OGENUS EARTH 🌎 🌊 {Dystopian Sci-Fi Adventure}

Comes And Goes (In Waves)

"Oof!" Sandra exclaimed as the needle tugged at her skin closing the gash in her arm. The bot kept going; it's dexterous fingers working to cause the least amount of pain.

She'd finally made it to the medical bay and was surrounded by the few Architects who had survived the initial brawl. Sandra had never seen so much blood in her life, even in her required health courses. Architects were trained to save human lives, not defend them, and it showed in their wounds.

After a quick antiseptic wash, she was bandaged up and ready to plunge headfirst back into the chaos unfolding on Arc City Two. There was much to do to restore order, but first and foremost, she needed to be sure that the Arc City One didn't know the full extent, yet.

If news got out of the attack, it would be bedlam, possibly anarchy. Having combated a mutiny hours ago, she did not feel at all versed in the skills it would take to control this potentially catastrophic event.

"Where's Regina?" Bethany asked, joining Sandra and matching her stride through the hallways on her way to her private office.

Her red curls were streaked with drying blood, giving her rusty streaks of carnage that stuck to her alabaster skin. Bethany had fought valiantly when things fell apart.

"Regina was one of the defectors," Sandra answered, matching the gravity of the news in her voice.

"Regina?" Bethany gasped. "I could have sworn-"

"Well, we were wrong." Sandra snapped. "I did what had to be done. Another casualty and I take the blame for that."

"There is no blame now." Bethany sighed against her grief. "She couldn't be trusted."

Sandra smiled inwardly at Bethany's unwavering faith; it was a great comfort to her in the wake of all the devastation. By her counts, there were only twelve of them left, and if they'd missed anyone, or if someone had managed to sneak off the Arc, they could be in grave danger.

"Have we sent communications to Arc City One?" Bethany asked.

"I will be overseeing all communications for now, as per emergency protocol," Sandra answered with a grim look. "I'd prefer to wait for the final survivor headcount before I make any of this known."

"Can they-?"

"No." Sandra interrupted. "We've had Coeuss cut off any connection Arc City One for now. We have to regain control before we reach out."

"Surely, their software has detected that we're offline," Bethany suggested, not wishing to spark Sandra's ire.

"I would assume Arc One has tried to reach out once or twice," Sandra confirmed evenly. "I'll go craft a statement to hold them off."

She veered away from Bethany, tired of that conversation and onto a new task. Further calculations and questioning Gayle would have to wait. Bethany exited quickly, leaving Sandra to her work.

Sandra was right, Arc City One had tried to reach out. She poured through their messages, mostly from a confused Architect named Fernando. Apparently, Arturo was requesting to speak with Sonya directly, and that was a potential bomb she would need to sidestep.

Sandra leaned over the never before used Morse button that would allow her to manually tap out a message. As part of the emergency protocol, the Morse system utilized the framework of a much more primitive form of communication used on old Earth. Coeuss projected a cheat sheet for her to use, but that didn't stop her hands from shaking.

CONNECTION TO SATELLITES LOST. WE'RE WORKING WITH COEUSS TO FIX THE ISSUE. MULTIPLE SYSTEMS ARE OFFLINE. EMERGENCY PROTOCOL HAS BEEN ENACTED. WE CANNOT CONFIRM THE NUMBER OF CASUALTIES AT THIS TIME. WILL REPORT WHEN MORE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE.