Capítulo 13: Chimeras and Arc
After the meeting Arc had a few questions for Mr.Inherst "sorry to bother you sir but I was wondering if maybe it would be possible for me to see these monsters you claim to have" he asks while nervously fidgeting with his thermos.
"oh you mean the badgipedes we currently use to dig tunnels?" He responds "some of the other compounds use flying chimera's but those hold little value under ground and are easily spotted by the heavens but the badgipedes are a vital asset for traveling underground, I'm sure I can get someone to show them to you before we leave as it's their tunnels that we used to find this place as well as closing tunnels behind us."
Arc gets visibly excited with sparks sizzling out of his hair yelling "THAT IS SOOO COOL! How big are they, do they have tails, fur or no fur, how many hearts or legs or eyes!"
"whoa there you need to calm down, you can see for your self shortly." Inherst assures him to stop the constant steam of questions before calling out to a nearby assistant " Zhu Li after you are done the thing you're working on can you please show this energetic young man to the badgipede pens"
Tral laughs "Oh now you've gone and worked him up. I'm sure he will be up for hours looking at those things so we're going back to my pyramid to get some shuteye before tomorrow and Arc I better not fine out you spent all night studying cause you need sleep to"
With that the gang split up leaving Arc alone with the assistant Zhu Li who had just finished adjusting a nearby appliance.
"Hello mr.Tesla, I'm Zhu Li a junior research assistant here at the compound. It's a please to meet you" Zhu Li introduces herself before guiding him down a side path "I heard a few rumors about your group running around the continent causing all manner of trouble for the military these past few. I've been here for a few years after I volunteered from a nearby commune so I don't know too much about the outside world beyond stories from those that do supply runs."
Arc happily followed her with a spring in his step "You can call me Arc as we should be about the same age so mister seems a bit formal. It must be weird staying under ground all the time. When do you ever see the sun if you don't mind me asking"
"well we don't really need to do that as you will see on the way as we have garden caves that have been made off of the caves of light where we redirect sun through various mirrors and lens to grow food, sadly we barely grow enough to feed even two thirds of the population with the rest gathered from outside although one day I hope to improve our efficiency with more such caves like my home commune has which is mostly what I work on here" Zhu Li explains excitedly as they walk until the passage opens up into a large cavern full of various plants neatly lined up in rows as light fills the air from a plethora of opening along the ceiling.
"wow this is quite the operation you've set up. Truly a marvel of engineering or is it mostly enchanted artifacts that bring the light this far underground?" Arc questions as the move through the rows of vegetables.
"well we actually only have a few artificers working with the resistance as it's such a hard skill to master and most get treated to well by the church to leave so we actually use a system of mirrors and lenses tunneled through the mountain to focus the light into these caves" Zhu Li goes on about the process and how much of her job is to make the various focusing glass to install gradually bringing in more light.
"we use the smaller badgipedes to dig these tunnels when they are younger so I often find myself taking care for their babies so they are used to having me around. We use control collars to guide them but they need the person who actually feeds them to be with them when children or they are likely to wander off or act out even with the collars on till they mature enough to be ridden by the tamers" she explains.
Soon they left the gardens and entered into a smelly area with several pens set into the walls.
"this is the badgipede pens, I'm sure you will find them as fascinating as I do though they tend to stink quite a bit" Zhu Li gestures towards a nearby pen containing a large silver grey haired body a few dozen feet long with nearly a hundred steely pincer legs, at the front a snout full of sharp teeth and four larger muscly arms bearing long sharp claws made for digging through even the hardest rock.
Arc gasps in awe before rushing over to get a closer look. A nearby worker yells at him "hey don't be messing around with tha badgipedes kid this isn't a zoo! If you spook them it'll take all day to care m down again"
"sorry I just got carried away can you tell me more about the wonderful creature mister" Arc exlaims
After Zhu Li explains to the worker that Arc has permission from Mr.Inherst the man relaxes and explains more to Arc followed by Arc spending much of the night studying the creatures.
Meanwhile back in the inverted pyramid the rest of the gang were having a luxurious dinner. Tral had stocked the pantry with all kinds of foods which Lisa had use to prepare a lavish meal with the help of Darick for them to enjoy. Lisa and Darick had been spending almost every waking moment together since they met and he had originally offered to help to keep it that way but she really put him to work prepping food and cleaning that they hardly had time to talk then.
They had invited Dusty, Tony and Sofie over to share the evening with and it's was going well with Dusty chatting everyone's ears off about old travel stories from all over the world. The way he talked it sounded like he had been to every place you could think of from the mount range to the south all the way to the frozen northlands, Dusty had been there and seen it all but most hadn't seen him.
After the meal Tony stood up to raise his glass for a toast "To Lenard, that brave soul who sacrificed his life so that we may sit here this night free of the bindings of the church!" which got a lot of applause followed by Dusty telling some tales of his times with Lenard long into the night.
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