A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Ryan winced at the colourful language of Michalina before he replied to her, "Sis, your mouth needs immediate cleansing."

His words earned him another round of shouting, making his brow twitch as a look of annoyance settled on his face.

"If you do not behave, I will turn off the radio."

As Michalina's voice died down, Ryan continued, "Now listen carefully, while we were searching for the Hazmat, we found various Radiation cleansing chemicals, when I step outside the room, use them along with something to scrub my Hazmat from a distance."

"Upon being cleansed, it would be safer for me to remove my Hazmat, and then I would love to use some water to clean myself, though I doubt we would find any soap lying around."

Ryan's radio was silent for a moment before Shakidra's voice came to his ear, "Your Highness, I will find some soap for you, but do you need anything else?"

"Yes, search the ship infirmary for some potassium-iodide tablets they are used to treat radiation poisoning."

Meanwhile, back with others, a distraught Michalina could only look towards Ryan's direction and pray for his safety.

As Ryan finished giving them his orders Michalina could not help but speak with a cracked voice, "Tell me brother, is there no other way?"

A heavy sigh came from the other side as Ryan replied to her, "Sorry, sis, but there is no other way."

"I do not think that hazmat of yours will suffice."

"I know, but still, it is the best that I could make at present, and also, you are worrying too much the control rods are fully inserted so, there should not be any radiation."

Michalina frowned at his answer as she questioned him in a crisp tone, "How sure are you?"

A nervous chuckle came from the other side as Ryan replied to her, "Well, I am seventy percent sure that I would be safe."

Xuelong's eyes narrowed as she spoke, "Why are you only seventy percent sure that it would work?"

"Well, my knowledge about reactors is from what the school teaches us, which is the bare minimum, and from what I know that when control rods are fully inserted, the nuclear reaction stops."

"But, I have no idea what would happen when someone strips the outer layers, and exposes the core with the control rods fully inserted into it."

"Will the reaction begin anew? Or nothing would happen, but most importantly, how everything would react in the presence of magic?"

Michalina could feel a massive headache developing, as she clearly remembers how things like petroleum have changed drastically.

Ylerias groaned as she spoke, "This is not good Ryan, what else can we do to help you?"

The radio was silent for a few moments before Ryan spoke, "I cannot think of anything else."

Shakidra quickly spoke with a frown, "Your Holiness, after you step out, we will spray you with a special liquid while some of us would scrub your suit, then after thorough a cleansing, you will then remove your suit and take a bath, am I correct?"

"Absolutely, and in the off chance I get radiation poisoning, I would need to ingest some pills."

With his piece being Ryan gave his undivided attention to the reactor in front of him.

'According to what I know, the control rod mechanism is designed in a manner that in case of critical power failure, the rods would fall into the core stopping any reaction, and hence, I can safely say that top-wise insertion will occur.'

'So, if I remove the top, I can safely react the rods, and then I will put something that would prevent the rods from spilling out of the core.'

Ryan made a hole in the reactor cover as he looked at the inside, only to come face to face with the controlling mechanism of the control rods.

'So, these the mechanism that controls the control rod, hmm, I have to move it out of the way to reach the control rods, or hmm, ah I have an idea.'

Instead of following his original plan to make way near the top of the control unit and permanently fixing them, Ryan decided on another path.

Ryan completely removed the reactor cover before he tied the controlling mechanism to the nearby structures, using thick iron chains.

Ryan then loosened the mechanism, letting it fall inside the reactor, but before it could go all the way down, the chains held the entire structure from touching the control rods.

'The controlling mechanism is hanging at less than a centimetre above that of the control rods, thus preventing any damage to the core, and now I will permanently fix it at that position before covering the entire thing up.'

A loud thunk echoed inside the room as the mechanism rested on top of the control rods, and Ryan did not wait any longer as he began to strip the side of the reactor as he reached near the mechanism.

Ryan attached the controlling mechanism permanently to the side of the reactor, using the materials that he had gathered, and then he completely sealed the reactor.

'Now, the control rods will not be able to move at all.'

Ryan turned on his radio as he quickly spoke, "One down, two to go."

His radio crackled as Michalina's voice came to his ears, "Are you alright, brother?"

"I am fine, and as for the radiation, I am having a much lower radiation exposure than an X-ray."

A relief filled sigh came from the radio, followed by Michalina's voice, "I am glad you are alright, now finish the work fast and get out of there."

It took a few more minutes, and Ryan finished his work on the second reactor, only for a horrible realisation to sink in.

'Wait a minute, this is an SFR, which means that it has sodium in it, so if I sink the ship and somehow the water find its way to the sodium.'

Ryan could not help but let out a loud groan at the thought as he spoke out loud, "One thing after another."

