A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Ryan was the first to step inside their new base 'Fort Genesis', as soon as he passed through the threshold of the gate he felt a small jolt and a slight prick in his brain making him falter momentarily as Ciara caught him by his shoulder a she spoke with concern, "Are you alright son?"

Ryan gave her a smile as he spoke, "Yes I am alright mother.", as they entered they saw a concrete road making its way from the central building from entrance which was over 4 meters wide, as they stepped inside Ryan pointed towards what seemed to be a scaffolding with stairs that led up to the wall, Ryan looked up to his mother as he spoke, "Shall we start with the wall then?"

Ciara nodded at that as Ryan took them up by the stairs leading to top of the wall, Ryan stood in front of the battlement as he spoke, "Well we have a nice battlement that can be used for cover and I believe that sisters can work their magic and making more defensive, there are 16 towers if I am remember correctly waiting for weapons to be mounted on them they are big and can support something equivalent to howitzer easily I will be working on something of the likes soon, although it is currently empty space you all may go and visit, now let us move on to the gatehouse, situated on top of the gate and currently it is to my left", with that Ryan moved towards door that lead inside the gatehouse, it was a slightly heavy door made of iron, Ryan turned the lever handle door knob as the door swung open as the group stepped inside with his mother, his aunt Zhan and his sister following closely after.

Ryan moved to center of the room as turned to face others he spoke again, "To my right are the arrow holes or slits or gun holes or whatever with searchlight and to my left is the opening overlooking the courtyard again along with the searchlight and those particular levers are meant to control the opening and closing of the gates, yes gates in plural as the large gate has a smaller one build within it that allows a single person to enter without the need of opening the large one every time, if you have any questions you know where to find me regarding them."

Ciara looked a bit amused at that her son was clearly enjoying giving a tour like some real estate agents, she could see the pride and happiness in his eyes upon creation of the base she knew deep in his heart that he did not want the repeat of what happened with Lena and the completion of the base was a big boon to him as such.

One of the soldier stood in front of the leavers which were linked with the display of some short that were not working at the moment she tried the lever a few times as she spoke, "The lever is easy to use, does the base have any power?"

One of the soldiers who standing nearby to her spoke with a snort, "Where would you get some bloody power, Ryan has yet to build any wind turbines to generate some."

Ryan simply listened to their argument but did not say anything he had one last part to complete before he could say the base was truly complete as such he turned towards his mother as he spoke, "Mom there is a tiny thing that I need to do before I can say the base is complete as I need to do something on the deep bowels of the base."

Ciara frowned as she spoke, "And what do you have to do?"

Ryan gave her a mischievous smile as he spoke, "Well you will see."

Ciara rose one of her elegant eyebrow as she spoke, "Bring some flashlight."

A soldier saluted as she left fast and after a few minutes she arrived with half a dozen flashlight, at the beginning Ryan had created normal flashlight but they need for batteries he was forced to find an alternative which was a hand crank flashlight.

As the flashlight were brought Ryan, Michalina, Zhan along with three others were the first to step inside the base, their flashlight showing them the way inside the dark unknown, as they moved inside Michalina gave a low whistle as she spoke, "You know we just need some kind of creepy murderous creatures popping out and we would have a nice horror movie with the atmosphere.

Ryan simply glared at her as he spoke, "Sister I would be grateful if you do not make such comments I would not want to suffer nightmare because of you."

Michalina simply laughed uproariously at that as Zhan send her a disapproving look, as they entered they walked over well polished floors passed some desks that stood in the dark the wall had Level 0 written on it, they then went past a couple of elevators with Ryan as their guide as he opened a door and a flight of stairs was seen in front of him, "Be careful the stairs are steep.", with his piece said Ryan began took the one that took him down as he began his descend.

It took them sometime to descend to what was dubbed as Level -11, the group reached the place as by then most of them were panting hard Ryuu gave them an uneasy smile as he spoke, "Sorry it seems that the air so deep down is not breathable, not to mention how hot and humid this place feels like."

Michalina grimaced at that as she spoke, "Go do whatever you came here to do and then we will leave, I feel light headed already."

Ryan gave an apologetic look as he spoke, "Sorry but you will have to stay for a bit more after this process I will deal proper air intake."

