Hearing him say this, Ridge's attention was completely captured. "Tell me more then; let's head on over to the laboratory as well."
So the two walked back to the ship with Ryan explaining on the way.
"The first thing you should know is that everything needed to essentially clone and artificially create another one of those four-legged animals has been completed and is currently underway just as a proof-of-concept type of thing. The second thing you should understand is that so long as I can get the resources to create more vats, more and more of these animals will grow and eventually create their own population naturally. Of course that will be a ways away from now, but at its current growth, being artificially sped up by us, this method can support a month's worth of food supply for fifty people.
Once again, even though I'm sounding like a broken record here, over time that will only increase with more and more animals naturally reproducing, provided we don't kill them right away," Ryan explained.
As the pair got onto the elevator, Ridge absorbed the information for a few seconds before asking him a simple yet important question.
"Where exactly will they have enough space to reproduce within the ship, and their own food source?"
"Ah, well, for the space thing, I figured we would build an artificial dome habitat that essentially traps the animals within an artificial environment, using replicated plants as well, on whichever new place we manage to find. I got some of that information about what plants they could potentially eat from your scouting trips and from collecting the natural fauna around the base, but a good amount of it came from the stomach contents in the carcass. You can learn a lot about an animal's diet once you dissect it. Also, just for the sake of convenience, I've decided to name them Caribs," Ryan replied.
Now, in the ship and entering the lab, Ridge saw firsthand the animal they were replicating, or rather the Carib they were replicating.
It looked the same within the vat as it did in the wild. though their were only two eyes this time and it looked more like an animal they would encounter back in Coro.
"What happened to its original look?" he asked curiously.
Hopi, who was in the same room, answered in Ryan's stead. "We essentially modified it on a genetic level to suit our needs and aesthetics more, and, to put it simply, four eyes weren't needed for livestock. Its original purpose was likely detection of predators, but well, it's unimportant now. Plus, I personally think it looks much cuter with a regular set of eyes; too bad we'll end up killing it for meat," she smiled.
"Well, okay then, good work, I guess. Now what about the artificial humans?" he asked Ryan.
"That is also ready to be implemented; the mapped genome is simply waiting to be put to use. Keep in mind that the traits and physical looks of these humans will obviously be different and at times rather random, so we can't exactly bioengineer super soldiers or geniuses with the snap of our fingers. Other than that, the reason we haven't already started on it is simply the lack of Vats, so you'll have to decide the priority in which you want us to work on first. Growing the population or getting more food," he answered.
"I understand; for now, prioritize the animals or Caribs. Once we can worry less about food, the more we can worry about growing our numbers," Ridge said.
"No problem commander, that was all that needed to be discussed. I'll get back to work. It takes time to concoct the special liquid within the vat that helps speed up the growing process after all, so I may as well stock up," Ryan replied once more while leaving to enter a small laboratory where presumably the liquid was being concocted or researched.
Watching him go, Ridge then turned to Hopi, who had gone back to her desk. On top of it, she was working once more on the crystal.
"Anything else you need to discuss with me as well, Hopi?" he asked, watching her curiously fiddle with the crystal.
"No, not for now anyway; I'll let you know, commander. Good to see you," she said, without looking up.
He nodded and left the room to return to training. The days passed just like that, and this time the following two days till the deadline passed without interruption. It was safe to say, at least for Ridge, that the missing soldiers would have to be stranded even if they were still alive at this point, or more likely, they had been killed in action.
The last day also brought newfound activity to the outpost; piece by piece, the mining equipment and refining machines were taken aboard the ship and stored in the cargo rooms. After their morning training, Ridge had at some point rendezvoused with Caroline, and she had reported the status of the large scanner. Given that the extra two days were added for her, he hoped she would bring him good news.
"Commander," she said while on the bridge. Ridge, after training, had come up here to discuss their actions for today.
"Caroline, I'm glad you're here. I'm guessing you have news?" he said, smiling. He put a tablet he was holding into the hands of a pilot who was discussing things with him and walked over to her.
"Of course. To keep it nice and short, it has been completely repaired," she said briefly.
"Wow, okay, that was kept short," he chuckled. "Good news nonetheless. Tell me then, are the usual capabilities good to go?" he asked.
"Yes, in fact, I think it should be in the middle of connecting to the ship's systems now," she replied.
'DING'
A noise sounded out, and they both walked over to the visual map to see new data being inputted. Slowly but surely, the map that had previously been obstructed was coming to life.
The two of them, including the rest of the crew and Berkay watched on as the world they were on came into view. After a minute of scanning, they saw everything. The large group of enemies within their old base, as well as an even larger group of them further out east, almost on the other side of the planet.
"I'm glad we decided to retreat, Commander," Berkay said, slightly gulping.
A very large continent-sized part of this world had been completely covered in swathes of red dots. Clearly, the fungi species had either been busy, or they were already settled on this world.
To Ridge, this could also explain the large lack of animals, afterall if they had been settled here already and needed biomass to grow or maintain their civilization they would have went for the animals first.
Judging by their usual behavior, they didn't necessarily consume the earth itself, or rather plants, so it would seem to be a plausible explanation.
At any rate, Ridge was glad he made the decision to leave. If they had put their full weight behind the siege attack, it was very likely they would have had heavier weapons than the plasma cannons that could do more damage to the ship, or they would have had more of them built up and used in general. Neither option would bode well for the H.C. Heart.
"Good thing we're leaving indeed, Caroline. Make sure the ship is ready and prepped; I'll go around the base to make sure nothing important was left behind," Ridge said after looking once more at the full planet and then walking away.
On the ground, Yayha was still directing whoever was wandering around doing nothing; for now, Ridge didn't bother him and continued on when he made it to the ground.
Inspecting the base, he noticed that they had pretty much stripped bare everything they could, which was a good thing. The pieces and manufactured equipment would come in handy when they arrived on a different planet or body of land; he wasn't too sure of their destination.
Checking boxes in his head mentally, he went from one end of the base to the other and back. Once done with that, he noticed Yayha had also finished his task of directing the others and was simply waiting on him.
Exiting the gate, Ridge saw him and walked up. "Finished?"
"Affirmative, sir. The only one remaining on this planet at the very moment is you; everyone else is accounted for, and all the equipment and ores we could salvage have been grabbed," Yayha replied while saluting.
"At ease," Ridge nodded. "Let's get off this death trap then."
Once more they embarked on the ship, and after the ship's systems were checked and he was sitting in the commander's chair, it slowly floated up and activated its thrusters. Directing them to the old base. Despite seeing the intimidating number of the enemy, their next move was more out of spite than strategic calculation. Sometimes these actions needed to be taken for morale, Ridge thought to himself. At the very least, he knew he would feel slightly better after destroying whatever the enemy had spent effort on building.