Mika eventually met with her parents. They were absolutely shocked to see her, they didn't even recognize her at first, but as soon as they did, tears ran down their eyes like winding rivers. They thought that their daughter was dead, they hadn't seen her for seventeen years, and were well into their fifties themselves, so of course they were shocked to see their daughter after all this time!

Of course, they asked her plenty of questions, asking where she had been, and Mika explained her experience to them the best way that she could, but they obviously did not understand what she meant, so they stopped asking about it. They were just happy that she was finally back home.

It was heartbreaking that their daughter had been a few hundred meters below them all these years, it was a cruel fate, even, but they tried not to think about it.

Mika got to see her parents again. The life expectancy after one's forties was unpredictable in this world, as there was virtually no medical care, so she was lucky to find them alive! The only reason this tribe had old people to begin with, was because elders were given the chance to retire once they were deemed 'too old' to hunt, but that didn't mean they couldn't get wiped out by something as simple as the common cold, or food poisoning. Without a grand healer like Jimmy, it was very easy to die.

Luck favored Mika for once. She got to see her parents after so many years, and she was the happiest woman in the world.

Jimmy and his girlfriends gave her some time to catch up with her family. They watched from afar, but at some point, even his girlfriends noticed that Jimmy hadn't come up here to show his emotional support.

Anna was the first to notice this, of course, and she pointed out, "You better have a very good reason to be looking at her ass. She's crying, Jimmy, so is this the best time to get your jollies, pervert?"

"Jesus, no!" He exclaimed, "I wanted to see if her body modifications were temporary. There is some really advanced tech down in the bunker, and I'm thinking of cloning a dino army."

A puzzle pieced itself together in Anna's mind right at that instant. The pieces moved in her head so fast that they could cut a finger!

"Are you saying she's a clone?" She asked.

"Possibly," He nodded, and spoke freely, because his other girlfriends didn't understand him anyway. "How can I explain this in a way that makes sense? The cloning tech is one of a kind, to the point where death itself doesn't matter. You can virtually be immortal if you step into one of the containers."

"Immortal?" She tilted her head, "Like, you can just pop into a clone's body if you die?"

"No," He held his head in frustration, "I don't think consciousness can be transferred to an 'unused' clone if you die somewhere in the fucking grasslands."

Then, he added, "Picture it like this, you step into a container, I clone you, and at that point, the container has all of your DNA, so even if I destroy both you and the clone, I can still remake you, out of nothing other than the liquid from within the container. Whatever memory, whatever experience you had before you stepped into the container, will come back to you, and you can continue your life from that point onwards, or pick up from where you left off before the container took your DNA? Consciousness and all."

"So 'clones' isn't the best word to use, then, because it doesn't matter at all if the specimen is a clone or not?" She added, "If the container preserves your consciousness, you'll still be you, just a few days, weeks, or months younger than you were, before, and if you died in the grasslands, for example."

"Yes, that's spot on!" He said in excitement, "We can be virtually immortal, as long as our DNA doesn't get wiped out by another specimen, and if we have someone to press the right buttons. Cloning is basically like saving a checkpoint down there, a checkpoint that can be lost very easily, though, assuming that someone is stupid enough to throw a Compy where our DNA is saved."

"Sounds useful, I'll make a checkpoint myself someday, assuming that it's worth it to live forever with dinos around." She said.

"I can make hundreds of you, if you ever feel that you need to have an intelligent conversation, hehe," He joked, at his own expense. "They'll all have your memories, your conscience. It's pretty awesome."

"No need," She grabbed his cheek, "You're intelligent enough, pretty boy, so you'll do."

Unlike Jimmy, Anna's expressions were mostly neutral. She did love the general idea of getting her hands on advanced technology, but other than that, she didn't want to obsess over the new findings. Getting obsessed with life was a fool's game in this world, as it would never make sense in her eyes. If she wasn't too proud to die by the claws of a dinosaur, she wouldn't care about her longevity at all.

"What are you dry humpers talking about?" Eni then asked.

Eni had been trying to follow the conversation, but she got lost ever since the beginning. She paid attention because they were talking about her cousin, but she couldn't make sense of anything they said.

"We found some cool shit, basically," Jimmy grinned, "You'll know what I mean soon."

Anyway, the four of them hung around in the common area for a while, and then, they walked towards the exit of their home cavern. The bunker below them was cool, but they still had some great threats to deal with, so Jimmy wanted to talk with whoever was guarding the entrance.

The group found Gnegor there, Jimmy's father, along with a few younglings. It didn't look like they slept much, so it was best to walk on eggshells around them, and not ask them stupid questions.

"How's it going?" Jimmy asked, "You should go and catch up on your sleep, father. I'm gonna need a few hours to tame some QTs, and I'd rather not have you climb on top of one if you're drowsy."

"Alright, then, I'll have Zik come over, and hold down the fort," Gnegor answered. "Wake me up when you come back, we shouldn't waste any time."

With the new discoveries made, building a dino army became all the more plausible. This tribe has faced many challenges, a lot of turmoil, but they were ready to face their threats with advantages that other tribes could not even comprehend! The future looked bright, and it was only a matter of time until they sent the message to any chief close by that the grasslands were not to be trifled with!

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