The Alliance Boxset Books 4-6

Chapter 16-2

Several hours later, Destin punched in the code to his living quarters that Tim gave him, then slid in a disk that would install a range extender and a new program for the sensors. With this he would be alerted when anyone approached the door, not just when they put their palm on the scanner or punched a wrong number into the keypad. Next he changed the code to one unique to him and Sula. It was the same one they used on board the Star Raider. He ejected the disk and pocketed it.

It had been a long but informative day. Destin walked across the gleaming tile. The apartment was dark, lit only by the soft glow of the moonlight shining through the windows. With a murmured command, a set of accent lights came on. Most of the city finally had some form of power restored to it. The only areas missing were those still too heavily damaged to safely activate it.

The power grids were different from before. This time, alien technology was employed. Destin was still trying to wrap his head around it, but each building, whether a home or a business, would have a self-contained energy source. The technology was a product of Trivator and Kassisan engineers working together to create something new.

In the early years when electricity was first used, most buildings and streets had to be retrofitted with power lines and cables to a substation which received power from one major power plant.

Destin understood the hazards of that. It meant miles and miles of cables that would need to be maintained and upgraded to handle the additional load as the country grew. It also meant an area of weakness. A devastating storm, a demand overload, extreme temperatures, or an attack on the power sources could all lead to critical failure and mean days, weeks, months, or in the case of what happened when the aliens appeared, years of disruptions. The aliens already discovered that was not a good idea.

“It is amazing that we made it as long as we did,” Destin murmured, walking over to stare out at the city far below him.

Low, shielded lights illuminated the streets, but he was unable to see them from this far. The idea was to preserve the natural balance of light and dark. Once humans discovered artificial light, they wanted to light up their world. Often driven by fear, misconceptions, and excellent marketing, homes, streets, and businesses lit up the darkness, drowning the brilliance of the night sky. The most densely populated areas had not been hard to see from space, which had helped the Trivators decide where to contact first.

In contrast, Destin remembered the first time he’d seen Rathon from space. It had been nighttime there and despite having two moons, the planet was devoid of light. He had wondered if it was even inhabited until the shuttle he’d been in landed on the base. Their lighting was designed to preserve their night vision. He knew deep down that it would take a generation or two before humans fully adapted to the concept, despite the fact that they had lived without electricity for thousands of years before that.

In the distance, he could see the continuing construction. That was another thing he and the others had learned. Once Destin and his people agreed to work with Cutter on the rebuilding of the city, the Trivators had not wasted any time. Large machines scooped up the debris, filtering, crushing, or incinerating it while transports and workers swarmed over one section of the city at a time.

He shrugged off his jacket, and threw it over the back of the couch before walking over to the large chair near the window. He turned it around so that it was facing the windows and sank onto it. Leaning forward, he saw the large green areas that had been planted in perfect symmetry and the roads leading around them. Commuters could either step into one of the individual compartments of the slender ground public transport or the automated flying transports where they could enter in their destination, sit back, and enjoy the ride. All buildings were a mixture of homes and businesses. There would be no individual houses, at least not in the city. Chicago would be larger, but take up a quarter of its original size in buildings, thus freeing up land for forests and recreational preserves.

Sitting back in the chair, Destin could feel the fatigue pulling on his body. He toed his shoes off and kicked them to the side so he could stretch his legs out. Observing the construction going on in the distance, he wasn’t consciously aware of his eyes growing heavier or his head falling back against the plush, dark brown leather of the chair.