Chapter 122 – EVO
***Tirnanog, The Old Camp***
***Magnus***
There were a lot of things to talk about. From the Old Camps immediate problems like the coming night to more distant issues.
With their comparably low numbers, Conla and her people had trouble protecting all the newly arrived exiles.
It wasnt like my people hadnt brought weapons to protect themselves, but guns helped only to a certain point without the right mutations to back up the firepower. You couldnt shoot what you didnt see coming and couldnt hit what was faster than you could adjust your aim. Not to mention, certain denizens of the night would take a few bullets just as easily as they impaled themselves on a spear just to get to the fleshy human.
So our first countermeasure was for Astra and me to be drafted as an emergency response team. Having two additional juggernauts assist in repelling monsters would be a great help. Especially since the forests creatures seemed to think of the newly repopulated Old Camp as an inviting buffet.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience
A second issue was the scarce supply of frequently used mutation materials like starfish, upon which I pointedly ignored Conlas and Astras glares. It wasnt like I could have done anything about having poisoned the lake at this point. The poison itself had already decayed, but the marine life was slow to repopulate the biome. Besides, it was a good tactical decision at the time.
The problem would be solved soon enough once Aeries relief forces arrived with additional supplies.
More interesting was the news of Earth being only semi-involved in this conflict. There was no question they would become trouble for us sooner or later, but if my people were to be believed, then Thich couldnt count on getting more support.
This didnt mean the old weapon and supply stashes which had already been revealed to our enemies werent still a massive problem for us.
Sadly, nobody could tell us exactly what type of weapons and how many of them the Thich had retrieved from those sites. If Gunnar was to be believed, then the rogue scientist named Everhart had revealed roughly fifty locations filled to the brim with old and new war material in addition to activating the sleeper force which tried to assassinate me. Coincidentally, this was supposedly the very same man who held my departing speech when I was exiled.
The more Gunnar revealed about the whole mess, the more I wondered what had gone wrong to get a man like Everhart into a position with so much potential for power abuse. Then again, Tirnanog wasnt exactly on Earths list of priorities. The whole mess had only blown up in Everharts face because I meddled with the supercomputers at Mount Aerie and Hochberg, shutting out the scientists and getting other departments like IT involved.
Who knew how far things would have gone if Gunnar hadnt used the opportunity to kick a warning up the chain of command? And in the end, complete loss of communication wasnt something the professor could sweep under the rug without getting the higher-ups involved.
I guessed the good news about all of this was that the Thich were unlikely to receive additional manpower from Earth.
Jakob Lang, the leader of my resistance cell back on Earth, revealed an impressive list of supplies and devices the organisation brought with them. Among these was all the necessary equipment for a gene laboratory. So in my imagination, I already saw Gurney salivating and indecently touching the boxes with chemicals and gene sequencers while whispering sweet nothings to them.
Anyway!
One of the organisations main concerns was what would happen after their clean breakaway from Earth. All of us were dependent on our nanotech for the foreseeable future. It was a vital part of survival in this world, so gaining complete control of the UI was important.
What Chloe and the others were afraid of was some kind of hidden kill switch that Earth could activate if they thought they lost control of the situation.
I didnt want to dismiss the possibility of such a function completely, but I had my doubts about the nanotech being capable of just flipping a switch and having all of clan Aerie drop dead.
I frowned and thought about Tirnanogs sun, which was admittedly a white dwarf which probably had a damn powerful magnetic field. But there was only one moon, limiting the possibilities for complexity within the system.
The only solution I could come up with was that all of the jaunt points which allowed Earth to drop their exiles so conveniently on different continents were artificial. It was the only scenario that made sense.
But the technology necessary to create those jaunt points was magnitudes beyond the little street lights Astra and I were setting up. The only way I could see to make this possible was the ability to shape the entire planets magnetic field to ones desire.
Two delicate fingers pinching my cheek brought me back from my musings.
Hey! Stop zoning out. We just got word that there is work to do. Something huge rampaged through the organisations sensor array monitoring the outer perimeter and Conla wants us to get rid of it sooner rather than later.
Right. I picked up my weapons and followed Astra out of the bunker, still deep in thought. Sadly, I couldnt do much more than to stash away this train of thought for later.
We flash-stepped to our destination but still arrived a little bit late to the party.
Three of Conlas warriors were already playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a firehorn when we reached a line of improvised barricades where the former wooden palisade had been. Some of the organisations men were shooting the creature with rifles, but the reptiles scaly hide withstood the projectiles, allowing it to ignore the pesky insect bites.
Mind you, the firehorn wasnt impervious to the guns, but it took two or three bullets to shatter a scale and for consecutive shots to get through. The triceratops-like predator was already bleeding from a handful of wounds, but so far none had deterred the creature.
When we arrived on the scene, the monster stopped suddenly and raised its nostrils, sniffing the air.
Then it turned in our direction, its eyes locking onto me like a bloodhound having found its mark.
Shit! I said a moment before the creature charged.
I think I remember a certain event involving you and a firehorn, Astra commented. But I didnt expect it to remember your scent among the dozens of exiles. Looks like their infamy for remembering the scent of their foes forever isnt just an old wives tale.
Do you think its the same one? I asked. Why would it remember my scent? I didnt do anything to it while it ate most of my fellow exiles!
Well, your scent was within the vicinity of a certain egg-thief, Astra reasoned.
The firehorn opened its maw, revealing several rows of shark-like teeth and a deep-red glow coming from deep within its throat.
I flash-stepped, dodging the burning glob of napalm-like fire which shot out and impacted at the position where Astra and I had been just a moment ago. And when it hit, it burst apart, splashing all over the barricades like a liquid.
The creature didnt stop its charge as it readjusted in my direction, readying another burning projectile.
I sighed and pulled a javelin from my back, wondering what would happen if the fireball was hit while it was still within the creatures maw.