***Tirnanog, The Mycelium***
***Charmaine Pinault***
Larvie, larvie, larvie! Co here and get your larvas! Charm threw another handful of woodlarvas to her pets, making sure all of them would get so. In reality, she just wanted them to co closer to the security wall so she could have a look at them.
The yellow shroomheads were always more timid than the greyish, a little shrivelled ones. Probably because they were younger. If Charm didnt make sure they would get their fair share, there would be no woodlarvas left for the prettier shroomheads by the ti the others were done. Then they wouldnt co closer to the wall for Charm to study.
She was a little sad that the violet shroomhead didnt make an appearance today. The violet one showed up only occasionally, but she was the prettiest of them all.
The girl leaned against the protective balustrade when she saw sothing violet peek out through the window of a ransacked and dilapidated house. When nothing showed up, Charm thought it must have been only her imagination, so she continued throwing her woodlarvas strategically so she could attract as many of the shroomheads as possible.
Long ago, the village had been much larger, but nowadays the lower levels were left to rot. There just werent enough settlers left to keep everything intact.
The adults thought Charm didnt understand the dire situation with her eleven years of age, but she understood well enough that the community was slowly dying. A year ago, there had been a boy of Charms age in the village, but he got eaten by the shroomheads.
Stupid Lesner had listened to their calls and promises despite the adults warnings.
So of the shroomheads stayed intelligent for a while after they got infected and that was Lesners doom. When he climbed over the balustrade, they snatched him!
And no more Lesner.
Charm could still rember his cries and the adults trying to save him. But there was nothing to be done once he was all scratched up without the mutations to withstand the infection. And within a few days, he was one of the shroomheads.
Charmaine Pinault.
Charm stiffened when she heard her fathers voice behind her.
Slowly, she turned around and smiled at him, hoping he wouldnt be too mad.
His eyes narrowed as his stern gaze wandered to the woodlarvas in her hand. What have I told you about playing outside the villages inner ring?
Charm sighed and looked down at the ground. I am not supposed to leave the inner ring. Or the house, if possible.
And? he urged.
And no feeding the shroomheads, Charm added reluctantly.
And? Her father didnt let go of the matter.
She blinked innocently, hoping to persuade him with her innocence, but he had gotten wise to her persuasive skills so ti ago. It had been possible to avoid punishnt while he believed she wasnt capable of understanding what she was doing, but not anymore.
Father pointed at her hand. Where did you get the woodlarvas?
Do not climb the coraltree, Charm added dutifully another prohibition. There were so many dangerous and forbidden things to do in the village, sotis Charm believed the only safe thing for her was to lie down in her bed till she was a grown-up like the other villagers. At least then, the adults wouldnt be able to command her around any longer.
Balthasar shook his head and looked at the sky as if he was the one in trouble. I think you already know what this ans.
Charm tried her luck. One-week house arrest.
One for feeding the shroomheads. Her father nodded gravely. And another one for climbing onto the coraltree to collect woodlarvas.
Charmaine couldnt help herself and let out an indignant shriek at the unfairness of the world when her father grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the balustrade. How else was a single girl supposed to entertain herself with nothing but boring adults around in this boring village made up of boring things?
***Tirnanog, The Old Camp***
***Conla Leece***
I let out a groan when soone began frantically knocking on my door. The knocking was loud by a normal humans standards, but to my sensitive ears, it felt like one explosion going off after another.
Couldnt they wait for just a few minutes before bothering with the next crisis? It was impossible to concentrate on my work with so much noise and I was already behind with my paperwork!
I never should have taken this job. There was always sothing requiring my attention and nobody to delegate important decisions to. In the early days of taking over the bunker, Tianna had helped out a lot. Unfortunately, she was the matriarchs right hand and had to return to Jeng as soon as things were settled here.
And since the Hochberg only ever intended to fulfil a supervising role on this mission, they hadnt brought enough people to warrant their own commanders.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Only Elder Bruce Patel was there to help out sotis
Bruce wasnt the administrator type and preferred to be out and about on scouting missions after handing out orders. Which was likely why I was interrupted yet again when I was busy with bookkeeping and missives!
Stop knocking! Stop and co in!
A distressed warrior opened the door. The wormhole is open and people are coming through!
Rubbing my tired eyes, I pushed the docunts aside and hurriedly followed his lead out of the bunker. Earth wasnt expected to send us more exiles. Not yet at least. The wormhole wasnt in use during winter and it was too early for Earth to return to their normal schedule.
So, the only reason for the wormhole to be open was for Magnuss people to be coming through. I would have preferred to be better inford about what was coming, but Magnus himself didnt know the exact details of what his people would do.
If things had gone as planned the organisation should have received a ssage about Magnus securing our aid on Tirnanog. What they would do with this information depended on how things looked back on Earth.
We arrived at the pool in front of the bunker only to witness a scene of utter madness.
The wormhole was open exactly where it was supposed to be about ten tres above the water.
Normally, Earth tended to drop off their female exiles in this spot so they wouldnt be hurt too badly by the fall. From what I knew, it still wasnt a pretty affair, but at least the water prevented deaths.
Only this ti, this safety asure was being tested to its limit as a seemingly endless stream of people and material poured forth from the portal.
