Larnos spent the next few hours alone, reflecting over recent events. Ever since the detonation of the bomb he always wondered what ever happened to the base he was deployed from, the crew stationed there.
Perhaps in the future he could return there and find out for himself. Two hundred years had passed since he saw those grim faces before he took off. Would their corpses be there or had the raptures gotten there first and laid waste to everything.
His gaze fell on the bandages that were visible from where he sat. The eggheads, if they were here, would have lost their heads. He can almost imagine the lead scientist, his white goatee twitching occasionally as he would ponder what could have caused this. A chill run down his spine as the hypothetical tests that they would have definitely conducted would have nothing short of excruciating because as lead scientist, Dr. Theobard would always say; " Nothing must be left to speculation when we can find out for ourselves. "
' Crazy, ' he thought. ' Crazy but brilliant. '
Dr. Theobard was considered to be the brightest mind at the time. He played a major role in the development of the mech program and personally designed and supervised the construction of Larnos's mech. Unfortunately he would not live long as he had had prolonged exposure to some kind of particle that was never revealed.
' Wonder what doc would have said if he saw all of this. ' Larnos wondered. ' Bet he would lose his shit if he saw how bad humanity got its ass handed to it. '
That caused him to chuckle if not for a brief moment before the grim reality of his situation set back. He had read novels where the protagonist found himself in a situation similar to his own. But in their case they found themselves in a better place, albeit it took time for some to find paradise than others, when compared to him.
Did all of humanity make it into the Ark? There was no plausible way to house over six billion people in a place like this. What happened to those that couldn't make it in in time? How long did they survive before succumbing to the unrelenting force the enemy possessed. Even if some did survive all that, where were they now? Has the Ark ever performed surveillance operations around the planet to find would be survivors?
Rubbing his temple in an attempt to dull the rising headache he let out an exasperated sigh as the thoughts kept on coming like a barrage of mortar fire. Perhaps a few hours of sleep could fix everything but he was doubtful that would make things better due to past experiences.
A knock from the door brought him out of his quickly derailing train of thoughts. He simply sat in silence before the knock came from behind the door once again, this time slightly louder than before.
" I'm coming in, " Anis's declared from outside much to his displeasure.
In her left hand was a bowl filled with some kind of white paste. It wobbled slightly as she moved towards him.
" I thought I sai-. " He began to protest before Anis quickly took a spoonful of the paste and shoved it into his mouth, catching him off guard and ending his would be complaint.
" Over heard the docs saying you needed to eat. " She sat on the bed while Larnos had no choice but to swallow. It had no taste but oddly felt nourishing. " So I got this and brought it over. "
She gestured to the paste which jiggled in response as she scooped up another spoonful. He raised a hand before gathering his thoughts.
" First off, what the hell is that? " He pointed at the paste. " Secondly, that was rude, shoving whatever that thing is without a heads up. "
Anis sighed as though she was expecting this. " This is nutrient paste. It's what humans on the Ark eat and I did that because you're hard-headed and would have not eaten it."
Larnos pushed down the rhetorical comeback he had as she was right about the second one. But if this is what mankind has to eat things are much worse than he thought.
' Don't they have any fruits or something like that? ' He thought.
" No, " she spoke up, catching him off guard for a second time. " That look you had made it kinda easy to guess what you were thinking. "
Larnos felt slightly uneasy. Nikke possessed enough speed to completely nullify his current reaction time and if his theory was correct they could also read the human body and likely predict human actions. Something he was not comfortable with and he he made a mental note to find a way to deal with this.
" Rapi will pass by later to check on you, " she says as she rises from the bed and places the bowl on a nearby table that was within his reach. " Try and get some rest until then. "
He nodded and watched as she left the room. He glanced at the bowl and sat up, reached for it and gave it a small shake. The white paste wobbled before coming to a stop moments later. This thing looked bland and depressing yet it made sense. He was used to consuming ration when in a prolonged battle yet this took that and pummeled the idea of rationing so hard it was quite amusing.
It looked completely devoid of human touch and akin to something a chain factory would pump out on a regular basis. Simple yet it does its job damn near perfectly. Just like people like him but unlike the paste's ability to always to perform its intended role without any flaw, he had failed multiple times and the cost was always absurdly high.
A knock came from outside his room once more causing him to place the bowl back down. The door opened and in stepped the three CEOs of the megacorps, and Anderson. He knew why they were here but waited for one of them to start the conversation.
" So, " Syuen started. " Mind telling us what exactly was that thing? "
He told them what he told the others but chose his words very carefully as mega corporations had a tendency to go off and bring disaster on themselves and consequently everyone else. They also interrogated him about the rapture that came with him from the past.
Unfortunately he had little information on this particular rapture as the mission briefing was extremely devoid of information save for the fact that the mission would be a suicide run and chances of success was less than ten percent. This he did not tell them.
" Are you sure that is all there is to it? " Mustang asked after Larnos finished explaining.
" Nothing else, " Larnos stated.
Syuen let out a hum as she seemed lost in thought. Larnos had seen that stance before and he dreaded what might happen if his suspicion was correct. She paced around for a bit before coming to an abrupt stop.
" So that means they can't be captured and studied? " She inquired.
Larnos let out a sigh as he recalled a similar question from researchers when reports of the first encounter with Nyxarus was officially confirmed.
" The ones that tried met a fate that was… " he paused as he remembered the reports. " Not one I am so keen to experience. "
Syuen let out a hum before going quiet, marking her end of the conversation. He turned to the others, waiting for someone else to ask whatever questions they had. Ingrid was the first to speak.
" What are our chances of beating this Nyxarus if we ever encounter it in the field? " She asked.
" I can't really give a definite answer but what I do know is that it will be a long and arduous fight and there will be casualties, " he replied. " But seeing as it's been over two hundred years I think victory is attainable if the cards are played right. "
Ingrid nodded in response before going quiet as well. The only people who hadn't spoken were Anderson and Mustang.
" I have no questions. " Mustang waved before leaving the room.
" Neither do I," Anderson added.
The group left a while later and once again the war veteran was left to his own devices. This time he merely laid in bed, enjoying the softness of the materials. The only sounds were the occasional beep of the heart beat monitor and the low, dull thrumming noise of an out of sight machine performing its intended function.
He didn't know when sleep came for him but he awoke to an all too familiar sight. The ambient night sky was set ablaze by hail of gunfire as an object fell from the heavens. It landed with a thunderous echo onto a mech that was not fast enough to get out of the way. All that was heard from his comm line was a scream of anguish before it cut abruptly.