A Bio-Weapon’s Rhapsody

Chapter 275: The Drake One

They continued talking about the Nanite Core and the examples of a few other that had risen up here and there, a few tried to come forward as soon as they got their Cores. More often than not, they all lost their mind for one reason or another.

Almost every single one of them ended up either attempting to make a gray goo type of situation or ended up destroying themselves.

There was one particular guy called Bob who decided that living on Terra Nova was a bust and made himself a space shuttle, then threw himself into the abyss that was outer space. No one made that much of an attempt to stop him...

More likely than not because the man first flew out of the civilized cities into some hellscape called Australia. Then from there he built up his space shuttle and then shot himself at speeds that should have killed him.

There were a few thesis from some scientific peeps that said that he had probably killed himself there. Most accepted that as a fact, most being everyone but Alexanders who just said that someone smart enough to make a plane that made it to the hellscape that was Australia (Ale wondered what was the deal with the people hating on poor Australia, surely it wasn't that bad). Then he probably was smart.

If he also was able to make a rocket that didn't explode and made it into outer space, then he was very smart. So surely they had solved the issue of turning into a pancake at takeoff.

Because the world government had attempted to destroy and or kill him.

Alexanders theorized that the man had digitalized his brain and jury rigged himself and his Core Powers to the space shuttle, and in such a way he had 'Survived' the travel into outer space.

Alexanders guessed that if he had managed to do so, he would probably have quite the great adventures in outer space. But he would not hold much hope for seeing him again, space was vast and the dangers were equally as great. More so if the man didn't plan his travel adequately. Running out of fuel in the empty void between solar systems would mean death after all.

Not that it mattered to Ale if there was a guy named Bob who turned himself into a space shuttle going about doing shenanigans in space or not. It sounded interesting yes, and Ale would probably enjoy learning about what he did, but that was up there and Ale was down here.

With all these examples, Ale at least was now convinced that the way they used their Nanites was nothing like how the humans did, so that was a relief, it meant that they would not be suspected unless they found a Core User who could detect said Nanites. As it was, there existed people like that.

Namely [Vulcanus] and some of the Technopath Core Users, the data didn't say if they detected the nanites themselves or the application of the Core itself. Since there was some research saying that Cores got different reads. Which Ale already knew but she hadn't paid attention to the method. After all they had seen a Core Scanner first that day when they ran away from the laboratory.

The one that had refused to let them into the shelter, the one that [Frank The Bettle] tried to get Alexa in.

So that was that.

"That is why, even if your Core Power is not that of a Nanite Core. The fact that there are Nanites within your body may cause some issues." Miriam Eversoul remarked yet again, "The manual that asshole sent does say you don't need to do anything and that they will work by themselves, so that should give some leeway."

Ale honestly couldn't detect or interface with the nanites, she guessed that they had been linked to Alexa herself and not to Core or Main Core. Meaning that Alexanders had a way to do such a thing. Again, no surprises there, since Core and Main Core seemed to be subservient to them to some degree.

Another thing that she didn't need to worry, she was having less and less things to worry as time went through.

"If we have a time limit then we will need to take the offer about the travel back." Ale said turning to Miriam Eversoul, "What do I need to access the artifact that they used to teleport here? Or will I need to use a plane?"

Miriam Eversoul stopped to think for a few seconds, was it that hard to answer?

"The teleporter... Can be ready within a few minutes, the thing is that these are more limited than you think." Miriam Eversoul finally said, "The thing is that these require you to have the data logged in both extremes of the channel. We can only use them as a teleport if we have been there."

That sounded like... a stupid restriction.

"What about material? Logistics? Are you saying that the food and material transported needs to go the hard way here just to be more easily sent back?" Ale pointed out, that was the most stupid way to travel using teleportation, why was it even like that? What was the logic behind that? What was even the point then?

"Non-living objects can be transported as usual; most of the workers don't use the teleportation doors for that same reason. The gates are used mostly for logistics." Miriam Eversoul commented, "As for the restrictions, they have to do with the original Core Users who provided the ingredients for the artifact. The good teleporters weren't used because they would be able to return more easily here."

