章 114: Chapter 30: The Galactic Celebrations
'Alright, everybody gather around, there are three things I would like to talk about.'
Two months have gone by in a blur as everyone is simply focusing on and exerting all of their energy on the training and mastering of their artifacts, each displaying drastic improvements. And on the last day of each of the various training programs, Ol appeared when all of the bearers within the base are having their breakfast, and they even managed to convince Torelamri to join them, despite his protests.
'For someone that can control the flow of time, fifteen minutes really are nothing.' Elmyra made her case, and for some reason, Torelamri is extra patient to her than to everybody else, and he finally reluctantly agreed. However, Torelamri simply refuses to work on Zel's augmented arm, saying that the kind of engineering patch jobs that Zel's now known for goes against every discipline of engineering that he has ever learnt, and the grotesque circuits and component assembly made him 'sick to his stomach'.
'That's why no human engineering.' He said, and Rydel and Elmyra, the two formally educated human engineers looked at each other awkwardly. Over the two months, they have all gotten to know each other, and despite them coming from the same institute, they have actually never met in the institute grounds before, which speaks to the size of it.
However, going back to what Ol is about to say, he raised his hand to draw everybody's attention before slowly saying, 'I was about to ask whether you would like the good news or the bad news first, but the Scroll already told me that you want the bad news first...That was a joke, I didn't waste my activation today on that.'
There were no reaction from the crowd except for a dry chuckle from Torelamri.
'Thank you, my friend,' appreciating Torelamri's gesture, Ol continued, 'The first one would be that I have finally managed to phrase my question right for the Scroll, and it is indeed true that Absolute Being is placing special interests on Elmyra due to her powers. Thankfully, their motivations existed in a level beneath that of the artifacts, so we were able to obtain this information.'
Everybody looked to Elmyra, but she is simply still eating her breakfast soup without reacting. Ol has already communicated that fact to her a day prior, and she already knew from talking to the others too. Perhaps not all artifacts display at least the same amount of raw power in the same way, and hers are just particularly useful.
'That means she will become extra cautious, and Cellica and Valerie could help her with a few pointers on how to avoid being detected. But that point would come later.'
'The second sort of bad news is about how much progress they have made regarding the tracking of the artifacts. This is again sub-artifact level intelligence, which means it is intelligence that I could gather.' Ol said, then, he pointed towards Cellica, 'Cellica may be able to elaborate further.'
'You know, that power is kind of OP.' Zel whispers to Rydel, and he nodded in agreement.
'It is very convenient, for us.'
'So as all of you has heard many times by now, artifacts give off energy signatures at certain frequencies that only I could see when activated. That's how I was able to....'
'Spot me in hte middle of my act, yes, continue.' Zel cut in so that the story won't be told again. Cellica gave him a wink before continuing.
'There is indeed evidence that Infinity is at least trying to develop technoloogy that could somewhat replicate this power, my power. However, the progress is extremely so, and it would only be effective if it is placed locally in close proximity to certain artifacts.'
'That was what I found.' Ol said, 'most of us here have encountered pseudo-artifacts before, these ones are similar, but much worse. So even if we go to do whatever we do, as long as we aren't too unlucky and use our artifacts, we cannot be detected by it. However, conventional means of tracking is still completely plausible, meaning we will need to do some preparation. Since all of us here have at least have some sort of contacts with Absolute Being, some sort of disguise would be wise. Nothing too excessive, we could go old school with this.'
'Like a wig?' Elmyra asked.
'More like a hat and glasses.' Cellica said, 'some sort of fake beard if necessary, but that would be plenty enough. Surveying technology reached their peak back in the modern age, but with the number of people and the area to cover growing so much bigger, data collection and retention has become more of a pain than people realized, unless you are in a concentrated area.'
'Like a space station.' Zel thought back to the Spotlight, and Cellica nodded.
'So in summary, for the second point, we just need to be wary of it and not use our artifacts with no reason. But I am sure all of us here is responsible enough.' Ol said, glancing over at all of the bearers in front of him.
'Now finally onto the good news, I have got us tickets for the Galactic Celebration of Culture, or the culture festival. We will be leaving in a few days, so I would advice starting the packing soon.' Ol said, 'We may be facing the Absolute Being in the future, but we cannot let that fear and anxiety stop us from living our lives. We can still have some fun as long as we behave responsibly.'
'YES!' 'Can't wait!' 'Fun with people!'
'Are you coming too?' Elmyra looked to the Rockie sitting next to her, and Torelamri nodded hard and gave her a thumbs up.
'FUN WITH PEOPLE!' He yelled.
