19 Chapter 19 - Discovered
In the depths of the mountain range. Hundreds of operatives watched the writhing green mass as usual.
At this point. They grew used to the amount of natural disasters stopping the expansion of those monstrous plants.
Suddenly, they began to notice a discrepancy. They zoomed in and hurriedly went to report.
"Sir! There are unidentified helicopters right outside the death domain!" Said one of the operatives as she reported it to one of the higher ups.
He nodded and went to report further. In no time, the entire news got straight to the highest of commands.
"Dammit, who did it!" said the Emperor as he slammed the desk out of anger. The rulers spent a lot of their time on the base and today they happened to be all in it.
The holy pope said nothing. His conscience was clear as day. On the other hand, the representing Senator looked at them both.
"My people have nothing to do with this." He said calmly. The Emperor looked at them in even more anger.
If ever the things began to approach humanity because of their contact. His people would be the first to bear the blunt!
"Senator, are you sure?" Asked Sophós in a mocking manner. With the presence of Morpheus and his authority in the family beside the family's head.
The odds of it being the Barfords were close to none.
Holy pope as well didn't have any motives to do so. As his religion declared the Sun as the God of all life and the true ruler of all life.
The very presence of those plants went against his religion. In short, demons.
Only the Senate had nothing to lose.
Nevertheless, they had no proof against them and thus held very little power right now.
If they were to actually start a war. It would create numerous problems in a short term.
All sides argued for some time, before the Emperor backed off in reluctance.
...
"How's the situation with ICBMs containing nuclear payloads?" Morpheus asked one of the scientists he often interacted with.
"Sir, right now we managed to load a 23 MT worth of TNT in a rocket capable of travelling 9 000 kilobars." She said and pulled up a chart.
It contained the data of their tests and he could see some general problems from them.
One would be the magnetic interference. Combined with several others, they didn't have a technology that would self guide itself when they lost direct communicational ability.
Due to that. They might miss the target by 2 or 3 kilobars and perhaps even more.
Morpheus sighed to himself as he hopped back into his space. The much more majestic library didn't bring him any joy.
Hundreds of 'books' lied around as he watched the pictures. Some of it was the beginning of laser and photon technology.
Incredible progress in a few years made him even more anxious. Compared to the constant destruction of the natural disasters.
Hundreds of nuclear ICBMs would have to be launched every day to compare. Such consumption would make them dry in just a few months!
He shoved various books around as he turned back to his only option. To increase yield drastically in a short period.
100... 200... Maybe even 1000 megatons of TNT might be able to slow them down. But he shuddered at the consequences.
If something at the level of 1000 MT exploded. How hurt the ecosystem around the world would be?
Still, the clear 'barriers' where certain disasters happened baffled him. No amount of science came close to explaining that.
Over the years, they spent a huge amount of resources. Yet, they found something illogical.
Some Volcanoes in that area didn't even have stored magma underneath it. And more than 10 out of 15 models had predicted that the ground just heats up in a few minutes before it explodes.
Tornadoes? They are even more illogical. No changes in weather, and yet they appear out of nowhere for days with no difference in strength.
Technology and science clearly worked. Most of the current achievements Morpheus had came from the inspiration of his past life.
However, the supernatural defied it all. A force more powerful than science can only be one.
God and divinity. Although reluctant to accept it as such. Morpheus couldn't find any other reason for this.
Endless growing plants that grew hundreds of kilobars in seconds. The one thing closest to science was the alien air crafts.
Even then, their destructive technology did nothing to the plants in terms of permanent damage.
Morpheus wouldn't doubt their activity to watch from space were it not for their spacecrafts just falling from the sky after they exceeded certain altitude.
Frankly, he felt overwhelmed. He used science as a pillar that held him in this world.
His reminder that he did not fake the past life he lived in his mind. That it wasn't his delusions wishing for a body that could walk, talk, and form connections.
The suppression effect on the feeling of time gradually went away the more he interacted with humans and watched through their eyes.
At such times, he lived. He felt, and he had everything except one. Control.
Science was such a tool for control. To maybe one day create robots he had an infinite affinity with and to connect and control them to see the world himself.
And now, under his very eyes, it stripped it away. Any kind of invention seemed fickle.
Useless.
Wasteful.
And the premonition. That it was coming for him. It wouldn't stop because of the natural disaster, nor would it stop because of his little nukes.
Humanity would crumble as well. If only he could throw away all responsibilities, find a beautiful girl and spend the rest of his life with her.
To watch the world end as they held each other in an embrace.
"Stop wasting time and work." He said to himself and went back to brainstorming.
"You are too handsome for girls anyway... ... ... ... ... Oh and men too, of course!" He said as he swiped the nonexistent sweat.
...
"Hey Henry, do you think we might come back alive from this?" Greg asked his buddy as they did a triple take of what was below them.
Destruction and creation. Happening nonstop in a vicious manner.
"If we do, remember to tell me to confess to your sister. She has such a nice ass..." Henry said in a daze.
Greg smacked him as he looked at him with a faint smile.
"My sister is too good for you." He said as they felt a layer of tension leave their bodies.
So what if they died? The amount of money both of them had could feed their families for generations.
Moments after they finished their banter. Squadron alpha 2 helicopter appeared out of the death domain and began to plummet at an incredible speed.
In less than a minute, the helicopter smashed into the moving vines. Few hundred bars above the air they saw the members with a deployed parachute.
The pilot said something, as he knew he couldn't save them. If the blades were to be stuck in the parachute, it might spell the end for them as well.
They watched the poor souls as they slowly drifted down.
Then, every plant stopped its struggle. Everywhere they could see, it stopped as if dead.
It wasn't. Greg pulled out his binoculars as he looked down at the crash site.
There, he saw red faint red amongst the red on the red vine. Soon enough, it vanished from the surface of the plant as it began to move.
If it struggled before. Now it seemed crazy for more. Like a drug, it began its offensive in earnest.
In response. Volcanoes appeared and hundreds of grade 1 tornadoes shredded the vines.
Yet, it regenerated over and over again. This time with one goal in mind. To push further and investigate what it was.
The pilot of their squadron ordered his men as they entered the domain of death. In no time they returned to the ash filled place.
...
Meanwhile, the operatives used all of their technology to keep an eye on the plant. They captured and analyzed every movement.
When Morpheus knew what happened, he just ordered the deployment of everything they had.
"Inform the public as well. I need to rest for a bit." He said and vanished from the researcher's mind.
Dazed, she absorbed the beautiful moonlight and lit the surrounding garden. After all, she might never get the chance again...
After she left. The news spread in the Barford Empire before it reached the ears of all the citizens.
Riots appeared everywhere as officials pacified them. Reason? How? It's a plant that kept attacking everything in its surroundings.
In an hour, the leaders of all the four major nations appeared and made a speech. The Barford family declared to fight to death.
Pope declared it as the coming of a great devil.
Senators appeared and pacified their people, telling them that everything's fine and showcased the might nuclear weapons had.
The Emperor's speech hit the hardest.
He told his people that they would be the first to bear the attack. They had to fight otherwise if they were to fall.
Everyone else would fall like dominoes. He asked his people to follow him, for humanity, and to grasp the slightest ray of hope.
The world watched with a halted breath. When would it break through?
