Hello once again. I apologise for the string of cliffhanger chapters that has been going for a while. I assure you this chapter will be the last of these cliff hangers. Starting from the next chapter, I will try my best to conclide each upload on a conclusive note.
Anyways, on a side note, conversations held by Kiefer in English will be brown and Italicised. Everything else spoken by Kiefer in Aioan will be the normal white colour. That's all from me, enjoy this chapter.
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Kiefer studied the series of simplified pictures that were being played on a loop on both the visual and tactile screens. It was quite easy to discern what the probe was attempting to convey. The pictures showed man and a woman, then zooms out to show the earth and the moon, then a rocket ship leaving the earth and travelling away from the sun. Then it shows several objects launching from the side of the rocket and falling onto another planet. Finally the objects opened up like a flower bud to reveal the probe flying out and examining the surroundings.
“Ah…! Lord Kiefer!” One of the residents working for Alwin immediately recognised Kiefer. “Do you know what these are? Is this part of the winter festival too?” He asked, curious more about the probes than the missing eastern wing of the cove.
“Ah. Actually, I don’t know what this is.” Kiefer lied. “I’ll take them back home to analyse it.” He said, placing his hand on the probe before disappearing into thin air together with Feir. Moments later, Feir reappeared once more within the city square and disappeared in a similar fashion with the second probe.
Back at the mountain side, Sher had been working diligently, having blasted a nice smooth platform into the side of the mountain. With the rocky floor and inner wall, the groove did not have a roof as the inner wall descended directly from the mountain surface above as a steep drop. To one side, Kiefer had already piled a stack of logs that he had stripped from the forest at the base. Right next to the logs though, were a large stack of bricks and bags of cement that he acquired from the main brick factory in Mutatis. Of course, he had left a couple of gold coins in their place and a note stating what he had taken. Even if he was the founder and could literally take what he wanted, it wouldn’t be good for the owners or the economy if he stole willy nilly from them.
“Sana, Sher. We might have a problem. The space craft that left earth carrying enough humans to colonise a planet is now near Aioa.” Kiefer informed them, placing the Probe down on the rocky floor. “This is probably one of their probes that they sent to check the conditions on this planet.”
“And why is that a problem? Can’t we just welcome them? If I’m not wrong, their leader is the ancestor of the lady who runs the fleet of ship on earth. Don’t you think they would be nice mannered too? Like her?” Isana asked, unsure of what point Kiefer was trying to make.
“Sure, but it would be naïve to think that they are all good people. You’ve seen what they did to my planet. You’ve seen the betrayal of the person that she most trusted. What is to say there won’t be selfish, greedy or corrupt people among the several million souls on board that ship?” Kiefer questioned her.
“I still don’t see why you are so worried. It’s not like they can just march their way onto our planet and take over by force. In case you forgot, you are now a titan too, and the way I see it, a very powerful one at that.” Isana rebutted, starting to understand Kiefer’s worries.
“People change over time Isana. But one thing has always been true for my people. That is war will always follow them wherever they go. You have yet to see what kind of destructive weapons they hold. Considering how advanced they have gotten, I wouldn’t be surprised if they have weapons that could basically destroy Aioa in an instant, allowing them to pick off whatever resources remains to support their own ship. I’m worried that their goal is not colonisation, but instead has changed to resources acquisition. With several million lives on board, resources run dry quickly.” Kiefer explained.
“Master, can’t you just ask them to check? You can speak English better than all of us, and that thing has been beeping for some time now, so can’t you use it to contact them?” Sher asked, pointing at the probes who now have a flashing red light on their roof.
“Sher has a point Kii, why don’t you tamper around with one of them? If you do end up wrecking it, you can always use the second one.” Isana added on, reassuring that the worst case scenario was not upon them yet. “And besides, if what you say about their weapons is true, then befriending them might not be such a bad idea. We could use some help in our upcoming fight with Gondor.”
“Master. Something is happening. I think they are trying to run away.” Feir chimed in, revealing that he had already restricted one of the probes that were trying to fly away with his mana ropes.
“Hold it still while I try to see what I can do with this one.” Kiefer instructed as he also restricted the 1st probe with his mana ropes, preventing it from deploying its quad rotors.
The visual screen had already gone blank after the probe was transported to the mountain. Kiefer tapped the screen a couple of times but failed to illicit a response from the probe that was now determined to get away from what it had determined to be threat. As Kiefer slapped the side of the metallic body, a small circular opening slid open in the front, from which something promptly shot forth.
Kiefer felt a pinching pain below his neck, and pulled out a tranquilizer dart from just below his collarbone. As he started getting drowsy, he felt his heartbeat quicken. With several loud thumps, his body heated up and soon, silvery particles were evaporating from his hand in wisps. The drowsiness was gone and Kiefer felt more alert than ever.
“Wow… I didn’t think my regenerative abilities worked on external sources of poison as well. At least that’s reassuring to know.” Kiefer muttered as he tossed the dark to the side. Turning the drone around, Kiefer found a rectangular hatch on the back that with a little prying, popped open. There inside, was a handle welded onto a circular base. Grabbing the handle and turning it 90 degrees counter-clockwise, the drone immediately powered down.
