{"sf1_id":911536,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Victernus - Chapter 18","author":"Baumarius","words":1585,"posted_at":"2015-09-16T18:57:00.000Z","tags":["Cybernetics","Science","Transformation","War","Werewolf","Wolf","apocalypse","corruption","dystopia","implants","mind","tf","uploading"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/911536-victernus-chapter-18","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/911536","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=911536\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"            Namara sat at the square, wooden table\nin the dining room, running his fingers across the smooth wood. He had already\neaten and was now watching Mahalia on the other side of the table eat an apple\nwith one leg over her other knee. She was telling him, between bites, more\nabout how New Selania came to be and how the original city failed the first\ntime. She told him that the people who managed to escape the collapse of\nsociety couldn't really agree on anything, including who would be their leader,\nand then there was chaos again. Order returned with the first Great\nDemonstrator, but they had to rebuild their city elsewhere.\n            When she was done, Namara put both\nof his arms on the table and asked, \"So, what's the plan, now that I'm here?\"\n            Mahalia threw the remains of her\napple towards a square hole in the wall. When it reached the hole, it\ndisintegrated. She smiled and answered, \"Well, we have three options. The first\nis to stay and keep tabs on what is going on here, and I don't think anyone\nhere is up for that at this point. The second is just to leave, and the last is\nto find out what their power source is - and disable it - before doing so.\"\n            He tilted his head, \"Why would we do\nthat?\"\n            She sighed and then traced a square\non the table with her finger. A thin floating screen of light appeared, subject\nto her command. She typed something on it and then tapped it once more, causing\nit to expand to the size of the whole table. On it was a model of the whole\ncavern - including both the lab and the city. Pointing to the space under the\ncity, she continued, \"For some reason, our scans of this cavern cannot reach\ndown there. It's really the only place where their power generator could be\nlocated, and I think it is shielded somehow.\"\n            Namara supplied, \"Perhaps that's\njust to protect it from earthquakes? The city is raised too, which would kind\nof help with that.\"\n            Mahalia shook her head, \"That doesn't\ncut it for me. I can't think of a conventional power source that would take up\nthat much space... not to mention the fact that there is no way to get a normal\none down here. There is no wind, no water, no sun...\"\n            \"Can't they just use geothermal\nenergy this far down?\"\n            She zoomed in on the undercity with\nher hands and countered, \"There's no way that that could power a city like this\nin that small of an area. We've scanned below it, and there is no sign of drilling\nor other hidden tunnels.\"\n            He nodded, \"I see. So, why haven't\nyou found out what it is? How long have you been here for?\"\n            She rolled her eyes and shut the\nscreen off, \"As you saw earlier, we've been using a sort of stealth technology\nthat runs off of the city's power grid. Theo found a way to hack in and make\nsure that the power usage was undetected. But, we can't go outside of the city,\nor else it'll stop working for us. We can't go down there without being found\nout.\"\n            He crossed his arms, \"So you want me\nto go down there?\"\n            Mahalia nodded and stood up, heading\nto the stairs. She called, \"Hey boys, get down here! We need to discuss some\nthings.\"\n            Namara laughed and put his hand to\nhis forehead. \"Do you always do that?\"\n            She shrugged, \"Hey, you've gotta\nhave some fun sometimes.\"\n            Theo descended the stairs a few\nseconds later and greeted Mahalia before taking a seat at the table. He smiled\nat Namara and said, \"Hey, how's it going?\"\n            Namara pointed to Mahalia and\nresponded, \"Mahalia was just telling me about the city and stuff.\"\n            Theo nodded and then turned to the stairs\nwhen he heard Kyon trailing down slowly. Mahalia rolled her eyes and scolded, \"Hurry\nup already! We don't have all day.\"\n            When Kyon walked around Mahalia into\nthe living room, he saw his old wolf friend sitting at the table. He shouted, \"Namara?!\"\nEnergy instantly returned to his body and he ran to meet him. \nNamara responded by standing up and taking him into\na big hug. He smiled and reassured, \"It's me. I'm here now, Kyon.\" He could\nsense the happiness exploding inside of his friend.