Chương 109: Chapter 25: The Chase
'Checking the last known location, although there is nothing left around here.'
Renting a small ship for only two person instead, Rydel and Valerie instead left Zel and Val, Valerie's little sister who actually came with them to Olympus Zero rather quietly, back on the capital planet. Zel initially did plan to follow Rydel and Valerie together, but it appeared something needed to be fixed on his ship after many weeks of voyage and adventure, he had to stay behind and Valerie has grown to trust him after living together for that many days, so she is content with leaving her sister with him.
Then, they took the closest route with the fewest number of acceleration gates and returned back to the old solar system. This is where Rydel's adventures began and it is actually quite ironic that this is also how someone else activated their artifact.
'Cellica only said there were a huge pulse, and it could be either activation or a massive usage.' Valerie said, scrolling through the list of headlines from the local news agency websites and checking for anything unusual. If it is as Cellica has said, then perhaps this would at least be some sort of a major event that will be seen and documented, seeing that it happens right above Old Venus where there are more than a few colonies on the terraformed planet, 'by the way, why isn't she coming to track them down? Since her artifact would be most suited for this kind of tasks.'
'I can certainly think of a few reasons.' Rydel swallowed hard and maintained his attention to piloting.
'Like what?' Valerie stood up from her seat and wrapped her arms around Rydel's head, her golden long hair obstructing the views, though Rydel has put them both in stable orbit so nothing could really go wrong, 'like us?'
'No, of course not.' Rydel forced a chuckle, 'I can't imagine any problems about it, ha-ha.' He scratches his head and continued, 'her post in the GBI allows us a lot of information, and she also frequently links up with Ol regarding any major events. They are our eyes and ears to all of this, so that's why she needed to focus on her job.'
'You know, it would be nice to have a job.' Valerie got bored of teasing Rydel and instead played with his hair, 'I planned to work as an official for the Grey Wolf before everything with my dad happened, and now I am an unemployed traveler tracking down superpowered beings.'
'While being a superpowered being yourself.' Rydel reminded.
'With a doubly superpowered boyfriend.' Valerie completed the sentence for him before giving him a wink, 'nothing acting up from inside you? no killing intent or urge to electrocute anyone?'
'Not yet.' Rydel joked, then he looked down to his right hand and conjured the lightning rod into his hand, 'though I do not imagine I can keep this for too long.'
'Why?'
'Because of how much power this has.' Rydel explained, 'We went through all of that trouble in Absolute Academy just so we can properly utilize one artifact, and still I believe we are not even nearing the limit of its capabilities, imagine how much more prepared our bodies need to be for this.'
'If there is a way, I would like to give this away.' Rydel said, 'it might be very eccentric of me, but I will probably choose someone worthy.'
'Look at you now.' Valerie scratches Rydel's chin as she teases him again, 'handing out artifacts like its Christmas.'
Soon after the banter and a quick trip to the bedroom, they got back to work as Valerie has found the incidence not that long ago about a transit cruiser that blew up due to engine core failure. It caused a little bit of a stir initially as the wreckages rained down onto the shields of various colony cities or leaving visible trails in the sky as they flew through the planet's thinned atmosphere. There were no damage to anything or anybody, so quickly it was forgotten and replaced by the latest drama in the Galactic Government between the electing parties.
The one thing that Valerie is simply not interested in. The debate of the best forms of government has been going on since the old days back on earth, and yet it appeared almost all systems can work with the right people and the top, and will fail with idiots in the office.
But the wreckage could be interesting to look at.
'Let's just land the ship in the fields right outside Colony Y.' Rydel said, 'cause Y not? Ey? Get it?'
Before Valerie could roll her eyes in response, they have received yet another message from Cellica now that they are connected to the planet's local internet connection service.
'There had been another usage of it and it was located in the attached location. It appeared to be a sort of small farm right here. You can confirm the rest. Gotta go and please keep me updated with anything you found!'
The message was sent when they were last connected. For small ships, the connection to the galaxy wide internet would cost a lot more, and Rydel and Valerie opted for frequent stops at various planets instead. The message was sent three days ago, and it shouldn't have been that outdated.
Valerie hopped onto the map, and quickly pinpointed the location of the family farm. It is right near the edge of Colony Y, cause Y not.
Though it looked a lot more different from the quick sketch that Cellica sent to them. Sadly her eyes and hands are the best camera in the galaxy, but still she has never been this off.
She drew a perfectly normal looking farm next to a small mine, and yet that was not what they saw when they have landed.
There were linger smoke that has lingered around after what must have been a massive explosion or fire. The very first thing they noticed were what must have been the mines due to the color of the rocks and various sediments, except blowing a massive hole in the ground is typically the wrong way to mine. The explosion has chundered up tons and tons of rocks and solids and must have crushed a building in its place. There were still crews of police and other operatives hovering around in their cars, and Rydel respectfully landed outside the quarantined region.
