Bab 70: 8+
The air was perfectly cool and gentle, neither stagnant nor noticeable. The candles in sconces around us were strictly minimal, lighting up what parts the natural light from above could not reach well. Incense sticks awakened anyone who smelt their pervasive but clear smoke. Small stone tables, practically stumpy columns, hosted intricate vases. A magnificent and giant tapestry hung from the wall on the opposite side, a gold background upon which a pair of red stylized plants, as large as their real-life counterparts outside, grew on the sides, their stems curving outwards before turning around so the flowers angled inward and down, as if shielding or venerating whoever sat between them.
And yet, I was discomforted. It had been years since I'd sat in seiza. The position involved standing on your knees, then leaning back until your legs were folded beneath you and your butt rested on your heels. It was easy to slump your posture if you weren't careful. There was thankfully a cushion beneath me, but it was not as giving as I needed.
Unfortunately, I had to endure it, lest I appear the odd one out compared to Ramirez and Lin. They sat like I did on my right, the three of us in a line while the guards stood behind us. Their guns were in hand, but the safeties were on.
Opposing us within this cozy but large room was a man who looked exactly like Pai Mei. His neatly done hair was slightly darker, but it was otherwise a spitting copy. On his right was an obese man in black robes with red flowers. He had white face paint except around his eyes, which were done with heavy black eyeliner.
Behind both were the all the men who had escorted us here, and both had been sitting here before we even entered.
There was a brief moment of awkward silence, before Ramirez spoke up. "Greetings, I am Eduardo Ramirez, First Mate of the Sanguine Spear. To my right is Astropath Lin, to my left is Magos Acerak."
The two men didn't react. The obese one turned his head slowly before speaking with the old man. Then, he turned back to us. "Greetings. You are in the presence of Jin Yuhan, father of the Sun-gazing Flower Sect. He regrets that he cannot speak with you directly, so this one will translate between you." He paused. "What brings you to our world?"
"The Imperium heard your request for aid some time ago and regretted that it could not come sooner. We have come to answer your request."
At that, the fat man looked worried as he translated for the elderly one. Father Jin responded without any change in his facial expression.
"Father Jin is disappointed that the Emperor's servants are so lax in responding to the requests of his people."
If the rebuke bothered Ramirez, he didn't show it. "Unfortunately, there has been a severe issue that the Imperium had to deal with. I will explain." His account of the events of the Horus Heresy was dry and a bit light on detail, but it did a good job of capturing the severity of the problem. He impressed this upon Father Jin and the translator quite well, in my opinion.
"Father Jin understands perfectly. Civil war, and led one's own child at that, are inconceivable and despicable. He offers his condolence."
"Thank you. However, we have still not heard what issue you required assistance with," Ramirez replied.
"It has to do with the tower the Imperium built."
"The tower?"
"Yes, the one which allows us to perform mei."
"…My apologies, I don't know what that means."
"No, please accept this one's apologies. It is the tower we were told would let us speak to the Emperor from far away."
"Ah, you mean your astropathic array?" Ramirez asked.
"Yes, yes, that. We sought your assistance as it was struck by lightning and unusable. We do not know how to fix it."
"Alright. Can you have someone show us the tower, so we can at least examine it?"
The interpreter nodded once. "Of course."
By this, he meant himself, as the four of us found ourselves outside once more, heading away from where we had landed and through another set of gates that barred movement into or out of the city. The man moved fast for someone that large. Accompanying us were 10 guards, marching behind us and at the side as they announced us and ordered the locals to stay clear of the procession.
When we finally arrived at the burnt tower, I realized that their description hadn't capture just how bad the situation was. I had thought that I would just need to replace some wiring, but this was much more severe.
I approached the downed giant, lying flat on one side as flowers grew around it. Though my vision was obscured, I could make out that the beams had crumpled and bent upon impact as the tower collapsed, thankfully not towards the city walls themselves. It looked just tall enough to cause damage if it fell that way.
A faint and linger stench burned my nostrils, but I endured it as I ran my hands over the charred and warped metal. It was cold and bumpy to the touch. I felt my fingers rub against a melted wire on the underside as well. Something sharp pricked me and I withdrew my hand. As I did, I noticed blue shards on the ground. They were fragments of solar panels.
I walked back to Ramirez, Lin, and the interpreter. "Completely destroyed."
"Meaning there's nothing you can do, or…?" Ramirez asked.
