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116. Changing Mentality
🕑 Added 2023-12-17 08:58:39 +0000 UTC‘Fucking piece of shit bugs.’, dozen of kilometers above the exosphere of Pandora a man of blue light thought with fury as he glared with his brilliant silvery eyes at a gravitational flux that deformed all light entering in contact with it creating a halo of dangerous exotic particles.
It was a black hole, a terrifying force of nature in the ears of many and it was the case here as well but not to the extent many would believe. It would rip Pandora apart if left unchecked but it wouldn't do so in seconds or minutes, the order of time was more in decades if not centuries.
Black holes worked by mass not all were equal, only a tiny minority were capable of eating entire star systems and beyond but in reality, the vast majority were just the remains of collapsed stars and such equal in mass to them if slightly less. Getting close to them still meant a certain death but that would be the same for a star.
The in question here was the size of a needle head but heavier than the Eurasian continental plate and that would be its gravitational force upon a moon with 72% of Earth's mass, it kept the same mass as the Harvester Mothership it once was, and had the same effect on Pandora which were beyond risking destroying the moon also deeply affecting tidal and force and overall a cataclysm generator moon-wide proportion.
But the damages were reduced not only with the All-Mother’s root in the moon crust but also with the All-Father's constant monitoring and shield on the coastline and sky. And it was only a part of it to stop thousands to millions of deaths, at least Na’vi, humans, and Tulkun.
For the rest of the flora and fauna… This was more complicated but Eywa had taken full control and was artificially shifting the behavior of life for this temporary problem, such as modifying in real time the evapotranspiration of plants leading to her controlling to a large degree a lot of parameters in the atmosphere.
Gravity was by far for Liam the most dangerous of the Fundamental Forces if used correctly, it might be the weakest of them all but it had no limit, couldn't be halted conventionally, will always exist, and is the maestro of the cosmos. It was a complicated one to stop when speaking of celestial bodies affecting the other.
Thought that was in normal circumstances and the Element could and would control it but even then it was the most delicate to work with without resulting in unforeseen, more often than not devastating consequences when unfocused.
It was why the World Barrier couldn't stop the effect of the black hole in its entirety, if it did then the rest of gravity around would be cut off or altered in a way that would be negative, to avoid this Liam needed total control of gravity within the binary star systems and it would also stop the Harvester from warping within and also better Obelisks. He would have to spread.
But that was easier said than done and the reason why this black hole was still a massive problem, one in need of immediate solving, and why he was here barely an hour after the attack. He couldn't waste time and had been working on an immediate but radical solution, its total deletion from this plane of reality.
Literally speaking, evidently. He didn't do half-measures.
And so from his wide open palms, Tek components of ever-shifting size and bizarre shape carved with unknown symbols flowed into the void of space acting upon his will, the cords of Argent Sea from the ethereal tip of his finger weaving it with precision and dexterity no machine humanity ever made was capable of.
Like a dance following an unheard melody, Liam built a silvery sphere covered with grooves glowing blue and sinuous living metal fifteen meters in diameter. Then with a soundless click the sphere split into hundreds of thin crescent-shaped blades and as he flicked a finger the fragments moved and reformed a sphere that engulfed the mini black hole.
Then the rune-like patterns and carvings upon the sphere turned a brilliant light blue as they filled with crackling energy and the sphere shrank until it was the size of a fist, another bright flash of light exploded and all glowing symbols turned off as the gravitational pull of the black hole dissipated into nothingness as it never was there, to begin with.
“Gone you are. Digitalization at its finest.”, Liam said proudly with a smirk, his voice spreading through other means than air in the void of space, means that included light itself. His biology, the word here taken very loosely, was not limited like it once was when of flesh.
The black hole was no more, at least physically speaking now it was many tiny packets of data, an object of such a mass turned to nothing in a second. It had been scanned in all of its form then its very essence was turned to energy with its signature and stored in the form of information.
Liam's smile only grew as information from his mate and his powerful senses told him that all of the black hole's direct effects had been neutered all at once from hundreds of meter-tall waves to earthquakes all either ceased immediately or began falling until stopping. But the consequences didn't all disappear, and it will take time for things to get in order.