The police standing on guard hailed towards them, and Valerie clicked connect as a hologram of a human police flickered in front of them.
'May I help you?'
'Yes.....I am just wandering what has happened here?' Before Rydel could speak, Valerie placed a hand on his lap and let him know and she has got this, 'I am supposed to deliver a package for this farm, but.....you know.'
'Well ma'am. Something seemed to have gone wrong with the mining equipments for Infinity, and everything blew when they sent down a little squad of droids to investigate.' The officer said without much holding back, 'the investigations were very easily made, so it will become public knowledge in the colony anyway just so people can all check their mining systems. An entire family is gone.'
Mining systems...Rydel thought back to his times at the Galactic IST, and he did hear about the engineering department that specializes in that, though he never thought pumping things in and out of incomprehensibly complex structures at high pressures and temperature is a good idea whether it's humans doing the work or droids. But perhaps now those knowledge would come in handy?
'Infinity?' Valerie looked over to Rydel confused, and he explained a few things about the technology giant. There isn't any industry and field that the company has not gotten themselves involved in, though their most popular products are by far the War Games, he wasn't exactly surprised to find that they are involved in the mining business too.
'They got a lot to answer to.' The officer said, 'but it's weird, since their systems are usually incredibly durable.'
The call shortly ended, and Valerie quickly pulled up her personal interface and started flicking incredibly frantically. Rydel knew that look.
'Anything that caught your eye?'
'Yes, Infinity.' Valerie said, then she flicked the projector of her personal interface all the way around and showed Rydel what she has found. The location of the cruiser exploding is not too far away from their current location, where another accident involving exploding things made by Infinity occurred...'let me check the timing of the events.'
'It's one day.' Rydel beat Valerie to the punch, 'one day after the ship blew, and the farm blew.'
'Is this it?' Valerie looked towards Rydel, who has a serious look on his face.
'Well, we might be dealing with an artifact that can cause quite a lot of damage here.' Rydel said plainly, 'though certainly worth looking at.'
'But could the artifact users be already dead in one of the two events?' Valerie asked.
'That is a possibility, but from the look of the things in the wreckage, everything has already been cleared out.' Rydel pointed to the three bodies that were recovered from the wreckage, 'there doesn't seem to be a sign of the artifact being here anymore.'
'So are you saying this person has left after murdering a shipful of people, and then taking out a family?' Valerie asked with a heavy tone.
'Let's be cautious here.' Rydel said while pulling out the maps, 'so far we haven't encounter anyone that is really a psychopath drunk on power, but those with differing beliefs. Maybe that will change. There are a few other smaller villages and farms located near this farm, and I think it would make sense to assume that she would have fled to one of them.'
'From what I can gather...' Valerie said as she tapped into the police's communication channels and backlogs, 'they are saying the main city's monitoring system hasn't picked up any entries since the farm blew up yet. Perks of being a small and quiet city perhaps.'
That was lucky. If it were any other city in the galaxy, there would be no way that things could work out so easily.
That narrows down the possible locations for Elmyra Zin, and Rydel started his search from farm to farm while Valerie went into the Colony city and hacked into it's main control grid just so she will be able to get a sense of everything that is going on. Fortunately, her experience on the Wolf's Skull dealing with technology has given her plenty of practice, and she has done the task in no time.
All of the colonies and the satellite villages and farm near by are now a touch away from Valerie's fingers, however, the data on the farms are few and far between, which is understandable.
Rydel instead made few visits to the various farms and inquire about any strange phenomena. He was expecting some push pack and was fully prepared to use his social skills to get the information he wants, though the first two farms he has been to actually welcomed him with open arms and even treated him to a hot meal if he promises to tell the family about the Galactic IST.
The investigation in first of the three villages took a few days, and Valerie stayed in it with Rydel. She could access more information through the mainframe, though it was still nothing too useful. On old Venus, the fastest way to gather information is with one's mouth, not with one's personal interface.
The second villages are a little different from the first due to the demographic of settlers. These are mainly younger people that are studying and socializing around, and the boss of a local group assured that nobody has entered or left the village without her knowing after Rydel bought a round of drinks.
That leaves the third village which feature a lot more older people just enjoying their hassle-free life compared to the other two. It was actually the furthest village from the other two and takes a good day and a half if traversed on foot from the farm. Though the flight is incredibly short.
As their ship descends from the sky and Valerie and Rydel prepare their voice box for another day of talking and socializing, she quickly pointed her finger towards a vehicle that has left the village right at the same time the village became clearly visible for them too.
'Not trying to point to everything that's moving, but...'
'The timing is almost too perfect.' Rydel said, pulling up the maps of the village in front of them, 'the vehicle left from the very edge of the village too. Let's land over there and see what's happening.'
