The flickering screen held their undivided attention as the gaunt figure of Dorius appeared. His face was a skeletal mask, his eyes hollow and haunted by despair. His lips were cracked and dry, his voice weak and raspy.
"This is my last recording," Dorius began, each word labored and pained. "I'm dying from starvation."
The team watched in silence, the gravity of his words sinking in.
"It's the year 2045," he continued. "And they are still at it. Russia is still launching a full scale of nuclear weapons at America, and America is slowly losing this war. NATO has lost, and Africa and India are being colonized by China."
"China? Russia? What are those?" Neato whispered, his confusion evident.
"Shut up," Roman hissed, his eyes never leaving the screen.
Dorius took a shallow breath, his body trembling with the effort. "Russia and China were working together all along. They orchestrated everything—the war of Israel and Gaza, Putin's assassination attempts, and Ukraine's downfall due to China manufacturing robots. In this war, America has lost."
The recording faltered for a moment, the screen flickering as Dorius struggled to continue. "It seems that China is working on a top secret project called Project FURTUR C. I still don't know what it is, but I heard it's to make a super robot."
With those words, the screen went dark. The room fell into a heavy silence, each of them processing the grim revelations of the past.
Neato broke the silence first. "Super robot? What does that mean?"
Roman didn't respond, his mind clearly occupied with the implications of what they had just witnessed.
Nayan, uncharacteristically quiet, seemed to be lost in thought, his usual manic energy subdued by the weight of Dorius's message.
Kael, sitting by the door, stared at the darkened screen, his face a mask of shock and disbelief.
The chapter ended with the team standing in the stillness of the capsule, the echoes of a forgotten war and the secrets of a lost era hanging heavily in the air.
END OF CHAPTER 23