บท 165: Chapter 30: The New Orbit
The modelling unit underneath Zero went directly to work, calling over all of the resources and facilities that Infinity has had as well as the collectives of agents of Absolute Being all over the galactic capital as streams of data from the modelling unit has been uploaded all of a sudden all over the entire planet about an impending storms of asteroids that will run through the orbits and demolish the orbital rings and other orbital infrastructures. The safety concerns for those that are staying on the rings are of utmost importance for the operators and governors, so it didn't even take long at all for swift evacuations to be going underway.
Using that precious time, Rydel has been nursing his hand, as Cellica examined it with the Eyes to check for any signs of further tissue damage. Fortunately, there is nothing too pronounced.
'You said that you can't take the orbital rings, or any ships with it.' Valerie said as she sat next to Rydel and rested her head on Rydel's laps.
'Or it would have been horrible.' Rydel agreed, 'I am a little surprised that Zero is willing to buy the time for evacuation. I was fully preparing to go against him.'
'Perhaps he isn't like we thought,' Valerie said, looking directly at Rydel's scruffy chin as she reached out to feel the few hairs growing there, 'or perhaps the price to pay in PR is too great.'
There are no official channels and protocols for the bizarre scenario that Olympus Prime has found themselves in. The presence of artifact users all across the galaxy has only ever become a thing over the past few years, and that's certainly not enough time for anyone to be planning for such ridiculous and impossible powers. Nobody is going to model for the sudden teleportation of an entire planet, or the strange and unexpected of a sun's orbit.
That should have been where Zero comes in, and yet even he is caught out by the extend of the artifact's bizzare powers. Of course, he, of all people, should have known that the powers of the artifacts quite literally knows no bounds, and Zero also knows the difficulty of getting anything done quickly particularly when it comes to the work of the senate, which means having the support of the people is even more crucial for the stunt he is about to pull.
He is already a criminal to the law, and the failings of the law is such that it doesn't punish legal incompetence and the lives that are lost because of it, but it certainly loves to clamp down at the attempts to save people while breaking it.
This will be especially troublesome for Zero, as there will definitely be people that won't be able to get out in time, but the hopes is that at least they are in some sort of a vessel so that they won't be affected as much by the disappearance of Olympus Prime's gravitational field as much. The ships that were orbiting the planet will simply continue onward with the instantaneous tangential velocity and flying away in the direction that they are currently facing. The procedure of search and rescue should be incredibly easy, as they are just floating vessels in space at that point.
The only ones that will be affected are those that remained in the orbital ring when it inevitably fall apart.
And all of this is hinging on the hope that Rydel can really do what he says he can do. Zero does indeed not feel any sense of momentum change when exiting Rydel's warp, but it doesn't mean the same things could be said for all of the others, especially when the stress of moving an entire planet falls on Rydel's shoulders. This very uncertainty brought by the joining of organic beings and artifacts is what Zero always hated about this whole ordeal. What science allows intellectual beings to accomplish is that of precision, control and predictability, as everything falls in place according to the physical rules.
However, those things that broke such physical rules are nothing but a wrench in the grand plan of the universe. Or rather, they operate on a whole different set of scientific principles, none of which that he was even close to understanding. The frontier of physics is sitting there right in front of him, and yet Lady Lily's reverse engineering is still the closest Absolute Being has ever gotten to even remotely understanding what's going on.
The 5 hours laid out by Zero passed by in a flash, as Rydel took this time and tried to relax as he let the nanotechnology enhancements in his body to do the necessary repair work while he focuses on recreating that feeling inside his mind. The feeling of zooming way out into the distance and viewing the planet as nothing but a baseball for him to toss. To truly perform the task without any hiccups, there can be no room for doubt and worry. He knows that he needed to treat Olympus Prime as if it had nothing but microbial life on it, and yet every time he laid eyes on that sphere of matter, he sees nothing but lights coming from a booming city planet.
This is going to be one hell of a battle, even though the battle is only ever fought in the mind.
As Cellica came into the resting room, indicating the completion of the majority of the evacuations as said by Zero, Rydel knew the time is up.
'You got this.' Valerie said encouragingly before kissing him on the cheek, 'go get them.'
Rydel nodded firmly in her direction as he followed Cellica towards the 'operation' room, where everything appeared to be exactly where they were, and the only that changed over the past 5 hours is the position of his targeted area. Now, it's slightly further than before.
'While you were recovering, we have also set up something for you to trial with. It won't be exactly the same, but it will give you an idea of what to do.' Cellica explained, as three orbiting objects are shown in the holographic map in front of him, 'there are three clusters of space rubbish that the ship produced, and they also had trackers attached into them. Try to drop them off at the corresponding orbits.'
'Like a test drive.'
