A Bio-Weapon’s Rhapsody

Chapter 280: Lift off!

As it was, Ale had expected Drake One to be a highly luxurious plane, something that would make her think that she was in a hotel or a normal apartment. The size did match what she thought could hold an apartment at the very least.

She had read that the American government used to have a plane called Air Force One that was used as a floating command center, so as soon as she heard that her plane was called 'One', she suspected this.

The reality though?

"... This is a hanger? A transport plane?" Ale said, looking around and rotating her eyes into a mechanical lens that would allow her to see multiple light spectrums to ensure she wasn't missing something.

She was not.

The plane was spacious? Yes.

But it was closer to what Ale expected a cargo plane or perhaps a military plane look.

"[You can store your luggage in these compartments.]" The Spartoi that was with her pointed to small boxes containers near the walls of the plane.

Ale could see the fuselage and how they had done their best to maximise the space available. As the Spartoi spoke they moved to one side and opened the boxes to store Alexa's luggage there.

Ale followed suit and opened the next storage box to what the Spartoi had used and put her bags in there, then after looking around she did the same with her personal effects. The storage boxes had compartments that scanned what was put inside and made the correct holding space for them.

Not that Ale really needed her phone in one piece, most of the important data had a backup to her Information Core after all. She used the phone more like a proxy than anything.

"And my seat?" Ale asked looking around, she could see some seats here and there, but nothing that she trully wanted to use.

If this plane was as fast as they implied, then it was as fast as one of the fighter jets, or fast enough that it could go and fly with them.

Because of the size of the fighter jets they would probably have a minimum speed, considering the size and the engines those fighter jets had, Ale doubted this would be a slow flight.

So she wanted anything but sitting in a place that would have her flying to the side of the plane.

"[We have prepared a pod for you lady Ale.]" The Spartoi pushed a button on the side, and a pod surfaced from under the floor right in the middle of the plane. "[You may rest here while the plane is traveling.]"

Ale received a data packet with instructions and a video of someone else using the pod and how it looked from an external point of view. As soon as the test subject entered a face mask fell on their face, slowly a transparent fluid filled the pod.

The test subject closed their eyes and the liquid seemed to turn pseudo solid, was it a non newtonian liquid? Ale wasn't sure if that would be enough, but at the very least it would help to keep the one inside the pod safe from hitting stuff.

So that was one way to get around that.

"[The plane will go into sub ortical flight, so the G-forces will be quite the hit.]" The Spartoi spoke as they secured themselves to the side of the plane.

As they did that, a group of eleven Spartoi walked into the plane and secured themselves to the walls.

"[We will remain on standby during the flight, and only move in case of attack or forced landing. You don't have to worry about us, our consciousness will depart the Spartoi Units and await in a virtual environment unless we are needed.]" That was... just great.

"So... I am supposed to go into that and wait for our arrival?" Ale asked eyeing the pod, she... didn't know if she really wanted to get into that, she could probably secure herself like the Spartoi were doing.

Perhaps if she used her armor and redesigned part of her body?

But then again... She would lose quite the amount of mana and biomass just from keeping herself in one piece. Was it even worth it?

Ale didn't think so, so after sighing she pushed a few buttons on her belt and her clothes turned themselves into her body armor once more.

She could feel the underarmor extending across her skin and covering her from toes to her neck. Stopping just at the base of her head.

Since the head was protected by another piece of the armor, one that she hadn't put on.

"I assume that I will not be able to use my helmet there." Ale said, sitting inside the pod and syncing her information core to the thing, ensuring the armor was compatible and that she didn't need to strip, again.

The test subject in the video demonstration she got was only wearing a gown after all.

"[The pod should be compatible with your current body armor yes.]" The Spartoi confirmed Ale's theory. She had guessed as much, there was no way that Alexanders had given her a new armor and not accounted for this.

The man wasn't that bright as Ale was coming to realize, but even he wouldn't miss this tidbit of data.

