Chapter 24: Into the galaxies
Cyrus had been working on the issue for a long time. As one of the top theoretical physicists and a bonafide genius in Gilot, one of the countries on one of the planets owned by the Tlas family, he had managed to carve out a pretty decent life for himself.
His wife and small daughter wanted for nothing since the country sort to provide him with everything he needed. He was one of the 'Acknowledged'. While that in itself was a major achievement, it came with a bucket-load of goodies, not to mention, an Acknowledged was a change in status.
To become an 'Acknowledged', one had to receive an official acknowledgment from the Tlas family, which usually came as a form of a badge, a ceremony and a formal announcement by the family. The ceremony was aired live on all stations on the planet, making an acknowledged extremely famous.
While this may seem a trivial thing, the Tlas family was the ruling power on the planet. While they hardly interfered with the daily management and running of planetary and national matters, they were very much involved in major decisions. Moreover, any acknowledged would get a chance to transcend their planet and officially enter the galaxy, albeit under the Tlas family flag.
Since the expansion of humanity into the galaxies, they realized that the resources they were used to on their home planet could not cut it anymore. They needed more powerful and robust elements to keep up with the volatile nature of space and the strain their technologies put on them.
Moreover, humans discovered that they were not the only race in the universe. They also discovered that their home planet wasn't the only one that held life and other mysteries. Dominance was a pipe dream in the galaxies.
Over time and several millennia later, humanity had taken center stage once more, conquering the known galaxies and claiming them. Occasionally, they had to share with other races, which led to the formation of civilizations.
There were all kinds of civilizations, based on the area they covered and the reach of their influence. The lowest type of civilizations was the planetary civilization, like the mayi civilization, the highest being the galactic civilization. In between, there the solar civilization and the star cluster civilization. These names did not just depict their geographical holdings but also the range and reach of their influence.
Cyrus' home planet was in-between, a pseudo-star-cluster civilization. It couldn't be termed as purely planetary as they had made contact with galactic forces, but it also wasn't a star cluster civilization as its influence was limited to just the planet. Regardless, if one was from a planetary organization, transcending their planets and entering the galaxies was called 'Ascension.' That was the next level that Cyrus found himself in, an ascender.
In some distant planet in some distant past, an eccentric scientist called Charles Stol had ventured in a cave and pulled out some very rare materials. Not knowing just what a boon it had been, he could still tell they were valuable, so he sold them off to Berinon corporation, one of the largest human-controlled conglomerate at the time.
After much analysis of the commodity that they received, they came to realize that it was an energy source of untold proportions. Using the model synthesis they came up with, they realized that a single gram of stolline ore could produce up to 10MW, the equivalent of 10 grams of high-grade uranium, or 6000 gallons of oil fuel.
Similarly, Stol crystals were friendly to the environment. During synthesis and consequent utilization, the by-products are oxygen, salt, and water. Causing no damage to the environment while generating huge power. Their only downside was their rarity and difficulty in mining.
Furthermore, these crystals were especially useful to mages. They not only acted as a boost to all mana-powered (magical) devices, but they could also boost one's output, sufficiently adding to the owner's ona levels. However, once used, they were consumed and couldn't be retrieved. As such, very few mages could even get their hands on them, let alone use them.
Cyrus had managed to get that and more. He had made his name in the mining of stolline ore. Stol crystals were simultaneously the most sort after the mineral in the universe but also the rarest. Needless to say, its value skyrocketed in leaps and bounds. This was partly because of the process of converting stolline ores to stol crystals was extremely complicated and consumed too much resource. If incorrectly done, the crystals would be lost completely.
Up to date, it was prohibited across the known universe for anyone to use these crystals for common machinery regardless of how much power and influence one commanded. Though their existence and usage wasn't exactly a secret, they were out of reach for the commoners, and so were the machines they could power.
Many conglomerates across the universe sort to mine and produce this commodity due to the competition and the demand that was in the universe. Despite the various restrictions in place, the product was still very attractive to businesses all over. The tricky part came in the production process.
Mining in itself was not hard. The stolline ore was both stable and easily accessible in most cases. Even the deepest mines did not go below 2000 meters underground. They were also easily detached from the rocks since they were isolates, independent of each other.
However, once extracted from the ground, the real work began. A stol crystal with an impurity of above 30% could only produce less than 10% of its yield, and given how rare they were, using it in such a way was a terrible waste. They needed to be extracted in their purest form.
