A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Chapter 16: Danger lurking in the depths (Part-1)

"Donna I need a trench a little over four meters deep and at least three meters wide at the very least, and please start from this section of the wall to the gorge.", Ryan spoke as he tapped a portion of the wall with his hand.

Donna nodded at that as she looked towards the gorge as she spoke, "So little over 70 meters long well I will be done in a jiffy."

She then kneeled and placed her had on the ground as it shook slightly as the earth parted itself as a trench formed on the ground from the wall to the gorge shortly after.

She then stood up with a huff as she spoke, "It that alright with you?"

Ryan nodded at that as he spoke, "Perfect though I will trouble you after I am done by asking you to fill it up again."

Donna waved her hand off as she spoke, "No problem.", as she looked towards the wall she saw a small portion of a pipe jutting out with a red colored end cap covering it making her frown before she spoke, "So you will pump water through this part of the base?"

"Yes but not only water see over there it is kind of like a pair of sockets with which I will have to connect the structure I am about to build."

With that Ryan jogged to the edge as a few others were lounging on the ground keeping an eye on him, a few of the became more alert as he began to look over the edge as if studying it thoroughly before he turned towards Donna as he spoke, "Can you make a few more trenches that would go down to the bottom make them in the form of semicircle with about two meters diameters this time around and place them apart by at least two meters and oh make four of them."

Donna nodded at that as she quickly dug the trenches out well more like she placed her hand on the ground as they earth fell to the gorge and the narrow but not so gentle river carried it away shortly.

Ryan nodded at that as he then walked at least a good five meters from the gorge as he then he marked a ten by eleven plot as he spoke, "Sister Donna I need you to remove as much earth as possible from within this marked plot so as to make it at least 4 meters deep."

Donna raised one of her bows as she followed Ryan's instruction to the letter and this was what Chloe and Jessica saw when they had arrive making them a bit confusion at all the digging that Ryan was forcing Donna to do.

A minutes later Donna had finished her work looking a bit tired as sweat glistened over her face as Ryan spoke to her with smile, "That was excellent work sister Donna you may sit and recuperate I have little something for you to do but that is after you have rested enough and here take this canteen of water."

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Donna simply nodded as she took the canteen of water from Ryan's hands she took a swig as she made her way to where others were sitting before she promptly collapsed on the ground as she spoke, "Damn this takes a lot out of me."

Chloe kept an eye on Ryan like a hawk as she watched him touch the wall of the base as a small ripple went on the wall, she then watched him run towards the large pit as he laid on the ground with his upper part of his body dangling from the edge of the pit making her run and to hold his legs Ryan turned towards her she chided him a little, "Ryan you are leaning too much and too dangerously at that, let me hold your legs lest you fall into the pit, next time you do something similar I will complain to your mother that you are disregarding your safety.", as she spoke another soldier had arrived as she helped Chloe to hold Ryan by his legs while Ryan gave a sheepishly smile before mouthing off 'Sorry' and 'Thank you' to Chloe.

Ryan then raised his right hand towards the ground as it gained a bluish glow and soon blocks of wet concrete seemed to appear and within a few minutes had filled it to the brim of the pit as he did others joined as they peered down to look at the spectacle that was occurring as one of them whistled lowly by the time the last of the blocks had been placed Ryan was already standing on his two legs.

"Is that concrete?"

"Yes a 440 blocks of quick drying concrete blocks that would harden within a few minutes.", Ryan gave a small nod as he answered the question, before he ran towards the base he touched it again and Chloe again noticed the ripples forming as Ryan touched it, he then jumped down into the trench and he began to lay down concrete flooring and in regular intervals placing supports that ended up in a semicircular form that went up to the large concrete rectangle as he neared the end he was pulled up from the trench as he laid the last part of the trench he nodded in satisfaction upon seeing the trench lining up perfectly at the middle of the concrete rectangle.

Chloe looked at him as she spoke, "Can you explain what you are trying to accomplish here."

Ryan looked at her as he spoke with a smile, "Of course, I will be placing a water tower here and pumps the water will be pulled up from the river below and placed inside this tower, then the water will flow from this tower to the water and sewage treatment floor get purified and then stored in reservoir to be used."

Ryan's face gained an apologetic smile as he spoke, "Sister Donna I wish to apologize but I need you to bring those four trenches up to this rectangle and you may bury the other one also once again sorry for making you work so much."

Donna simply waved it off before she spoke, "There is nothing to apologize for Ryan, you are giving me good practice for my powers", with that she within a minute completed her task as Ryan began his.

Ryan this time simply changed his design he literally extended the rectangular plat form towards the edge of the cliff at the same time he made sure to place half ring blocks inside each of the trenches with the open part pointing towards the sky.

He then turned to Maeve as he spoke, "The next part I need your help, I need you to carry me as I finish the construction for concrete part before I lay the pipes down, it would be slow and painful for you."

Maeve nodded at that as she spoke, "Well when you are ready we will proceed."

Ryan gave her a small smile as he dashed towards the base to refill his stocks of concrete, during the last few days he had gotten another upgrade that was inventory space, an extra dimensional space where he had six slots for carrying six types of items and it would stack at a hundred each as such he would be able to carry up to six hundred items at a go.

Ryan looked down as he began to formulate a plan in his mind, "Sister Maeve I need you to go as close to the water but try to stay as close this side as possible at the same time."

Chloe frowned at that as she spoke, "Absolutely not we do not know what kind of creature lurks under those waters it can prove fatal."

Ryan huffed at her as he spoke, "Then how do you propose I complete my job without getting close to water."

Chloe frowned at that as she spoke, "What is your maximum range you need to get in order to place the blocks?"