Too many for the pool to take, so I quickly began to shout out orders for my n. The area beneath the portal had to be cleared out quickly to prevent unnecessary injuries.
So of the crates which were haphazardly being dropped through the portal floated, so they also had to be moved of the way! Else soone would fall on them and get injured.
Then there was the problem of people falling onto each other!
The wormhole wasnt supposed to be used like this!
I had my warriors form several rows to clear the area beneath the portal with haste, but no matter what we did, things were getting away from us as the frequency of n and won coming through the gate ramped up.
Judging by their jumpsuits, so of them were exiles. There were also people in military uniforms and suits, workers clothes and casual outfits. It looked like soone was shoving through all the people who just happened to be at the gateway facility at the ti.
Why?
I wanted nothing more than to keep order in my camp, but at so point, I simply had to choose between letting the newcors roam free and maintaining control of the bunker. So I ordered my n to shove everyone and everything off to the side and let them see to their well-being.
The courtyard in front of the bunker already looked like a dump and I was beginning to worry whether we would simply have to let things be and allow everything to pile up beneath the portal.
Fights were also breaking out among these newcors, but all I could do at the mont was to send out a few groups who would forcibly pacify the crowd. Thankfully, I had ordered my n to disarm everyone when the first camouflaged soldier with a gun ca through the portal.
Disarming them would have been no problem in any case, since humans with only basic enhancents coped badly with Tirnanogs bright sun and arrived blinded and encumbered by the higher gravity. It was still a surprise that not a single shot had been fired so far and that the ard people who ca through the wormhole were generally cooperative.
What felt like an eternity passed, but it couldnt have been more than half an hour before the flow of people and material ca to a trickle and halted completely.
Three last figures fell through the portal and landed between drifting crates before they were pulled to shore by my people.
So far, nobody had identified themselves to be in charge. So n and won had announced themselves to belong to the organisation and that this was their operation. The few people I had questioned always said the leaders would co last.
I crossed my arms and gave the trio my best glare when the two n and one woman were pulled out of the pool.
Hopefully, they had a really good explanation for dumping this ss to my feet!
What was I supposed to do with...
I looked around, trying to co up with a quick guesstimation of how many people had arrived whether willingly or unwillingly. To my dismay, it was impossible to overlook the crowd.
But if I was right about this debacle lasting around half an hour with a person coming through the wormhole every two to three seconds, then I was looking at a number between 600 to 900 people. Maybe slightly more.
So, worst case scenario, I had now up to a thousand dependants without mutations on my hands!
One of the n, an older fellow with grey hair, bowed like so old-school gentleman while using a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. He sohow managed to make it appear dignified despite looking like a wet socket and the unfamiliar gravity warring with his body.
The trio looked well aged, but athletic for Earthers. No doubt, they had their fair share of dical treatnts as far as these things went for the general population. Nonetheless, I was sure they would have faced retirent in a few years if they hadnt chosen to co here.
A starfish mutation would fix the problem of age soon enough.
I am Gunnar Elrod, Miss. I hope Magnus announced our arrival?
The gentleman looked around, scanning the crowd. I believe all of us are here, so there is no longer a need for the portal. Gunnar lifted a device he had held firmly in his hand so far.
It looked like a deadman switch and I stiffened at the sight.
Before I could stop him, he removed a cap with his thumb and pressed a button before throwing the device over his shoulder, it having fulfilled its purpose.
A second later, the wormhole above us closed and was gone.
Since nothing had happened, I abandoned my first thought of him being so sort of suicide bomber. What did you do?
Gunnar smiled. I just nuked the Tibet Gateway. For now, we dont have to worry about our enemies getting more assistance from Earth. At least on this continent. I think you would appreciate it if the three of us help to sort out the crowd behind you. Between storming the gateway facility and trying to minimize casualties, we kind of ended up shuffling our people, exiles, and gateway personnel together.
***Tirnanog, Jeng, The Ancient Grove***
***Loopsfast***
Loop was a very busy drake right now. He had to see to it that his brood always had the right temperature. He had to turn the eggs so they wouldnt lay too long on one side. He had to make sure the moisture was right and there was no mould. He had to do so many things.
He kind of wished his females would help with the caretaking. Where were they anyway?
Loop pondered the problem of his missing females for a mont before his thoughts returned to the eggs.
Counting them again, he made sure none of them was missing. One nest held four and the other five.
Although, the fifth egg from the larger clutch looked unhealthy and it didnt feel like it had the right weight.
Loop studied the egg sadly, rembering the hatching lore taught by his father. Sotis, eggs just didnt co out right. Sotis, they got infected with parasites. In any case, the bad egg had to be dealt with or a drake risked the loss of the entire brood.
The young father was conflicted about getting rid of an egg, but he had two broods anyway. More than any normal drake could hope for.
He was fairly certain the females wouldnt rember the number of eggs they had laid anyway, so Loop removed the bad egg from his nest and rolled it out of the nesting hangar until it fell off the humans flying colony.
It disappeared in the forest below and Loop stared after it for a mont, mourning the loss.
Then his thoughts returned to the other eggs. It was ti to turn them! No, he had done that a mont ago! Temperature! Yes, he had to control the temperature!
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