Chapter 11 Ark Outpost 1 (1/2)

John and Lenny took turns in sleeping. Lenny went to rest first, he had tirelessly hunted Oscar for 5 days, he was already very tired.

They rested for 7 hours before John packed up the camp and they resumed their walk.

John stopped by a rock and took a water bottle. He drank a little and offered the rest to Lenny.

”Nah, I don't need it.” Lenny said, ”Novakids only need fuel, oxygen and hydrogen to survive. Anything inflammable can be our food. Of course, we will die from explosion if we consume something that liberates far too much energy that we can contain. Our 'brands' use the inflammable product and the gases to metabolize the fuel that keeps us alive.” He explained, ”Well... At least is how I heard it works. We don't have patience and neither the curiosity to study complicated subjects, almost everything we know about our own race came from studies of other races.” He smiled, ”We don't need water, but we do appreciate a good alcohol”

[Basically, they are a walking, sentient combustion engine.] John thought to himself.

”Hm?” John stopped in his tracks and looked ahead. At the end of the tunnel, just a few hundreds of meters away, John was able to see an orange light shining through the opening

”Protector” John heard S.A.I.L's emotionless voice coming from his PIPS, ”The radio signal is coming from that opening. You are almost there.”

The closer they walked toward the light, the hotter the air around them become.

When they arrived at the end of the tunnel, John was already sweating, Lenny, on the other hand, was completely unaffected.

Inside the Novakid's electromagnetic field, or 'skin', their bodies can reach incredible heat, about thousands of degree Celsius.

The moment they emerged from the tunnel, they were greeted with a quite a sight. In front of them was a huge open area that had a giant lava pool as the floor.

The lava cast a bright orange light upon the two people and basked them in a fiery heat.

”Conner, look over there.” Lenny pointed at the small island in the middle of the lava pool.

John stared at the island and saw that on top of it there was a building. He looked around and saw a cobblestone bridge that connected them to the island just beside them.

”Protector.” S.A.I.L started talking, ”The radio signal is coming from that structure in the middle of the lava pool.”

”Let's take a look” John walked forward.

”Alright then.” Lenny helplessly followed along.