Apocalypse Redux

Chapter 285: Ceres

Orbital Mechanics were an absolute nightmare.

Finding golems falling through the atmosphere was easy. Aim for your target and fly straight at it. And finding one that was a little outside the atmosphere wasn’t that much harder.

Flying to the moon … tough, but doable.

Traveling halfway across the solar system, meanwhile, was a nightmare.

But by abusing [Blessing of Innovation], ahem, by using it for a less complex thing than it might have been intended for, it let him bypass that issue neatly.

The best part about the whole thing was that Bailey had figured out a way to make this a work trip, with an actual explanation for his actions that wasn’t “holiday”, and a function beyond just “I wanted to see the solar system”.

This was about placing communications beacons on places he visited, or rather, the things that might one day become communications beacons, and exploring the limits of light speed.

About a year ago, magic had been officially recognized as the fifth fundamental force in the universe, alongside the strong force, weak force, gravity, and electromagnetism, ending the furious debate over how it should officially be classified.

But in that group, magic was decidedly the black sheep, capable of taking the rules of the other four and utterly shattering them.

One of the most visible ways this phenomenon could be observed was magic’s interaction with the light-speed limit.

Most magic was, in fact, a lot slower than the roughly three hundred thousand kilometers per second, outspeeding bullets handily but not coming anywhere close to the universe’s former fastest thing.

However, certain things were faster. Portals, for example, always opened instantly, without needing to travel through the intervening space, making them a method of FTL travel in theory, but not practice, as one still needed to walk through them and their range was limited.

Party communications were another such instantaneous phenomenon, but due to their range limits, their FTL characteristics weren’t immediately obvious.

The [Round Table] did have both FTL characteristics and no range limit, but they couldn’t exactly write papers about it, now could they?

And then there was [Aura], specifically, the sensory kind. It transferred data instantaneously, but once again, the range was too small for that to have any real effect. Sure, compressing his [Aura] to the utmost, where it was a mere attometer across, he could touch the moon. But at that point, he could literally not get any information from a thread that small.

Which was where the communications beacons came in. Their magic would make them a lot easier to connect to at range and send magic their way, so that they might, just might figure out a way to send signals at FTL speeds.

Isaac couldn’t even help there as he knew fuck all about the process, it hadn’t been a big thing in the other timeline, but he hoped they cracked the code. Right now, Isaac was at almost half an hour message delay from Earth. He could return in a heartbeat if something went wrong, but it would take him twenty-eight minutes for him to learn about any issues that cropped up.

He’d also see if it was possible to expand Akashik Industries, his company, out here. It basically ran itself at this point, providing money and resources without him having to do anything, which was how he liked it. But expanding it out here could vastly increase his potential resources.

Also, with the space boom and a somewhat stable world, they had a perfect window to start building up a sizeable population off-planet. Getting in on (mostly) the ground floor would open up all sorts of possibilities.

Still, he was almost at his destination.

Ceres was another dwarf planet, just like what Pluto was now classified as, with a radius of less than 500 kilometers situated squarely in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, a prime location for rest and resupply. Not only that, but it also had a ton of space available for expansion.

Currently, there were only five buildings present.

The spaceport, a squat, square, hollow pillar without a ceiling that could dock ships both on the outside and inside, half a kilometer tall and each side was around four hundred meters long.

The supply depot, a small dome that sat above an immense underground cavern full of stuff.

The living quarters, a set of what basically amounted to a whole lot of shipping containers stacked on top of and next to each other, connected by glass tunnels.

The processing plant that processed mined minerals, and summoned monsters when certain resources ran low.

And finally … there was the tree. At least that was what it looked like. Some entrepreneur [Glass Mage] had decided to relocate here and now that there were zero building codes to stop her, gone absolutely over the top in designing and building her home.

A complex array of seven hollow glass tubes extended from the ground, interweaving and ending in a hollow, one-way mirror, sphere that housed the, well, house. From there, several more branch-like tubes extended, each ending in an observation deck of some kind.

Supposedly, one held the mother of all infinity pools, another held a bar, and there were also meant to be an observatory, a library, and a bedroom to sleep under the stars in. But that place was fairly well shielded from observation.

All in all, it looked like someone’s base in a space exploration game, built-in creative mode.

Who wouldn’t build something like that, given half the chance?

Despite being made from what was functionally glass though, that place was tough enough to survive the usual array of micrometeorite strikes and even the occasional errant shuttle crash.

