"It's time Gloss," Caldesan said, with a serious tone.
"Yes, it is, Cald," Glossarai replied one syllable at a time.
"Time for what?" Marchen asked.
"MEGA BASE!" Both Cald and Gloss yelled together while making their victory poses.
"I set you two up for that...." Marchen said, now clearly aware of the behavior of the two pioneers.
A giggle and a nod was his only response...
The next portion of the journey involved Gloss "surfing" the roof of one of the vans as Marchen drove in her stead. While Glossarai was on the top of the van she was working to extend power lines from the Coal Generators to the site of the Mega Base.
After they made it to ground zero of their new base location Glossarai laid down the HUB.
The group of people and pioneers were standing on a few tiles that Cald had laid out. They were for orientation to the cardinal directions as Gloss had put it, which made building the rest of the base easier in the future. The Pioneers seemed to be contemplating something as they stood on the platforms in silence.
"So, what are your plans for your...Mega Base?" Nalah asked curiously, she couldn't wait to see what they would build next.
"Hmmm, I wanted it to be on a mesa with cliffs so we could have a cool resource bridge that spans the gap between the cliff and the first processing floor," Caldesan said with a hand on the chin of her helmet.
Gloss nodded and said, "Yeah, Cald loves resources bridges. Last time she insisted on having one for every biome there was. It looks neat but takes time to organize. I shouldn't complain 'cause she did most of the work on them, while I did the trains and such."
Caldesan scoffed, "Well, I am sorry for having a little panache in my builds."
"You don't even know what panache means." Gloss replied.
"Well, MAYBE I'll Google it!" Caldesan yelled back.
Gloss started laughing, followed immediately by Caldesan who then were both laughing at the ridiculous statement.
"Is this google more magic they have?" Marchen whispered to his right.
"It must be." Gnolt the Naga representative whispered back.
"Alright, let's put the pure nodes up on top of this mesa, with MK2 miners, so we don't waste turbo motors. This will be a good spot for using some Power Shards. I am thinking 5 Iron Nodes, 2 Copper, 2 Caterium, 2 Coal for steel, 1 Coal for Black Powder, and other stuff. 1 Sulfur, 3 quartz, 4 Limestone, 3 or 4 Oil, and a couple of Bauxite for Aluminum, eventually. We will put the Uranium nodes by the nuclear power plants hopefully far enough away so we don't have to wear radiation suits." Glossarai counted off on her fingers as she continued her plans.
"We should still leave room for more nodes, including limestone which we will need for not only encased steel beams but just a lot of concrete for building. And with that extra early production, we need iron plates for walls, platforms, and railings. So do you want to get the miners going and I will get a foundation for our base going?" Caldesan continued.
"Well, we should also set up the hub, and maybe a few temporary rooms for our friends here. It is only a few hours until dusk, so we could get all that done before dinner! It will be easy as long as we work hard!" Gloss said while twirling her Build Gun.
"Easy as pie, and I was thinking I could start with an open platform as a rectangle since trains here will be larger than what we needed in the game, including our builder train. We only have a few days to make this base! Let's get it done!" A thumbs up accompanied the statement, Caldesans' excitement was growing.
They started running away.
"Wait! Ladies, what are you doing? You are just going to start building?" Marchen asked, blown away...Shouldn't they set up camp, before anything? The desert could be dangerous at night.
The pioneers stopped and looked at each other, "We will probably work all night honestly, at least it feels like we can grind right now." Caldesan replied.
"Grind? You must deprive yourselves of rest!" Nalah said with a worried tone.
"Well, we only have so much time to build a quick first few stages of our Mega Base, the good news is that we don't need end-game materials until we start to move basic communication forward for everyone, which includes radio towers and receiver production. OHHH MY WORD CALD!" Glossarai just realized what they could do with more information technology.
"Uhh, no what do you mean?" Cald said with confusion.
"THE INTERNET!! We can invent it here!" Glossarai said.
"But I hate social networking, and there are no games or even websites, we would have to make it all...I think basic radio communications is a good first step." Caldesan said with a more calm tone than Gloss had expected.
"How are you not more excited about that? You know we can do much more with it than just those things." Gloss replied, and before Cald could reply they were interrupted.
"Okay, I am sorry my Pioneers, but may we discuss what you plan to build? Is it going to be larger than the last....structure you made?" Pault Freeman answered in a respectful tone.
"Yes, I would very much like to see what you have planned." Charine continued, "But are you going to start building without any blueprints, just like the last base? Normally there are weeks of planning, I thought we were just scouting potential build sites?"
