LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter One Twenty-Nine Of Infections and Rock Hunts II
Ruthia watched the pair of visitors walk out of the hub. A smile slipped onto her face, she felt things had gone quite well actually. Especially considering that the one was a fellow creation of the creators, one with a higher rank and the authority to rule over them. The fact that she let them negotiate and even better agreed to allow those hosts to land was something to celebrate. Later of course, not right now. They still had to do their part of the deal anyway.
Standing up, she stretched and walked up to the counter. The lady at the counter smiled, “I’ll let Tama know you are done talking. I presume you would like to see her at the lab as usual?”
She nodded, “I would, she can come by when she is done.”
“Agreed, good luck in the lab!”
She nodded and headed on out. While perhaps not required anymore, they had continued the original line of research their hosts had begun. Well, technically they were their hosts as much as they were the colony. She’d certainly assimilated with her own. A host that had been running some rather interesting research in secret, although it did leave her with some questions about old Ruthia’s moral compass. Her mind flipped to a journal in her locker detailing experiments on children dating back nine years. Something that didn’t entirely sit right with her. Ruthia was well aware that Bovi like herself could be somewhat callous with the lives of hosts be they adult or child but that was always with a purpose. At least now those experiments would serve one, they had shared the knowledge and while it was missing in a few areas it expanded their knowledge on Titari physiology quite a bit. More so than the rather limited medical database their researchers had brought, or the knowledge of their doctor.
Of course for the sake of future hosts they were going to need more knowledge on how the Solune toxin affects the Titari body, both with their presence and without. There was also a need to test different age groups for this, since age was an important factor. In most of the species they had genetic knowledge of, younger individuals were more readily able to adapt. It was for this reason, she’d slipped a note with a request for certain materials to Megumi. As the other girl didn’t seem ready to know everything going on. Some of it was unfortunately required by their lack of resources.
Her mind worked over all of that, and started considering what they could test once they had the resources for organ cloning. They also wanted a more comprehensive study on potential deep tissue damage and how that would affect a prospective host. They also needed to conduct research in more efficient propagation of altered host cells. As Jertik showed, if too much damage was done to an area, the altered cells will take longer to reverse it. His missing sack was especially troublesome considering that part of him was removed completely. She had an idea for helping fix that, but other projects came first.
Reaching the lab, she stepped inside and headed to a side room. Sitting on a desk was a clear capsule connected to some machinery inside. Quite visible inside was an organ she was working on, an immature lung. It had been moved into her office for her to review earlier since the current experiment phase was complete.
Taking her seat she turned on her computer and started taking observations. She quickly noted some minor swelling, that the lung was leaking green fluid, and there was some discoloration. With those noted, she moved on to tests and quickly noticed that the organ had lost 40 percent of its baseline function.
It was just then that the door opened and one of the assistants led in the little girl who donated the lung. She smiled, “Hey big sis! Is that my lung?”
“Yep.”
Cheerily she replied, “It looks kind of sick.”
“Well I’ve been treating it badly.”
The girl giggled, “I hope it’s useful.”
“So far, so how about you? Doing okay with just one lung?”
She nodded, “Yep, I was playing in the gardens earlier. It was so fun, I even ran out of breath early. I kept pushing on anyway though.”
Ruthia giggled, “That’s fine, but you only have that one lung. Don’t push yourself too hard.”
She giggled, “But isn’t half the point to see how well I do with one?”
“Well true, in that case I guess you can keep doing you.”
“Thanks big sis!”
She was about to ask more, when a head peeked in saying, “Tama is here!
“Sweetie, go ahead and fill this out please. I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Okay!” she looked at it and started writing as Ruthia left the room. A big smile was on the little one’s face. She just hoped the girl didn’t push herself too far. Not that she was going to stop her, even if it was maybe a little soon. Her lung had only been removed a couple of days ago.
She found Tama lying on one of the beds in the exam room. The other occupied bed contained one of the males. His erect penis held in a contraption, while a needle pumped fluid into a vein, causing it to swell. Ruthia recalled they were experimenting since his genes were less than desirable, but he wasn’t hers.
Approaching Tama, she pulled out the scanner and ran it over her belly. “So how have we been feeling?”
“Better, that injection you gave my babies helped.”
“Glad to hear that,” she paused and focused on the scan, “Hmm looks like her growth rate has slowed again, very good. Right on track. I’d like you to cut down your meals again.”
