Chapter 6

Jacob followed the group to the 10-story square building about 30 meters away. As he gazed up at the imposing structure, he couldn't help but feel a sense of awe. The building was made of black and orange metal, with no windows, giving it a futuristic and almost cyberpunk appearance. It stood out starkly compared to the grey concrete apartments surrounding it.

The building was modular and designed for efficiency. As they approached, Jacob noticed it had multiple large doors at equal intervals, as well as various smaller ones for personnel. This building would be a hub of activity, with multiple levels. Despite its imposing appearance, Jacob couldn't wait to explore the building and see what kind of technology and resources it held.

They stopped in front of the building. "At least they were nice enough to provide us with something this helpful," Jacob said. "We could have been thrown here with no clothes and told to start from fire again..."

"You're right," Akiko replied. "We have to make the most of this gift." The others nodded in agreement, clearly understanding that things could be worse.

Sophia approached one of the smaller doors and swung it open, banging it against the wall in her excitement. "Jake, come in! My AI is showing us where the stored items are located. This thing is so friggen cool! The limits of this AI are only up to our imaginations. The potential this gives us is beyond calculation. In fact, I..." Sophia's excited voice trailed off as she disappeared into the dark entrance.

One by one, Jacob and the others followed her inside, filled with excitement and anticipation for the work that lay ahead. However, what they were met with was darkness. "Someone turn on some lights already!" Sophia exclaimed.

"We clearly do not have electricity, genius," Adewale said. Before he could say more, Sophia's AI orb lit up the area, creating holographic lights that extended up to 5 meters from its body. The illumination was brighter than a flashlight could ever be. "AWESOME!"

Jacob just laughed at her excitement. He couldn't believe she was so happy and optimistic, even after losing her entire empire just an hour ago. They found the materials stacked neatly in piles of containers that looked very sturdy. But when they opened them and took out the items, in this case, pure copper bars, the boxes themselves were extremely light.

"They sure know how to give us hints, don't they?" Sophia said, taking in the surrounding floor.

"What do you mean by that?" Diego asked.

"Well, this entire facility is clearly created as a blueprint for us to emulate. Look at how they stored and packaged the materials for us. They could have simply left it all in a pile, or given us nothing to start with. Yet here we are, inside an advanced storage facility with professionally stored materials. From this, we can understand that the aliens likely don't care about sticks and stones, or else we would have been sent here with nothing but our hands and feet to help us. That's my theory, at least. Still many open holes, but it's a start..."

"I don't care much about these issues. What I do care about is the fact that my AI has informed me we currently have no weapons in here," Adewale interjected.

"Well, that's why I wanted to talk to everyone in here. It's a private place for now," Jacob said before continuing. "I received points today from the AI as a reward for our successful colony meeting. So we should be able to get some protection from the AI store. Adewale, I think you should find people using the AI for help and create a squad. For now, I think we all agree it should be your job to help keep the peace in the colony as well as learn what we have to protect ourselves from. I'll leave the number up to you."

Jacob knew that the last part was risky. He had no way to stop these guys from turning it into a military state. But he also had no choice but to get protection. So, options were limited. "Alright, I'll do it," Adewale said.

However, Adewale's face did not change in the slightest. "As long as I am protecting this colony, nothing will happen. I also know that only my actions will show this to be true. Sir, I will begin asking the AI to send out a questionnaire similar to yours, but focused on the skills I need." He paused for a moment.

"However, honestly, today's meeting should not have happened in this way. These people are much too agreeable. I've seen 50 people go through less and come out at each other's throats instantly. Something is fishy, even the amount we seem to mesh together."

Jacob nodded, also realizing just how lucky he was that not a single person made issues when there were 3000. That's enough people for a police station, supermarket, and a hospital for the area, as well as many other daily problems and activities. But they had had none in the hour since they arrived.

Akiko chimed in, "I have a theory; I too have seen people fight much more, over much less stress." She looked at each person in the eyes. "The aliens have given us many basic items that will help us very much in our goals to stabilize our daily lives. Simply look at all these perfect materials. Even my company wouldn't have given so much to a new store we built. It would be up to the one building the franchised building." She let the words sink in.

