

"Is this bad?"

"I am not sure Adam, but it was different than you normally speak"

"I liked speaking in that tone. It made me feel good inside" Adam said with a smile.

"Kiss me you hunk"

"Hunk?"

"It is what you are, a handsome human"

"Is this bad?"

"Nope, it is good. You are my hunk" Drek leaned over and kissed Adam again, then began to feel his flesh get hard. He allowed Adam to engulf him first and then he engulfed Adam.

6XXX ~ San Franco awaits

"Let's get going" They started their gliders and Drek took off first and then Adam, they floated up and headed towards the water. As they began to fly over the water, they could not see anything but dark blue everywhere.

"If there were animals in the water, we would be able to see them from up here" Drek told Adam in his communicator.

"Yes I believe you and I see no animals, but what about the noise last night?" Adam asked.

"I am sure it was an anomaly"

"What is an anomaly?"

"Never mind"

As they approached the island, they didn't see any sign off life here either.

"The navigation says this is Sun Franco but I don't see any people down in the city"

"Maybe they are all still sleep"

"Even in Allassworth people would be up in the morning" They hovered down closer to the city and saw that there was no filter to stop them. They glided right down onto a large grassy area. They turned off their gliders and took the clips out.

Drek shouted, "Hello" His voice echoed.

Adam, "See there is someone there talking to us"

"No my friend, that is my own voice coming back to me. Nothing is stopping it from returning to me" They began to walk to the edge of the grassy area. Here and there they saw old stone buildings. There was no sign of life anywhere.

"Where do you think they all went?"

"I don't know. Maybe we can talk with David. Turn on the transmitter" Adam did this and spoke to David who came on after a few seconds.

"Yes I am here. Have you made it to Sun Franco?"

"Yes the navigation map says that we are here, but there are no humans around"

"No humans anywhere?"

"We came down and there was no filter over the city. We glided down. No sign of life"

"I wonder what could have happened?"

"Do you suppose they all died?" Drek asked David.

"But From what?"

"From the fact that the shield was not there to protect them and they didn't know about it"

"Why would there be no shield. It is made of a naturally strong material that can endure very strong wind and rain"

"We are going to fly around and see if we can find anything"

"Keep me posted"

"David seemed surprised" Adam finally said.

"Yes he believed there to be humans here. Let's fly around" They got back onto their gliders and ascended about 200 feet in the air and slowly went around the city. As they came to an area of the city that was the most northern they saw a glimpse of movement.

"Let's go down there and check it out" Drek said. They floated down and were about 20 feet about the ground.

"Hello!" Drek yelled out.

Soon this thing waddled out from some bushes. It had worn garments over its head and was hunched over but they couldn't make it out.

"Hello" Drek said again.

"Who are you?" The voice asked.

"I am Drek and this is Adam. We are looking for the humans who live here. Where are they all?"

"Where are you from?"

"We are from Allassworth"

"I have not heard of anyone being from Allassworth"

"Stay where you are. We are coming down" They slowly glided down to the ground and got off.

"Who are you? Why do you not burn without the shield?"

"I am immune to it and Adam wears protective clothing"

"Once the filter was gone, they began to burn quickly and eating the fruit had no effect upon them. They almost devoured all of it and they still were burned"

"When did this happen?"

"The Filter above the city, it was torn apart by a great storm" the voice began. "Soon many humans began to burn and start to die. There was this one man who had come here and he took some of the humans on a boat. They were headed south to Sun Dego. The rest who stayed here began to eat each other. They died instantly"

"How long have you not eaten of the fruit?"

"The fruit?"

"Yes the fruit that keeps you young"

"Oh I eat a small amount every day. I had stored it up because I had heard of the new fruit that had come on the last ship from Sun Dego"

"So were you immune to the fruit?"

"Immune?"

"How did you know about the new fruit and not eat it but instead store up fruit that was already here?"

"The ship that brought the fruit, the men became wild, like animals and went crazy and killed one another"

Drek couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"They killed each other like wild animals?"

"Yes with their bare hands and teeth"

"Were you the only one to see this happen?"

"No many others saw it happen and didn't think anything of it"

"I had heard the men talking to each other at first and I listened to their voices, they seemed different than other human voices and then their voices became very loud"

"They said it was the new fruit that made them act that way"

"The new fruit?"

"Yes that they had brought from Sun Dego. So then I thought that I must get as much fruit as I can so I wouldn't eat the new fruit"

"Then you must be immune"

"I am without the protective filter over the city"

"So why did you stay?"

"I didn't want to go to Sun Dego, I was afraid to go with them"

"Well can we go inside and talk?"

"Follow me" the figure said and led them to a large stone hut. Inside it was very dark. They were surprised when the human removed the old garments; he was so young and radiant.

"I am Blank"

"Wow you are beautiful" Drek said with surprise. Adam stood there and poked him with his finger.

"We Sun Franco humans were the most beautiful of all humans"

"Yes I can see that. Your skin is young and colorful. Your eyes so blue. Your hair is golden blond"

"Why are you here?" Blank asked. He stood there with his muscular shoulders as if daring Drek to answer.

"We have come to search for a human; Adam's father came here many moons ago. He was a scientist"

"Yes I heard of a human coming to study us. See if we could learn to procreate"

"You know what procreation is?"

"Yes, like you said, I am immune to the fruit and I listened and heard things"

"Like the storm coming and the Filter being destroyed"

"Yes, I told everyone about the storm and they would not believe me and many stayed out in the night during the storm and in the morning when the Filter was gone, it burned them. Many of them jumped off the cliffs into the ocean after seeing their burns in the reflection pools"

"Others began to devour the fruit. They became crazed soon after being under the sun. They began to eat each other even"

"Did they eat the new fruit?"

"Yes they ate all the new fruit up and then they went crazy"

"And when did this happen?"

"Almost seven moons ago"

"And the man who took the rest of the humans down to Sun Dego, when did he go?"

"They went almost a quarter moon ago"

"Was the boat covered?"

"Yes it had a cover. It was called a yacht I heard. Taken out of the sea many moons ago and put in a large hut. No one ever used it until the strange human; he found it and told everyone they would be saved. They took all the fruit they could find and packed it in the boat. Then at night, they could only be out at night in the moon, they built this ramp that they dragged the boat onto it and then pushed it into the water. The humans went crazy and all tried to rush to get on it. Soon many had fallen overboard and were never seen again"

"Well they didn't know how to swim, and the ones on board, I am sure didn't want to help them. They didn't know they were drowning" Drek said.

"Where were you all this time?"

"I stayed in my hut hidden. I was afraid of going out onto the sea. I have heard of great animals"

"That may have been in the past, but not anymore, there are no animals left in the sea. It is as barren as the dry land"

"The dry land outside the city is barren as well?"

"From what I have seen it is"

"I have heard stories of animals roaming outside the city. That is why we have the great walls"

"Many moons ago, it kept those unwanted out. Now nothing lives out there"

"Then why can we not go beyond the walls"

"The Filter keeps you safe from the sun. There is no Filter out there"

"How do you live out there?"

"I was born in a lab"

"Born? You say born?"

"I was made in a lab" Drek corrected Blank.

"No one has been born for over 150 years"

"Yes I am aware of that. However, I was born in the lab"

Adam jumped in, "So are there no more of you?"

"No one else but I and I am afraid I will run out of fruit soon"

Adam grabbed Drek's arm and pulled him close. "I am afraid we cannot take the human with us"

Drek recoiled, "Why not? David said that the solar glider can hold 2 humans"

"We don't know if he is telling us the truth and if he is safe"

"We cannot leave him to die" Drek's said once again in a loud whisper, his eyes squinting at Adam.

"Why do you insist?"

"Because that is what humans are suppose to do. Help one another. This human, he will die here"

"So? Humans die all the time"

"It is now clear to me why David was trying to make humans that can procreate. You have given up on each other. It will be sooner than I thought and not the 1000 years like he said the humans could live, but less. They will just let one another die. This is disgusting"

"You are not human like me. I do not have the feelings that you have" Adam said slowly.

"I hope that one day you will. You have the desire to eat, drink, sleep and no desire to save another. How could this be?"

"I can learn it"

"I seriously doubt it. We are taking Blank with us. I insist"

"Yes then we shall"

"Thank you Adam. I am sure you will learn to understand this" With that Drek turned and looked at Blank.

"We are going to take you with us to Sun Dego. Adam, get the garment from my glider, it will protect Blank from the sun's rays" Adam left.

"What is this I hear? A garment that will protect me from the sun's rays?"

"Yes, I have one"

"Where did you get this?"

"The man who created me, he gave it to me. It will keep you safe"

"I don't believe you. I refuse to go"

"You will die from starvation. That will be a very miserable death. Do you want that?"

"Is there no other way?"

"Even if I took you across the vast sea to the dry land, how would you eat without fruit? You could stay inside during the day, and forage at night, but I am afraid you would not find much fruit"

"I could use the suit"

"Yes but still the fruit is the problem"

"After all the humans left I went and found where they grew the fruit. It was a large hut. Way on the other side of the island. It was much bigger than this hut"

"Did you find any more fruit?"

"The few pieces I found, they grew some fruit for a few days, but then they began to grow slower"

"The Biochrome was depleting and you needed more of it"

"The Corporation, it stopped shipping the Biochrome here after the storm. They said that they would be shipping the fruit to us instead"

"So that's what happened? Why did you not tell me this when I was asking earlier?"

"I didn't know that you wanted to know about that"

Adam came back into the hut, "Here you go, put this on"

Blank looked at it with wide eyes. He had never seen such a thing. It was a jumpsuit he stepped into and had a hood that closed and a clear mask adhered to his face. He ran outside to test it.

"Hey where are you going?" Drek and Adam followed him.

"I want to go out in the sun. I have been in the dark for too long. Blank ran out and jumped and waved his hands. He was laughing.

"See Adam, we needed to take him with us. Just the sunlight is making him happy"

"He probably needs some fruit too" Adam grimaced as he said this.

"Yes he does and we will share ours with him"

"Blank said they stopped sending the Biochrome but were sending the fruit"

"Why do you think that they did that?"

"I don't know, but I have an idea that something went wrong with the fruit"

"Blank, do you have any fruit to bring with you?" Adam asked.

"Yes! Let me get it" and he took off running.

"See Adam, look how happy he is?"

"Why do you like him?"

"I like all humans. One day you will understand why"

"It is human to feel that?"

"You are immune to the fruit, so you can experience things that most of all the other humans cannot"

"I can?"

"You will begin to experience more and more feelings"

"Feelings?"

"That is what they are called. Now let's get back to the gliders" They went back to the gliders and inserted their clips. Drek pressed a button and the second seat popped up from the rear of the glider.

"How did you know that was there?"

"My talking encyclopedia told me about it. It has information all about the solar glider and the solar cycle too"

"David didn't mention that?"

"Nope, but he has been testing me. Too see if I am learning new things from the talking encyclopedia"

"Why is he testing you?"

"To see if I am learning and growing because I may become the man who brings life back on this planet"

"How will that happen?"

"Only if he can make a female in the lab and grow her into an adult. Then we may be able to procreate"

"I like that word. Procreate"

"We must get going. Where is that Blank?"

Just then Blank came running with his hands full of fruit. "Here is all of my supply" as he stood there.

"Here put it in here" Drek pointed to the open compartment. He stuck it in the side of the glider and hopped on.

"Climb on here and then lean forward" Blank did this clumsily but managed to get on the glider. Drek took off into the sky. Blank loved the feeling in his stomach.

"I do like that. It is as fun as the sun"

"Just hold on to me, don't let go"

"I am not going anywhere. A belt has wrapped itself around me"

Drek looked back and could see the belt that held Blank. They headed south to Sun Dego.

"Do you know where we are going?" Adam asked via his communicator.

"I have found Sun Dego on the map and we will be there in a few hours. How are you doing?"

"I am fine. How is your new friend?"

"Oh I just about imagine he is fine as well. He likes to ride on the glider"

"Yes it does take some time to get used to it"

"I was afraid he might get sick at first"

"You wanted him to come along"

"Now Adam, remember, you're learning and growing everyday as well"

"Yes, I am. I like it too"

"Soon you will love it"

"What is love?"

"Just you wait and see" They glided onward. The sea was still and there was no sign of life. They glided onward towards the south.

"Where are the big animals?"

"Blank, I told you there are none. They all have been wiped out"

"I find that hard to believe"

"There are many things that you will find hard to believe. You are immune so you will have to learn more" They glided south following the navigation map. The sun seemed to be hotter today Drek thought.

7SVN ~ Sun Dego enlightens

8 hours later they saw the city. It was bigger than Sun Franco and Allassworth together, the mightiest city of all the cities from the talking encyclopedia. It was one of the main ports that accepted the Biochrome and then it was shipped off around the world. The wall was immense and it jutted out into the sea. As they began to get closer they saw something small on the rocks.

"Look down there Drek" Blank said loudly. "It's the yacht that left Sun Franco. Why is it there?"

"It got caught on a rock. They must have abandoned it. I hope they made it to the city" Just then Drek saw a Scanner. It was too far off and too low to detect them.

"Adam, the Scanners are about. We need to stay above them. "

"I am surprised they still have Scanners"

"Why? They have them outside of Allassworth. This city may not be like yours. We need to be mindful of who we talk with"

"We will stand out dressed in these clothes"

"When we get there, we will find some robes to wear"

"Let's take it slow and not get too low"

They began to ascend higher as they approached Sun Dego. The walls were larger than those Drek had seen in Sun Franco and Allassworth. They were immense. As they approached they could see that the filter was intact and movement was all about. Apparently this city was alive, although, Drek had never seen Allassworth. They slowly glided over the city and then Drek saw that there was no way to just set down like they did in Sun Franco.

"Adam lets glide around the perimeter of the wall and see if we can find a safe place to land. I don't want to be spotted by the Scanners"

"Lead the way"

Drek headed towards the southern part of the city. There he could see beyond that there was quite a bit of water. As they got closer he realized that there was nothing but water on the southern side of the great walls. His map was not correct. Had it not been for the walls, Sun Dego might be under water. He got closer to the southern tip and saw water coming from a large round hole in the wall. They might have to pump water out he thought. He turned the glider east. It was there he saw that the land was dry. The trees were abundant as well. He knew they could land there and be safe from the Scanners. As they approached Drek saw a clearing that looked like a good place to land. He headed there, Adam followed.

As they began to get closer, Drek saw that it looked more like a path than a clearing. Soon he realized that it was not natural. Something had created the clearing. He kept descending anyway. When he was on the ground he pulled off a ways and stopped the glider. Adam was right behind him.

"What do you think of this clearing? It may be a path"

"A path?"

"A road then. I wonder what created this. It might lead us to the city"

"Blank, wake up" Blank had fallen asleep on Drek. He woke up with a start.

"Are we already here?"

"I believe you slept the entire trip here"

"I feel hungry"

"Hop off will you?" Blank slide off the glider and wobbled as he stood on his feet. "Wow I am a little unsteady"

"It was from being on the glider for so long. You'll be fine" Adam reassured him.

Blank slowly got his legs moving. Adam slide off and he too felt a bit wobbly.

"See you feel it too"

"It's nothing"

Drek slide off his and he too felt wobbly. "Wow it's true. My legs feel weak"

"Walk around and you will be over it" Adam suggested.

"It sure is quiet" Blank announced.

"Yeah super quiet"

"Let's move the gliders into the trees and then see if we can walk this path"

"Oh no, not me. I will stay and watch the gliders" Blank announced.

Drek looked surprised at this announcement. "Okay that sounds like a plan. How about a quick lesson before we leave you here?"

"Sure I would like to learn how to fly this" Blank agreed. Drek explained how the gliders work; Adam listened and interjected here and there. Blank then got onto one and tried it for himself.

"Okay if anyone or anything comes after you, ascend up high. I don't believe the Scanners will come out here but you never know"

"Anyone? Anything?"

"Blank there should be no one outside the city. I don't believe animals exist anymore. So just be on the lookout. If you fall asleep, at least you'll be quiet and they won't hear you"

"Maybe he should park it up in one of the trees" Adam suggested.

