“So, this is the orbital station, eh?” He asked, looking around.
“Yup, it should be complete in another couple of years,” Asura replied with a proud smile. “With how well the mining teams have been doing, not to mention the upgrades to the mining ships’ drives, things are going much faster than what was originally estimated.”
“That’s awesome,” he said, nodding in appreciation of what he was seeing.
As much as he’d joked with Asura about it being another Death Star, it wasn’t. Sure, it would rival Earth’s Moon- or Luna, as he liked to call it- but the iconic single divot where the planet-destroying beam was shot from was missing from its surface. Instead, there were a dozen.
“So, between the Star Wars tech and the Time Lords’ tech, I’m assuming that this station will put the original to shame?”
Asura beamed at him as she replied.
“It sure will! Normally, a station this size could only support a single main weapon. But, given the level of spatial and temporal mastery, and the associated knowledge, the Starfall can easily support twelve main weapons, along with shielding that can weather a super nova,” she finished with a broad smile, gesturing grandly at a display that showed the core of the station.
Kinkade nodded, familiar with how the Time Lords could harness stars for their energy. Said core, though, was currently lacking a star, though. It its place, there was a “traditional” power core used in the SW-verse.
“I’m guessing that you haven’t found the right star yet,” he asked with a grin, noting the slight pout his teasing engendered.
“No,” Asura said with a sigh. “We still haven’t gotten to the point where we can capture one yet, let alone get to other star systems. It’ll take a while yet to get our production lines upgraded to produce that level of technology.”
“No kidding,” Kinkade said with a smile and a slight shake of his head. “But when you do, we might all be able to finally head back to Earth.”
Asura nodded to that, but didn’t seem to be particularly enthusiastic for that eventual day.
“What’s up?”
Asura paused a moment before speaking, letting her thoughts be known as she slowly described her worries.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about that a lot,” she started as she led him over to the comfy couches in her office. “We now know that the multiverse theory is correct. There are an infinite number of universes out there.”
Kinkade nodded to that, encouraging her to continue.
“Given the number of destinations, it’ll be an astronomical undertaking.”
Kinkade continued to nod along, aware that she was leading up to something.
“Not only that, but we also have to consider other things like contamination. You and I have both read many ‘fictions’ where someone going over to another universe brings catastrophic consequences with them. Sometimes it’s a virus that wipes out all life in the new universe, other times it’s cultural contamination, or uplifting a species that wasn’t ready for it.
“A more recent example of that would be the Krogan Wars. Not to mention just how applicable the Prime Directive is,” she mumbled the last part. “That said, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of stories where Mana is suddenly brought to your home universe, causing untold death and devastation.”
“Yeah, wasn’t one of the more recent ones I was reading before… coming here about that?”
“Yup,” Asura said, happily nodding. “I still want to know how that Divine Feline Overlord turns out.”
Kinkade nodded to that, fully appreciating the sentiment. Before coming to Dovaynia, he was one of those “cursed souls” who had been allergic to cats, thus preventing him from enjoying a cuddly kitty.
“Anyway,” Asura said, bringing the conversation back around. “The point is this: what happens if those stories actually have merit?”
Kinkade paused to mull that over.
The thought had occurred to him before, but he hadn’t entertained it beyond that. Given the fact that Altaea was living(?) proof that he’d had a connection outside of his home universe, able to see and know what was happening elsewhere… then there was a very real possibility that the other stories also had more than a possibility of being true.
Heck, given the knowledge that Altaea had left in his head in the form of the Altaea Virtual Intelligence, and the associated troves of data, he was more that sure that he couldn’t possibly be the only one who’d had a connection like that. The Star Wars Universe, the Star Trek Universe, the Dragonball Universe, the ME Universe and Time Lords, the MCU, DCEU… heck, even the Minecraft Universe! They all pointed to the solid conclusion that Earthlings, somehow, had connections to entirely different Universes out there.
How that happened, or how to explain it, he couldn’t even begin to guess. But with the very real possibility that Mana could… infect his old home if he returned, he wasn’t so sure that he wanted to go back there, his family and friends notwithstanding. Did he really want to be responsible for bringing Mana there? For what would, very likely, be the spark that ignited the apocalypse for Earth.
“That said,” Asura continued, breaking him out of his whirling thoughts. “There could very well be a countdown already in place,” she said, looking very serious now.
“What?” He asked, then nearly facepalmed. “Altaea’s arrival,” he said, shaking his head.
“Yes.”
Asura let him process that for a moment before she continued.
“I’m not entirely sure, but neither would I discount the possibility that her arrival brought Mana with her to your old homeworld.”
“That… could suck,” he said, shaking his head. “Then there are all of the other questions that go with that,” he said, still shaking his head.
“Yes, if the Mana is just spilling in, gushing in, self-replicating and perpetuating. If there’s a ‘System’ that’ll come with it, or even if said ‘System’ will even be beneficial to the residents of your old universe.”