"Well, let's first be clear about this," I said, gesturing to the metallic remains. "This is just scrap now. The tower, the wiring, the solar panels, all of it. We have to collect it all and either dispose of it or recycle it."
"That means we need to go back to Terra and bring a functioning one?" Lin asked.
"Not necessarily. Everything needed to actually build it is available to us. The structure itself can be broken down, melted, and reforged into pieces that can be welded together again. We have enough wiring to make it work aboard the ship, same with the solar panels."
"And how long would it take you to do that?"
"Maybe…three weeks? I've never done it before, but I'm confident in how the process would work."
"Hmm. Astropath, your thoughts?"
Lin shrugged. "Even if I made contact with Mars today, there is no guarantee they would start work on it immediately. We would also have to travel there and come back. It doesn't seem like it would hurt to let the magos try what he wants."
"That sounds reasonable. Go ahead and do what you need, but critical or major issues aboard the ship take priority."
"Understood, sir."
++++
A heavy piece of an adamantium bar banged against the side of the melting unit, making me wince. The mechanical claw paused as my fingers didn't move on the controlling tablet. I made it slowly move the bar away, then waited until it stopped swinging even slightly, before slowly raising it further so it wouldn't hit anything once I dropped it.
When it fell into place, I closed the door on the unit and started it up again. There was no indication that anything was working save for an alert on the tablet that a machine identified by a long string of characters was active.
I had 15 minutes to spare as this bar melted into something moldable, so I sat down once more and turned my attention to the cube in front of me. It was another of the Warp sinks I had created.
By my estimation, it would take roughly 10 of these to withstand the surge of a small Warp storm, 50 for a medium, and 200 for a large one. Of course, each of those were rarer than the previous one by an order of magnitude, so I knew, by some unknown intuition, that I was covering 70% of surges by proofing for just the small storms.
I had two cubes made and tested. At the pace I was going, there would be no time lost once the reforging of the structure's pieces was complete.
++++
Time passed slowly, my days spent sitting in at my bench for a few hours to make my warp sinks, then an hour for lunch and to let my hand relax, then back to more etching. Each day, another piece of array was created. The last things to make were the solar panels, which, combined with their testing, would take up most of my waking hours.
Exactly three weeks after my initial assessment, I and some helpers were flying back down. The storage of my transport was taken up by various materials, primarily solar panels and wires tucked away safely inside secure boxes.
Another three transports were flying with us. This was due to the size of the array's metal structure. It couldn't be built aboard the ship and taken out, so instead, it was being carried component-wise. Each transport had one of the slanted legs and one part of the main tower hanging below them, carefully balanced to minimize the effect of sway.
Over the target area, the pilots coordinated a cautious drop so that there was no chance of a component falling on another. A bit too cautious, in my opinion, but better to spend longer moving undamaged components.
When the pieces were dropped, my own transport landed nearby as my helpers, a collection of personnel aboard the ship, handled the boxes.
"Careful with those. The First Lieutenant is paying close attention to us," I told them as I stepped past onto the soil once more. The sun was just barely above the horizon now, but it illuminated the ground perfectly. What shadows existed were weak.
A roar of jets alerted me to movement above, and I saw the three other transports take off back to the ship.
A dozen pairs of eyes looked at me, standing amongst the component boxes, tools, two ferrocrete mixers and bags of mixture, and four of the anti-gravity platforms.
"Let's do one last sweep of the area. I think we've already found everything, but it doesn't hurt to check."
As expected, nothing turned up. I'd combed this area four times already, but it wasn't good to leave sharp metal fragments or splinters around. The dirt had been turned over and over as we did, creating a black spot in the sea of giant flowers.
So, first things first, we needed to put in the foundation. This was relatively simple as we'd already dug the rectangular hole for a ferrocrete base previously. Now, we rolled the mixers next to the hole and filled them with mixture until it was full. Once we poured in water, the machines began churning. Slowly at first, then at a steady and brisk pace. After a few minutes, we turned them and let the wet stuff pour out. Another bag and some water went in, and we had another batch ready to go after a few minutes.
Meanwhile, eight of my helpers had taken to using the anti-gravity platforms to make the legs of the base stand up. I welded the rods that connected them.
