Ford's Rise - L. Ann Marie Page 0,2

sanitizer on their tablets before they get them back.

“Thanks, Brother. They need masks.” Alder is a stickler about it. I can’t blame him when he’s got so many to keep safe. I take a mask and put it on. Bending, I look at all the new little Alpha-Bits. “We’re going to the Bravo Alpha-Bit house. I call it Alder’s. My name is Web. I’ll get a mask on you and you can tell me your names.”

They watch but don’t say anything. When I put a mask on the first boy, he tells me his name is Wolfgang and he’s nine. Allen talks to them in French, so I switch over. I thought they spoke German?

Once everyone is ready, I get smiling little pink eyes back and lead them to the chopper that Justice must have gotten shuttled up. It’s his stealth. Mag helps me get them into the chopper and leaves us with a wave.

I hug Bones. “Thanks, Bones. Did Allen tell them about the medical program?”

He smiles. “He did. He said two want it. You’ll be seeing them again.”

I’m glad.

The crew gets everyone buckled in and we’re hopping over to Alder’s. I text him that we’re on our way. He sends me a salute. He’s the most conservative and responsible Brother I know, it’s funny that he came up with the emoticons. The other As keep adding to them. Alder has used almost all of them with me. My little Brothers always make me smile.

The flight is short and impressive. They’ve added so much in such a short amount of time. The warehouses have a community already built three miles away. Alder said the solar, greenhouse, water, Aerial and wind areas will have communities by the end of the week. The whole rectangle Alder planned has a quarter-mile security buffer around it. The roads are almost done out there. The smart car roads went down on the inside first so everyone could get to work.

We pass the IT building, the ABC Lab and see the greenhouses with a community already up. My eyes are drawn to Alder’s compound, it’s fucking huge, seeing it from the chopper is more like the plans. We rode down and checked it out last week. It didn’t look close to being done. My little Brothers are amazing. I point it out to the kids. They talk to each other in a different language. I listen while looking at the compound.

The Protectors from Rhode Island worked right alongside the Alpha-Bits to make sure nothing was missed. From here, it looks like nothing was missed. They even have the kites for the greenhouse up. We have a small one too. I think it’s small compared to the greenhouses we passed getting here. They must be planning to sell the food they grow. Eli had plant walls sent everywhere, then Beacon sent us more. Cort is crazy so he thought they were great and had Mucimi get him an area like Bravo’s set up between the condos and our old house. I think they feed the whole fucking compound.

As we get closer, we can see the golf carts, tiny bikes and gators on the compound roads. The kids point sounding happy. The outer circle has buildings spaced further apart with a matching plant area, chopper pads and smart car hub. There are trees planted, tables, a small open half igloo and a fire pit between Alder and Asa’s house and the kitchen building. I wish we had a connected igloo like Alder and Asa. Maybe Garren and Michael would have lived with me if I did. I smile seeing the little chopper pad on the other side of the big pads. They have two choppers now. How the hell do they find time to get this shit printed and built?

We set down and the Flight Crew has the kids handled. “My orders are to bring them to Doc and Patcher before they see anyone in the house. We have shit for you before you get off the chopper. The mask stays here,” the Crew Lead tells me. I think he’s Justice’s engineer, but I’m not sure. There are more than Justice’s two crew members here.

I nod and bend to the kids telling them I’ll see them soon and they can find me on chat. They nod but don’t respond. “Thanks,” I say to the Lead who waited patiently for me to talk to the kids. I get sprayed, then sprayed again when I take the mask off.

Alexia