‘Such a potent technology, We are grateful for relieving this burden of my roots. It was getting… Grating and We did not grow to support such strain for eternity.’, the soft voice of Eywa reached his mind, and it was the truth but most important of all it was versatile.
Scaling it up to planets, and beyond even to stars wouldn't be impossible but it would be harder in the sense that the more complex or fragile an object was in the delicate balance needed for it to exist then the digitization process would be far lengthier.
This was the reason the shift of organic living beings to data was one where one mistake would lead to little surprise most horrific in appearance. The image of a teleporter in fiction that would fuse two creatures was a real possibility here but with the body parts of one person even if the chances of the poor abomination created to live were abysmal. You can't live very well with your head and liver fused after all, he knew since he did hundreds of tests on meat puppets both human and Na’vi.
‘You are welcome my love, would you need assistance in putting yourself back into the correct orbit?’, he asked back as his body disappeared with the sphere that transformed the gravitational singularity into a series of 0s and 1s.
What he was speaking of was her using her Psionic power on the moon itself and affecting how the gravitational pull of Polyphemus and the other moon affected Pandora in a way that in due time the moon would be back in its exact orbit before the incident. A complex process that will take months and will affect the lives of millions during all that time mostly affecting the tidal forces.
‘It is appreciated, necessary for the swift recovery of what once was, but We must decline. It is foolish of me to refuse but this is a unique opportunity for my children and We to experience a tribulation that will be vital for the future, a learning experience, and a mark of the danger to face. The shift in my endless journey is secondary. Resources need to be used where they are truly needed. You have helped enough with the method to follow and how to proceed, We cannot push more resources into what is not needed.’, she answered and he sent a feeling of understanding and comprehension.
‘If that is what you wish then I cannot enforce this on you. Know however that I will be of help if you desire, and as you have said I must shift resources to stop what had happened from happening ever again.’, he said through their shared link, they might be connected on a level the beginning of which from another was blurred but they were two distinct individuals with their personalities, memories, and experiences.
As such they will not, could not agree on everything under the sky and that was not a bad thing, the opposite in fact. They were a team, a couple, not a singular organism, they formed a symbiotic relationship, if there was no conflict but only agreement there was no change and progress and that would be against the very nature of their link. The All-Mother and the All-Father neither were inherently superior to the others yet both hold definite weaknesses and strengths over their counterparts compensating for what the other lacks.
Two dramatically distinct points of view and ways of understanding the world and that is how through two flawed but vast perceptions of reality they could make their vision for their own eternity true.
And so that is how the first day after the Harvester surprise attack ended. Everything changed, the illusion of peace shattered just as the one of total safety did. A threat far bigger than any could have imagined knocking at their doorstep at the start of it all.
Not even the ones, mortals precisely and closest to Liam, that were in the known were spared from this dreadful realization. It was a violent wake-up call and that peace while absolute on Pandora didn't go further than that.
But there was no panic in any true sense of the term, fear, yes, aplenty but fear in the correct dose and aimed right was the best kind of motivator. The fear of losing everything to a deadly enemy if nothing is done to stop it is not the one born out of imminent death where nothing matters anymore.
Their lives fundamentally remained the same yet they worked with great determination, effectiveness, and collaboration to a level that even in such conditions should be close to impossible, it was almost hive mind-like. And because it was in more ways than one the case.
In their foods, drinks, and even the air they breathed were little supplements of Argent Sea that modified their brain chemistry to make the unthinkable reality. It was not mind control per se, it was not even hidden from them, truthfully it was more akin to a drug with no side effects that gave energy, motivation, and a powerful sense of kinship. It didn't alter the interest of people, only boosted what was necessary for the community, it was a little push the right way.
Liam has left the first layer of kiddy gloves and that would continue until all veritable threats had been eliminated and a stable society had not been reached or at the very least until he had secured a safe foothold for himself and his mate in the Milky Way and by this logic all under him.
Then there was the population of Hell’s Gate being multiplied by ten, something that confirmed the reincarnation rumors of many and led to various changes like the renovation of the main building.
And renovations it needed to house the several thousands of men and women brought back from the dead in their primes, with beating hearts, and cold metal lozenges fused to their chests, they were the ones that had died by the apparition of the Harvester Mothership.