30 minutes later, the legs were connected and the foundation poured, though not set. A few centimeters had been left off the top to account for the displacement of the legs into the ferrocrete. Now, the transport started its engine and hovered above the constructed base. We tied some dangling cables to the base's frame, and watched as the transport bucked a bit while trying to lift this strain. It was rated to do so, but this came uncomfortably close to the limit.
It held. Slowly, the base was lifted one meter, then several. Then, just as slowly, the transport carried the frame towards the hole. Once it was aligned, it came down as gentle as a feather. We cheered as the feet sank with a few bubbles into the mixture, then stopped.
"Alright, let's take a break for lunch. But we need to put in the setting agent first," I said. Two people grabbed the thin bag of said agent, a powder that would turn the normally two-day setting process into an hour-long affair. They spread it evenly and liberally until the top of the ferrocrete was totally covered.
We relaxed and enjoyed the weather as we ate and drank, the wind present but not a nuisance. I expected the groans when I told them we needed to get back to work. Thankfully, this part was easier and only took a few people.
With the foundation set and capable of bearing the weight of the tower itself, all that was left was to weld each piece onto it. The transport would dangle the piece in place while I was taken up via the anti-gravity platforms. At each of the four meeting points, I connected the piece to the metal below it. We would then wait and see if the structure remained stable before moving on.
It took a total of two hours to finish this. From my viewpoint, I could see those on the ground cleaning up our trash and then sit in the small pits of shade while playing cards or telling stories.
With the final piece in place, I now had to connect the solar panels to power it. This was trivial, I simply had to angle the panels and connect them to the array's own circuitry. There were some at every level, but all kept far away from anyone trying to throw a rock or do something similar.
At the very top were the warp sinks, all 10 stuck together and nestled away inside a hardened container that was easy to notice and find if you knew about it, but not otherwise. The sun was setting by the time that we finished, but we still cleared everything up and took off long before it hid behind the horizon.
++++
Jin Yuhan held a dinner in celebrate our efforts, one that Ramirez, Lin, and myself were mandated to appear at. His interpreter sat to his right.
"Father Jin is pleased to hear that your efforts were successful, tech-priest," the interpreter relayed.
"Oh, uh, yes, thank you. I was uncertain it could be done, but now you don't thankfully need to wait for a whole new one to be requested and delivered."
He repeated what I said, I assumed. The sect's patriarch did not react beyond four words.
"Father Jin…wishes to know what your plans are now. Do you have other business in this area?"
"No, we were responding to your request. If it is satisfied, we will depart promptly."
When he was informed, the patriarch relaxed a bit.
"That said, I intend to-"
Whatever Ramirez was saying was interrupted by a shout, then several as the door to the dining room suddenly slammed open. The walls shook slightly and a few vases in the corner trembled but thankfully did not topple.
A large figure suddenly slammed into Lin's seat, sending both of them prone to the ground. Lin's head struck the table as it happened, causing a filled plate of thin sauces to spill some of its contents.
Ramirez was on the person in an instant, pulling at them with all his strength. A second later, the interpreter did the same. Two men and a woman in a pink silk dress and her hair done very elegantly ran in.
With their combined strength, it was just enough to get the person off Lin. The two new men held the figure…no, the girl, with both arms roughly. They swiftly carried her away, but not before I heard her babble words through tears and ruined makeup. She screamed at Lin only to be slapped hard by the pink dress woman. Said woman said terse words into the room before following the girl being dragged away now.
The room was frozen as everyone processed what just happened, until the interpreter spoke up again. "I am deeply sorry that this happened. Please, sit, and let us make sure you are not harmed."
"I'm fine," Lin said, though she clutched the part of her head that had struck the table hard. Her eyes appeared a bit unfocused.
"We will bring a healer for you-"
"No, it's fine! It hurts, but I think that should go away soon."
The interpreter awkwardly reseated himself like Ramirez. After a moment, the latter spoke up. "Can you please explain what just happened? Why did that girl attack our astropath?"
The patriarch barked out harsh words. I hadn't even considered him yet, but now the fury on his face was obvious.
"She, ah, is Father Jin's daughter. She has been having some trouble with her peers and decided to misbehave for attention. Please, if you would grace us with your continued presence. Let us at least finish our meal together."
The tension didn't dissipate throughout the rest of the silent meal. Both we and they were only too happy to get us out of there, but before we did, Ramirez spoke up once more.
