Luminary Institute

86: A Vehicular Monster

Conrad and Ryker ended up bonding during the ride over the vehicle’s engine. Angelica, as a fellow motorsport, revved the engine as they went over bumps. The vehicle itself could only be considered a monster, it roared every time, sending birds flying into the sky while plowing a path through the undergrowth. 

Having chosen a path less forested than usual, Angelica avoided total ecological destruction as they made their way into the wasteland. Even with enough suspension to put a monster truck to shame, the ride through the cratered area took its toll on the passengers. 

Electra closed her eyes and leaned against the headrest with her arms crossed. Celeste did the same. Nyssa, to cope better, transformed into a fictional blob-like creature incapable of feeling motion sick to continue reading the information pamphlet Angelica had handed out. 

“Do you think we’ll take air?” Conrad cheered, pumping his fist as he leaned forward to have a better view out of the front. “Look at that huge crater over there, Angelica, you have to take it.” 

“I’m here to drive smoothly,” Angelica denied with a slight shake of the head. “Well, as smoothly as I can while getting us to the destination as fast as possible.” 

From an outside perspective though, the rest of the passenger’s considered her statement hard to believe. The vehicle drifted through corners as she did her best rally driver impression, leaping over smaller craters, taking air every few minutes, and getting every bit’s worth out of her car’s warranty.

Her actions stupefied other teams as well. Seraph, shielding her eyes from the sun, paused as they saw the six-wheeled monster tearing up the wasteland from a distance. “That’s Angelica, I’d recognize that driving anywhere. I bet she’s driving quite tamely right now judging from how it’s... not spending more time in the air than on the ground.” 

“She’s that crazy of a driver?” Kallix crossed his arms. “Didn’t take her for the type. She seems like she’d be an amazing precision race car driver if anything.” 

“Don’t get me wrong, she is amazing at that whenever she wants to,” Seraph put her hands on her hips. A sigh left her lips, and she turned back towards their own business “She just... doesn’t care for that. She’s an adrenaline chaser, so having it under control fully doesn’t draw her attention as much.” 

“And a teacher,” Kael took one last glance at the six-wheeled vehicle as it sent a cloud of dust into the air with a drift. “What an interesting person.” 

--- 

Hours later, Angelica eased the vehicle to a stop as they left the civilized world far behind. Empty, flat, gray wasteland stretched out in all directions. Rocks seemed more common than anything else as a rare tree or bush could be spotted in the distance. Given the flatness of the area though, as everyone got out of the vehicle, their field of view stretched far into the distance as the horizon seemed to retreat away from them. 

Conrad and Ryker hopped down and landed on the ground without much effort. Still refreshed, they high-fived each other along with Angelica. As the sound of their high-fives rang out in the area though, the others came sliding out of the car like disembodied slugs. Albion, in a moment of kindness, had created handheld ice-balls they could hold in their hands and press against their faces. 

“I... don’t feel so great,” Albion laid on the ground and enveloped himself in a cocoon of ice, leaving only his face exposed to the outside world. 

“You can say that again,” Celeste echoed as she pushed back the urge to vomit. Her stomach, at the same time, grumbled, drawing her to reach over for one of the saltine crackers Electra had pulled out from the back. 

Nyssa, in the meantime, transformed back into a human. Looking around while going through a basic stretch routine to wake herself back up, she couldn’t help but notice the opening in the ground. 

The entrance to the cave sat flush with the ground, even more, the cave’s dark interior made it near invisible from a distance. A mild entrance size in addition to the rest made it tough to spot from the sky. 

So how did they find this place then?

Nyssa stroked her chin, falling into an idle train of thought. Her eyes wandered, trying to spot if any clues could be gleaned from their surroundings. Birds did land in the area more than other areas...?

Yet, not a single other animal could be spotted, even with the manual mentioning how these complexes would attract more of the natural wildlife, Nyssa, herself, couldn’t spot any natural wildlife to be attracted... 

A mild gust of wind snaked its way through the wasteland, keeping the area cool as the sun peeked its way out of the usual blanket cloud cover. The wind seemed to ebb and flow, and those with longer hair felt it blow around a bit during the heavier moments. 

Once they had settled down, finished their preparations, and gathered back into a group, Angelica had them do some preliminary setting up. Camps, sleeping areas, the like, while keeping their more valuable belongings in the vehicle. 

“You’ll be tired when we get back, so let’s do this stuff now, so your later selves will thank you,” Angelica explained as she pitched her own tent within a couple swift motions. “There’s also no real worry about some random bear coming in and wrecking it all since... Well, this section of the wasteland is desolate, there’s barely any known natural wildlife, and one of the known ones, for example, is a grasshopper. That’s not going to wreck your tent, obviously.” 

“Unless the grasshopper is the size of a tank...” Conrad murmured as they thought back to some of the gargantuan insects they had fought a couple days prior.

“They aren’t, don’t worry,” Angelica reassured as they reconvened near the opening in the ground. She crouched down by the edge of the opening and pointed inward. “We don’t need ladders because the incline is really quite gentle. But those of you with illumination abilities, expect to get a lot of usage, so pace yourselves.” 

“Why didn’t we bring a light...” Celeste asked, looking around the array of set up tents. “That seems like a kind of... basic tool for this type of investigation.” 

“Old fashioned torches are clumsy and this specific complex we’re investigating has a deadzone around it. They’ve somehow blocked out the ability for technology to work. So, not only do we need to be more careful, we also need to be aware of keeping track of things without modern electronics,” Angelica dropped a mild bombshell before changing the topic. “Don’t worry, that means that, most likely, this area isn’t heavily trapped.” 

“... What...?” Titus murmured, still reeling a touch from the reveal of a technological deadzone. “Hello? Are we just going to gloss over that?” 

“I guess so,” Albion patted him on the back. “Looking forward to using you as a light source for this whole day.”