Oath of the Survivor

“You’re going to have to be more specific.” Kyle said, an edge of annoyance in his voice.  “Is it an earthquake?”

Rochelle snapped orders at a couple of nearby crew members before responding.

“We’re not entirely sure, Mayhew.  The tremors started, and sensors aren’t picking up traditional seismic activity.  We’re picking up thousands of mana signatures moving right now, heading this way.  At the rate they’re covering ground they’ll get to the shuttle before most of our squads are able to return.”

Kyle nodded grimly, thinking fast.  He had an idea, but there was no guarantee it would work.  He tapped his nav bracelet as he made his way towards the shuttle doors. 

“I might be able to buy us some time.  Get your people back to the shuttle and get off the ground.”

“Don’t do anything too stupid, Mayew.”

Because of the worry in her voice, he flashed her a smile before he left. 

“I’m going to do my best.  C.H.A.D.D. is going to do the heavy lifting, after all.”

[I WOULD PREFER TO STAY ON THE SHUTTLE, IF THAT IS AN OPTION.] The drone protested.

If anybody heard, it was too late.  Kyle was already dashing out into the humid heat, rushing in the direction showing on his nav bracelet. 

[WOULD YOU CARE TO INFORM ME OF YOUR PLAN, DR. MAYHEW?]

“I think you’re going to like it.  Can you still do the whole bug pheromone thing?”

[I BELIEVE I CAN MAKE A REASONABLE FASCIMILE, DR. MAYHEW.]

“That’s exactly what we need.  Hold off until we get a better sense of what we’re looking at.”

As they ran, they passed two squads heading back to the shuttle.  A third was still between them and the unknown assailants, but before they could finish closing the distance the squad’s communicators flashed that they were under attack, followed shortly by a notification that the squad were presumed deceased.  Dying in the middle of a jungle on another planet, for no other reason than to make the company rich.  It didn’t sit well with him.  Making an internal commitment to come back to try and gather the remains, he finally got close enough to see what was going on.  It was a swarm consisting of tens of thousands of giant, mutated ants.  Beneath them, it looked like millions of smaller ants had joined the frenzy. 

Looking at the swarm, Kyle was absolutely confident that if it reached the shuttle everybody inside would die.  Even with the three D Grades on board, there were simply too many ants to take them all out before getting worn down.  He shuddered as he thought about the ants swarming over the mining team, and resolved himself for what was coming up next.

“Do it now, C.H.A.D.D.” The drone obliged, and Kyle could detect the same presence he had when C.H.A.D.D. had squished the weevil.  He stood before the swarm as the synthetic pheromones began to saturate the air around him, only beginning to run away when the creatures were within about fifteen meters.  Like the first ant he’d fought a lifetime ago, these were not intelligent creatures.  They were driven by instinct, and were easily drawn in by the trail left by the small drone. 

Kyle lifted his nav bracelet to his mouth and spoke.  “Rochelle!  It worked, at least for now.  Get the squads and get off the ground!”

He heard a clear reply as he ran, the voice of the captain still carrying a tinge of worry.  “How will we get to you?”

“I’ll figure that out later, focus on your end first.  I’m confident in staying alive here for quite a while, don’t worry about me.”

“What do you mean you’ll figure it out later?  What the hell did you do?”

[CAPTAIN ROCHELLE, I DO BELIEVE I’M RESPONSIBLE FOR ADDRESSING YOUR QUERY FROM EARLIER.  I DID NOT IN FACT PREVENT DR. MAYHEW FROM DOING SOMETHING STUPID.]

Rochelle’s voice no longer sounded worried, now it was just angry. 

“Nobody has answered my question. WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?”

“Sorry captain, no time to talk.  Lots of ants on my tail here.  You’re welcome for buying time!” 

With that, Kyle disabled the communication features.  While the extraction aspect would be tricky, he honestly wasn’t too worried about surviving otherwise.  Even though there was no way he could deal with the ants in straight up combat, he felt absolute confidence in his ability to run away.  Without HASTE active, he was outpacing the swarm to the degree that he actually had to slow down to ensure he kept their interest.  Furthermore, the creatures seemed fairly distractable.  He came across a variety of other awakened insects that seemed relatively powerful, and each was overwhelmed and buried under the sheer volume of ants. 