“Sure, it will be nice not eating so much. I swear they are a bit of a glutton, my babies.”
“Well you do have three of them,” she commented.
“Think they will stop growing soon?
“Almost, I’ll prepare another dose and we can check in another week. If they have stopped growing we can move on to the next phase.”
Tama smiled, “Excellent!”
Megumi thanked the young lady who led her to the entrance to the tunnel network.
The lady smiled, “It was my pleasure madam. Would you like a guide? The tunnels aren’t the safest, age and neglect have taken their toll.”
“Thank you, but I believe we will be alright on our own.”
“In that case, I’ll be at the Hub if you need me.”
The girl turned around and headed back into the camp. Leaving the pair at the entrance to the ancient mines. “So what rock are we looking for anyway?
“The exact rock matters not, so long as it contains Typheron.”
Kiru frowned, “Typheron? I’m not familiar with that mineral, what is it?”
“It is a rare ore that is used in the creation of Omega, in other words we are looking for a fuel source. I found signs of it being present in this region.”
Kiru blinked, “You mean that stuff you use to power that reactor you almost never use?”
“That would be the stuff. A secure and stable source of Typheron would allow me to use that reactor less sparingly.”
“Then we better find that stuff.
Megumi giggled as the pair made their way into the tunnels. Elsewhere her mind was keeping track of progress in the shipyard.
Anai walked down the hall. They were still in hyperspace, but they were getting closer to home now. She figured they would be home in another day or two. In the meantime, she had something to check in on. Chief Larrisa had asked her to come down to the medical bay.
Likely something related to the current series of full medical workups being done. Given the issues cropping up with the prolonged hyperspace exposure, it seemed needed. Even if the only problems were minor.
Reaching the door to the medical bay, she thumbed the control and waited for a moment before the door unlocked to admit her. Some part of her mind told her that the door should never be locked, but that didn’t seem right. Medical work was private work, of course the door would be locked. As she stepped in, she spotted the familiar naked form of Reyna, the girl she had rescued the other day.
Reyna smiled, “Anai, glad you could make it on time.”
She smiled, made sure the door was locked and started to strip out of her uniform. “Thanks, so what are we doing?”
“Mostly informational stuff sadly, but I think we can have some fun working on your body.”
She nodded and was soon led into the main bay, where three female crewmen were strapped to biobeds. They were naked, with a machine fitted to their heads. For what purpose Anai didn’t know, that was Larrisa’s department anyway. So she ignored the three women and headed for a fourth bed. Climbing up on it, just as Larrisa came into the room. She was just as naked as the patients and at the moment she was carrying a tray full of tools. The woman smiled, “Ah, captain glad you could make it.”
Anai nodded and lay back as Larrisa came over. A moment later, she was strapped to the bed. Reyna pressed an injector to her neck and said, “Okay I’m going to start by suppressing your active mind. See you in a bit!”
She nodded and felt the rush of a cool fluid into her veins as the procedure began. Her mind started to dull, while Larrisa adjusted some arms and started fixing her breasts in place. She wasn’t sure why, and it was getting hard to think about it. So she gave up, deciding they would tell her if it was important.
Kiru crouched down to study a more shiny-looking bit of rock. They had traveled down about twelve levels since they had arrived. During their exploration, they had even passed a couple of infected Titari who were better dressed than their counterparts on the surface. Now that she was thinking about it, she hadn’t thought to ask. Why did they dress the way they did? Maybe she would later? There might be another chance for it on the way up.
Picking the rock off the floor, she turned to show it to Megumi only to find her already looking. A smile on her avatar’s face, “Bingo! That’s what we are looking for.”
As Megumi took the rock, “It is?”
“Yep, it’s not the best quality but this is a solid lead. If we find where it came from we might just have ourselves a vein!”
Kiru smiled, that sounded great. She gave the rock another look familiarizing herself with its sensor profile and then turned to the walls. Giving them a closer look, paying attention to minor variations.
They ended up walking deeper, but just around the corner, she found a section of tunnel that was laced with shiny silvery and gold-like patterns intertwined around each other. It wasn’t pure but she quickly noticed that there was Typheron in the wall. Megumi gave her a hug and said, “I’ll mark the spot!”
“Will this be enough for you?”
“Maybe but let’s keep looking around. What do you say?”
Kiru nodded and they started looking for more. As it would turn out there were several locations in this section rich in the ore. Some areas were very rich, it was enough to supply Megumi for decades, centuries if used wisely. Now they just had to mine it.