Ryan frowned at that as he spoke, "Three and a half meters, the blocks I placed earlier I simply had throw it down at the same time you saw how I slowly covered the entire area bit by bit."

Chloe frowned at that for a moment as she glossed over her options before she began to bark out orders, "Donna create the strongest earthen barricade you possible can in the area needed by Ryan and as he finished up with his job you have also to lower it, can you do it."

Donna looked at the flow of water as she spoke with a determined look on her face, "Well I can try."

Chloe nodded at that as she spoke to Maeve, "Go back to base and get the rest of the fliers with you with Major's permission upon explaining the entire situation to her."

Ryan pouted as he promptly sat down on the ground with his hands folded and his legs dangling over the edge, only to be pulled back by the collar as Chloe spoke in a stern voice, "What part of be careful did you not understand you will not sit near the edge."

Ryan spluttered in indignation at that as he spoke, "Let me go."

Chloe's narrowed as she spoke, Never, I told you to be careful yet you went and sat near the edge like that wait till I see your mother."

As Ciara arrived with additional personnel she saw Ryan sitting indignantly in the center of the circle as she approached them the soldiers greeted her with a salute as she spoke, "2nd Lieutenant Chloe is there a reason why you are so zealously guarding Ryan?"

"Yes ma'am we are preventing him from sitting at the edge."

Ciara narrowed her eyes at Ryan who suddenly felt the ground so interesting while inwardly he fumed at Chloe 'so what he was sitting at the edge he was not going to jump or do something like that.'

"Ryan we will talk about your behavior later but first we have a job to do."

Ryan peered down from the edge standing by Ciara's side as he watched Donna slowly raise the earth blocking the flow of water she gritted her teeth as she shouted out, "Five minutes! Five minutes is the maximum I can hold out."

Ciara simply made a gesture with her hand as Ryan was plucked from the shore as he descended near her with great speed, Rayn did not waste any time as she quickly began to create platforms needed for the piping system, what he created was a form of pier that went a few meters into the river, he then proceeded to put concrete on the wall within limited amount of time.

"Major I am unable to any longer.", as she spoke Donna stumbled back as she was about o fall one of her sisters picked her up as she was flown off the wall collapsed shortly after as Ryan was picked up as well, as he looked at the pier he felt glad that the concrete was a quick drying one as well as the level at which the pier was created was such that a little over a quarter of the total length of each pillar was over water and he was glad for it.

As Donna was brought up to the surface she took heaved and coughed as Nikita who was brought here as the doctor patted her back as she handed her a canteen full of water, it was just yesterday that she had pulled down half of their previous base down after she was full of excitement and as such she was incredibly, after all even if she was the one who created the walls she did so in the span of a five days not to mention the small huts she made slowly but she made a mistake of removing half of them in a single day out of excitement and now she was paying the price.

Nikita frowned as she looked at Donna's fingers, 'Her fingers are awfully pale and shrunken as if she had placed then in water for a very long time.'

Ryan soon followed after her as he landed Ciara quickly caught up to him as she spoke, "How much work is left for you?"

Ryan sighed as he spoke, "Well frankly speaking a lot, I will have to put concrete up the wall to the edge of the gorge otherwise the pipe might fall over easily during some flooding and what not as such I am doing a bit of future proofing here."

Ciara frowned as she spoke, "I see then when Donna"

Whatever she was going to stay was prevented by Nikita, "I do not think Major Donna is showing signs of necrosis and from what we know it would be sometime since she regains her energy."

"Mom I do not think that for the time being we need sister Donna she has helped us so much and I think she should rest, whatever is left can easily be accomplished by myself with a few protection she has already helped me in the most important part and that was placing the pier while she held the wall at the same time, the next part would take time and with her five minutes window it would be impossible for me to comply, but I assure you I would not be going down to the pier at the moment I have many other things to accomplish namely putting pipes and pumps and ladders."

Ciara frowned at that as Zhan spoke to her, "Major if it helps you I would like to volunteer while he is down there, not to mention with so many of our sisters present here we can protect him to the best of our abilities when he is working down there."

Ciara looked at Zhan before she spoke to Ryan with a sigh, "I still believe we should wait for Donna to recover and then we would proceed slowly."

Ryan shook his head as he argued back, "No mom we cannot await as there is no time, the water purifiers that are present in that pond extracts anything that is should not be present in water but where would those impurities go? Straight back into the pond and with each cycle the toxicity of the water would increase and you should have noticed the water is starting to smell and taste bad already and it would not be long we would fall sick because of it as such I cannot wait."

A few hours later Ryan was standing on the U-shaped pier, he had it made purposefully so that he could place the filters in such a way that they would be protected from physical damage courtesy of the pier that would act as the buffers, he looked up to see the wall of concrete with indention in them for him to place the pipes, and run the necessary wires and most importantly place a couple of pumps in between so as to such the water in properly, he had then proceeded to place ladders and platform as well so as to make it easier to climb down and service the machines, if and when necessary all that was left for him was to place the filters, pipes and pumps then wire them up, then he would have to create the tank and link everything to base, the thought of the task made him sigh in depression as his shoulder slouched forward, 'And here I was mouthing off yesterday that by tomorrow evening the base would have fresh water.'

"Impressive work over there nephew, truly impressive after seeing you create such structures calling your power as only suitable or creating and restoring technology is so wrong yours is to re-forge and recreate our civilization."

Seeing the proud look on her aunty Zhan's face made Ryan blush but before he could say anything a shout came from above as well as sound gunfire and before either could react Ryan cried out in pain as he found something digging into his left shoulder hard he then found the entire world spin as tremendous bone breaking pressure exerted on his body as air was forcefully exerted out of his lungs, his vision grew dim he could no longer stand against the combined weight and pressure as he slowly started to fall towards the river.