That was... fair I guess?

"So chances are that is out for me then?" Ale sighed, she... was not entirely sure if the device would allow her to get past it, she... technically could qualify as a non-living object, if she stretched the definition. It was also possible to cease living functions and then program Main Core to restart her later. But that... gave her a weird sense of dread that she didn't want to even think about what it implied.

It was something they had done before, they had technically died once already. When the whole [Chrysalis] debacle happened they got killed, or well, a Consciousness Strand did, but it was the same thing.

So while she knew for a fact that it was possible, she still would not even suggest that, not like Miriam Eversoul would ever accept it.

"So we will need to schedule you a plane ticket." Miriam Eversoul said and with some groans she picked up her phone, "Which means, we will need to make a few calls."

"Is it that hard to get a plane ticket?" Ale asked, nothing about doing that seemed that complicated, as far as a few searches within the databases Ale had access to at the moment, "Don't we just need to pick a plane and ask for availability?"

"If it was a normal commercial plane, yeah. That would be all." Miriam Eversoul sighed, "Try to check for a plane ticket from Aquila to Columbus, Ohio."

Ale nodded, confused, and picked up her phone, not like she could do it with her mental commands without showing too much of her hand; they didn't need the extra scrutiny from the knowledge about how much she could interface with technology.

I mean, obviously, they knew to some degree, since on her check-up, the AI Cores stored within her shoulders and legs had been exposed, but still, she wanted to limit the amount of information they could glimpse from that as much as possible.

It was better if they thought it was more instinctual after all.

"Plane tickets... from... Aquila... Aquila.... Aquila....?" Ale started checking in the most popular site, then the next... then the next... Then, getting tired of not finding anything, she instead checked with one travel agent, then instead started going to the local travel guide on the main Saintsworths server. "... There is nothing...?"

Ale then moved her search away from planes to ships, cruisers and any means of travel she was able to find, but there was nothing.

"Did you forget?" Miriam Eversoul pointed to one of their windows, "Aquila is a secret base right now, hidden from the public, while we have prospective students, they will not know where we are, and will be transported in secret."

Ah right, Ale had forgotten that minuscule detail. Not that she had any excuse for doing so, it was, after all, quite the important bit of information. Why had she forgotten that?

"Then how am I supposed to schedule the travel back?" Ale asked confused, she had arrived by means of a teleportation, so while she kind of knew where she was thanks to the map they had shown before, she was not aware of how to get out of here or if it was even possible to travel on her own.

Everyone seemed to imply that the outside world was dangerous, what with the megafauna, geese, and all of the wild fauna between the cities.

Which probably meant that traversing by the sea could be dangerous... No wait, this was an artificial island right? How had Alexanders dealt with that part of the issue then? They were living normally and she hadn't seen much evidence of the city being attacked, so he had solved it somehow.

"Calling the big guns," Miriam Eversoul almost gagged when she said that phrase, "Your brother is the one who has access to all the planes, and a few private ones... Well, most of the planes that come here are his so you could say that all the planes are his, private or not."

Ah right, that was an option. Why hadn't Ale thought of doing so? It was quite obvious if one thought about it, not that Ale felt comfortable doing so, but so far Alexanders had not done wrong by her.

"Then... do I just send a message to him?" Ale asked raising her phone, she did have one contact saved under his name, one that she hadn't added, so she assumed he had done it.

There was also a contact for Sapphire, but she would ignore that one for now.

"He probably already has everything set up, but yes." Miriam Eversoul said shuddering again, why so much reaction from this? "He probably is just waiting for you to ask for it, if not... I think we could sneak you into one of the planes that are leaving, but the travel would be bumpy, and I can't guarantee you would land in Columbus, Ohio, on the first try, and since it would raise suspicion if I traveled in a logistic plane... You would need to travel alone."

Ale sees no problem with that, actually, that would allow her to expand her testing zone. If she landed in a random city, she could test a third environment to see if it reacted like Columbus, Ohio, too.

But no, for now she needed to return there and finish her tests.

