Chapter 27: Action Reaction

It truly is odd to have a return visit back to the Olympus system after what Brakagi has done here the first time around. Last time, he was here with the hope that his plan will come to fruition, that his actions will create a shock wave that shall incite a change in the galaxy from now on, and from what he has been seeing, that change has already taken its place.

It is not only the societal elites for Olympus 1 that's now resettled on Geb 4, but people from nearly all the different colonies and settlements in the Olympus system. Another source of population in flow funnily enough are those that sought the rapid growth in Geb 4 as investment opportunities. Quite a lot of those population are actually associated with the Big Ten.

With the help of the Rockies Laborer's Alliance, cities boomed on the surface of the rocky planet like springtime mushrooms as millions and millions begin to settle into their new normal. The rocky fleet have been working non-stop day and night, moving people both within the ships and even towing along gigantic orbital habitats.

All of a sudden, a semi-terraformed rocky planet has already started to look like a booming city-planet, with orbital habitats high up in the night skies. This is where Brakagi's new Olympus will rise, and this is where a new page in galactic history begins.

However, no matter how quickly progress has been made on Geb 4, there is no way it can compete with Olympus Prime just yet, not when the majority of the planet's population still remained.

'Leader...' Jozzor said, waking Brakagi from his pondering thoughts as they looked on at the planet below, 'you never said why we are here, or what you thought of senator Zender's statements.'

'Ah...Jozzor...' Brakagi blinked a few times and rubbed his dry eyes before reaching out a hand and firmly grabbing Jozzor's shoulders, 'this senator Zender is quite an interesting character, don't you think?'

'Yes.'

'His identity as a senator dwarfs in comparison to his identity as the leader of Infinity.' Brakagi said, letting go of Jozzor, 'someone that is in charge of the single biggest technology company coming out like this and making such a statement only means one thing: he is ready to move.'

'Move?'

'Yes. I am certain that this very move is to be used against our rise in popularity, particularly in how decisively we have acted since the beginning of all of this.' Brakagi said, his eyes still locked onto the planet below as the orbital rings in the distance moves slowly, 'so there's that. It looked like he has different ideas regarding the evacuation, however, and that's what I think the artifacts come in.'

'There is this group called the bearers...' Jozzor said, thinking back to all of the information that he has gathered, 'but they don't appear to be working with Infinity, however, Zender is speaking as if they are sitting at the same table...'

'Meaning that it is likely that Infinity also have a group of artifact users under them...' Brakagi said, placing a finger on the window in front of them and began tapping the cold hard surface with his nails, 'and that they will use the powers of the artifact to save the planet.'

Jozzor looked at Brakagi and didn't say a word, though his doubt and confusion is evident.

He wanted to say if that is even possible, but thinking back to where all of this started and everything paled in comparison to what Brakagi has done. He moved a sun.

'Well, that's not exactly true.' As Brakagi often comes to say afterwards, 'rather, I destablized an otherwise stable bianry orbit of the two suns, and the trajectory that comes after are more like a side effect.'

The whole thing is like releasing stored energy compared to generating energy. The energy that is required to release stored energy, for example from liquid fuel, is often much less than the actual amount of energy contained in the fuel.

So in comparison, the amount of effort required to destabilize a pair of orbit on a system level is probably similar to the amount of effort required to give the planet a budge, though there is no way for Brakagi to know unless he possesses both artifacts. However, none of this discussion is truly relevant, as impossibility is merely a word, not a reality, when it comes to artifacts. It's often not about whether something could be done, but rather how it can be done, and when it will be done.

The last part of the consideration is the exact reason that Brakagi and Jozzor have come to this planet. So far, the process of moving the galactic capital to Geb 4 are still at around 30% of where Brakagi wants it to be at the most, and if the two groups of artifact users worked together to save the planet right now, there will no be any need for anyone to resettle in the Geb system!

'So I am here to give everything a gentle shove in the right direction.' Brakagi said, finally explaining his plan, 'there will be two distinct purposes, Jozzor. There are two objectives that needed to be met for everything to work according to the plan. We need to buy enough time for more people to resettle in Geb 4, but not so much time that those artifact users can save the planet right away. That means coming here and examining everything on the system level and choosing a trajectory of instability that suits our timeline.'

'I am confused, leader...' Jozzor couldn't quite grasp the complexity of all of this in the first go, and Brakagi is certain he isn't the only one confused.

'Their plan is to settle the planet onto a new orbit, however, the location of that new orbit is heavily dependent on the initial conditions of the planet, unless they have someone that can mess with the conservation of momentum...' Brakagi said, thinking back to the quick lessons taught to him by a blushing Caliditas back on Geb 4, 'that means we can choose the new orbit that they will have to use by changing the current state of the planet with my artifact.'

