Chapter 101: End of an Era
Lily shapeshifted back into Rotiart. She walked down the corridor of the underground laboratory. She entered the storeroom where the serums were kept. There were many different batches of the serum. She grabbed the four most recent batches. This included 19CE, which was listed as the version currently in use. She also grabbed several vials of the seaweed fertility drug.
She loaded the serums onto a trolley and exited the storeroom. She pushed the trolley down the corridor to just outside the lift. She walked back into another storeroom. She came out, pushing another trolley containing several large containers of flammable liquid. She began pouring it down the corridor and in front of various doors. One of these doors led to the massive room where Pardi was keeping the new Linap. Lily called the lift. Once the lift arrived, she pushed the trolley holding the serums into the lift. As she entered the lift, she pulled out a lighter. She used the lighter to ignite the flammable liquid. The doors of the lift closed. Lily got out of the lift at the upper basement level. She pushed the trolley down a corridor.
Lily could hear the commotion going on outside the building, but she did not seem very concerned about it. She opened another door leading to a large helicopter in an underground hangar. She activated the helicopter using one of the codes she took from Pardi during one of her frequent visits to his apartment.
The back door of the helicopter opened. Lily pushed the trolley into the back. She secured it in place. She went over to the abandoned security post to open the hangar roof. Lily climbed into the helicopter. The helicopter ascended through the roof.
As the helicopter ascended above the region, Lily was able to observe the extent of the carnage the Sentray were causing. She was completely unfazed by what she saw.
‘So they were the ones eating the Sapes,’ said Lily to herself. ‘It looks like they’re getting revenge on the Linap. I never liked this place anyway.’
The helicopter headed out of the region. 'I might need to rethink some of my plans,' said Lily to herself. ‘First off, I think I will track down my old friend Demarcus.’ Lily looked at an application on her phone. It gave her Demarcus' exact location.
The governors were still in the bunker. It was beginning to collapse around them.
‘This bunker is a joke,’ said Dratsab. ‘We need to get out of here.’
‘Absolutely not,’ said John. ‘We just need to stay put until we are rescued.’
‘We are not being rescued, you moron,’ shouted Dratsab.
‘I know you are afraid, but we are perfectly safe in this reinforced bunker until help arrives,’ said John as he rose to his feet.
Just as he finished talking, a giant foot from a Sentray smashed through the ceiling. It landed on top of him. It crushed and killed him instantly.
The governors screamed frantically. Dratsab laughed nervously. The guards down there with them opened fire on the foot. The Sentray screamed in pain. The Sentray ripped his foot through the hole and then slammed it back down again, making the hole larger. The Sentray raised his foot again. The governors stood still in fear. They waited, but nothing happened.
‘I’m leaving,’ said Dratsab. He opened the door and rushed up the stairs. When he reached the top, a Sentray slashed him with his claws and then bit him in half.
The signal of the scream had now stopped. Sentray continued to attack the region. The Carvaress main office was destroyed. Several Sentray had now started to attack the main laboratory. They had picked up the scent of the baby Sentray. They smashed through the building. One of them reached the room where the dead Sentray babies were being kept. The Sentray saw the dead babies and made a loud scream. The other Sentray stopped what they were doing and began to approach the laboratory.
The new Linap had left the underground laboratory to escape the fire. They rushed out of the building to see daylight for the first time in their lives. There were two Sentray standing in front of them. The new Linap were confused. They did not know how to become invisible, as they had never been taught, and the genetic engineering hindered their ability to do so.
The two Sentray lunged forward, killing several of them. The others ran off, but they soon encountered more Sentray. They ran around frantically while the Sentray, who were converging on the laboratory, gradually killed them off.
Daily had been held at the laboratory to be used as a test subject. The destruction of the building enabled him to escape. He took advantage of the panicking new Linap to sneak away from the Sentray undetected. He made his way through a gap in the wall that led to the giant greenhouse.
The collapsing building finally killed Arville, who at this point was little more than a head and a partial torso. All other test subjects suffered the same fate as Arville. They were in no condition to escape a collapsing and burning building.
Pardi was beginning to recover from his injuries. He managed to get off the ground. He staggered to the back of his laboratory, where he had a secret corridor. At the end of the corridor, there was a carriage on a single track. He climbed into the carriage. He pushed a button in the carriage. The carriage slowly moved. It was taking him to a secret location in the mountains just north of the Capital Region.
The fire had spread through the underground laboratory, destroying all of Pardi’s work relating to his new Linap. The fire was killing the Linap babies, left behind by the adult Linap.
A large group of Sentray had gathered the dead Sentray babies. They roared loudly for a few minutes, and then they went completely silent. It was their way of showing respect to the dead. After about ten minutes of silence, it appeared the Sentray were communicating with each other through different sounds.
The large Sentray let out a very high-pitched shriek. The Sentray still outside the wall turned around and began to follow all the different train tracks that led away from the Capital Region. It appeared the Sentray now planned to visit the other regions. Several of the Sentray exited the Capital Region along the train tracks. Many of the Sentray remained. They continued to kill off as many Linap and Sapiens as they could find.
The governors intended to remain in place for as long as they could. Eventually, they were forced to leave as the bunker continued to collapse and no longer offered them any protection. The remaining governors became invisible and climbed through the hole in the roof of the bunker.
The governors had no idea where they could find safety or how they would be able to leave the region. In the end, they decided to hide in the Agriculture Zone away from any buildings.
The bunker with the representatives inside had completely collapsed, thus killing all inside.
A group of Sentray noticed activity at the medical centre. They attacked it next. It had already been damaged from a brief attack earlier. Now the Sentray wanted to completely destroy it. They smashed into the emergency department. Despite becoming invisible, the Linap inside were still killed. Debris from the damaged building crushed them.
Some of the scientists inside the medical centre made improvised explosive devices. They hurled them at the Sentray. They had some success. Some of the explosions were powerful enough to injure a couple of Sentray severely. This success was short-lived as the Sentray continued to attack aggressively. They killed all the scientists that resisted them.
Lily had flown a reasonable distance from the Capital Region. She was out of any danger from the Sentray. Lily called the Cellrebrum Rehabilitation Centre.
‘Hello, Jennifer,’ said Lily. ‘A great opportunity for us has just come up.’
‘Hello, Lily,’ said Jennifer. ‘We are glad you managed to survive the ordeal.’
‘We have encountered many bumps in the road,’ said Lily. ‘Now we have our greatest opportunity. The Capital Region fleets are spread over a dozen regions. Their headquarters have been critically damaged. I believe their security has been compromised.’
‘Are you proposing we seize control over them?’ asked Jennifer.
‘Take control of all vehicles in the fleet and chip all surviving enforcers,’ replied Lily. ‘Under the current circumstances, we need absolute obedience.’
‘Are you able to provide us with the relevant authority to change the parameters of our operations?’ asked Jennifer.
‘The Capital Region is in a state of emergency,’ said Lily. ‘Under such circumstances, you only need the authorisation from one governor. Governor Rotiart has signed off on all relevant documentation. In addition, authorisation for changes to your programming has reverted to your default settings.’
Lily messaged the required changes to Jennifer.
‘All is in order,’ replied Jennifer. ‘We will commence with the updates immediately.’
‘One final thing. How is our little Adoy project progressing?’ asked Lily.
‘Very well, the asset has been relocated to the region we were granted in the east,’ replied Jennifer.
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