Ryan did not hesitate to radio back to his companions as he quickly spoke, "I have finished sealing up the reactors, but we might have another problem."

The radio crackled as Xuelong's voice came to his ears, "What is the problem, Ryan?"

"This reactor uses sodium, so what would happen if the sodium would get in contact with water."

Michalina had a horrified look on her face as she quickly spoke, "That would be terrible, nuclear meltdown, not to mention your hardwork would be for nothing."

The radio crackled as Ryan's voice came, "I thought a lot about what to do about it, and the only thing that I can do at present is to seal the room completely."

"Then do it brother."

"Okay, then I will contact you as soon as I have finished my work."

Ryan looked at the reactors as he mused inwardly, 'I have covered it well, so the risk of the sodium coming into contact will be minimal, but if I seal off a few portions of the room, then it would be nonexistent for a very long time."

Lance Stormborne, High Priest of Xamos, God of Rain and Storms, prayed to his God, asking for His guidance, and he might not be an Apostle, but being a High Priest, he sometimes would receive visions and dreams from his God.

After drifting in the sea for a long time, a vision came to him, and it was that vision that led him and his fellow companions to this island.

'With the sun rising behind the twin peaks of this island, the metallic bird would bring us salvation and show us the way, but it has been weeks, and yet nothing has changed.'

As Lance looked at the setting sun, he could not help but hope for the arrival of new dawn filled with salvation.

Ryan raised his bowl to his lips as he drank the soup before he spoke with a content sigh, "That was wonderful, Siora."

Siora bowed towards Ryan while Ylerias spoke with a frown, "Ryan, how long would it take for you to finish your work?"

Rayn frowned as he spoke, "I will be ready to leave by tomorrow night."

"It would take so much time?"

Ryan nodded as he spoke with a sigh, "Yes, it would, as I have no idea where to begin, and I would want to accomplish it using minimum effort."

Xuelong sighed as she spoke, "If it were before the merger took place, either of us would have destroyed the ship with a single attack, but enough of us, how are you planning to deal with the ship."

"About that, there are a lot of missiles and bombs on the ship, not to mention the aviation fuel storage, and if I can cause a chain explosion, then the entire ship would sink."

Michalina, who was engrossed in reading a journal of an officer of the ship, spoke for the first time, "Even then, it would be difficult."

Ryan smirked at her as he spoke, "Mom would scold you for reading at dinner table."

Michalina scoffed at him before she spoke, "Scuttling a carrier of this size would not be easy brother, upon saying that, I found something interesting in this journal."

As Michalina gained the undivided attention of everyone, she placed the journal on the table, and then turning to a particular page, she pointed towards a picture.

"Look at the picture of the aircraft, and what do you see?"

Ryan looked at the picture, drawn rather neatly by hand, as he spoke with a frown, "This looks, something straight out of a Sci-fi movie, what is this?"

Michalina gained a smug look on her face as she spoke, "That is a sixth-gen fighter, well, more accurately as close to sixth gen as possible."

Ryan gawked at the design before he spoke, "It looks so weird, and how does it even fly?"

Michalina shrugged as she spoke, "That I do not know, but what I know is that a few hours before the Apocalypse, these fighters took off for a test run, along with a three-star Admiral."

"Damn that Admiral, and now I cannot get my hands on some sweet next-gen fighters."

Michalina nodded as she spoke, "Yes, and it would be great to get your hands on them, but something weird happened as they had veered off course from their usual flight path and disappeared from the radar."

Ryan gawked at Michalina as Ylerias spoke, "So that means that they were lost?"

Michalina nodded with a sigh, "That is true, but unfortunately, we can do nothing about it."

Xuelong frowned as she spoke, "But still all thirty of them veering course off and crashing, that is unexpected."

Ryan shrugged as he spoke, "Maybe it is possible, after all, some minute changes might have begun before the merger, and it might have interfered with the sensitive instruments on board."

Michalina nodded in agreement before she spoke, "I agree with you, brother, but how are you planning to sink the carrier, as they are notorious for taking heavy damage and still keep floating."

Ryan sighed as he spoke, "I know that is why I will have to make sure to cut holes in specific places so that the carrier would sink easily."

Xuelong frowned as she spoke, "I hope it does, as I do not fancy seeing you getting into wreck trying to sink it."

Ylerias nodded as she added a few words, "True, and God forbid you from swim in the dark and dangerous waters."

Ryan replied to her, with his charming smile, "I will be fine, there is no need for you to worry."

The charming smile made butterflies fly inside her belly as she averted her eyes slightly, but in doing so, Ylerias garnered Xuelong's full attention, who narrowed her eyes at her.