Even with the drone powered down, the little red light kept flashing on its roof. Kiefer figured it must be a sort of distress beacon, so turning the probe back on wouldn’t do much since it will just revert back to its original distress protocol. Deciding to try something else on the 2nd probe, he walked over to where Feir was holding it.
Same as the other probe, the screen was blank as it placed escaping as its top priority. Kiefer scrutinised the surface of the probe, along with any and all of the instruments it came with. The most prominent would still be the camera that was protected under a sturdy clear plastic dome, making it resemble a security camera he remembered seeing in malls.
Inspecting the probe thoroughly and not finding anything useful, Kiefer decided to give up. None of the screens work and it was simply locked in distress mode. Just as he decided to turn the 2nd probe off too, Sher excitedly pointed out that the red blinking light had stopped. Kiefer was just about to turn the power switch when the probe started making beeping noises. Shortly after, the visual screen lit up once more, this time, with the face of an elderly man in a crisp white uniform displayed.
The elderly gentleman looked to be in his 50s, possibly going on to 60 soon. He had a gentle smile on his face, looking through the screen like he was watching his grandchildren play. Then, the screen with the man’s face shrunk in size and filled a quarter of the display down at the bottom right corner while another series of pictures started playing on a white background.
“Hello there. I know you cannot understand me, but I will try my best to tell you that we have come seeking your help. If you will look at the rest of the screen, it will explain to you who we are and our origin.” The man spoke kindly while gesturing to the rest of the screen.
“We are humans. We have escaped from earth in a time of crisis to find a new world we can call home. Our vessel is now high up in the skies, among the stars. I sincerely hope that when we meet in person, you will not be alarmed. From what this unit has shown me, your people are very diverse and have a thriving society. While we do not wish to impede on –“ The man was cut off halfway as Kiefer began to speak.
“I’ll just stop you right there Mr Palmer. I think I have a rough idea on what your current situation is.” Kiefer blatantly spoke out, as if he had been expecting the message and could read the man’s mind.
Palmer’s eyes widened with surprise as his mouth was left agape, being cut off mid-sentence. Then he seemed to back up a few steps and muttered inaudibly into a terminal on his wrist. Kiefer watched as 2 more people in uniforms came up next to palmer and they discussed something. Hands were moving wildly as Palmer kept gesturing towards what Kiefer assumed was the camera or screen where he would be displayed on their side. Unknown to Kiefer, Palmer was merely questioning his lieutenants if there had been some sort of translation program already installed on the probes, and if so, what language Kiefer was speaking in.
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“Umm... hello? I know it’s a little surprising, and it may come to you as an even bigger shock, but I am a human just like you, or rather, used to be a human. I was from earth and I know that your ship, Hope, escaped earth because you believed it to be doomed.” Kiefer spoke to the screen.
Palmer and his officers stopped their discussion abruptly at Kiefer’s words, and just stared into the screen in shock. The man on the other side of the screen was speaking English, as confirmed by his lieutenant that there has been no translation module installed on the probes. What was being heard by them were the exact words spoken by the man down on the planet. He slowly made his way back to the screen while his officers hung around the back. Clearing his throat, the elderly gentleman spoke again.
“Pardon my rudeness. I had not expected to hear English from a native of a foreign planet. As much as I would like to hear your story, I would greatly prefer to hear it in person. For now, I just want to let you know that we have intentions of landing on your planet and possibly develop a city for us to stay in. Colonisation has always been the primary goal of the mission, but I would prefer to avoid conflict if possible. Please tell the leader of your country or society or world that we come in peace and are just looking for a new home to settle down in.” Palmer explained, the gentle smile reappearing on his face.
“If you want to meet face to face, that won’t be a problem. Where are you located right now?” Kiefer asked, making it sound like meeting another person in space was an everyday task that he performed.
“I’m afraid that will be a little difficult right now. We are still about quite some time away from entering a stable geostationary orbit around your world. Did you say you were from earth? If so, then you should probably understand the concept of an hour. Our vessel is currently 100 hours away from your planet. When we have everything prepared, our expedition scouts will be the first to land on your planet. You can meet with them then.” Palmer replied, still not able to believe that Kiefer was from earth. Even if he spoke English, and he knew about earth and the space ship, even though the evidence points conclusively to the fact that Kiefer was an earthling, Palmer seemed unable to believe it.
“No that’s fine. I will meet you up there in 2 days then. Just a heads up, this planet has approximately 48 hour days, so you might want to inform your civilians that they should get ready to adjust their biological clocks.” Kiefer replied, smiling back as he cut off the transmission by turning the handle with his mana rope.
“Looks like we will get to meet some of my space travelling friends in 2 days. Do you guys want to follow me?” Kiefer asked, as if taking his family out on a road trip.
“You know we can’t go up that high. Only the avian titans can survive without air. Even if we are titans, we still need to breathe you know.” Isana chirped, almost as if blaming kiefer for not understanding Titan biology.
“No that shouldn’t be a problem. Just trust me. Sher you are coming along aren’t you?” Kiefer asked the excited Sher who seemed already set to go. She nodded her head enthusiastically, happy that she will be going on a trip with Kiefer again so soon after their last adventure.
