(Omal gives us an overview of his role as base commander and the principles of the dimension the base inhabits. How do you fit a base over a mile wide into a space fives miles below the surface of sixth dimensional Mars without any interior supports? You make use of the properties of the fifth dimension.) 

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Omal: okay, let us open the floor for questions. As I note that you have a inflammation of the lower, I think it would be esophageal area?

Laura: yes.

Omal: we will if you wish let both Skip and Russell there ask questions on your behalf if you are having difficulty.

Laura: that would be fine with me.

Omal: or ask questions if you might wish to ask but they think of first. Let us open the floor.

Russ: okay, real quickly Omal, why don't you tell Laura a little bit about yourself?

Omal: okay I have the somewhat dubious distinction of being the base commander in charge of this bunch of reprobates. The base that we work on is a sixth dimensional workspace that is encapsulated by a fifth dimensional space so in actual fact we are broadcasting from the fifth dimension but within the sixth. Hades Base itself is sequestered about five of your miles below the surface of the planet Mars in the sixth dimension but within a fifth dimensional part of the space that it inhabits. To explain in a way, you are in the third dimension, the fourth dimension is time, the fifth dimension is space but not the space you would take normally as space, it is the space where an object appears somewhat different and the laws of physics are somewhat different. The best way to describe the fifth dimension is, let us say you have a object in front of you that you wish to pick up. Now in the fifth dimension, you would try to reach for it and it may appear to be the same distance away as it was before you reached for it. You may stand up and try to reach for it and again it might be the same distance away as it was to start off with. But if you were to turn 180° and walk away from the object, you may suddenly find yourself almost stepping on it and being able to pick it up. Another interesting part of the fifth dimension is the ability that sometimes the laws of physics are suspended. The normal belief of what goes up must come down, pick up an object and release it and it will fall to the floor doesn't always work. For example you may release an object thinking it will fall the floor and instead it falls the ceiling, very interesting. Or you may be walking along, walk into a wall, walk up the wall, across the ceiling, down the other wall. You can also open up a box, let us say a foot by a foot and slide in a pole that is 10 feet long and the pole may fall to the bottom of the box and may take a considerable length of time to do so. This can be replicated in labs and is very useful for storage as might be suspected however it does leave open interesting problems on retrieving things. Another useful example is watering plants...(sneezes)

Laura: bless you.

Omal: that was not me. There is something irritating the nasal passages.

Russ: want some tea or something?

Omal: we will see how it goes. Another interesting phenomenon is we have a gentleman here that has a can for watering his plants that is probably no more than larger then the tankard that Russ uses for drinking. However, this one watering can will water the equivalent to maybe a 100 plants in large containers of about this width, quite impossible in normal space. It is very useful to have such a small container containing such vast quantities of water as it does not weigh that much.