'They will be safe for now, thanks to the bearers, but that is only the case before Olympus B exited the system, shifting everything once more.' Brakagi said, 'that will be another few weeks before any immediate danger is faced by the planet, hence giving us enough time to have everything in place by then.'

If that ain't overcomplicated, Jozzor doesn't know what is. However, Brakagi is always the brilliant one, and he also always seemed to have the right people around him, sharing their knowledge and insights with him that allows him to formulate such outrageous plans.

'Should we have brought Caliditas with us?' Jozzor asked, 'how do you know what exactly to do without her models, leader?'

'In hindsight, perhaps.' Brakagi said with a nonchalant shrug, 'but she seemed mad at me for some reason.'

'Strange.' Jozzor replied, 'leader, what do you need me to do?'

'Nothing...' Brakagi said, as he reached his hand forward and activated the Ring of Instability. Pulling back and viewing everything on the system level for all of the orbits of the Olympus system, Brakagi watched on as the trajectories of each of the planets, stars and moons appeared in front of him at once as if he is playing a sandbox game.

In a way, the way the perceptive and analytical part of Ring of Instability is extremely similar to that of Dagger of Fate that Elmyra possesses, though the true difference lied in what each of the beings can see and impact. Elmyra is capable of manipulating and micromanaging all of the details, while Brakagi can exmaine things on a system level, but his impact is only in that of destabilization and decay at a selected rate in a selected direction. In terms of control, Brakagi isn't even close to Elmyra.

And that makes the precise manuvering that Brakagi wanted to do extremely difficult. He is able to immediately see the outcomes of what he planned to do in the sand box in front of him, and yet he doesn't seem to be able to pin down anything that will work exactly as he wanted.

I mean...all of this is already hard enough as it is to put into words, and it is certainly much harder to turn it into reality.

As Brakagi fidgeted around trying to look for a perfect outcome, his entire body begin to slowly glow up as the light given off by his artfacts luminated the entire vessel that Jozzor took with him. Jozzor can visibly see the strain on Brakagi's body, and yet there is no sign of pain and fatigue from his expressions. As always, the leader is pushing himself to the limit without a care in the universe.

'Come on...' Brakagi rapidly tried out many different trajectories and rates of decay, and yet none of them seemed to fit what he desired. He can feel himself losing focus, and he can feel himself being drained constantly as the Ring of Instability ate away at his body and mind, 'not now! NOT NOW!'

Finally, the right combination comes to him. That would have pushed Olympus Prime towards the sun at a much faster rate, the ejection of Olympus B will largely impact the ranges of orbits that it is likely to settle onto after whatever the artifact users have done. This isn't perfect, but it is close enough.

Without having much time to examine the rest of the consequences before shifting the current trajectory of Olympus Prime, Brakagi is forcibly thrown out from the mind space created by the Ring of Instability and collapsed on the floor.

'Leader! Have you done it?' Jozzor asked, tending to Brakagi immediately.

Brakagi nodded, and then the vessel they are on suddenly rattled hard, throwing Jozzor over Brakagi. He quickly got up and turned on the vessel's scanners for surrounding ships. They have been bound to a ship's tractor beam, and they are slowly being pulled towards it.

'Let's get out of here.' Brakaig said, and Jozzor nodded before he slung shot the both of them out of the Olympus System.

'We've lost them.' Lady Lily said, sighing lightly and shaking her head, 'Jozzor's artifact is too slippery.'

'To be expected.' Zero seemed oblivious by the update, as he looked onto Cellica who had the exact same knowledge as them, the bearers gathered into a tight group as soon as Cellica noticed something wrong, and it is only after Cellica found out the identity of the two artifact users that they finally relaxed their guard against Zero and the rest of Absolute Being, 'it looked like we might have to accelerate our current processes, though I do appreciate our first occasion of cooperation.'

'What has he done...' Cellica said, looking at the void of space high up in the orbits, as the two Rockies are now nowhere to be found and the ships all gradually return to Unlimited, the flagship of Absolute Being. Just as Cellica mentioned the appearance of the two Rockies and their activation of artifacts, Zero immediately revealed the location of his flagship up in high orbit too and send out searching vessels immediately. Extremely luckily, their ship is in the rough vicinity of the suddenly appearing vessel, and their scanners quickly picked it up upon it's sudden existence, 'I can't tell what he has done.'

'It will not be anything good.' Ol said, bringing out his Scroll and holding it in his hand as he turned to Cellica, 'I will verify it.'

'No. We need more...more information' Valerie objected, placing a hand on Ol, 'we need more information to frame the question better, we cannot waste an opportunity like this!'

