Recap: The author has come back to his home frustrated, furious and fumbling about the intentions of his adversaries. However, a new chapter has begun with the discovery of a new organism. They are yet to find what it is.
Continued from before
The intern had a weird expression on his face. It was a mixture of fear and bewilderment. I couldn’t gauge the reason for such a behavior as I was preoccupied with my calculations. However, I understood the reason after reading the report as I had the same expression sans the fear. The reports sent to me were based on the analysis of both the samples taken from the site and the damaged wheels of the UPV. The surfaces of the samples showed high levels of corrosion indicating the action of a strong acid. These findings could be correlated with the corrosion of the tires. However, the analysis of the tires yielded some additional information. There was some residual substance eating it’s way inside.
That substance contained two components, both organic. One was an extremely strong acid and the other was some kind of microscopic organism that furthered the corrosion of the material it was settled on. The residue was contained in a sealed canister in the lab. To make sure that the substance does not come out, the inside surface of the canister was lined with Protego, a corrosion proof material, that was designed in the vault to protect against radiated atmosphere outside. I went to the lab to personally check the substance. I received another shocking news. The substance had started eroding the inner walls of the canister but the action had stopped midway. The cause of abruption was still unknown and we didn’t have anything to test further. The creatures in the acid had died consecutively. But there were some speculations.
We were clearly looking at the existence of an organic life form. However, we didn’t know what it was. There were some unanswered questions.
1. Why would the organism attack an uninhabited building?
2. Even if it did attack, why didn’t it affect below the base of the building?
3. Was the organism microscopic that can thrive only in acid or it was actually large and the microscopic beings were secreted by it?
4. How did the microscopic beings die?
I had a wild theory, I said the actual life form was a large one which secreted the small ones along with the acid. It was unclear how it survived or came in the first place. We didn’t even know the mode of reproduction. When I presented my theory, another important question was asked to me. If the organism was large why couldn’t we see it during the UPV’s trip? I didn’t know how to answer that. But I could counter it by another argument, we had not been able to see even the acid or its effects earlier.
I thought of taking a small team along the previous path of the UPV. In the meantime the people in the laboratory were to continue their research on the dead sample. I decided to leave Husky at the centre. His suit was not strong enough to save himself from this acid. I chose two senior scientists for this mission. Clark was a very sharp fellow and very enthusiastic. The other one, Kelly was stoic and highly experienced. Before moving out, I placed a coating of Protego on the wheels of the Beast so as to save them from corrosion if we ever encountered the acid.
As we were moving towards the vanished building, we saw it, a giant slug like creature. We could not make out its existence at first because of its white exterior which camouflaged with the frost covered ground. Then, Kelly spotted black tyre marks moving very slowly over the surface and turned our attention towards it. We were confused at first but then we understood it was the organism we were looking for. It moved extremely slowly, sliding over the mucous secreted from its body. The path it traced was discoloured which suggested corrosion. It was around 10 metres in length and a metre wide. It started moving towards us as soon as it sensed our presence. It’s movement reminded me of something similar that I had experienced on my way to the vault. Last time I had not stopped to see what it was but I was pretty sure the thing I encountered back then was this giant slug. I wondered if by any chance this slug followed me from that ruined town.
Currently, the next obvious step was to capture the giant insect. We did bring an inflatable containment unit. It looked like a large plate that was supposed to be laid on the ground and would close in on all sides as soon as the organism was in the right position. The walls were transparent in order to observe the whatever was contained inside. The organism was slowly sliding towards us and the trap was placed in its way. As soon as it brought itself into position, the walls came out from underneath and closed it.
To be continued…
Chronicles of Tomorrow: Echoes from the Future 