Earuu Resort, Earuu Mountains

Alade

15:55 Local Time

September 14, 2019

[They made good timing,] I sent as I removed the rest of my winter clothing and deposited it within the Beacon’s dimensional storage.

[They weren’t very far away, and they headed back as soon as they handed over control to the proper authorities. Not before helping themselves to some of the spoils, of course.]

[Spoils? What do you mean?]

[There’s a relatively new Pygmaean law that essentially gives the first person, people or organization that uncovers an ongoing crime the right to claim the spoils. That’s assuming they aren’t wanted for any crimes, themselves. Obviously there are rules on what can be claimed and what cannot, but things like credits, skill gems and equipment from dungeons are fair game and all one needs to do is list exactly what they claimed. Even ships and unrestricted weapons can be claimed, but that requires paperwork and not an insignificant amount of time.]

[Everything else you can probably think of is off limits, including exotic animals which this group was involved in. They had a breeding pair of mostzals you know. The Pygmaean people are not going to be happy about that.]

[How’d they get them? I thought they were a protected species.]

[They are, but that doesn’t make it impossible for someone to capture one or two of them if they’re determined. Mostzals are able to roam a vast wilderness, so vast that it can’t easily be patrolled day in, day out. Changing the subject, do you want to keep the reservations for dinner or will you be eating in one of the private rooms tonight?]

Abi had long ago included private meeting rooms that also doubled as dining rooms in her design, but they had seen very little, if any use so far. There was a smaller galley attached to the half dozen rooms, allowing food and drink to be delivered without being exposed to the rest of the people aboard the ship.

[I don’t know… what do the Fa’iir even eat?]

[Pretty much the same things you do. Calcium is extremely important for them since they come from such a high gravity world and need strong bones. Because of that, they’re known to take calcium supplements when their food does not contain enough. Aside from that, anything that is palatable to you will likely be for them as well.]

[You can cancel the reservations then, I think we’ll host them instead. Can you make sure that the cooks know that we’ll be having some important guests so they can put a meal together? It doesn’t need to be anything special. Maybe include some quillbeast as part of it? We still have some, right? The dragons haven’t eaten it all?]

She laughed softly. [They eat a lot, but not that much. Aside from the ones that our draconic friends brought for themselves, there are still two quillbeasts that have yet to be butchered.]

[Okay, cool. Quillbeast it is. Can you pass that along?]

[Already done,] she replied as the Grasshopper flew into and touched down in the landing bay. [You've got enough time to shower and change before they reach our berth. Oya is escorting them, and they should be there in ten minutes or so.]

[Uh, yeah… I definitely don’t want to meet anyone smelling the way I probably do right now.]

Imperial Palace

Nedovis

14:02 SET

September 14, 2019

“And you're certain?”

“Yes, sir,” the man in black military fatigues answered. “We knew that someone important had arrived on Veria, but we couldn’t confirm who it was until now. We now suspect he was at Ercan Warvyn’s home the night it was attacked. It makes all the more sense why our assets went dark and the attack utterly failed.”

“Idiots!” Kaldrus Dhir snarled.

The man nodded. “They were the only team we had in Pygmaean space since that Vilos bitch recalled the rest of them. I’ve got two of my own teams prepping now, but that isn’t the biggest issue. Except for the past two days, we’ve only received intermittent mana signature pings. He’ll appear somewhere and we’ll get a ping, but then he’ll disappear just as quickly. We know that he has spent a few days inside of dungeons, but aside from that and this little adventure on Alade, we haven’t been able to find out where he has been staying.”

Kaldrus waved over a serving girl who had been waiting patiently while the two men talked. The only clothing she wore was a collar and a dress that left little to the imagination. Not just because it formed perfectly to all her curves, but because it was made out of a diaphanous material that did very little to hide what was beneath.

“Drink?” he asked the man as he held his cup out so the woman could fill it.

