Chapter 11 - Kara Harper

Loncouche Forest Outskirts - Dawn

Simon took in the sight of the vast woodlands sprawled out in front of him. A wide smile stretched across his face as a breath of fresh air filled his lungs, "Heh, Kara would have loved to see something like this."

The image of a quiet researcher running around an envirodome writing on an ancient wooden clipboard began to fill his thoughts. With a soft sigh and another deep breath, the old soldier allowed the fond memory to take hold.

-

Earth - 3458AD - 12 kilometers below old Toyko

Enviodome Theta

"Simon! Artoria! Look at this!"

Kara stood in front of a small sapling covered in green leaves. Her trademark white lab coat was covered in all manner of filth, fluttering quietly in the artificial wind as she excitedly gestured towards the happily growing tree.

"Yeah, We see it, Kara," Simon replied with a smile, receiving a mental elbow from Artoria in return.

"That's it?! A smile?! Do you know what this is?!"

Kara's pale cheeks distended slightly as she pouted, causing Simon to poke her cheeks, forcing the air out, while nodding his head.

"I do. It's a tree, a little on the small side, though," he replied with a chuckle.

Kara's body tensed up as she shouted louder than before, "It's not just a tree! It might be the first tree seen on earth in 200 years!"

Simon's warm laughter filled the room as ruffled the girl's hair while Artoria's voice echoed from his suit, "Indeed, it might be. Great work Kara."

The pouting girl's expression shifted as she crossed her arms and batted away the large hand still patting her head, "Why, thank you, Artoria. It's nice to be appreciated by someone once in a while!" Kara's strawberry blond hair fluttered back and forth as she nodded matter of factly before glaring intently at the man in front of her.

Despite sharing the same body with his partner, Artoria, Simon couldn't seem to shake the notion that Kara's dagger-like expression was directed solely at him. He quietly diverted his gaze towards one of the nearby screens and quickly changed the subject. Artoria chuckled lightly within his mind causing him to mentally roll his eyes at her before speaking again, "How are you and Eudora? You two still a thing? Any kids yet?" he said with a sly smile.

Kara's puffy cheeks instantly brightened, turning a nice shade of pink before their little tiger roared again. "Dad! Seriously! I'm like 35! A little privacy would be nice! We haven't seen each other in like, what, three years and the first thing you ask is if I'm still sleeping with Eudora?"

The old soldier fell lightly backward faking injury as Kara's small fist lightly tapped against his chest.

Artoria virtually rolled her eyes before commenting, "Oh stop it already you big baby. Kara, You never did answer the question. How are you two?", a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

Kara let out an exasperated sigh as she held up her hands and rolled her eyes in defeat while walking around, "Oh god not you too, Mom. Fine." she stated before turning back around to face the two chuckling parents. "No. We're...taking a break," she replied in a somber tone.

Their respective smiles disappeared from their faces as both voices cried out in unison, ""What happened?""

Kara shook her head and sighed lightly before sitting down in her nearby chair, "Our application for a child got rejected. We tried applying to adopt a child instead but that got rejected, too. Something about the location being classified as top secret and transportation being limited and all. Complete bullshit to be honest, after all, we still receive supplies every week and it's not like they ever let us out of here so a potential security leak isn't an issue. Anyway, Eudora didn't take it well. She said she wanted some space to process things and well, me being me, I gave it to her."

Artoria audibly sighed while Simon pulled his little girl's head into his chest, "Is she still here?" Artoria asked softly.

"No. She transferred out last week with the return shipment."

"Where was she transferred to?" Simon asked while running his fingers through her hair.

"Choma."

Simon's hand stopped moving for a split second before he managed to maintain his composure.

{Artoria.}

{I'm already checking. I need a moment. They're trying to block personal records again.}

Milliseconds dragged on into eternity as he waited.

{Cofirmed. Second Lieutenant Eudora Harris, Personal Status: MIA. Presumed KIA. She was confirmed to be on site when the orbital bombardment happened.}

{Shit.}

The two sat in silence for a moment processing the news.

{Are you going to tell her?}

{No. She's already been through enough as it is. That information is still classified and besides, I think their relationship was already over. Better to let sleeping dogs lie.}

The flow of time returned to normal as his thoughts returned to reality.

"They're supposedly working on a separate enviordone over there so she was brought on as a lead" Kara continued, thankfully missing the twos internal discussion.

