A forklift passed them, carrying three pallets of IV fluids. The second was removing toilet paper from the other truck. Walking past where the forklifts were delivering the cargo in organized areas they could see row upon row of vehicles, including several new cement mixers, bulldozers, and front-end loaders standing in a row.

In the row behind them were four different types of fire trucks and near the northeast corner were several dozen green tractors and other pieces of essential farm equipment.

Amy noticed the vehicles were mostly up on blocks and had their tires removed. They continued walking and saw a new dump truck on blocks; a team was removing the tires and using paint brushes to cover the tires with a foul-smelling substance.

RJ must have seen the confusion on Amy's face. “The rubber in the tires will dry out and crack, long before we wake up, so they remove them and cover them in that gel, which prevents them from drying out. They'll do the same thing with all the belts and hoses, too.”

“I guess that makes sense” Amy agreed.

There was an abrupt beeping noise, and they turned to see the two ambulances backing into their designated positions. They started back towards the elevator and made it just in time to ride up with the two empty semis.

“I'm going to check on the two sleep chambers down below,” Amy suggested.

“Okay. If you need me, I'll be in the command center,” RJ responded.

Amy turned to the right to check on the two smaller sleep chambers on either side of the corridor. She went to the passage on the right that led to the large open room first and was surprised to see the large pressure door was closed, and the digital indicators showed the chamber was pressurized.

She peered through the thick glass window and saw the one hundred and fifty pedestal-like beds, and then noticed six of those beds had sleepers on them, IV lines inserted and masks on their faces. The wires for cardiac monitoring were visible snaking beneath their shirts. This room would sleep most of the team members who would be involved in the initial assessment following the awakening and Amy was pleased to see live testing was ahead of schedule. The guilt she'd suffered over delegating the preparation of these chambers to her less experienced staff faded a little.

Amy left the chamber and headed to the one across the hall. This chamber was physically as large but would only hold fifty sleepers, since the specialists in this chamber could be called upon to awaken during the sleep to deal with problems that developed. Consequently, it had been designed with two pressurized doors and a ten-foot space between them which could be used as an airlock. It was necessary to design the environment in this manner so that people could come and go without causing a problem for the rest of the sleepers.