Nick checked Petra's status before starting to show Kathy around, just focusing on the parts that interested him at the moment:

  Name: Petra

  Level: 8

  Class: Dungeon

  Rooms: 31

  Traps: 6

  Monsters: 276

  Languages: Galactic 100%, Foglupa 100%, English 42%, Kthufu, 19%

  He nodded. They're all working really hard to teach Petra Kthufu, probably round the clock in shifts. They were going to last another few months maybe, but they know their long-term survival depends on getting help from me and Petra. Well, just Petra, really, but they probably don't realize that yet.

  “Petra has eight levels.” It was easier to explain “level” by demonstrating, so he said, “this is Level 4.” He led her up the stairs. “This is Level 3.” They went up another flight.

  “This is Level 2?” Kathy asked.

  “Yes. Exactly.” He went up the last flight of stairs. “And this is where it all started.” He opened the aluminum door to reveal the tunnel to the outside, with bright, bright daylight illuminating the few steps up to the surface.

  “Here, I dig. Small hole. Bigger hole. I hide from day. I dig this tunnel. I ask Petra help. I learn how to make the guys—um, little robots. Petra calls them monsters. She calls me a monster, too.” He could tell he was losing her again, so he tried again.

  “Petra make things. I find, Petra make. I tell Petra to make. I tell Petra, make little thing to dig.

  “I need elements. Petra needs elements to make things. So, I search for elements. Get elements in this hill. Dig for hydrogen—element one. Dig for more. Long time, dig and dig, to get all elements for food.

  “I give Petra a thing. Petra eats the thing. Then, Petra knows how to make the thing.”

  Kathy shifted abruptly. “Petra knows how to make blood?”

  Nick paused and thought. “I don't see why not...yes. Petra knows how to make my blood, your blood, and...Kevin's...Kekoona's blood.”

  “Kek!ooa blood.”

  “Yes. Him.”

  “Nick, Kek!ooa need blood. Kek!ooa lose blood, lose health.”

  Nick nodded slowly. They'll need, like, syringes and needles and IV bags and I don't know what all else. Then I have to figure out how to transport the blood all the way there...

  He sighed. I'm probably going to have to let them all move in with me, aren't I? It just makes sense. I'm not going to offer until I figure out how this will work, though. If we make each other deathly sick, and Petra can't save Kathy, then there's no way. Instead, I can loan them some of the guys to dig out better spaces for them in their own place.

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  He realized that he had gotten lost in his own thoughts while Kathy was waiting nervously. He took a deep breath. “I do not know, now, what I will do, but I will try to help Kevin—”

  “Kek!ooa.”

  “Kek...ooa,” Nick tried.

  “Kek!ooa.”

  “I'm sorry, I can't really make that sound very well. It hurts.” He gestured at his throat.

  Kathy made a soft noise, probably her version of a sigh. “'Kevin' is good.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Anyway...this is Level 1. I lived here for days, while Petra and I dug deeper, to get elements.” The first primitive washroom was on this level, and his first bedroom. He led her back down a level, and showed her his older setup, similar to what was now on Level 4. He pointed out where he had gotten copper and hydrogen in the early days, and continued downwards.

  Level 3 had the parking garage for the guys, as well as a few rooms Petra had converted and now designated as traps. Nick described the trap rooms as simply, “Petra want room,” without going into details. Level 3 also had the first small tree nursery, which had held the first failure of a sapling. As far as Nick knew, it was still in there.

  They passed through Level 4 since Kathy had already seen most of it. He decided to save the pool for last.

  Level 5 had the Armory, with its array of battle robots. “Petra want,” Nick explained.

  “Petra want?” Kathy echoed dubiously.

  Nick shrugged. “Yes.” A few minutes of discussion back and forth got the idea of “suggest” across. “Petra suggested she make these.” He led her across to the other side of the level, and stopped outside the improved tree nursery.

  “You no go in here.” Nick used the nearest tablet to call up video of the three saplings that were growing inside. Fortunately it was daytime on Earth so the plants were lit up. “Trees. Trees from Earth. Maybe trees make you sick. Maybe you make trees sick. Big work make trees. Please, no go in.”

  “I understand. I no go in,” Kathy promised, staring at the video.

  Levels 6 through 8 were a lot more rough, with only a couple of rooms each and a few long corridors. Half the planned rooms were traps, and this was where active excavation was continuing, with several of the guys moving back and forth, carving bricks, smoothing floors, and transporting waste stone up a couple of chutes to be dumped somewhere outside.

  Level 6 also had the biggest stockpile of metal ingots. Kathy stopped and stared at all of it, but at the silver and gold ingots in particular. “You have more silver and gold than we do,” he assured her. “This is all the silver and gold in this hill.” I need to remember to show her the 3D image of the resources inside their mine, too.

  Kathy seemed to be having a little trouble breathing. “Air?” she asked, gesturing at her face. Nick frowned, then pointed out the air purifiers, and took a deep breath, both to see if he could smell anything odd and to demonstrate that he could breathe easily.

  “Let's go back up,” Nick suggested, and led the way upstairs. Kathy needed to pause on Level 7 to try to catch her breath, and again on Level 6. Nick started to get worried. “You need water? You need oxygen? Element eight?”

  “Element eight, please,” Kathy managed. Nick found a container of oxygen in the stockpile, and cautiously let some of it out, sniffing, before offering it to Kathy. She took several deep breaths, then closed the alien valve.

  “We go Level 4?” Nick suggested.

  “Yes. Slow. Yes. We go.”

  Kathy paused for a few moments halfway up the stairs to Level 5, and again at the top. Nick offered his arm for support, and Kathy leaned on him as they painstakingly made their way back up to Level 4. He looked around.

  Shit. All these rooms, and I never thought I'd need a guest bedroom or a medical center. He led her to his bedroom, hoping that it didn't smell too bad to her. Hopefully, it would be all right. After all, she had already spent an hour in there with the door closed, using the communicator while he slept.

  Inside, he had several different displays, including a 3D display. Kathy also hadn't turned off the communicator when she finished earlier, so some excited talking came from the other end as soon as they came into view of the camera. Nick felt a headache coming on as rapid, loud conversation in Kthufu ensued.

  Once Kathy was seated in front of the camera, Nick stepped over to a display. “Nick's status.” What he thought of as his character sheet came up, saying about what he expected. Crossing his fingers, he said, “Kathy's status.”

  Name: Kathy (Ktheg!lik)

  Level: 1

  Class: Adventurer

  Species: Fuakala (Fuak!a)

  Gender: Female

  Status: Ally

  Languages: Galactic 1%, English 7%, Kthufu 100%

  Health: 85%

  Debuff: temperature + 1 deg F.

  Debuff: air input 74%

  Alongside that information was a detailed map of Kathy's body, currently showing her slightly slumped in the chair. There was an odd coloration to her throat in the diagram.

  “Petra, heal Kathy.”

  “Insufficient resources,” Petra replied.