The rest of my morning was spent reiterating the information that I had gleaned regarding our situation. I presented an incomplete image of our situation to Enoch, and I explained everything to the other three members of my group. I told Enoch of the trials humanity would face over the next nine days, and I told him that the leader of the nearby [Greater Dungeon] was a Human named Lord Octavian. Naturally, Enoch asked me how I knew this, and I told him a shapeshifting woman I met in the forest told me everything.
As I changed into a new suit in the RV, I told the other members of my group of Melkior and the scene straight out of the Book of Revelation. I tried to explain my experience gleaning the [Truth] to them, but I was unable to give an explanation with which I was happy.
I spent most of that conversation restating information previously described in this record, so I omitted most of it. There was one portion of the conversation of significance, so it will be included here.
Near the end of my description of my meeting with Melkior and the other Dungeon Lords, Claire spoke up. With uncertainty in her eyes, she asked, “What did you learn when you saw the [Truth]?”
I sat forward in my seat and spoke with a serious tone. “To start, I was able to realize the truth behind the two contradictions we spoke of yesterday. Namely, the mystery of our MDC bodies and the nature of laser weapons. Though our durability has increased by a factor of one hundred, our weight hasn’t increased significantly. This is due to the nature of the [Draconic Integration]. We were changed on a subatomic level. You see, most objects with mass are made of the first-generation fermions: up quarks, down quarks, and electrons. [Draconic Integration] changed that. We are now made of the second-generation fermions: charm quarks, strange quarks, and muons. Our weight didn’t increase because our atoms are still the same size. The only difference is that the bonds between the atoms are much stronger now.”
“Hold on,” Carlos interjected. “What about the weak force? If we were really made of muons, we would have exploded immediately due to radioactive decay.”
“Not if every subatomic particle was switched simultaneously. The weak force only operates at a subatomic distance, and atoms are mostly empty space. A stable second-generation atom could be suspended in a fluid made of first-generation atoms without ever getting close enough to interact.”
Liz threw her hands up in annoyance. Glaring angrily at Carlos and me, she said, “Can you explain it in a way that makes sense to someone without a quantum mechanics fixation?”
“Uh, right,” I said, scratching the back of my head. “We should be fine as long as our atoms don’t get too hot, and we won’t be able to integrate first-generation material into our second-generation bodies.”
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“What about the other thing?” Liz asked. “You said you figured out how the laser weapons worked. Can you explain that without giving a lecture on quantum mechanics?”
“Kind of,” I said. The nature of laser weapons was fundamentally tied to quantum mechanics. I paused for a moment to think of a way to explain without referencing the Higgs field. “Laser weapons actually do shoot light. You see, a device within the laser weapons imbues the light with mass, causing it to become much slower. When the mass-bearing light reaches its target, that mass is converted into energy, creating an explosion.”
“These guys can imbue light with mass? That should definitely be impossible.” Carlos craned his neck up to look at the ceiling of the RV and sighed.
“I’m more concerned about the change in our bodies,” Claire said. “We can only eat MDC material. Where are we supposed to find MDC food?”
“We’ll have to eat the Diluvians or Uruks,” I said with a shrug.
The others responded with looks of disgust, and I continued with my explanation. After that point, it didn’t take much longer for me to catch them up to speed. I wondered if, in the future, I should keep a handwritten notebook to transfer this packet of information when necessary. I’d prefer not to explain everything every time I met a new person.
I had one more meeting with Lieutenant Miller, and I basically told him everything I told Enoch. The conversation went smoothly, though he did ask me if I worked for an intelligence agency or some other organization tasked with aggregating information.
“In my line of work, when a guy dressed in a suit walks into a military base with way more information than he should have, he’s usually with the CIA,” Lieutenant Miller said during our conversation.
Some time after I laughed off this veiled accusation, Lieutenant Miller left me alone in a waiting room. I used this as an opportunity to leave the building and make my way back to my campsite. If I had stayed for much longer and met with General Ramirez, I probably wouldn’t have found another opportunity to leave for a few more hours.
Once I returned to the campsite, many of the refugees around Fort Bragg were unsettled once more. The information I had shared with the others had begun to circulate, since I told Enoch to tell others about the impending meteor strike.
While I was gone, the others decided on a course of action that would allow as many people as possible to reach the [Town] north of Charlotte. My group would go first, and then a large caravan of refugees protected by Enoch’s group would travel ten miles behind us. The plan would, naturally, put my group in the most danger, but none of us had any problem with danger. It would give us ample opportunity to gain EXP.
As I pulled the RV out of Fort Bragg and onto the road to the west, I felt Epsilon squirm and resist. It was after noon by that time, and my [Greater Dungeon] had already appeared. Epsilon did not appreciate that we were traveling in the opposite direction. I ignored the Star Child’s wordless complaint, and we were soon on the road once more.