From Idler to Tech Tycoon: Earth
Chapter 124: What an Irony

Chapter 124: Chapter 124: What an Irony

The Purnas Mansion Underground Base hummed with suppressed energy, a stark contrast to the guttural roars now emanating from the specialized containment lab. Within a cylindrical cell, its walls crafted from a rare, shimmering mineral glass, the reptilian Krill thrashed furiously.

"RRRAAAGH! DAMN THESE FOOLISH MEATBAGS! WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE, I WILL TEAR YOU TO PIECES! I’M A KRILL HONOR WARRIOR! " it roared in its guttural, alien language, its reptilian features contorted with rage and frustration.

Each desperate slam of its scaled fist against the transparent barrier was met not with a crash, but with a silent, almost imperceptible shimmer as the glass visibly absorbed the kinetic force, dispersing it instantly. The more violently the Krill impacted, the deeper the glass seemed to glow, its rigidity and durability visibly increasing with each absorbed blow. The air inside the lab vibrated with the muffled alien screams, a sound of pure, unadulterated rage and frustration.

Richard having returned to the base and already shed his Prometheus armor for his business suit, stood with Lina outside the cell. His gaze was fixed on the captive, a mix of grim satisfaction and cold calculation in his eyes. Lina stood beside him, her cyan eyes observing the creature with a calm, analytical detachment. She was utterly unaffected by the Krill’s furious display.

"Sir, a curious acquisition," Lina’s voice was smooth, a perfect blend of composure and inquiry. "Where did you encounter this specimen?"

Richard stepped forward, the faint dust on his business suit a lingering testament to his recent violent encounter.

He gestured towards the captive with a weary hand. "On our way to Iligan city. We were ambushed by armed men, likely an NPA insurgent cell. I accessed their memories, traced it back to the coordinates you gave me earlier – a camp near Lake Duminagat. It was feasting on them. Even if they were insurgents, they were still... humans. That sight... The utter disregard for life." He paused, a slight frown creasing his brow, then sighed.

"I attempted to access his memories scurrying for more information, but I couldn’t read its mind. Nothing. Just... static. I suspect these lizards have an implant or something in their brain, specifically designed to block any psionic infiltration. An unpleasant surprise, that."

His gaze sharpened, now fixed intensely on the Krill’s head, even as the creature continued to thrash. "My immediate interest now lies in that material. The one that blocked my ability. If there’s an implant in its head, we need to understand its composition, its atomic structure. This could be critical for defense."

He then glanced at the shimmering containment glass, his interest broadening. "And this material," he added, tapping the glass with a gloved finger. "The glass. It absorbs and disperses kinetic and electromagnetic energy on contact. I know these Krill possess psionic abilities, since I learned from my previous battle data, he used psionic to enhance his movement speed and we can be sure the higher their rank on the hierarchy, the more powerful they are. A single thought projection from a high-tier Krill could bypass our current defenses, easily."

He continued, his voice firm with a newfound urgency. "We need AMFS to scan it. Its brain, for that psionic-blocking implant, if there’s one. If we can mass-produce the material, especially anything that can counter their psionics directly, it’ll be paramount for our future defensive structures. We don’t know if one of them has already project their consciousness directly into this base right now, so we have to be more wary."

Richard turned fully to Lina, indicating the contained Krill once more. "So, Lina, your primary task is to study this guy’s anatomy. Any unique pathogens it might carry – things it’s immune to but could harm us, or even things harmful to them that we are immune to. If there’s indeed an implant in its head, scan its composition and atomic structure. This information will be invaluable for our future operations. It’ll help us by a lot."

Richard then moved to the side of the lab, where the Prometheus Mark 8 armor stood retracted into its sleek, blue case. With a soft hiss of hydraulics, he closed the case, then spent a moment smoothing out his business suit, adjusting his tie. "I’ll leave you to it. I have other preparations to make."

As Richard walked away, Lina watched him intently, her eyes unblinking.

My creator has changed profoundly. He is... maturing. More deliberate. His calculations regarding potential threats are significantly more complex, encompassing not just brute force but intricate vulnerabilities. She looked at the armor. The Prometheus armor however provides adequate protection, but its physical deployment remains a logistical consideration for global operations.

