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71. Private Island
🕑 Added 2023-08-10 14:15:17 +0000 UTCYear 3, days 189, 17th July of the year 2157.
It has been a few months since the Element Nexus was finished and functioning, a few months in width Liam did two months at the facility and four on Pandora which he was currently on the latter.
He had only recently come back from his second month-long 'bloodletting' session, and the quantity of impure Element while it nearly tripled was still not much, not enough to be purified.
It's not that it would be impossible but the subatomic particles of raw and almost pure Elements that would be produced would be airborne due to their low number stopping them from ending in liquid or solid state and as such couldn't be manipulated under what he considered as remotely close to safe conditions.
A single particle running wild and with matter and energy to consume, which was in the facility aplenty could lead to an uncountable number of problems, if not catastrophes.
Better producing impure but stable and extremely small quantities of Elements than rushing it and ruining everything. The RDA won't come back in one year, there was time but losing this time for less than intelligent reasons was a no.
And it certainly won't be Element that would be a resource to lack thanks to its very nature that lets it multiply itself at supreme speed. The hard part is to contain it and get it from his blood.
It would be like a gold bar in that everything it touches transforms into gold and everything that is transformed leads to further transformation of everything it touches as well be it organic or not into gold and this until nothing but gold remains.
Growing it on artificial satellites would have been an option if not for the fact that if the Element ran out of control or another problem arose it would be a free ticket to outer space for the exotic chemical, even with an express order from him to the satellite to crash. If it wouldn't be orbiting Pandora that is.
And even if it was orbiting around the other moons it still gave the chance, on the ground at least it stayed anchored no matter what adding that a ground facility was easier to maintain, evacuate, and protect right now.
The quiet and strange humm of multiple sets of artificial wings buzzing in the air could be heard, and the short light blue grass accompanied by various plants adapted to live atop a cliff facing the harsh wind of the sea were getting blown at by the wind generated.
Six long sturdy insectoid legs made of a titanium alloy grappled the interstice within the basalt stopping any potential slip for the machine, the wings slowed their beat before they folded against a body almost similar to that of a helicopter if not for the tail being articulated and ending in the barrel of an autocannon.
One of the doors slid open and from it hopped down a very tall man in dark gray armor that couldn't hide his devolved physique, he had dark brown hair braided in a shoulder-length ponytail and a streamed full beard, and on his shoulder was a blue and purple tetrapteron.
Liam's eyes studied his surroundings for a few seconds, appreciating the sight of the island, his island, while Septen flew and cawed loudly both physically and metaphysically calling its sibling all around the island that 'Father' was back.
The ones that were napping or sleeping woke up while the others already knew of Liam's arrival and were coming, the first announcing its presence by blocking the sun with shadow as it jumped.
"Aegis huh... Surprise rain?", he smirked at the sight of the massive alien Dunkleosteus that just jumped over thirty meters, higher by a third of the island cliff on the side.
Gravity called the shark back and it fell, the loud splash was heard followed a few seconds later by droplets of sea water which Liam blocked by placing his right above his face where a large shield unfolded blocking all water from reaching his head.
This island was located thirty kilometers South of the main reefs of the Eastern Sea where many of the sea clans resided such as the Metkayena but it wasn't far from the continent either only a dozen kilometers East of a vast desert that turned when it met with a dry broadleaf forest into the Bone Sanctuary where animals migrated to dies when too old or when diseased ridden but it was as well where the main bulk of the noble Anurai clan lived.
The island was surrounded by very, very deep water easily oscillating between the Sunlight and Twilight Zone, and the entire area while volcanically active was not to the point that more than hydrothermal vents could happen.
But this fact had led in the millions of years before to the formation of many volcanoes both under and above the water of which he was currently on the biggest.
It was safe, he trusted the geological data and Eywa, and volcanoes didn't erupt without prior warning.
But the island wasn't fully cut from the land, so it was possible to walk from here to the continent every three weeks when the weak tide of the moon was at its lowest.
It was due to a massive chain of reefs that grew on top of one another from the very bottom to a certain place barely a few centimeters below the sea level and it grew from the beach of black sand to nearly all volcanic islands.
When the local sea level decreased it made it possible to move by foot, the coral themselves being flat made it easier. But it wasn't without risk as akulas smaller, dumber, more aggressive versions of Aegis' species were prolific here and would not hesitate to jump or bludgeon the coral to break and obtain a snack from the lands.
The bridges made could be used by his non-flying tames with Aegis as a guard shark, and they were mostly used by his slinger for one purpose, hunting. But that was when neither Gladius nor Daisy directly used the nalutsa as some kind of taxi. They were more than mere animals that fact was more than obvious to him.
The possibility of Na'vi suddenly arriving was acknowledged but not much worry was made over it, Na'vi knew how to make boats to start with, the Anurai and the sea clans were likely better than any others, and if they didn't know how both could tame creatures to traverse this short distance of water with ease by either using the sea or airborne life. He couldn't stop them.
If they wanted to come they could simply do so, they must clearly know who he is at least in the grand line, and be aware that he came here fairly regularly.
He wasn't going to make the first contact, particularly with the sea clans as the Anurai were living deep in the arid land more than anything and as such quite probably didn't truly care.
He was a 'celebrity' by all measures of the term, he was a panjandrum of Pandora and this fraction of space but the world didn't revolve around him outside of Hell's Gate.
Tsu'mong the Na'vi that taught him the basics of the People language was a rare case and not the norm. Liam would not say no to being able to meet this Na'vi again.
The reef was beautiful though, particularly in the night. But that was nothing new on this moon yet it never got old.
This island was at the end not massive, it was the eroded head of a volcano and he didn't need it to be the size of Australia. It was shaped like a bowl, adding to its general height compared to the sea level with nearly the entire of it adding a massive cliff facing the sea making it so only the strongest of storms were the closest to what could be considered a worry on the point of natural catastrophes.
Walking down a cleared path where plants seemingly decided to grow shorter or move the other way he took his time, there was no rush, and appreciated the way his other side of the bond affected the world for him in a way that while not necessarily increasing the quality of life steeply it made him feel at peace and in a way cared for.
A grin grew on his face as the sound of heavy and rapid footsteps accompanied by branches either bending or snapping under heavy force approached his location from behind him.
A large head suddenly landed on his shoulder and a loud reverberating powerful enough to cause minor internal damage to a normal human.
Then with one hand, he stopped a lick from Gladius that would have covered half of his face in saliva, from the same hand's fruit naturally rich in iron who was gulped down.
The giant bird made a connection to his implant and gave compressed packets of information about all that needed to be known while he was away such as the growth of a very special tree.
No words were spoken from Liam as he scratched the head of his tames all the while the flock of tetrapterons arrived with Septen landing on Gladius' crest, Meri, Orien, and Occiden did the same as his favorite murder bird.
"It's like I'm some kind of princess in some overly positive fairy tale…", Liam chuckled as he gave more snacks to his favorite tames, Daisy and Aegis being more akin to servants than what could be called 'family'.
He cared for those two but not as remotely close as his murder bird be they airborne or not. But he considered them all tools at the end, a fact known by them if not truly understood but you could love and take care of a tool without changing the fact it is still one.
There was favoritism but not in a way that would lead to negative conflict, only a sense of positive rivalry, it was a hive mind of anyone and everyone understood the others without any possibility of ambiguity or misunderstanding.
Adding that none were humans, not even truly him to be fair, he didn't work the same. He couldn't even if he wanted to. He had emotions, which he has plenty of his first month when he lost his marble punching a great austrapede to a literal pulp is a perfect example of such but the kind that would influence them into being irrational and against one another were not present in any meaningful amount.
It was a unique relationship only possible through even more unique, anomalous circumstances.
A few minutes passed as the greeting ended and he continued on to arrive at a large clearing that was artificially natural, it wasn't that none of the flora was untouched but it grew in a way that showed the influence of a guiding force, one with a sense of detail and complexity beyond the human mind.
Overrun by nature yet not was a large house of sharp angular shapes, vast and many reinforced glass panels, dark shining exotic wood treated to be metal-like in both appearance and quality growing from the feet of a broken rocky cliff appeared in Liam silver eyes.
His very presence added with a command and an increase in brightness of his implant led to every main lamp to light up giving an ever greater view of his place of relaxation, working ceaselessly would drive him insane, he had the right to such a place.