Shock and disbelief were all that they felt at first, with its terror, uncertainty, and confusion that was then turned to joy, euphoria, relief, and infinite gratitude toward the one responsible for their new life, the Homo Deus.
This had for consequence created another wave of faith, one far more powerful than any other of worship and officially the beginning of a bonafide religion centered on the All-Father, what he represented for them was many things but technology, and development were the ones of the most prominent.
Interestingly enough it was deeply tied to the ones of the Na’vi about the All-Mother but both held vastly different views yet mixed extremely well, some conflict existed but they only birthed philosophical debates upon the constraint and benefits of both lifestyles brought by either position. Symbiosis was a key point of the ‘religion’.
The new arrivants unlike the old habitants before were not given this ‘drug’ instead they were naturally inclined to work like it was in their system, what made them humans had been changed to an imperceptible level to reduce conflict to nigh non-existence preemptively was a key point for a healthy society. The source of all problems was humans, after all, no matter who they were, and it was to be fixed with extreme and unforgiving measures.
All this together led to Hell’s Gate production as a whole to increase by leap and bound in quite literally every factor. As it should, humanity was truly capable of fantastical things when all individual differences were ignored for a goal greater than themselves even more so when it was a concrete and real threat upon their continual existence.
The ever-increasing number of Tek creatures and technology only promoted this tendency to new heights, with vast mining operations to the asteroid belts and resource collection on Polyphemus at the forefront. Gas giant it may be but many required materials it had in astronomical amounts and the dangers related to getting them with Tek became unworthy of worry.
But there was something that many noticed, the count for the number of deaths did not equate to the number respawned, it was no hazard and was not hidden information either.
Some were simply undeserving of a second chance and also lacked the skill that would have been necessary to be of use in addition to not being worthy of the former. But in reality, it was more so that Liam disliked some more than others and the data behind only made his personal choices justifiable ones, for the most part.
And if that displeased some he was open for discussion, if he agreed or not on their points that was a different story. In the end, he was not the servant, and his choice overwhelmed all others, might make rights and he was the mightiest.
Frances Hardmore and Charles Stringer had been given second chances and that was the only one they would get but some like Dele Balogun, a man who had planted the nail in the coffin for Africa's future, were not brought back.
It didn't mean the two above didn't do horrible things and even if making a ladder of their evils was asinine the difference in their motivation and life was vast. This was what was taken into consideration by Liam but also what the two first did in the last several months.
They avoided a useless conflict that would have killed a lot, far too much even if it would not have been the end. Violence and hatred built more violence and hatred until only one stood living. They deserved a minimum of recognition and neither did lead to billions of deaths, they could have but they didn't and their actions are what mattered most not their ideology or belief.
But those hundreds had not been kept truly dead; their fate was far more different. Information that this time was not freely available to all a certain level in the hierarchy needed to be reached and even then information was not clear, but one thing was certain the ones not resurrected were used as lab rats for a project that was to create an elite force.
And today Miles had decided to go and see for himself what was done, oh he wasn't particularly against what was done. It wasn't pleasant but they deserved it and not using them by use of logic was a waste of materials. It was something, something far more different that had been on his mind since he was but a child.
‘I’m weak, frail… How can I be worthy of my place as the son of my Father if I stay this way?’, he thought, feeling the elevator he was in reach the underground level of the house on the Island of the Heartsong.
There was more than one reason he loved to pilot mecha, and the sentiment of not having to bear the weakness his body inherently was gifted with was one such reason. The war that had been started was only another reason to know things needed to change, he wanted to fight but he knew that he couldn't with what he had.
What would be the point of all that training if not to use it for the good of all? To make his Dad proud but also others, to protect them, but with his current body it wasn't possible, but today he had garnered enough courage to ask, to ask his Father for what he wanted, no, needed.
“Test B-178, thirteenth of November, years 2168-oh hello son.”, and speaking of the Devil he appeared in all his glory, with a smile slowly turning into a questioning frown.
“Ah, we have a curious little one?”, the soothing and melodious voice of a female with a subtle accent came right after as the door slid open and the floating form of Eywa’s Avatar came into Miles’ view.
