“Yup.  Sorry about the shouting.  Not used to the new speakerphone system.  Pretty cool, huh?”

“I’m gonna go with creepy,” she replied.  “Can you see me, too?”

“Nope, at least not yet.  That’s an upgrade.  Anyway, there’s an AI of some kind that lets us communicate between our bases.  Whatever you do, don’t call him sweetie.” He paused while the others chuckled.  “Okay, sending Goodrich over in a few seconds.  I gotta figure out which button to push.  One is green and says Initiate Transfer.  There’s another one that’s red, and it says Deresolution.”

“The green button!  The green one!” Goodrich was back on his feet and looking like he was about to leap from the pad.  “Never hit the red button!”

Allistor couldn’t help but laugh.  “Relax, my friend.  There isn’t really a red button.” As he said it, he touched the green button, and a cursing Goodrich blinked out of existence.

“Damn,” Bjurstrom said. “That was quick.  I expected it to be all sparkly-wavy particles like in Star Trek.”

A moment later, Goodrich’s cursing could be heard over the loudspeaker.  Then Redd’s louder voice said, “He’s here, boss.  Fell on his ass as soon as he appeared.  He looks a little disoriented but in one piece.”

There were hoots and applause, and several more volunteers to try the thing out. Andrea held up a hand and silenced everyone.  “Let’s bring Goodrich back, if he’s willing, and check him out.  Make sure he doesn’t … de-res like Allistor suggested.  If he’s still good in the morning, we can let everyone have a turn.”

There was some disappointed grumbling, but the crowd quieted after watching Goodrich return.  This time he stayed on his feet, saying, “Takes a bit of getting used to.”  Then a thought occurred to him.  “Hey!  I’m the first human ever teleported!  I’m like… famous!” He stuck out his chest and marched off the platform, only to be pummeled good-naturedly by his buddies.

While Allistor had everyone gathered, he passed out rings to the rest of his citizens.  This quickly brightened the mood among Dean’s people.   He also turned over two stacks of the snake meat to Dean, who grabbed Thorne and a few of the others and headed toward the kitchen.

Allistor, Helen, and Fuzzy moved inside and went to explore the tower.  It was a wide structure with an elevator in its core and a stairway that wound upward along the outer wall.  Stepping into the elevator, he didn’t see any buttons.  So he said, “Top level, please.”