"I almost forgot, but I should tell you something. What Magos Acerak did was not a proper job. It was excellent, but still done out of necessity without proper materials and tools. There may be more of his kind coming in the future to ensure the tower is sturdy and without fault."
The interpreter translated, and Father Jin nodded.
++++
The tension accompanied us long into the flight back to the ship.
"So, how does your head feel?" I asked.
"It hurts a bit, but not much," Lin answered.
"You are going to get looked at. Injuries to the head can have other problems," Ramirez ordered.
"I didn't hit it hard."
"Probably best to get checked out anyways. It can't hurt, but if they find something, it's better to treat it now," I said.
The astropath didn't respond.
After a few moments, I said aloud, "It sucks that we don't know what she was saying. I do wonder why she did that."
"Best to put it out of our heads. It's not a mystery we can solve," Ramirez pointed out.
Lin was silent for a few moments. "Abuse."
"Hmm?" I turned to her.
"That girl was asking me to save her from abuse."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"We're both astropaths. She's not that strong, but in that moment, she was able to get her message across. I saw how they treat her. Her emotions are easily disturbed, and her psychic powers only exacerbate the problem. They don't like that, so they are very, very strict with her. She also doesn't talk that well and has a weight problem, so some children her age tease her for that as well." Lin leaned back a bit. "She knew that I was going to leave for another planet and wanted to come with us."
"…Damn. That's terrible."
"Indeed. I hope the girl's life gets better. But put it out of your head, Magos. You can't do anything about it, it will only affect your mood negatively."An uneventful journey. Perhaps, though, an auspicious start?
Take your gifts, immigrant.
The machine in front of me whirred as the laser arm moved back to its original location slowly to avoid damaging its internal lenses. I waited a minute before opening the front and removing the innards.
In my hands sat a steel cube, etched with the markings of a Warp sink. I held it up against the light for a moment, then brought it closer to my face.
It looked damn near perfect. All the etchings in the right place, not too deep or shallow. But my eyes could be deceived.
I brought the cube to my bench and placed it near a small Bunsen burner-like device. It lacked an intake valve and had a switch at its base. I flicked it and a small ball of energy, no larger than the volume of a penny spun in a circle, appeared over the top hole. It was as bright as a candle, but made of a variety of colors, violently changing shades each moment in a seemingly random manner.
I called it a Warp burner. This was a quick and easy way to generate Warp energy within the Materium. It was too small in power to actually affect anything. The ball wasn't even continuous in existence, the energy instantly dissipating and being replaced by the next fetched batch. The cube's wards had been modified so that it would trigger for such small energy but only in the range of a centimeter or less.
With my right hand, I picked up an unprotected set of wires, a sensor, and a small digital screen on the side, all linked to a breadboard slightly too wide for me to grasp. I turned it on, the screen turning a somewhat-bright blue with dashes on it, then the number 0 appearing on the left-hand side.
I picked up the cube with my left hand, then moved it over and held it next to the ball, practically touching. At the same time, I moved the contraption in my right closer and angled it so that the sensor was pointing at the cube corner closest to the ball.
For 15 seconds, I waited, watching the ball occasionally flicker.
I took one look at the screen and sighed. No activity the entire time. Another failure, where just micrometers of difference caused the whole cube to be inert and useless.
The machine responsible for my troubles said nothing. I'd constructed the oven-sized thing by converting an existing device that was broken. Patching up the hole and wires, I'd replaced the head of its robotic arm with a laser. The idea was simple: turn the laser on, have it slowly move around in a preconfigured pattern on one face, then let another arm rotate the target cube.
In practice, the failure had to do with the precision of the laser. I had to find a way to get it to etch at a precise and constant depth, something beyond whatever tolerance the original creator had in mind. My solution was to insert a few lenses into the laser apparatus, but it had taken far too long to develop my understanding of lasers and lenses to that point.
So, each day, I tried another lens arrangement. I was getting close now, the error in depth dropping even if the cubes were all equally inert. If there were additional flaws yet unseen, I wouldn't be able to tell until I got a properly functioning cube.
My other project, however, had been much more successful. That was the sensing contraption I was using to monitor a cube's interaction with the ball of Warp energy.
It was, like most of my inventions, rudimentary for what it did. I assumed a certain amount of Warp energy as my base unit, and it told me how many multiples of said unit were present in whatever it was pointed at in a flat 120-degree arc from the sensor point. The range was limited to 85 meters. It was fairly sensitive, however, so it could make out minute differences at any distance within said range. Every 30 seconds, it would refresh the screen. The whole piece was portable, but somewhat heavy for my taste. You could have deluded yourself into thinking it was usable as a last-ditch weapon.
