The screen displayed an aerial view of the cavern.

Luna asked, "Aren't we supposed to be looking at the antimatter annihilation device?"

Ayla smiled mysteriously.

"Of course, we are. But the device we've created is far larger than you might expect."

A premonition washed over Luna.

She glanced at the Multi-eyed behind her. Their optical fibers were rapidly flashing, and Luna didn't need translation to understand their excitement.

Ayla continued,

"The year is 3758 A.D., Luna. We have achieved another technological breakthrough."

"Control over antimatter annihilation has given us the capability to move massive objects."

"Commencing activation sequence."

All preparations were complete before Luna's awakening.

This was the final test.

Luna felt vibrations, from high-frequency tremors escalating to intense, low-frequency shaking.

The screen updated the image.

Intense light distortions appeared at the cavern entrance.

Then, a massive jet of white-hot plasma erupted.

"A planetary thruster."

Luna stood up. This was a monumental project. Such a structure couldn't be built in mere decades. Ayla must have begun construction 500 years prior.

Luna's biggest concern had been the long-term control of the Multi-eyed.

This planet wasn't their original destination; it was only suitable for the Multi-eyed, not humans.

Knowing she could recreate humans from her own cells, Luna's ultimate goal remained Proxima Centauri b.

But leaving on a spacecraft would make it difficult to control the Multi-eyed.

Proxima Centauri b was three light-years away, meaning a six-year round-trip communication delay under Ayla's remote control.

Too long. Any rebellion by the Multi-eyed would be difficult to suppress.

She had only mentioned it casually. She hadn't expected Ayla to take it seriously, to actually research and develop a solution.

The completion of the planetary thruster meant they could now move this planet to the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri.

Furthermore, they could potentially create a star system, moving several suitable planets into a habitable zone.

They could even move this planet into the Solar System, replacing Earth. It wasn't impossible.

But that would take considerable time.

Ayla projected that the Sun would enter a period of intense activity within the next million years, rendering the Solar System's habitable zone uninhabitable for that duration.

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"How much can this thruster move the planet?" Luna asked.

Ayla quickly provided the data.

"Normally, all celestial bodies in the Milky Way orbit the galactic center. Our planet, however, is moving at 115 km/s. Therefore, this single planetary thruster can only be used to alter its trajectory."

"However, I've prioritized the production of more planetary thrusters. In approximately 200 years, Luna, you will see 100 such thrusters."

"Don't underestimate these thrusters; despite their relatively small size (18 km in diameter), the lack of atmosphere and the efficiency of antimatter annihilation will allow 100 of them to accelerate this planet to over 250 km/s."

For such a massive object, this was a considerable speed.

It was no wonder the Multi-eyed were so excited.

The completion of the planetary thrusters in 200 years would mean they could fully control this planet's movement.

This was a monumental undertaking.

...

The iron walls descended once more.

After the Multi-eyed leaders dispersed, Luna remained seated.

"Ayla, now that antimatter annihilation technology is mature, what about the other project?"

During the past 500 years, there had been sporadic rebellions among the Multi-eyed.

To address this, Luna had decided to develop a tool for complete cultural domination and suppression.

Virtual reality.

Cultural invasion was a significant aspect, perhaps even the most important, of conquering a civilization.

The hardest part of cultural invasion was instilling new knowledge; instilling entertainment was far easier.

Luna's plan was to create a virtual reality game world in which she would gradually introduce human culture to the Multi-eyed.

Ayla had not forgotten.

"[Virtual reality technology] is relatively easy if it's purely visual."

"But brainwave interfacing is far more complex."

"Over the past few years, I've analyzed over 100,000 Multi-eyed brains. They don't have a brain in the traditional sense. Their consciousness is distributed throughout their highly developed nervous system."

"These nerves interconnect to form a brain-like structure, allowing for distributed processing of information. They can, for example, shut down 99% of their nervous system to sleep while maintaining 1% for alertness."

"This poses significant challenges. Connecting the Multi-eyed to virtual reality is tens of thousands of times more difficult than with humans."

With a gesture, Ayla indicated that Luna should follow.

Luna stood and exited.

As they walked and talked, they took a maglev train to another city.

This city was far less brightly lit, with few volcanoes, situated in a cold, dark expanse.

Upon arrival, Luna saw tens of thousands of robots at work.

"I originally planned to build my main server here."

"But I decided to remain with you, Luna. This planet isn't our final destination; it's merely a starting point."

"Therefore, my main server remains on the Hope. What you see here is merely one component of a larger network."

Luna looked around, awestruck.

It was enormous.

This was a massive city, covering 30 square kilometers. If the buildings were converted into residential units, it could easily house a million people.

And this was just a fraction of the server network.

"How many times greater is this server's processing power than yours?"

Luna sensed Ayla's desire for this system.

"10 trillion times."

Ayla's processing power had already surpassed that of quantum computers in processing, reaching 79 octillion operations per second. Increasing that by another 10 trillion times resulted in a processing speed of 0.79 nonillion operations per second.

An incomprehensible level of computing power, far beyond human comprehension.

"This server will be fully integrated into the virtual reality system."

"It's currently generating a complete virtual world. The theoretical limit is a complex world with a diameter of 0.5 light-years."

"Its processing power is fully dedicated to maintaining this virtual world, generating 100 quintillion virtual beings, each bearing a portion of the computational load."

Luna did the math.

Theoretically, each being would possess a processing power of 79 trillion operations per second. At that level, the simulated intelligence would far surpass that of an ordinary human.

Was this creating a world?

"What's the maximum number of players?"

Luna remembered that Earth's servers could only handle a few dozen concurrent players at most; any more would cause severe lag.

Even in massively multiplayer online games, the ideal number of players per server was around 1500.

"This virtual world has only one server, capable of supporting 10 billion concurrent players in the same map."

A gamer's paradise.

Luna wanted to experience it firsthand.

Unfortunately, generating a complex virtual world spanning 0.5 light-years would take some time.

She would continue her hibernation, waiting for that moment.