Beyond Survival: Chapter 4

Sergent Major Lucas Mitchel walked near the edge of the small clearing around the gate that they had claimed as their own and nodded toward his team.

“This place looks good enough. Rose, James, deploy the package.”

Sergent Amelia Rose and Sergent Oliver James nodded at Lucas’s words and dropped the massive container to the ground with a resounding thud.

As the two moved away from the container, Lance Corporal Yumi Suzuki walked forward and connected with the container and its cargo with her IAS implant, activating the device.

Within seconds, the colossal container the size of a small truck unfolded, revealing nearly a hundred machines ready for their orders.

“Set the Ornies for high-altitude perimeter patrol. As for the Infiltrators, have them map the surrounding forests and grab images of the local Fauna for the eggheads to fawn over.”

“Copy.”

Yumi activated the large contingent of drones, making the Ornies, short for the Ornithopter Multirole Drones, unfurl their wings and take off on the power of Electro-active polymers and Silicon soft robotics, mimicking the flight abilities and patterns of a real bird while providing the sensory data of an advanced combat drone.

At the same time, a small group of spherical drones equipped with advanced LIDAR, Radar, 3d mapping and imaging technology, and various other sensory suits, took off from the container, spreading into the forest in a set pattern for surveillance and exploration using a much more traditional ducted fan technology, giving them exceptional maneuverability and hovering capability at low altitudes.

Within seconds, the mechanical birds reached high enough altitudes to comfortably glide in the air similar to a raptor, such as a Hawk or a Bald Eagle, allowing it to conserve its energy while also using its onboard sensors to provide birds-eye view surveillance along with mapping the terrain around its set path.

Then, this data is transmitted to the main base along with the Infiltrator drones, which use this terrain map to navigate the forest while mapping its surroundings, creating a real-tile 3d map of the area in the base that the military and scientific people could use for their plans.

Of course, just like any other military unit, they are also equipped with self-defense systems to protect them from enemy fire and wild fauna, although the latter was more of an afterthought since most types of wild fauna had nearly gone extinct by the time these drones were put into service during WW3.

“70 Ornies and 30 Infiltrators accounted for. All green across the board.”

“Good. Get some R&R at the base and wait for Phase 3.”

Lucas’s IAS activated with a ping and showed the delighted faces of his squad, especially Corporal Mason Cooper and Corporal Sophia Jackson, who had near-ecstatic looks on their faces.

“Wait a minute! Did you really manage to convince the top brass to give us leave in this place!?”

“You are the best! Mitchel!”

Lucas scowled at his subordinates and childhood friends.

“That’s Sergeant Major to you, Mason. Don’t forget protocol, especially in this kind of situation. The same goes for you, Sophia. And yes, I managed to convince the General that we could serve as a test bed for limited exposure to this foreign environment.”

Suddenly, the happy expressions on his Squad’s faces changed to that of disgust.

“What the hell!? Sarge? Did you just sign us up as lab rats for the eggheads!?”

“Yeah! The last time you signed us up for the IAS surgery was hellish enough, I am not going under with the doctors ever again!”

“We are rebelling! We are not following your orders again!!”

Lucas sighed at the melodramatic reactions from his squad, knowing that they were all just holding onto what little positivity and playfulness they had left after the hellish life that the Alpha Squad had led for the past two decades.

“Look, do you guys want to spend time in this place or not? Because this is the only option available for us right now to stay for long term in this world instead of a few hours shift every two days.”

That silenced his squad as they started to grumble about unfairness while getting back to work.

Sometimes, Lucas felt like he was guiding a bunch of children instead of war veterans. Yet, he wouldn't have it any other way.

Alpha Squad is basically his family, and he would be damned if he allowed them to be harmed or changed in any way.

With the squad still whining and grumbling away at the back of his head through the IAS, he led Amilia, Oliver, and Yumi back to the main camp where the rest of his squad were on guard duty along with Beta, Gamma, and Delta Squads.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How intriguing. And there are no side effects?”

The group consisting of biologists and botanists in front of Dr. Anderson shook their heads enthusiastically.

“None whatsoever, Dr. Anderson. At least, none as far as our Prediction and simulation algorithms can tell. Furthermore, the nutrient density of the native flora suggests that if we can find suitable fauna to splice the genetics of our meat production, we could be looking at protein density that is upwards of 200% of anything that we can produce to date.”

Dr. Anderson felt a thrilling rush of emotions as he read through the data gathered by their equipment after testing various samples from the trees and other flora around their camp from this foreign world.

While his day had started out bad, with their preliminary scans showing a lack of any mineral deposits or important resources within the surrounding area that were essential for reducing the load on their logistics from the other side, the rest of the day has proven to be a fantastic journey of discovery and wonder, a dream come true for a scientist.

First, it was the discovery that the slightly lower gravity on this planet, less than 1% lower than Earth, meant that their bodies were under less pressure than on Earth. even if the difference was infinitesimal, it was still good news.

Then, his team found out that the Oxygen density of the atmosphere was much higher than on Earth, potentially giving their bodies a massive boost in terms of their regular functions along with potentially boosting their cognitive functions thanks to the excess Oxygen. This, combined with the mix of gases in the atmosphere being nearly identical to Earth aside from Oxygen meant that humans could breathe the atmosphere without the need for masks.

While the research into the Microorganisms of this world and their effect on the human body are still being studied, the initial results turned out to be very positive.

Finally, this news about the nutrient density of the Floral life of this world, and potentially, animal life as well, meant that they could potentially solve their biggest crisis, the production speed of their food supply, should they manage to find a way to mix this nutrient and protein density with their existing Artificial Meat patterns.

“This is good. No, this is beyond good. This is beyond anything that we could have hoped for with Project: Exodus. Inform the Generals back in Central about the development and start expediting the viral and bacterial research. I want to know the Micro-ecosystem and its effects on the human body as quickly as possible.”

“Of course!”

The team ran back to their stations and excitedly discussed the new developments while Dr. Anderson continued looking over the data again for any problems or hidden threats.

While it looked like the best news ever for their food production, the implications of such density of nutrients in the floral life were not lost on the scientists.

Putting aside the issue of imagining just what kind of fauna would exist on this world that could consume such rich food, he also had to consider the issues of consuming such food that is nearly 200% denser than Earth’s food in terms of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other essentials.

While the benefits of such ‘superfood’ would be tremendous and could potentially revolutionize human life as a whole, the drawbacks could be just as devastating, such as organ damage, mainly the Kidneys, from processing such high protein food if consumed in large amounts, increased Ammonia production, Digestive issues, and a whole host of other unforeseen issues that could arise.

Shaking his head, Dr. Anderson forced aside such thoughts and started thinking of potential solutions for such issues while walking back to his station.

One thing was clear for the aging doctor, this world was just as filled with opportunity and danger as the ancient Earth was when their ancestors had first stepped foot outside of Africa, filled with wonderous potential for evolution and growth, yet just as high risk of getting their people killed.