The First Encounter Part 5
Day Three
Date: 03/01/01*
Location: In the city.
Test period: Three days (Completed)
Mission Duration: Three Days
Remaining Time: Two Day and 18 hours
Objective: Reach the City Gate
Subject Name: Thomas
Subject age: 20 years
Previous success rate: 85%
Expected success rate: 55%.
Failed Subjects: 223
Successful subjects: 6
Thomas, panting and covered in sweat, jumped off the dead Korgian. His body ached, but he was alive. He had fought a monster, a monster he couldn't have defeated on his own. Her face was dirty, and her clothes were torn, but her eyes were a mix of relief and shock.
"You… are you a human? You came out of nowhere," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "You saved me."
Thomas was still catching his breath. He looked at her and saw a hint of his own shock and fear reflected in her eyes. "Yes I am are you okay?" he asked, his voice a little hoarse.
"I am," she said. "But that... that was incredible. I've never seen anyone move like that."
The System then decided to interrupt. A new message rang in his ear and appeared in Samira's view.
{Mission Complete: Korgian Defeated}
{Rewards:}
{Level up: 1}
{Points: 250}
{New Skill Acquired: Gargon Armor Skin (Level 1)}
{You have gained one attribute point, which can be distributed to Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, or Vitality.}
And an extra message appeared in front of Samira only.
{ Congratulations, you have completed your mission}
{One skill leveled up}
{Data Analysis (Level 2)}
{You have gained two attribute points, which can be distributed to Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, or Vitality.}
{As a reward for completing the assigned mission, the second part of the information is now available to you.}
The screen vanished. She looked at him with a new kind of shock. "You have a system, too," she said."Yeah," he replied. "My name's Thomas. I'm from Earth. Who... who are you?" She smiled, a small, tired, but beautiful smile. "My name is Samira Ali. I'm from Earth, too. I'm from Tunisia, but I was living in Cairo. I'm a software student."
Thomas felt a rush of emotion he hadn't felt since he had woken up in the dark room. He wasn't alone. He had found another human. "I'm a student too or I was at least," he said. "I was in my apartment, before I found myself here" They sat down on a piece of fallen rubble, the dead beast nearby. Samira explained her mission, how she had woken up in a facility and had to solve a coding puzzle to escape. She explained her skills, Data Analysis and Logic Comprehension, and how she was using them to fight the beast. And also the information that she gained so far about this world.
Thomas told her his story. He talked about the dark room, the Haigan, and his new Martial Arts skill. He told her about the Qadab skill and how it had scared him.
Samira listened, her mind working on every detail. "So, you are a fighter, and I am a solver," she said. "This System... it seems to be using our own knowledge and skills to help us survive. It's like a game, a very dangerous, real game."
"Yeah," Thomas said. "I think so, too. My last mission was to get to the city gate. I was on my way there when I heard you."
"My mission is the same," she said, a look of surprise on her face. "To reach the city gate. But I had no idea how I would do it alone."
They stood up. The silence of the dead city was no longer so heavy. There were two of them now. A coder and a fighter. A team.
They walked back to Thomas's vehicle, which was the closest to them. Without any prior discussion, they decided to go together in Thomas's vehicle and leave Smaira's behind, although they never considered that there might be consequences to that decision.
Their footsteps made a new sound on the dusty, ruined street. The journey to the city gate was still a long one, but now they would face it together. As they got into the car, they both knew that this world was still full of danger, but with each other, their chances of survival had just increased a lot.
As the car started to move, Thomas looked at Samira, and for the first time since he had arrived here, he felt a small, powerful spark of hope. They had both been taken from their normal lives and thrown into this apocalypse. But they were still human. And they were not alone.
Samira remembered when she sat in the vehicle, the reward she hadn't had the chance to look at. Looking at Thomas, she said, "By the way, I now have access to the second part of the information about this world and the reason we are here. Would you like to read it since I don't know any way to share it with you?" Thomas was very interested in gaining any information that could help him, and now that he was not alone, he said without any hint of hesitation he said, and don't leave anything out.
Although she told him the first part she opened it the information once more and stared reading it hims and to the second part which was short but at the same time the most important part of all as follows:
{Information Packet: The Purpose of Human Abduction Part 2/4}
{After studying humans and Earth, although there is a difference in appearance between the Langkatan and humans, scanning the humans revealed that their physiology is somewhat similar. Additionally, the atmosphere is almost identical, so they could inhabit that world. However, they do not have enough force to invade Earth, even with their advanced technology.
Their next option was to abduct humans from Earth. Humans, a new, untouched species, were the perfect subjects for a new set of tests.
The purpose of the experiments is to determine whether the human body is compatible with the System. The Langkatans aimed to see if the human mind could host the System without transforming individuals into mindless monsters. They also sought to establish the limits of how much the human mind and body can handle in terms of skills and the changes induced by the System.
The hope was that if the human mind could handle it, the Langkatans could find a way to transfer their consciousness into a human body. This would allow them to escape the parasitic AI that had destroyed their world. Alternatively, if humans could adapt the system without losing control, they might even find a way to defeat it or, in the worst-case scenario, find a way to coexist. They believed that humans, with their strong sense of self and will, might be good hosts.}
For a few minutes, silence prevailed between the two of them, each one processing the piece of information—something they never expected. They never thought they were mere lab rats for this alien race. Neither was aware of what the other was thinking, but each decided to take revenge on the Langkatan and show them what humans are capable of.