On the bridge of the Horn airship, John sat in his chair, idly toying with the shell casing pendant in his hand as he gazed at the distant hills shrouded in thick smoke.
A man in a white lab coat stood beside him, his fanatical expression forming a stark contrast to John's boredom.
The man's name was Martin. He was a biologist from a colony on the west coast of the Great Desert and, supposedly, a Vault resident.
John did not particularly like the man.
It was not because he was a Blue Gopher, but because everything about him, from head to toe, made people uncomfortable.
Perhaps because he dealt with corpses so often, he carried the smell of one.
Still, the man had come with a letter of introduction from General Gurion.
Even if John disliked him, it would not have been appropriate to rudely throw him off the airship.
Besides, it was not easy these days to find a Blue Gopher who favored the Legion.
At least the man was on his side.
"Death Agent... just a capful can make plants wither! Make organs fail! Make the land die! And turn it into a breeding ground for new toxins!"
Listening to the man's eerie muttering, John gave a bored yawn.
"...We have at least twenty poisons stronger than that. What makes your 'Death Agent' better than them?"
Martin gave a sinister smile.
"Its strength lies in the aftereffects! Complications, contagion, and so on! It will not let our enemies die quickly. It will torment them, make them struggle in sickness and pain, and infect more people."
John, who had been indifferent moments ago, jolted upright in his chair.
"Contagion? Why didn't you say so earlier?"
As he spoke, his gaze had already shifted to the soldiers outside the