He’d read a considerable number of fictions/fantasies that revolved around an alien “System” that governed the spread and use of Mana. Not only that, but the vast majority of those “Systems” boasted video game-like mechanics. There had also been a disturbingly large percentage of those stories that revolved around an alien species or multiple species, that controlled said System and used it to their benefit, often to Earth’s detriment.
So, the question he was now wrestling with was: did he go home anyway? Did he risk “bringing” Mana back with him, especially Mana that wasn’t governed by a System of some sort. Could he risk that?
“Systems,” was all he said, but Asura nodded as though she’d expected him to say that.
“Indeed,” she said with a brilliant smile. “If Altaea’s arrival didn’t bring a System along for the ride, or even Mana for that matter, then our going to Earth might bring Mana with us. And given that there isn’t some mystical System here to govern Mana and all that…. Then we might just have to design our own System.”
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Kinkade had begun suspecting where she was leading the conversation to, but it still caught him like a medicine ball in the gut.
“Do you have any idea just how complicated that would be?” He asked even though he knew the answer to that almost rhetorical question.
“Yup!”
“Where would we even start? We can’t just start messing with Mana on Dovaynia. I don’t know how many beings down there would object to that. Not to mention the very real likelihood that they’d just kill us outright.”
“That’s true,” Asura said with a sparkle in her eye that told him that she had already thought of that and had planned accordingly. “But what if we can experiment in a closed environment?”
“Genesis,” he breathed out softly.
“You got it,” she said with a brilliant smile that still caused his stomach to flutter even though he was just a psicrystal using a holographic body. “If we can set up a new demiplane once you’ve reached Tier 7, so that Tier 4 Mana can infuse it, then we’ll have a perfect testing environment.”
“That could actually work well,” he said, now going through tens of possibilities in a few seconds. “We could even set up a few new demiplanes to see which versions work best, then pare it down from there.”
“Great minds think alike,” Asura said, still smiling that fabulous smile of hers that he never got tired of seeing. “It’ll just take a while to set up and get going.”
“Which means that I should push hard for Tier 7,” he said, nodding. “I’ll get M3 and M4 working harder, and when M7, M8, and M9 get finished with their work, I’ll make sure they are redirected to cultivation as well.”
“They should be done pretty soon, as I don’t think Joram is particularly interested in the other Psionic Classes right now.”
“True, but there’s still a lot that he wants worked on. The various ‘Feats’ and psionic ‘Skills’, not to mention learning how to ‘Enchant’ with Psijic Energy,” he said, shaking his head.
“I see your point,” Asura said, nodding. “I’ll see if I can get a few minds working on things on my end too. I know that A4 is working with the Minds, but maybe I can get Alicia working with A4 when Avi doesn’t need her for something.”
“That would be fantastic,” Kinkade said, smiling. “I know that Avi doesn’t have the reserves that Joram has, but with [Schism] almost done being translated, then I’m sure that you’ve have much more help soon.”
“That would be nice,” she said wistfully. “As much as I enjoy research, development, and making things, not to mention our outings, I could very much use more help up here.”
Kinkade smiled as he thought about their “outings”, what he preferred to call “dates”.
“Wait, didn’t Avi recently add another Mind?”
“Ah, Ariel,” Asura sighed. “She’s very much there to help Avi concentrate.”
Kinkade raised an eyebrow at that.
“Avi has been having a hard time reigning in the… urges that came with assimilating that Saiyan DNA,” she explained, causing Kinkade to show his ‘Oh’ face. “So, Avi pushed out a new Mind, using the more… aggressive personality traits that were distracting her.”
“I would love to assume that ‘aggressive’ only refers to her disposition to fight things, but…” he said, trailing off.
“You guessed it. It also applies to her libido.”
“Does that mean that there’s a battle maniac out there who’s just as interested in sex?”
“Yup.”
Kinkade was at a loss for words.
“Ariel also grabbed one of Avi’s backup bodies,” she said, seeming to enjoy his panicked expression. “She went with purple hair, so people shouldn’t confuse us too much,” she said, then stopped to let him speak.
“That’s not the issue!”
“True,” she said, cutting him off. “I’d put more weight behind her raiding the armoury and taking a few things.”
Kinkade sat there, his mind going through the many reasons why that was a bad thing, not to mention the problems she could cause them all.
“But it really doesn’t matter,” she said, this time obviously enjoying his indignant expression. “Because, one: Ariel is still Avi, and she wouldn’t do anything too outrageous. Two: Avi can always just pull her back into her realm and deactivate that particular Mind. Three: Ariel is still Avi; she’s very much in love with Joram. So, there’s nothing to worry about on that front.”
Kinkade just about sighed, then blamed Joram for that bad habit. He didn’t even have a biological body!
