130 Decisions

"What?" Most of them couldn't believe it. Those who could, couldn't speak from shock. And the one that did, couldn't find the right words to explain his disbelief. "When? How?"

"Is that even real?" The few researchers, who were the heads of the strongholds of the Planet Will, were trying to understand if it was even possible. "How can anything grow in something so big?"

"The image is a hundred percent legit." The councilman explained, "I have another one. Even if not that big, it still had a similar structure." The giant screen changed again and showed the image of the descendent of the Bixi. However, something had bound it with chains.

"What about the source?" the voice of this councilman sounded very calm as he asked, "is it reliable? I mean, we don't have any other sightings of that thing. It is so big it is not like anybody would miss it."

Before he could answer, the host exclaimed, "There is something." As all the eyes turned to him, he explained, "I am not sure if it was the same thing, but there is a possibility."

He gave some commands as a pair of images appeared on the screens, side by side. He added, "They are mining stronghold #04. They took the right images about half a year ago."

"About a couple of months ago, the monsters attacked and took hold of the stronghold. So the army conducted a reconnaissance mission about a month ago. And it was then they took the picture on the left."

Somebody had already marked the image, so the host explained, "You can see that one difference between them is the appearance of the mountain beside the stronghold. We could not explain its sudden appearance."

The director of finance wasn't happy at all, "Is there anything that you guys hadn't notified us of?"

'Even the best minds on the planet couldn't explain this, and you think you would be able to?' The host didn't dare to explain what was on his mind and change the image.

"The supply ship totter had taken these pictures as soon as they reached there. We don't know how, but about 100,000 monsters had gathered at the place where the frozen stronghold #13 once stood."

"From constant monitoring, we had concluded that they were spreading throughout the planet. However, the bulk amount the number was moving toward mining stronghold #04."

Each and everyone present in the meeting room was having a hard time believing the host's words, but he didn't care.

Multiple hazy images appeared on the screen as the host explained, "There wasn't any surface scanning equipment on the supply ship Trotter, but from the images, we have concluded that these are the monsters we haven't seen before."

"We even observed many flying monsters," said the host. The images of wyverns and other flying monsters were clearer. "Though they have some similarities with some prehistoric animals, many things were different."

They had no interest in the similarities as the director raised his hand, asking, "That place in the middle doesn't have any communication disrupting clouds above it, Right?"

As the host nodded, another question followed. "Weren't you able to contact anyone on the ground?"

"Yes, we did." The screen was now showing the images of the ruins of strongholds and the research posts. "We have confirmed that they had destroyed all the research posts and the strongholds in the area within the circle."

"However, the Trotter had received the distress signal from a stronghold. The military stronghold #01. And the person who sent it is Gerrard Amberdrop. Without the right communication system, communication is getting disrupted constantly. "

Hearing the name Amberdrop, most of the people in the last row breathed a sigh of relief. Yet the host continued, "But there are a few problems." Hence returning the frown to their faces.

"First, the current concentration of mana in the atmosphere is about 102.54 times higher than its peak." The host was sure that they wouldn't understand, so he spoke in a more frightening language.

"The more they stay on the planet without a proper precaution, the higher the chances for them to become mana poisoned. Even if monsters don't attack them, they will die because of mana poisoning within three weeks."

Before anyone could say anything, the host added, "but the biggest problem is that the spacecraft on the ground couldn't operate in such a high mana atmosphere."

"As we have created them to operate with Auto-absorption and combustion systems (AACS), they will burst into flame, without better safety equipment, before they can escape the atmosphere."

"Is there no way?" One concerned voice asked.

"If they turn off the AACS and fly it manually, there is a chance. But the mana static interruption due to mana charged clouds in the atmosphere will make it hard to navigate. And there aren't many people who can fly it manually."

"So you are telling me we invested trillions of credits in the project just to let them die on the planet?" The R&D director slammed his fist on the table, "Will EXO-04 become the second Earth?"

"Didn't you install some precautions on the planets?" One of the stronghold's heads asked as he had remembered something.

"There is some fuel propelled launching rockets. We had installed them in some places on the planet. There are four installed in the spaceports."

"Won't they have any problem in the grey mana?"

The host shook his head, "They are old technology. They don't use any mana assisted machinery. And to reduce the effect, we had removed most of the electronic devices."

"They are like bullets. You have to program everything before you launch. Once launched, you won't be able to control it until it reaches the orbit."

"That's perfect." One of the generals said, "We can use them. How many do you have?"

"There are 4 in spaceports. And we have around 30 in the XVK mountain range."

Even if they had some, everybody knew the number was too low. Even if they send someone in the rescue missions, it will be impossible for them to retrieve every one of them.

On top of it, they now have a time limit. Three weeks. After that, they will be as good as dead.

"Before that, we need to think of a way to defeat that monster." The Director of Administration said, "I don't think you guys are thinking of giving up on this planet too."

"Is that important right now?" Lucas frowned, "We have almost 30,000 soldiers on the planet and over 20,000 researchers."

"WE can't rescue all of them." The director of Business said, "Before anything, we need to find a way to counter those monsters. We can't lose another factory planet."

"Yes, we can just create another batch of the clone of them. After all, most of the people on the planet weren't the real ones either."

There were many things they wanted to say, but they couldn't. It was a dark secret, the secret of human survival. Otherwise, there was no way humanity would have survived after leaving the Earth with a few millions of people.

"We can fill up the number later. But there are some on the ground that we need to rescue as soon as possible." The councilman said.

"The sibling of the Amberdrop family and my grandson should be top on the list." No one had any problem in identifying the old general Savage, who was sitting on the last row.

"The three generals, the stronghold heads. We should give them a priority." The Director of Military affairs turned to the host, "you can locate them, right?"

The host nodded, adding, "At the moment of the incident, they were present in a meeting at the research stronghold #09. Even if we couldn't contact them, we expect they are still there."

"Good." The director nodded, "There are a few researchers we need to rescue."

"A few of the VIPs from the interested companies were on tour, too." The director of the business spoke, "They are very important."

"Stop it." One of the council butted in. "Take one hour. Prepare a list. Keep it short." Looking at the generals sitting in the first row, he added, "We need the best of the best. Prepare them. You have one hour."

Looking at the general of the space exploration army, he said, "Ready all the Wormhole traveling spaceships. I want them ready as soon as possible."

Looking at the host, "Try to locate every person on the list before the army reaches EXO-04. Find some alternative way to extract them from the planet. Those rockets shouldn't be the only way."

"We can use the fling system." The host mumbled, "No, that will take time. The tractor system. It might not be the most energy-efficient method, but…"

The councilman raised his hand to stop him, "No need to explain, just do it. No matter what the cost, I want all of them rescued. I want the army on the planet within 100 hours."

It was understandable that the other councilman respected him as none dared to say anything. He turned to the Director of R&D, "Send a list of 20,000 of those who have any family or relatives to the production facility to EXO-01."

"Tell them to complete the production within three months." The councilman only stopped after he gave the entire list of orders to all those who were present in the meeting. "The rescue mission is our top priority for now. We will talk about the planet recovery mission later."

"And the most important thing is, no matter what you do, I don't want to see any words about the situation on the Planet Will. You should take care of everything in absolute secrecy."