The small girl found herself pulled upwards into a hug, "It's alright. You'll find someone else. After all, you DO have the only tree on Earth. Seems like a pretty good wingman to me, you know, being the last source of wood on earth and all."

Kara pushed the two away while shaking her head and rolling her eyes, "Ugh, you two are impossible." she replied with a smile while puffing up her chest, "But you are correct, I do have all the 'wood' so to speak."

Artoria chuckled softly as her daughter's eyebrows went up and down before Simon pulled up a sturdy-looking chair and sat down, "Has there been any progress on the Gaia project?"

Kara's cheery expression instantly darkened, "So, That's what you're here for." she said with a sigh, her previously puffed-up chest deflating quickly.

Artoria's voice resounded within the suit again, "Sorry, We'd have preferred to come under better circumstances but, things above ground are quite dire after all." For his part, Simon nodded his head in agreement.

{That's an understatement.}

{Sush. Our little girl doesn't need to know that. She's been through enough as it is.}

{Mhem.}

"It's not your fault, High Command has a tendency to overlook things. Especially birthdays, vacation requests, supply requests, personnel requests, hell really any requests at all aside from requesting a rejection letter. Honestly, I don't know how Eudora even managed to get her transfer request approved.", Kara's brown eyes focused as she presses her glasses up against her face before directing her attention at the monitor, shifting back into her professional manner.

"Unfortunately, no. We haven't had much success on that front. Despite our best efforts at revitalizing the soil, life in the void zone doesn't seem to be possible."

A brief expression of frustration flashed across Simon's face.

Void Zone.

The void zone is an area that currently occupies approximately 67% of the earth's surface. The interior of the void zone consists entirely of jagged black glass-like rocks as far as the eye can see. It appeared as a direct result of the orbital bombardment earth suffered during the early days of the war once Earth's orbital defenses were destroyed.

Nothing within the blackened hellscape could survive for long and scientific exhibitions found that this curious effect extended for over five kilometers into the earth. Any sources of water present seemingly evaporated into thin air without causing a steam explosion. Preliminary investigations suggested that the water vapor managed to escape through the various cracks surrounding the glass-like rocks, but the truth was far more disturbing.

The current global humidity level measurements were compared to measurements taken before the bombardment and revealed the horrible truth. Global humidity levels had begun plummeting shortly after the orbital bombardment and have continued to fall as the void zone has continued to grow over the years.

Artoria chimed in while Simon was collecting his thoughts, "Has there been any success on the water front?"

Kara shook her head quietly before pulling up something on the screen, "No. To be honest, the only thing that we're sure of is that the water didn't evaporate after the bombardment and that any water that comes into contact with this 'void rock' seemingly disappears on contact."

"Disappears?" Simon said after collecting his thoughts.

"Yes, We recently conducted a test where we submerged a tiny fragment of void rock in a small glass of water. At first, I had wondered why such a simple test hadn't been tried before but well..."

"What happened?" Artoria and Simon said in unison.

"See for yourself," Kara's thin fingers nimbly manipulate the screen before a video begins to play.

EXPERIMENT LOG: 7844D2-GAIA DATE: 19/7/3458 TIME: 08:00.

"Permission Granted, Begin the test," Kara's voice resounded over the intercom as a metallic hand dropped the tiny fragment of void rock into the glass. Upon contact with the fragment, all water in the glass suddenly disappeared before the fragment even touched the bottom of the glass. The effect was essentially instant.

END LOG

Simon stood motionless for a moment while observing the scene while Artoria spoke through the suit's speaker system, "I assume that the moisture levels within the test chamber stayed the same?"

"Yes. We checked several times. If anything, the moisture level fell slightly after the test."

Suddenly Simon's cold voice echoed throughout the envirodome, "Who else has seen this recording?"

Kara shifted her stance before staring directly at Simon, "Aside from you two and myself? Just the lab personnel that were present during the experiment."

Simon closed his eyes briefly before speaking, "Have the lab personnel put into status. Create a physical copy of this recording and bring it to me. Destroy the original along with any records taken."

Kara's brown eyes widened before she quietly nodded her head, "I'll see it done. Should I join the lab personnel?" eyes locking in on Simon as she finished speaking.

"No, I trust you. Tell no one about this and halt any further experiments."

Kara gave him a brief salute before hastily exiting the envirodome.

{Simon.}

{I know. I'll show the tape Ironwood and no one else. Wipe the security feed. I think we know what happened to the first GAIA project.}

Artorias holographic head nodded silently in agreement, {I already have.}