“Well, there’s that at least,” he said, shaking his head again. “Did you just bring that up to make me panic?” He asked suspiciously. Given that Ariel shouldn’t be an issue, or a problem, he was heavily leaning towards that conclusion.
“Well, in part,” she said, then gave him a sassy wink. “But I wouldn’t put it past her to look for Joram when he’s in his Realm to have some fun,” she finished with a wicked look, her grin positively succubus-like in how it expressed her inner thoughts.
“Well, that’ll be his problem then,” Kinkade said, shaking his head, then changed the subject. “We should probably get back to the shop soon and get things ready for the day.”
“At least the wife-candidates are working out well,” Asura said as her own [Holographic Image] shifted from wearing a white lab coat to that of the store’s uniform.
“That’s true,” he said, taking a moment to change himself. “I get that he’s socially awkward and all, but holding onto monogamy like he is isn’t going to work when there are so many amazing women wanting to be with him.”
“Well, he could make it work,” Asura said, then paused as they shifted to their office in the department store. “But truthfully, he does have a big heart. Not that that has anything to do with polygamy, but he does hold people he’s befriended dearly in his heart. Not to mention how he tried to make his failing marriage work out just for the sake of his daughters.”
“Yeah, that didn’t turn out well,” Kinkade muttered as he shuddered at the memory.
“No, it did not,” Asura agreed. “But, once he lets a person in, they’re there until they do something to get themselves ejected. That, and given his faith before coming here, and how in ancient times polygamy was a thing, not to mention that in wasn’t forbidden in canon, but those who ruled over those people, well…. There’s precedent in the back of his mind.
“And we both know who things can sit in the corner of one’s mind and grow,” she finished, grinning.
“That I do,” he said, shaking his head yet again.
“That, and even though Altaea was monogamous, polygamy was just as common in her world. All that put together, and Avi’s encouragement of Joram taking multiple wives makes sense.”
“It couldn’t possibly be aimed at getting him out of his shell, would it?”
“That too,” Asura admitted. “But in the long run, it’s good for everyone involved. He gets much more practice being around people, even though it’s primarily women, as well as having amazingly talented people that are very much committed to being with him for the long haul.”
“And you don’t think that she’s taking advantage of those young women?” He asked, giving her a flat look.
For as different as he acted compared to Joram, he was still Joram, in every way possible. The thought of taking advantage of those young women still didn’t sit right with him, even after spending months going on dates with them all, individually or with two or more at a time.
“Kinkade,” Asura said seriously, stopping him before he opened the office door and breaking the circuit for the privacy ward on the office. “Those women are fully grown, responsible adults. Each and every one of them has ‘grown up’ in every sense of the word.
“None of them, even the princesses, were coddled like the youth of Earth. They’ve experienced more in their short lives than all but a fraction of a percentage of those on Earth would in a similar timeframe. They know what they’re doing, they know what to expect. They’re not some naïve young girls being tricked into marrying into a polygamous relations ship on the sketchy basis of misplaced faith,” she said, holding his gaze with her own.
“Each and every one of those young women is intelligent, informed, and most importantly, very much willing to pursue such a relationship knowing what they’re signing up for,” she said, the shook her head. “If you are under any illusions that have you believing anything else, then you’re just lying to yourself.”
Once done, Asura slipped past him and out of the office, leaving him to think things over for a bit.
It was true that, unless the person was incredibly sheltered, people here matured emotionally much faster than back on Earth. Not only that, but they were very much encouraged to become self-sufficient, or have learned those skills, by the time they were in their teens.
Given that each member of the Study Group, except for Jae-Eun, was at least considered an “adult” back in Earth, and he very much lacked any logical grounds with which to object to their pursuit of him. Even Jae-Eun was almost eighteen, taking even that argument away.
He could object based on his psychological age, but he’d been mocked not a few times for trying to use that argument. Their reasoning? Psychological age wasn’t tied to biology. It was entirely one’s own mindset. If you chose to think like an old person, you’d very much wind up an old person. If you continued to think like a young person, then you’d very much stay like that.
Given just how long people here could live compared to Earthlings, well, their perspective was very different compared to what he’d grown up with. Just because you were fifty here, didn’t account for much considering everyone’s longevity. Aya was only a bit younger than his cumulative years lived, but she looked the same age as most of the rest of the Study Group. He wasn’t sure how old Jezira was, but was certain that she was older than him by a fair margin; and she still looked as though she could be Kassandra’s slightly older sister.
Heck, his own parents looked like they could be in his same age bracket!
Kinkade shook his head, then left the office. This wasn’t his problem. He was just responsible for running the department store, stocking it, and occasionally selling some stuff at Heaven’s Bounty Auction House. He’d leave that tangle to Joram.
He had enough problems to deal with. Like entitled prats who thought that they could push around his staff to get what they wanted.