After catching my breath, I tell Micha?, “Thanks, you can just leave it here. I’ll deal with it later.”

  He nods and asks, “So this was a goblin nest? What was the boss like? Goblins have the largest variety of bosses—I once fought one that was driving a scooter and using a spear.”

  I think back to the goblin boss. “It was… dressed like a greaser and using a shotgun. But it was trying to give a speech or something, and we shot him before he finished.”

  Micha? looks surprised. “It was a sentient goblin? Up here? That’s not normal. They only start appearing past the fifth floor.”

  I shrug. “Really? That might be something to put in your report then.”

  Micha? nods and heads back down, leaving me to finish fixing the elevator. The last thing that needs to be done is reconnecting three buttons. I open the panel and see that the ‘Close Door’ button, along with the buttons for the sublevel and the first floor, are disconnected. Reconnecting them doesn’t take long, and once the panel is reattached, the base screen appears before me:

  I do as instructed and watch as the elevator begins repairing itself—smoothing out dents and even making the numbers on the buttons clearer.

  After a moment, the screen pops up again:

  With the elevator fixed, I head to the guard room to open the bunker door and dump the goblin outside. Checking the live security footage, I see nothing out of the ordinary, so I open the door. I wheel the trashcan outside and dump the goblin onto the dungeon floor before heading back in and sealing the entrance.

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  Stepping into the elevator, I press the button for the atrium. While waiting, I glance at the information plaque, which states that the elevator can carry a maximum of seventy-five thousand pounds—reasonable for a freight elevator.

  Once I reach the atrium, I go straight to the kitchen to grab some of the fresh bread Monty was baking. Sitting at the table with Monty, Freja, and Micha?, I begin eating. After weeks of canned food, something fresh is a welcome change.

  After finishing the meal, I help bring the dishes to the kitchen. Luckily, the dishwasher is still fully functional, if a little banged up. Once the dishes are done, I turn to Freja.

  “Do you still want to see the recycler?”

  Freja nods. “Yes, it’s always fun to see something new.”

  I know she’s curious about our facilities, likely hoping to find something useful for her group. Not that it matters much—they can’t access the base terminal to steal the schematics. If they want a recycler of their own, they’ll have to trade for the blueprints.

  Leading her into the recycler room, I gesture to the large machine. “This is the recycler. We put stuff in, and it breaks it down into base materials.”

  I grab a half-full trashcan and dump its contents into the machine. “We don’t know exactly how it works, and we’re pretty sure a machine like this didn’t exist back on Earth, but we won’t complain—it’s one of the most useful things here.”

  Pressing the start button, I watch as the machine hums to life. While waiting, I open the hatch where the finished materials come out and hand her a solid brick of aluminum.

  “When it’s done, we get this—a brick of metal. If it’s plastic or rubber, it comes out in large rolls of material.”

  She studies the aluminum and asks, “Is there any loss of material when you use it?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. We’ve only ever put trash in, but considering how much aluminum we’ve stockpiled, I doubt it.”

  She seems to consider this before asking, “Would you be open to selling the schematics?”

  “Maybe, but that’s something we’d have to discuss with the general. That said, I might be willing to trade it for less if the general does us a favor.”

  Freja raises an eyebrow. “And what favor would that be?”

  “Nothing major. We just want you to keep an eye out for anyone from a flight from Paris to Oregon—specifically, if they know a Grant Larsen or a Monty Brandt.”

  “That’s it?” she asks, sounding surprised. “We have an entire board dedicated to helping allies find people they lost contact with during the summoning.”