'Oh, and before you go, there is a bonus neutral news.' Ol said, 'despite what I said about Absolute Being, I am sure a few of you have noticed how much of a difference having physiological enhancements can make on both your artifact usage and just your general performance. So in case you are interested in this prospect, I have gotten in touch with a guy who has had plenty of experience working for big firms and organizations. It would most likely happen after the festival too.'
The few days of packing were plenty for some, but not for Elmyra and surprisingly Zel. In order to accommodate everyone coming on this trip, Ol has booked for a small sized cruiser ship that are just a little bigger than Zel's own ship, meaning that he actually had to move his entire workshop for his arms and body to the room he has on the ship. He has settled into his ship very nicely over the past few months, and the once lightly traveled thief is now on par in terms of luggage with Elmyra the once rich girl.
However, everything is still packed and ready, and they have started making their ways towards Olympus Zero once more. This time, Rydel and Valerie will have plenty of time to explore as much of the city planet and its surroundings as they want.
The Galactic Celebrations dates back to the days where first contact with the other species were still news in some parts of the human colonies. Before the intersystems highways were set up and faster than light communications via quantum entanglement technology was common place.
After the three forgotten wars, the human race lead by the technological elites journeyed far out into the stars and soon spotted evidence of drastically different kinds of life, and yet their existences fit within the model of life still. The ocean planet of Aquarian were the origins to Aquarians like how earth is too humans, though it is a lot more habitable than old earth is now. The Rockies were the third race discovered before the strange great barrier was discovered near the edge of the space. That was what Cellica can see regardless of which direction she is looking in, the bubble that contains all there ever was.
The news of the great barrier were suppressed, as it stood in drastic contradiction to the new model of understanding of the universe, and it was simply swept under the rug as generations after generations of people settled in the various parts of the galaxy. Despite the now limited universe, there are still lots of systems and planets to explore, even until this day, so there isn't exactly a rush to find out what lies beyond.
However, as the Bearers and Absolute Being now suspect, the bubble may exist for the purpose of shielding the galaxy away form the upcoming disaster, and like the existence of artifacts, the great barrier are simply there, a construct of a greater unknown science that's been here. Waves of energy and information can still be collected by the great barrier, though it may be nothing more than a hologram, feeding us the information we desired, in this case, scientific data.
That's when research on the great barrier ceased, and the technological elites changes the course of human history.
As the three great civilizations grew, the governing bodies become more and more distant to the people living all across the galaxies, and each of the planets gradually form their own governing bodies based on the local demographic and preferences. The disinterest in debating political systems and philosophies from the technological elites served the galaxy good in a way that never was in the modern age, and seeing how drastically different political systems across the three species still allowed them to reach the intergalactic stage cleared the argument once and for all.
The Galactic Celebrations is all about this, celebrating the three species and their current technological and cultural achievements. This is to boost the friendship between the species and celebrate the differences. The first Galactic Celebrations started not long after the formation of the Galactic Government which oversees and loosely supervises the big affairs in the galaxy.
What started as an exhibition on a distant moon has now evolved into a planet wide culture festival, with all the different cultures from all three races having their own exhibits in various districts and space colonies of Olympus Zero. The duration of the Celebrations also went from a month to a six months long endeavor as to give the visitors as much time as possible to visit as many places as possible.
However, due to the extent of the exhibitions, it is not only tourists and visitors that will be here, many scholars and fellows will come here to learn and communicate with others in different backgrounds or to learn about subjects and cultures that they may not have easy access to before. Traders and businessman also came to establish different relationships and seek out new suppliers as different shops compete for new contracts. All of the booming economic competitions means the customers will end up getting great deal for whatever services they are seeking.
The gigantic city planet is divided into five hundred districts, and for the purpose of the Galactic Celebrations, those districts will be group in general themes like street food or music, and each of the three species will get neighboring districts. This prevents the segmenting of species in specific parts of the planet, and encourages mixing, which is really what all of this is about.
'So, when we get there, what are the plans?' As the light cruiser neared the systems, the scanning system has already picked up a significant of traffic in the near by travel routes. So assuming that it would get rather busy down at the planet, Ol thought it would be great to gather everyone around and have a plan of sorts, 'currently I am thinking it would be great if we could at least pair up, just to be safe and not get lost.' Ol said as he looked to Elmyra, 'I hope that's okay with you.'
'Well, I wouldn't mind if anyone wants to come with me to the high fashion and entertainment district.' Elmyra said and leaned back into her seat preparing to defend her hobbies, though no one made any comments.
'I could go with you, if we can check out some casinos on the way.' Zel said, looking towards Elmyra who is pleasantly surprised, 'I need some more inspiration with the next phase of my prosthetic, plus we could always use some more cash.'