\nKyon muffled into Namara's fur, \"I thought you'd\nnever come back...\"\nHe smiled, \"I'll always come back.\"\nWhen Kyon let go, Mahalia entered the kitchen and\nurged, \"Alright guys, let's talk now.\"\nNamara returned to his seat and Kyon sat down beside\nhim eagerly. The tone of the room lifted greatly, as everyone could no longer\nhelp but smile. When Mahalia saw that they were all ready, she addressed Theo\nand Kyon, \"So, while you guys were asleep, I ran Namara through what's been going\non lately. We think that the best course of action is to find out what's\npowering the city and then leave.\" She focused on Theo, \"I'm assuming that your\nproject is done?\"\nHe nodded, \"It's ready. The Selanians won't be able\nto find us again if we use it. We will have to destroy the city's power first\nthough - and not just shut it off.\"\nMahalia agreed. \"Namara, if it's alright with you,\ncould you go down under the city and do that for us?\"\nNamara shrugged, \"That's fine with me. I just have a\ncouple requests.\"\n\"Go on.\"\nHe sat back in his chair, \"On the way here, I met\nsomeone who might be interested in coming with us. While it may seem good to\nleave now, I want to give him and the other Selanians a chance to come too.\"\nTheo frowned, \"That could compromise our operation,\nto a certain extent... but I can try to work around it.\"\nNamara smiled, \"Good. I wouldn't be able to live\nwith myself very well if we just left them for dead.\"\nMahalia sighed at his remark, \"The elevator would\nstill work - they can still leave to the surface. We wouldn't do that to them.\"\nHe nodded, \"I know,\" and then looked down at the\ntable dreamily when he felt Kyon's hand on his arm.\nMahalia glared at Kyon playfully and then continued,\n\"Namara, why don't you go find him while we discuss the plan amongst ourselves...\nJust bring him here when you find him. We'll know what you can do next once you\nget back.\"\nNamara shook his head to get out of the daydream\nthat was forming and then said, \"Sure... Where should I look?\"\nShe drew another square on the table and picked up\nthe resulting light screen. \"Take this - there's a map of the city on it. I\nsuggest checking the school first. If he's not there, just walk around for a\nbit. I'm sure he'll show up.\"\nNamara agreed and then took the screen. It was\nweightless, and yet he could still feel its thin, smooth surface with his\nfingers. He stood up when Kyon let go of his arm and then smiled down at his\nthree friends, \"I'll be back soon, hopefully. Good luck.\"\n---\nWhen Mahalia closed the door behind Namara, she\nrested against it for a moment. Looking up from it, she asked her friends, \"What\ndo you think?\"\nTheo sighed and shook his head, \"I don't know, Mahalia.\nYou saw the scans?\"\nShe nodded, \"At some point, we're going to have to\nfind a way to make his implants isolated... Otherwise, we're going to have to\nremove them, and I just can't bear to think of Namara being crippled for the\nrest of his life.\"\nKyon finally spoke up and asked, \"Well, he wouldn't\nbe. You can remake his hand and foot, can't you Theo?\"\n            Theo scratched his head, \"That's\nreally complicated.\"\n            Mahalia came to the kitchen slowly and\nthen stood at the edge of it, \"Theo, you know you're going to have to weaponize\nhis implants if he's ever going to destroy the power source, right?\"\n            He nodded, \"Yes, and that's what\ncreates the problem. Unless I can create an override for the receptors, he's\ngoing to be very dangerous. He already is. He was dangerous when I first\ninjected him, and he's even more dangerous now.\"\n            Mahalia felt a twinge of hope. She\nordered, \"Kyon, why don't you get working on a way to actively jam the signal\nto his implants? Theo, you can start on the override and those weapons. He may\nbe more dangerous, but we need this.\" She paused and waited. Because they didn't\nbudge, she continued urgently, \"I don't think we have much time before whoever\nbuilt them comes knocking, so...\"\nKyon stared at her. \"What're you gonna do?\"\nShe rolled her eyes again, \"If it makes you feel\nbetter, I'll keep track of Namara's location and make sure he doesn't do\nanything out of the ordinary - hopefully he stays on task. You guys are good at\nwhat you do - I'll handle what I'm\ngood at. Just don't sit there all day acting like idiots. Not when we're this\nclose.\" Turning around, she headed upstairs to her room. Disapproving\ninternally, she thought, They're always\nperfectly fine until I give them work to do. Some things will never change.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/911031-victernus-chapter-17.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/911819-victernus-chapter-19.json"}