Space City Outbreak by Jared Austin

Author:Jared Austin [Jared Austin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Up Past Dawn
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21—Maellyn, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Maellyn stood under a tarp—their base camp—which shielded her from the rain pouring down on the Ourania sim. Partially, anyway. The wind whipped the rain sideways, pelting her face and arms. Nico had added the rain into the sim because it would seep down through the soil to the aquifers below ground. But why did he have to make the storm quite so strong?

With all efforts to maintain quarantine on Ourania failing, Trini’s latest theory posited that rainwater carried the Azymi down to the aquifers and spread from there. They needed the data to prove it, yet if that was the case, what could they do about it? There was no stopping the rain. In the sim, Nico could end it with a simple coding command. On Ourania, despite all the Alfar’s technological prowess, they still couldn’t control the weather.

“What is wrong with people?” Nico slammed his fists down on the table, disturbing Devika, who huddled over a computer screen. “I’ve got less than fifty participants from the city and roughly that many at the academy. Don’t they care?”

“They care,” Anand answered from the edge of the tarp, arms folded as he watched the storm. “They just don’t believe tagging photos makes a difference. That’s why I focus on machines only. I assign a task. The scouts carry it out.”

The scouts Anand built were the lone positive result they had at present. The little flying machines had done a superb job of scanning and snapping pictures of the fungus in Nico’s sim.

“You’re such a flob,” Nico growled. “All they can do is document the problem. They can’t help solve it like OutSleuth and my sim.”

Anand glared at Nico’s back a moment, before typing in something on his wrist-comp. A couple of his scouts sprang into the air, departing into the rain. Maellyn wondered what he was up to. There wasn’t much the scouts could do in all this rain.

She didn’t have to wait long for an answer. A few minutes later, the pair of scouts returned carrying two aqua bombers—creatures Nico had invented in his sims. But why had he put them in the Ourania sim?

The aqua bombers resembled spheres of water the size of birthday balloons. The first scout moved over Nico’s head as he tinkered with OutSleuth on his computer. It dropped the aqua bomber, scoring a direct hit. Nico gasped, body tensing, jaw dropping as the aqua bomber soaked his head and upper torso. Before he had time to react, the second aqua bomber hit, leaving him spluttering.

Anand snickered. Maellyn covered her mouth to hide her own smile.

Wiping the water from his eyes, Nico spun toward Anand. “I’ll get you this time.”

The aqua bombers had reformed at Nico’s feet. He snatched them up, tossing one after the other at Anand’s head. Anand easily ducked, so Nico scrambled to his feet, chasing after him. Anand leapt behind the stack of hefty metal storage containers. But Nico was determined. He darted around the right side, forcing Anand to rush behind Devika.

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