'For that matter, I have saved up enough for all of you to use if you wish, since taking care of all of you kids is in my role here.' Ol said, 'please feel free to take one of the cards, even if you don't use it, it may come in handy shall any emergencies arise.'
'Ol...' Rydel looked down at his personal interface as the detailed access to a new account is received from Ol just now, 'We can't take this...'
'Don't worry, Rydel.' Ol said, raising one of his arms to halt any further comments, 'I have worked through the mental gymnastics already. Using the artifacts to invest would be appropriate if it is to help our cause of being ready for the greater threat, and having fun is part of the cause.'
'Nice.....' Zel said, 'with this and Elmyra's artifact, we will be winning millions in no time.'
'No uh.' Elmyra wagged her finger, 'don't even think about it, Zel.'
Giving Elmyra a cheeky smile, Zel said, 'I am sure we can talk about it later.'
'Oh boy...just stay out of trouble, Zel.' Rydel said, 'I don't really want to come rescue you again in the middle of a nice meal in the street food and gourmet districts.'
'Oh shut it!' Zel said, waving his mechanical hand towards Rydel, 'I can take care of myself!'
'I want to try those foods too,' Valerie said as she rests her head on Rydel's shoulder, 'Vel would probably be interested, hopefully.....'
'What about you, Cellica?' Ol asked.
'Well, I have a few contacts from back in the GBI around too, so I would spend some time travelling around with them too as well as keeping my eyes and ears on anything regarding Absolute Being and Infinity.' Cellica said, 'it would be unwise for them to make the move with so many watching, however, emergency services will likely be overloaded if anything happens it would also be unlikely that help will be immediately there.'
'Sounds good.' Ol nodded, 'I will go to the business area and look around for a bit, and Torelamri, I think you are going to the technicians and engineering area?'
'Good engineering I wish to see!' Torelamri nodded.
'Compared to you guys, we have had the artifacts probably for the longest time here, and we haven't come into too much contact with Absolute Being, if at all, so we will be okay.' Ol said, bringing the discussion to a close, 'be careful around here, look out for each other, but also remember that we are here to have fun!'
Meanwhile, within the same star system, those within the Absolute Being has also made their move back into the settled regions. The modest cruiser that Lady Lily has hired only carried the artifact users as Zero has indeed summoned them here. The total numbers aboard are three, Lady Lily, Sir Deva and Sadie Allen. It has been a while since we last saw the one who possessed the artifact Shield, and he seemed a lot more calm and peaceful on the outside after the 'procedures' that Lady Lily has performed on him.
'We will be arriving at the Celebrations shortly.' Lady Lily said, though Sadie Allen is the only one sitting in the pilot's cockpit. He appeared completely zoned out and static, 'Activate, Sadie Allen.' She commanded.
Sadie Allen blinked a few times as if his brain has just been switched on, and he asked, 'how far are we?'
'Almost there, Sadie.' Lady Lily rose up from her seat, 'watch over the channels, please.'
'Yes, my Lady.' Sadie said obediently and shifted onto the pilot's chair.
Within the main areas of the ship, Sir Deva is practicing a routine of close quarter combat, and he exited the stance with a long exhale as Lady Lily entered the room. He gave her a slight nod, and she gave him a wave in response.
'Do you know why master has summoned us here, what is there to gain in the Galactic Celebrations?' Sir Deva asked, grabbing a towel to wipe off the sweats on his forehead.
'I have my suspicions, perhaps he wanted to extend the influence of Infinity on a few things and needed us to do some...persuasion, or perhaps just wanted to show us something. Or even just let us have some fun?' Lady Lily replied as she poured herself a cup of tea, 'I like fun, and you look like you need it.'
'I don't know what to say to that.' Sir Deva said, 'but I will just follow you.'
'You know what,' Lady Lily walked towards Sir Deva with her seductive stride with a smile on her face, 'this is what I like about you, Deva. You are always focused.'
'Well, the work isn't done, so I cannot rest until then.' Sir Deva said, 'Are you sure that Sadie Allen is going to work out just fine? I know the modifications this time were much better than what we used on Dolon, but still...'
'What? Spit it.'
'When we lost both Lock Down and Lighting Rod, I was expecting master to be angry, but instead...he just wanted us to learn from the experience. If we made that same mistake again, then I do not know what the consequences will be.' Sir Deva thought to the monumental failure a while ago.
'Yes, even I have trouble reading master's thoughts some times.' Lady Lily said, 'but what happened last time happened for a variety of reasons, the connection between Rydel and Dolon, her will, the immaturity of the technology, and the nature of her artifacts...This time is different.'
Then, Lady Lily looked towards the cockpit and lowered her voice, 'Sadie had no such connections, in fact, he has no one'
'He is ours, and he will be ours for as long as I am here.'
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