After many millennia of tests and continuous enhancements, most corporations had their proprietary ways of extracting the crystals, but none could produce 100% pure crystals.
The Tlas family holding had discovered an unoccupied planet that had many stolline ore mines, which they quickly took over. There were many wars fought before they stabilized their rule over the planet, and when they did, it skyrocketed their growth and status to what they were now. They established their base in what later became the modern-day Gilot, home of Cyrus.
On this planet, as in many others, physicists continued researching the stol crystals and finding better and optimum ways of purifying the crystals. Among them, a theoretical physicist came up with a preposterous claim.
He claimed that he had found a way to use 20% less energy and increase purity by 3%, from 84% to 87%. The 3% might seem small, but given that 100% of 1 gram could produce the same as 6000 gallons of oil, this meant a difference of 1800 gallons of oil. By these metrics, this was a substantial increase.
On the flip side, the highest purity percentage from any crystal had been at 85%, the 2% increase further boosted the Tlas family prestige. This was why Cyrus was so widely acclaimed and recognized since he revolutionized the production process. Since Cyrus hailed from a remote unknown mining planet, there was little risk of the process leaking, ensuring that they held on to the position until someone else came and bypassed them.
Right now, Cyrus and his family were boarding a humongous airship that would take them to orbit, where they would board a spaceship. A spaceship! Aside from cargo spaceships, there were very few cruise ships that came to the planet, especially given how rural the planet was.
Even though the planet could be termed as rural, that was not about its technology. They had very high-end tech and state-of-the-art refineries, but they were limited to mining operations. They were far removed from the center stage.
"Do you know what this is all about?" Justus asked as he caught up with his direct superior. Behind him, his family was following, they too were to board. Cyrus was already too senior to be working directly on the research, so he had his team of researchers under him. He also worked directly to the Tlas Family Holding company, not to a subsidiary. Being acknowledged had its perks.
"Honestly, they didn't tell me anything?"
"Come on, you the bossman, you got to know something." Justus was not buying it since he knew his boss's position in the company. Their department functioned as a subsidiary, known as the Cyro-Gilot Mining Research Department. With his boss as the manager, he was the assistant manager,
"All I know is that this has something to do with mining stolline ores dude."
"Well, we all know that? Come on, give me the details man!"
"You read the documents, same as me, did you see anything different? Is this your son? He looks like he grew a foot from when last I saw him." Cyrus was trying to maintain his poker face, but he knew he couldn't keep many secrets from his assistance. This was not the first time he was having to dodge this question, and changing the topic seemed a good way to do it.
Justus caught it, but he chose to play along. One doesn't push their boss too hard especially when they want to keep the secret. However, in the airship, he found himself having to answer the same questions again from his wife. Unfortunately, he had strict orders not to inform anyone of any of the confidential details he'd received.
Non-natives of the galaxy wouldn't understand the value of the stol crystals, but how could they? Not only were the crystals hard to come by, but they were hardly used on machinery that didn't require that much energy. Very rarely would one find a machine that used the stol crystals on any planet that was below the star cluster civilization.
He too was curious about what it was that they were going to do. Having seen the passenger list, he understood that only the very best on the planet would be traveling on this mission. For now, though, he chose to focus on his daughter who was swooning with joy as she had never been on a spaceship before.
Unlike airships that had forces buffering against them, spaceships were way more comfortable as a passenger. People hardly believed they were on the move, even though they were moving much faster than in an airship.
One day later, they were informed that the spaceship was about to make the jump into hyperspace, effectively moving them several light-years away from their planet's atmosphere. It was a very emotional moment, and many passengers gathered at the observatory deck.
It was an emotional moment as the passengers sort to bid their home planet goodbye and officially enter into the galaxies. Children and adults alike felt both the sadness of goodbye and the excitement of adventure, some even cried. 'I truly made the right choice for a husband, didn't I?" Cloe, Cyrus's wife, looked at him and nodded with a sly smile. That night, his night would be very eventful.
Outside the ship, it glowed in brilliant light, as it broke through into hyperspace. Traveling 4132.98 times faster than the speed of light, the ship crossed large distances in a short time, and before they knew it, they were staring at an space dock, having arrived at their destination.
Weekly Power Status
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