The building was simple in design and futuristic, its homogeneousness and symmetry that was violently broken by the chaos of color and life surrounding it but never covered what shouldn't be covered as if the most dedicated and talented gardener was working tirelessly to give a sense of harmony between the two.
The crystal clear stream full of minuscule bioluminescent shrimp-like arthropods flowing in front of the house was born out of a river that itself was from a pond that was overflowing with brackish water.
This water came directly from the mouth of a cave below, it was one of the many entrances and exits of a complex cavern system connected to the sea and many other factors such as hot and cold currents.
And this was where he planted the seed of Tree of Divergence, well not truly, he took it out of its box and placed it on the moist soil and as he was going to start digging the seed began to fly and landed right in the middle of the pond.
Then as it floated in order of hours it sprouted several hundreds of thin roots anchoring deeply into the cave wall and soil, and he was now looking at what it had become after more than two years.
A tree of size below by a no small amount to the average height of a tree on Earth the only true difference was its smooth pearly white bark and light purple feathery tendril-like leaves growing from its many branches, a miniature Tree of Souls, smaller than how he calculated by quite a lot. An average tree in a city on Earth was often smaller than grass.
But it wasn't small per se, it was the tip of an iceberg whereas it didn't develop much on the upper part; its root system was to put in two words monstrously massive. It was where most of the energy seemed to be put.
It covered most of the forest and probably most of the cave system and up in the sea with thousands of roots, most bigger by several magnitudes than the tree trunk itself that covered the roof of the cave to the point he could barely go through them if he wanted to without brute forcing his way in, something he wouldn't do and dived deeper and deeper.
Those trees were one of the most unique life forms on this moon, when one germinated the entire ecosystem bent backward for it to promote its growth and development but the most interesting part was that a seed could lead to a virtually infinite amount of possible forms of trees for the same amount of environment.
Its equivalent of DNA has not even been translated by more than one percent but from these little bits, it was known that Tree of Souls shared many similarities to both flora and fauna in terms of pure information contained within, many that weren't even remotely related such as a thanator and a species of grass.
Those pieces of information were both from Grace who manages to get a few samples after months of negotiating with Mo'at and the cryptic words of Eywa with a few observations such as dying animals giving their body to the tree for it to quite literally consume them.
But the most unusual fact about it for Liam as he approached was the sheer Psionic pressure of the young Tree of Soul, it was superior to that of the Tree of Divergence. It wasn't unpleasant the opposite, just very notable.
And he didn't exactly know why aside from Eywa preparing something here, and as such putting more of her presence here but for what? That he could but do wild guesses.
She didn't answer his inquiry about this, refusing to do so by telling him he had to be patient, so he was waiting and was quite anticipating what she was going to do because the excitement was not missing from her.
She was the guiding force, the manifestation of life itself on this moon, anything involving this domain was within her grasp as long she wanted it to happen.
Crouching in front of the pond he dipped his left hand in the water and as the hologram above the implant grew in intensity blood followed by bones, organs, and damaged skins from the inedible or unpleasant remains of a game he hunted started to flow in the water.
'Fertilizer is fertilizer and biomass is biomass…', Liam thought looking at the bloody vertebrae getting caught in a net of white roots that slowly began surrounding it in a ball for complete digestion.
Then his eyes trailed up next to the surface and widened slightly as a relatively small creature with deep teeth marks around the belly, it was dead. He had never seen such a creature before, it looked like the mix of a seal and an otter, a dead one as its body was halfway swallowed by roots.
However, what caused his reaction was a similar but smaller creature in its embrace as well entangled by hundreds of bioluminescent hairy filaments, it had three of its four diving flipper-shaped back legs greatly but the otter was kept from bleeding out by the same filament. It was as far as he could see kept on life support by the Tree of Souls.
"Might as well save it while I can, it costs nothing to try…", he mumbled with an almost unnoticeable hint of sadness at the sight as he moved toward the baby while fully knowing that if he wasn't coming here the Eywa would have already made the Tree of Souls begin the digestion of the otter's duo.
Eywa was far from being only the pretty and good side of life. She was prey, predator, and all the arbitrary definitions that were in the middle of those at the same time, death was a part of life and integral to her being.
In the end, all that arises from her will come back to her once they fall.
