Lilly cried “Aha!” then looked embarrassed as everyone stared at her.  Blushing slightly, she said, “I figured out the contributions thing.  It seems that we can contribute by converting our experience points into system points at a rate of two to one.  That’s one system point for every two experience points.  The max experience points we can trade is the amount we’ve earned toward our next level.    And the contributions can be structured as a donation or a loan.”

“Awesome. That explains a lot.  Thank you, Lilly.” Allistor thumped the table with a flat hand.  He was beginning to get into this whole base building thing.  “Okay, so for now, let’s just focus on the points we already have.  I don’t want to ask for contributions yet.  I think we all need to level ourselves as quickly as possible.  And there has to be a way for this place to earn its own points.  We just have to figure out what that is.”

He smiled as he saw Lilly’s eyes go vacant again.

He located the tab Available Plans that listed the possible structures and their cost.  Calling everyone else’s attention to it, he waited while they all reviewed the options.  He sincerely wished they had pencils and papers to make lists of their own.  Then a thought occurred to him.

“Hey guys, I want to test something.  Look near the top left, where the Underground option is listed.  If you would, everybody but Sam and Sean, check that box.  You two, check the Surface Structure box.

He watched his own interface as they all did as he requested.  As each person voted, the number of votes for each would increase.  They were color coded yellow, which according to the key at the bottom of the screen, was for recommendations.

“Can you all see this?” he asked.

Amanda chuckled.  “That’s cool.  The votes show up next to each choice.  That’ll make things easier, especially if we ever expand to a much larger group.  We won’t have to gather everyone together and count hands.”

Allistor leaned back in his chair, relaxing slightly.

“Okay, folks.  There are a few things we have to have, that I think we all agree on.”  He mentally ticked the boxes as he read them off, so the others could follow along. “We need a clean water source.  When I went to my house, the broken pipes had flooded the basement.  I assume every building in town is hemorrhaging water as well.  Unless we cover the whole town and shut off all the water meters, the supply in the tower won’t last long.  The cost listed for water is five thousand points.”  The others all nodded their heads or made agreeable noises.

“Next, we need places to sleep.  Each sleeping quarters costs two thousand points.  I say we make a dozen for now.   There are ten of us here now, but we may find other survivors. And I’m guessing Sam and Meg will pair up?  Same with Nancy and Chloe?” Both pairs nodded again.