Planet Ignis | Ch. 21 (Patreon)

When we were brought back from cryogenic sleep and summoned to the bridge, we all knew it was bad. The commander explained to us that most of the systems were compromised, and the situation was dire. At first, I thought I could salvage all the systems. After all, we had brought spares for virtually all equipment. But from the twenty drones, only seven survived the EMP caused by what the crew is now naming ‘the Flare’. As I serviced the drones to send them planetside, a plan started to form in my head. But first I had to see if the drones deployed survived on the planet. Otherwise, there was no point in going ahead with it.

Files salvaged from the Raptor’s Ghost Drive. Recorded by Schneider, the Raptor

“Where do you recognize the door from, teacher?” Trother hadn’t stopped laughing since he saw the door.

“You will see, son. Once we’re back to the Borrows, I’m sure you’ll recognize it too. Try to open the door for now.”

Eli started searching the door with his hands, looking for a knob.

“This wheel. Spin it,” suggested Trother. Trother had recovered from his collapse at the summit. Eli couldn’t tell if he was putting on a strong front so he wouldn’t hurry. Unhealthy purple veins spread from Trother’s neck and covered half of his face. Eli looked worryingly at his teacher. bursting for so long to rush through the climb had taken a toll. The cold didn’t help, either. Eli sadly realized his teacher didn’t have much longer to live.

Eli and Trother tried to spin the big wheel. It easily gave, letting them open the door and enter the lab. The door shut behind them, and the lab lit up. The machines of the laboratory hummed to life. The first thing that they noticed was an unknown sensation. It felt cool yet pleasant. Something that Trother and Eli had never felt or seen. It was something beautiful. A gentle clear smoke permeated the room. It looked like fume, but it wasn’t. Eli tried to touch it, but it eluded him.

“Master? What is this?”

Trother remained silent, mimicking his student and trying to touch the mysterious smoke. “I don’t know, Eli. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Then they noticed ash that looked bluish-white, like the flames of a blue monarch. It covered the walls. As Eli touched it, the wall sizzled and became darker. Eli withdrew his hand. little drops of a transparent liquid covered the wall he had touched. What was this thing?

“Hello. Welcome to Dr. Hitori’s lab.”

Eli and Trother jumped in fright. Where had the voice come from? Their attention was drawn to the center of the lab. Additional lights were turned on so they could see who was speaking to them. There lay Dr. Hitori. His skin was bluish. His body was withered and starved. He was encased inside a transparent crystal. Next to it was the robot that had addressed them.

“I am called Archimedes.”

It sounded like a woman. The accent seemed foreign to them, with every word strangely too articulated, but it sounded human. Eli was surprised to hear such a realistic voice from an AI. Perhaps this was what Faren would have sounded like before they deleted this part of his programming.

“Hello, Archimedes. I am Trother. This is Eli. We come from the Fahrenheit Settlement to the East.” Eli was entranced by the mysterious appearance of the robot. It looked like a man but had big protrusions coming out of its head. Instead of a normal foot with toes, its feet only had two big toes.

“Fahrenheit? I once knew a drone called Fahrenheit.”

“We named our tribe after that drone.”

“Really? I am glad to hear the cave exploration drone is still operating efficiently. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Trother and Eli,” answered Archimedes in a melodious motherly voice. Eli was a bit unsettled with how human the machine sounded.

“What are those things in your head for?”

“They are antennae. They ensure communication even if I’m caught in the middle of a severe storm. Dr. Hitori told me we would be having visitors. Did you bring the Celer mutagen?”

“Yes. Here it is.”

Trother took a vial containing a reddish liquid from his bag. The yellow Chemist in each tribe nurtured the celeria colony, procured the necessary chemicals from the Smiths, operated the centrifuges, and guaranteed a supply of Celer in the Womb. It was given to mothers throughout their pregnancy so that their babies could gain the metabolism accelerator. The mutation was not hereditary. It had to be administered to each new generation.

Archimedes came to Trother and took the vial from him. It then turned and walked towards a contraption with some chemistry lab equipment. Eli recognized some of it. They also had stirrers and centrifuges used to create the mutagen in the Burrows. In the machine, one glass tube was already filled with a bluish-gray liquid. Archimedes proceeded to fill another tube with the Celer mutagen. It then started the machine.

