“We are returning to Aurora, pack up.” I said, prepping Fea in a hurry.
“...Sir...are you sure? The arcology is almost hours…?”
A voice questioned my order.
“SHUT UP.” *wham* I smack the idiot standing next to me, sending him down to the floor.
“We move in 10 minutes. Anyone who is still not ready will be shot.”
…We don't have time.
“...Are you okay?” Marionette asked.
…”Don't worry about it. Get ready to travel.” I told her as I kept working
“...But”
I grabbed her by the back of her neck.
“... Don't try me right now… Ok?”
I let her go once she nodded.
...
Soon, we took off.
.
“...Wasn't that a bit… harsh?”
.. Irrelevant.
...I have to get back to Aurora. Alicia is still there…
“But...the nuke? ...Surely she could not have survived that...?”
The explosion was too small to have been a proper warhead, at worst it was a suitcase nuke, oldschool, easy to smuggle from place to place.
“But the payload is small.”
Exactly… ...The facility is outside the Arcology… She should be still alive…
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She has to be.
I continue moving towards Aurora.
...The next few days were hellish, the worry was killing me. I made sure to travel as fast as possible, but even then. It took days to get back to Aurora.
The scene was not much unlike the fate of many cities during the Old war.
Rubble.
Rubble and smoke.
I ordered the unit onwards, moving towards the location of the medical facility outside Aurora.
...There were no guards outside, just a sealed of metal blast door.. Not good.
I shot the blast door off its hinges. Dismounting Fea.
“Marionette and you three, with me.”
I head into the facility.
...No lights are on…
...The hallways were empty and jarring.
“...Are you sure this is a good Idea?”
...Alicia is down the hall to the left
I keep moving through the facility… arriving to the door of Alicia’s medical room.
...Steeling myself I open the door.
A room in a reddish hue opens in front of me.
...
*Beep*
…
*Beep*
…
..
It is alicia’s cryopod, still operational, lit by 3 emergency lights.
I check the pod in a hurry.
...It seems to be running on emergency reserves, but they are low… if we had got back an hour later… she would be defrosting…
…
..
.
After hooking Alicia’s unit up to one of the Walkers for power, I issued orders for further recon to the fate of the facility.
...From what it looks like most likely what happened was that the facility was abandoned by the staff in fear of radiation… And for a good reason too… if they had stayed they would have been breathing radiated dust for the last few days….
They wired the facility power to the life support units and shut down everything else before they left… hoping to prolong the survival of the patients…. Even shutting the blast door to keep away radiation. Seeing as her cage is missing, I assume they took Tibbles with them.. heh.
The attempts to leave the patients safe? Futile… there were dozens of cold corpses on hospital beds, the power ran out two days ago, and even then, no one was changing their IV drips…
...Luckily Alicia was frozen… I don't want to imagine the alternative results…
“...I tried to warn you, in your rush you let your forces stretch too thin…”
...I know. But what else can I do?? Alicia barely has two weeks left…
…”...”
...I know, you are just a hallucination. You don't have the answers any better than I do.
“Well… at this point, you are already stuck on the path right?...”
“…Might as well see it through.”
...Right.
...Shaking my head to get rid of the sleep deprivation, I get up. Ready to face the next step.