The vehicle accelerated away and leaving a trail of dusts as the ship kisses down on a little hut right outside. Rydel and Valerie left the ship and looked at the little hut by the edge of the entire village premise. It appeared abandoned from the outside, and its front doors were actually left open.
Rydel and Valerie shared a knowing look and spread out. She scanned the surroundings as Rydel is entering through the front door. Fully expecting a landmine to go off, or poisonous arrows to pierce his doubly-enhanced skin, Rydel stepped through the door. The lights automatically turned on and illuminated the room, showing a simple bedroom. The beds were not done, and some plates that are to be washed were also left out.
'Well, perhaps this person is just late to work?' Rydel wondered, though as Valerie also stepped through into the room holding onto something, Rydel quickly got rid of that notion. It was a dusty outfit that looked like a typical miner's uniform, possibly something Elmyra gained whilst staying at the farm and mine, and there were patches of blood on it.
Rydel took in a deep breath and lets it all out. Right now, he could only assume the worst, but he hoped the truth would state otherwise.
The direction of the vehicle's travel is noted down, and the track it left on the planet's surface is also easy enough for the computer on board to trace out, and soon Rydel and Valerie have spotted the abandoned vehicle in the air. The vehicle stopped at a rare natural forming cave, and there is every reason to believe the person that they have been tracking down has gone into it.
Rydel touches the ship down at a generous distance as to not convey any obvious threat, though he doubt anything he does can truly reduce the threat level they have posted. Carrying on the shield generator and hiding away a single pistol in his jacket, Rydel and Valerie both stepped gingerly towards the cave itself.
'Please, I know you are in there, can we just have a talk?' Rydel said loudly as they got to about five meters away from the cave entrance, 'we are not here to fight you, or arrest you.'
There were no response.
Rydel and Valerie shared a glance, and neither of them really wanted to dive head first into a cave and a possible ambush. Valerie gently tapped her artifact and nodded towards Rydel. If anything is to happen, she will activate it instantly and protect him, though fully trusting of her, Rydel still turned on the shield generator and brought her into the radius. She gave him a pinch in the back, and he jumped up in pain.
'Please, I know you are in there, can we just have a talk?' Rydel said once more, and turned on the flash light, and Rydel found himself looking directly into a women's eyes. She has short black hair and is shaking in her boots now. She sat on the floor with her arms around her knees and her heads buried in her arms with room that allowed her to see Rydel and Valerie. That is Elmyra Zin, and she has truly reached the end of her journey. Her vehicle has ran out of fuel, and there is nowhere to hide apart from this cave, which is only ten meters deep.
'Who are you.' Elmyra asked.
'I am Rydel, and that's Valerie.' Rydel introduced themselves before continuing, 'this question might sound weird, but have you had any encounter with items that...enables you do extraordinary things?'
'You...you are with Infinity?' Elmyra shot up onto her feet with her hands shaking and pointed a finger towards Rydel as she yelled, 'get away from me! You are ruining everything for me!'
'Wait, Infinity....' Before Rydel could respond, one of Elmyra's finger has lit up and the next thing he knew, he was flying out of the cave and slammed into the ground. Thankfully his enhancements allowed him to avoid the worst of the damage, though he became temporarily disoriented as a result and lost his bearings.
'RYDEL!' Valerie yelled out from within the cave, and she saw Rydel stumbling up onto his feet before dropping onto his knees again to keep some semblance of balance. She turned back to face Elmyra, now furious, 'you!'
'Leave me alone!' Elmyra said as her eyes glowed at the same time as her fingers, and Valerie is now the one flying out of the cave. She landed on the abandoned vehicle before bouncing off it and crashed next to Rydel.
'Ouch.' Valerie whined, 'don't think anything's broken, hopefully.'
'Nope, the enhancements meant we are tougher than that.' Rydel said, still having one knee on the ground, 'though what the hell was that? What kind of power is that supposed to be?'
'Straight up telekinesis?'
'Any ideas?' Valerie asked, 'I mean, we did practice that combo before for capture, right?'
'Yeah, but that will probably piss her off even more...' Rydel said, 'she just seemed freaked out.'
And he was right, as Elmyra chased after them out of the cave before running towards them.
'Split!' Rydel said, and they both got onto their feet and ran in both directions.
'I have seen these tricks before!' Elmyra thought back to her last battle and how that very strategy is what gave her the most trouble. Her eyes glowed as the dagger of Fate is activated, and she altered both Rydel and Valerie's trajectories and send them flying towards their ship one hundred and fifty meters away.
As they are flying uncontrollably in the air , Valerie calmly spoke into the communicator of her personal interface as she manages her body's position, 'Let's use that combo.'
She landed gracefuly on her feet, and there was the sound of a heavy thump from the other end of the communicator.
'Yes, yes! Lets use the combo! Ouch...
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