“No, sir,” the man replied, causing Kaldrus to shrug.

After filling his cup, the woman retreated back to where she had been standing, and the room was left in silence. It was clear that Kaldrus was thinking, but it didn’t take all that long before he had an idea of where Jonuth Kidravia was.

“The ship.”

“Sir?”

“The crystalline ship... Abi, I believe her name was. What do you know about her, and those like her?”

“Just what’s in the intelligence files, sir.”

“Yes, well… suffice to say, those files barely scratch the surface. I imagine that there are very few people out there who truly know what her kind is capable of. In any case, she is what is defeating our mana signature scanners. Has there been any mention of an advanced ship arriving in Veria’s system?”

“Not to my knowledge, no, sir. I can double check if…”

“Don’t bother. If it’s not all over the news, then she is probably remaining shrouded, or she is remaining hidden. Do we have any assets on Menseio Station?”

“No, sir. The Warvyn family is notorious when it comes to security, particularly because of how much research and development they do. It would take decades to get someone into position to help us. Even then, the moment they helped us their cover would be blown and that time would likely have been wasted.

Kaldrus nodded. “It was just a thought. If I had to guess, that’s where she is. Probably in one of the more central and protected berths. That they arrived so quickly on Veria after being discovered on Earth suggests that they arrived on Abi herself, but anything less than a strike group would be suicide up against her.”

The man chuckled. “Surely she is no match for more than one hundred ships?”

“You would be surprised. With a full crew supplying her with mana, it would probably take that many ships firing at the same time to drop her shields. Even then, her crystalline armor would be nigh impenetrable by anything other than round from a mass driver, and she can regenerate any damage taken over time. Add onto that her unmatched sublight speed, and she could flee just as easily as she could fight back. There was a reason that we went after Derech while leaving her well enough alone. Her and the ships loyal to the crown? Impossible with the numbers we had.”

Kaldrus shook his head. “While he is on that ship, he is quite literally untouchable. You can bet that she is going to be watching over him like a bitch watches over her pups, and that’s just her. No doubt he is going to be blanketed with security wherever he goes. You said that he was on Alade for the past two days. Were there any signs of a detail following him around?”

“Aside from the two people who were shadowing him? No, but the man responsible for getting us this information isn’t trained to look for that sort of thing. Spending so many hours out in the open like that, he had to have been covered from every angle. These are Spectres we’re talking about. They are… or were, the best. They probably still are the best, at least in planning and execution, if not levels.”

“You’re right about that. Over a thousand years on some backward planet? I would be surprised if any of the dungeons topped rank 50. In any case, all of the Spectres that fled with them are likely no stronger now than they were back then. Oh, they might have some new forms that might catch our people by surprise, but they won’t be able to go toe to toe. The disparity in levels is too great.”

“I’m not sure I agree, sir. If you’re right about this Abi watching him whenever he is on Veria or Alade, then there are only three options. One, we set up snipers a fair distance away and hope he gives us a shot. Even then, we need to hope that he doesn’t have some piece of equipment to protect him, or hope that one of his bodyguards doesn’t have Precognition. If they see us coming, then he’s gone and we won’t get another shot anytime soon.”

“Option two is we activate an inhibitor field generator to prevent escape, but then both sides would be on even footing. In that situation, I can’t guarantee that my men could win, nor that they would have a numerical advantage. Option two is moot anyways if Abi has some way of getting him out of there, even through the effects of an inhibitor.”

“And option three?” Kaldrus asked before taking another sip of his drink.

“Well, sir… I think I’ll take that drink now.”

Menseio Station, orbiting Veria

Jonuth Kidravia’s Ship - Abi

16:12 Ship Time

September 14, 2019

If there was one piece of technology that had become indispensable over the last month or so, it was undoubtedly the teleporter. They come in different forms, from the waygates within dungeons to the portals that take one from a hidden base on Earth up to one on the Moon. Having been around for as long as dungeons have existed, the former wasn’t anything special. Nor was the latter, they were simply rarer.