"Yes that is what he should do"

"Park it?"

"Take the glider and see that tree over there?" Drek pointed towards the north. "Fly it onto the branches about half way up and park it"

"Okay but I am not sure this will work"

"Don't worry; it has a mind of its own" Blank did as he said and as he got closer to the tree branches, the glider took over and settled itself gently on them. Blank was amazed. He waved to them that he was fine. The glider turned itself off.

"Okay now that is taken care of, let's glide ourselves down the road. I am not in the mood to walk either" Adam laughed at this.

"I didn't realize how far we are from the city. Hop on" Drek instructed. They took off and slowly followed the road. It was perfectly quiet. The road soon narrowed and was just wide enough for them to glide through, the forest being thick on both sides. They traveled for about 20 minutes and soon came to a natural opening in the forest. Let's ascend and see how far we are. As they ascended, they could see not far off were the immense walls of the city. No Scanners in sight.

"We can hide the glider here and walk the rest of the way" Drek said.

"Why are we being cautious?"

"What if they are not friendly?"

"Why would they not be friendly?"

"I just have a feeling that this place is different" Drek replied.

"Why do you have this feeling, because you are a test tube human?"

"Adam you cannot talk about that to anyone. That is a secret between you and me and David"

"A secret?"

"Yes, something that only we can know. Never speak of it to another human. Forget that you know this"

"Why would I forget?"

"So you don't mention it to another human"

"So we have a secret?"

"Yes and very few humans have secrets these days"

They were walking on the path for sometime before reaching the walls. "How are we supposed to get in?"

"I never thought of that until just right now. Let's just walk. There must be an entrance somewhere. The path led us directly to the city"

"What if we can't get in?"

"I don't know. Keep moving" As they walked they saw what looked like a ramp up to the wall. All of a sudden they heard a strange voice, "Halt. Who goes there?"

Drek and Adam were shocked to see what looked like a human but was not a human.

"I am Drek and this is my friend Adam"

"What are you doing outside the city walls? You know that is forbidden?"

"We somehow we got lost and ended up out here"

"How did you get lost?"

"We got sucked out and shot out on the south side"

"Many people are sucked out but none survived"

"There was this floating tree that we grabbed onto and paddled to the shore"

"How did you know to do that?"

"I am not sure but we did it and now we are here and we are tired and hungry and want to come back in"

The robot turned and pressed a lever and a great door opened slowly.

"Enter"

"Come on, this is our chance" Drek whispered. They walked up the ramp and entered the gate. At once they could hear the noise of the city. People were laughing and talking and making all kinds of noises.

"Adam it is so loud. Was Allassworth this loud?"

"I am not sure, it has been awhile since I was there, but it does seem very loud" They walked along the interior until they finally could hear the voices even louder.

"What about our clothes?"

"What about the non human that just let us in. He didn't seem to notice our clothes"

"He was not a human. He reminded me of the gliders"

"Yeah, I thought that as well. Maybe made from the same materials as the gliders but for a different reason"

"How did you know about being swept out?"

"Didn't you notice the hole in the south wall pouring water into the sea?"

"Nope"

"Well I saw it and I thought that water must be pumped out of the city because of the sea being so high against the south wall"

"How did you think that?"

"It just came to me"

They crept along and soon came to an opening. They could see people walking about. "Drek, they look just like us"

"You mean they are dressed just like us"

"Why are they not wearing silk robes?"

"I have an idea about that. Let's observe them for a little while longer" As they watched them walking, Adam noticed that they were not as carefree as the ones from Allassworth. He explained this to Drek.

"There seems to be more order here, more structure. You never saw this in Allassworth. They seem more like us, the immune ones"

"Maybe there are more immune to the fruit. Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Let's go out there and find out what's it like"

"I am afraid"

"I am sure we will be fine. Let's go" Drek darted out and was among the humans, who didn't even notice him. It was as if he were invisible. He looked back towards Adam who was still crouching. He motioned for him to come. Adam stepped out and was immediately in the middle of the crowd. No one noticed him either. They looked at each other.

"Adam is this how the humans were in Allassworth?"

"No. They seem to be asleep"

"No they are not asleep. I think that we should walk and see more" They began to walk with the crowd. People went in both directions seemingly dodging one another. Drek and Adam kept bumping into the humans. "How come we can't stop running into them?"

Adam shocked his head, "I am not sure why. I am trying not to" None of the humans looked at them or talked to them. They were just dodging them.

As they tried to manage in the crowd, Drek saw an opening and grabbed Adam's arm. They were out of the crowd and in a cove of one of the buildings.

"Wow I am worn out. I have never seen humans move so fast and so much. Back in Allassworth humans barely got up and moved around"

"I think they have done something to these people. They are trying to make them more immune like us"

"Why do you think that?"

"Don't you remember what Blank had mentioned back in Sun Franco? He said that they had sent some new fruit and a few humans became mad"

"They don't look mad, they look asleep"

"Maybe they have been on the fruit longer and it has made them like this"

"Why would they do that?"

"Well I want to find out"

"What are we going to do?"

"Halt humans"

"Well we know that he's not a human" Drek said. The robot approached them. "Why are you not working?"

"Working?"

"Where are your orders? Show me your lapel?" At that the robot lifted its hand and pulled on the small lapel near Drek's chest. "There are no orders here. You need to come with me. Follow me"

Drek didn't know he had a lapel. "Adam they are making these humans work"

"That sounds dreadful. How and why?"

"I guess we are going to find out soon enough" They followed the robot for a long time. "How far are we going? Can't we just run into the crowd and disappear?"

"Why would we want to do that? They are taking us where we can find out more. Don't you want to find your father?"

"Yes but what if my father is responsible for this?"

"Then we will be in good hands"

"Working in our sleep?"

"Your father wouldn't do that to us"

"It seems pretty strange from what I have seen so far"

They finally arrived at a building and entered, walked down a hall that lead to a door. The robot opened it and waved for them to enter. He shut the door behind him and was gone.

"Well now what?"

"We wait. I see here is something we can sit on" Drek hopped up on the rectangular shiny object in the center of the room.

They waited there for what seemed like a moon. They both fell asleep on the table.

The next day Drek awoke to a bright light. He saw a robot looking down at him. He looked around and Adam was nowhere.

"He is moving doctor" The robot said aloud.

"I'll be there in a few"

"Human are you hungry?"

Drek felt hungry but said, "No but can I have some water?"

"Here is water for you human" He handed Drek a glass of water. Drek sat up and drank it. Another robot came up to him and began to take his vitals. Drek sat there thinking about Adam. He missed him.

"The human is perfectly fine. He should be fitted with working orders immediately"

"Wait I want to see Corporate. I am looking for someone. I am not from this city"

"Robot take him and the other one to see Corporate" said the robot.

"Follow me human" A door opened and the robot rolled outside. Drek followed him. Adam was standing there in the hallway.

"Adam, you're safe" Drek hugged him.

"I was being prodded by a robot in this room" He pointed to a door. "How I got there, I am not sure"

"They are taking us to Corporate. I told them we were searching for a scientist"

"Great. Maybe they know where my father is"

The robot rolled down the hallways for what seemed like a long distance, Drek and Adam following it. Eventually they came to a door and it slid open. They followed the robot into a large room and on the far side was a man sitting in a high chair his back to them.

The robot announced that they were there to talk about a scientist and had come from Allassworth. The chair spun around and there was Corporate.

"What brings you to our city gentlemen? Where are you from?"

"I am Drek and this is Adam and we are from Allassworth. We are searching for Joe Giordano. He came from Allassworth"

"I know who Joe Giordano is. He was sent to Sun Franco to analyze the effects of the new fruit on their people"

"What happened to him? There is no one left in Sun Franco"

"He came back down here in the ship after the storm destroyed the filter over the city. He was working on perfecting the new herb. We just can't afford to keep feeding all these humans who don't do anything. They don't even procreate. We have discovered another herb in Antarctica that when grown and feed to the humans, they can become working humans. They will work for their living. They will listen and obey just as it should be"

"So you want to make humans your slaves?"

"Oh we too are humans, but we are immune to the fruit and we know that evidentially all humans will die by accident or starve to death if we don't feed them"

"So for many moons we have been trying to make the immune ones not immune to the fruit. We heard of the experiments in Allassworth to grow first humans in the lab as test tube babies. We sent someone to sabotage their work. We don't want any first humans. They will destroy us. We want to create a new civilization with the humans who are with us now"

"So you expect to live a 1000 years and then die"

"Eventually, say in a few hundred years we will have trained our humans to be able to procreate, and it may be in the lab as well"

"You have lost your mind"

"Have I?"

"I have control of the robots and the herb and the humans. We stopped sending the Biochrome to Sun Franco, but instead we sent the fruit bred with the herb to see if it would work on them. I knew that if anything went wrong, they would more than likely destroy themselves. We've seen it happen in the lab. When the ship came, I sank it. I didn't want any contaminated humans here in my Sun Dego. Joe Giordano was the only survivor, I needed him. We will send the fruit bred with the herb all over the world. I am sure that no humans will survive"

"So what will you do with us?"

"Give you the herb of course and make you one of my slaves. Send them away"

"And what of my father?" Adam asked.

"Joe Giordano, he was a fool. He wanted to save humanity. He didn't agree with my plans. I made him one of my slaves. Unfortunately he was sucked out to the sea"

"You lie!"

"Oh do I?"

"Take them away now" The robots grabbed both Drek and Adam by their arms.

"Come with us"

"When I run, follow me, even if it hurts to break free from their grip" Adam nodded. The robots walked them out of the large chamber and down to the hall to where they had been. Drek counted to three and then yanked his arms from the two robots and took off running, "Come on Adam! Now, break free"

Adam yanked his arms away and pushed the two robots in front that were holding Drek out of the way and ran as fast as he could. He caught up to Drek and flew through the only door at the end of the hall. When they opened it up, they stopped. It was a long corridor and glass on both sides. They looked down and all these humans were sitting and working. Drek and Adam were amazed. He had taught them how to work. They ran down the corridor. They came to a door that had stairs. Adam started to go down.

"We must go up. I am going to send a signal to the glider to pick us up on the roof"

"I thought you took the clip"

"I did and it will tract it to us. Let's go up" Drek ran up the stairs.

"How do you know this goes to the roof?"

"Where else could it go?" They continued to climb the stairs. When they reached the top there was a door. "It's locked"

"Let's break it down"

"How do we do that?"

"Stand here and we are both going to kick right here on this stop" They stood in front of the door and both kicked. "One more time and one more time" On the fourth kick the door swung open. They heard the robots climbing the stairs making loud noises and repeating, "Halt humans"

"Let's go"

"Where to now?"

"As far away as we can from this door" They went through the maze of strange looking squares on the roof.

"Over here, there's less obstacles" As they made their way, the clip started beeping.

"What's that?"

"I think it's the glider, it's getting closer. I hope so because I don't want to be a slave to Corporate"

"Neither do I. We need to get to the end of the roof. Follow me" They kept maneuvering thru the maze of large squares and finally reached the other end both breathless.

"I don't see the solar glider" Adam exclaimed, "And I see the robots coming" Drek looked and saw that two of the robots were now coming towards them.

"Come on glider" Drek said under his breath. Just then the glider came into view. Drek held the clip up high and the glider moved towards them. Within a few seconds they had jumped on and took off up into the sky, the robots at their heels. They ascended up high and headed towards where they left Blank.

"When can we call David?" Adam asked.

"Not until it is dusk, remember the satellite is only in position at dawn and dusk?"

"I will try him anyway" Adam exclaimed. Adam took the pendant, put it in his ear and pressed it and heard nothing.

"Well?"

"No contact"

They were in the vicinity of where they left Blank, but when they landed and called out to him, no answer.

"Now where do you suppose that Blank went?"

"I hope he didn't wander off and get lost"

"Well if he did, then it's his own fault. He left the glider up in the tree so he must be on foot. I'll fly you over to it. We can search for him"

They began searching for Blank towards the opposite direction of Sun Dego. "I hope he didn't head this way"

"Well if he went the other way, he will be in for a rude awakening. He won't find work to be a very tolerable thing"

"He is in no way capable of that kind of work" They turned around and headed back towards Sun Dego after a long search. "This is the only way he could have gone. As they crept closer to the walls, they hovered around 10 feet from the ground. Just as they got to the clearing, they saw two robots carrying what looked like Blank.

"Over there, those two robots have Blank and he looks knocked out"

"Or dead, they must have sent out a search party for us and found Blank instead"

"I wonder if he was headed this way"

"Shall we try to save him?"

"Nope we don't have time. We need to head down to the Antarctica and we have no time to lose"

"What happened to saving humans?" Adam asked with disbelief.

"He will be saved by Corporate, I am sure of it. Let's go" They turned the solar gliders towards the south east according to the navigation. Drek had found Antarctica on the navigation and tapped on it.

"It says it will take us almost 3 days to get there and that's if there are no impasses"

"Lead the way my friend" Adam said. They took off towards Antarctica.

Back in Sun Dego Blank was taken to the same room that Drek and Adam were. He was unconscious but not dead. The robots gave him water to rehydrate him and left him. He woke up and wondered where he was. He felt weak and hungry. He saw that there was some fruit on the table next to him. He quickly grabbed it and devoured it. He felt better. He lay there and wondered where Drek and Adam were and if they had been captured as well. He got up and looked around. There was nothing much in the room. He saw that they had left him water and he drank it as well. He was feeling better now. He lie back down and fell to sleep.

He awoke and saw the strangest human staring at him. "Who are you? Where am I?"

"You are in Sun Dego, at the office of Corporate. We found you outside the walls. Do you know that you are forbidden to leave the city?"

"I am not from here. I am from Sun Franco. Where are my friends?"

"You will get your answers when you speak to Corporate. Follow me" The robot turned and a door slide open and Blank followed him down a very long hallway.

"Where are you taking me?"

"To Corporate, they wish to ask you some questions"

"Questions, what questions?"

"I do not know, but we shall soon be there. Follow me"

Blank was getting tired from all the walking. He wondered what kind of human this was in front of him.

They came to another door that slide open and inside was a large chair that overlooked a window. The sun was shining in. He saw a man sitting in the chair, his back to him. As they approached the chair, the man swiveled around to face him.

"Ah, another visitor from Allassworth and what is your name?"

"I am from Sun Franco and my name is Blank. Who are you? Where are my friends?"

"Ah, from Sun Franco, so what happened when they ate the new fruit?"

"They all went mad and began killing one another"

"Ah! Just as I had hoped for and why did you not go mad?"

"Because I didn't eat the new fruit. I saw what it did to the men from the ship that brought it. I am immune to the fruit as well"

"Yes I gathered that. So your friends escaped from my robots. Where they went I am not sure. However, now that I have captured you, you will be my slave. Actually, my personal slave"

"Slave, what is this?"

"You will do as I say and not ask questions. Now take him away. He needs to be taught some manners. Guards!"

"No wait, why are you doing this to me? I am no servant"

"As long as you are immune to the fruit you are my servant. No take him away" The robots grabbed Blank by the arms and hauled him off.

He was taken to another room that was actually very spacious and was full of things. Things he had never seen before. He lay down on a bed that was softer than the grass. He fell to sleep.

The next morning he woke and was hungry. He found on the table some fruit. He sat down on the chair that was also so soft, he had never felt so good, and ate the fruit. When he was finished a robot entered and took the empty container.

"I am Sound and I am your servant"

"You are my servant as I am Corporate's servant. I am beginning to like this already"

"Do you need anything Master Blank?"

"Master? I like the sound of that. Yes I need some new clothes. Bring me some right away. I have been wearing this thing for days now. I would like a silk robe to lounge in as well"

"I will see what I can do Master" Sound departed. Blank walked over to the window and pulled the switch which allowed the sun to come thru. His view was of a large park with manicured trees and shrubs. He had never seen a park so beautiful. It didn't seem real to him. He wanted to go explore it. He sat down on a strange looking rectangular thing. It was also the softest thing he had sat on. He stared thru the window and felt the sun on his face. Then he thought of Drek and Adam. Where had they gone? He wondered. They had escaped which was good, but from Corporate? Were they also to be servants? Why would they want to leave this wonderful place?