"Jacob, do you have any sign of how advanced these aliens are? Do you believe they could scan our minds?"

Not understanding where she was going with this, Jacob nodded. "Well, the alien, Xandros I talked to, read my thoughts instantly and responded."

"Then that adds more weight to my theory. In my profession, I have seen certain aspects of people. One of those aspects is that certain people just naturally get along and listen to others. Because of their technology, it could be possible they simply paired the 3000 of us up based on our neurological tendencies to like each other. I did not find a single person out there who gave me a bad feeling. The same people in my workplace often never fought each other unless they had known one another for a long time. It is human nature. Nobody is perfect."

Jacob didn't quite buy it. He couldn't prove the aliens would go out of their way to do this. What could the reasons be? As he thought about each experience he has had with them, he realized a few things with connections: they hated nuclear war, they disliked our disharmony as a race, and they did not like sending us back to the Stone Age, or else we wouldn't have been given these apartments and the storage facility.

If the aliens also put the first 3000 in based on common ground or some connection that humans subconsciously have, then it would mean the aliens wanted us to get back from where we left off, without putting us through the tribal and kingdom stages again, having to relearn technology!

"We don't have any way to prove these theories, not much point to waste thinking about it." Sophia said, shutting everyone's hopes down. "Until we learn more about who sent us here and what they can do, we can only count ourselves lucky."

"You are correct." Akiko said with a slight frown.

"I agree with Sophia," Jacob said. "We can't waste time speculating about why the aliens chose us or why everyone gets along so well. What's important is that we use this opportunity to rebuild and create a better future for ourselves. And Adewale, I trust you to keep the peace in the colony. As for the questionnaire, send it out. We need to find out what skills and resources we have at our disposal."

He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "I think our priority should be establishing a stable and self-sufficient community. That means we need to figure out how to grow our own food, generate our own power, and defend ourselves against any threats we may face in the wilderness. And of course, we need to communicate with anyone we find and learn more about our situation. We also don't know how long everyone will get along with each other for. Conflict will happen. It always did back home."

With that, Adewale walked aside and began discussing with his AI the recruitment process.

Diego spoke up. "We need to figure out the method for distributing supplies soon, or else people will start causing problems. Let's use the AIs to watch for any theft. Can you make them report any?" He looked towards Jacob.

"Genesis?"

"Yes sir, I can force a protocol onto the AI which will force them to report any theft by the user."

"So, we live in a police state, then?" Akiko asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Honestly, right now, we don't have a choice. We can change this once we get better systems set up to deal with these things. Unless you know of courtroom and police we can call over?" Jacob stated, leaving little room for argument.

Akiko shook her head and let it go for now.

"Diego, you can set up a request for volunteers to help hand out rations. I'll leave it up to you to decide with the AI how much is needed and what rations we can give."

"That should be easy enough. I'll get right on it." Diego began speaking to his AI, which Jacob could no longer understand due to it being in Spanish.

Adewale returned. "I told the orb to notify the volunteers to arrive in front in 20 minutes. Let's discuss some weapons. I asked the orb for some rifles, and it showed me these. I think we should buy 10 and 1500 rounds. It will cost 650 points, but it is worth it."

Jacob looked at the selection Adewale's AI was showing them and nodded his head. "Yes, this is a good idea. Honestly, it is overkill for people, but I'm more worried about the things that aren't people..."

"Akiko, you can help think of basic rules and help Adewale and Diego with recruitment, as well as public relations. It is going to cause issues when people see guns."

"I was thinking the same thing. Good idea, Jacob," Akiko said as she bowed slightly. She then walked to some empty crates, moving them into a small circle, and sat down, beckoning to Diego and Adewale.

Jacob let the three discuss the different aspects and rules needed for the colony with their makeshift table, as well as Adewale's concerns over the security of their base.

"It looks like they have a few things to talk about. Come help me with these containers over here. We need to get this tech set up!" Sophia said as she grabbed Jacob's hand and dragged him with her.