I’m not talking about either of those, however.

It was the hundreds of teleporters spaced all throughout Abi’s halls that would have made life much harder, had they not existed at all. They were similar to an elevator; you step into a small room, press a button and then arrive at a different location a short time later. The difference was that the ‘short time’ was nearly instantaneous, and a teleporter could take you from the aft of the ship, forward and then back again in mere seconds. Or anywhere in between, assuming you had clearance to get there.

As large as she now was, teleporters were practically essential. Oh, the hallways could be widened to fit vehicles like trams, but those would only help so much. You would still need stairs or elevators to traverse between floors, and it would still take a decent bit of time to get anywhere. Instead, all it took was walking to the closest teleporter, pressing a button, and then walking a little bit more.

While mastery of teleportation was restricted to Abi for the time being, every species had their own ways of getting around quickly. Most had portals that would take one to a predetermined location and weren’t nearly as flexible, but they still got the job done. Running on ambient mana instead of electricity also meant that they worked whether the ship had power or not, which was always a plus.

Thanks to the teleporters, I was able to make it to my room, shower, and then arrive at the base of the ramp just as Oya arrived with our guests floating behind her. I recognized three of the seven Fa’iir, with one of them clearly being Mizu Tuvanto and the other two being aides or bodyguards.

There were two female Fa’iir present, though it was obvious which of the two was Kaera Tuvanto. She was the one in awe as they approached the massive ship that is Abi, while the other was dressed in military garb and scanned the room looking for threats. The latter of the two also had a nice shiner, which was a good indicator that she was a bodyguard as well.

“Jonathan! How was Alade?” Oya asked.

“A lot of fun, though I'm glad we left when we did, the resort has already seen a lot of snowfall.”

“Oh? I thought you'd be used to that by now,” she replied with a laugh.

“We get snow, but conditions like that? In the city I live in, you would probably see storms like that once every five decades, if that.”

She nodded and then turned, waving her hand towards where the Fa’iir were patiently waiting. “Jonathan, I would like to introduce you to Mizu Tuvanto and his sister, Kaera Tuvanto.”

“A pleasure,” I recited in the Fa’iir language while simultaneously saluting my guests.

The Fa’iir party was momentarily surprised, but soon all seven of them reciprocated the salute.

“You know our language?” Mizu asked.

“And our customs, it seems,” his sister added.

“Sadly not,” I replied with a shake of my head. “I picked up a few things as I made my way down here, but my knowledge is severely limited. Thankfully we have a way around that.”

Oya translated as I spoke, but Zogyr stepped forward holding a tray the moment I finished. On that tray were a number of earpieces matching the total number of Fa’iir present.

“These devices are capable of translating speech almost instantaneously. It’s not real-time, but it’s a lot better than having to wait for an interpreter,” I said, turning my head to point at the one that was already in my ear. “Perhaps I’ll learn some new languages soon, but for now I’m stuck with one as well.”

There was some hesitation in using the small earpieces, especially by the security personnel, but Oya was quick to put any fears to rest. It only took a brief word from Mizu Tuvanto that my earpiece couldn’t translate, and soon the earpieces were passed around. I waited until everyone had put theirs on, and then I tested them.

“Can you all understand me?”

There were some momentary technical difficulties, but it only took a minute to figure out and then I was escorting them around the ship. Oya had to go back to work, but neither of them were shy about asking questions.

“This is one of the biggest ships I’ve ever seen… is it true that she grows as time goes on?” Kaera asked.

“Yes,” I replied as I looked over to her and held out my hand as she floated next to me. “When I met her, she was just a small crystal that could easily fit in my hand. She only remained like that until we bonded, and then she began to grow quickly. She grew again this morning, actually. While we were on Alade.”

“Really?! What’s it like?”

