Prologue: Time Moves On
Six years had passed since the collapse of Sapey. Despite the removal of the contamination from the water supply, a major medical crisis still plagued the Downs Region. At least half the population was suffering from some form of debilitating illness. Around three quarters of the population was infertile. The Downs Region was running low on medical supplies to treat all the illnesses. A cure for the infertility had yet to be found.
Most of the healthy residents were needed to care for the sick. There were less than a hundred births during that six-year period. Whereas more than two thousand Downs residents had died. On a more positive note, all the children born during this period were healthy.
Orcilla was continuing to dedicate as much of her time as possible to finding a cure for the infertility and the swath of other illnesses. The years had taken a toll on her. She had to ration some of her own medication and use substitutes for others. Daily and Yassmay remained dedicated to helping Orcilla find a cure.
They were greatly hindered by a lack of resources. They put most of their effort into developing natural remedies that they could make from ingredients that were readily available in the Central Agriculture Zone.
Yassmay had become very close to Orcilla. Yassme was not able to bond with Orcilla in the same way. This led to her distancing herself from Yassmay. She committed considerably less time to researching for a cure. Instead, she engaged in research relating to technology. This was to the frustration of Orcilla, who wanted her full commitment to helping them find a cure.
Vulay and the Downs Region enforcers had done a good job collecting as much medication, equipment, and materials as possible from all the regions they visited. After the first year of exploring and salvaging, their progress had somewhat slowed as they were running low on fuel to power their vehicles. With their current numbers, it was impossible to extract any more resources from the ground. They needed to convert their vehicles so that they could run on energy they could reliably replenish.
Despite the energy shortages for vehicles, they had sufficient power to keep Downs running for at least several more years. Their power station was partially powered by humidity generators and the solar power systems that they had taken from the industrial slaughterhouses.
Ever since the collapse of Sapey, Denise spent most of her time exploring the country. Over the course of the six years, she had visited eleven of the twelve locations on her ancient map. In each location, she found humanoid-like creatures frozen in glass pods. Machines that appeared to pull energy from the atmosphere powered these pods. At each location, she found documents written in an unfamiliar language. On inspection, these documents appeared identical. They had been coated in a fine resin to preserve the writing. It appeared the author desired them to be found.
After her first few months of travelling, Denise returned to Downs to discuss her discoveries with the others. At this point, she had only explored two locations. Nobody understood the language used in the documents. Orcilla believed the language was a form of ancient Linap known only by a select few theologists from the House of Divine Knowledge. Unfortunately, she could not understand any of it. Nobody else knew any more than that.
Orcilla studied the photographs of the two frozen humanoid-like creatures. She believed they were most likely Linap. Denise wanted Orcilla to see them in person, but Orcilla refused to leave Downs. She believed her priority was to find a cure and remedies for the Downs residents. She also told Denise not to attempt to move or defrost them.
Denise wanted to continue exploring by herself, but Vulay thought it would be better if a couple of enforcers accompanied her. She felt her discoveries might come with some unexpected dangers. Denise reluctantly agreed.
Denise continued visiting sites on the map. She would return after visiting each one. She would bring with her whatever she could safely transport. Each time she would discuss her findings with Orcilla, Vulay, and Daily. Each time she would argue the case of their significance. Each time, the others would argue that their work in the region was more important. This continued for around a year. Denise was frustrated, but she understood the importance of responding to the health crisis.
Around halfway through the second year of her travels, Denise visited Location 6. Here she discovered a trapdoor inside the room containing the frozen humanoid-like creature. This led down to a tunnel. She walked a short distance down the tunnel to discover it had caved in. She and the enforcers did not have appropriate equipment to help them remove the fallen rocks. Denise returned to the Downs Region to request the equipment she needed to remove the rocks.
Orcilla denied her permission, stating they could not spare the resources for her adventures. Denise took offence to being denied access to the equipment. She considered her discovery significant. She left the Downs Region to continue exploring the remaining locations. This time she left the enforcers behind.
Denise did not return to Downs for several years. She was uncontactable the whole time she was gone. Everyone in Downs was deeply concerned for her well-being. However, they did not have the resources to send out a search party to find her. When Denise finally returned, all welcomed her warmly.
Denise had now visited eleven locations. She had documented in detail everything she had found. This included more preserved documents, a frozen humanoid-like creature in each location, and four locations that had tunnels leading into them; all of these had collapsed.
Denise met with Orcilla and Yassmay in private. Denise could see that Orcilla was visibly unwell. She felt bad that she spent such a long time away from her friend. Orcilla was not angry with her. She understood how passionate and stubborn Denise could be when she wanted to do something. After a lengthy discussion, Denise convinced both Yassmay and Orcilla to spare a team and some machinery and equipment to enable Denise to explore the tunnels. Denise was very grateful to both of them. She promised she would not disappear for so long again.
Around two weeks later, all the machinery and equipment Denise needed was loaded into several enforcer vehicles. Denise was also to be accompanied by Co-Head Enforcer Eugene, six other enforcers, and ten maintenance workers. Maintenance workers were the most technically skilled workers remaining in Downs. They did not have the same level of expertise as the technicians but were sufficiently competent to operate the machinery and equipment they had with them. Their first stop was going to be Location 6. It was located in the south, just west of the Hoy Region.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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