Just then Sound returned carrying a bag in his hand. "Master Blank, here are the clothes that you requested.

"Oh wonderful, that was fast. Now how do I call you when I need you?"

"Just ask for Sound to come"

"Just ask for you to come?"

"Yes Master, ask for me to come"

"Wow I love that. So Sound I want to go down and visit the garden. Will you take me there?"

"At your command Master, follow me"

"Oh wait. I want to change my clothes. Just wait there" The robot did not make another move. Blank quickly grabbed the bag and opened it. There were three new outfits. He grabbed the aqua blue one and slipped it on.

"So where is my silk robe?"

"We are still looking for it. That type of clothing has not been worn in many moons"

"Keep on looking for it until you find it. I need something soft to lounge around here in. I am ready"

"Follow me Master" Sound headed for the exit. Blank looked at the sliding door, when it was closed it just looked like part of the wall. It had no handle or window. He wondered why it opened for Sound but not for him. He began to ask and then stopped. That might not be such a good idea he thought. He realized that he was thinking more than he normally did. Was it being around other immunes that made him think more he wondered?

"Halt Master. I must see if I can access this door"

"Halt? You say wait Master, not halt"

"Yes Master"

"Check to see if you can access it then and I shall wait" The robot went to the door and he placed his hand on an area next to the door. A few seconds went by and the door opened. "Follow me Master"

"It's about time. What took so long?"

"I had to access the main computer. This garden is only accessible by you and Corporate"

"Really? Only Corporate and I can access this garden? I love it. Well let me by, I am dying to see this garden" Blank walked outside and he was amazed at how beautiful it was. It smelt like no other garden he had ever seen. He heard noises, noises he had never heard before.

"Sound, what are those noises? I love them"

"They are recorded noises of birds singing. Birds are extinct now"

"I know that silly. They make the most beautiful noises"

"It is called chirping"

"I never heard that word before. I am in love with this place. Follow me; I may have some more questions" Sound followed him as he strolled thru the garden. There was a path made of small rocks all the same color. The trees were big and full. There were flowers he had never seen before.

"Now tell me do you know the names of all these flowers?"

"Yes I do"

"Start talking. I want to know the name of everyone" Sound began with the closest one to Blank, pointing to it and stating the flower's name.

"It is amazing how many different flowers are here that I have never seen. In Sun Franco we only had two flowers"

"Corporate has gathered these flowers from around the globe"

"Globe?"

"Another word for the earth, the world, the planet"

"Okay, okay, I got you. Now continue and I want to know each ones color too. They all have so many different colors" Sound continued for hours telling Blank all the flowers names and colors.

Blank began to grow weary and tired. "Sound that is enough for today. Let's go back and eat some fruit. I am hungry and a bit tired"

"As you wish Master" Sound led him back to the door they entered and back to his quarters.

"Why do they call these my quarters Sound?" Blank asked when they returned.

"Quarters are a place for military men to house their families"

"Military men? I thought I was a servant. What is a military man?"

"Military men are men who protect their country"

"Am I protecting my country?"

"Your city, Sun Dego"

"I like the sound of that. I just can't understand why" Blank broke off. "That will be all for now" Sound left. Blank sat on the sofa in front of the window facing the garden and ate his fruit. He tried to remember the names of the flowers that he could see and their colors. He got up and went and lay in bed. It had been a long day. He went to sleep.

He woke with a startle. "Sound is that you"

"Yes it is Sound Master"

"What are you doing?"

"I brought your silk robe"

"Oh they found one for me. It's about time. I am not used to these jumpers. What time is it by the way?"

"What time is it?"

"Yes the time, is it morning, noon or night?"

"What is the time" Sound asked out loud. A voice came over and said it was 30 o'clock am.

"So it's the middle of the night. Why are you here in the middle of the night?"

"You said that you wanted the silk robe right away"

"Yes I did say that. Well if that's all, then you are excused"

"Yes Master" Sound departed. Blank got out of bed and took the jumper off and decided to go back to bed nude. He would wear the silk robe in the morning.

The next morning Blank awoke to some noise. "Sound is that you?"

"It is I Corporate" The voice was low and slow.

Blank rose up from the bed. "What are you doing so early in the morning in my quarters?"

"I see that you don't mind sleeping in the nude" Blank forgot that he slept nude. He felt an odd sensation, like he should cover himself but the robe was over on the table where Sound had left it.

"Yes I sleep nude. What's it to you?"

"Oh no reason. I was just standing here admiring your body. You Sun Francos were the perfect humans"

"Yes we were and what's that to you?"

"Will you continue to question me? I am your Master and you are my servant, now stand at attention" Blank knew what this meant from seeing Sound do it in front of Corporate. He jumped out of bed and stood there.

"That's better. Now listen I want you to tell me everything you know about your friends. Do you know that they don't believe me when I say that one day we will procreate?"

"Procreate?"

"That's what I said"

"But no one has procreated in many moons"

"Stop with your blather. Yes I know that, but we are working on it. We are making progress. Hopefully in a few hundred years we will have the workers to work on it"

"You are teaching humans?"

"Yes, very slowly but we are. One day they will be like you and me and can work and we can make human babies once again"

"I don't believe you"

"Silence. You have got to learn that I am your Master and you are the servant. When I say something you agree with me, no matter what"

"Yes Master"

"Now how do you like your new quarters here in Sun Dego? The lovely garden outside? Your own robot servant?"

"Oh is that what he is? A robot? I have never heard of that name before"

"Well many of them were never put into service once the fruit went global and then the war. It was a dreadful time. Why did we have to discover that Biochrome?"

"I don't know the answer to that Master"

"Never mind so tell me what you know about your friends from Allassworth?"

"Well you know they didn't tell me much. They were looking for Adam's father who was working on procreation. I believe"

"Yes I know that much, his father was here and I made him a slave until he was sucked out to the sea. He was a rebellious one"

"They said that Drek was made in a lab from DNA that was before the fruit was discovered and eaten"

"What? Drek was made in a lab. We sent one of our best immunes to destroy those lab babies. One must have been saved without him knowing it. Confounded. Too bad he died in the fire"

"You did what?"

"Never mind what I did, I was stopping them from creating the first humans who would start to procreate and then start to kill us off"

"Kill us off? Why?"

"Because that's what the first humans did, they killed each other and all the animals and almost the planet if we had not run out of fossil fuel. If they are revived then they will surely try to kill us. I won't not let happen"

"What do you plan to do about it?"

"I am going to send you down to Antarctica and I want you to keep an eye out for them. They want to disrupt the fruit"

"I don't believe you. Drek said that he must take me with him or I would die without the fruit"

"He was only taking you to use you. He will kill you as soon as the fruit is destroyed"

"Drek said that there is no other fruit for us to eat. Why would he destroy it?"

"He lies. There is a vast storage of seeds for all the vegetables and fruits we used to eat. It is stored in Allassworth"

"It is?"

"Yes and all the animal's DNA is stored there too, so one day we can bring them all back to life"

"Why would Drek lie to me?"
"Because he is one of those first humans, he came from their DNA and he will lie to you so later he can kill you"

"I find that hard to believe"

"Believe it, he will do it"

"Can I take Sound with me?"

"Yes and you must leave straight away. They already have a head start. They can only fly during the day, you will go by ship and it will only take one day and a half"

"By ship? I am afraid of the great sea mammals. I can't go by ship"

"There are no sea mammals left. All the animals died in the sea"

"I have heard stories of great sea mammals that can sink a ship"

"Those are old myths. No sea mammals ever sank ships. Now Sound has packed your things. Before you leave I must engulf you, now lay down on the bed. I admire your body greatly. Blank laid back on the bed and Corporate crawled between his legs and engulf his flesh which had grown hard with the thought of being engulfed. It was over very quickly. Corporate's face glowed afterwards.

"You must head down to the dock now. Be on your way"

"How will I talk to you?"

"Thru Sound of course. He will be able to communicate with the main computer here"

"How does that work?"

"We use the satellite. Now don't worry. Just tell Sound and he will send the messages to me. I want an update every hour?"

"Every hour?"

"Yes. Now be on your way" Corporate left them together. Blank felt queasy. He didn't ever see any sea mammals while flying down to Sun Dego on the solar glider, but he slept most of the way down. It was a restful sleep too. It felt good to lie against Drek. He realized he was still nude. He got into a jumper and let it close itself.

"I am ready Sound. Lead the way"

8AYT ~ Antarctica awaits

"Yes Master, follow me" Sound led him down to the street where another flat robot came up to them and they stepped onto it and it went flying up into the air and towards the dock. Blank held onto Sound and his skin felt strange. Blank remembered the docks in Sun Franco. When they arrived there was just one. The flat robot took them to the end of the dock and there was the ship. It was barely above water.

"Sound what kind of ship is this?"

"This is a submersible ship"

"Yes I see that, but why?"

"This ship can sail thru the water faster than ships that sail on top of the water. If there are rough seas, it won't disrupt the ships speed"

"Now I am afraid. I thought we would be above the sea. You will be able to see thru a window in your quarters and you will not see any sea mammals"

"Well if you say so Sound. I believe you over Corporate. I think you're more intelligent" Sound moved to a docking station and a large door opened. He walked to it and began to go down.

"What do I do Sound?"

"Follow the ramp to the hatch and it will open for you" Blank looked and saw a round thing in front of him. He walked towards it and it opened as he came near it. He climbed down the ladder and was greeted by another robot that looked just like Sound. He thought it was Sound at first until it told him it was the captain robot of the ship. It instructed him to go to his quarters and Sound would be there.

Blank followed a map that led him down another ladder and finally to a door that opened. Inside Sound was attached to the wall.

"There you are. I thought you were sailing the ship"

"I am not programmed to sail this ship but in case of an emergency I would download the program and could do it from here"

"I didn't understand anything you said"

"You don't need to worry"

"I am not worried"

"You don't need to be afraid. This submersible makes weekly trips down to the Antarctica"

"How many of these are there?"

"Thirteen thousand three hundred fifty five ships"

"What? Why so many? Because when the Biochrome was first being shipped, they were shipping it all over the globe. Do you remember globe?"

"Yes Sound. I didn't forget"

"Now there are such few cities around the world. Where are all these ships?"

"They are stored in Sun Dego, in large huts as you call them"

"What do you call it?"

"Dry dock warehouse"

"You're so fancy with your big words"

"It is time for you to rest. Lie down and go to sleep. We will be there tomorrow around this time"

"Oh really, so while I sleep we will travel all the way to Antarctica?"

"Yes the submersible travels at a high velocity. Now go to sleep" With that said Blank lay down on the bed, which was not as soft as the one in his quarters, but soft enough. He fell asleep.

Drek and Adam had been flying south east for a few hours when the sun was setting.

"Adam we must get word back to David to warn him not eat the new fruit if it arrives before we can stop it. Let's set down somewhere and call him. Follow me" Drek descended to scout a place to land. He found an opening where both gliders could land. The ground was covered in low brush and very few trees were seen. It was not like the forest around Sun Dego.

There was an area that looked as though nothing grew on it. Drek parked the glider on this spot. He pressed the phone in his ear and waited. David picked up.

"Where have you guys been?"

"We went to Sun Dego and found out that the new fruit that is being shipped to you is poisoned. It will make everyone go mad. Try to get as much fruit as you can and store it up. We are headed down to Antarctica to stop the shipments from going out all over the world. Corporate wants to make slaves of the new humans and stop the creation of anymore first humans. He also wants to raid all the DNA storage of the animals and plants in Allassworth and move them to Sun Dego"

"How did you find this out?"

"We met with Corporate Sun Dego, he is just one person, and he is immune. He is trying to teach the Unimmunes to work. He has made them his slaves"

"What about Adam's father Joe Giordano?"

"Corporate turned him into a slave and then claimed he was killed accidently. I think he escaped and made his way down to Antarctica"

"Why do you think that?"

"Corporate used him to make the new poisonous fruit and then when he wouldn't work for him anymore, he made him a slave"

"A slave?" David asked.

"Made him a prisoner"

"I see. So you found Antarctica on your navigator?"

"Yes, although the map was not perfect. We had to fly over quite a bit of water where it showed dry land was"

"Because of the atmospheric anomalies, the satellite image may be distorted. Just be careful"

"We will be there in 2 and ½ days. We will have to rest at night"

"Have you seen any animals, sea creatures?"

"We have seen nothing so far but we did hear some strange noises the first night we camped. The second night we heard large splashing in the water, but never saw anything"

"You should continue to be cautious. So what of your friend Blank?"

"Blank got captured in Sun Dego, but it was his own fault. We could not rescue him. We barely made it out ourselves"

"Your grasp of the language is astonishing; you are talking with a much larger vocabulary"

"I have been listening to the talking encyclopedia"

"Great to hear that and you must be retaining it well. Call me tomorrow morning at sunrise. I must go"

"Will do" Drek click the phone. Shall we get moving?" They took off in their gliders and headed directly south and flew until near sun down. When they had flown all day and it was nearing time to land, they descended to scout out an area to place the gliders. The trees here were much larger and thicker than before. Adam found a place to land both of them and they did so together. They ate some fruit and fell to sleep holding each other all night. The next morning they woke to a loud noise. The earth was trembling.

"Adam what do you think that is?"

"It must be the creatures Blank was talking of"

"Adam he was talking about sea creatures. These must be the Elephants"

"Elephants? What are they?"

"Let's check it out. Undo the gliders and we will follow the noise" They got onto each glider and turned it on, they ascended and followed the noise to a large hill and began to ascend to the apex. When they reached it they could see over the hill and into a large basin. "Wow! Elephants!"

"How many do you think are down there?"

"I don't know but I would guess a few million"

"Million? How much is that?" Drek smiled. He knew that he wouldn't be able to explain it to Adam.

"It is a very large number"

"What do you think they're doing?"

"They are moving across the land looking for food" For as far as they could see, the Elephants traipsed across the fields, destroying all manner of vegetation that was not eaten by them before.

"I have never seen anything like that before"

"Most human haven't. Now you're one of the first" They glided over the throngs of Elephants about 100 feet in the air. They traveled for over 30 minutes before finally passing them up. What they saw was a wasteland left by them. They had eaten and destroyed the land.

"We have got to tell David about this. I forgot to call him. Let's land and see if we can call him"

"I'll keep a watch up here, there might be more Elephants" Adam explained. Drek descended to the ground and called David.

"Hello, Drek?"

"Yeah it's me. Hey we ran into the Elephants"

"You did? What were they like?"

"They were thousands and thousands of them. I would say maybe a million"

"What? How could there be so many of them?"

"As they passed on thru they ate and destroyed the land. It looks like a desert now. They are headed north"

"Maybe we should give them the new fruit"

"Why?"

"To lower their population, if they get too large, they will eat up all vegetation and then they will become extinct like the rest of the animals"

"Well it will take them many moons to get to Allassworth"

"We can store the fruit until then. We have no other way to kill them off. At least I don't know of any other way"

"Well how will you stop them from eating the fruit?"

"I will go to our corporate and explain what you told me"

"I hope they listen to you. Corporate Sun Dego sounded a bit crazy"

"So that's why all the other embryo's died. It was sabotage. I will tell them that as well"

"Tell them about the Elephants. There are millions of them"

"I will. We must address this or they will destroy the earth"

"Would the wall keep them out?"

"I am not sure"

"Call me tonight, I must go" David said and hung up.

Drek ascended and waved to Adam to follow him. They took off and headed south. They ascended higher to see if they could see further ahead. Drek noticed that the land mass up ahead was getting more narrow.

"The land up here seems to narrow Adam"

"Does it show it on the map?"

"Yes it does show it narrow on the navigator"

"They began to descend and saw that many of the elephants had fallen into the water and drowned, their carcasses floating out to sea. Thousands of elephants were floating out to sea. The land mass was so narrow, Drek wondered how all those elephants crossed it. They continued on as it approached dusk. They found a large tree and sat the gliders down. Drek was tired. They ate some fruit and he told Adam about his conversation with David.