"Oh, well no, we are ready to build right now, we have all the knowledge we need already, and we can make the base as big as we want," Cald said.
"Yeah, Cald is going to make you guys a few rooms while I start getting the miners ready. Then we will start building a few floors to the base." Glossarai explained.
"Exactly, so please make sure to stop us in 2 hours or we probably won't stop building until we are too tired to continue! But wait Gloss, I am going to do it the other way around so we can get some concrete and iron plates going." Caldesand continued.
"Oh, that sounds good. Maybe we can both work on the apartments later." Glossarai replied.
"This is crazy, Pioneer Caldesan, you will need your rest! We have plenty of time here then we can move on to the next spot if this isn't suitable." High Priestess Alana said.
"Uh, Alana...this IS the spot!" Caldesan said.
The group shook their heads at the antics of the Pioneers, they truly were from another world.
__________________________________________
Two Hours Later.
There was a massive structure already in existence, with smoke rising from rows of machines, and two pioneers flying around like bees around a beehive. It consisted of rectangular floors that were supported in four spots by tall pillars that ran through the floors to the top floor which was half again as tall as the mesa that the miners were on. And there were a lot of miners.
The top of the mesa was now covered with platforms and miners at perfect intervals. All of the mined resources were on their MK5 belts which can take 780 resources per minute. The belts came together and lined up to go across the resource bridge to the first processing floor.
There were enough Smelters for every metal, including Foundries for Steel Ingot production. They had enough constructors to make more concrete for more foundations and walls. By the time the group of people watching this incredible display called the two-hour mark, they had run out of expletives and amazement. It almost felt normal to watch the pioneers break all of the laws of nature.
"Well, at least we can make food for them! I might not be able to stop them from working all the hours of the night, but hopefully, I can make sure that they are fed!" Nalah said in her motherly tone before she made her way into the kitchen in the HUB. The rest of the people including Alana, Melissa, Marchen, Gnolt, and Charine seemed to agree as they went about trying to set up camp for the night.
"I will help make food as well, I can't keep watching this." Priestess Melissa said while trying to remain sane.
"I wonder what this place will look like when they are finished." Marchen wondered out loud.
"They said Mega Base, but is it just this single structure? I am so curious, it is like watching time pass on the dawn of a new city. Usually, it is only easy to destroy things at the speed they build them. They are the opposite of destruction. Mages of Creation." Pault Freeman said.
"Well said, I suppose they have their plans, but our goal was to find a spot for them to build this base so they could help a nearby town. They build this base for resources to use, which they will transport by train to the Town where they are just rebuilding. I seem to keep forgetting our plans by the powers they display." Gnolt said.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"What is the name of this town Marchen?" Pault asked.
"Well, only one building remains, so it isn't a town anymore. Not to mention the fields are no longer fertile, and the water is poisoned as usual. It seems the population is barely holding on." Marchen replied. "But it was called IdleFrost."
"Whatcha guys doing?" Caldesan's curious voice called to everyone.
The group of people, besides Nalah and Melissa who were starting to make food, turned to look at the two pioneers floating toward them.
"Ahhh, well, We figure we should at least get our camps set up, it will be best if we get our wards up before dark, the desert can be very dangerous at night." Marchen Al'Mare expressed his concerns.
"Hmm, well we were going to make some apartments up on the base and also move the HUB up there, would we be safe up in the air?" Gloss asked.
"Well...yes, it is being on the sand itself that is dangerous at night. But you do not have to make apartments for us, that seems excessive for just a few nights' stay." Marchen continued.
"Well, I don't think so, it will be your guys' apartments whenever you come to visit.....hmmm Gloss we should have a visitor residence," Caldesan said.
"Definitely, but I want a garden this time, and you can put ZERO Blue Palms in it." Gloss said, already making a stand against Caldesans favorite plant.
Caldesan turned quickly to look at Gloss with a horrified expression under the helmet, "You wouldn't! Why do you hate my trees? They are beautiful!"
"I don't hate them I am rather fond of them. However, you put them on every surface you could last time. I refuse to have an entire base filled with blue palms again." Glossarai said, "Plus, this will be our actual home. We need to make it look good, you know?"
"I am offended, blue palms are amazing and they will be very beautiful amongst the desert sights that we have up next to this Sea of Desolation. ANYWAYS, it will be beneficial to make a few apartments right now, so we can save the blueprint of them for the future." Caldesan said with a little bit of sarcasm.
"So you do use blueprints!" Charine said triumphantly.