He continued his pied-piper act for nearly an hour, until he got a notice on his nav bracelet.  He enabled the communication functions, and Captain Rochelle’s voice came through. 

“About damn time!  Our last surviving squad made it on board, we’re going to take off soon.  We’ll get a smaller vessel out, but it’s going to take some times.  I’d expect it to be at least two hours.  Can you hold out that long?” 

“Shouldn’t be a problem at all.”  With that, the communication cut off.  “C.H.A.D.D., go ahead and stop using the pheromones.”

[CERTAINLY, DR. MAYHEW.]

One of the interesting things they’d discovered while practicing with C.H.A.D.D.’s ability was that the pheromones produced by the drone didn’t cling like those that were chemically produced.  Instead, when C.H.A.D.D. stopped focusing mana into the skill, they dissipated into the air shortly after.  Kyle felt the presence of the pheromones fade, and activated HASTE.  Looking back at a very confused wave of ants, Kyle sped off deeper into the forest.  Without a clear direction and so far away from their nest, the ants began to scatter, ripping into any vegetation or creatures unlucky enough to be in their path. 

Kyle continued to run deeper and deeper into the jungle, until the sounds of chittering mandibles and the tremor under his feet had faded.  He was much farther in than the expedition had mapped, and the dense canopy made everything around him feel darker, gently covered in shadow.  Kyle considered his possible courses of action.  He was in a small space in the midst of the undergrowth, large trees and ferns all around him.  He could feasibly stay here and wait for extraction, which was likely the smartest decision.  Conversely, he could choose to explore and see what else the jungle had in store.  Riskier, certainly, but alongside the risk was opportunity. 

He considered both choices, and eventually went with his gut.  If there was one thing that he was good at, it was survival.  It was the name of his class, after all!  Kyle was confident in his ability to at least escape from, if not defeat all the different creatures they’d come across in their time surveying the area. 

“C.H.A.D.D., we’re going to do a little treasure hunting while we wait.  Are you able to run a scan of the area?”

[SCANNING NOW, DR. MAYHEW.] 

As the drone did, Kyle began to focus on his Auric Perception.  He was interrupted a moment later by C.H.A.D.D.

[DR. MAYHEW, YOU REALLY NEED TO SPIN.  I’VE TOLD YOU THIS SEVERAL TIMES.]

“C.H.A.D.D., I’m not going to turn little circles in the middle of the jungle.”

[THEN YOU WILL GET POOR QUALITY SCANS.]

“It’s just ridiculous.”

[NOBODY IS HERE TO WATCH YOU, DR. MAYHEW.]

“How bad can it be if I don’t?  It worked fine before, right?”

[YOU WEREN’T A D GRADE BEFORE. THE MANA IN YOUR BODY IS QUITE OVERWHELMING.]

And so it was that Kyle found himself slowly twirling on the soft ground, listening to the rustle of leaves while his drone scanned and he used his Auric Perception.  The air around him was thick and heavy, so humid it almost felt like he was in a sauna.  That was when he noticed an oddity.  Usually he’d be sweating and feeling uncomfortable in this environment, but now his body hadn’t been sweating at all.  In fact, now that he thought about it, the last time he’d been sweating was back in E Grade while working on RESONANCE.  He considered it if was potentially related to the shift in grade, though he distinctly remembered seeing Chester sweat as he constructed the earthworks.  That left him with the answer that made the most sense – his racial evolution.  He focused his Auric Perception more closely on his skin, feeling the mana flowing across it.  Do I even have sweat glands anymore? 

[DR. MAYHEW, ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?] 

That snapped him out of it. 

“Of course I am, C.H.A.D.D.  What’s going on?”

[I HAD A REPORT READY THREE MINUTES AGO, AND I RECEIVED NO RESPONSE.]

“I was distracted.”

[I’M SURE YOU WERE, DR. MAYHEW.  SCANS DETECTED SOME INTERESTING MANA SIGNATURES TOWARDS THE END OF SCANNER RANGE, CREATING AN OVERLAY NOW.]

With that, the drone projected small orbs of light leading deeper into the jungle.   

~~~

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