"So use the new fruit on the elephants"

"Yes. David said that might be the only way" They fell asleep in each other's arms again.

The next morning they ate more fruit and called David who didn't answer. Drek was worried. Maybe they turned against David. They knew that today they would be flying over the ocean for the last 1/3 part of the leg down to Antarctica.

"We have to make it to Antarctica before dusk. We have 19 hours" Drek informed Adam.

"Let's fly higher today. I think we can go faster" Adam replied. They ascended higher than they had ever been and glided along. After about 10 hours. Drek looked down and noticed something in the sea that looked odd. He began to descend and when he did, he could see thousands of sea creatures, whales is what they were called. They were spitting water up into the air. Adam had followed him. As they glided along, they could see them. They had turned the sea darker.

"So there are sea creatures Drek. Blank was right"

"And it's just like the elephants. They have multiplied because of no natural predator"

"I will have to tell David about this as well" They continued on. It was 9 more hours to the Antarctica.

Blank awoke and Sound was silent. "Sound, Sound!" Blank yelled out. Sound came to life and told Blank that there was no need to yell but simply say his name.

Are we there yet?"

"We will be arriving in less than an hour"

"I am hungry, where do I get food?"

"Press the button over there and food will be delivered within five minutes"

Blank got out of the bunk and pressed the button near the door. A green symbol was above it. Blank lay back down on the bunk.

"So what are we supposed to be doing down here? I can't believe that when I get off this ship, I will be in Antarctica. First Sun Dego and now here. Has any human traveled so far?"

"Negative. All ships for the fruit are manned by captain robots" Sound replied.

"It was not a question I wanted answered, but I know why they were not manned by humans. Manned. Manned. Why do they use that word?" Sound began to explain it to him. He got bored.

"Enough" A small chime was heard.

"Your fruit has arrived"

"It's about time" Blank got up and sat at the small table and chair that were attached to the wall. He pushed another button and a door popped open and his fruit was there. He opened it up and ate it in silence.

He felt the boat slowing down. "Are we there?"

"We are entering the docking station. It will still be 20 minutes before we are there. This is a very narrow channel and the ship must travel at a slower velocity" Sound explained to him.

They arrived at the dock 20 minutes later. A door opened and Sound was taken out of the ship. Blank followed the colored signs and made his way back to the upper deck and to the ladder and climbed out. When he came out of the ship's hatch, he felt different. He felt lighter. The weather was cooler here. He liked the feeling. He walked over to meet Sound and they followed another robot to a flat robot that took them to the headquarters.

The leader was Head Robot. Sound explained why they were there and Blank was shown a tour of the excavation site. They did it on one of the flat robots. Blank was immediately bored and it showed. He began to yawn. As soon as he did it, it startled him. What was he doing? He had never done that before. He felt a little light headed too. As they got nearer to the rock slab that was impenetrable, Blank got more and more woozy. He fell onto Sound who caught him.

"Master Blank wake up"

"Don't worry about him. All humans faint when they get near the slab. It gives off some energy that is invisible to see but the humans feel it. He will be fine" the other robot told Sound. They continued to the slab.

"Ever since we discovered it, all humans that come near it faint. We cannot figure out why. When we take them away from it, they wake up again"

"The humans don't suffer any damage?"

"None that we can determine. The slab is the Biochrome, in a fossilized form"

"How many humans have come in contact with the slab?"

"Not many. Only a few humans have been here once we discovered it?"

"Has Corporate come into contact with it?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, all Corporates have come here to view it"

At this Sound was silent. He gazed down at the slab and then looked over at Blank.

"Let's go back"

The robot touched the control panel and they moved slowly away from the slab. When they reached the office Blank began to stir slowly. He woke up gasping for air.

"What happened to me? Where am I? Who are you? What is this place?"

Sound answered each one of his questions by repeating the question.

"Now what really happened to me?"

"I told you, you fainted" Sound responded.

"I just went thru the oddest journey. I can't explain it"

"Master Blank, you need to rest after your ordeal"

"Yes, yes I do. Take me to my quarters"

"Yes Master Blank"

Sound led Blank to his quarters and then hooked himself up to the circuit.

"You're not leaving me are you?"

"I am just searching the data banks to find out if they did any medical examinations on the humans who fainted"

"Why did I faint?"

"According to the Head Robot, when we approached the slab of fossilized Biochrome, you fainted. He said that no harm was done to you"

"Yeah. Don't believe him. I went on some journey"

"A journey?"

"I was somewhere else, looking at all these strange people. It was like nothing I have ever seen before, even at Sun Dego or Sun Franco"

"Were they humans or animals or robots like me?"

"I don't know what they were but it was not nice. I was afraid. It was not this place"

"What place was it?"

"I am not sure, but I have never seen anything so grotesque in my life"

"Why was it grotesque?"

"The people, they looked like us but their skin was so different. They were all pale and thin and boney and had white hair"

"You are speaking of what humans looked like before the fruit came to be"

"How could humans look like that? It was scary"

"It was called aging and it happened to all humans"

"Well now I can see why the fruit became so valuable. Why they fought over it. The way they grew old, it is most horrible"

"Your vocabulary seems to be enlarging"

"What?"

"You are using words I have not heard you use before"

"I am? Why do you think that has happened?"

"Maybe your fainting at the slab has affected your mind"

"I don't see how that changed me"

"You will not know your changes for some time"

"Why do you say that?"

"There are no records indicating that any of the Corporates who came in contact with the slab changed"

"Well yes they did. Corporate Sun Dego, he wants to make us all slaves. The slab must have made him that way"

"Why do you think that?"

"Because although he is an immune, he is evil"

"Evil?"

"Yes very bad"

"How do you know the concept of evil?"

"I don't know. All of a sudden I just realize it. It's in my mind. In my thoughts"

"What about Drek and Adam? Any sign of them yet?"

"Nothing has been sited on the radar. My system has been monitoring it since we got here"

"Well how good is that radar?"

"I am not sure. It might not work perfectly"

"Should we go scout for them?"

"As you wish Master Blank"

They left Blank's quarters and headed to the main office where they asked for a flat robot to take them around the perimeter of the mining facility.

"We need to get out outside the mining facility. Drek and Adam would park their solar gliders and walk there"

"How do you know this?"

"That's what they did in Sun Dego. Let's head out that way towards the north"

They took the flat robot and headed towards the east end and then towards the north. The mining facility had a huge wall around it to protect it back in the days when the countries of the world wanted to take it over. Now that war was over, the left over weaponry used to protect it lay rusting away unused for over 150 years plus.

9NIN..........Drek and Adam arrive in Antarctica

When Drek and Adam finally saw land they were elated. They were both tired. The solar gliders had autopilot, but they couldn't just fall to sleep. They had to stay alert.

"Let's land the first sign of safety"

"We need to go inland a bit. I don't want to sleep to close to the shore"

"Do you think that the whales will come out of the sea?"

"We don't know what is in the sea besides the whales" They fly until they saw some dense brush.

"We can park the gliders here and sleep. I am bushed" It was just getting dark.

"Shall we call David?"

"I will try him again" Drek called David and he answered.

"Hello there. Have you made it to the Antarctica?"

"Yes we just arrived. We found a place to sleep. Did you tell your bosses about the new fruit?"

"Yes I did and they wanted to know how I knew. I told them that Joe Giordano had reported it to me"

"They believed you?"

"Yes they did. So they are rationing the fruit and will not distribute the new fruit but store it to give to the elephants"

"We also saw the same thing with the sea creatures. Just as many as the elephants"

"Really. Well I don't know how we are going to solve that problem"

"Maybe it will solve itself"

"I doubt that. So are you going to rest and check out the Biochrome facility tomorrow?"

"Yes we are beat after that 20 hour solar ride. We found a place to stay the night"

"Call me tomorrow when you find out anything"

"Will do. Bye" Drek hung up. He looked over at Adam who had already fallen asleep. He moved closer to him and fell asleep in his arms.

"It's getting dark. We should go back" Sound instructed.

"Yes we have scoured the entire area. They must not have arrived yet. Maybe they won't. I am tired as well" They turned the flat robot around and headed back to the mining facility. The dusk approaching quickly.

"It get's darker down here earlier?" Blank asked Sound.

"According to my data, it does have a shorter day by 1.5 hours"

"It doesn't feel that late to me but I am tired"

When they arrived back at his quarters, Blank ate some fruit and went to bed. He wanted to forget the journey and see what would happen when he woke up. After a short while his dreams were of the journey. He was in a large building walking down a hallway that was all white. There were doors on each side every so often. He would look into the doorway and he saw old humans lying in bed. Looking like they were dead. He walked on forever he thought. He finally woke up gasping.

"Sound, are you there?"

"Yes Master Blank"

"Turn on the light. I need some water" Blank was breathing heavy. A glass of water appeared on the small table. Sound picked it up and gave it to Blank.

"Thank you" He drank it down completely in one gulp. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep. His dream was different this time. He was on a beach and small humans were swimming and playing in the water. He felt good about this dream. There were no old people in it. Then he saw splashing in the water. He saw something come out of the water and bite one of the small humans and drag them under. All the rest of the small humans ran out of the water, yelling and crying. He woke up again from the dream. He lay there in the dark room. Sound must have turned off the light. He didn't want to go back to sleep and just lay there. He didn't want to dream anymore.

The dusk came and Drek awoke. He was still holding Adam. He got up and felt the slight breeze. It felt much cooler here than in Sun Dego or Allassworth. He sat and watched Adam sleeping. Then Adam woke.

"How long have you been awake?" Adam asked.

"Not long. The sun has not risen yet"

"Engulf me please" Adam asked.

"Please? Where do you learn that?"

"I don't know, but please engulf me. I need it." Drek engulfed Adam and then Adam reciprocated.

"Feel better now?"

"Yes. Let's eat, I am hungry" Adam got up and opened the compartment. He pulled out the last 2 fruit containers.

"Here" Handed it to Drek. They ate in silence.

"What do you think we will find here?" Adam asked.

"Well we have to stop them from producing the new fruit. Then reverse the process back to the original one"

"Do you think we will have opposition?"

"I am not sure of that. If only the robots are here, then yes we will" They finished the fruit and started the solar gliders.

"Let's go find this place" They headed south west. Within no time they could see the massive walls that surrounded the Biochrome facility.

"Are we going directly in?"

"I figured that is the easiest way to get inside"

"Should we leave one glider out here?"

"Good idea" They landed and left one glider in some bushes and rode together. They flew around until they saw what looked like the main building and landed on top of it without being noticed. They found a door and walked down the stairs.

No robots were seen. They walked until they found what looked like a control room. Just then a robot came out of the room.

"Duck over here" Drek pulled Adam into an alcove. The robot passed them by. They headed into the control room. Once inside they saw all types of lights and knobs and switches.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"I am going to call David, he'll know what to do" Drek called David and he explained they were in the main control room. David told them to find a red lever marked main power and to turn it off. Drek did this and the room went dark.

"Now what are we going to do?"

David told them that they had to find the processing plant that was growing the new fruit and destroy it.

"How will we destroy it?"

"There has to be some weaponry there. They used to guard it 24/7. Some of the ammo will still be explosive"

"Where do we find this?"

"Head outside of the wall. You will find all the old weaponry"

"What am I looking for?"

"Something that looks like a rod with a handle on it"

"Okay" He hung up.

"Let's go"

"Where are we going?"

"To find some weaponry outside the wall" They headed back up to the roof and jumped on the solar glider. They flew to the outer wall and over it and began to glide along it. Soon they came to an area with all types of machinery. They landed the glider and jumped off.

"Somewhere in here is weaponry"

They started to look in each machine for something described as a rod with a handle. They looked for a long while. I don't think there is anything like that?

"Let's keep looking"

Meanwhile Blank woke up and it was dark. He called out for Sound who responded.

"The power is down in the whole facility"

"I bet you its Drek and Adam. They must be here. How do we turn it back on?"

"I will have to lead you there. It is dark throughout the facility. Hold onto me" They left the quarters and headed to the main control room.

"It really is dark in here"

"Soon there will be more light once we get closer to the control panel. Windows let natural light in"

"Well they should have put them everywhere"

"We are getting closer. I see the light" Soon they were in the control room.

"It is pitch black in here"

"I can see with my infrared eye. The main power switch has been turned off. I will attempt to turn it on"

"Attempt. Why attempt?"

"It may not immediately turn back on"

"We are on solar, why wouldn't it turn on immediately?" Blank asked.

"This facility is very old. It is in need of much repair. Turning the main power off may have blown some of the circuits" Sound turned the switch and nothing happened.

"Did you do it?"

"Yes but it should take a few minutes to get going"

"Drek and Adam must be here and they did this but why?" Blank asked himself. Soon the lights were back on and Blank saw all the control room.

"Wow this is impressive"

"The facility has not come back up that grows the fruit. I will need to run a diagnostic on it"

"Yes yes, do that. We need the fruit" Sound plugged into the control panel and began his diagnostics. Blank went to look for some fruit without have to return to his quarters which seemed so far away.

Meanwhile Drek and Adam came across a building that looked intact. They broke the door open and found metal boxes. They opened them and found the rods with the handles.

Drek read the lettering. "MK47"

"We should call David and ask him how to use these?"

"Yes that's a good idea"

Drek called up David and there was no answer. I forgot the satellite must be out of range. They both grabbed two each and headed back to the solar glider. They hoped on and headed back to the control panel.

When they arrived they notice the power was back on.

"They have found us out Drek"

"Indeed they have. Let's go"

"They carried their MK47s with them and made their way towards the fruit factory. Drek had seen it on the map of the corridor earlier. They made their way without being noticed and found the factory. When they arrived Drek could not make out what they should be destroying. The factory floor had a different type of robot that was connected to wires above him and moved back and forth along super long isles where the fruit was grown in multiple layered beds.

They made their way down to the floor and the robots ignored them. They tried to see if there was any way to stop them. Drek was at a loss. Adam didn't know either. David had not given them enough information. Just then Blank appeared up on the second floor.

"Boys I see you found Antarctica. Why don't you follow me?"

"Blank you're alive" Adam shouted. "Hey you were the one who wanted to leave him in Sun Franco, remember? I've taken a shine to him now"

"He must be working for Corporate" They made their way back up to where Blank was and he was surprised at their gadgets they carried.

"Come with me I want to show you something" They proceeded out to a docking station and boarded one of the flat robots. Neither Drek nor Adam said a word. They flew out to the mining field and began to come close to the slab. Blank slowed the robot.

"I want to show you something that Corporate has been keeping a secret. Sound take them out to the slab" Blank stepped off the flat robot and it sped up too quickly for Adam and Drek to jump off.

"Where are you taking us?" Drek demanded from Sound.

"To the fossilized slab of Biochrome. Impenetrable to drill thru"

Just then Adam began to get weak and he fainted. Drek caught him.

"What kind of trick is this?"

They got closer and closer to the slab and Drek did not faint. They stopped there on top of it.

"So why have your brought me here?"

"According to Master Blank's orders"

"He wanted us both to faint. Why has Adam fainted?"

"All humans faint when they come close to the slab. However, you have not. What kind of human are you?"

"The first kind of human, now take us back to Blank" Just then Drek fell to the ground with Adam in his arms. The robot took them back to Blank.

When they arrived back to where Blank was waiting for them. "How long did it take for them to faint?"

"Adam fainted first, but Drek took awhile and then fainted"

"Now take them back to my quarters right away and make sure they don't escape" Blank did not ride with them, but went on another flat robot and headed towards the slab. He wanted to see it again. He wanted to face it. He told the flat robot to take him back to the control building after five minutes of waiting directly on the slab. He sat down and fainted before reaching it.

Meanwhile, Sound locked Drek and Adam in the quarters next to Blanks. Adam began to wake up.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"Adam you fainted when we went to close to the slab. You're fine. I don't think it did anything to you"

"To me. I went on some journey. I didn't know where I was. It was so beautiful. I saw all these animals and young children"

"You dreamt this while you were out?"

"Yes. It was so beautiful. I didn't know where I was though"

"Apparently the slab must give off some recorded history of what the world was like before the fruit"

"Did you faint?" Adam asked.