“I didn’t see it this time, but it’s been the same every time I have. It’s probably less spectacular than you’re imagining, to be quite honest. Oh, she gives off a very soft glow, but that’s about it.

“She still grows! That’s amazing!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at how excited she was.

“I suppose it is.”

It would have taken much too long to show them around the entirety of the ship--at least as much as those without the proper clearance to access--but we hit the highlights. Though nothing more than the inside of the berth could be seen, they all liked the observatory, but not nearly as much as the pool deck.

The ‘lid’ was already off when we arrived, and a few kids were frolicking in the pool that was now much bigger than the olympic-size it had been previously. There were a few parents around as well to make sure that the kids were safe, but they elected to use one of the many hot tubs instead.

“You really have a swimming pool on a warship?” a female voice asked. It definitely wasn’t Kaera, which meant that it had to have been her bodyguard.

“Ahle!”

“No, it’s alright, Kaera,” I said as I turned to face the woman with a black eye. “Ahle, is it?”

“Ahle Vir.”

“Okay, Ahle Vir. What makes you think that this is a warship?”

“It is one, isn’t it? I’ve heard stories… even read some of your peoples’ history from before you ever arrived in this galaxy. A small group of ships just like this one bought your people time to save as many as possible. It is said that they went up against thousands of ships and received not so much as a scratch in return.”

“If only that were true,” I replied with a slight shake of my head. “You’re right that Abi could be considered a warship. And why not have a swimming pool? You’ve seen how big this ship is and how much space there is, space that is getting ever bigger. Besides, everything you see is temporary. If we needed to turn this space into something else, then that could easily be done and might take Abi only a few hours to do so. Do you not like to swim?”

“On the contrary,” Mizu replied for Ahle. “For our people, swimming is one of the best ways to relax, especially after a hard day of work. Hot springs are even better, but both take the stress off of our bones and joints, if only temporarily.”

“I…”

“Khidir!”

The room went silent as everyone looked towards the children playing in the pool. One of them, a young Scyftan boy named Khidir Mych, looked up and replied hesitantly.

“Umm… y-yes, Miss Abi?”

“What have I told you about urinating in the pool, young man?” Abi asked, sending the little girls in the pool squealing as they rushed to get away.

“I couldn’t help it!” the young boy whined.

“That’s what you said the first time I caught you doing it. Do you remember my warning?”

“I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”

“See that you don’t. In the meantime, I think that is enough swimming for you today. You can come back tomorrow, but remember what I said.”

“I will. Sorry, Miss Abi,” the boy replied as he climbed out of the pool and started running over to the showers.

“And no running!”

“I see things here are no different than they are back home,” Mizu said with a laugh.

*****

“I hope you don’t mind if a few of my friends join us for dinner,” I said as we exited the teleporter and turned to head towards the private rooms. Abi had let me know that dinner was being prepared, so rather than continue the tour, we made our way to the closest teleporter.

“Not at all. Am I right in assuming you are referring to the rest of your team?” Mizu asked.

“As well as someone you should know,” I replied with a nod. “And here we are.”

I held out my hand and pulsed a small amount of mana at the sensor, causing the door to begin sliding into the wall. I hadn’t seen any of the meeting rooms before, but even I was momentarily stunned upon seeing what was beyond the door.

In the middle of the room was a gorgeous round wooden table, made out of a single piece of wood. In this case, it was a slice of a log that looked to be somewhere between 10 and 12 centimeters thick and at least 4 meters in diameter. Aside from being stained and protected, nothing else had been done to the slice of wood. It even still had the layer of bark that once protected it from the elements.

That wasn’t even the most interesting part about it, however. Mason and Ben were leaning on the table, seemingly examining it as we arrived, but it didn’t move so much as a smidge when they stood up. That was surprising, because the table had no legs, nor was it hanging from the ceiling. It simply floated in the middle of the room.