As Isaac went on final approach, the spaceport exploded into activity, shifting from a state of organization comparable to an ant hive to a panicked mess.

Isaac sighed. He had called ahead, he had memorized all the relevant protocols, but his handheld transmitter had poor range, and slowing down in space meant “accelerating” in the other direction, which involved projecting his flames in the direction he’d been going.

And who the hell paid attention to the “radio” when there was a giant flamethrower heading their way?

“Ceres control, this is Isaac Thoma, requesting permission to land.”

… That was the fifth time he’d done that, and no one had ans- …

“This is … er, this is Ceres control. Please tell me you’re the fireball.”

And there was his answer. Finally.

“Ceres control, confirmed, you’ll likely see me as a fireball, over.”

“Oh thank go- … ahem, do you require any kind of special considerations or accomodations?”

“Just a place to enter the spaceport proper, I’ll shut off the flames ten kilometers before arrival, and some directions for a place to sleep, over,” Isac replied.

“Do you have the capacity to receive a standard data stream?”

“I have my phone on me,” Isaac said, pulling the item in question from his storage. It dinged a second later, showing him what he needed.

The final step of his journey was simple. He coasted the last ten kilometers at a leisurely pace, then activated [Speed of Hati] for just three steps that not only brought him to a complete stop but also carried him to the airlock he’d been guided to.

It was one of the fancier magical ones, which extended an air bubble from the actual door to cover the platform, at which point the door could be opened and spacesuits could be shed, at least assuming one was in use.

There was a large room beyond that was also sealed off from the rest of the station to ensure that a failure to establish a proper magical bubble wouldn’t vent most of the port.

Isaac stepped inside, patted some dust and ice crystals off himself, and headed into the station proper.

The security check was a throwback to the earlier days of the [System], with the guard almost dying of fright when he approached, though this time, it was likely an issue of what might have demanded his presence, rather than Isaac himself.

“Reason for visit?” the guard asked.

“Exploration, potential expansion of my company,” Isaac said.

“Anything to declare?” the guard asked.

“What needs to be declared?” Isaac asked. That particular piece of information hadn’t been found online.

“Er …”

Oh, for fucks sake.

“I have potions for personal use, scientific equipment, also for personal use, summoning resources I couldn’t be bothered to clean out of my personal storage space but don’t plan on using or selling, and some construction equipment. I don’t have any drugs, other intoxicants, or anything in that vein.”

Would that be enough?

The guard didn’t say anything.

“Do you have any other things that you need to ask me about? Do you want me to rattle off literally everything else that might possibly be of concern, or do you have any kind of proper list to work off of?”

After taking a frustratingly long time to think, the guard just waved him in.

This place was a lawless hellhole, truly. Not the “everyone is free to be an asshole” kind, mind you, but rather, the kind that mostly ran on shared understanding. Shared understanding that outsiders didn’t have, which would result in serious confusion when a concrete rule or list was needed.

Sure, the spaceport was well dealt with, anything else would be super dangerous, but any lesser topics weren’t covered.

As easy as it was to make fun of the absurd thoroughness of modern laws, but there was something to be said about being able to easily get a concrete answer to disputes without any trouble.

Hell, German civil law even had two entire laws about who owned an escaped colony of bees, who could gather it up to become the new owner, and what kind of property damage and trespass was acceptable to retrieve it on the part of the original owner. And yes, that was rather silly, but when you needed an answer about a colony of bees, the answer was right there, no confusion or arguing needed.

Obviously, such utter thoroughness wasn’t needed everywhere, not even close, but some proper rules and regulations were needed.

Isaac headed over to the nearest hotel, though said hotel was really just a set of rooms to lounge in privately, without any beds.

Still, having somewhere private to retreat to was kinda important for one’s mental health.

It was interesting that everywhere in the building had Earth gravity, Isaac reflected. Ceres was tiny, with an infinitesimal gravitational pull that lay at a mere 3% of Earth’s.

There was a lot of fun that could be had in places like this, and without any children or low-Level individuals around, it wasn’t like there were people at risk of muscular or skeletal dystrophy here.

People wanted what they knew, he supposed.

