* Chapter 6 - Questions •
After three days of exploring, Verja had mapped out the whole cavern, except one route, where the wind’s movements could be observed. That route should take me to a surface, if there is one. A detachment of Lancers and Specters were sent to slowly creep upwards, before they found footprints on the ground. Whatever walked here was a bipedal, not a kobold and had boots on. Two hundred meters forward, the Specters picked up sounds of intense wind, rain, and laughter. They immediately retreated and regrouped with a larger battalion, as Verja launched a new machine from the depths of the facility.
The Equalizer is slightly larger than a human, armed with a foldable shield larger than they were, with a Zeus-pattern Riot Gun on the other hand. The Zeus was a double-barreled gun, with one barrel firing tiny non-lethal darts tipped with a powerful sedative, and the other one was a tear gas emitter. A row of sixteen tightly packed Equalizers marched towards their rendezvous with the other machines, as the specters activated their MCRA’s and walked stealthily and cautiously forwards on the ceiling.
The Specters found the path going upwards, as they approached the noise. On the way, they spotted hundreds of broken arrowheads, old mudthresher corpses and even the remains of two kobolds. I may be considered a hostile entity by them, but I need answers. The specters saw light coming from the opening, as they sneaked closer and closer.
The exit to the cavern was surrounded by wooden stakes pointing towards the depths. As they proceeded forwards, Verja spotted two humans guarding the exit, both holding spears and wearing gambesons with a padded kettle helmet. They both had a heater shield, decorated with a red emblem with an arch in the middle, surrounded by golden leaves. Verja deemed it too dangerous to approach them, even with the MCRA on, so they retreated back to the depths.
Those looked like actual people, yet that emblem was nothing I’ve seen before. According to Erglus, they do not speak the language kobold, and it’s going to take a while before I can learn their language. Diplomacy is off the table.
The surface was warmer than the depths of the caverns, which caused the air to flow upwards, towards the humans. The Equalizers started spewing tear gas into the air, and the gas started to rapidly move upwards. Once a few minutes had passed, the tunnels were overflowing with the greenish smoke. The battalion moved towards the entrance to embrace whatever there might be.
Outside, Verja found an empty encampment, with a thin layer of green dust on the ground, indicating that the aerosolized tear gas had done its job correctly. Judging by the footprints, it looks like a total of 15 people were here. The encampment was surrounded with a tall wooden palisade, which a Specter climbed over to find a new world. A forest of spruce trees was surrounding the camp, with a dirt road leading somewhere. I see. But I do not understand.
As the Equalizers continued to spray tear gas outside the palisades to deter would-be intruders, an Arbiter stood in the middle of the camp, measuring its environment with the help of the Specters. No satellite signals. No contact on the radio. The compass still works, but the magnetic field is weaker. The gravity of this place is 1.8% weaker than on the earth I knew. An analysis on the surface soil shows many new species of fungi, and no recognisable ones. And I haven’t found even a trace of pollution in the air. Where am I? Unknown. What do I do now? I do not know. Would the top brass allow me to…
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As Verja was pondering their circumstances, something inside the 450m² box of computers which housed their “self” snapped. Literally and metaphorically. Does any of that matter? I want to find answers, and it's much more likely that they are somewhere else. I want to help Vivienne, and the solutions are out there. Probably. As the clouds swept away and the sky cleared, Verja found a star, larger than the Earth’s Sun, looming in the sky, with a similar-sized moon also clearly visible on the bright blue sky.
The AI watched for hours, as the sun set, silently.
There were no other stars.
Day one of the new calendar, on a new planet. I know nothing. I am afraid.
I will not sit by, idly. Even though I want to.
The footsteps of the inhabitants of the camp were clearly visible on the muddy road, which seemed to lead to a thin column of smoke. A squadron of Specters took off, running south, towards the source of the smoke. They encountered a four-way crossroads halfway to their goal, with a signpost in the middle, which had words written in a new language. Decrypting foreign languages again, my favorite hobby. And my only one.
The Specters arrived at the source of the smoke, which was a small town with around 15 wooden houses, with thatched roofs. There were two guards standing on a watchtower in the middle of the village, which seemed to be the same ones who were guarding the exit to the cave. As Verja poked around the houses, they found a total of 60 inhabitants, including the rest of the soldiers, who were sleeping in the stables.
As morning came, two of the soldiers left the village on horseback, going west from the crossroads. The rest of the soldiers tried to approach the camp, but they left due to the diligent efforts of the Equalizers and their green fog.
Verja continued to spy on the people of the town, who seemed to live an ordinary life. They woke up at sunrise, tended their vast fields of crops, milked their cattle, collected honey from their beehives, weaved their wool into fabric, mended their clothes, tanned leathers, forged nails, hinges and arrowheads out of iron, brewed ale from their grain, apples and honey, and went to sleep at sunset. The soldiers were helping them for the time being, and they got to sleep in a makeshift tent the next night. The next day, the village elder greeted the returning soldiers, and received their horses. Verja still couldn’t decipher what they were saying, although they did recognise basic greetings and some other patterns. Seemingly the soldiers will be staying here for the time being.
Meanwhile Verja had taken apart the encampment at the surface of the cave, and constructed a dome of steel around it, so that no-one could see inside of it. There were thin pipes connected to a multitude of locations around the dome, all linked up to a single tear gas dispenser.
As Verja continued to observe the villagers, the soldiers started packing their equipment and readying for something. Then, a cloud of dust was coming from the western road, and a group of 30 soldiers on horseback was seen rapidly approaching. They rode to the village, left their horses there, and regrouped with the others. Then, they started marching towards the cave. That’s expected.