Still, I had nothing but time, and for that I was grateful. The people who ran this ship day-to-day did a good job maintaining it and reporting issues before they became problematic. As such, they had a working knowledge of how to tide things over until I could take a look.
An initial investment in time in finding possible issues with critical systems only I could deal with had paid off well as I found myself lacking any serious work for the last several days. I fixed Anne's Roomba again by turning it off and on yesterday.
I spent another few hours tinkering with the laser head, then set it to begin running once more. It would finish several hours before I awoke the next day. After lunch, I got to work on hand-crafting a Warp sink I knew would work.
We were only a few days from Terra's space now, but I was determined to make the ship's Warp infrastructure protected from most Warp storms. I couldn't get all facilities, but finishing the astropathic array's set of Warp sinks would at least let me have something useful to report.
What I wouldn't report, however, was the now-missing container-sized steel box that had appeared overnight about four meters away from where I sat. I was lucky it didn't drop onto the floor when materializing, or I would probably have had to explain the massive thump everyone would have felt. The whole thing was easily the length of two of the benches I sat on, while the width and height were both three-quarters of a bench-length.
I had panicked for several minutes until an idea poked me in the brain. Now, my build gun was clipped to my waist and actually doing something useful – holding the container in its entirety within. I had been skeptical that it would work, but trying it multiple times proved me wrong. With a button, I hid the giant HUB container.
For good measure, I did the same with all of the other things I couldn't really explain away. The shed-full of vehicle and droid repair parts, the box of computer spikes, the machine that could make any input clothing or armor malleable, and bags of ores and soul gems. All found a spot to sit within the build gun.
I had feared that if there were any surprise inspections carried out as Nigel had mentioned off-hand one day, I would be caught in a very awkward position. I might be able to wave away the bags, but I didn't fancy my chances with any of this stuff. At least now I didn't need to worry about it.
++++
The transition back into real space required we once more wait it out in tense silence. I was the only one in my room not worried. Somewhat arrogant, but I was very confident there would be no more side-effects.
My attitude went unchecked as the ship returned to the Materium (which got a genuine cheer out of everyone), and even for hours afterwards as I held a finalized version of my sensor. It had a purpose-built casing that was both ergonomic and intuitive. A small clip-on cover at the bottom allowed the battery to be replaced, but even constant use would let it work for two days.
I pointed it at the wall, and the small digital screen displayed the word "Measuring…" It beeped when it finished and flashed the final read-out. Near-perfect values everywhere, though the area with the wall showed a slightly higher reading. Understandable, adamantium was more psychically reactive than the air.
A compulsion overtook me. I flicked my wrist as I swung the sensor around as if it were a sword. As I did, I quietly made noises.
Woom! Woom!
Heh, lightsaber.
I went about my day after fine-tuning the Warp sink machine once again for another trial run and was about to pack up for the night when I heard something.
Ding, ding!
I turned my head, trying to understand what that sound was, when I heard it again.
Ding, ding!
Upon my desk, the tablet made a sound. I unlocked it and read the notification.
YOU ARE RECEIVING THIS ALERT DUE TO INACTIVITY ON DESIGNATED AND SECONDARY ACCOUNTS. A NEW MESSAGE CAN BE FOUND IN YOUR INBOX.
I stared at it for a solid 10 seconds. It didn't seem that silly to forward messages to whoever had some nominal claim of expertise to response. If someone went missing or died suddenly, then locking up the system because no one had access carried risks.
The question was, did I dare to open whatever message this was?
…Probably for the best if I did.
Moving over to the terminal proper, I logged in and opened the message. I could have done it on the tablet since it was linked, but something made me anxious about that.
To: BEGLwen2
From: aqkMr5PK@5Yyw5gpM
Subject: Re: Open Issues, v. 4.1
Could be worse. Remember what Dray said about her latest assignment on Terra? Can't be anything more mind-numbing than standing around waiting for digger machines to inevitably break when some idiot to lift a heavy load.
LET THE MOTIVE FORCE GUIDE OUR WEARY SOULS TO OUR LORD.
> I'm seriously considering taking my chances jumping out a hangar airlock and floating back to Mars. I'd rather choke on the dirt than bang my head against this.