"Then I'll send him a message." Ale took the time to manually write the message and sent it, it would be pointless of her to do a mental command and imprint her ideas for this, not with Miriam Eversoul looking at her like that. "When do you think he will answer?"

Ale didn't mind waiting, of course, she didn't have that many other things to do. But the fact that she could relax here was a godsend.

"Sooner rather than later," Miriam Eversoul answered with a grumble, "He just left a few minutes ago, so he probably is still traveling wherever he has gone to ruin someone's afternoon."

Ale wasn't sure how to see that bit, it was true that he had just left, so would he get mad because Ale was sending him a message after he just left?

"What did he speak with Alexa about besides giving us this?" Ale asked pointing at the box, "Did he say anything about when we could leave?"

"Nothing really, besides that he was surprised that Alexa was out and about." Miriam Eversoul shrugged, "He also thought Alexa was evading him, but they interacted as normal, and there were no issues there."

Ale sighed in relief about that, she hadn't expected Alexanders to come around at this time, but the fact that Alexa interacted normally was a huge relief to her. Meaning there was no problem with Alexanders.

"But besides that, nothing else was said." And as Miriam Eversoul spoke about it, Ale got a notification to her message to Alexanders.

So Ale turned to look down at the phone as she downloaded the data straight to her Information Core. The data dump included a few schematics for a vehicle and some weather maps, plus some instructions on what to do depending on a series of circumstances happening.

"He answered," Ale noticed she hadn't said aloud that they had an answer already, "It seems he did prepare something."

Miriam Eversoul turned her attention towards the phone as Ale opened the message, "What did that man set up?" was the question she asked as Ale started to read the message to confirm that it was the same, or roughly the same as what she got from the data packet.

"There is a private plane set up for me," Ale read the message and checked on the datapacket. It seemed the data packet included the schematics for the plane and the evacuation instructions, plus a few blueprints for a smaller device to evacuate...

And some notes about the materials and where she could take extra materials to create the evacuation device. An extra note was put saying that he would defer to Ale's knowledge since he was unsure of how their Nanites would react and move in a high-stress scenario.

Not that Ale thought the Nanites would be affected by such an event.

"Showoff..." Miriam Eversoul said aloud as she hovered with her open palm above the phone and then with a sweep of her hand she made a gesture as if she was throwing something towards the television on the wall.

As soon as that happened the message that Ale was reading there was retransmitted to the bigger television, so it was easier to read. It formatted itself to take into consideration the extra space and also put the photos that Ale had seen in the datapack of the plane.

"The private jet of the Saintsworths Conglomerate," Miriam Eversoul turned to look at the picture of the plane, it was a... Ale wasn't sure if it was big or small, at least it seemed big enough to probably fit a normal person standing up inside it. "The Drake One and intercontinental capable plane, there are rumors saying it is capable of leaving the atmosphere and as thus, can travel faster and farther."

Ale didn't know if that was that much of an achievement if she was honest, as far as she understood, getting out of the normal atmosphere wasn't that hard, just point up and burn as much fuel as you can in the least amount of time.

"It has a few technologies that haven't been spread to the public use yet," Miriam Eversoul continued speaking, "At the very top of them, it's inertia dampers."

Ah yeah, that would make it something to use as a way of showing off. As far as Ale had found out on her multiple research and investigations of technology that she could apply to herself while in combat, that was one she hadn't found a way to solve.

One couldn't just wish away inertia after all.

"And this thing has it?" Ale said as she looked closer to the schematics of the plane, there was a few places where there was empty black boxes on the blueprints. "How did he even get that?"

"He won't tell, that is not even the most ridiculous thing. Most people ignore it and focus more on the fact that he has viable teleportation doors installed on his facilities." Miriam Eversoul shrugged, "A plane that allows you to stand up and walk around while it's taking off, it's not that up in the list."

"... A plane in which you can go from 0 to Mach 1 and allows you to remain standing as if nothing..." Ale said incredulous to what she was hearing, "This is way more absurd that opening a door and getting to the other side of the world."

Humans were stupid and weird. Ale would crashout about this later on stream... If she found a way to excuse why she was crashing out about this.