Chapter 30

Jacob walked back to the storage facility. His mind racing about what he could do. Last night they killed 7 swiftstalkers with 0 deaths. But 55 total and 3 being so called 'Alphas' was a completely different game. If they simply rushed the wall with a formation, Jacob didn't think they would have much chance of winning without heavy losses.

He could see them taking over the wall, then spreading into the colony. Each swiftstalker trading their lives to kill another guard. This could mean up to a few hundred deaths! This was unacceptable in Jacob's mind.

He decided he would push everyone to cut trees, even ignoring moving the material. To make it harder for the swiftstalkers to run straight towards the wall. Give them things to jump over and move around. Taking more time for them to close the gap.

"Genesis, send out a new work order. If you are not making lights or things involved with the fight tomorrow, you must be cutting trees down to create a better clearing."

"Yes, sir." Genesis replied.

His mind also wandered to the rewards of the event. If they did well, it would mean a better future for them. They would likely receive more rewards for doing better. If they received more now, they would have more in the future. As points to make a printer today, helps to make hundreds of products tomorrow. He was also thinking about the leaderboard.

He rubbed his chin as he walked through the dark streets. Nobody was out anymore, everyone having moved inside after the announcement. The colony was silent. Unsure if an attack would happen tonight as well.

Finally, Jacob arrived at the storage facility. Sophia and Mei were wide awake and working on something together.

"Yes, if we make the connection here, then create insert points…" Sophia was explaining an aspect of some stick thing she was designing.

As Jacob

As Jacob got closer, he could tell it was an LED light post. Four legs at the base for balance and a long pole with a wire wrapped around it going to the LED. Which was a flat LED with metal loops on the sides, where screws would attach it to the lamppost. There was a box in the middle base for a battery as well.

"Hey, thanks for getting to work on this ASAP. Tomorrow, we have a hard time ahead of us." Jacob said as he approached the two.

"Well, this is a simple design. however Mei knew a way to increase the luminosity with graphene added to the diodes. She is far better than I am with this material… I was too focused on rockets and space rather than graphene and electronics."

"Well, this printer really makes the difference. On earth, we knew many of the applications for graphene because of studies. However, we had no way of producing the goods on a massive scale. It was the production that we could not solve. But this printer solves that issue. Now it's up to our knowledge and creativity!" Mei was extremely excited. Even though there was a terrible event bearing down. The two seemed like they were enjoying themselves as they created this blueprint.

"Well, this should do it. Let's printing the base LED!" Sophia said excitedly as their prototype was already shining brightly. So bright Jacob had to look away as his eyes hurt.

"Yeah, let's turn that off." Mei flipped the switch in front of Sophia.

"I'll help." Jacob said as he moved over to the alloy printer.

"Actually, now you have to print it in the graphene machine first, then the alloy machine, then the graphene printer once more." Sophia stated.

"Oh, I'll just watch you two with the first one, then!" Jacob responded. He stepped to the side and watched as the two had their AI input the blueprints into the printers.

The graphene printer would spit out a square panel that looked like a circuit board. Then the alloy printer would add in the LED diodes of gallium. Then it went back to the graphene printer for its cover.

"Why does the graphene help it be brighter? I thought it was not as transparent, Sophia?"

"This is because the graphene is replacing the traditional circuits and transistors. Less friction, less heat, means more luminosity for the same surface area!" Sophia exclaimed like an excited teacher.

Mei nodded her head in agreement to Sophia's words. "Yes, the graphene changes a lot about how our electronics will work. It's 1000 times more efficient when it comes to heat resistance. This means you have to put 1000 times more current through it to get the same heat buildup." Mei was more calm and distracted as she explained the application of the material over Sophia's excitement.

"That's amazing! Well, tonight we need to make as many of these as possible. We should be able to make at least 100. I'll buy charged batteries from the store for 12 points." Jacob had looked up the batteries and found he could buy charged ones for an extra two points.

Without wasting time, Mei spoke as she and Sophia kept working. "Then let's get to it. Jacob, you're in charge of screwing in the screws to the LED posts. We can add the batteries tomorrow when you can purchase them." Mei stated as she controlled the situation.

She would take the LEDs to Sophia, who would add them to the alloy printer. While Jacob would take out the lamp posts and screws printing in between and put them together with the finished LEDs.

This process proceeded for a few hours into the night. Until the graphene printer finally died, because of no battery charge.

"We are going to get some rest. You should too, Jacob." Sophia said as she and Mei walked towards the stairs, going up to a different floor of the storage facility.

Jacob realized they must have made a room for themselves there rather than staying in one apartment.

He stretched as he looked over all the half-finished LED floodlights. He adjusted the LED floodlights with a simple metal spring button, pushing it into the tube and pulling it up or pushing it down, like many lamps back on Earth.

The base had 4 legs and a slot for the batteries. They did not add yet the wire to any of the new models. The LEDs were simply attached to a flat metal base at the top. They were black and grey. Rather than the yellow LEDs, Jacob was used to back home.

"Well, I guess we should get some rest as well. I don't know what else we can do for the colony tonight. If I'm tired, I may make mistakes tomorrow."

Jacob stepped out into the night. It was clearly around 2 or 3 in the morning. The guards were still on the walls. Surprisingly, there was no attack. While it was still dark, Jacob had an inclination that they were given one night of peace to prepare.

As he walked to his apartment across the square. He looked up at the night sky. Which showed him a fantastic view of the moons. Behind them was a sky filled with nebulae and stars.

"If only we weren't fighting for our lives. This place is exquisite… I guess it's just another reason for us to try harder." Jacob clenched his fist. As he experienced the scenery, he began to like his colony. The bioluminescent reefs, the purple sky, and the beautiful night view. Even the people were growing on him quickly.

The aliens could have made it a boring and simple world. Yet they included these aspects of beauty. There must be some reason for it. Jacob put this alongside many other questions he had for the aliens.

For now, he would protect the things he found precious. That included the surrounding environment.

Back on earth, humans destroyed many habitats and beautiful wonders. The coral reefs had officially been declared extinct last year on earth because of the rising oceanic acidity levels. The amazon had a drought which caused a massive fire, eventually 73% of the rainforest was destroyed because of the raging flames. The entire southern hemisphere was full of smoke for months.

"We can do things differently here. If we don't, then maybe humanity deserves to be forgotten…" Jacob shook his head. Another issue to deal with for him as a leader, the environment.

At least he could start from ground zero and not have to deal with established systems and practices. Here he could outlaw anything, restrict sales of gas and oil on the market, etc.

"Genesis, please wake me up as soon as the morning arrives, and we are awarded points. Tonight will be a short sleep."

"Yes, sir."

Jacob walked into his empty home and laid down against the wall. Closing his tired eyes.

That night, Jacob couldn't sleep well.

His mind was full of nightmares. The colony was burning. People were dead everywhere. Jacob was running towards the storage facility only to see swiftstalkers run inside. He could hear the screams of Sophia and Mei.

"NO!"

Jacob popped up and looked around. Panicked.

"Genesis, how long was I sleeping?"

"Approximately 23 minutes and 13 seconds, sir."

"Great…" Jacob closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep. The entire night, his mind attacking him, having failed during his waking hours to discourage him.