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the plates, cups, utensils, and a roll of paper towels.
    When the pizza had formed, it was on a wooden platter. Sitting beside the pizza was a shaker of peppers, a shaker of Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Kaitlin carried the pizza out to the table, while Marcy grabbed the condiments. Kait returned for the plates and utensils, and Marcy grabbed what was left.
    “Clean-up is easier, just set the dirty dishes and leftovers back in the rectangle, and press the ‘reclaim’ button. I would however, recommend reading up on this device. It does have a few rather frustrating glitches in the system.” Ed said and walked back out to the door.
    “There is an instruction program waiting for you when you finish eating. Please view it as soon as you can. I hope to see you all again in a few days, good luck.” He nodded to Ben and the girls and left.
    Jorga turned to the girls. “Cheese pizza and diet root beer sounds horrible!” Kaitlin stuck her tongue out at her from the table. Jorga returned the salute. “Could we get something else?”
    ––––––––
    After dinner, the big TV in the living room announced an incoming call. Ben looked at his family in surprise as he told it to accept the call. A haggard looking Bob Gilly appeared on the screen. “Good evening, Ben, Ladies.”
    “Good evening, Bob. What can we do for you?” Ben replied.
    “Well, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re standing in the middle of the big secret project Tom was working on. I was calling to try to fill in the blanks," Bob replied. “Do you have time for that this evening?”
    “It would appear we have time to spare Bob. However, we haven’t had time to go over the video Ed told us about; we just finished dinner,” Deirdre answered.
    “Well, I’m sure you’ve had a tiring day and would like nothing more than to relax, but you do need to know this information before the rest of this starts happening."
    “Okay Bob, go ahead,” Ben replied as the family took seats around the room.
    Bob took a deep breath. “I would be doing this in person except that I’m in another pod much like yours only larger, and for now we can’t leave." He glanced down at his notes.
    “For the last thirty years, Delphi Systems Inc. has been working closely with several governments and private agencies around the world to construct large underground bunkers. These bunkers will hold a substantial portion of the human race, almost indefinitely, in their own semi-sealed biospheres.
    “This was decided by the United Nations and a few of those nations that were not actually members. This precaution was initiated by a multi-national scientific report that outlined exactly what we could expect to happen should any extinction level event befall our planet.
    “In all of the theoretical scenarios, the human race ended. Since we have yet to develop space travel, this plan was developed in an effort to ensure the survival of our species and the several other animal species that have genetic material stored in these bunkers.
    “Now, I won’t go into detail about those bunkers because Tom took the opportunity to create and execute his own plans. You see the governments, especially the US government, had preselected candidates based on how much money the people had donated to campaign funds and how politically connected someone was.
    “In addition to the 'large underground bunkers' I have spoken of, a series of smaller, ‘shallow’ bunkers were built in the event that word leaked out, and it was discovered that no preparations had been made for the masses. All of those bunkers are 'shallow' compared to the ones Tom built for the rest of humanity.
    “Although he couldn’t do much for the general public, Tom did create as many of the ‘pods’ as he could. He also kept them updated with the latest technology and amenities, to ensure the occupants survival. His selection criteria for the pods was strict, and he, himself, didn’t qualify, but through