Chapter 78: A complete blackout

Spending time in The Eyrie was like a blessing to the thriteen. They enjoyed all the amenities the base had to offer. They knew sooner or later they would need to go outside and recruit people. But for now, they wanted to enjoy the life the base had given without any worries.

It had been almost a week. They were currently deciding how to go about recruiting people. Because the military was so close, they did not have a chance to meet anyone coming up the mountain. It meant they would need to go down the mountain themselves to find people.

Then there was the matter of vetting.

Ember and Aiden decided it was time to have a meeting. They did not include the college students. They allowed them to continue their leisurely days for a little while longer. In the meeting were Ivan, Marcus, Alex, Adrienne, and Sarah.

“It can’t always be the thirteen of us,” Aiden began. “As much as we might like it to stay this way. We need to recruit more people. We don’t need to be saviours, but we at least need to have people to help run the base.”

“We all know what the base uses as energy, and we have seen how large it is. There are rooms we can’t even access right now. Don’t you want to know what’s in there?” Ember asked. “We need more people.”

There was silence for a moment before Adrienne spoke. “The problem with having new people is that we don’t know them. We took a risk at the library before because there weren’t many people. But now…”

“Now, there are more than we can count.” Alex finished. “If we add more people, we need to think of a way to vet them. We can’t just let anyone come in. That would be inviting chaos.”

“Any suggestions?” Aiden asked.

He and Ember had already discussed having an outpost. But it would be better to have everyone’s input. This way, they feel more involved. Neither of them wanted to be seen as overlords. Plus, they had been through so much with this group of people; it would not be fair to them to make decisions without their input.

“We need aplace to recruit people. Just like the army is doing,” Marcus responded. “We can try vetting them there without having to put the base in danger.”

Aiden nodded. As did the others.

“But how do we vet them? What kind of tests would we have? The army asks them to relinquish everything they have. We’ve seen those refugees. They don’t have much of anything,” Ivan’s voice crossed the room.

“True,” Alex interjected. “We can make our own tests. The road here is smooth, but what if we create obstacles? Find ways to testt heir strength?”

“Strength is great and all,” Sarah said quickly. “But we need to think about their character. We don’t need any bad apples here.”

“How would you know if they are bad apples? Are you going to make them walk up the mountain blindfolded and see who peaks?” Ember queried.

Adrienne chuckled softly. “That isn’t a bad idea. Halfway up the mountain, we create a reason for them to fight, whether they fight each other or fake monsters we create is up to us. The rest of the journey is them being blindfolded. We leave them for an hour. Anyone who looks gets sent back down.”

“Or…” Ember paused. “We don’t need to make them leave the outpost at all.”

Everyone turned to her, unsure of what she wanted to do.

“What if I had a way to test them without them ever leaving the outpost?” She paused. “Just like when we did the Ghost Protocol. We find a way to drag them into the simulation, and we pretend we are actually up the mountain. We can create the obstacles without actually revealing the way to anyone.”

“Great idea. But where are we going to get something like that? And how do we use it on everyone?” Ivan asked.

CE, is there any way for us to do something like that?

[Blueprint Available: The Neural Vessel]

[Description: A neurological interface device that creates shared hallucinations for a group of individuals. It can be programmed with a wide range of scenarios and tests specifically for psychological evaluation.]

[Construction requirement]

[Crimson Lust: 10,000 (for neuro tech)]

[Azure Bond: 5,000 (for bio energy)]

[Raw materials: Psycho-reactive crystals, Neuro-silver, Brain stem (taken from the infected)]

Ember looked at the requirements and almost choked. Her guffaw was heard by the others.

She coughed awkwardly. “There is a way,” she said softly. “But the problem is how to get the raw materials.”

Ember was silent after she spoke. She did not reveal anything else. This caused them to be anxious.

“Little sister, I can’t stand the suspense. Tell us what to do,” Ivan exclaimed.

“It’s not that I don’t want to say. It’s that I have no idea where to even begin. If we want to make it, I can get the blueprint. The problem is the materials that we need.”

After Ember mentioned the materials, their faces turned grey. They were already happy to have left City D intact. When they learned they needed to go into dangerous places just to recruit people. They hesitated.

“That’s…” Ivan started but trailed off.

No one picked up the topic. Everyone was thinking about whether it would be worth it.

“I think we should do it,” Aiden said, finally breaking the silence. “We need to get stronger. The only way to do that is to fight. We can’t sit here forever. We still need to go out and get materials for the base. We may as well do everything at once. We don’t need to rush into getting recruits. They will naturally come to us if we go out.”

“Since it can be used for individuals, we can use it for team cohesion. The Ghost Protocol units we have can be used for individual training.”

They thought of Aiden’s suggestion. While they did not completely agree with it. They had no reason to refute.

“So who’s going hunting?” Alex asked.

“Just me and Em,” Aiden responded. He held up a hand to stop their protests. “I know it will be dangerous. But it’s faster with just the two of us. Plus, we need you all here to keep the base running. If you think it’s unfair, use the Ghost Protocol to get stronger. It can simulate all the places we have been in City D. And it replicates the monsters too.”

“Including the tree we fought on the way here. It will replicate all the places I go,” Ember told them confidently.

“So don’t think too much. We can be in and out. And you all can take care of the base and still fight. You won’t even know we left,” Aiden assured them.

“I don’t like it,” Adrienne replied. “But I respect it. Do whatever you need to do, chief.”

Adrienne’s agreement led the rest to agree.

Ember turned to Adrienne with a smile and mouthed ’thank you’.

Ember and Aiden decided it would be best to start as soon as possible. There were many people out there, but that didn’t mean they would all end up at their base. There were too many people out there who were good at disguising themselves.

They desperately needed more people. And those people needed to be people they could trust.

Since the base was already fully stocked, Ember did not need to think about what everyone would need to eat. The only thing she needed to do was make sure both she and Aiden had everything they needed.

She made sure to release a few SUVs that were still in her space. Just in case any issues arise. She kept two for herself and Aiden.

The following morning, the seven met again to go over everything they needed and to assign roles.

Who would have thought that before they could talk about anything, the base experienced a complete shutdown?

The lights were gone. The gentle hum that filled the base disappeared. The holographic interfaces disappeared. Their entire world was plunged into darkness.

A scream was heard in the distance.

“Don’t move!” Aiden’s voice cut through their panic. “We need to go find those kids. Make sure they don’t get hurt.”

He tried to contact Ember through their bond but failed.

“Em, check on things while we walk.” He had no choice but to speak out loud.

Ember nodded and tried to contact the CE.

She called up the CE in her mind, but got nothing. She tried over and over, but still did not receive a response. Her heart hammered against her ribs. This has never happened before.

Ever since she got the system and then the CE, she has always had contact with it. Now, not being able to make contact, she realized just how much she had depended on it until now.

But where did it go?

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