Lana surveyed the mess on the floor from the back of the beast then looked at Caser. "Caser, I had to change plans and you didn't get your birthday present…"
She spread her wings and glided down. Noticing the blood still in her sword, she sliced from the beasts' neck, along the side until there was a bit of resistance. She fanned her hand toward the beast, "enjoy your meal, including the crystal!"
Caser pounced on the beast eager to follow her request.
Lana turned to Duff and Biff, "can you two carry our sleeping friends up to the surface?"
Sil chimed in, "no need." Using telekinesis, he floated the four sleeping people in front of him as he started walking. He turned back to Lana, "don't think I'm leaving you down here without me…"
She looked back at Caser. She heard Sil say, "we'll come right back down."
Duff and Biff took the choker off Rene, "we'll stay here. Hurry back."
Lana nodded and joined Sil as he floated her friends in front of them. Once at the top, Lana noticed Dobin standing in a defensive stance looking away from the entrance. Dawn and Fiza were engaged in combat with a beast while Mandy held the babies securely near a tree. The fight was almost finished.
"Thank you Dobin for letting them get some experience," Lana said. "Girls, don't forget your crystals!" Lana reminded them as she gazed upon them with pride.
Sil set the sleeping friends down gently on the ground near Dobin.
"Dobin, we'll need you to watch our friends and keep the opening secure." Lana looked to the girls once more, "I need a volunteer to use the device below to help us navigate."
Sil went to the scattered remains of his bag from when he hastily rummaged through for Lana's choker and put everything back in. He put it on his back, "I need those energy bars just in case. I want to see if we can create a secure hall to the lab. There were a few offshoots to that cavern."
Lana nodded.
"Lana," Dobin asked, "why can Sil copy my ability but not yours?"
"I've been thinking about that. I think it's because your Fae energy is dormant. You smell like me, you have my DNA, but you are not like me yet. Remember, Sil could feel my plant energy and it registered on the watches created by humans so the energy is similar to MC cells. I think there is a trigger or something must happen to awaken your fae. We shall see."
Dobin nodded, getting lost in his thoughts.
"Okay, the other question, that I should have asked first… Why are they asleep?" Dobin nodded to their sleeping friends.
Sil spoke first, "the beast had a strange roar that put them to sleep."
"What?!?!"
Sil shrugged. "What do we know of this planet?"
Dobin sighed and nodded.
"We're heading back down. If you want, you can put the shelter up in the clearing just over there to keep these guys safe. Put them in a bed and let them sleep. It's rated against the level of beasts in the area so they will be safe. You can keep the babies in there as well. We don't know how long this will take so you may want to take turns guarding the entrance."
Dobin nodded and proceeded to do as suggested. Fiza joined Sil and Lana while Dawn stayed on the surface with Dobin.
Back underground, Caser had just finished eating and could barely move. Within moments, his body started to shake and Lana realized what was happening.
"Stay back from him. He's evolving."
About 10 minutes later, Caser had a larger form and a denser muscular structure. Most noticeable, he had an extra pair of tentacles. He was now a King-tier beast.
At the same time, on the surface, Dobin had just finished placing Shalt, Bonnie, Rene, and Alto in their own beds in the shelter while Mandy played with the twins on the couch. When he returned, he found a nervous Dawn standing outside the entrance. He told her to go rest as well. Maybe prepare a meal for when everyone returned from below.
Sil took the choker and put it on himself. The idea of another man wearing it set his teeth on fire. Looking at his wife, "we'll have Dilly design you something else. Can you touch the crystal to turn it on?"
Lana tried it and she pulled her finger back as though it had burned her, but she was able to activate it.
"So, you can use it but with pain…" Sil frowned.
Lana nodded. "Which direction?" as she looked to Fiza who had the machine.
"First off, this thing has a light," Fiza said as she turned the light on. "Second, we are looking for an enclosed space that could be used as a laboratory, correct?"
Lana nodded looking at the map with her.
"Any idea how far out it could have been?"
"The trees didn't specify how long she'd be gone for so there's no way of knowing…"
They had walked out an hour straight on the surface, in hopes this would make the lab easier to find. Based on that idea, they looked at what the scanner picked up while Lana kept her ears open for any …surprises. Yeah, she should have done this on the surface but her friends were still down here. She didn't like that.
Looking at the map was not overly helpful but she was able to create ideas of where it could be. She felt her mother wouldn't put such a sensitive place so close to where any earth user to get access to it.
"Sil, could you please close up these two accesses," as she pointed to the open areas off to the left and right of the exit. One was more than big enough to enable the beast access to this cavern, the other was more human-sized. Sil made short work of the job by then, Caser was ready to move.
"So, the plan is to close off all of these accesses," as she pointed at the screen, "unless I see something that makes me change my mind when we get to those areas. The formation is Duff and Biff behind Fiza, myself and Sil in front. Caser, I want you walking next to her."
Everyone agreed and fell into place. Sil's face looked more serious than she was used to, clearly he was in business-mode. Nodding toward her husband, she set off in accordance with what the map showed. They would pause as Sil stopped to fill in the "holes" to enable her to have a safer passage.
Interestingly, the map the scanner created wasn't clear of these openings. Some were there and some were not. It appeared the depth was limited. The openings that were over 10 feet high were on the scanner's map. Those that were shorter, were not, indicating the scanner had a depth of 90 feet. This also meant, her mother's lab may not be on it. The one question on Lana's mind was, was this limitation earth-tech or Logan-tech? Did the earth scanners have a more limited depth?
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