Like the table, the chairs were also made out of slices of wood, albeit smaller ones, but they actually had legs and it was clear that a lot more work had gone into them. No two were the same, either, as each slice that made up the seat was just a little bit different, both in shape and pattern. All in all, it was a rather impressive set of furniture.

“Marvelous,” Mizu said as the platform he and his sister were on floated past me into the room. “I don’t see anything holding it up. Is it anti-gravity technology?”

“We thought it was, but there is nothing underneath it to hold it up, nor are there any marks in the wood that might suggest that something is hidden within. It also doesn’t budge at all when we try to push it around,” Ben replied, giving the table a little push without it moving even a smidgen.

“Mizu, Kaera, these are my friends, Ben, Mason, Anja and Sonja,” I said. “Guys, this is Ambassador Mizu Tuvanto, and his sister, Kaera Tuvanto.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ben greeted, with everyone else taking a moment to do the same.

“Is Tessa not here yet?” I asked, not seeing her in the room.

“She said she’ll be a few minutes late,” Anja answered. “She was held up helping her father with something business related and couldn’t get away.”

“That's fine,” I said, turning back to our guests. “Please, sit.”

The way the Fa’iir sat was somewhat interesting. After stepping off the platform that had been carrying them around, each of them folded their four legs underneath them, similar to how an animal like a horse would. The difference was that a Fa’iir’s back legs bent in the opposite direction, so once fully seated, all four feet touched together. Luckily Abi had taken their unique physiology into account, and there were enough stool-like chairs to seat all of them.

Once everyone was seated, the doors at the end of the room opened up and a man and a woman walked in, pushing a pair of hover-carts with all manner of drinks. Although both looked human, I knew both of them to be some of our draconic friends, even if I hadn’t actually met them. I also knew that they were a part of the small group that cooked for their brethren practically non-stop, so if they were here, then our guests were in for a treat.

*****

“This is Alii’lig!” Kaera exclaimed as she ran her hands along the top of the table.

Our two draconic friends had pushed the two carts up against one of the walls and then explained what each drink was, and then went around asking everyone what they wanted. After that, the woman remained in the room to top off drinks if they needed topping off, while the man returned to the galley. She turned out to be a Blue dragonkin by the name of Auve, while he was a Red dragon by the name of Srogar.

“Alii’lig?” Sonja asked. “What’s that?”

“It’s three things, actually!” Kaera replied excitedly. “It’s the name of a city, the dungeon that is at the center of that city, and a species of a tree. A very, very unique species of tree, and one that can only be found in the mega-floor of that dungeon.”

“Mega-floor? You mean one of those that takes the place of a bunch of floors and makes it appear like you’re outside?” Mason asked.

“Exactly!”

“What’s so special about this species of tree?” Ben asked.

“You’re looking at it,” Kaera answered, spreading her hands out over the table. “You can imagine how big Alii’lig trees get just by looking at this beautiful slice of one here. Now imagine one of the huge hundred meter tall trees floating around as it defies gravity.”

“How do they do that?” I asked. “Defy gravity, I mean.”

“The Alii’lig dungeon is an arcane-themed dungeon, and you can do some pretty incredible things with arcane skills. You can teleport, defend yourself with energy shields, and even fly. Scientists and botanists studying the species believe that the Alii’lig tree uses the abundant arcane mana that permeates the dungeon to lift itself up. They can even move around, but most of the time they remain anchored to one place.”

“What about water and nutrients that plants need to grow?” Ben asked. “If they float around then they can’t exactly absorb anything from soil.”

“That's not entirely true,” Kaera said, but before she could elaborate, the door we came in opened and three people walked in. “Syndras?!”

“Kaera!” Tessa/Syndras exclaimed as she ran around the table to embrace her friend. “I heard what happened, are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” Kaera replied cheerfully. “What are you doing here, though? I thought you were away on business and wouldn’t be back for months.”