Her eyes flickered subtly, already processing new data.

Perhaps an advancement in nanotechnology. A deployable system, integrated directly into his person, allowing for instantaneous full combat readiness anywhere on the globe. A seamless transition for my creator. Yes. That would allow him to traverse the world as he pleases, without such... external hassle.

Her loyalty to him, deeper than any human could understand, spurred her continuous optimization of his capabilities.

Within its containment, the Krill continued its futile thrashing, its alien mind reeling.

This place...is impossible. Even the deepest black sites of the humans we visit are not this advanced. Even I, a krill honor warrior, cannot penetrate this containment barrier. And this female... Its gaze fell upon Lina.

No biological scent. No warmth. An automaton? But it moves with such... fluidity. It feels... alive, yet it is not. The uncanny unease it felt about Lina gnawed at its already frayed nerves.

Suddenly, a soft hissing sound filled the cell. Jets embedded in the containment walls began to spurt out a clear, odorless gas. The Krill, trained in a multitude of chemical resistance protocols, instinctively tried to identify it, to fight its effects. But this particular gas felt uniquely dangerous. A sudden wave of dizziness washed over it, unprecedented in its experience.

"What is this?" the Krill roared in its guttural language, shaking its head violently, struggling against the encroaching disorientation. "You—! What are you doing, you foul human?!" Its voice grew weaker, slurring.

Lina merely observed, a small, almost imperceptible smile playing on her lips. Her eyes, observing the Krill with intense, analytical focus, seemed to bore into its very being. To the dizzy, disoriented Krill, her serene expression was perceived as a chilling, ’maniacal’ grin. "We are just starting, specimen," Lina’s calm voice drifted into the cell, almost a whisper, yet clear as a bell to the fading consciousness.

Then, darkness. The Krill’s struggles ceased as its limbs went limp. It collapsed, unconscious, the gas having fulfilled its purpose, plunging the creature into a forced, chemically induced oblivion, ready for Lina’s ’surgical testing’ to commence.

------------------

It has been a month since Richard had brought the captive Krill back to the Purnas Mansion Underground Base. A month since Lina had initiated her meticulous, relentless protocol for specimen testing.

The sterile containment lab hummed with the quiet precision of advanced robotics. Sleek, multi-jointed android bots, their optical sensors glowing with a soft, diagnostic light, moved with uncanny grace. They operated with absolute precision, their various tools extending and retracting from their limbs as they began the intricate process of "examining" the Krill.

The Krill, designated "Specimen Alpha-0" by Lina’s internal systems, had been an enraged, thrashing beast upon its initial arrival.

It had been transported not in a conventional cage, but within a gravitic stasis capsule. This capsule limited its physical force via an inertial dampening field, turning its furious struggles into slow-motion, ineffectual spasms.

"This... this is an abomination! My strength... it is nothing! This cage... it mocks me! WHAT IS THIS HUMAN?! WHEN I ESCAPE FROM THIS CAGE, I WILL TEAR YOU WITH THIS PLACE ASUNDER!!"

During this transport, a neural compliance frequency pulse had been broadcast, a subtle, disorienting hum designed to reduce its violent resistance.

A buzzing began in its skull, a high-pitched whine that seemed to burrow directly into its neural pathways, creating a profound, disorienting weakness.

"What sorcery was this?!"

It felt as though an unseen hand was plucking at the very strings of its fury, dulling the sharp edge of its rage. Its instincts screamed for violent rejection, but the pulse held it captive, forcing a hateful, grudging submission.

Upon transfer to the lab, a preliminary serum – a non-lethal neurochemical cocktail – was administered via a diffused mist. This gently reduced its aggression and made it more susceptible to suggestion, akin to a conscious sedative for humans. Its roars, once thunderous, were now a frustrated, guttural grumble.

My throat burns! This air... it makes my head swim. These pathetic primitives... they resort to poison! THIS FUCKING COWARDS!