“What are you doing?” asked Trother, curiously.

“I am following the Doctor’s instructions,” answered Archimedes, without taking its eyes off the machine. Even as it talked to the esteemed guests, it was operating the machine according to the Doctor’s programmed instructions.

“What has he instructed you to do?” asked Trother.

“Is Dr. Hitori alive? Or is he dead?” questioned Eli.

“The doctor is in cryogenic sleep. He’s been frozen. Thanks to the Tardus mutagen, Dr. Hitori can slow down his metabolism to almost a complete stop, considerably stretching his lifespan. Occasionally, when conditions are right, I can bring him back to full consciousness for a limited time. The last time he awoke, he told me that someone would come, bringing the missing ingredient for the Statera experiment.”

Trother and Eli exchanged looks. Everything was happening so fast. They had so many questions.

“What is the crystal encasing the doctor?” asked Eli.

“Ice,” answered Archimedes.

Eli didn’t recognize the word, but Trother was shocked. “Ice? Great Hearth! So, what we saw earlier was vapor? And that was water?!”

Eli was beyond excited. Water was just a legend he had heard from Trother! They had read about it in what was left of the archives but never imagined they would live to see it.

Archimedes answered blatantly. “Yes. H2O. Water.”

The Celer and the Tardus mutagens started being drained from their respective tubes. They made their way through the glass labyrinth of the gadget and were stirred, heated, and mixed. Different chemicals and agents were added throughout the process until the liquid turned green.

“How come you don’t have any Celer?” asked Trother. “You obviously know how to make it since the good doctor invented it.”

“We ran out of Celeria.”

“Why?” asked Eli. It wasn’t unnecessarily difficult to keep a colony. All you needed was a growth medium rich in iron and warmth. Celeria was an Ignian microorganism that could rarely be found in some underground caves with iron-rich ignium. The Anaximander Mountain Exploration Bear Drone first discovered it.

“We spent most of it when making Celer for the crew. The little we had left died. Celeria doesn’t last long at this altitude. We could not send an expedition down to the caves to procure more.”

Eli and Trother kept bombarding Archimedes with questions.

“How long had the doctor been alive?”

“He is 513 years old.” Eli gulped. The average life expectancy in the Burrows was nineteen.

“You were speaking of Tardus earlier. What is that?”

“It’s a mutation that the doctor developed. It helps humans to hibernate, that is, to slow down their metabolism so much that it considerably extends their life expectancy.”

“Fascinating,” Eli let out appreciatively.

“Indeed. That’s how the doctor has managed to survive this long despite having practically no supplies left.”

“What about Statera? What is that?”

“The doctor hopes to conciliate the strengths of both Celer and Tardus with the help of Statera. It’s the combination of both mutations. The doctor will be happy to explain to you the details.” Eli was intrigued. What kind of powers would this new mutation grant? After all, what was the benefit of hibernating? Were they all supposed to go to sleep and wait for the drone’s energy reserves to be spent?

“How long will it take to finish preparing the Statera mutagen?” Trother asked from the side.

“Thirty-six hours and thirteen minutes.”

Eli and Trother exchanged looks. That was too long.

“And once it is administered to Dr. Hitori, how long would it take to complete the mutation?”

“That is uncertain. Dr. Hitori has theorized that since he already has the Tardus mutagen in his body, adding the Statera agent would be quick. It should take roughly eight hours.”

“It’s not enough time,” said Eli. “The Raptor is coming.”

They estimated the Raptor would take another day to reach the mountain. They weren’t sure how long it would take to climb it. Maybe one day? That left them with two days before the Raptor was here.

“Archimedes, does that machine still work?” said Trother pointing to the biggest machine within the chamber.

“Yes. It is fully operational.”

Trother looked thoughtful.

“Do you have access to the satellite grid?”

“Yes. Stellaris and I are what you would call friends.”

“Stellaris?” asked Eli. He knew he recognized the name but couldn’t place where he’d heard it.

“One of the Last Seven. The Satellite’s AI,” answered Trother. “Eli, I think I have a plan. It just might work.

Ch. 22