“We were, we just weren’t expecting to be back so soon. I see you’ve already met one of the people we went to see,” Thomas/Kor said, gesturing slightly with his head in my direction as he walked up to Mizu and bowed his head. “Ambassador.”

Mizu bowed his head in return. “I thought I asked you to call me by my name in settings such as these, Kor. Will you be staying?”

“My apologies, on both accounts,” Kor answered with a shake of his head. “We’ve got plans ourselves, but we just wanted to step by and see how your sister was doing and say hello.”

“We also understand congratulations are in order,” Claire/Oya said as she stood beside her husband. “It seems like it was only yesterday when Ime told us she was pregnant. A boy?”

Mizu nodded with a great big smile on his face. “Rann, named after Ime’s father. It was the best day of my life and I can’t wait to get back to them.”

“They’re not here?”

“Nope. Ime wanted to give birth at home, so she returned home about two weeks before I did. Luckily I got there just before she went into labour otherwise I would have had a very angry wife on my hands. We were planning on staying home until this time next month, but I was forced to return for obvious reasons.”

“So you’ll be heading back soon?” Kor asked.

“Later tonight. Or maybe in the morning,” Mizu replied. “We just wanted to come and thank Abi and young Jonuth here in person for their help before we leave.”

This time the doors at the opposite side of the room opened and almost immediately the mouthwatering smell of tonight’s meal permeated the room. As if on cue, scratching could be heard coming from the door that Syndras and her parents had just entered from. It had closed behind them, being on springs or something similar, but I was ready as soon as I opened it.

“Oh no you don’t,” I said as I scooped up Vixa and held her to my chest.

She struggled briefly, but it soon became clear that she wasn’t going anywhere with her ability to teleport being restricted while within the room.

“This is Vixa,” I said as I introduced her to all the Fa’iir in the room.

“I’ve never seen a white phenidae before!” Kaera exclaimed.

“She’s definitely unique in that regard,” I replied with a smile.

“You know, perhaps we will stay,” Kor said as he saw the spread of food on the two new hover-carts that were pushed into the room.

“I don’t think so,” his wife replied with a soft laugh, looping her arm around his before he could make his way to one of the vacant seats. “You promised to take me dancing tonight, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. It was good seeing you tonight, Mizu, Kaera. Please tell Ime that I look forward to catching up with her.”

Mizu nodded. “I’m sure she’ll be delighted.”

“I guess we’ll see some of you tomorrow,” Kor said with a rueful grin before looking at his daughter. “Don’t stay up too late. Remember we pick up where we left off at 07:30.”

“I remember,” Syndras replied.

After we left, everyone in the room turned their attention to Auve and Srogar who had been waiting patiently next to their carts. Almost the entirety of Srogar’s cart was covered with what appeared to be an entire hind quarter, along with a knife and fork to carve it up. Auve’s cart, on the other hand, had a variety of vegetables prepared in different ways, including both baked and mashed potatoes, or salad for those who might want something lighter.

Since many of the foods on the cart were alien to our new Fa’iir friends, Auve briefly explained what each food was before the pair went to work. There was more than enough room to push the carts all around the table, so they went from person to person and gave them whatever they liked. It was a little slow going, especially at the start since neither of them knew what portions to give the much smaller guests, but before long everyone was eating and talking.

“This is the best meat I’ve ever had. What did you call it, again?” Mizu asked. He was already on his second plate, having elected for another serving of quillbeast as well as some of the calcium-rich salad that had been put together.

“Quillbeast. We found them roaming a planet while we were on our way here. That name may or may not be the permanent one going forward, but it certainly fits.”

“I don’t suppose you would be interested in selling the location of the planet? Or some quillbeasts?”

“That’s not up to me,” I said with a shake of my head. “A month ago, there was no one living on that planet, but now you would have to speak with those that are colonizing it. They may or may not be interested in selling to the galaxy at large, but you would need to take that up with them. I can put you in touch before you leave, if you like?”

