Catalina Island becomes a heavily fortified SYLO staging ground at a moment when Tucker and his companions need the command’s help to secure the dome. The scale of the base—and the suspicion with which the group is received—turns their arrival into a race to make their case before the opportunity for an attack slips away.

Setting and Military Presence

As Tucker’s group approaches by helicopter, Catalina Island recalls Pemberwick Island, but the resemblance comes with a striking difference in scale. Warships surround the entire island, rather than only the shore facing the mainland, suggesting a far more comprehensive perimeter. The sight also prompts Tucker to wonder what condition Pemberwick Island is in.

At the island’s center, a tent city gives way to a substantial military installation. The base has several barracks, antiaircraft guns along the shore, and what appear to be hundreds of attack helicopters arranged on a dusty field. A herd of buffalo bolts from the landing pad as the helicopter arrives, an incongruous detail amid the conspicuous military buildup.

Arrival and Security

The flight takes less than an hour, leaving Tucker’s group roughly seven hours to persuade the SYLO command to launch an assault on the Retro camp in Nevada and secure the dome. Their urgency is sharpened by the fact that they must first get a skeptical military force to listen. Tori Sleeper and Kent Berringer are wearing Retro uniforms, which does not help the group’s reception.

SYLO soldiers take the group’s weapons, assign an armed escort to each person, and separate them. Tucker and his companions are placed in different jeeps; during the drive toward the encampment, he tries to prepare what he will say to the officer he is about to meet. He believes the command already knows about the Bridge through time, but recognizes that persuading it to mount an all-out raid will be much harder.

A Base, Not a Prison

The jeeps drive directly into the installation. Unlike the SYLO site on Pemberwick Island, this is not a prison: there are no fences or barbed wire. Yet the base is unmistakably secured by force. Soldiers are everywhere, and most wear body armor and helmets as well as their deep-red camouflage fatigues; every one carries a weapon.

Catalina Island thus serves both as the physical concentration point for SYLO’s military strength and as a guarded threshold the group must cross before it can seek assistance. Its immense perimeter and readiness contrast with Tucker’s limited window to win over the command, making the island’s formidable defenses a backdrop to a problem that cannot be solved by firepower alone.