章 87: 87. TEKnological Revolution

It had barely been half a year since the divine machine creation of the All-Father had been turned on for the first time and the lives of many had drastically changed.

Hell's Gate and its surroundings were the most affected by those changes, it was a technological revolution of the like so far above anything seen in history that all previous ones were almost forgettable.

For the less technologically adept this change seemed less drastic as they were less directly touched, to begin with, and lacked in understanding and that was the exact opposite for the humans.

It was akin to them being poor farmers in the early Middle Ages of a backwater country to then be carried to the most advanced technological Martian colony of the 22nd century, their worldviews shattered before them. The gap in technology was simply this large, if not larger.

But humans as a species were very adaptable to sudden change and so the arrival of Tek and a general massive improvement of technology in their daily life was a radical shift. A shift that while most are still acclimating to, melded rather fast into their habits.

The little amount not pleased were the ones unhappy to begin with, and they were at Liam mainly but those individuals were unimportant… And discardable even, it was a meritocracy, the people that didn't put in the effort while they could are by some barely considered as an individual.

Tek was reserved for more important matters in the first place, but it was still omnipresent, it touched all professions to a more or less extensive degree be it directly or indirectly via machinery upgraded over the next few centuries by the Tek Replicator without using a gram of Element in the creations.

And the most affected of all were the ones related to the collection of resources, such as the mining operations led by Katherine Hale, ones that were exclusively out of Pandora. This was the main focus, the supply of raw resources was the foundation of any good society, and it was a pivotal factor in their survival. Without minerals rare or not from the ground there would be no possibility of progress.

This Liam understood it fully, it was more important than even the interpersonal relation between Hell's Gate and the natives, the first and only mining expedition on Pandora was after the eviction of the RDA from the moon and it was only to heal the damage and kickstart the base and many of his projects.

Pandora's only truly unique and valuable mineral was pandorium-unobtanium but it can be produced artificially now, fixing another problem that was about to bloom as the stock of this metal was running thin.

The moon didn't possess all the necessary minerals in enough concentration to begin with, aluminum was hard to come by for example. As a result, it also drastically improved relations between humans and Na'vi, it was the major and original source of tension and now it didn't exist.

However, the effects of the past mining did not disappear and tension didn't completely vanish and would not do so that easily.

This technological revolution had led Katherine with Liam's support and approval to expand her branch of activity resulting in an increase in productivity by an exponential amount. All the while with a relatively low amount of manpower.

And she was currently walking toward one of such places, a mine situated far from Pandora underground, one situated on the Venus-like moon named Naratxep, how would she do so? Teleportation, as simple as that and as insane as that sounded for anyone aside from their small community.

She moved between the Airfield and Manufacturing Complex of Hell's Gate, just having walked out of the Armor Bay, the sound of her boots silenced was replaced by the clings of her whole on the metal.

She climbed via a ramp to a massive circular platform of steel where the glimpse of a red lozenge protruding from the top of a small angular pillar at the opposite of her position.

Blue particles from the size imperceptible to the naked eyes to tennis ball-sized floats floated in the air as if they were will-o'-wisps, their bodies uncaring for what was solid like her as they traveled all matter. It was a beautiful sight but she didn't come here to be in awe at a pretty light show.

She came here for the unique method of transport she is going to use, a teleporter, a Tek Teleporter to be exact. One that would let anyone depending on their clearance level move from one Teleporter to the other letting them instantaneously travel from one fixed point to another in the fabric of space by means only understood by its designer.

It was easily accessible and usable faster than light travel. Katherine was a smart woman but nobody needed to be particularly bright as a requirement to realize this kind of technology would change how humanity as a species would work, be it in individual movement, to the economy, industry, and war themselves.

This technology was revolutionary in all regards and one that was under total control of their seemingly ageless and ever-growing leader, Liam, and she was happy and content that it was the case.

No humans or any species of similar intelligence and wisdom for that matter should ever get full possession of such a tool, it would be an almost exact repeat of nuclear weapons and other similar types of mass destruction weapons. As it is it wasn't a weapon but it would be easy to turn it into one.

"Excursor, can you please teleport me to Hellfire Outpost?", she asked politely the creature of metal that had been hovering behind her all of this time bobbed in agreement before moving toward the red lozenge.

The creature she addressed was akin to an eye in the shape of a lozenge with blue veins around black muscle-like tissues protected in a carapace of smooth metal with fin-like growth on its back, it had two long folded arms on each side that ended in two blunt end capable of switching to a set number of tools. It was relatively small, not much bigger than a human torso, and relatively weak by its creator's words.

This was a Scout, a cheap, 'easy-to-build', and versatile Tek lifeform that was put everywhere, they served several purposes from doing menial tasks to being the key behind using Tek as none but Liam could directly use this technology.

And to annoy or forbid piss off the intelligence behind will lead to consequences such as an impossibility of using Tek unless emergency there is, it's just that the Drones were not slaves that will obey the whims of everyone and anyone.

Those robots were, while not on the human level of sapience still far from being mindless, they collectively were this Excursor she just mentioned, it was the will of this entire 'species', a will whose sole purpose was to do as its creator and Father says to letters and dies if necessary while doing so.

Many saw this artificial life as creepy, and wrong, but Katherine didn't, they were pretty cute in her opinion floating in the air like oversized ants, one of the few insect species still prospering. Ants. A pretty apt term to describe them.

The left arm of the Scout extended, and thin blue filament from the tips popped out and interlaced with the tip of the waist-height pillar. Then Katherine heard a distorted whipping sound of air before her sense of hearing, smell, and sight entirely escaped her for one second seemed to stretch for eternity and they were all back in an instant.

What greeted her eyes was a tumultuous sky bloated by clouds of sulfur, brazing dust particles, and other toxic gasses and substances that hid the stars, the moons such as Pandora, and even Polyphemus.

