Lina maintained silence, as the carr shuffled through the sandy road. They had waited only twenty minutes for the explosion to mostly settle and dissipate, with Youden finally demanding them to reach the site and see the effects. So the group of researchers embarked onto the awaiting carrs and began making their way towards the remains of the town.
The carr was already picking up speed, until Lina had began to notice that it was starting to slow down. Even though the location was still only a few more miles away, the impact from the distance was still surreal. There were small scatterings of wood and stone from the town's buildings from this far of a distance, and yet it was disturbing. If it looked bad here, then how would it look at ground zero?
Gulping, Lina continued to look ahead, as the destruction became more widespread. Larger sections of former buildings were plastered over the ground, while there were even charred sections of what appeared to be bodies laying under them.
"Our enemies. Political dissidents, criminals, the whole sorts. It was only right that the worst of the worst "willing" participated in it for the greater good. We'll save so many lives by only taking a select few with this, Lina." Youden explained, pointing to the center of the ruined town.
Lina just nodded as the carr finally made it alongside a line of other cars. She could finally see the real spectacle ahead. A five-hundred-meter diameter crater was in front of them, as workers began measuring and taking samples of the environment. Without hesitation, Lina opened the carr door and marched towards it. Besides the crater, there was essentially nothing here. All the buildings near the center of the blast had simply evaporated and only burnt wood and rock still remained, including minor fires attempting to spread about. Not even their latest bombs or artillery was this powerful.
"Lina, you seem surprised?" she heard Youden call to her.
"I didn't thi-, I didn't think that it would be this powerful, sir. I mean-." Lina started to stammer.
"Oh don't worry. We're going to amp up the amount anyway. Terrence, make sure double the amount is stable!" Youden told the quirky man, who jumped with joy.
"Sir, that's going to be too much! We're going to be targeting more than military targets with a higher amount." Lina snapped. "If anything, it could sway the world closer together."
The air around them was still, as most of the workers and researchers in the vicinity stared at the situation. No one had spoken to the man in a long time, as Youden sighed a calm breath of relief.
"Lina." Youden stared into her eyes. "You do realize that you helped make all of this. When you initially were with me in the cave, and showed us the taboon, it started all of this. Your involvement is why we've gotten this far. You and your team have literally created weapons that have pummelled cities from afar, so what's another bomb going to do? At least we have a weapon that will now actually end battles, and not prolong them."
Lina stared at the ground with that thought. She really did get them this far and didn't even realize it properly until now. All the artillery, bombs, and vehicles she assisted and created had gotten them to this moment. It was at this moment, that she noted that there was nothing she could do in this situation.
"So, do you understand me?" Youden eyed her.
"Yessir." she took a deep breath, as she quickly saluted.
"Good then. You know the additional steps you need to take, as well as improve the bomb. We're going to be ready to own this planet under our lands, once and for all." Youden cackled, as he reached another carr, to which it drove away in the opposite direction. With nothing to protest against, Lina was handed a specialized notebook and got to work with their discovery, or another person's end.