"Of course, we just don't need them. The awesome part about it is that once we do have a blueprint then we can just paste a copy of the structure wherever we want, as long as we have all of the materials. It will make the building very easy, and everything will just be the same." Glossarai said.
Charine's mouth dropped open. "What...that's.....that's incredible."
"Hehe, do you want to see something even more incredible? What if I told you I could make a structure in under 30 seconds that goes all the way to space?" Caldesan asked while walking towards Charine.
"What are you saying?" Charine asked skeptically.
"Cald, I don't know about that right now..." Gloss said worriedly.
"Hah! Come on Gloss! It will blow everyone's minds, even OURS! We always watch when the Space Elevator is made, it's like an event." Caldesan ended with what could be a commandment of Satisfactory.
"I am not arguing that but it will be seen for miles and miles, I can't help but think that it's kind of dangerous." Gloss tried to calm this runaway train.
"Nope, we are doing it! I'll go make a platform then we will do this!" Caldesan said.
"Pioneer Caldesan, please explain what you are doing, if this is something that will put you two or the other representatives in danger, I must insist you do not follow through with this." High Priestess Alana said, with a tone of fear masked with a stern tone.
"Look it is fine, it will be a little scary, but nothing will happen, and if you are worried about something attacking then we can build a wall in like 5 minutes, and we can also all go up to the top of the factory so nothing can come near us," Cald said hoping to assuage them.
Alana sighed and nodded, prepared for the next world-defying power these two would do.
"Great! Gloss do you want to build the platform or shall I?" Caldesan asked.
"DIBS!" Gloss said and flew incredibly fast to the edge of the partially covered Sea of Desolation. She immediately began dropping down foundations into the water and raising them.
Caldesan laughed and flew to the first floor of the factory and extended a path that lined up perfectly with Glossarai's foundations.
They had no clue that the wind from their flight pulled everyone standing near them to the ground with the force.
"They do not understand the powers they wield, and they are clueless about our world. I fear bringing them anywhere besides this desert." Gnolt said with a fearful tone as he made himself upright again. He brushed off his suit and shook his head.
"True, I also worry, they are a force of nature," Marchen added as he stood up. "We can only hope to guide them for good I say."
"I feel as though we are barely holding on in their wake as they change the world before our eyes. I suppose the world is changing no matter what, but this is beyond anything the world has seen." Pault said.
"I do believe that they mean no harm. But yes, they surely will need to...rein in their powers in front of civilians so to speak. I feel as though I am barely keeping it together right now." Alana said, many agreed.
The group watched the Pioneers craft what would surely be a monument through the ages, in minutes.
Then Caldesan flew back to the group while Gloss was hovering near the platform that was high off the surface of the lake.
"Alright, I am going to extend a platform out for you guys to get closer, cause this is going to be amazing to watch!" And she did just that. From the few platforms she laid down earlier she extended a single line of platforms that made it out above the water just a few platform spaces away. There were no supports, it just hovered.
With a loud sigh, Charine walked to the HUB to grab the other two. "Shaman Nalah? Priestess Melissa? The Pioneers have requested our presence on a platform to witness something that should not be possible again. I believe they said a 'Space Elevator.'" Charine had a smile on her face, but the stress was clear.
Watching the impossible was starting to take its toll on her.
Nalah turned away from the impressive kitchen with a non-magical fire for a stovetop. "Oh? What is a Space Elevator?"
"This seems like they are doing something crazy again." Priestess Melissa added.
__________________________________________
"Alrighty! This is going to be the Space Elevator platform! It will allow us to send resources to space...which will be used to make...stuff! Anyways it's cool to see, so Gloss, if you will please."
"You got it." Gloss answered and she pointed her Build Gun.
Caldesan flew next to the group and said, "Here we go!"
Once again resources began to appear from just behind Glossarai and they flew at a rapid pace to a large glowing yellow structure that formed three "arms."
The structure made a loud booming sound that exploded away from the structure. It changed from glowing gold to the metallic colors that have been in common with the other structures they have made, both orange and black with some other colors mixed in. The three arms opened up as if to grab something.
"Look up!" Caldesan said while floating in the air staring straight up.
The group, shocked into silence, looked up together and saw a black dot in the sky.
And like the hand of a god, a black cord with a metallic three-pronged head dropped from the sky.
A gasp and some expletives were exchanged as the....thing from space began to rise, and the claws of the building clamped down on it. Before it could rise back to space the cord was locked to the ground.
"What am I seeing? Is this...I don't understand." Melissa was thinking about running away.
"This is the Space Elevator! It is connected to a station in orbit! This is the same station that sent us to the surface!" Caldesan explained as some sort of additional structure came to a stop a long way up the spire, but seemed to hover there.