"No, I faked it. I didn't want Blank to know I was immune to it"

"Wow you are a first human. Well it was a beautiful experience. I want to go back"

"No, you don't know what it might to do you"

"Yes, it will help me understand the first humans. They were so lovely and the animals were beautiful"

"Well we need to get out of here first and then see what we can do. They both lay down on their bunks. A couple hours later Sound enter and asked them to follow him. They got up and did so. He led them down to a big room with one chair in it. Upon the chair was Blank.

"Master they are here" Sound remarked. The chair spun around and Blank smiled at them.

"Thank you Sound. So Drek and Adam, did you like your little journeys?"

"What are you talking about?" Adam said.

"Oh don't play coy with me boys. I have been there myself; even today after you both fainted I took another trip to the slab. I wanted to revisit it again. Explore the journey"

"Why did you take us there?"

"I wanted to show you what the world was like before the fruit. How horrible and disgusting it was to grow old. How we can never let that happen again"

Drek and Adam both looked at each other. Adam couldn't believe what Blank was saying.

"So why did you boys fly all the way down here on your solar gliders?"

"Blank you are a fool. Corporate in Sun Dego wants to send bad fruit to the rest of the world and cause them to all go mad like he did in Sun Franco. The new fruit is bad. The humans will die from it"

"I don't believe you. Corporate told me you would say anything to make me turn against him"

"Adam why did all those Sun Franco's go mad? They ate the new fruit. Corporate told us in Sun Dego that he sent it up there as a test. Now he is planning to destroy the rest of the population"

"Now why would he want to do that?"

"He wants to keep control of the fruit and his people and make them into slaves and then make them procreate"

"Lies, all lies"

"Blank we saved your life. Why have you turned against us?"

"Corporate told me that you want to procreate with another first human like yourself and then destroy all of us second humans and take back the earth"

"That is absurd. We would learn to live with the second humans"

"Lies. Corporate told me of how horrible the first humans were and that they would kill every one of us"

"Why would we do that?"

"Because you first humans were war mongers and haters of each other"

"I am from the first humans but grown under the fruit like the second humans. I do not have that killer instinct in me"

"So why were you here? You were going to stop the fruit and kill all the second humans"

"No Blank, we were going to stop Corporate from doing that. Please believe us" Adam interjected.

"Why do you follow this first human Adam? Can you not see how he is using you?"

"Corporate is using you" Adam thru back.

"Enough, Sound take them away. I will figure out something to do with them" Sound came and grabbed them and they could not get away this time no matter how hard they tried to pull away from his hand. He took them back to the quarters.

"Well now what are we going to do?" Adam asked rubbing his arm.

"We have to escape from here and stop the new fruit from getting sent out"

"How are we going to do that? Sound is right outside the door"

"Let me think. There must be a way out of here" Drek was looking around the quarters.

"There is no way out" Adam added.

"Just relax for awhile. I don't think we're going anywhere soon"

"Maybe we can call David and he can access this facility and let us out?"

"What a great idea Adam. I'll try him" Drek turned the phone and tried to call. He left a message to call him as soon as he could.

They both laid on their bunks and fell to sleep.

Hours later Drek awoke to his solar talkie lighting up. "Hello David?"

"Drek I got your message, what's going on down there?"

"We are locked up in these quarters and there is no way out. We found the MK47s and went to the processing facility but we didn't know what to shoot at or even how to shoot"

"I will send you a software upload that will explain the weapons on your Oval and also how to bypass the security lock on the door"

"We don't know where the weapons are now. Blank took them"

"You had to trust a Sun Franco"

"Never mind that now"

"You will have to go get some more then. I will also send you and upload to the Oval that explains what to destroy in the factory. If you do the wrong thing, we will not have any more fruit and all perish"

"Right. You are sending that now to my Oval?"

"Yes give it about 20 minutes"

"Call me at dawn"

"Right, I will. Bye" Drek click it off. He pulled out the Oval and it was glowing. How this was working he could not understand. He waited for what seemed like a long time and then put it in his ears to listen to it. The first was how to deactivate the door. The second was how to stop the production of the bad fruit and replace it with the good fruit. He would have to go where they stored the seeds in another area of the facility. The third was how to fire the MK47. Drek listened to all of these and then he woke up Adam who was sound asleep and didn't want to wake up. He had to really shake him to wake him.

"Adam you must wake up and listen to this. David sent it to me. It's how to use the MK47, how to deactivate the door and where to destroy the fruit sees and replace them with the old fruit"

"What are you talking about? Did you talk to David?"

"Yes, now listen to this" Drek shoved the Oval pieces into Adam's ears. Then he went to work to try to deactivate the door. He had to find something that was thin enough to pry open the button on the table that when pressed would bring the fruit. Once he did this, he used that part to pry open a small panel next to the door where there was a circuit breaker. He had to take the red and blue wires and reverse them. He had to do this without getting shocked. He carefully pulled them apart and then reversed them. The door slowly slid open.

"Come on, let's go" Drek called Adam.

"I am coming. I am not finished"

"Listen to it on the way. We have to fine the weapons or go back outside the wall"

"I would think that they would be in that room where Blank sat in the chair"

"Do you think he knows they are weapons?"

"He might not. Let's go" They ran down the hall and followed it a bit. It was very quiet. They found the room and looked inside. One of the weapons lay on the floor busted to pieces.

"No luck. Hey let's just take this charge and use it to blow up the seeds"

"Do you know how to do it?"

"It's all we got" They headed out of the chamber room and down the hall. We are going to have to go for a long time. It's down three stories"

"Why so far down?"

"To keep them safe from the sunshine" They followed the maps on the walls and took the stairs.

"The door is locked"

"Then we have to find another way in. Let's back track" They went back up the stairs but as they were about to reach the main floor they heard a noise.

"Wait. I think one of the robots is up there" Drek crept up and could see the robot standing at the door.

"Let's lure him down here?"

"Why?"

"He can open the door for us"

"Why would he do that?"

"It's worth a try. Follow me" Drek went running down the stairs and then hid underneath them on the bottom floor. They heard the robot coming down the stairs. Eventually he got to the floor and as he was opening the door, Drek and Adam jumped him and knocked him over. They went inside and found it to be very cold.

"Why is it so cold in here?"

"I guess to store the seeds"

"How will we know which seeds?"

"I listened to the Oval"

"Yeah I didn't get that far" They followed the hallway until they came to another door. It was locked. "Now what are we going to do?"

"It says seed storage. This must be it. Look around for something. Maybe we can break it open. I don't see any way to unlock it like the quarter door"

"This looks like it's a foot thick"

"We have got to do this Adam. Now look"

"Hey what about the robot? Maybe he has something we can use" They ran back down to the robot and it was dead.

"We killed it"

"Or it shut down on us. Let's carry it the door and stand it up" They had to drag it because it was too heavy to carry. They stood it up in front of the door and waited behind it. A few moments later it woke up. "Halt" It opened the door and Drek and Adam grabbed it again and knocked it down dragging it into the room.

"It's freezing in here"

"Let's hurry and find the seeds" There were shelves of seeds all marked original fruit.

"These are all wrong. Where are the seeds for the new fruit?"

"Maybe they used them all" They searched the entire room.

"There must be another room"

"Drek I am so cold"

"Yeah I am too, let's go"

"They went down the hall and found another door, it was not locked.

"Maybe the robot unlocked both"

"I didn't want to drag him down here" They entered the room and it too was cold but not as cold. They found the new seeds and a robot was unpack them and loading them onto some black mechanism that was taking them up into the ceiling.

"This is it we have to stop this robot?"

"How?" Adam asked as Drek went over and pulled at it until sparks flew.

"That's how. Now we need to blow this place up. Do you have the charge?"

"Yes, here it is"

"We can drag the robot down here, lodge this in its back and stand it up"

"Do you think that will work?"

"Let's hope so" They went back down the hall and dragged the robot into the second room. Drek took the charge and packed into the robots back.

"How do you know where it goes?"

"I am guessing"

They stood the robot up and ran out the door. Down the hall to the other room. They waited. They didn't hear any explosion.

"Wait I hear something" Drek got up and looked down the hallway. Nothing. He started to creep towards it, then all of a sudden a huge explosion. Drek ducked on the floor. He got up and went back to the other room with the original fruit seeds. There he found an identical robot that was not turned on and he found the switch and turned it on. The robot began to send seeds up into the ceiling.

"Now we have to find out where those seeds are going. Adam climb up there and look"

"Why me?"

"Your more agile than me" Adam climbed up and couldn't see anything but light at the other end. "I know what direction it is in. Let's go"

They ran down past the explosion and into the stairwell and ran up to the second flight of stairs and entered the door there. They saw a huge room full up with the small plants all being prepared to be grown.

"Come on, we have to stop that"

They went into the huge room and could see where the new seeds were coming up and being placed on the moving tables.

"All of these must be thrown out. Start knocking them off" They began to throw the plants onto the floor, crushing them as them stepped on them.

"This will take all day"

"Yes but we have to stop it" They worked at this for some time. Soon they were finished.

"Now we need to make sure that any fruit going out is stopped" They ran to the factory up on the next floor and started destroying the fruit as it was being packaged into containers that would hold large amounts of it.

"What happens when these ships go out and there's not fruit on them?"

"Then we will have saved the new humans all around the world" They did this until they were exhausted.

"How come Blank has not shown up?"

"I don't know why. Could he be asleep?"

"I don't see how he could have slept thru that explosion"

"It seems odd"

"The robots are not prepared to stop us. They are not programmed for that"

"So now what?"

"We go find Blank and tell him what we've done and then fly back to Sun Dego"

"And leave him here?"

"Yes. We have to stop Corporate. We have weapons now"

They went to find Blank but couldn't find him anywhere. They saw a robot and asked where he was. It told them he went with Sound to the slab.

"Come on. I think that slab will kill him"

"Should we save him again?"

"We shall see" They got on a flat robot at the docking station and headed out to the slab. When they got there they found Blank lying directly on the slab. Adam had to disembark a distance back. Drek went alone. He grabbed Blank and pulled him onto the flat robot. He returned to Adam and picked him up.

"Why do you think he was there?"

"It has some control over him maybe" After they were far enough away, Blank started to stir and wake up. He cried out, "No, take me back. Take me back to the slab"

"It will kill you Blank" Drek yelled at him.

"I don't care I want to go back"

"What do you think Adam?"

"I think we should take him back"

"We will leave him in his quarters; if he wishes to go back he can do so on his own"

It was getting dusk and they wanted to call David and tell him the news. Drek called him from his quarters.

"Hello David, its Drek. We did it. We blew up the new seeds and restarted the old seeds and destroyed all the new fruit that was started to be planted and that was being loaded onto the ships to be sent out"

"Congratulations. You just saved all of humanity. Will you look for Adam's father?"

"Adam's father is not here in Antarctica. I presume he is dead"

"What did Adam think of this?"

"I haven't spoken to him about it but I think he feels the same way as I do"

"Now what are your plans?"

"We are taking one of the submersibles back to Sun Dego and using the weaponry we have now to remove Corporate from his power"

"You must be careful. He may have his own weapons. Keep me abreast"

"Will do" He ended the call.

Drek looked over at Adam and gave him a wink. "Let's go find us some more weapons" They took three flat robots with them along with Sound and three other Master robots. They head outside the walls to the area they had found the first weapons. They dispatched two of the Master robots to search for more weapons and then headed for the shed to pick up what was left there. They had the robots do all the lifting. After loading the one flat robot up, Drek sent it back to the dock to be unloaded onto the submersible.

They then searched along with the Master robots for more weaponry. They came upon another shed and found a different assortment of weaponry. Drek had the Master robots load up both flat robots and they headed back to the dock to unload them onto the submersible.

"Do you think we have enough?"

"I want more than enough. We don't want these falling into Corporate's hands" They had the solar gliders loaded on board. The submersible was not leaving until morning. Drek and Adam went to Blank's quarters. There they found him in a comatose state. Sound by his side. Drek instructed Sound to take Blank to the slab for no more than 20 minutes per day. If he disobeyed Blank would die. Sound acknowledged this order.

They went to the control panel and had the Master control robot enter in codes to protect the facility from being hijacked by corporate. Drek wrote these down on his inner lapel of his shirt. He felt like the entire facility was now safer.

Adam asked Drek to visit the slab once more. Drek agreed but only for five minutes. They took a flat robot and went out to the slab. Adam fainted in Drek's arms as they approached. Drek took him right over the slab. He held Adam in his arms caressing his hair.

When five minutes was up, the flat robot headed back to the facility. Adam soon woke up in Drek's arms. He held him tight and didn't let go. Drek was not sure why he held him so tight. They went to their quarters to sleep until morning.

"Are you okay Adam?"

"Yes, yes I am fine. The journey was different this time"

"Was it like the first one?"

"No different. I will explain it to you in the morning. I am very tired. Five minutes was too long for me" Drek went to his own quarters and laid down leaving Adam to sleep for the rest of the night.

At dawn Drek was awake and got up. He went in and checked on Adam who was up already. He went looking for him and asked one of the Master robots where Adam was.

"Adam has gone back to the slab this morning"

"I got to stop him before he turns like Blank" He got on a flat robot and headed out there. He found Adam lying on the slab. He picked him up and placed him on the flat robot. When they were far away, Adam began to stir and he woke up.

"Where am I?"

"You're with me Adam. You were on the slab"

"I don't remember going there. It was calling me to it"

"That's probably what it's doing to Blank as well. Do you remember your journey?"

"It's hard to describe it. The first journey was clear. This is more of a jumble of pictures and sounds. I felt like it was taking my thoughts from me"

"Well we need to leave, let's forget about that slab for now"

"We need to destroy it"

"Why?"

"Because it will harm anyone who comes near it"

"It does me no harm"

"You are one of the first humans. You must be immune to it"

"I don't know what I am but it's time to leave"

-0TEN ~ Time to leave

They headed to the dock and boarded the submersible. They went to the Master robot's station and checked in. Adam retired to a sleeping quarter and Drek headed for the observation deck. It was a large 360 degree bubble that sat above the rest of the submersible and one could see all around them. As they left the docking station and entered into the open sea, Drek only saw plant life. No other marine life was in the sea. He sat in the large chair and closed his eyes. He wasn't sleepy but felt tired. He could feel the submersible travel thru the sea at a very high speed. His body pushed up against the chair. He fell to slept.

A few hours later Drek awoke from the chair throwing him to the ground. He got up and looked thru the 360 degree observation window and saw something very strange. All around him were large creatures, their bodies next to one another and he heard the strangest sounds. He sat back down in the chair and stared at the creatures. He went back down to talk to the Master Captain Robot who explained that they had encounter a very large pod of whales and that they were riding along inside of them until they would eventually be on the other side of them and break away from them. Just then Adam came in.

"What happened?"

"Come look Adam, follow me" Drek led him to the observation deck and showed him.

"Are those whales?"

"Yes and we are going along with them until we break free on the other side"

"Wow. They are huge. They won't hurt us?"

"Not according to Master Captain Robot. They think we are one of them. The ship is the same color as they are and gives off a similar sound they make"

"Are they talking to each other?"

"I believe they are communicating in their own way"

"So humans are not the only ones who make noises"

"I guess not. It's the first animal that I have heard" Drek announced.

"I have never heard an animal either. My first too"

"Yes I suppose that is true" Drek smiled at Adam. He grabbed his hand and held it. They sat and watched.

"So do you feel different now after being on the slab two more times?"

"I feel different in my mind. My body feels the same"

"I can never go back now. I feel like a human that has gone thru something very harmful, very bad. It has affected me"

"Harmful? To you, how so?"

"I feel like I was living in the past earth and I experienced what the first humans went thru long before we had the fruit"

"Was it so bad, harmful?"

"I am surprised they survived at all with all that they dealt with"

"The war over the fruit?" Drek knew about that from the Oval.

"Before all of that, there were food shortages, dirty air, dirty water, disease, wars. Human life was beginning to mean nothing. People were killed daily. It was a very harmful time to live in"

"And you saw all of this on your journey?"

