Bestial Planet

Chapter 6: Side Track to Perseverance

They drive for about an hour towards the Burbank, Glendale area in relative silence, mainly because Yora was trying to stay calm. Lancieta has a revelation out of nowhere and yells, causing Yora's heart to skip a beat.

"So we know that Tould had an issue with his personality matrices and that's why Vould manifested, right? In accordance with that, while Tould was backing up his personality and engaging the hydra, he said he found something interesting in it's make up and logged it for analysis..."

Yora nodded as she continued even though he was unsure of what eureka moment his Captain was having.

"Draconisis knew everything we were going to try and accomplish with the virus so, they wired the teleporters to short circuit after the displacement. I think that's at least partially responsible for the surge Tould and Vould say they experienced which could have lead to their split."

"Displacement? Wait, on top of infecting the Halgred, they were going to be randomly teleported? Teleported where?"

"The system was designed to pick up on family member's DNA, amoung other factors and separate them. Family and friends would be displaced onto different continents so it would be harder for them to regroup. A disorientation tactic my... father and I thought up."

At the thought of her father, her voice trailed off the facts had to be circumstantial. There was no way he'd send her to her death.

"Well anyway! Of the humans that survived..."

Lancieta hit a rift in the ground, making the car airborne for about 10 feet. She screamed in excitement, Yora in fear. They land without much drama as she continues. "They've been separated from what's left of their families. However, the rogue program that was designed to let loose the massive surge of energy, which it had been stockpiling since the meteor storm, was damaged at some point. The surge was loosed inaccurately, just as Tould finished what he was doing, exactly when he thinks he went to download into Section 6. He'd already started integrating whatever information he'd gleaned from the hydra so when the surge hit I'd bet that's how he split! Also, here we are." She says pointing at what was left of a house. Yora wasn't sure he understood the rambling of his Captain but he set that aside for now. His pirate accent returned now that he could think straight.

"Arrr, ya reckon this's Section 9's doin?" Yora said motioning to the destroyed houses around them he could see below in the valley.

Feeling a little playful Lancieta replied in kind. "Aye."

"So, what be so special bout this place then Cap'n?"

Getting out of the car and closing her door she smirked. "You'll see soon enough." They walked up what was left of the stairs and dirt which Lancieta had packed into the gaps. "I've been thinking about learning some mason work to fix these stairs. What do you think?"

Yora takes a step and slips on a stone that had gotten loose. "May not be a bad idear."

Lancieta walked through what used to be the doorway and through what turned out to be a rather neatly destroyed house. The roof was missing all along the left side, as well as that outside wall, which provided a nice amount of sunshine throughout the day. The 2 floors above the first had collapsed partially inward but the rest of the house was no where to be seen, meaning that removing rubble was unnecessary. The stairs leading up to the relatively intact 2nd floor were still in working order, minus the 5th step from the bottom. The back of the house was completely missing, it dropped off onto a steep, rocky hill. Needless to say, you had to be careful the further back you went.

Lancieta proceeded from the doorway to what was left of the living room, which now opened up to a wonderful view of the valley, and stopped. Yora, paying attention to the view bumped into her and stumbled over to the edge. Lancieta grabbed at his wrist calmly, pulling him to safety yet practically tossing him across the house nonchalantly.