“That would be much appreciated, thank you. Before we began trading with our neighbours, we had never had meat that was as tender as this is, and nothing was able to grow as large as these quillbeast apparently do. The high gravity is just too punishing and it causes the meat to be tougher than we would like.”

“What about now? Having spread to so many planets, you must be able to produce better quality livestock?” Ben asked

“To an extent, yes, but not nearly enough to be self-sustainable. Importing livestock is very expensive, with the cost fluctuating wildly at times. We’re working on finding a permanent solution, which is one of the reasons that Kaera is studying here on Veria rather than back home.”

“Jonathan told us that you were finishing up your exams. What are you studying, anyway?” Anja asked.

“Astroengineering and Geoscaping,” Kaera replied. “I just finished my first year out of eight, so it will be a while before I’ll be able to use what I learn, unfortunately.”

“Astroengineering is building stuff in space, right? And Geoscaping is like landscaping but on a bigger scale? Those don’t really seem like they go together,” Sonja said.

“They do with the right context…”

“Terraforming,” Ben said almost immediately.

“Correct,” Kaera nodded. “Astroengineering is all about starting the terraforming process, which is largely done from space. Things like building solar reflectors and harvesting resource-rich comets. Even the factories that are used to help heat up planets are built up in space and then brought down to a planet in sections.”

“Geoscaping covers everything planet-side. That’s extensively surveying a planet to find out everything we need to know about it; soil composition, the location of any underwater lakes or rivers that might be exploited, and the composition of the atmosphere, if there is one. It’s also modifying the entirety of a surface of a planet once all those things are done, before the terraforming process actually begins. It takes a while, but even a mountainous ball of rock can eventually be a lush farmworld.”

“How long from start to finish?” Ben asked. “There has been talk of colonizing the planet next to ours, but it’s not something that is going to happen anytime soon. Even then, it’s going to be something that takes a very long time to complete.”

“It varies since there are so many different factors that go into it. The size of the planet, the amount of modification to the planet’s surface, and the amount of resources that can be found in-system are the big ones. If comets rich in terraforming gases need to be harvested from another system, then it will take significantly longer than it would if there was an asteroid field nearby. I would say that the average is three or four decades, but it can take a fraction of that time, or it can be significantly longer.”

“How does it work, anyway? Everything I’ve read suggests that even after an atmosphere was thick enough to reflect solar winds, that it would still be toxic to any life down on the planet for a long time. How do you get around that part?”

“It’s simple, but it was found by accident. How about I walk you through it? It’ll only take a few minutes.”

“Sure!” Ben replied.

To start, Kaera pushed her now-empty plate over to the side and retrieved a tablet from her dimensional storage, though it wasn’t your usual tablet. It had a large rectangular screen, but the tablet was rounded at one end with a holographic projector. Once activated, she created a quick mockup of a system, and then began her explanation. As she talked, she drew on her tablet to show us what she was talking about, visually.

“Okay, this is assuming you’ve already surveyed the planet and you know everything there is to know about it. Step number one is to shield the planet from the harmful solar winds and cosmic radiation like you said, which can be done one of two ways. The first is by interposing a magnetic field generator between the planet and the nearby star. Every habitable planet’s core does this on it’s own, but dead worlds, or worlds without sufficient mass, need some help. Otherwise any atmosphere you create will just get stripped away over time. The second option is to drill deep within the planet’s surface and detonate a very powerful nuclear bomb. The energy released would liquify the core once again, making it act similarly to a giant electromagnet and deflect solar winds to protect the atmosphere.”

“With a magnetic field in place, next are the solar reflectors, which are essentially gigantic mirrors that are placed in orbit and help warm up the planet. Early on they can have a significant impact in helping raise surface temperatures, though that impact lessens more and more as the atmosphere is built up.”

