Claire sat on the metal floor, the wall with the screen behind her. She had been walking back and forth after the voice had informed her about help arriving.

Her mind was stuck on how the synthetic voice advised her to increase exposure to the energy. "It must be something important for them to be so secretive about it." Lifting her head to look at the Fort above them, she wondered, "Does the military know about this mysterious energy?"

A groan made Claire look at Hannah.

"What happened?" Hannah slurred her words, trying to figure out what had happened.

"Glad to see you're awake," Claire smiled, happy to know her friend was fine. Though it was obvious that Hannah was alive, a thought about Hannah having been turned into a vegetable went through Claire's mind.

As Hannah pushed herself up, she was soon sitting on the floor. One knee against the floor while the other was propped up into the air. Hannah had her forehead on the propped-up knee.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Claire asked, empathizing with Hannah's actions.

"That woman flinging her blood into our mouths," Hannah said into her thigh, mumbling her words. "Then, everything just went black."

Looking up and down the corridor, Claire said, "It looks like the woman left to do whatever was stressing her out." She wondered how long it would be until help would arrive to take them to where they needed to go.

Hannah lifted her head, "I'm okay with that." A flat expression on her face.

"Aside from the fact that she could've given us some information about this place." Pointing to the screen behind her, Claire said, "The help option on the menu isn't much help."

Hearing this information, Hannah's expression showed signs of interest.

"Don't look too excited. Most of the questions I asked were heavily censored, due to our levels not being high enough to get access to the good stuff." Claire leaned her head against the metal wall. "The only thing I could really find out was it being a computer system installed by Star and Moon. And that we need to expose ourselves to the energy mentioned by the woman."

"Why are we exposing ourselves to some energy? Is it like radiation?" Hannah lifted an eyebrow. "We're not going to develop some kind of cancer, will we?"

Claire laughed, realizing it was only because of their upbringing that Hannah would even consider the energy messing with their cells. "I don't think that's the case. The energy does interact with biological material, but it sounded like something which would be beneficial to us."

"We're not going to turn into one of those Modified Humans, right?" Hannah's voice raised in pitch. She looked horrified by the idea.

Shaking her head, "I don't think that's the case. I think that's the reason why Star and Moon showed off what they had been doing with their medical wing. I get the feeling this place was built way before we were told. Not even Star and Moon can design as many shelters needed to house all of humanity in them."

"Meaning that somewhere in this city, they designed something to help harness the energy. It may even be useful for increasing our chances of surviving this apocalyptic event." Hannah nodded her head, following along with Claire's chain of thought.

"It would also explain how the other sites are able to stay functional without needing people inside of the sites, likely leveraging their Autonomous Robots," Claire remembered watching the video of the presentation which she wasn't able to attend. The computer also likely ran on the operating system Star and Moon had designed, considering how different it was compared to the ones at their school.

Likely having recovered from having blacked out, Hannah stood up and stretched her arms. Returning her arms to her sides, she looked at the image of the outside world. "Are we going to do what the computer told us to do or head back up?"

Though Claire did feel guilty about no one knowing where they were, it was likely neither of their parents noticed the two of them were missing. "At least I hope they haven't noticed...," Claire tried not to imagine the Military Police called to search for them.

"Though I'm worried about whether people are looking for us," Claire took a deep breath, attempting to not think about what was happening in the Fort. "I think we should do what the computer advised us to do. Everyone keeps saying that the Modified Humans are going to overwhelm this place, meaning if we can help in some little way..." The thought of everyone inside of the Fort running for their lives was an unpleasant one.

Hannah turned back to face Claire. She nodded, "Though I'm worried about my parents, I think that's the right thing to do."

"I'm glad that the two of you are in agreement with training your bodies," A woman's voice interrupted Claire and Hannah conversation.

Claire whipped around to look at the owner of the voice. Stunned was the only word to describe her reaction to the source of the voice.

Its appearance was that of a woman, but just looking at the outer layer, it was apparent that it wasn't human. The metallic skin reflected the light, smooth without any flaws. Though it had hair, the color kept changing like a rainbow. Similar to the dryad, voluptuousness was a word to describe its body shape.

"Who are you?" Hannah asked, stepping away from the robot.

Giving off the appearance of a hostess, the robot gracefully bowed. "Forgive my rudeness. I'm known as Melody." As she straightened her back, she glanced at each of them, "I am one of the many units helping to make sure this city runs efficiently." Her arm was directed to the screen, "The system is one of those components that help residents with questions they may have, though she's somewhat limited in what she's able to answer." Pointing to herself, "That's where units like myself come in, such as acting as a guide."

"What happened to the other woman?" Claire asked, curious about whether she'd get some answers.

Shaking her head, "I'm sorry. That's information that's beyond what you have permission for, though that's the same with the others who have similar status as the two of you."

Reaching out with one of her arms, Melody had her palm directed to the ground. In moments, there was a glowing line. "Though I'm sure the two of you have several questions, why don't we head to the training area." The robot began walking in the direction of the line. "I'm not typically called to guide the average resident, so this line is used to help people navigate around this city. If you're looking for anything, just walk up to the many screens and ask the system for assistance."

Claire stared at the robot, amazed at how smoothly it walked as if it were a dancer. Even with its entire body made up of metal, no sounds were being made as its bare feet stepped on the metal floor.

As they followed the robot, the line went down the stairs deeper into the city.

Going down the stairs, they passed several floors. Each floor didn't look the same and only had a similar theme. On the ceiling of each floor was a sign that gave a letter and number, in addition to brief information about what was on the floor.

One of the floors that attracted Claire's attention was called "Residential area A" and even had "Dining Facilities" beneath it.

"We're currently in 'Section 5' of the city with each section having dozens of Residential Areas," Melody looked back at them as she continued walking down the stairs. "As both of you have already seen the sheer magnitude of this shelter, I'm sure it's understandable that there so many residential areas."

"Why aren't they all in one area?" Claire asked.

As they passed by another level, this one with the word "Entertainment" on it, Melody answered, "The reason for this is due to how each shelter was made to simulate the above world. It was deemed that humans would need to go about their lives as they would've before the appearance of Modified Humans and other unexpected creatures."

Claire had been passively listening, paying more attention to the different levels until Melody had mentioned something she wasn't anticipating. "Unexpected Creatures?" She asked.