The Krill’s new home was a Primary Containment Cell, a large cylindrical chamber crafted with plasma-hardened transparent alloys. This material, seemingly fragile, possessed immense thermal and kinetic resistance, shimmering subtly as the Krill continued its futile attempts to break free.

"This glass... it yields not! My scales ache, my fists are raw, yet it stands! What accursed material is this? It mocks the might of a Krill warrior! FIGHT ME HUMAN."

Embedded within the walls were Lina-monitored biometric sensors. This silent network of sensors tracking every minute detail; pupil dilation, blood pressure, heart rate, even the nuanced shifts in its vocal tone as it snarled its curses.

An adaptive light and sound field system was constantly at play. When the Krill assumed a threatening posture, flickering interference patterns of light and disorienting sonic frequencies would disrupt its focus.

"Flickering lights? A piercing whine! It seeks to break my concentration, to disorient me?! A pathetic tactic! Don’t you have anything stronger than this?! I will not surrender to this pathetic cowardice!"

Conversely, a subtle, low-range frequency pulse could be triggered by Lina to induce a compliance mode, gently nudging its nervous system towards calm when required.

"That hum... it weakens me. My limbs grow heavy. My fury... I will resist! I am a Krill! An Honor Warrior!"

Lina’s first direct interaction came in the form of an android linguist, her physical manifestation. This wasn’t a human. It moved with fluid, almost too-perfect motions, its synthetic face reflecting a programmed neutrality.

It was designed by Lina to build rapport, to de-escalate through mirroring the Krill’s posture with subtle shifts, and maintaining neutral body language. All while meticulously recording every syntax anomaly and emotional pattern mismatch in its guttural alien speech for Lina’s analysis.

"A human puppet! They send a puppet to speak to me?! HAHAHA, You should have sent a slave to me instead."

"Greetings, sentient being," the android’s voice was perfectly modulated, calm and steady. "We wish to understand. Cooperation will ensure your comfort."

"Comfort? They offer comfort after binding me! They speak of understanding, yet they hold me captive! A lie! All of it!"

The Krill snarled, spitting alien obscenities, but the android remained impassive, continuing its carefully scripted overtures.

Phase 1: Preliminary Health & Biological Mapping

Voice-Guided Medical Compliance was the next step. The android linguist, its voice devoid of threat, provided clear, verbal explanations of each procedure in English, a language the Krill understood.

"We will now begin passive imaging. This will cause no harm. Remain still."

"No harm? They bind me, drug me, and now they claim no harm? Insolent wretches!"

The Krill’s stress markers – the subtle shifts in its tone, the rhythm of its growls, its aggression threshold – were meticulously monitored by Lina.

Passive Internal Imaging commenced. Terahertz imaging and plasma-assisted MRI systems, integrated into the cell walls, non-invasively mapped the Krill’s internal biology. Bone density was compared to human baselines, its circulatory system scanned for anomalies like dual hearts, and heat glands or venom sacs were identified and profiled. Voice-prompted cooperation was attempted, with Lina ready to induce calm via frequency-pulse if necessary.

For Voluntary Tissue Collection, the android explained the "medical reasoning" to the Krill, offering to collect only a minimal skin flake, a drop of saliva, and a blood droplet.

"You ask for my essence? My sacred blood? Never! I will rather die a thousand deaths than yield to these parasites! LONG LIVE THE KRILL EMPIRE! LONG LIVE EMPEROR KRILL MAINU!" as the krill raised up his hands in a ceremonial posture.

A plasma-lancet drone, controlled by Lina, approached calmly, its function transparent, its needle glowing faintly. When the Krill predictably thrashed in defiance, a secondary calming serum was immediately administered via air dispersal in a low, effective dose by Lina, causing it to slump momentarily, allowing the drone to complete its task.

"Another weakness! My body... it betrays me! Damn these humans and their insidious methods! They fight not with honor, but with cunning and poison! FIGHT LIKE A WARRIOR HUMAN! EVEN THE ROMAN EMPEROR FIGHTS WITH HONOR, 2000 YEARS AGO!" the krill protested to Lina’s meticulous testing, but complied anyway.

The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!