The Argo Goes West

112, The Mysterious Stranger, part 2

In the session held after the public hearing, the scientists had a lively discussion.

"I wondered how he could speak a human language," said the exotic-looking German surgeon Adolphus Ostrow. "Maybe he was originally human. Since ancient Greece, there have been many metamorphosis stories. Alectrion transformed into a rooster, Arachne transformed into a spider, and Odysseus's men turned into pigs by Circe's magic. In later times, werewolves and vampires. "

"That's an unscientific claim," said biologist Professor Carruthers contemptuously.

"You're right," excused Dr. Ostrow, wiping his sweat with a laced handkerchief. "But I can't explain it scientifically. His brain capacity is similar to that of a normal goat. Then he cannot understand and speak our language, as goats do. "

"That's human arrogance," Mark Twain interrupted again. "You think that only humans can speak language. But hey, animals can speak too. Animals don't speak because they think it's useless to talk to humans who don't understand. Don't you think so? "

The scientists gave a wry smile. But Jarrod didn't laugh. Jarrod hadn't even heard of Mark Twain. Jarrod was preoccupied with other things.Jarrod was only thinking about how to put into practice what he had been thinking about for years.

Stockton, California. The big city, which had prospered during the gold rush and was a hub for transportation by land and water, was now reduced to a pile of rubble.

Pat Garrett's Rough Riders made their way cautiously through the collapsed buildings. The road was bumpy with cracks in the ground, so Billy Chen removed Slim's sidecar from his motorbike and pushed it along.

They called out to see if there were any survivors, but there was no answer. Corpses left on the streets were pecked by crows, and corpses floating in the San Joaquin River were fed to fish.

Slim frowned and said.

"It's like the end of the world."

Everyone agreed, but only Billy knew. The real "end of the world" isn't like this. Billy knew the real "end of the world". No, he saw it. In 2038, next to Dr. Lao.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Orpheus Granger.

"Let's go back," Pat Garrett replied.

"We're almost in San Francisco," objected Frank 'Mad Bomber' Zuckerman. "Don't you want to see what happened to San Francisco?"

Pat Garrett frowned and asked Mad Bomber. "What do you think our job is?"

"Reconnaissance for the Argo."

"Look at that."

Pat Garrett pointed to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. A large amount of rubble covered the tracks.

"The Argo can't move forward without removing that rubble.

We can't remove it alone. We need a lot of manpower. So we'll call off the reconnaissance here and head back to Sacramento to report. "

"I agree. Miss. Monaghan and Mr. Blackman will be waiting for us," said Orpheus, caring for Bonnie and Lou, who were dispatched to Colfax.

The Rough Riders turned back to Sacramento the way they came. To be honest, Billy Chen didn't want to turn back. Billy thought the only place he could talk to Dr. Lao on his cell phone was San Francisco or beyond. Billy desperately wanted to tell him. The result of their grand experiment...