"Are those… guns?" Lazarus muttered as they entered the room. It was fairly small. Then, on the wall, alien guns were hanging. Maybe those were guns, maybe not? They looked like guns from virtual games. Even Lazarus wondered how she knew what they were.
"No way. This is an alien planet. How do we know they are guns?" Lexus muttered as he grabbed the guns from the wall and table. The gun had a handle, but the trigger was placed strangely. It was on the top instead of near the handle.
"If it is a gun, do we have ammo?" Shingo then looked at the various contraptions. This room had the same feeling as some security room back in the USF.
"Maybe it's a laser gun? Or maybe a taser? We only need a battery pack, then. Real guns are dangerous; they could puncture the dome."
"We are not in a colony. A hole in the wall won't affect us much." Xiaolang said as he picked up the silvery gun with a green handle. But when he pulled the trigger and aimed it toward a wall, it didn't respond. The trigger couldn't even be pulled. It was stuck.
"...Is it not a gun after all? Hah… We are getting excited for nothing."
"Auscella, do you know how to use this weapon? They are weapons, right?" Anna asked Auscella.
"It's broken." Auscella gave a flat answer. "Needs power?"
"Geh. We're all getting excited for nothing." Lexus sighed, throwing the gun onto the table.
"Hmm… If it needs power, can't we just plug it into the lifepod? It won't be that simple, right?" Laurel sighed.
"We need a charger. If we had a charger, we could probably plug it into the universal charger. Or if it supported wireless charging…" Shingo muttered, sounding a bit hopeful.
"Au! Here!" Auscella rummaged around the corner, and a compartment opened up.
"How did that box open?" Lazarus muttered.
"The civilization was quite advanced. Is that a NeuroGear-linked lock? They even put it on the box." Laurel muttered.
"This is an alien civilization. They have had NeuroGear naturally since birth. And this isn't merely a box. It holds ammunition, right? It's only natural that it would have locks." Xiaolang muttered.
"Hm… This isn't a magazine clip. There are no bullets inside." Lexus examined the tubes inside the boxes.
Auscella picked up one of the guns, and the bottom of the handle opened, revealing a hollow cavity where the tube could be inserted. After she fitted one in, the gun lit up.
"Au! It's on!" Auscella chirped. She then gave the gun to Xiaolang.
Xiaolang's heart raced. It was a gun. With this, he could defend his friends from monsters. They could leave this forsaken island. He observed his surroundings, looking for a target to test the gun on. "We should test this gun outside."
"I want to test it too!" Lexus yelled. "If it's a gun, I am an expert at War of the Ancients! I know how to use guns! If it's a sci-fi gun, I've played Levi Hunters for over 200 hours!"
The children frowned at how confident Lexus was, except for Xiaolang. He merely nodded and gave the gun to him.
"Understood. Here. Let's go outside. We don't know how this gun works. Please be careful," Xiaolang said.
"Eh?" Lexus blinked, expecting a rebuke or scolding.
"What? Are you lying about your skill? It's fine either way. There are enough guns for all of us inside the room. You just happen to be the first one to shoot it." Xiaolang said. To him, it didn't really matter who shot the gun first.
"O-of course not! I will show you my skill! Look! I, Lexus, will be the first USF hunter!" He proudly held the gun against his chest. For the first time in his life, there was an expectation placed on him. After he exited the ruins, he aimed the gun to his left and right. "So? What should I shoot? Let me show you my skill!"
"Won't just any tree do?" Laurel sighed. She then pointed toward a tree across the lake. "That one, then. Let's see whether this gun is actually a weapon."
Lexus then aimed the rifle at the tree Laurel had pointed to. Then, he pulled the trigger. The gun whirred, and then a beam of light shot out. A small explosion erupted against the tree bark, singeing it as smoke rose from the tree.
"Yeah! Take that! Now we shall fear no alien monsters!" Lexus pumped his fist.
"Hmm… I wouldn't be so sure." Xiaolang frowned. He then swam to the other side and inspected the tree.
"What's wrong? It looked pretty strong to me."
"Well, it's better than attacking them with a stone spear, that's for sure. But against the bigger monsters, it's probably nothing more than a needle prick," Xiaolang said. He wasn't satisfied with the result. The gun could only penetrate about two centimeters deep. It could probably scare away smaller monsters such as cloud reapers and rhinos, but against a Seliphesaurus? It might just anger it instead.
"This is an improvement. Should we bring this to the lifepod?" Laurel asked.
