They moved towards the gate room as quickly and quietly as possible. When all the sudden the scanner lit up like a Christmas tree. There was a large group moving up fast behind them. Denise told everyone to make a run for it to the gate room. They all ran as fast as they could and made it to the room. Denise said,

"Aleerin how long will it take to activate the gate?"

"Statement: approximately/about 5 minutes."

"OK. People, we need five minutes! Set up a welcoming committee for whoever is coming."

Everyone except Aleerin found a place with some cover. They only had to wait a few seconds before two cyborgs entered the gate room. The group opened fire and one went down almost completely turned to pulp and whatever these cybernetics were made of. The other one got off a couple of shots and even wounded Linda in the arm. Christine made her way to Linda and checked out the wound. It wasn't much more than a flesh wound. She put a battle dressing on it and picked her weapon up again.

The second cyborg did not last much longer than the first one under the concentrated fire of the whole group. Christine checked to see if the rest were all right and found only an abrasion or two from flying debris. Denise looked at her scanner.

"There are more of them coming, so get ready."

She was right. Not ten seconds later four cyborgs busted into the room with flashes of black light flying everywhere. The group had to take cover and this gave the cyborgs time to find cover of their own. The battle was raging on with beams of white hot plasma and light being thrown against black light. Two of the cyborgs were down because of lack of good cover, but the other two had done some damage. Martine was down with a large wound to her lower torso and at that moment no one could get to her to help. Graham had also taken a blow to his head from falling rock and was out cold.

The battle raged on and then the gate popped to life. The cyborgs were startled and looked up at the gate. That is when Denise and Connor ran out from their covers and blasted the two remaining cyborgs. Denise then yelled,

"Connor! Grab Martine while Pogo helps Graham!"

Christine had moved to help Martine and continued to work on her as they made their way through the gate. As Christine stepped into the gate she got the feeling of being on a very high speed roller coaster and then thought of a fast flowing underground river. The river was closer to how it felt, and feel was all you could do because there was no light. Christine could not even see her hand in front of her face. As for helping Martine, she was not even sure Martine or Connor were still beside her. Then she was stepping out into a beautiful sunny day. The air was breathable with a great deal of moisture. She noticed movement beside her and there was Connor and Martine. Christine was more concerned about their immediate environment than her patient.

Checking her sensors she smiled. It looked to be almost earth in that it was a perfect environment for humans. She then quickly went back to Martine. Denise stepped out of the gate and looked around. She saw a beautiful day in the middle of an overgrown city of some kind. She could tell it was not some sort of alien horticulture, because some of the plants had actually ruined some of the buildings. Looking around Denise thought they were alone and her scanner confirmed this. She moved down to look at some of the buildings and what they were made of. It was some sort of crystalline substance, but much stronger than anything she had ever seen. She turned back and found the whole group was there now and the gate popped closed.

Denise said,

"Christine, how is she?" Christine looked at Denise and replied,

"If I can find a place to treat her she should live."

"OK people, you heard the Doctor! We have to move out and find a medical facility." Graham had come around finally and spoke.

"Over here. I have found a path."

They all moved to take a look. Denise said,

"Graham, you take the point. I will be second and Pogo can bring up the rear."

They moved out quickly and followed the path. It seemed to be an old road and after a minute they were in front of a very large building. Denise said,

"Linda, Pogo and Yalp, check it out."

They moved inside the large glass building and started looking around. It did not take them long to figure out it was indeed a medical facility of some kind. There were rooms with beds all over the place. Yalp said,

"I am going to try and get some power in here. Why don't you go and get the Doctor and his patient."

Pogo nodded but Linda said,

"Someone should watch your back while you work."

Yalp smiled impishly and replied,

"You want to come with me?"

She smiled back and the two of them headed down some stairs. Most of the signs were in pictograph form so it was easy to find things. Linda thought this must have been to accommodate many different races.

Pogo made his way back outside and told them the building was indeed a hospital of some kind. It had all sorts of treatment rooms, as if it was set up to deal with many different species. Christine said,

"I don't care if it was set up for the devil himself! We have to get her in there."

Connor picked up Martine and they carried her into the building. From the signs they could see about twenty major species and one of them looked vaguely humanoid, so Christine directed them in there.

Yalp and Linda made their way down the hall and eventually found the power source. The wiry little lizard man pulled tools and a scanner out of his pack and quickly went to work. Linda watched the door and hall, but everything seemed quiet. She heard the little lizard and like most mechanics, he cursed and talked to himself as he worked. Linda thought it was funny and said,

Sorry. Did you say something?"

Yalp just mumbled some more. She moved into the room and repeated herself.

"Did you say something?"

Yalp lifted his head.

"Yes. I said this place is amazing. You saw when we came in that the building was a giant glass pyramid. Well, it collects energy and stores it far below us. There is an incredible amount of energy down there. After all, it has probably been collecting energy for a millennium."

Then he got up and flicked a switch. The lights and equipment all seemed to come to life.

Up on the main floor, Connor had put Martine on the bed in what looked to be a human trauma unit. Christine was scanning her when the lights came on. Christine was pushed away from the bed as a clear crystal cover materialized over the bed. Christine tried to take more readings but Martine was being shielded by the crystal cover. Christine at first tried to break the cover but then noticed, Martine's body was healing itself at an incredible rate. After five minutes the cover opened as did Martine's eyes. She had a big hole in her outfit, but through it could be seen a pink little belly with a tiny belly button.