"This is a direct line to your God?" Gnolt asked.
"Uhh...no. This is just a way to get to space without using rocket fuel, just power." Caldesan responded as if this explanation was enough to justify what just happened.
"Caldesan," Nalah said patiently. "I don't think you realize what you just created. As far as how people will view this. I believe you have just made a religious site visible to most of this side of the world." Nalah was trying to politely convey the ramifications of building something that reaches as far as this.
"Hmm, should we build a wall?" Caldesan asked seriously, not seeing a problem at all.
__________________________________________
"Okay! I have made a few different apartment models in 4-bedroom styles. They are even decorated with furniture!" Cald said, trying to boast to Glossarai.
"Heh, mine have plumbing!" Gloss said triumphantly.
"WHAT?! I mean I made mine ready for it, but I didn't see you over there putting up pipes!" Caldesan said.
"Why do you think I built it on the water? I have 1 model of an apartment, but it is very well furnished as well, and it has plumbing, kitchens, bathrooms, and a living room. The bathroom has a giant jacuzzi tub and a shower! Also, the kitchen has many appliances already installed!" And indeed, below the space elevator a group of buildings just barely hovered over the water with pathways leading around it to each house.
"Well I can plug in pipes easily, but, I have a massive King Size bed in a couple of rooms, a walk-in closet that you could put a car inside of! And speaking of Cars I have a garage! And I also put a huge tub but it is in the center of the buildings with Blue Palms all around it!" Instead of a few buildings, Cald made one 5 stories tall with an elevator on opposing corners. Between the space elevator and Glossarais apartment complex, Caldesan put the building in such a way that it was over the water but connected to the land where they could drive vehicles to the first floor of her complex.
"Eventually I want to hook all of this up with Hyper Tubes so vehicles aren't needed inside our industrial complex. But it will be convenient for now." Caldesan said imperiously.
"So you finished making "apartments" for all of us, but these seem to be luxury homes that are floating in the air nearly. I don't think that is reasonable to just give it away. These should be yours, we are not worthy of this." Charine said, with a surprising amount of humility.
"PSH, you haven't even seen them yet! Come on Charine! I made one specifically for you!" Caldesan grabbed her hand and took off running nearly dragging Charine with her.
"Wait Caldesan, I made dinner!" Nalah called.
"We better just go check out what she made fast, or she won't stop," Glossarai said with experience.
"Oh, I see. Well, let's go then, the stew can simmer." Nalah replied.
The group was led through the incredibly futuristic homes that the Pioneers made. Each room had furniture, paintings, rugs, plants, and more. Each kitchen had appliances that you would find in a modern kitchen on Earth. The bathrooms held impressive showers and tubs with more plants, sinks, mirrors, and very comfortable toilets. To say that they were lost with how to operate anything was an understatement.
The bedrooms were all furnished with a futuristic style and also a few plants, with a beautiful king-size bed, truly worthy of a King in this world.
In the house, Caldesan made for Charine the tour was finally coming to an end. They stood in what could be described as a forest with a creek that flowed out of a jacuzzi tub. There were trees all over the room, and looking up you could see the darkening orange sky through the glass ceiling. There were trees, bushes, and rocks, and it cascaded down from above where the jacuzzi was.
"This...is incredible. I have never seen anything like this. Why did you make this for me?" Charine asked.
"Uhh, no reason." Caldesan said.
"You picked me from the crowd for some reason, I am just curious if you don't mind me asking. I don't feel as though I am worthy of your gifts." Charine replied, trying to figure out what the powerful Being saw in her.
"Uhhh, nothing. Well, it's just that we never had Elves in our world. There wasn't any other sentient being besides humans as far as we knew, and we had mapped the entire surface. But anyways, I have always wanted to meet an Elf. And you are like a ridiculously beautiful Elf, and I just thought maybe..... Oh, I am rambling, sorry."
Charine's confusion showed on her face, "Wait, how do you know about Elves if you didn't have them in your world.....what was it? Satisfactory?"
"Uhhhh, no our first world was Earth, and that was only humans. It would be a long story about elves though."
"Alright, but I am still not sure I understand....you are attracted to me?" Charine asked with a concerned face.
"Oh, my word," Caldesan said before walking away while being thankful for keeping her helmet on to hide her embarrassment.
"Wait did you say Earth? As in, the name of your original planet was Earth?" Charines ever-thinking brain kept rolling while remembering the prophecy.
Caldesan looked back before getting on the elevator, "Yeah, Earth, then Satisfactory, and now...Agua!"