EarthFall

Chap 12 Forgiveness

Carson was silent for a good 2 minutes as they walked.

"It still doesn't make sense, Chief."

"What doesn't?"

"Are you sure Command isn't feeding you misinformation?" Carson asked.

"No way to tell, so no reason to act on that assumption Cadet." Chief replied.

"What does your gut say?"

Chief was quiet for a long moment. He really was considering it. Then he sighed and looked down.

"I don't know Carson. My gut has been in knots ever since the USFS exploded. Ever since we lost everyone... I just don't want to lose anyone else. I just want to set these charges, return to the Phoenix, use up as much fuel as we have left to retreat, and then from a hopefully safe distance, we can watch for possible fireworks and speculate about this or that long into the night. That's all I want. I can't think further ahead than that right now."

Carson didn't know what to say. He had never seen the Chief this vulnerable. He truly believed command was going to nuke this mountain if they didn't blow these charges.

He grudgingly realized he trusted the Chief, but he didn't trust the orders Command gave him. Something was seriously wrong. And even after the chief outlined mission parameters as he was given them. All the protocols were lined up... but it still felt like something was off. If he could just think faster.... God he wished he could call Brianna or Tucker right now.

They approached a corner in the Ravine. Carson heard a very strange buzzing noise. It sounded like hundreds of extremely small generators, or gear systems, possibly made out of plastic or aluminum, or maybe the pages of small books being flipped open? Or... What the hell was that noise? Carson had never heard anything like it. Could this be the source of the signal? Could this last cave house one of the AI's manufacturing machines?

Maybe they could get the signal to stop after all and the Bomb hurtling down towards them would power down, go inert, and land harmlessly, parachuting to the ground. Maybe there was hope... Carson was still processing a lot.

They rounded the corner cautiously. It was beautiful.

The walls of the ravine cut out entirely so the sunlight could filter in from the top, hundreds of feet up. Here, the theme was neither mushrooms or butterflies, but flowers. Thousands of them of every shape and size and color. It was like someone had hand picked one of each and every type of flower, from all over the world, and had planted them all here, together. There were some that Carson realized he didn't even recognize.

And the buzzing, Carson understood now, was coming from the cave's own personal army of Apis. Hundreds of the little black and yellow insects looped and circled the cave, dipping their little antenna into flower after flower before buzzing out, only to have another come in from outside and take its place.

Where was the electromagnetic disturbance??

There was nothing here but a few rolling metal caretakers and a bunch of different types of plants and animals. Rhopalocera, or Butterflies, naturally spread pollen among wildflowers. Ladybugs, eat parasites that destroy fields and crops. Fungi, great for everything from breaking down plastic to breaking down your ego.

And Apis. They were perhaps the most important critter in the whole ecosystem. The number of trees and plants that depended on them to spread their pollen was simply enormous. His study books said at one time they pollinated over 80% of the world's flora. They were in the truest sense of the word, Earth's custodians. And here they buzzed on a buffet. It was a literal Api buffet.