'...You are right.' Ol admitted, and he spoke softly into the communications channel, 'Rydel, you hear this?'

'Let's start our partnership then.' Rydel said, silently acknowledging the inputs from both Ol and Valerie, 'I am sure your flagship should have processing power and sensors to figure out what Brakagi has just done? Assuming he hadn't just destroyed the planet'

'Indeed.' Zero said, nodding his head in agreement with the sensible decision made by the bearers, 'though the predictions and models will of course be more and more accurate with more and more time. Plus, Brakagi needed the planet to survive...'

'...Annnnnnd perhaps I spoke too soon.'

About an hour later, all of the bearers sat in a conference room with the four artifact users as they looked on at the predictions being made real time by the modelling unit on board. Initially, the planet was set to take an extremely long and gradual route before plunging directly into the sun, however, the orbit have just been shifted as the dive is now a lot steeper, though the planet will now just scrape by the sun without actually getting anywhere near it's outer shell. This is a way worse scenario for the people living on the planet, however, as the intensity of the sun's radiation will increase so much that practically all of the surfaces will become a living hell even before any of them touched onto the star's gases and plasma. And that's adding on the fact that such a destruction will now happen much earlier in the timeline.

The planet may be able to survive the onslaught, but nobody on the planet is going to be there to witness it.

'Here's the issue.' Zero explained, 'initially, the plan is to gradually shift the planet's trajectory over a long period of time, but now, we need to have a much more drastic action. Everything is still doable, but the difficulty has simply been increased. With every minute that we are waiting, the planet is gaining more and more momentum, meaning it will become harder and harder to budge.

'What's your plan, master?'

'I don't suppose there is too much of a point for the four units now...' Zero scratches his head frustratingly and cursed, 'we need to act now. The modelling unit will provide us with the best course of action soon, and we will make a move for it as soon as that happens.'

'Our job is to change the planet's momentum. This have to be done quickly enough to offset the current trajectory before it is too late, but slowly enough so that we don't destory everything on the surface.' Zero said, 'this is so much easier to say than do, however. Sir Deva, you will be projecting a mass as big as you possibly can at the desired location to pull Olympus Prime away from it's current trajectory. Elmyra, if I may...we need your help to help budge the planet in that direction. Lady Lily will be with Sir Deva to monitor his condition, and Elmyra you can stay here with the rest of the groups.'

'I am afraid that despite our best efforts, this is a case of tools best for the job.' Zero said, 'and we don't even have the luxury of preparing our defenses anymore.

'Are you okay with this?' Zel asked the girl sitting next to him, and she nodded without a moment's hesitation. Her face is darkened, and her heart is beating fast, but she will do what she has to do.

'As long as all of you are with me.' Elmyra said, looking into Zel's eyes.

'Of course.' Zel responded, grabbing Elmyra's hands.

'Times up.' As the outputs for the modelling unit's shown also up in the big screen, Zero snapped his fingers and gathered everyone's attention, 'the shuttle is ready for you, Lady Lily and Sir Deva. And for you, Elmyra, we have prepared a room.'

Cellica was there to make sure that Sir Deva and Lady Lily did in fact leave the flagship alongside Sadie Allen as their pilot and guard, as the rest of the groups went ahead and stayed right outside the room. When the entire thing started, due to Elmyra's request, she wanted Cellica and Zel to be in the room with her, to watch over her without her getting too nervous. The rest of the bearers will be waiting right outside.

The room is conditioned to be cool and chill, and perfectly come with a view that envelops the Olympus system right in front of them. Zero has a direct communications link with Cellica, and Cellica will be the one relaying any information hence forth towards Elmyra.

'Remember, we want to be gentle and slowly shift the planet's trajectories towards the pathway.' Cellica said, as she turned on the hologram projector in front of Cellica with a live map of Olympus Prime done in the effort to best replicate what Cellica sees in the Space of Uncertainty, the mind space where she is all seeing in the trajectory of all the units in the system, where she controls the fate of them all. And now, she will literally control billions of life.

No...she cannot think like that, or she will never be able to act. The pressure of having all of those beings hanging in the balance on her finger tips is simply way too much, and she will not be able to act at all if she continued in that line of thought.

Focus, Elmrya...

'I never considered the implications of momentum before.' Elmyra said, looking directly at Cellica, 'but it's always been there.'

'You can do it.' Cellica said affirmatively, 'I will walk you through all of it. First, just visualize the entire inner orbits of the Olympus system.'

'Here goes nothing.' Elmyra said, taking a big breath in and out and tried to calm her beating heart. It's not that she is unprepared, but rather she can never prepare enough. She is as nervous as it is already, and waiting any longer will simply be torture. Taking one last glance at the map right in front of her, Elmyra entered into the Space of Uncertainty.