Zhan frowned at that as she spoke, "Well hurry up child I do not wish for a trip the infirmary."

Ryan nodded he could hear one of the soldiers wheezing and coughing because of the quality of air, he went towards a large red door, 'Energy Production and Control/ Nexus Anchorage' were written in white bold letters, 'So this is the room from where the base taps into the nexus and draws power from it.'

He moved to the door where two small levers were placed horizontally on the door facing each other, Ryan pulled them by their handle as a small click was heard from other part of the door, he then went towards a specific part of the door where a panel had opened showing another pair of handles much larger than the other two, he pulled them one by one with a hiss the door opened, as the door swung opened to the inside Ryan entered the room followed closely by the others their flashlight showed various contraptions and machines Ryan walked through them as he spoke, "We need to start the machines, that big handle over there I need to turn it but I believe it would be too much for me so a helping hand will be appreciated."

Michalina volunteered herself as she and Ryan both began to turn the handle whose speed slowly started to climb and soon with a shake and hiss a machine seemed to start as its dial stated to glow with flickering light as it showed it slowly moving from its initial position to the red zone, Ryan frowned as he shouted out, "Sister Jessica substitute for me."

One of the soldiers sitting nearby promptly sprang up as she substituted for Ryan as he began to move to a certain direction while he shouted back, "If any of you feel tired feel free to substitute."

He climbed a steel ladder used a catwalk as he moved to another section of the room, in front of him was a large wheel which he spun fast and soon another dial moved, he kept turning it until the needle of the dial was in green colored zone making him smile, he pulled a lever before he ran back through the catwalk to another part, meanwhile Michalina had substituted with Zhan and was heaving on the ground he could hear the sound of Ryan running around.

Ryan found himself standing in front of yet another dial one which was slowly climbing he was waiting for the appropriate pressure to start the machine with a push of a button truly it was a novel experience for him, after all how many can claim that they are producing electricity by tapping into the energy from the bosom of Earth itself without having to use any need of any form of inputs not even water.

As the appropriate pressure was reached Ryan turned on a knob pressed a couple of buttons to make sure the pressure was maintained before he pulled the lever switch as a loud roar was heard multiple machines sprung into motion.

With his part accomplished Ryan dashed towards his companions only for him to stumble and fall as his vision began to swim, the excitement from getting the energy was good but he had underestimated the poor quality of air which cause his vision to swim as he fell on the ground hard, luckily his fall was noticed by the others as Michalina ran fast towards him as Ryan tried to stand up, "Brother are you all right?"

Ryan sighed as he spoke, "I will be when we can get the air working properly, Sister go and tell others there is no need for them to make move the crank the machine is working the only thing left is to flip the switch."

Michalina was helping Ryan to stand Jessica had already informed others as a tired Zhan arrived shortly with her fellow sister-in-arms, Ryan smiled at them as he spoke, "Let us move to the control area and flip the switch."

Zhan smiled tiredly as she spoke, "Then let us go there the lack of proper air is making me dizzy."

Ryan stood up shakily as he walked with help of Michalina to small room to the side which had a green light and red light blinking, Ryan placed his hand on a large lever switch as he flipped it as the red light turned green he pressed a button as soon as he did multiple red lights lit up in a column, he flipped the cover and held a switch as the light turned green and he closed the covers back, a few seconds later the entire room was flooded by light making others smile at each other, only under the light was the tiredness of each of them visible as well as their sweat covered bodies.

Jessica coughed as Ryan frowned, "Well we have switched on power now let us take care of the air, the elevator will take us there fast enough."

The group nodded as a few of them groaned as they moved to the elevator which was luckily already on the ground floor, each of them big enough to carry at least around twenty people without the fear of being over crowded, even then the elevator felt a bit claustrophobic, as they left the elevator another door but this one was a simple door that slid open as soon as they entered it, Ryan did not waste any time as he quickly flipped a few switches and turned a few knobs and a tell a tale sign of fans working as a fresh cool air hit them and their breathing difficulties slowly disappeared, as Ryan grinned at them he spoke, "Well tomorrow I will try to work on water and maybe by evening we will have working and running water supply and sewage system."

Meanwhile Ciara looked at the structure with a smile as she mused, 'So that was what he was planning to do turning on the power well we will have something less to worry about now.'