"I'll be quite honest with you; it's less the moral implication and more the consideration that we don't have the food to feed any of them. We're already slightly rationing what we have now, and I also don't know if we have the resources necessary for the creation of them either," he responded.
Understanding dawned on Ryan's face. "Ah, right, that problem, I almost forgot. Don't worry, given some time, I think I may be able to replicate that animal carcass you gave us since it features similar technology to artificial humans, taking genes and whatnot."
"I thought you said nothing could be done about that," Ridge said.
"Well, that wasn't entirely untrue; I just didn't have the data to re-create an artificial one, but if you can get me one more carcass, preferably a male, I should be able to resolve the food problem once and for all," Ryan responded confidently.
"I'm judging the one I gave you earlier was a female, then?" Ridge asked casually.
"Obviously," he replied, face entirely serious.
"Right, I'll have the battleship crew keep an eye on the ground during their travels to the second outpost," Ridge said before taking his leave.
Ryan didn't stop him; the things he needed to be said were spoken, so there was no point in keeping the commander of the base occupied for any longer. Though with a forlorn face, he followed behind to continue attempting to teach grown adults.
Giving Hopi a short farewell, then leaving, Ridge made his way over to the newly built command post within the main building. They had overhauled the previously empty second sleeping quarters and fitted it with holographic sandboard directly from the ship instead of just using it for a storage room. These sandboards were displaying the base and a couple of kilometers surrounding it. Every single piece of land displayed had already been extensively scouted, and the small-scale sensors from the ship were able to provide topographic data of the planet's environment in somewhat real time.
This was exemplified by the green and blue dots moving around the displayed board. The green dots were the labor force, the ones who constructed buildings, ran the purifying plant, and soon enough would run the factories. The blue dots, on the other hand, were quite simply soldiers and scouts, though they also fell into that same soldier designation.
Of course, limitations with this real-time sand board also showed themselves whenever the battleship needed to leave to deliver or take supplies from the second outpost. Nonetheless, it would have to do for the time being.
The first person Ridge saw when he entered the room was George, who was in the middle of discussions with some minor officers.
"Attention!" He said as soon as Ridge entered; the room fell silent, and as Ridge walked further in, he waved his hand. "As you were."
"How's it looking?" he asked, walking up to the table.
"Good for now. As you're aware, late last night, patrols did manage to spot some more of those scouts, but it looks like the enemy is taking advantage of the dark to attempt infiltrations," George said seriously while pointing out the positions in which the scouts were spotted.
Ridge noticed that the small orange blips, indicating fungi scouts, had all come from the northeast. Although slightly presumptuous, Ridge had the feeling the west for now would be good, and the south would also be good. What he meant by good was quite simply that the enemy base had likely settled themselves somewhere far out northeast.
This could also be why they found that super small nest within that large cavern or cave system with its own forest. It was likely the fungi looking to expand closer to the base in secret. Luckily, Ridge decided to go scouting and found out before it could even get started. This also explained why there were still animals that hadn't been killed off.
Interacting with the holographic map, he zoomed out just a little more to show the observable parts. Parts of land here and there were unfortunately missing, but this was primarily because they didn't have any data to fill it in, and the ship's small scanners were unable to scan that far out.
"Do you think we can build out small real-time scanners deployed on the planet's surface? In this way, the maps will be constantly updated, and the scanners can establish a secure data link with the battleships, allowing somewhat real-time updates of the map. We could also build out a data center here in the base to link with everything, shoring up the problem in case the battleship isn't present or close enough," Ridge said after noticing the missing information.
"Um, I'm not really the person to ask about the feasibility of all that; however, tactically, if we can implement those devices, it would help to keep track of enemy movements and, of course, clear the fog of war, which lets us generally prepare better for what's to come," George replied while rubbing his head.
Nodding at him, Ridge messaged Caroline basically those exact words, and luckily for him, she was either not busy at the moment or taking a break because he got a response quickly.
'It's more than possible; we already have devices like that within the battleship; they just haven't been used because the ship's scanners at the time weren't fully repaired and wouldn't be usable as a sort of command node to gather and congregate the incoming data from the ground. Then, after the small scanners got repaired, I'm pretty certain we just forgot about them. As for building a data center on the base itself, I can just send you a blueprint that we already have within the ship's databases that's perfectly usable.'
Reading the reply, Ridge chuckled and sent out a message to berkay while turning to George. "Apparently we already have those devices; they were just in one of the cargo rooms within the battleship," he said, chuckling.
George was slightly taken aback before laughing aloud; some of the other officers within the room also chuckled while shaking their heads.
The message Ridge had sent out was essentially a recall order, so once Berkay finished his patrol with the battleship in the south, he returned, landing on the same large open area that had now slowly been reinforced with metal and turned into a nice landing platform. This metal platform ended up taking another hundred metal units from the stockpile, but the stable ground was much more convenient for transportation, and efficiency in regards to the battleship operations had increased greatly.
Using the four haulers and the large elevator, Berkay found the scanner devices and had them all transported over to the main building, where Ridge and George were waiting just outside to inspect them alongside a few of the officers and some more soldiers who weren't on patrol duty and wanted to see what the commotion was about.
In total, the scanner devices amounted to ten boxes filled with five scanners each. The scanners themselves, when Ridge opened a box to inspect them, were roughly the size of a briefcase or backpack. Picking one up, he also estimated that they were probably around eight to ten kilograms, though he couldn't say for sure.
Smiling, George had also picked one up to inspect before pressing down on a button accidentally and activating it. The device quickly folded out of its rectangular shape, and some of the display lights that were previously a dim red turned green. When unfolded, the device looked almost like a five-petaled flower, though dark grey in color and refined alloy in nature. The body of the device below said 'flower' was elongated and somewhat sharp, clearly used to penetrate into any surface it was needed in.
"Oops, I did not mean to do that. Does anyone know how to turn this thing off?" He said clumsily, attempting to fold the scanner back into its rectangular shape.
Ridge shook his head in disbelief and touched a small button in the middle of the five metal scanners that popped out like petals. It rapidly clinked back together and turned off, displaying the dim red lights once again.
"At least we know the devices are working, though I do have a question for you, George," Ridge said while putting the device back into the storage box. The Haulers had already returned to the battleship, and Berkay was once again readying to continue his patrol in the south. More specifically, he was looking for the male animal version of the four-legged animal they found previously.
"Didn't any of the academies on Eserus teach you about these devices? We get put into the military education system as soon as we're born, so you can't tell me you didn't," Ridge asked, genuinely curious. George wasn't a complete meathead or, in simpler terms, stupid, so his proficiency with these devices shouldn't have been so abysmal.
"Ehh, to be honest, I only remember the devices themselves, rather than how to use them. I paid more attention to the combat and war strategies classes throughout my youth, all the way up to graduation, pretty much briefly learning the technology and logistics side that was required of us before forgetting them once I was actually assigned to a ship," he said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.
"Huh, okay, well now you know how to use them, I guess, don't forget," Ridge replied after some time.
"Anyways, let's return to what I'm now calling the strategy room. I don't think command post really makes much sense. We can make some plans on how we want to utilize these devices," he continued. When he finished, he gestured for the surrounding officers and soldiers to bring the boxes inside for storage, then made his way back to the holographic sand table with George.