"Good to know, then just let me check on a few things first." Ale said looking around the plane.

"[Whatever I can answer I will do my best to answer Lady Ale.]" The Spartoi said after finishing strapping itself to the wall, most of the other Spartoi had finished doing so.

And as soon as they finished their bodies seemed to turn off and their data streams died with them. Not that Ale thought they died fully, but more like their bodies no longer had anyone behind them.

That was one interesting spectacle to see.

"First... this is a cargo plane?" Ale asked, she couldn't help but point around her, "Those seem to look like a loading bay for vehicles and I can't help but notice that while it looks like a luxury plane from the exterior, from the interior it looks like it was designed to maximize the space for storing stuff."

Ale made a point of looking at the storage boxes that they had used to store her luggage.

"[Drake One is indeed a cargo plane.]" The Spartoi said nodding to Ale's deductions, "[It is also one of the best diversion strategies Master has. It is designed to look like a luxury plane, while in reality it's used to move Master's weapons and hidden samples across the world. Whenever he needs to move a secret project or some material he can't allow others to see he used this plane.]"

So this was a diversion?

"[It has its dissanvantages too, as whenver Master needs to use he has to prepare one such a pod like the one you will use Lady Ale.]" The Spartoi said pointing to further down the aisle, and sure enough a bigger pod surfaced. "[That is Master Alexanders pod.]"

Ale... noticed that it looked quite similar to her own pod, but then again, if it had the same reason to be, it made sense that it would be like Ale's pod.

"So, why did he lent this to me then?" Ale asked confused, "There is no reason for me to have to suffer like this, is there?"

"[Two important reasons, one is what Master told us. And the other is what I myself and the other Spartoi think.]" The Spartoi said, raising his two fingers as he allowed the other pod to descend back into the fuselage again.

"Go ahead then." Ale nodded and started to prepare her armor to sync with the pod.

"[Master said that you needed to suffer like he did if yo uwere t obear his name.]" The Spartoi stated the first one.

Ale could believe that one, from what she knew of Alexanders from the media and what people said of him, he could be that petty and annoying when he wanted.

"[We, however, think that is a bluff. A way to keep his image in front of you and others.]" The Spartoi then started speaking as thus, even going as far to shake his head as if it was a joke to him what Alexanders was doing, "[We think that he just wanted you to be safe.]"

"....He is having me fly in a plane that requires me to lock myself in a pod just to be able to survive the flight. A pod that will probably be filled with a non newtonian fluid." Ale was flabbergasted by the statement that the Spartoi had made.

Granted, Alexanders seemed to be wanting to make amends with her, even after he stated that she was not his sister. That only Alexa was as thus.

Or was it because of Alexa that he wanted her to arrive safely? Somehow Ale didn't think it was like that.

"[Master doesn't have many ways to get you there safe and sound, not if the teleportation network is out.]" The spartoi pointed, "[Travelign through the sea with the use of one of the ships would be to orisky, and could end up with a capsized ship.]"

Ale did not want to start a survivor in a tropical island arc if she could help it.

"[A rocket to go into space and then descend would end up with an uncontrolled descent, meaning the risk of landing in a place that wasn't the one we needed was too big to risk it.]" The Spartoi continued with his evidence, "[As thus, Master hadn't other means that he could trust to get you to your destiny in one piece.]"

Ale could admit that this was the most efficient way to get there, the plane would get her there, and since it was a plane they could control the descent even if they ran out of fuel or something happened to the engines.

So it was indeed the best way to get her there.

"[Also Master has been seen using this plane before, so he just need to make his appareance on Columbus Ohio after you arrive and people will just assume he came in the plane and so, the fact that you arrived using it will become a secret.]" The Spartoi finished his explanation with that.

"I see... "Ale couldn't help but admit that it sounded... logical, to some degree anyway. "So, any tips you can give me then?"

Ale was preparing herself to get into the pod now, she had made the diagnosis of the pod more times than it was needed and she was getting angsty already.

