Chapter 6

Arrival

D-Day, Departure Day, was just another Saturday for the rest of the world, but for the citizens of New Gaia, it was the beginning of a whole new way of life.

They lined up to let Claudia weigh them and she relayed the numbers to Tony, who punched them into his laptop program, after repeating them back to her for confirmation. No one was allowed to eat or use the restroom after being weighed, so the line in the backyard was sort of a continuation of the lines outside the many bathrooms in the mansion.

Finally, Tony rolled the mouse over the 'TOTAL' icon, and left-clicked, to get the calculations started. Less than a minute later, the program finished and flashed the results on the screen. Andrea, who was watching over Tony's shoulder, immediately went to the portable generator to begin setting the dials that would regulate how much electricity was released into the area surrounding them.

Tony set his laptop on the nearest stack of crates and went to check on the conductors they'd wired around the area, while Claudia and Sharon dragged the medical scale out of range of the affected area. They had decided that though it was a useful item to have, it wasn't something that couldn't be recreated in the past, so there was no real reason to bring it with them.

However, the generator that would be discharging the pseudo-lightning bolt would be coming with them. It was a hand crank model that they would be able to use to power the computer that Gabrielle had agreed to let Tony bring with them, as well as to recharge the power packs for the laptop and the rechargeable batteries that would be used in the few electronic devices they were bringing.

Andrea sent a thumbs up to Tony and he nodded. She picked up a long stick that had been laid next to the generator and stood a few feet back from the machine and waited for Tony to join the rest of the group. Then she looked to Gabrielle and waited for the signal. Gabrielle nodded and Andrea used the stick to flip the 'on' switch.

Gabrielle's stomach lurched and suddenly everything went dark. She heard several people scream, but after a few moments, her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she looked up to see a massive amount of stars criss-crossing the sky.

"Calm down! We just arrived at night, that's all. Look up," she prompted.

She heard a multitude of gasps around her. It was absolutely breathtaking. This was what the sky looked like without the fog of pollution or the reflection of city lights to get in the way. The line of the Milky Way was spectacular to behold. It went across the sky in a slightly curved line, the compression of so many stars in such a relatively small area making the bright band look like a thousand diamonds had been spilled into a crack in the heavens.

They all stood there for several long minutes just staring up at the stars in awe.

Gregory slowly made his way to Gabrielle and nudged her elbow to get her attention. He whispered into her ear, "We should start looking around, make sure we don't end up being someone else's dinner plans."

She nodded in the darkness, which wasn't so dark, now that her eyes were taking in the light from the stars. "Assemble your team and set up sentries along the perimeter. Break out the guns. I don't want to take any chances," she whispered back to him.

"Aye, Chief," Gregory nodded, and moved off into the crowd to do as he'd been told.

He knew she didn't want them to rely on the mechanical weapons, since they wouldn't last very long if they did, and the Council had decided that the guns would only be used in extreme emergencies. But arriving at night made surveying the surrounding area impossible and none of them wanted casualties on their first day here.

Gabrielle called out for her Advisors to join her and ordered everyone to stay where they were and not stray from the group. Jonathan arrived at her side first, followed by Julia, and then Tristan.

"Jonathan, I don't think we're going to be doing any building tonight. See if you can arrange the crates and then string the tarps across them to give us some cover if it starts to rain."

"I'll get on it," he said, and he went in search of volunteers to set up the makeshift tents.

Gabrielle turned to Julia. "You'll have to wait 'til morning to start inventorying what made it through and what didn't, but from what I can tell, it looks like it all arrived with us. I'd like you to do a head count though, if you can. Start with Gregory's group, they'll be leaving to post guards around the area soon."

"Right, Chief," and she left to start roll call.

"So, we're here," Tristan said, once they were alone.

Gabrielle could hear the barely contained excitement in his voice. "Yup. We're here," and Tristan saw the smile splitting Gabrielle's face even in the dim light from the stars. "Let's get to work."