The sole light sources were the few stray rays of sunshine that managed to pass, the constant zig zag of yellow electricity crackling from the never-ending thunderstorm, and the faint orange-red having from origins hundreds of endless half-solidified lava streams in the far distance.

It was an almost perfect representation of Hell thereby why this place was named Hellfire Outpost, it was built on a blazing inferno that was this moon and in of the least dangerous places on it. It was the tectonic plate that was less volcanically active and had very few earthquakes. Of course, it was compared to the rest of the moon considered so it was to be taken with that in mind.

'Reminds me of home.', she snorted at the thought while she took off her exopack breathing in the recycled air, and walked down the Teleporter, the Scout following, this place was far worse than Earth but the sheer desolation of the landscape was quite alike to the once blue planet.

So why wasn't she already dead when the moon's surface temperature was on average 366 °C (~690 °F) on a 'frosty' day and everything else screamed death to anything remotely organic with water in them? The answer was the same as how she got here, Tek and the source as to why she lived was a ten-meter-tall (~33ft) structure she was passing by.

It was the Tek Forcefield, it took the general shape of a pillar mixed with a pyramid, with four massive claws at each of the four angles anchoring in the foundation built below, its top was spread open like a flower, and four metal pieces were spinning around as from the very tip a beam of blue energy shot out into the sky.

This blue beam flew one hundred meters (~328ft) into the air before stopping and expanding into a four hectare forming a spherical-shaped forcefield of pure energy that would occasionally show in the form of bluish hexagons weaved together when yellow lighting would slam into it.

It was by a technology she obviously didn't understand but from the little she did it was akin to hardened and solidified photon, hard light in essence, another similar to the Teleporter that was also a deadly weapon and so much more. But even with this shield against the elements whether they were visible or not it wouldn't be enough as such it was but one layer to make the place liveable. The air filtering system is one such layer.

This was a bubble where the outpost was, a fairly small outpost all things considered. It was composed of one large shed connected to a building compartment with some amenities such as a coffee machine, running water by unknown means, and beds to only name three. There was no need for more, Hell's Gate was a minute away by foot.

She walked on the polished stone toward one of the extremes of the forcefield where she could see her team arriving back from their mining expedition, it was a group of ten of her men, a bit less than half of her team, all securely driving their upgraded AMP suits by Liam, Scouts were hovering on about from them to what was in the middle of their formation a Tek Stryder.

Arx was the name of the will behind those building-sized beasts. Its name meant fortress, and stronghold in Latin, a perfect name for what this creature could do with the right rig put on besides being a tool to mine at a speed that boggled her mind with how efficient, and clean it was. It emitted three lasers from its chin via the tips of three drills-shaped outgrowths that focused on bigger ones that cleaved everything in its path.

It was a walking castle, and in the middle of its back was one set of inverted rib-like structures that generated a smaller but similar forcefield to the one protecting the outpost, thanks to this it was possible to have safe and worthwhile expeditions for her team.

The forcefield of the Tek Stryder began to merge with that of the Tek Forcefield with the help of the Scouts whose arms bent the energy film to their will, smoothing the entire interaction between the field of energy; one other goal was to filter the air as best as possible. It was akin to watching magic but that was a show she witnessed dozens of times so it did not have the same effect as the first few times.

While this was happening the Tek Teleporter flashed as something was teleported, Katherine having heard the sound turned her head behind out of curiosity.

"Huh… Here again?", she mumbled as she observed a unique female Na'vi of surreal beauty, she possessed mauve skin, a long tail, and a head full of pure white hair, behind her two tetrapterons carrying a box could also be seen.

Katherin recognized this Na'vi, she was her boss's girlfriend slash mate slash wife and she had a very particular name for the natives, Eywa the name of the All-Mother the local deity believed in, but who was she to judge?

Humans did name their kids after mythological figures and this Na'vi was unique compared to any other she saw, this uniqueness might be why Eywa's parents called her so.

And so Katherine observed for a moment Eywa jumping up, gravity not affecting the Na'vi as she began to float and move in the opposite direction that she was, the two tetrapterons she recognized as Meri and Septen cawed behind and followed the hovering Na'vi.

The fact Katherin saw someone hover as if by magic was barely gazing at her now, in her head, it was probably some kind of discreet anti-gravity device given by Liam or something similar. Never would it cross her mind that the being that just exited the Tek Teleporter was the true deity and that there was no technology involved in the feat of levitation.

Eywa lowered herself in front of a patch of pure blue outgrowth on the comparatively desert ground, the outgrowth was a random mix of xenomushroom and xenoplant hybrids that against all odds managed to of the extremely dry and and hot soil of the moon. Walking barefoot was an invitation to get first-degree burns to state how hot the ground was.

The species growing here were never seen on Pandora, they were newly created to inhabit this alien ecosystem but they weren't the only species never seen before, from the box brought by the tetrapterons a few seconds the Na'vi took out a pure black gelatinous moss that crawled down her clawed fingers.

The gelatinous mass plopped down and dug deep below the ground, smiling faintly revealing a smart canine while she did so Eywa. After this, the Na'vi took out pure white jellyfish-like creatures that immediately floated down where the earlier black slime disappeared.

'That's a unique way of gardening...', Katherin thought puzzled, she didn't understand why Eywa was doing this and what was even the purpose of it all but there must be one, this entire thing was a fairly recent development too.

In any case, Katherin knew it wasn't her business so she didn't put much thought upon the action of this elusive Na'vi who by all means was as much her superior as Liam was or at the very least someone to not displease.

And so after having seen the bizard action of this bizarre Na'vi she refocused on the task at hand, meeting her team for a talk on the next few sites to exploit and how will they proceed to do so.

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