Chapter 955 955 Interesting Genes
In the end, the decision was that the first to make contact, as well as a few of the older members of the group who were past their child-raising age and already had trained their successors, would be the first to go outside and make sure it was safe.
The Team Leader sent one of their members ahead, following the aliens' directions on where the open door to the lower levels was so that they could clear the tunnel and purge the polluted air that was trapped in it.
It would ruin their credibility if the first thing that happened was that the aliens began to choke on toxic fumes the moment that they left their enclosure, and it would likely stop them from going outside at all for many years, even though the sky was clear.
[Team Leader, the exit tunnel has been purged and fully sanitized. The air quality in it matches the outside world, and you are safe to proceed.]
[Please verify that both sets of doors to the storage room are airtight so that we can create a proper airlock to set the aliens' minds at ease and then wait for us topside.]
The Team Leader looked to the group of small gray aliens that was going to follow them back outside and gave them a slight bow.
"Please follow me, as our scout has confirmed that the way is clear and the tunnel to the surface is safe and stable. It hasn't been used in five hundred years, so there was some rubble to be cleared from it, but we have taken care of that now, and you will be able to safely travel to and from the outside world."
The group still seemed to be in shock that so much had changed in a short period of time. Not only did they have natural light back into the dome, which would allow them to continue living on even if the lights were to completely fail, but they could now go outside, expand their farms, and end the food rationing that they had been on since the lights in the dome started to fail at a faster rate, leaving the biodome increasingly dark.
"Alright, this is the final room of the underground. Everyone, please step fully inside and close the door behind you. Be sure to spin it tightly shut so that none of the air from inside the dome gets out.
The air out here is safe, but I know how you feel about the integrity of your home. We travel in space with no atmosphere around us, so the integrity of our airlocks is vital to our survival." The Team Leader informed them.
Once the door was sealed, the Team Leader opened the door to the tunnel and watched in amusement as the aliens began to pray for their safety.
"The air in here is now fully mixed with the outside air. Please take a deep breath to confirm that it is indeed safe for you, and then we can proceed upward." She informed them.
It couldn't be called a deep breath, but they stopped holding their breath, and that was good enough for the Hunters, who led them up to the surface.
But the strangest thing happened the moment that they reached the surface and the sunlight hit their skin. The pale gray began to instantly fade away, and their tone turned to a pale tan, the same colour as the stone of the walls.
They were almost perfectly camouflaged against detection in the ruins of the farmhouse, but none of them noticed right away as they were all staring up at the sky around them, breathing in the fresh air, and touching their faces where the breeze was blowing against them.
"What has happened to us? We are yellow!" One of them finally exclaimed when she looked down from the sky.
"Your skin adapted the moment you stepped into the sunlight. If you wouldn't mind, could I get you to move into the grass outside the house? I believe that once you do, your skin will return to either gray or green. It seems that you have an adaptation to blend in with your surroundings." The Team Leader informed them.
The first man to make contact was also the first to move, and as expected, the moment that he lay down in the grass, he turned to a mottled green and tan, blending in with the long grass perfectly.
"That is impressive. Not many species can adapt their colouration that quickly. It seems that your species is at one with this world now, and no matter where you go, you will fit in.
There are no more animals, so there are no predators, but that is normally the trigger for such a genetic trait." She added.
The man rolled over in the grass, then ran away a few dozen metres to stare at a bush with small red berries.
[Species unknown. Sensors indicate that it is a close match to one in the biodome but not identical. Safe consumption levels are unknown.] Khan informed the away team.
"The berries aren't quite the same as the ones inside. I'm not sure if they can be eaten." The Team Leader relayed.
"There are so many of them, though. Look around. There are hundreds of bushes full of them. If we can eat these, we can bring whole baskets back home. They would celebrate for days to get even half a person's body weight in berries, and they would eat well for even longer." The man sighed.
"Then, if you will allow me to take a small blood sample, I can do an allergen test, and we can find out if this is toxic to your body. It survived the pollution era, so I can't say what might have changed or how your bodies might be different than they were at that time." The Team Leader suggested.
[And send that blood sample data back up to me. I want to know more about the chameleon genes that they have.] Nico reminded the away team.
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