The Rain: The End by Marietta Standlee (good summer reads TXT) 📕

walks towards us. "Carl Ling," he introduces himself. "I'm very honored to finally meet you."

He shakes our hands, and I feel a little awkward with my new famous status. Carl appears as awed with Colin and me as I am with the cave.

"Thank you, we're very happy to meet you too," I answer for Colin and me.

"Don't let them underestimate you, Carl," Briggs warns. "Carl here is Secret Harbor's mastermind."

"Mastermind?" Colin and I echo.

Ace nods, "He built this entire cave."

"Built it?" Again, both Colin and I exclaim in unison.

Carl shakes his head. "Actually, I designed it; Ace built it."

I stare open-mouthed at my old friend.

"What?" he laughs. "Who would have thought playing with explosives would pay off."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for all of it to sound so secretive and dramatic." Briggs shakes her head. "It was a stroke of luck, finding Carl. He's not only a Geologist but also an amateur architect and engineer. I can't tell you how blessed we are to have found you." She looks fondly at the shorter man, who actually blushes.

"Hiding fifty spaceships and over a hundred pilots wasn't as easy as it sounded. Or maybe just as difficult as it sounds." She shakes her head again. "Never mind, anyway, I couldn't find any kind of place, and neither could my people. One day, we landed one of the ships in a clearing, to see if we could hide it that way, when out of the bushes walks Carl, he came right up to us."

"I'd never seen a spaceship before. They're quite fascinating the way they're designed and built." Carl explains.

"You were out here, all by yourself?" I ask, disbelievingly.

He shakes his head, "Of course not, I was giving a lecture not far from here when the rain hit Twin Falls…"

Colin interrupts him. "Are any of the flowers close by?"

"Twin Falls?" I wonder out loud. "Why would they even bother with such a small town? I thought they went for the big cities, further south."

"Twin Falls is about six-hundred miles from us, don't worry, it's not that close, and we can make it our first mission, if you like, Sir." Briggs looks mischievously at Colin. "And yes, there is a plantation by Twin."

"Looks like they're ready to spread out further." Ace wagers.

"We're getting off-topic." Carl says sternly, and we all look amused at the small Asian. He blushes again. "I mean, I thought…."

"It's okay." Colin smiles. "Go on with your story."

"Oh, yes, so as I was saying… I was holding a lecture when we received a warning about the rain falling in Twin. By then, we knew what it was, and everybody stayed inside, we waited for rescue teams once it was over, but nobody ever came."

"Why did you hold a lecture in the middle of nowhere?" I question, intrigued.

He blushes even more. "I wrote a book on architecture and geology, you see, combining the two is my pet project. I built a house not far from here, that's where I held the lecture; it was more of a private thing. There were only twenty-six people, including the caterer and me." He smiles depreciatively. "I know Twin Falls was still pretty far away, but we got scared it might come to where we were, so we stayed at my house for a while."

"When the rain never reached my place, some of my guests left to go back home, but most stayed because we found out what was happening with the rest of the country and nobody was able to get a hold of their families."

His face falls, and I wonder what happened to his loved ones, why he was alone with strangers in a new house he built, but I don't ask. I've learned not to ask personal questions these days. If people want you to know, they'll tell you.

"Anyway," a smile forms back on his face, and I realize that Carl is a very upbeat person, a man who would rather smile than wallow in misery, and he grows even more on me.

"We hung out at my house for a long time, months. Part of the beauty of my house is, its self-sustainability. Solar panels, a well, and septic tank." He looks proud.

"The food situation wasn't easy, though. Luckily one of my guests is an avid hunter. He provided us with plenty of game, and a few of us were adventurous enough to make a couple trips to surrounding towns for other supplies. We made do."

His story, as fascinating as it is, is starting to make me impatient. I want to explore the cave; I want to know how Ace built it. Stories like Carl's—as sad as they are, are a dime a dozen. Everybody has a Carl story. Even to me, I sound jaded and cold, but at this point, I just want to do, not stand around and chatter.

He must have noticed my impatience and waves his hand. "Anyway, one day Commander Briggs here landed, and the rest is history."

He looks at us expectantly. As if we should be satisfied now that we heard his story. Colin points his chin out and looks at Carl. "And…. the cave?"

"Oh… my, yes, of course. Silly me." Carl laughs, embarrassed. "Commander Briggs, once she found out my pet peeve, asked me for help with her situation, so I suggested hiding the ships inside the mountain."

Carl reminds me of the professor, long lectures without ever getting to the point. This time it's me who spurs him on. "And?"

"Oh, yes. There were some existing caves here, nothing of this size, of course, so I designed the layout for a housing system and the hangars and my young friend here," he points at Ace. "Did the blasting."

I slap Ace on the shoulder. "Way to go, dynamite man."

"Hey, I like the sound of that." He smiles.

"You mentioned housing?" Colin prods.

"Of course." Briggs answers. "We'll have housing for up to two-thousand people available soon. For right now, we've room for three-hundred."

"Two-thousand?" I'm stunned.

"It's not really that many. We'll have to