"Yes I did and it has changed me. I never want us humans, second or first, to have to live thru that again"

"What was the cause for all of this harm?"

"Humans themselves caused this harm to one another by way of desires for their own self above other humans"

"Yes I believe that about the first humans"

"How do you know about this?" Adam asked puzzled.

"I listened to the Oval. It told me all about the planet and human's right before the fruit was discovered. The fruit changed the nature of humans and made them less harmful towards themselves and other humans"

"So where did you get this Oval?"

"David gave it to me"

"What about your father Adam?" Drek asked changing the subject.

"Since he was not in Antarctica, I believe that he died how Corporate described. I never thought we would find him after I saw how Corporate treated us and all the humans in Sun Dego"

"I am sorry that your father perished"

"He was a good man. He told me to not stop questioning and thinking about things"

"He was truly an immune then"

Drek and Adam sat there in silence. Soon the whales began to move away from the submersible. They were free of them and moving swiftly once again towards Sun Dego.

When they were approaching the dock, Drek instructed the Master Captain robot to slow down to a crawl and to dock near the entrance and to make no communication that they have arrived from Antarctica.

They grabbed their weapons and got onto one of the solar gliders and went quietly out to sea. It would be dusk soon, so they needed to get to the roof top as quickly as possible. They landed on the roof without being spotted and headed for the stairs. The door was locked. Drek

took the MK47 and hit the handle with the end of it. They went inside and went to the first floor. No robots around. When they got into the hall, Drek saw two robots at the far end.

He aimed his MK47 at the robot closest to him and Adam aimed his at the other one.

"One, two, three, fire" Drek counted out. Both robots seized and radiated and slumped over. Drek and Adam headed towards them. They checked the robots and saw that they too had some weaponry. They took the weapons out of their hands and strapped them onto their backs. They headed inside and went to the other side of the room with the big chair.

They slowly opened the door by grabbing one side each and pulling it apart. There inside Corporate lay asleep. They walked quietly over to the bed, weaponry aimed at him.

"Corporate Sun Dego wake up" Drek yelled.

"Who's that, who's calling me? Oh it's you two. You are supposed to be dead. Sound reported to me that you both died"

"Sound lied to you"

"Robots don't lie to their Masters"

"You are no longer Sound's Master. Blank is and he's out of his mind because of that slab"

"You found the slab. Did it take you on a journey?"

"Nope. I am immune to it. Now Adam here, he went on three and now he is a different human"

"Yes, yes, that's what it did to me. I spent two weeks there"

"And it made you want to harm all the humans except for the ones here in Sun Dego"

"There are still too many humans on the earth. We don't know how long the fruit will last"

"Liar. Apparently the Biochrome can be recharged by the slab. You will never be short of fruit"

"You do not know this to be fact"

"Fact enough. Now your time is over Corporate"

"What will you do with me? Kill me?"

"Well you are a danger to all human kind. We will have to do something with you. Take you back to Allassworth"

"Who will run Sun Dego?" We can't stop now, we are moving forward. We need to teach these humans how to work"

"Work is not the solution to procreation. Why do you want them to procreate but at the same time you want to reduce the surplus population?"

"I wanted to start over. Control the humans"

"Is that what the slab taught?"

"Yes, I saw it on my many journeys. I have to control the people"

"By making them slaves? They may as well be dead"

"They have no idea that they are slaves"

"Yes that's what you like. Keep them like animals"

"Animals. I want the animals to come back and live on the earth"

"Humans are above animals and you want them to be slaves"

"The mind control herb is the only way to make the humans learn so that we can teach them to procreate"

"There you are wrong. What if they learn more and more and eventually they will realize they are under your control as slaves and then they will rebel and kill you their selves"

"No! They will never rebel. They will never be that united to do that or be that smart"

"I agree because we are not going to let you make them slaves anymore"

Drek and Adam walked away from the bed as Corporate sat up and stood.

"How are you going to stop me?"

"We are going to hold you as our guest and stop the use of the herb to control them"

"No, no you can't do that. They will go back to how they were. They will be Hedons"

"Better to be Hedons than to be slaves"

"Joe Giordano will not let you do this"

"Joe Giordano is alive? You said he died!"

"Well he kinda did as Joe Giordano. He was experimenting with the control herb and after great success with it. I had him eat it, forced him to eat it, and now he is in my control. He is working on making it stronger. He will not listen to you"

"Where is he?" Adam demanded.

"I'll never tell. The robots don't know his whereabouts. He is far from here"

Drek and Adam looked at each. Adam thru his weapon on the floor and attacked Corporate. He had his hands around his neck, squeezing as hard as he could.

"Tell me where my father is now!"

"Help me Drek" Corporate wheezed out this plea. Drek stood there watching. Adam squeezed until he turned red.

"Enough Adam, don't kill him, then we'll never find your father"

With this Adam let go of Corporate and walked away. Corporate sat down on the bed choking and gasping for air. After a few moments of this, he began to speak, "I see that you were at the slab longer than I first thought. You are now like me. We can kill another man from shear anger"

"I am not like you Corporate. You are like the first humans. Harmful to other humans"

"You just tried to cut off my breathing, that seems harmful to me and I am human"

"Where is my father?"

"I can't recall now"

At this Adam grabbed Corporate and dragged him out of his quarters and out to the street. He grabbed one of the flat robots and took him to one of the gates. He proceeded to take him outside and make him burn in the sun.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see" When they walked out from under the protection of the filter, Adam was expecting Corporate to begin to burn. Nothing happened.

"Why are you not burning?"

"Why do you think?"

"I have no idea"

"When I went down to the Antarctica and visited the slab. It changed me. I can be outside without burning. Just as you can now"

"How is that possible?"

"It is the magic of the slab. It elevates our bodies beyond what we have experienced before"

"So everyone who comes in contact with the slab can live without the protection of the city filter?"

"It seems to be that way with you and I and all the other Corporates"

"So where is my father?" Adam demanded as he dragged him back into the city.

"You'll never find him. He is far far away"

"We'll see about that" Adam refuted.

They went back to the headquarters. Drek was standing out front.

"I see that we are not getting anywhere. Maybe a few nights without food will make him speak" They dragged him to the room where they had been kept and locked him in. Drek broke the door button with his weapon.

"Do you think your father is still in Antarctica?"

"Yes I do" Adam answered. "You know that whoever comes in contact with the slab, they will no longer burn from the sun"

"Who told you this?"

"Corporate just told me. I took him outside the gate and he didn't burn"

"Well that is amazing. Now all humans can live free outside of the city"

"First we have to get them down to Antarctica"

"We can take them down in the submersibles. There must be about a 15,000 in storage. Each one can hold about 50 or so people"

"What do you think will happen when we expose them to the slab and they start to become learned?"

"Like you Adam? Are you going to deny these people the right to live freely outside the city?"

"What if they start acting like Corporate? Wanting to harm each other?"

"I don't believe that a five minute exposure to the slab will cause them to harm one another"

"We don't know that"

"Maybe we should take a group of them down there and see what happens? Then we can look for your father"

"I guess we can try that. Let's go as soon as possible"

They asked the Master Robot to round up ten men and women to take with them and to lock up Corporate on the ship too. Give him something to sleep. They would leave the following morning.

"Drek do you think that the control herb might affect them differently than me or Corporate? What if it affects them harmfully or they want to harm us?"

"I guess we will have to deal with that when it happens. We still have weapons and I am not afraid to use them if they become harmful. Now let's call up David and tell him what we learned"

They called David and explained everything to him and that they had planned to return to the Antarctica to see if exposing the humans to the slab would indeed make them immune to the sun.

David then asked, "What if it made the humans be able to procreate?"

Drek was surprised by the question. "Well according to this Corporate, all the Corporates went there to the slab. Wouldn't they have been able to procreate?"

"Good point. Maybe that's why they wanted me to do the DNA Replicated Embryonic Klones? Maybe they wanted to try to procreate with them, but they all died except you. If they found out you were alive, they would come after you"

"How long will it be before you can start working on a female DNA Replicated Embryonic Klone?"

"We do not have any more first human eggs from before the fruit. We need to go to the other cities to search for them"

"Do you believe there could still be some stored?"

"Well if Allassworth Corporate asked me, then maybe some of the other Corporates in the other cities also tried. Maybe they still have some first human eggs"

"Well we will be leaving tomorrow morning and we are going to take Corporate with us. I don't trust him"

"Good idea. Keep me posted"

Drek signed off and looked at Adam.

"Do you think that you could procreate with a female after she visits the slab Drek?"

"I don't know. But since you have visited the slab, maybe you should try it with one of the females?"

"I have never been with a female before"

"Why not?"

"I don't know why. I only like males"

"I thought that the males and females did not distinguish between themselves?"

"Most of them don't, but I am an immune and I do distinguish between them. I prefer the males to the females"

"I see. I wonder if this will happen to all the humans once they are exposed to the slab"

"What if they will be able to distinguish between the male and female?"

"Then they will be like me" Adam piped up.

"Can you be with a female?"

"I might have to start off with a male to get going. Maybe with you"

"I would be willing to do that. Why is a female so different?"

"You'll have to try for yourself"

They went to see how the Master Captain Robot was doing. They had gathered five males and five females and had put them in their quarters. Drek and Adam went to their quarters after instructing the captain to start off as soon as the sun rose.

"Are you ready for this long haul?" Drek had asked Adam.

"It will be less boring with five males on board"

"Don't forget the females"

"I will try not to. You can talk with them"

At sunrise Drek awoke to the submersible moving slowly from the harbor. Soon he felt the ship speed up and it was soon at full speed. He laid there for a while and thought of Adam. He liked Adam and he felt close to him. He felt closer to him than he did David. Maybe he only liked males too.

He got up and left his quarters. He found Adam sitting in the chair at the 360 degree window.

"Good morning Adam, sleep well?"

"Yes as a matter of fact I did. Dreamt too. Of Antarctica and my father.

"Were the dreams like the journeys?"

"Yes they were memories of the journeys"

"Did it bother you?"

"No not at all. I like seeing my father as well"

"Good for you. Now let's go meet our crew" They went down to the sleeping quarters.

Drek knocked on the door and then opened it.

"Good morning all" he said as he walked in.

"I am Drek and this is Adam. We asked you to come along with us to Antarctica to help us out. I hope that you all came willingly"

There was agreement from all of them. The men all slept on the left bunks and the women on the right bunks. They were all wearing some type of outfit that was the same. Would you like to introduce yourselves and tell us a little about yourself?"

Crew 1 piped up "I am Mike. I work in the warehouse"

Crew 2 piped up "I am Mike. I work in the warehouse"

Crew 3 piped up "I am Mike. I work in the warehouse"

Crew 4 piped up "I am Mike. I work in the warehouse"

Crew 5 piped up "I am Mike. I work in the warehouse"

Crew 6 piped up "I am Mary. I work in the warehouse"

Crew 2 piped up "I am Mary. I work in the warehouse"

Crew 8 piped up "I am Mary. I work in the warehouse"

Crew 9 piped up "I am Mary. I work in the warehouse"

Crew 0 piped up "I am Mary. I work in the warehouse"

Drek turned and looked at Adam. "Why do they all have the same name?"

Adam shook his head. "I don't know but it is very common to use these names"

Drek was surprised. "They all came from the warehouse?"

"You asked the Master Captain Robot to find them. He went to the warehouse and found them.

"I gathered that"

"Well nice to meet all of you. We can all go to the dining room and have some fruit"

Drek nodded at Adam and then exited the room. He walked to the dining room and Adam followed.

"Should we wait for them?"

"Are they not following us?"

"I don't see them"

"Well go back and get them please" Adam turned around and went to get them. Drek went to the dining room. He sat there and a robot had placed twelve bowls with fruit in them. He sat at one end of the table and began to eat.

A few minutes later the crew came in after Adam who sat at the other end of the table. They all sat down and began to it quietly. Drek stopped and asked Adam, "Do they not speak?"

"I don't know. Ask them"

Drek looked around the table. "So does anyone want to talk?"

They all stopped eating.

"Not everyone at once" Drek joked.

"What do you want to talk about? Work?" Crew 1 Mike asked.

"Not work. Do you all like to sexualize with both males and females? Raise your hand if you do"

All ten raised their hands.

"Wow. That's good" He looked at Adam. So after they visit the slab then we shall see if they change their preference. Adam nodded.

"So tell me about your family Crew 1 Mike" Drek asked.

"What is family?"

"Adam they are all the same, so that's good too"

"Do you like to work?"

"I work because I am asked to do it. What is like?"

"Would you prefer to be doing something else than work, sexualizing, eating, sleeping?"

"I like to work. It gives me something to do"

"Does it make you feel good, like sexualizing, eating?"

"Yes it feels the same almost"

"How so?"

"I get pleasure from both sexualizing and working and eating fruit and sleeping"

"Well Adam we have regular Hedons as crew members. I think this is great. We shall see if the slab changes them in any way"

Adam nodded again.

"Now we brought you all to go with us to do an experiment"

"What is experiment?"

"It's where we" Drek paused. "Never mind. We are going to take you to this piece of rock and we want you to just relax and enjoy it. Is that understood?"

Simultaneously they all said yes. Drek was finished and he decided to go to the 360 degree chair. He took Crew 1 Mike and grabbed his arm and motioned him to come with him. They left the room.

Adam was looking at the rest of the men. He wanted to sexualize with them. The females did nothing for him. He sat there and when they were finished he grabbed two of the Mikes and led them back to his quarters. He told the rest to stay there and relax.

Drek sat Crew 1 Mike down in the chair and he sat next to him. He told him to look out into the ocean and began to explain to him what they were doing. Crew 1 Mike just looked around and said nothing.

After a while of staring they began to see the whales coming closer. Crew 1 Mike had never seen a whale or other living creature. He was shocked and awed by them. He began to ask questions of what they were and why they were in the ocean. Drek was surprised by this but happy. He explained to him which took a very long time because Crew 1 Mike kept asking questions about simple things over and over. He finally understood what the whales were.

This made Drek smile. He realized that these Sun Degos could be taught how to do things. Was it from the herb? Did they fully grasp the knowledge? Were they just repeating it? Drek pondered this. Okay he thought he was going to have each crew member come here and have Crew 1 Mike explain the whales to them.

He left Crew 1 Mike and went to the dining room. There he was surprised that Adam had left them. He took two of the females and led them to the 360 degree window and had them sit and listen to Crew 1 Mike who began to explain the whales to them. They had the very same questions that Crew 1 Mike had. Drek left them and went to get two more. He did this until they had all heard Crew 1 Mike explain it to them. Adam had finally returned and brought his two Crew Mikes who listened as well.

"Adam do you think that they learned or just listened and absorbed the words without comprehension?"

"I think their comprehension is limited but they do understand that the whales are not humans and are aware of them as a different species. How much more than that I don't know"

"I hope they do retain some of it because on the trip back I want to talk to them about the whales and see if their knowledge not only is intact but if they have developed some cognitive questions about them as well"

"I believe they will have. I became more cognitive after my journeys at the Slab"

"Your vocabulary has expounded as well"

"Yes I believe that it has as well. Not sure why" Adam added.

"Because of your exposure to the Slab"

Later they arrived at Antarctica. It was still daylight. Drek and Adam took one glider and headed to the Wall. They arrived and found the place to be operating as usual.

"Do you think Blank is alright now?"

"I hope so" Adam admitted slowly.

They parked the glider on the roof and headed towards the door. Down in the main chamber where the Chair was they found Blank asleep.

"Blank, wake up, wake up"

Blank slowly opened his eyes and saw that it was Drek and Adam.

"Oh Drek, Adam, you've come to save me. Please take me away from this place. I can't bear to stay here anymore"

"What's the matter Blank? Is it the Slab?"

"Yes, it draws me to it every day. I can't resist it. I want to leave here as soon as possible"

"Well you can come with us then when we leave. We have brought ten humans to visit the Slab"

"No, don't bring them here, it will cause them only grief"

"We want to experiment. We believe that once they are exposed to the Slab, then they can live without the protective filter from the sun"

"Why do you believe this?"

Adam interrupted, "Because I can be in the sun now and so can Corporate Sun Dego"

"I don't believe you"

"It's true Blank. So we want to see if it will be true of other humans"

"I forbid you from going to the Slab. That place is cursed. It is evil"

"Your vocabulary is expanded. Cursed? Evil?"

"Yes I know what those words mean. I wish I didn't. I wish I had never felt the Slab or gone on those journeys" Blank began to cry.

Adam looked at him. "What is he doing?"

"Adam my friend, Blank is crying"

"Yes but why and how and I have never seen someone cry before"

"The Slab has affected him and we need to take him from this place. Maybe this is not such a good idea"

"I feel the Slab calling to me" Adam added.

"You must resist it"

"I know I must. I don't want to become like Blank. I don't want to cry"

"Let's take him back to the ship and bring the others. We will only expose them for ten minutes and then we shall take them back to the ship and leave tomorrow. I will find Sound"

Blank looked up and hailed Sound who came. "I am not leaving with Sound"

"Okay you can take him with you. We have plenty of room. Sound gather up five flat robots and follow us to the ship, it's on the other side of the island"

"Island?"

"Yes I am calling this an island now. Soon to be a forbidden one"

"Why forbidden?"

"Can you not see what it has done to Blank? What it has done to the Corporates?"

"I see what it has done to me"

"You are an exception. Now we must hurry. I want to bring all the crew here before dark. Let's go"

They went back to the ship and picked up the crew. They left Sound with Blank. Drek instructed Master Captain Robot not to leave without them under any circumstance. He even took the key to the ship. A rectangular silver rod that was the key. He hung it around his neck.

When they started to approach the Slab, he instructed the crew to sit down and hold each other. He had a male and female on each flat robot. They all passed out as they approached the Slab. Adam was left far enough away; Drek didn't want him going on another journey.

They hovered over the Slab, all five flat robots for ten minutes and then departed picking up Adam.

"So what do you think will happen?"

"I don't think they were there long enough, but they may have been there too long for their first time"

"I just want to get out of here"

"No one will be left to run it?"

"I don't believe so"

"What about Corporate?"

"What about him?"

"Why did we bring him?"

"Just so he wouldn't escape in Sun Dego. I think he has tricks of his own"

"What kind of tricks?"

"The kind that would help him escape"

"Oh"

Just then the crew began to wake up. They were all in a daze and confused and didn't speak.

"Let's make sure they get to their quarters as soon as we get to the ship"

"Yes Drek"

"I want to take these flat robots with us back to Sun Dego"

"Why?"

"I think we can use them there"

Adam didn't respond.

Drek instructed them to be escorted back to their quarters. He had the flat robots stored and then went to check on Blank.

Blank was sound asleep. "Sound, why is Blank asleep?"

"He asked me to put him to sleep because he was in torment"

"Okay, well if he wakes up, keep him here and hail me" Sound agreed. Drek left him.

Back at the dining room, Adam was eating and Drek sat down next to him and grabbed the fruit. "So how you feeling?"

"It is not so strong on this side of the island, that feeling from the Slab"

"I am glad the distance helps. Blank asked to be put to sleep, Sound told me. He said Blank felt tormented"

"Maybe the Slab knows you are taking Blank off the island"

"Maybe Blank has been here so long that he can feel it on this side of the island"

"Yes maybe. He felt torment? From the Slab?"

"That's what Sound told me he said"

"After a few hours let's bring the crew in here and let them eat and ask them about their journeys"

"Sounds good" They finished eating their fruit.

A few hours later the crew was brought back into the dining room and they all sat down and ate their fruit. Drek and Adam watched them quietly. When they had finished eating, he began to speak.

"When you were at the Slab did any of you dream?"

"Dream? Is that what you call it?"

"Well it's like dreaming, but we are calling it a journey"

"Did you all go on a journey?"

"We all went on journey together. I went with Crew 1 Mary because she was next to me when we fell asleep"

"You were together in the dream on a journey?"

"Yes we were walking together"

"All of you had a journey with the person you were sitting next to?"

"Yes we did"

"How do you know?"

"Because we all shared it with each other?"

"Do you feel different now after your journeys?"

"We have all talked about it and we feel strange. We are no longer are the humans we were before we went on our journey"

"How do you feel?"

"We are still absorbing it all"

Adam interjected, "That's how I felt after the first time. I felt different but I didn't know how. You will all still need some time before you understand it all. It will take a few days"

"Why did you bring us here?" Crew 1 Mike asked.

"That was the experiment. To see if it would change you"

"It apparently did. Now we understand what an experiment is. You asked us to do something and now we have changed. We never had a choice"

"It was too hard to explain before"

"You should have tried harder"

"If I had, would you have said yes?"

All of the crew nodded their heads in unison.

"So why the rebuke?"

"We understand things now that we didn't before"

"Yes that is what I wanted to happen?"

"Why?"

"So we could make you to be aware of yourselves. Of whom you are"

"Are you like us?"

Adam piped up, "I am now and although at first it was a bit scary, I now accept it and enjoy it. I was not like you in the first place. I was more like Drek, who was never like us"

"Adam, we can explain later about me" Drek cut him off.

"You should all go sleep now, it has been exhausting. The more sleep you have, the more you will absorb and become comfortable with your new knowledge" Adam suggested.

They all got up and went to their quarters together.

When they left, Drek looked at Adam, "Did we do the wrong thing?"

"I said that they may turn out like Corporate Sun Dego, did I not?"

"I think after they rest they will be much better"

"I recall that you were a bit disoriented after you first visited the slab and you slept a long time"

"Yes and I had the dreams of my journey as well"

"We should see about Blank and Corporate Sun Dego"

"Has Corporate been knocked out this entire time?"

"Yes and I think it's time to wake him. I want to take him to the Slab and see what effect it will have on him. Would you be willing to go and see if you both are in the journey together?"

"I would"

"I will have no way of knowing how long to keep you there"

"No more than ten minutes. That is plenty of time"

"Let's not wake up Corporate until we have arrived. I will have one of the Robots load him onto the Flat Robot"

"Do you think he will resist?"

"Not taking a chance on that"

They went to Corporate's quarters and found him unconscious. The Robot picked him up and took him to the Flat Robot and they headed to the Slab. As they approached, he began to stir. Drek instructed the Robot to keep him secured. Adam sat next to him and held his hand as he began to fall asleep. They hovered over the Slab for ten minutes and then departed. When they were far enough away, Adam began to wake, he was groggy.

"Adam, how you doing?"

"It is as the crew said, I was in the journey with Corporate" he said slowly. "Let me take some time and absorb this"

"We will be back at the ship soon and you can rest" Corporate never woke up.

Back at the ship, Drek went to the Master Captain Robot and instructed him that they would leave in the morning back to Sun Dego. He wanted to leave as soon as possible. He went to the 360 degree window and fell asleep.

He awoke and Adam was sitting next to him.

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"Many hours I believe. Are you sure that the Slab didn't affect you?"

"I felt tired but I don't believe that it did"

"In the journey with Corporate we were in this place of great destruction all around us. We were not affected by it but were just observers. There were explosions everywhere and so many people were being slaughtered. Then we jumped to another place and it was the most peaceful tranquil place. It was very green and the people were all laughing and eating and drinking. It was very odd to see the two places one after the next. Corporate didn't seem like he knew I was there with him. He didn't acknowledge me"

"Do you think it was because he was unconscious?"

"He seemed to be enjoying the spectacle of the war, but when we were in the tranquil setting, he seemed perturbed and uncomfortable. I didn't speak to him either"

"Why not?"

"I sensed in the dream that he was unaware that I was with him and I didn't want him to notice me"

"So do you think this is why he wants to control the humans?"

"It is probably so. He saw the destruction and he enjoyed it. He wants to destroy all the rest of the humans and control the Sun Dego humans"

"Why do you think he wants this?"

"He is like the first humans; there were some that caused war throughout the life of humans. They reveled in controlling humans"

"You absorbed that from the journey?"

"Yes that is what I felt, that it was not just a onetime war. That war has been happening since the beginning of man"

"Do you want that to return to man?"

"If we expose them to the Slab, then there will be some humans who will see what Corporate saw and will want war as well and to control humans"

"We shall see how our crew has been affected. We need to talk to David. When we return to Sun Dego, we will need to keep the crew confined from the other humans. They may react with violence against them now that they are no longer complacent"

"Drek do you really feel they will be violent?"

"We need to keep them confined and observe their behavior. Even test them"

"They may not like that. If they don't then we know we have a problem"

"We need to call David and talk to him"

They phoned David and he picked up.

"We are departing tomorrow, how we picked you up is beyond me"

"You're down in the Antarctica and I believe the satellite can pick you up. What news do you have for me?" They told David all of what they had learned and David listened quietly.

"I want to visit that Slab and study it"

"It is a very dangerous and I am not sure you should visit" Drek proclaimed.

"Well after we observe what happened to your ten crew members then we will know more. Keep me informed"

"Will do" Drek disconnected.

"I saw something else on my journey with Corporate"

"Do you not want to share it with me?"

"I don't at this time"

"Then another time" Drek got up and went to see the Master Captain Robot. Adam sat and pondered his journey.

The Master Captain Robot informed Drek that they would be departing in a few hours. Drek was still tired and he went to his quarters. He would sleep most of the trip.

A few hours later Drek woke up from a jolt in the ship. He quickly arose and went to see the Master Captain Robot.

"What was that jolt?"

"The whales have been rubbing up against the ship more than usual. They seem to be acting like they want to mate with us"

"Mate with us?"

"I don't know any other reason why they would be bumping up against us so. This has never happened before"

"Can we get out of here quickly?"

"We just entered them and it will be a couple hours before we navigate thru them"

Just then another knock on the ship. Adam came asking what the problem was. Drek explained what the Master Captain Robot told him.

"Will they crush the ship?" Adam asked frantically.

"What do you know Adam? What didn't you want to tell me about your Journey?"

"I never saw anything like this in my journey, but I feel like the whales are responding to our crew and Corporate and Blank"

"You think they sense them on the ship?"

"I do. I think we are in danger. I don't know if they want to destroy us, but they are sensing something"

Just then another hit to the ship. It knocked Adam into Drek's arms who grabbed him.

"Master Captain Robot can you try to get us out of here?"

Just then another hit to the ship.

"They are trying to destroy us"

"But why?"

"It's the Slab, it is our entire crew, they are giving some sort of invisible wavelength that is affecting the whales"

"How do you know this Adam?"

"I just feel it"

"Is there any damage to the hull Captain?"

"None that is serious so far, but if we take a few more hits, the hull may be breached"

"Do we have any weapons?"

"No weapons on board"

"Drek lets take the solar glider and use the AK47 and try to scare the whales away!"

"Master Captain Robot can we open the up hatch and get the solar glider out?"

"You should be able to. If we get another big hit, you may not be able to"

"Come on Adam, let's go"

They headed to the solar glider and opened the hatch, some water came pouring in on them. They had to wait while the sun shone thru the hatch and charged it. Water kept splashing in with every bump from the whales. They grabbed their weaponry from the locker while waiting for the solar glider to charge.

"Are we going to make it out of here?"

"Yes Adam. Let's try it, hop on, I'll do the shooting" They climbed on and the solar glider lifted up thru the hatch. They saw thousands of whales for miles. Once high enough from the ship, Drek aimed at the whales and sent a pulse shot at them. Nothing happened. He then launched a projectile at them and they began to scatter. He shot a few more all around the ship and the whales moved away from it.

"How long do you think they will stay away from it?"

"We'll have to make a way for it to go" Drek began shooting the pulsar in front of the ship to create a path thru the whales. They moved away and the ship began to accelerate. Faster than the glider could keep up. Drek continue to fire the pulsar ahead of the ship. They were quickly falling further behind.

"If he continues Adam, he might run into the whales and sink"

"He needs to slow down"

Just then they saw that the ship had come to a complete stop. Then went flying up into the air. A whale had rammed it head on.

"They are going to die!"

As they approached the ship was lying on its side.

"Get me down there Adam" Drek demanded.

Adam lowered the solar glider and Drek jumped down onto the ship. He scurried to the hatch which was filling up with water. He jumped into it and swam to the hatch, opening it and letting the water fill the compartment. The lights were flashing and the siren sounding. He made his way to the Captain's head and found it destroyed and the front of the ship smashed in. He went back to the quarters and found Blank who was pinned under his bunk. He grabbed him and dragged him back to the hatch. The other glider was still in place. He untied it and put Blank on it. They took off and just then the ship sank under the water.

He glided slowly up to where Adam was who looked terrified.

"What have we done?"

"Let's go, there's nothing we can do about them"

"I am so glad you saved Blank"

"He was the only one I could find conscious, the others may have already been dead"

"Including Corporate?"

"I never saw him but I am sure he was killed like the rest"

They ascended and flew north. They headed towards the first land mass on the navigator knowing they would have to spend the night. Drek was worried for their safety and didn't know how long Blank would last. They had a small stash of fruit in the solar glider, but it would take two days to get to Sun Dego.

"Let's go until there is no more sun. We are short on fruit" Adam nodded as they flew on.

"When we land, we'll call David and inform him of what happened"

They flew on for many hours and finally reached land. They found a clearing to land near the beach and landed.

"Let's spend the night here. I think it's safe"

"We know the whales won't get us, do you think there are elephants around?"

"I doubt it, they seem to travel together"

They gathered branches and made a fire near the gliders. Blank was barely conscious and they put him near the fire.

"It feels colder here"

"The fire will keep us warm. Come set next to me"

Adam sat next to Drek and held him. They fell asleep in each other's arms.

Near dawn Drek woke up to a noise. He looked around and could see a figure standing there in the dusk.

"Who's there?"

This startled Adam who stood up and aimed his AK47 at the figure.

"Don't shoot!"

"Who are you?"

"It is I, your father"

"My father is dead" Adam barked backed.

"No I am not" said Joe as he walked towards them.

As he came closer Adam recognized him.

"Father! What are you doing here?" He dropped his weapon and ran towards him. They embraced for a long moment.

"I escaped Antarctica; I made a ship and sailed here using the wind"

"How?"

"It was not easy, but when I came upon the whales, they helped me and brought me here"

"The whales helped you?"

"Yes. I was very grateful to them"

"They attacked our ship and sank it. We had the solar gliders and survived"

"They attacked your ship?"

"The rest of our crew perished"

"Why would they do that?"

"Corporate Sun Dego was aboard also"

"What was he doing with you?"

"We had taken him as a guest down to Antarctica. We took five males and females to the slab to see if it would make them immune to the sun. To see if they would procreate"

"Procreate?"

"Who gave you this idea?"

"Well when Corporate told us he had been to the Slab and he would no longer burn in the sun, we thought it might make the females able to procreate"

"All the Corporates had been there and were not able to procreate with each other, not that I think they attempted to but I think they thought it might work with a first human. That's why they wanted me to go to Sun Franco and search for frozen first human eggs"

"Come meet Drek, he is a DNA Replicated Embryonic Klone, a first human"

"What? Have they done it?"

"Yes in Allassworth, a scientist named David, he said he knew you"

"Yes I did meet David a few times. He actually created a first human klone?"

"Come see" Adam led his father to Drek.

Drek stood there watching. Joe was so impressed. He was looking at him as if he was not standing there.

"I am just amazed! You are perfect!"

"Should I not be?"

"The first DREKs were deformed and mental retarded. They were worthless and destroyed"

"I was one of 13 and the only one that survived. David, my father, hid me from Corporate and raised me as his own"

"He is not your father, but your creator"

"No, he used his RNA to reactive the DNA in both the egg and the sperm"

"How do you know all this?"

"He taught it to me"

"You are more than just an Immune. You are like the first humans"

"I believe that I am but without the evil qualities"

"You know the concept of evil"

"So do I father. I went to the Slab and went on a journey with Corporate Sun Dego"

"How did you do this?"