With that done, Kiefer tossed the 2 probes into his PD and promptly began working on his house. The next 2 days flew by quickly, with the entirety of Mutatis busy with repairs and the winter festival cut short by the Mana catastrophe. Kiefer finished his brick and wood house.
From the exterior, it looked like a simple 2 storey log cabin with a balcony hanging off the side of the mountain, giving a picturesque view of the forest, the city and the sea. Just behind the logs, was a sturdy brick wall that was walled up on the interior with wooden planks for aesthetic purposes. The house was almost an exact replica of what they had, with 2 basement levels going deep into the mountain. There was even a simple table and 2 chairs laid out on the balcony, where currently Kiefer and Isana were enjoying a nice tea session while watching the sun rise.
Sher finally roused from her sleep and joined Kiefer and Isana for a quick breakfast before getting dressed to meet the people on the spaceship. This would be the titans’ first trip into outer space. As all 4 titans fly up into the sky, Kiefer began the first step of his plans.
With Isana, Sher and Feir huddled up next to Kiefer, he deployed a dome shield. Unlike any of the tiny dome shields he had before his transformation, this one was a whopping 1km wide translucent silver sphere.
Securing the titans with his mana ropes, Kiefer shot up towards the heavens, the clouds making way for his giant sphere. Kiefer no longer needed to use his mana platforms. With the transformation, came the ability to move through mana imbued fluids. There was no physics involved, no requirement for lift or the need to obey the laws of gravity. As long as there was mana, he could use it to propel himself through the air, or space in this case.
Within minutes, the round ball of rock, dirt and water was far below their feet and the titans watched in awe as they took in the sights of space. The moons seemed so much closer as the planet grew ever slightly smaller with the passage of time. For Kiefer, there was no sense of weightlessness in space. He was simply moving through a mana field emanating from Aioa, the sun and the moons.
His first step was a success, as he had predicted. The dome kept the air trapped within and with such a large size, there was sufficient air to last them a long time in space. This gave them plenty of time to leisurely look for the spacecraft. That, was step 2. Locating the Hope.
Aside from the sun, moons and Aioa, space was just a canvas of blackness, with a very stingy sprinkle of stars. Finding as spaceship of unknown size and shape was going to be a chore, even if there wasn’t any space junk floating in orbit. The toughest part was that Kiefer knew he had to look in the dark areas, where the planetary bodies faced away from the sun. If a spaceship was to approach a planet, he was absolutely certain it would not take a trip past the sun while risking the sweltering temperatures of the plasma ball and the horrendous gravitational pull of it.
It took some time of aimlessly moving through the darkness, only being able to see their own body thanks to the orbs of light conjured by Kiefer. Then, Isana’s emerald eyes gleamed as she pointed into the distance, as a massive structure that was speeding towards them from around the moon. Kiefer understood immediately that the space craft was using the moon’s gravitational pull to align a trajectory in the shape of the number 8 and swing itself into orbit around Aioa.
Judging by the sheer velocity of the vessel and the mass of the vessel, Kiefer knew there was no way he could stop or even grab a hold of the space craft until it slowed down in orbit. Deciding that the best course of action was to wait near Aioa, Kiefer turned around and started moving back towards Aioa.
The vessel was enormous, with absolutely zero aerodynamics. This only meant that it was built in space and did not have the capability to descend onto the planet surface. At the rear was a giant dish, attached to 4 massive pistons which Kiefer guessed to be the suspension system. By his estimates, what followed were 3 large cylinders about 10km long and 3km in diameter each. They were all spinning on their own axis, while being attached from both ends to a fourth column that ran in between them. The central column extended from the suspension and propulsion systems, past the rotating cylinders, and into the bulky head of the ship.
After waiting for almost another 2 hours, everyone was already over the initial excitement of being in space. Hope had already started to decelerate into a geostationary orbit, rotating along with the planet’s equator. Kiefer finally decided to make his move, approaching the front end of the ship quickly.
*Thump!*
“What was that?” Palmer asked, looking up from his screen. His first thoughts were that one of Vladlena’s drones had dropped something onto the exterior of the cockpit while working outside. Looking around the room, Palmer noticed that everyone’s attention was focused on something else entirely. They were all staring at the glass panels that separated the cockpit from the void of space.
Palmer’s eyes traced his subordinates’ sight, and locked onto an impossibility. There, standing outside in the vacuum of space, was a young couple, their daughter, and what looked like their pet dog with a lightning shaped horn on its forehead. The man was smiling and waving at Palmer from outside the cockpit.
Palmer continued to watch in disbelief as the man bent down and blew onto the glass, causing it to mist over and scribble the English word ‘HELLO’ on the misty glass. What was even more unbelievable was that the man, was the same one he had seen on his screen not too long ago, speaking to him in English through the probe with which he had lost contact momentarily after their conversation ended.
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Hello once again. I'm just gonna give you a heads up. There will be no chapter tomorrow or the day after since i will be super packed with work. After that, I will resume on Wednesday with hopefully a longer chapter with a proper conclusion.