"Ah! The charging port is here! Great! Now we can also charge the used battery pack!" Shingo said.
"How could this ruin still have power, though…" Anna muttered.
"They probably had renewable energy sources like geothermal or solar power. Solar panels don't have to be black, you know." Shingo said.
"I see. Auscella, is there anything else in this ruin?" Anna muttered. Auscella only tilted her head.
"Building!" She chirped.
"Can it build us a ship?" Lexus snapped his attention to Auscella. His eyes beamed with hope.
"No. No ship," Auscella chirped.
"Hah…"
"We've got something. Let's go." Laurel sighed. "Let's return."
As the day went by, the children lit a fire on the shore next to the lifepod.
"So, what should we do? We now have weapons. It should be safer to explore the island," Laurel said.
"So what if we have weapons? We don't have a boat or a ship. We can't leave this island. This gun would only be useful if we wanted to hunt animals."
"Don't do that! That's cruel!" Lazarus said.
"Some animals show cooperative behavior. If you harm one of them, all of them might attack us. I advise you not to do that, Lexus," Xiaolang said.
"Then what good would these guns do? We were fine without them before. The rhinos were in the eastern plains. The Seliphesaurus was in the sea. The cloud reapers were on the mountain. And the scarabs were inside the lake. Everyone had their own territory. With the farm, we don't even need to travel to the rhinos' territory anymore."
"It makes us feel safer, at the very least." Laurel shrugged. Knowing that they had the means to fight back filled Laurel with a sense of safety. At least now, they could fight back.
"Hmm… There is one part of the mountain we haven't explored…" Xiaolang said.
"Where?"
"The caves and the cloud reapers' nest," Xiaolang said.
"What do you expect to find there?" Laurel asked. Her hand trembled as memories of her experience being attacked by the poisonous tiger resurfaced. She had been paralyzed, helpless. If that happened again, she would be eaten. Not a painless and swift death. Its offspring would nibble at her flesh little by little.
"I don't know. We either do that, or we should start building a ship and head northwest," Xiaolang said. Among all the places on this island, only the mountain range was left. It was hard to get a full picture of the mountain range. If nothing was left on the mountain range, then that meant they had to do this the hard way. They would have to build rafts, store some food, and set sail for the northern continent.
"What about the house? We haven't finished it. Are you saying the exploration is more important?" Lexus complained. They had spent almost a full day building it. Leaving it now felt like a waste.
Laurel nodded.
"It's not like we need it right now. We could always build it later," Shingo shrugged.
"Well. If you say so." Lexus sighed. "I wanted to lie down soon. The lifepod is cramped."
"Let's be patient. Who knows what we might find in the mountains?"
"If we find nothing?"
"Then we start building the house. Then, if we have time, we will build a boat." Laurel said matter-of-factly. She wasn't confident about this plan, but if it came to pass, they would have no choice. "By the way, if you want, you can join tomorrow's expedition with Lazarus, Xiaolang, and me."
"Alright! With these guns, you could bring a T. rex, and I wouldn't be scared! Let's go!"
"Bob, Shingo, Anna, and Auscella will take care of the farm and water duty, alright?"
"Alright."
The next morning, the group hiked into the mountains. This time, each of them carried a gun. They slung the guns over their shoulders with straps made by Lazarus the night before.
"Don't shoot them! They haven't attacked us!" Lazarus yelled at Lexus, who had aimed his gun at a flying cloud reaper.
"Lexus, we only have one life here. If you die, there is no respawn or reload. Be careful what you do," Xiaolang said.
"We need to work as a team. Please shoot only when I order you to," Laurel said. She knew warning Lexus was in vain, so instead, she wanted to give him direct orders.
"Alright. I will follow Laurel," Lexus said.
"Oh. Thanks." Laurel nodded, surprised that Lexus actually listened to her.
"I can be a team player!" Lexus said.
"Where do we go?" Lazarus asked.
"Let's try to explore the cave where Laurel got attacked last time," Xiaolang said. "We haven't fully explored it yet. If we explore it to the end and still find nothing, we will have no choice but to attack the cloud reapers' nest."
The group trekked through the mountains. Thanks to the compass and the map uploaded to his smartphone, they could retrace their steps more quickly than before. Then, at noon, they reached the cave.
"Here it is." Laurel sighed. Her body trembled after seeing the cave littered with bones.
The group had finally come together. Life was improving. After the house, we are going to build a ship. Bob and Xiaolang are amazing. I couldn't do a fraction of what they did. ~Anna