After relaxing in the room for a few hours, recovering from the boredom of spaceflight, Isaac headed out into the wasteland. He’d filed the rights to several square kilometers of the surface with most people who cared. No doubt someone would complain, but considering that the paperwork had been approved by both the United Nations Space Coordination Office and NASA, that should be fine. Neither of those organizations had much authority, but that was still a hell of a lot more than anyone else had. And once he’d built on this space, it would be his properly.

The beacon was planted, and then, he emptied his storage rings. Karl had managed to create an entire space colony that somehow managed to be less complicated to put together than IKEA furniture despite being, well, a frigginspace colony.

Still, his 5th Evolution was called [True Arcane Technomaster], master of not just technology, but also several kinds of enchantment and the combination of the two.

The first thing Isaac did was ram oil-drum-sized barrels into the rocky soil and watch the anchors deploy, hundred-meter-long chains phasing into the ground, pushing away the soil where it overlapped with the metal and then rematerializing, properly linking the foundation to the dwarf planet.

Once six anchors had been placed to form a giant hexagram, each side two hundred meters long, he connected them with more chains that turned rigid the instant they were set up.

Starsteel foil that could tank micrometeorite strikes then covered the ground, forming a thin yet durable floor.

The rest was very easy to set up. Plant a series of pillars, the bottom end fusing into the floor in a way that wouldn’t be undone without serious force. And then just start connecting them with more foil.

Having walls that were just half a millimeter thick protecting you from vacuum didn’t exactly sound like a good idea, but it was just the basis for everything else. Thermal insulation, air supplies, and filters could be added in with ease. Building airlocks into the walls would be a little more involved, but still perfectly doable.

With the basic structure finished, Isaac began to add his own area, which fell a little on the “silly” side. A dome of one-way mirrored glass that would be his personal space was added on top of the only finished tower, a few random scribbles were scratched into the dust of the dwarf planet’s surface only to be erased by a blast of flame before anyone could see it, and so on.

Isaac spent a few more hours relaxing in the dome, staring out into the universe, before finishing the internals of the tower, making it safe to inhabit for people who still had such weaknesses as “needing to breathe”.

A message from Professor Kim’s assistant pinged on his phone, telling him to get to Seoul as soon as possible. That was literally the whole message. It was possible that he’d be getting more texts soon, but this message had been sent almost half an hour ago.

He needed to know if this was a “rampaging [Raid Boss]” warning that he needed to respond to immediately, without waiting for clarification, or something that didn’t warrant him coming in like a meteor.

So he dipped into the [Round Table]. Hopefully, even if this was a five-alarm fire and no one could wait for him, they’d left him a note.

Dr. Han was waiting for him, head resting on the back of his chair while he stared at the ceiling in clear exasperation.

“So, no emergency?” Isaac asked. As far as he knew, Dr. Han was currently in Seoul, so if he could afford to wait here, things couldn’t be that dire.

“Nope,” Han sighed, “We might have had a breakthrough, and Yerin thought that there was an interesting trick she could pull with your [Blessing of Innovation]. So her assistant messaged you. You should be receiving the all-clear message in a few minutes, but I wanted to make sure you don’t rush back here.”

Oh, so it was Yerin now, was it? Good for those two.

“Thank you, it’s much appreciated,” Isaac said, “What was the breakthrough?”

“Well, we think we might have found a way to slow down, or even prevent, autonomous summoning.”

Isaac shot to his feet and was about to leave, only to turn around for one last statement.

“I’m coming back, see you in twelve hours, call Bailey and tell him to gather the crew for the Ceres base.”

Isaac filled out the initial tower in record time, making it habitable, and opened a portal back to the university, burning most of his time pool in the process.

“Alright, everyone. You know how everything works, you’ve been trained on all the tools and equipment, and you’ve got all the relevant resources. You guys are ready for this, and I hope you enjoy exploring outer space as much as I did. I’d give a bigger speech, but I know that Dean Kass already did that I wouldn’t inflict you with two epic speeches in a single hour.”

That netted him a couple of chuckles.

A guy from the university astrophysics department, Isaac’s assistant Andre, and two of the people from Akashik Industries walked through the portal and past him, while he returned to good ol’ terra firma. Four people was a small number for a space station, but unfortunately, only five people could use the portal at one time and he did need to get back to Earth.

He couldn’t give a tour as the portal wouldn’t stay open that long, but he’d recorded enough videos to make sure they’d know where everything was if it hadn’t been for the extensive preparations already undertaken.

And, quite frankly, he could barely wait to get to Seoul.