Chapter 593 - Scientific Specifics

A couple days pass since the Tunneler extermination expedition had happened. As planned, Afton and Glados continued to send small patrols of Ultimo-Bots to purge any more Tunnelers who find their way into the cave system.

There were still plans to collapse it, but they were being especially cautious as they didn't know how far the tunnels actually went... A sudden ill-prepared collapse could weaken the foundations of the Railway tunnels and potentially even parts of Big Mt... Not to mention wherever the other tunnels snaked off to.​​

The group of Cyberdogs and Ultimo-Bots that Afton had sent off to explore them had only recently come back... It'd taken them two days to reach the end of a single tunnel, and strangely enough, the exit was only a couple miles away from a couple villages... Afton was still contemplating whether or not he wanted to contact them and ask if they'd encountered any tunnelers, but he suspected the Tunnelers didn't hunt the humans there, only the livestock they kept.

There were also plans in the works to modify the Cloud to be the bane of Tunnelers... Pumping that corrosive mist into the cave system would no doubt annihilate anything it came across, though there was a couple of problems with actually integrating it...

The first being the fact that anywhere the Tunnels led to would be put in significant danger. It wasn't possible to judge how long they were, where they led(In good time), and even if the Cloud would start weakening the foundations of everything above it... It was corrosive for a reason, if left long enough it might even eat through stone, soil, and breach the surface, obviously killing everything that had been there.

The second problem was the fact Tunnelers were extremely adaptable. The reason Ghost people formed was because air filtration lowered corrosive properties of the Cloud, this allowed it to slowly infest the body and alter it. This made them immune to the Cloud, while also increasing strength, agility, and unfortunately rendering the victim insane and in a constant state of rage.

No one could predict how Tunnelers would react when presented with the Cloud... Some might just dissolve into fleshy goo, while others might adapt to it and begin utilising it to strengthen themselves, becoming pseudo ghost people in the process... Hell, the possibility of them acquiring a limited form of air filtration just to become ghost people was not zero.

Of course, Tunnelers adapted to the Cloud, it wouldn't be that difficult to kill them... After such a mutation they'd need occasional upkeep of the Cloud to keep their bodies functioning. This is one of the reasons Ghost people didn't stray too far from the Sierra Madre, without the Cloud their bodies would slowly degrade and fall apart.

Regardless, Afton would allow Borous to experiment with using the Cloud on Tunnelers in secure locations. Even if it didn't help solve their Tunneler problem, it'd at least help them understand exactly how the Cloud functioned...

*Clunk!*

Afton steps through the lab door and looks over at Borous who was observing the Tunneler Queen through an observation window.

He walks over and looks through, spotting the Queen laying eggs in the corner of the room. He's quickly surprised however as the Queen picks one of her eggs up and devours it... He turns towards Borous who's monitors weren't moving, as if he'd already observed such a behavior. "Why did it do that?"

One of Borous monitors turns towards him as the scientist begins to speak, "As far as I can tell, it only eats its young when stressed..." the scientist turns to look fully at Afton, "I've conducted a number of tests on it already, as you can see, when not in complete darkness these creatures become incredibly stressed..."

"Why would that be? Cass said she'd seen plenty on the surface...?" Afton asks.

"Ah... No idea." Borous states, "I suspect there are some variants more suited to going above ground. Their cave systems receive little to no light, so their eyes have been adapted to be incredibly sensitive... Being in a brightly lit room would be like having high-powered lasers shined in your eyes constantly, the only reason this creature's eyes haven't been destroyed yet is due to the multiple eyelids it possesses."

...

Afton crooks a brow, "Uh huh... And, is any of this actually useful information, or just merely interesting to you?"

Borous snorts, "Can it not be BOTH!?... But yes, as you most likely already know, sudden flashes of light that occur before they can shield their eyes can disorient them and perhaps permanently blind some... Perhaps some targeted high-powered light systems would be effective?"

...

"Isn't that just lasers?..." Afton asks with a dull look.

...

"Ah-er... Yes..." Borous sheepishly admits.

"And you just recommended 'shooting them in the eyes'... As if that wasn't already effective with weapons other than lasers?"

...

"Well, anything would sound stupid if you put it like that!" Borous retorts.

Afton shakes his head, "No, only your idea sounds stupid in that scenario... Plus, once combat started, wouldn't the Tunnelers protect their eyes with those films anyway? Thus rendering a Laser shot not any more effective than what a bullet would be?"

Borous' floating height lowers slightly as if put out at being remonstrated. "You asked, I replied... ANYWAY! The tests you asked to be conducted on the various Tunneler samples you brought have been completed... And I am sad to say no, their scales, hides, organs, or claws would not be more effective than what we already have. Saturnite, Deathclaw hide, and Cybernetics can easily achieve anything these samples might do."

"Okay so, Tunnelers; bad... How is the Deathclaw Project going? The two Deathclaws I took on the expedition were very effective, so how long until we can have an army of them?"