She did not like the idea of being encapsulated in the pod, at all.

Even if she would be knocekd out. Actually, if she was knocked out, could she monitor the data stream anyway?

She should be able to right? But... did she want to do that?

She would end up seeing herself in the pod and unable to move, that sounded like material for a horror movie.

"[Just relax.]" The Spartoi commented in a warmth tone, "[I know it looks bad, it will feel weird and it isn't the best feeling to have, a few friends say that the getting out is the worst part of it, but this is the safest way.]"

"You know people that has gotten into one of these? Not only Alexanders uses them?"

Ale hadn't expected that, she assumed that this means of travel was something only a madman like Alexanders would use, that was... scary. The fact that there existed more people with the same weird-ass ideas as Alexanders.

"[The devices we use to join the Spartoi program are similar to these.]" The Spartoi commented without much fanfare, "[A few of my former coworkers had to leave the program for a few months, so they told us how it was when getting out.]"

"So you don't get out of those things then?" Ale asked surprised, she had assumed as much too before of course, but a confirmation was something she didn't expect to get, ever.

"[We joined the project because our bodies were prisons from which we couldn't escape.]" The Spartoi said with a shrug, as if it wasn't the most fucked up thing ever. "[A few abandoned the program when a cure for their disease came around, some still remained even if they didn't need it, of course. But that was up to each of us.]"

"Would you leave the program then?" Ale asked intrigued by the concept of doing something like that.

"[No.]" The Spartoi still answered, albeit not with what Ale expected, she half expected to find the fact that they didn't left the program because they couldn't.

And now here she was finding that they could leave at any moment as soon as their bodies could ingest a cure to their issues. That or getting new organs. But those were somewhat expensive, not that it was impossible to get a replacement, that is.

Ale herself could probably find or get them replacement for a few body parts by the fact that her nanites could rebuild the original body parts.

Not that she would offer such a thing, she couldn't explain how she was doing that without coming out and saying that her Core was that of a Nanite User. And she had just been explained why that was a big no-no.

Still, Ale knew they would eventually find out, there was no way that Alexa could get away with not explaining how she did what she did. Or perhaps, it was a good thing that people found explanations for her shenanigans on their own?

It would mean that Ale trying to fix or find out why that happened was wrong and put them more at risk.

"I see..." Ale said turning to the Spartoi, she didn't even know why he had joined the program. "Why did you join the program? Miriam Eversoul said that only people who couldn't live or was close to death could be offered the spot."

"[Nothing too fancy, I had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis... Or I have I guess?]" The Spartoi seemed to think about that for a few seconds, time that Ale used to look up how that disease worked, and god damned hell, that was one dangerous disease to have. "[I don't know if you know it, but you just need to know that not even my brain was safe. My whole body was a prison that slowly closed their doors, windows and the walls, floor and ceiling slowly crawled toward me.]"

Ale could see how that was something they wouldn't want to return to.

"[The only things that are spared are the senses and the mind.]" The Spartoi spoke, "[A few of my coworkers also had the disease you know? We all had it at different stages, but most agree that coming back is not something we can do.]"

"Not after having a body that you can move as you wish." Ale said in a small voice, "Can it not be cured then?"

"[If it can, we haven't been told so. But Master promised us new bodies when his current program arrives at a more stable point.]" The Spartoi said pointing to the exit ramp as it slowly closed, "[And our time to speak is coming to an end, I got confirmation that the four fighter brothers have finished prep up for take off.]"

Four brothers? Oh the fighter jets. Weren't they all piloted by Iskander though? Shouldn't they be sisters?

"[Please rest down Lady Ale, you can link to the virtual environment and see how it looks from inside and outside the plane like that.]" The Spartoi encouraged Ale to sit down.

So Ale did as much, lying down on the pod, she put on the face mask and closed her eyes. She could feel the scent of an anesthetic agent, so she let Main Core deal with that as it was best and decided to try and connect to that virtual environment.

She did want to see how it looked from the outside that take off.