>
> PRAISE THE OMNISSIAH IN ALL THINGS.
>> Same shit, different day. Except, OH WAIT, we have three more issues!
>>
>> MAY THE OMNISSIAH BLESS YOUR QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE.
Attached to the first message in the chain was a set of seven documents detailing the damaged state of six things (two were for the same item, a partially disassembled laspistol). Technical details, pictures, and even a log of failed attempts at fixing each one were included.
My fingers pressed keys instinctively, the words appearing before I had even considered them.
To: BEGLwen2
From: acerak@0d5o6a9s2g
Subject: Re: Open issues, v. 4.1
1. The macrocannon turret is depressed slightly too low. The issue might be that the housing is weakened to the point of separating, with one half disengaging so much that it is squeezing a power cable. Most likely the top part, but both should be checked.
2. The water filtration system is only capable of filtering out a certain amount of contamination. However, there is no way to disable the delivery system completely if clean water cannot be provided. Consider looking at the sensor and controller. Barring that, there's probably not much that can be done without completely redoing the entire plumbing system.
3. The plasma generation vials have been seriously tampered with; the discoloration is proof of that. The assumption must have been that someone would be on hand to constantly monitor them. In order to do this, they must have also suppressed any warnings that are typically generated. But if the whole system was shut down, it would restart with default settings, and those include the previously suppressed safety checks. These are throwing errors and shutting it down pre-emptively to avoid any explosive plasma containment accidents. Replace all the vials with new ones and it should work. If not, something else has also been tampered with.
4. The diagnosis is correct, but checking where the bad power cable isn't as hard as it might seem. You should be able to check connection times across the cable from the generator with a voltmeter. Anything within .003-.004 seconds of ideal time is normal. The moment you find an increased time, you've probably found where to look.
5. Plot the time between each pulse and you'll see that it resembles a wave. It should be constant. Check the power draw on the pulse generator - if that's constant, then look at the timing mechanism in the main controller. If neither of those show any problems, then the problem is elsewhere within the generator.
6. No clue on the pistol, sorry.
++++
Ding, ding!
I paused, then realized what I had just heard and walked over to the terminal.
A NEW MESSAGE CAN BE FOUND IN YOUR INBOX.
To: BEGLwen2
From: aqkMr5PK@5Yyw5gpM
Subject: Re: Open issues, v. 4.1
If I knew, you think I wouldn't tell you? Literally none of us are experts on that shit.
LET THE MOTIVE FORCE GUIDE OUR WEARY SOULS TO OUR MASTER.
> While I'm grateful, I've been trying to understand this explanation for the Gellar field generator problem for the last three hours. I've read it and can follow the instructions, but I don't get how any of it makes sense. Why would it work that way?
>
> PRAISE THE OMNISSIAH IN ALL THINGS.
>> I will confirm that, the advice was 100% correct. I found the pinched wire at the bottom of the turret housing. Thank you very much! No idea who this is, though.
>>
>> MAY THE OMNISSIAH BLESS YOUR QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE.
>>> Who even is this?
>>> …Is it bad to say I followed the advice anyways? It worked, from what I can tell.
>>>
>>> TO FAIL IN ONE'S DUTIES DISAPPOINTS THE OMNISSIAH.
Reading the full conversation, I began to understand. Whoever I had communicated with had forwarded my response to everyone on this message list. Most were grateful for the clear explanation and advice, but one individual was questioning the Gellar field generator fix I had proposed and explained.
My fingers darted for the keyboard instinctively.
To: BEGLwen2
From: acerak@0d5o6a9s2g
Subject: Re: Open issues, v. 4.1
Hi, I suspect your confusion is because your mental model of the generator's mechanism is inaccurate. The following analogy should be corrective…
I wrote up another two paragraphs, explaining what was going on, what the component did, and why I gave my recommendation. One proofread caught two errors, and I sent my response.
With that taken care of, I returned to testing my latest machine-made Warp sink. I turned the sensor on, held the sink up to the active burner, and waited.
A sigh escaped my mouth when I saw the hauntingly similar results, but then I paused. I decided to run some additional analysis on the numbers I had.
…There was something! It was weak, yes, but the chance that it was just noise was small enough that I strongly suspected I would narrow in on the right setup soon enough.
No perks earned
-------
As the craft breached the atmosphere, I found it too easy to do just that.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone