Crossing the World
XLII - Shelters (Karen)

It didn't take long for me to report everything I had discussed with the delegates from earth. I also asked AI to immediately do a large-scale VR production.

As usual, I went to the recreation room and asked for some snacks to deliver to the set of tables I occupied. AI brought me a glass of tea with added ice and sugar in it as well as some chocolate-flavored pastries.

At the moment when I started to relax while enjoying the dishes that were in front of me, AI suddenly started talking again.

"There's actually an interesting thing going on right at the outermost boundary of our internet network. Would you like to hear it?"

"Hm?" My mouth is still full of cake. I immediately grabbed a glass and drank the cold sweet tea that was inside.

The AI may perform complex calculations to determine how emergency the information is. Usually he will not convey the information if the calculation categorizes that it is not important. On the contrary, if the information he got belonged to an important and emergency category, he would definitely tell me right after I teleported. So, based on these things, the information he will convey may be quite important, but it does not include emergencies that threaten our survival. This was why I was not too worried as I told her to continue what she wanted to say.

"I detected an intruder within a 211-kilometer radius of the bunker."

Oh? Did the ogres and fiend wolves attack again? Well, since we have quite abundant energy now, it should be possible for AI to overcome them without any problems and there is no need to tell me about this. He must have had a reason why he decided to tell me.

"Are there any new species attacking?" This is the only thing I can think of behind the decision made by AI.

"They are indeed a new species and I'm sure you'll be interested in hearing about it, but there's no sign that they'll attack."

"Continue." I went back to drinking the iced tea that was on the table after finishing my third cookie.

"Found three beings who have intelligence and use a language to communicate."

Right after hearing his words, I coughed as the few drops of water I drank flowed down my throat instead.

Ah, shit, that hurts.

"They can talk? Then what are they doing there? How do they form?"

"It'll be easier if you see it for yourself."

Right after the words AI finished, the shapes of the three beings began to appear in the empty space not far from me. The three of them were slightly translucent and their looks were blurred several times but came back solid less than a second later. Something similar to dust also moved in various directions, making the figures of the three of them not seem too obvious.

The image of the image before me was a display captured by twenty observation drones from a distance of about four kilometers. The data that contains that view is then sent in real-time to the shelter. After AI retrieved the data from the drones, it reconstructed the displays it obtained into a three-dimensional hologram shape. All of these processes only have a delay of about two seconds.

"Physical forms are similar to yours, but their muscle fibers are much denser and stronger. Their pure strength was probably about a third of the ogres."

Waw. All this time I felt superior to earthlings because my raw strength was slightly above theirs. However, these beings are even one level above my raw strength. They were at least twice as strong.

I stood up from my chair, then walked closer to the hologram image that was formed. Both balls of my eyes looked at a figure that looked like a man. He was kneeling before a woman who was lying weakly on a simple cloth stretcher made from the skin of a certain beast. The woman's face was pale and her breathing seemed irregular. His body was also thin dry, as thin as the remaining two people.

The last figure was a girl of about sixteen who looked sobbing looking at the pitiful woman.

"Hm .. Are they family?"

AI confirmed my question with a complicated explanation about the compatibility of facial contours, physical features, and so on, which became an amplifier that the young girl was indeed bound by blood relations with both.

Well, most of the explanations I don't understand at all. However, the essence of what he said can be captured well.

I noticed how the three interacted, looking at every movement and look on their faces. To be honest, I wonder if there is a difference between the human and the intelligent species on this planet in terms of the social interaction of a family.

In the midst of my seriousness in observing them, I also questioned the AI regarding the matters related to the three. Although the data that can be collected is fairly small, but AI is able to process it to the maximum. So, the explanation from him is enough to help me in understanding them much more deeply.

AI continued to explain the various kinds of details that I could not get just by paying attention to them.

Feeling a little interested, I decided to ask further.

"What do they need to recover?"

"Fruits and vegetables, nutritional fluids that are directly inserted into the bloodstream, soft and soft foods, and water."

Well, there's nothing special about that treatment. We also have abundant materials in the shelter. So, giving them everything they need won't inflict any harm on me. However, is it necessary for me to do that?

By the time I fell into my own thoughts and considered whether it was good to interfere in their problems or not, the AI suddenly asked about it. He probably managed to guess what I was thinking just by looking at the gesture and the faint change in expression on my face.

"Are you going to give them everything they need?"

I answered that question with a question.

"Will their giving of needs affect this place?"

"Nothing."

AI even answered my question without any pause. That is, he did not need to consider anything when answering that question.

Helping them would not harm us because our supply amount was even enough to support a thousand people for a hundred years. Of course, this calculation still does not include what I can bring from the earth and the future production of fruits from tree seedlings that have been successfully planted on land. We have nothing to lose if we only look at supplies, but for now - where food is still abundant, there is something I think is far more important than the supply problem, which is research material.

I wanted to see how intelligent a species behaves when faced with death. The steps they will take to survive will certainly be interesting to research.

Will the two of them decide to leave the woman who is already unable to move? How do they behave when one of them dies? The tendency of their actions will give me an idea of what treatment I need to apply when making first contact.

Also, there was one thing that really intrigued me.

One day when I was relaxing on earth and surfing the internet just to overcome boredom, I came across an interesting article. A plane crash occurred in a certain mountain range in 1972. Survivors survived for ten weeks before they were finally found by rescuers. How do they survive without food in the snowy land as far as the eye can see? The answer is simple: the flesh of the passengers who did not survive.

Yes, they had to eat the dead first. Worse yet, some of these victims still have blood relations with the survivors.

Based on the story, I draw the conclusion that earthlings tend to do anything in the midst of life-and-death situations. For myself things like this are quite normal, but the response of the community at that time was quite horrendous. They condemned all-out survivors under the pretext of humanity.

Now, on this planet, when intelligent species are in a situation similar to the case, will they do the same? If so, could this be evidence to reinforce Nifa's statement of the term 'connected to humanity'?

After weighing for quite a while, I gave the order based on the previous AI question.

"Let them for a while and keep an eye on them. I wonder how the steps the three will take in the face of the situation."

"Understand."

I turned around and walked away from the hologram image. Let's see what kind of results I'll get after observing them for the next few days.

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Note :

Sorry the apdet is getting so soft. I'm pretty busy this late2. Btw for the gor what is "survivor", the term means the same as a survivor or survivor and so forth.