"Have a seat and I shall tell you all about it"

"Let's go back to my camp and we can eat and talk"

"How far is it? We can take the solar gliders, there is enough light"

They all climbed on and headed towards Joe's camp. Once there he brought them fruit and they sat at a large tree trunk and ate. They laid Blank inside on a hammock and fed him some fruit. Then Adam told his father all about their adventures from the first time he met Drek. Joe listened silently.

"I am amazed by all this. So no one is left in Sun Franco? The hybrid fruit has been destroyed? Wow you men have been busy"

"I regret losing our crew"

"That seems so odd that the whales attacked your ship. I can't imagine why"

"So father tell me more about your journey at the Slab"

"Well it was not much, I dreamt only good things, and nothing was evil like you say you saw with Corporate"

"So are we never going to be complacent again father?"

"I don't think so son. Now we have to help others"

"We tried that and look what happened"

Drek piped up, "How are you growing the fruit?"

"I devised a growing box and brought with me the Biochrome"

"Does it not lose its growing properties after a while?"

"I have not been here that long and brought plenty of the Biochrome when I came. It seems to be lasting"

"Do you think that was all a hoax about the Biochrome depleting itself?"

"No, it does, but not as much in a controlled environment. You saw how they grow it down in Antarctica; it is underground, away from the sun. When they were shipping the Biochrome all over the world, the growers were careless and let it become exposed too much to the sun and it lost its properties quickly. They were never taught how to grow the fruit properly. During the night, the Biochrome self charges by releasing the stored gamma rays from the sun. This helps it last longer, however, most growers failed to do this step. It can last almost indefinitely if this is done nightly. The Corporation didn't want the growers to know this. I found out about it and that is why Corporate Sun Dego sent me to Antarctica"

"He said you were a fool and wanted to save the humans"

"Well that would really have saved all the humans before the third world war over the fruit and the Biochrome. They were greedy"

"Pure evil!" Adam exclaimed.

"Yes they were. It backfired when the complacency started and no one would work anymore. The entire network of mining the Biochrome and shipping it out was in place. They figured it out and claimed that it only had a certain amount of life. They were buying back the Biochrome so no one found out that it would recharge in the dark"

"For nothing they were buying it back"

"Then they stopped shipping it all together and only shipped the fruit out. This was their way of controlling the Biochrome"

"And the masses"

"Hence the story that the Biochrome had been completely mined and there was none left, which was all fabricated by Corporate"

"Where do you think the Slab came from?"

"I believe it to be a meteor that crashed on the earth and caused an ice age which in turn covered it up for thousands of years"

"An ice age?" Adam asked.

"When the earth was covered in ice"

"We don't even have any records that tell us about our past. They were all destroyed along with the technology of the day" Drek added.

"That is not entirely correct. The last satellite that was sent into orbit was also a storage facility with all of man's knowledge up to the time it was launched"

"The satellite we use to contact David?"

"You can contact David in Allassworth?"

"Yes with our communicator"

"What kind of technology is this?"

"David gave it to us"

"Well he must be higher ranking than me, because I didn't believe that we had these. This is how we can access the storage data base in the satellite"

"Do you think David knows about the storage data in the satellite?"

"Apparently he does not; otherwise he would not have given you one of these"

"I don't know but we can try to call him. In Sun Dego, we can only reach him at dawn and dusk; he explained that's when the satellite is in the correct orbit"

"Let's give it a shot" Joe exclaimed.

Drek took the communicator off and placed it around Joe's neck and pressed it. There was no answer.

"I bet we are too far north, when we were in the Antarctica we called him anytime of the day"

"The satellite must be set to be reached from the Antarctica. That is where we must go to access the data from it and bring it back down to earth. Then we will have all the knowledge of the first humans"

"I don't want to go back down there. It's evil"

"What's Drek talking about?"

"The Slab has no affect on Drek, but he feels like it affects us in an harmful way"

"Why, because of Corporate?"

"Yes, he wanted to wipe out all the other cities with the tainted fruit, the one he sent to Sun Franco. Only the humans in Sun Dego would live and become slaves"

"Well if we gather that knowledge we can take it to Sun Dego and learn from it and maybe learn to procreate"

"They couldn't procreate before the satellite went up, why would they have knowledge that they hid from the humans"

"I don't know but we have to find out before the satellite dies and we lose all hope"

"Why can't we try to start over, not used the knowledge of the past?"

"It will take centuries, and the complacency of the humans now, they may pass on before we do"

"How do they know that we will pass on?"

"From what I heard, the fruit only slows down our aging process from eating it daily. They calculated that we would live to be about 1000 years old at our aging rate"

"They did this in the lab?"

"Yes using the tissue of the first humans who began to eat the fruit and reversed their age"

"How accurate do you think they were?"

"I believe they must have been very accurate"

"I say we let the satellite die" Drek proclaimed.

"Why Drek?" Adam asked puzzled.

"Don't you remember your journey with Corporate? They will have the technology to make weapons to destroy each other"

"We won't let that happen" Joe proclaimed.

"I don't see how you can stop that"

"I see you taught my son to fire weaponry"

"We had to use the weapons to stop the tainted fruit from being sent all over the earth"

"See there you have it, you used weaponry to save humans"

"That was different, we had no choice, and we had to use the weaponry"

"Admit that you used technology, weaponry to save the humans regardless if you had no choice"

"Yeah Drek we need the technology. What if we need to repair the robots that grow the fruit?" Adam interjected.

"Well I will concur but I don't like it. We should talk to David first"

"I believe David will say yes"

"Me too Drek"

"We should talk to him first before we trek back there"

"We will, we will call him later and explain everything to him, my father will"

"What will we do with Blank?"

"We can leave him here. I have plenty of fruit for him to eat. He will recover and hang out"

"What if he wishes to go with us?"

"I don't think he wants to go back Drek"

"I hope not"

They had finished their fruit and Drek went to check on Blank inside the hut. Adam and Joe hopped on the solar glider and headed to the beach. They landed and got off.

"I love the beach son, it is so relaxing to walk along and listen to the water"

"Yes we did it once traveling to Sun Franco. We thought sea monsters would come out and eat us"

"Well now you know that the only sea monsters are the whales and they cannot walk. So how do you feel about this Drek? Can you trust him?"

"Oh yes, with my life. He is a very trustworthy"

"Your vocabulary has expounded"

"It's from being at the Slab. I went a few times. It changed me. Opened up my eyes"

"Yes I gathered that. So what about these elephants?"

"Yes we saw them, millions of them and they are headed towards Allassworth"

"You know this or you think this"

"Well no matter where they are headed, they leave a path of destruction where ever they go. They need to be stopped"

"What if the tainted fruit doesn't stop them?"

"Then we need to bring some weaponry from Antarctica and destroy them. Drek says they have no predators to keep their population in check and they have been breeding and multiplying for 150 years now like the whales"

"I see" Joe paused and you claim that all the animals have been stored at Allassworth, underground, frozen DNA?"

"That's what Corporate Sun Dego claimed. He wanted to go there and start kloning them. Bring them all back"

"Well maybe we can do that"

"I suppose so"

"The earth can be restored again"

"But what of the humans?"

"Will we find a way for them to procreate?"

"That I am not sure of. So David is trying to klone a female?"

"Yes but he can't. They used all the first eggs that were frozen"

"That's why I was sent to Sun Franco. Nothing was there"

"Maybe under Allassworth they have them stored with the animals?"

"Wouldn't David's bosses, Allassworth Corporate, have known?"

"Maybe they don't know about the underground storage facility"

"I am sure they do, how could Corporate Sun Dego have known?"

"Maybe David will know"

"I doubt that, I didn't know about it and I had a high level access"

"How did you know that?"

"David told me he was only a 5SI, and I am a 7SIA"

"What does that mean?"

"Level 13 is highest. I was at Level 7, System Information All. David is only at Level 5, System Information, which he doesn't have access to All the levels below him"

"I was bumped up to Level 9SIA when I went to Sun Franco. There that was their highest level. I had access to all the System Information Data Base. I found very little to help me out"

"Well maybe they gave David higher access now?"

"That could be. We'll find out soon enough"

"Is it true that Corporate Sun Dego sank your ship?"

"Is that what happened? He admitted to it?"

"Yes he only wanted you alive, he thought that the others may have eaten of the bad fruit and would contaminate his Sun Dego"

"They would have not lasted a day if they had eaten the bad fruit. The ones that did, went mad immediately and killed each other"

"That sounds horrible"

"It was a sight I have never seen before"

"Yeah and if the Complacent are exposed to the Slab, it may be a more common site"

"We don't know that yet"

"Corporate Sun Dego is the perfect example, he was pure evil"

"Yes I suppose he was"

"Father, you know he was, he banished you to the Antarctica and he used you and made you his slave"

"I somehow thought that I was doing something for the humans. I didn't mind being used. At least I was working on something that I thought would help us out in the long run"

"I believe you father" Adam chimed in.

"I am glad you do son"

"I never thought I would see you again father, Corporate told us you were killed at first. I just didn't believe him"

"He was an evil man"

They had been walking along on the beach as they talked, the blue water still as glass.

"Shall we take a swim?"

"Do you think it's safe?"

"Oh yes, no whales around here"

They undressed and ran into the water. They swam out far enough that their heads were still above the water. Adam was looking at his father and wondered what it would be like to kiss him. He moved closer to him and grabbed him with both hands and kissed him. It was a very deep kiss. Joe's mouth was warm and his tongue wet. His father grabbed him back and squeezed him tightly. Adam was excited. He had never even thought about sexualizing with his father. They held each other tightly for a while, kissing deeply and then softly. Adam felt safe in his father's embrace. After a while they released each other and swam to the shore. They lay on the beach and sexualized. Afterwards, they held each other and fell asleep.

A few hours later they woke up and walked back to the camp. When they arrived they found Blank sitting up at the table talking to Drek.

"He's alive" Adam proclaimed.

"Yes and thank God not on that Island"

"God?" Adam asked.

"Yeah a higher being, something that has been lost since the fruit"

"Blank was just telling me about God. It's very interesting but I find it hard to believe myself" Drek announced.

"I want to hear about this God thing" Adam interjected.

"Sit down and I will tell you all about it. You too Joe, we haven't met, I am Blank" He reached out and shook his hand. They both sat down and ate some fruit while they listened to Blank talk about God.

This went on for an hour and when he was finished Adam asked, "You learned this from being at the Slab?"

"It drew me to it every moment that I was on that island. I could only resist it when I was asleep"

"So there is a God, who made us and this earth?"

"That's what the first human's believed"

"What is God's name?"

"That I didn't learn. It seems to be accepted to just call him God"

"Wow!" Joe chimed in.

"So I think it's time to call David. Joe, just push the button and it will automatically call David"

Joe did this, after a few moments, David was on.

"Hey, I am here, what news do you have for me?"

"David we found Adam's father, he wants to talk to you. Joe go ahead and speak" Drek instructed.

Joe got up and began to walk back and forth as he told David what he knew about the satellite storage and how to download the information in Antarctica, including the storage facility underground there in Allassworth. David was surprised to hear this. David agreed that they should return to Antarctica and retrieve as much data as possible and store it there. He was concerned that the satellite might become inoperable. He would look for the storage facility by way of Joe's electronic security key. He wanted to find more frozen first human eggs.

When the conversation was over, Joe walked back to the table and told him that David agreed that they should return and retrieve as much information as possible. Drek looked disappointed. He didn't want to return to that island again.

Blank immediately declared that he was not returning and would stay there at Joe's Camp. That was settled, in the morning the three of them would take the solar gliders back down to Antarctica. Drek was dreading the trip.

"Why do you not want to return? The Slab has no affect upon you" Adam remarked.

"It's what it does to you and to Joe. I am more concerned about that. I don't want you going to the Slab either. Is that understood?"

"Yes Drek, I won't go for you, even if it draws me"

"We don't know what this is and why it's here. It's a mystery and we don't have any idea how to solve it"

"I don't think we should try to solve it"

"Why, there must be some purpose for it, and why was it buried under all that ice for hundreds of years"

"Maybe God buried it"

"Oh no, now you're believing in God"

"I think that he can exist and he made us and we disappointed him and now it's a new time to live in"

"I don't accept that and I wish you wouldn't either. Blank was telling you a fantasy"

"I think Blank believes in God now too. I felt it in his voice when he told us about it"

"Yeah I heard that too, but I do not believe it"

"You are free to believe what you wish. I will not dislike you for that"

"Good to hear, now let's get to bed early, I want to hold you for awhile"

"I sexualized with my father when we were at the beach" Adam confessed.

"I am sure I would sexualize with David"

"It seemed to come natural for the both of us and I think he missed me"

"Had you ever sexualized with him before?"

"No, but when he left I had not sexualized with anyone"

"I see. Was it enjoyable? Why are you telling me?"

"I felt like you should know. It just seemed proper to confess"

"I am not God. You don't have to confess to me"

"So you were listening to Blank when he talked about that"

"Yes and I find it all hard to believe until now. You confessing to me is odd, but something inside of you made you want to do it"

"I believe it is something new inside of me. Something I have never felt before"

"I think you are becoming more like the first humans. They had guilt Blank claims and were sorry for their wrongful deeds towards others"

"Yes they called it a conscience"

"And odd word"

"Now we must teach the Immunes and Complacents how to grow the fruit. If the machines in Antarctica stop working, then the humans will surely die"

"I think that will now be possible to teach them. We need to find some more Immunes to help us"

"Yes that will be our next goal"

"Let's get some sleep now and we can talk about it in the morning" They said good night to Joe and Blank who had lain down next to each other and were dozing off.

Adam fell asleep and began to dream about God. He was this white being that light shown from him and he felt pure love coming from him. He looked and saw others beside him. He had never known such a peaceful feeling before. He reached out his hand to touch God and he woke up. He stirred a little and then turned towards Drek and held him close to him. There is a God Drek, now I know.

The next morning they decided that Blank could not stay alone and Joe had called David and gave him the instructions about the satellite codes and what to do. They would save the information first in Antarctica and then in Allassworth and even in Sun Dego. David didn't know how to send it to the other ten cities; he didn't even know how to contact them.

"I suggest that we send them messages with their shipments of fruit" David suggested.

"That may cause more problems. Maybe we can fly to them on the solar gliders"

"We? Are you now going to be traveling with us Joe?" Drek questioned.

"I would like to see the other ten cities. Yes. I would also like to be with my son. Is that a problem?"

"Of course not Dad" Adam chimed in. We can all go together. It would be safer too. After all, we don't know what we will find"

"Then it's a goal. When you return from the island, we can fly back to Allassworth and see how David is doing, then go onto the next city"

"Sounds good to me. We will only be there one day and then return. You and Blank will be safe here," Drek announced.

Adam looked at Drek and nodded his head. He hugged Joe and kissed him on the forehead. "Be well Dad, see you soon"

"Bye son. Drek take care of my boy. I don't want to lose him again"

"He's in good hands Joe, I assure you"

Joe and Blank stood there as Drek and Adam climbed onto the solar glider and flew south to Antarctica. Adam turned and waved once last time.

"Let's go" Drek said.

Epilogue

Drek and Adam arrive as it is getting dark. The facility is operating as usual. They find the main control room and with the help of David, download all the information to Allassworth. They then download it to the main computer there and even make a back up copy using the communicator. They go to sleep and in the morning they fly back to Joe and Blank. They fly first to Allassworth and then on to the ten cities. This would be the next chapter in the life of Drek, Adam, Blank and Joe.

FUTURE EBOOK 2: HUMANS EXODUS. EBOOK 3: WAR WITH EXODUS HUMANS.

About the Author

Neil Crenner lives with his cat Halo in Palm Springs, California, USA.

Also by Neil Crenner

La Photographie Moderne

Reason Simon, a Photographer, meets a handsome architect, Didier Gauthier one morning at a bagel shop; Reason invites Didier to his gallery & falls for him. They start a whirlwind romance & soon a photograph he took 3 years earlier becomes the center of a mysterious winery and mansion that has no heir. Can he solve the mystery & keep the romance going? Circa 1999.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/154407

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Joe P. Harris for being an inspiration to me while writing this piece of work. Also, to my family, many thanks for their love and support always. To my Italian Friend, Angelo Giordano, thank you!

