3 A Means to an End (2/2)

'' You mean actual lightning? ''

'' Affirmative ''

'' How in all hells have they not conquered earth yet!? ''

'' Class S are extremely rare, as for class A less so, but still highly uncommon. ''

'' How rare exactly ? ''

'' One in a Billion Tamarains birth with the potential to become S class. ''

Feeling relieved that he might never cross paths with one, he sighed and wondered how they got such powers to begin with. So he asked the ultimate question.

'' Could I develop such powers? ''

'' Negative. Host's body does not contain said gland. ''

'' Damn, that's sad, but i guess i can't all have. '' But then the System kept talking.

'' Host's body being an artificial construct, an operation to add such gland could theoretically be possible. Further research on the matter could lead to possible knowledge of surgical procedure to implant gland in Host's brain. ''

He hurriedly asked '' what kind of reasearch would that entail? ''

'' Host would have to dissect and most likely consume brain and glands from Tamarains to gain precise mapping and connection to gland within Tamarain brain. ''

'' Yuck!! ''

Puting that idea aside for now, he got up and asked the System in which direction was the road it had detected.

'' Path is located 280 meters to the north-east from Host's current location. ''

So he took off in that direction, hoping he could gleam more information from survivors of the war. Maybe even find someone who actually knew how it all started. After about 15 minutes of walking through the woods, he reached the tree line to what indeed looked like a rough earth path. He stayed hidden a bit, waiting to see someone pass on the road, before going on it. It didn't take much time. About 5 minutes later, he saw a small group of 4 men with backpacks that looked filled to the brim with goods. He assumed they were merchants. Walking out slowly from the tree line, so he wouldn't frighten the men, he waved at them.

'' Hello fellow humans! ''

As soon as they saw him, the 4 men took out small blasters from under their coats and immediately took aim at the stranger before them.

'' Woah!! I am human just like you! ''

'' We'll see about that ourselves. '' The man in the front answered coldly.

'' Corey, use the scanner and check him out. ''

Pulling an odd tablet, the man named Corey pointed it at Karl's head, getting closer to get a better reading.

'' He's clean!! '' Corey yelled back, lowering his weapon.

The other 3 men also lowered their blasters, but didn't holster them, as they still didn't trust him.

'' What's your name stranger. ''

'' Courtesy dictates you state your own name before asking for someone else's. '' Karl answered not wanting to reveal his identity.

'' State your name or die a nameless death. '' The man said, all four of them raising their weapons again.

'' System advise Host to not use his real name, as name is associated with a dead person, in a lost age. ''

'' I know that, jeez. How stupid do you think I am. ''

'' System will not answer such question. ''

'' Ohh? What do I hear there, is that a point of sarcasm ? ''

'' Negative ''

'' HAHH, denial. That's rich. ''

'' My name is Henry Calvert. I am a traveler and have come from far. I have no ill intentions, so why don't you all lower your weapons ? ''

'' Hmm. Much better. Well Henry, my name is Jhon, this Max, Grant and Corey, which you already know. I'm the leader of this merchant group. We were headed to the village not far ahead. Were you also going there? '' Jhon asked, holstering his blaster, followed by his 3 friends.

'' Not particularly, Jhon, I was passing through. But indeed a village would be a welcome sight. Would you mind me joining you for your travel there. ''

'' I don't mind, as long as you don't do anything phony, you can do what you please. ''

They then started walking again, heading west, to were they were telling them was a hidden village inside a mountain side. That explained how it had survived the war being waged in the area. On the way, Karl, now calling himself Henry, talked with all four of them and learned that the village was called Legacy Cave Town. Henry found it had a nice ring to it. He also learned that it used to be a mining shaft, that had been transformed over time into a big cave to accommodate fleeing survivors of the war.

Keeping the discussions to informative small talk, they took almost 2 hours to get to the village. Once there, the five of them parted ways with a small head bow and few words. Now with him being here, he made his priority to find some access to information.

Walking towards the biggest building in town, which he had learned from Corey, was the town hall, he was being looked at with curious eyes and low heads. Noticing people were avoiding him, he wagered it was because he was a stranger. Reaching the town hall, he entered the building. He Bee lined for the counter and immediately asked the clerk '' Excuse me good sir. I am a traveling historian and it has come upon my knowledge that this town may have some documents about past history that are not known to the world. Would there be a possibility of browsing such documents, for history's sake. ''

Looking at him with bewildered eyes, the man took a few seconds to regain his composure. He then took up a smiling face and said '' Of course young man! The documents you are looking would be stored in the city archives at the library. They are accessible to all as information has no price. ''

Giving directions to get to the city's library, he ended his guidance with '' We sure hope you will bring this city to light in history books. ''

'' I am sure to try my good man ! '' Henry said, waving his hand and leaving for the library. As the building was not very far, he made it there in a few minutes of walking.

He quickly entered and asked the young clerk where he could browse the archives. The young man, clearly bored to hell with his job, barely looked up and pointed and old computer a the back of the room. Making it to the computer in a quick few strides, unable to hide his excitement, he sat down in front of the big flat screen and powered it up.

He started by getting information about the war's cause. Not learning much more from the archives, as the System had pretty well summed it up for him the day before, he moved on to the next question he had. How had the human race survived.

He learned that they had started migrating to the stars after realizing they might become extinct through the continuous raids from the now stable wormhole, located just outside of moons orbit. He also read that to prevent massive loss of life, the world government had decided to turn to mass producing 'driveable' clones to send to the front lines.

Now, with his curiosity fulfilled, he now had more personal questions to verify. Such as, what had happened to his son. He looked into his old company and found a few news that shocked him. The headlines read ' Hampton Technologies joins hands with Phoenix Co. to produce clone soldiers' . He remembered his son combative nature and hard headed manners, which he had gained from himself and was proud to see his son trying to save his fellow humans.

Other headlines such as 'Hampton Tech releases new weapon concept, earth might be saved' and 'President of Hampton Tech takes the fight to them!' made him proud as a father, but also as a fellow human. His son had grown into such a fine man, fighting in his own way to protect his planet. The next headline though, crushed his heart to bits. 'Tamarain raid on Hampton Tech HQ brings death to thousands of personnel. President's body not found in the debris. Is Earth's main defender dead or alive'

With his eyes wet, Henry opened up the article and read it thoroughly. The more details he read the more he cried. It was a tragedy. With pain and anger now brewing in his heart, Henry made the vow to exterminate the Tamarain race to avenge his son. Knowing that he would have to consume a lot of Tamarain genes on his long journey, to assure his survival, he grunted. '' It's a means to an end '' he thought, heading out of the library with a now stern look upon his face.