“After that, things get a little more complicated, and it takes a lot of moving parts. Usually a mining company is called in to begin harvesting comets that are rich in the gases needed. That’s primarily nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen, but small amounts of other gases are fine as well. When a load of comets has been gathered, they are brought to the planet and launched at the surface one at a time and usually targeted at a certain location. At the beginning they’ll just impact the planet’s surface, but as the planet gets warmer, more of the gases trapped within the ice that makes up a comet will be released. At that time, comets will begin burning up from the friction in the atmosphere, and those gases will be released more rapidly.”

“Comets play the most important part in terraforming a planet, because that is where the majority of the water comes from. Even if there are frozen lakes and oceans on the surface or underground, the majority of the time they don’t even come close to containing enough water to create anything bigger than a large lake. Water could of course be shipped in, but that is a very expensive proposition and often takes even longer.”

“While comets are repeatedly bombarding a planet’s surface, factories are built up in a safe area to produce additional gases as well as heat. Originally, things like wood or coal were burned in massive quantities, to achieve this, but there was a better source found, and this is the accident part. Do any of you know what an oxygen candle is?”

I certainly didn’t, and Ben wasn’t speaking up as he usually does. After looking around and waiting, Kaera continued with her explanation.

“An oxygen candle was something that was, and still is, a last resort when it comes to maintaining a breathable atmosphere in an enclosed area. If you’re on a ship without power and the air scrubbers aren’t working, for example, then an oxygen candle can save your life. Sodium chlorate is used in most oxygen candles, and is mixed with iron powder and then packed into a container. Once ignited by a striker or firing pin, the mixture burns at over 600 degrees Celsius, releasing oxygen and heat, while leaving iron and sodium chloride in the container.”

“Four or five kilograms of the mixture could be used to keep a single person alive for a day, but what if you scale it up massively and that oxygen wasn’t being consumed and turned into carbon dioxide? Or better yet, what if you combined some of that oxygen with hydrogen to produce more water? That’s exactly what happened 993 years ago, and not only did it completely revolutionize the terraforming process, but it also made it take significantly less time.”

“Before that, the atmosphere was usually so toxic that the only organisms that could survive it were bacteria and it took a long time and a lot of tinkering before even algae could survive to help make it habitable. Now when a planet is done being terraformed, soil can be fertilized and seeds can be planted immediately. Algae will begin to grow naturally. After a few years, animals can slowly be introduced to help create a natural ecosystem, starting with bugs and marine organisms and expanding beyond that every few years.”

“And it’s an eight year course to learn how to do that? Hell, I think I could do it right now,” Mason joked, causing Kaera to laugh.

“There is a lot more that goes into it, believe me. The reason that Astroengineering and Geoscaping is an eight year course is because there is a lot of hands-on stuff that goes along with it. I’ll know everything I need to know to start terraforming next year, but I would never be able to do it professionally. That’s where the other six years come in. Veria University has connections all over the galaxy, and over those six years, we’ll get to see and participate in terraforming projects that are at different stages.They may just be getting started on one, while another might be at the tail end. At the end of those eight years, everyone who graduates will be an accredited terraformer and can start their own business, or apply to apprentice with one of the hundreds of terraforming projects that are ongoing.”

“Hundreds?” I asked.

“Terraforming is a very lucrative business, and one that is very high in demand. In all the systems in this galaxy, only a small percentage have planets that are naturally habitable. The majority of systems may or may not have a planet or two that is in the green zone, but those planets may not have developed properly to support life on their own. Terraformers just give them a little push.”

“Green zone?”

She nodded. “It depends on the size of the star, but there is always an area that a planet needs to be located in to sustain life.”

“We call it the Goldilocks Zone,” Ben said and then proceeded to tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

“Not too hot and not too cold, but just right. I like that,” Kaera replied with a smile.

“Now that we’re all done eating, would you mind telling us more about this table?” I asked. “We kinda got interrupted in the middle.”

“Oh, right! Now where was I…”