85: Teacher Betrayal

85: Teacher Betrayal

Nyssa and the others did get out of bed before lunch—much to the surprise of Angelica. Of course, in her opinion, the lunch she cooked did help with the task, but even she recognized her limits. Nyssa, in particular, must have expended a herculean effort to leave both Celeste and the bed’s embrace.

Having made rice and stew, she served a bowl of hot rice and steaming stew to everyone sitting around the table. She, herself, sat at the head of the table eating her own portion. “Morning everyone, hope you all are well-rested. We have a long day ahead of us. Well... long couple of days.”

“Couple of days?” Ryker questioned without missing a beat, voicing the concern popping into everyone’s mind. “We’ve only been doing single day excursions up until now.”

“Up until now,” Angelica smiled while motioning for them to continue eating. “This next one will be... two days, I estimate, potentially three, but it depends how fast we finish our investigation. While you all were sleeping, I did you all a favor and packed everything you’ll need, and left them by the doorway.”

Silence descended on the room as all the students stopped eating. Angelica, still smiling, pointed towards the kitchen. “Don’t worry, eat up. I have plenty for everyone to have seconds, or even thirds if they want.”

“How could you betray us like this?” Ryker mumbled. “You were supposed to be one of us. An ally against the forces of evil bureaucracy and responsibility.”

“Well, you and I both know you’ll grow better this way, and it won’t be too bad, trust me. Although it’ll be tiring, it’ll be a good time, a productive time, and well-within your limits. I may be young, but I am an award-winning teacher,” Angelica laced her fingers together and propped her chin onto them. “We’ll be leaving in forty-five minutes. So, once you eat up, grab anything you might want to grab and meet by the front door.”

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Many days ago, as the reconnaissance team uncovered the beginnings of their major discovery. Everyone stayed within half-a-minute’s sprinting distance to each other as they documented every observation and theory they could come up with.

One man traced his finger along the gleaming metal corner peeking out of the ground. Destroyed electronics chewed through by the natural wildlife sat strewn across the ground. His observation here ended up being the first line of their formal document: [This seems to be the traces of a larger organization, every place we’ve found follows similar building practices.]

As another man pieced together the bits of the electronics, they continued the creation of their report. [Color scheme-wise and technologically, it’s very consistent across locations. Technology used seems to be home-made as none of it matches up with known manufacturers. Estimated tech-level though is only a few years behind the most cutting edge tech showing up in research institutions.]

[An estimation of their technological level would be the one of a modern-day consumer.]

The investigation team backed off as the sound of rustling filled their ears from the forest behind them. Taking shelter in the trees, they watched as another herd of animals wandered over before pawing at the dirt surrounding the exposed metal corner. After taking measurements with their devices though, they couldn’t find a signal of any type.

[Each exposed base seems to emit some sort of signal. Or has started emitting a signal that draws over the natural wildlife. Unable to reach the source though, the wildlife leaves after a period of time.]

The current herd of animals, after a quiet, single-minded ten minutes, ended up leaving as well.

[All these observations are corroborated by several different examples.]