Terracaligo

Chapter 9

Donnell Sampson stared at the holographic displays, his fingers moving rapidly across the keyboard. The urgency in the room was palpable.

"I can't believe they're here! I can't believe she's here, my little girl Ellie," he muttered under his breath.

Eyes darting from monitor to monitor, hologram to hologram, he continued typing frantically.

"This isn't like you, Donnell. Why are you so nervous?" inquired Nexus, the AI with a cheeky tone.

"Nexus, it's Terra Caligo. Of course, I'm going to be nervous. And if she's here, something terribly wrong has happened on Mars, to her mother. I'm afraid this is just the beginning. Darryl is going to want to recover them or execute them. Eventually, he'll send his wives. But first, now we will have to deal with Terra Caligo and its many dangers. It's only a matter of time before they find out about Terra; they will see this as a threat."

"My drones just got back with important intel, and she's like nothing I've ever seen. Her technology is astounding, programming flawless. They were able to make the Terra Cell reactors and Terra Cells. The Terra Cells are on a micro level, and the reactor is just the size of a little backpack. Brilliant. How is she able to contain a star inside there, even if it's a tiny star? I wasn't able to hack into their database for further information, but we have surveillance footage from the night before. Amazing. Our cameras were able to remain undetected somehow. With her tech, she could have easily detected us."

"Play the footage, Nexus, please. It must be something if you're this excited over it."

Donnell sat in awe and disbelief, watching Terra effortlessly defeat one of the Mutant leaders. Even as one of the founding members of Terra Tech, accustomed to state-of-the-art technology, this was on another level.

"Holy shit, Allie, you've outdone yourself this time. I know you told me you had a breakthrough, but wow. I hope everything is alright."

"Just because I'm always here and technically a part of you doesn't mean it's ok to think out loud. Get a grip," retorted Nexus.

"Nexus, you've been very cheeky lately. What's the deal?"

"Well, my dad is here."

"We're screwed. If the AI of all AIs is here as well, he won't stop. And I fear the worst for my poor Allie."

Suddenly, warnings flashed on the holograms, and alarms blared.

"Warning."

Donnell rushed to his chair and began typing commands, instructing Nexus to run various system checks. He pulled up his map of Eco Havens; Verde Haven was under attack by over 200k mutants.

"I knew it! They must know about her. Verde won't stand a chance. Verde is important for Terracaligans to have any hope of thriving on Terracaligo."

"Donnell, Terra and Ellie are leaving the bunker and heading toward Verde; they might"

"No, most likely there are more than one Alpha. Each clan has roughly 100k members, some more, some less. I have no choice but to suit up. The Eco Haven could use the new upgrades. That's our only hope."