Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Ultimus Chapter Two: The Orders

In the middle of the International Forest. Hidden in a blind by a lake, was Kim with several thousands of dollars worth of equipment for studying wildlife. She looked through a pair of binoculars, studying every inch of the lakeside for any sort of animal taking a drink from the lake’s shore. But with no success in seeing any. This last month had been a disappointment for any discoveries, just like the last four before it. Since she was assigned here two years ago, she has spotted 131 vertebrate species with 87 being aquatic and 527 invertebrate species with 390 being aquatic.

To most of her knowledge from the Terran Federation database, this covered nearly 80% of all wild animal species left after the war. And 30% of all living life on Earth after the war. Both are disgracefully low percentages to what they once were. The whole Earth was going to hell, and every species was dying out faster than damn mayflies except for one species. And no one could explain it. The Federation has been pushing her to look harder for more wildlife, but she has looked under every rock, plant matter, nook, and cranny in this Forest. There wasn’t a lot more that could hide in this 150 square-mile park.

She had been sitting there for over three hours without seeing anything and she didn’t expect anything to come until late in the night. She quickly set up some cameras where she was to watch this side of the lake overnight. She called it a day for sitting in the blind and got into her ATV, she decided she would set up a few more cameras near and around the lake before heading home for the day.

~

She arrived home a couple of hours later and saw Andrew playing with his dog in their yard. Though it looked more like the dog wanted to play and Andrew was on the ground in exhaustion. She got out of the ATV and went into their house. She closed the door and went to Hunter’s office and didn’t find Hunter at his desk. Something unusual for this time of day. She went and looked for him around the house for several minutes before finding him lying on the bed sleeping. This is one of the first times in a long time he looked peaceful. She smiled at the sight of this and decided that she would make dinner and leave him be for the time.

Kim went back into the kitchen and got the food that she was going to use for dinner. She started preparing them when she heard a pinging sound come from one of the other rooms. She walked out and found that the noise was coming from Hunter’s office. She went around his desk and saw that there was an unread email on the computer. She opened it without hesitation and found it was addressed to her. As she read it, she trembled and collapsed into the chair. This was something that she and her husband were trying to hold back for as long as possible. Now there was no more holding it back. She had just got her orders for reassignment, to Project Genesis.