'Exactly like the test drive.' Cellica said, pointing towards the three shiny dots far out in the distance. Rydel focused onto the three floating balls of metal, plastic and wastes before turning his head and regaining the perspective of where the ideal orbits that he should be aiming for are at.
Then, without any hesitation, Rydel reached out with his left hand and activated the Glove of Summoning. His consciousness traveled out from the tips of his fingers and traversed the vast amount of space before it gradually slowed down and surrounds itself around the compressed balls of trash. Making sure that's exactly what Rydel wanted, he closed the hand, as a rough sphere is now felt within his palm.
That was the easy part. Rydel thought, as he looked at the guidance projected on the screen in front of him, which showed both the distance and release velocity required for those trash balls. So far, he has only been estimating the distances that he needs to send out his 'feelings' for, but it appeared he would need to be a lot more accurate here.
Thankfully, he has had a system where a computer predictions is telling him what to do, though he quickly opted out of that goggles later in the first book as he become more adapt to using his artifacts. Rydel turned his head, and tried to actively sought for the rough estimate of the distance before releasing it.
And he was off by millions of kilometers.
'Shit.' Rydel said, as a decaying orbit is shown for that trash ball he just threw. He was nowhere near. If that was the planet, he would have doomed it even faster than what the current trajectory was.
'Well...I guess it's good we have a few practice runs.' Cellica said, not looking nervous in the slightest, but her tone gave it away, 'give it another try.'
'No...' Rydel shook his head. It won't work this way. Estimating like that and just throwing it is way too inaccurate and inconsistent. He needed a better way.
Thinking back to when he extended the reach of his fingers and felt the space warping all around the planet, what was different?
The difference lied in his perspective. He zoomed his focus way out, and felt as if the gigantic rock in front of him is nothing but the size of a playing ball ready to be thrown. And that needs to be the perspective that his mind is processing things at, at the very least.
The sizes of the planets also dwarfs in comparison with the sizes of the orbits they inhabit, so Rydel would need to be extra careful on that front too.
Now, Rydel is thankful that he gets to do a few practice throws.
Reaching out with his hand again and ignoring whatever Cellica is saying now, Rydel once again easily grabbed onto the ball, as his reach in space has greatly improved even in between trials. Then, instead of looking towards the orbits directly, Rydel sought for the feeling he had when he was trying to zoom out in his head as if he was attempting to warp a planet.
Letting his body be thrown way back, out and away from the Olympus system, he felt for the motions of the celestial bodies in the system. He felt the curvature of space, and he felt the tiny bubble that he created in his hand.
He cannot see how things are, like Elmyra or Brakagi can, but he can feel it. The system pulses with his every breath, and he felt exactly what he needed to feel. Instead of a tiny being in the middle of the Olympus system, the system is now all laid out in front of him.
He hovered his hand above it all like a gambler ready to place down a bet. Remembering the location of the orbits within this piece of space time, Rydel went ahead and placed the pebble on the winning hand.
Giving it a gentle toss upon release, Rydel saw it quickly settling into the orbit before it shot outwards and escaped the system.
Oops...perhaps he pushed it a bit too hard and gave it it's escape velocity.
Exiting the mind space, Rydel opened his eyes.
Cellica was looking at him without saying a word, but her shocked reaction told him all he needed to know. He has done it.
'The velocity was too high, but the orbit is bang on.' Cellica said, sounding like Zero now using his usual wording rather than her very formal ones.
'Yes.' Rydel nodded in agreement, 'I felt it too.'
'You...felt it?' Cellica asked, though that is probably as much a question from Zero as one for herself.
'It's all about perspectives, you know?' Rydel said with a smile before manipulating the holographic map in front of him to match with what he was feeling at the gambling table just now. Then, he immediately went back to the table with yet another bet, as the tiny sphere of trash is held in his hand. With the utmost confidence, Rydel placed his bet. The ball rolled around the table exactly as he intended and settled on a winning number.
'He really could do it...' Zero said, as the readings from the holograms in front of him confirmed the suitable locations and velocity vectors, 'you can begin whenever you feel ready. This is the real thing now.'
'Alright.' Rydel said, swallowing hard as he looked at the planet in front of him.
'Just from me,' Before Rydel was about to start, Cellica said as she took half a step towards him, 'are you alright?'
'Yeah.' Rydel gave her a bright smile, 'yeah....yeah.'
There is certain some fatigue, and some strain in his body. But right now, he is riding the momentum of the successes, and there is no reason to back out after playing two good hands. There is no backing away from the table at this point. There is no room for doubt, and no time for caution.
Stop thinking, and start acting.
'I will begin.' Rydel said, giving the holographic maps one last look before taking in a giant breath of fresh air and pushing out both his chest and stomach. Breathing practice not only resets the mind, but also the body, and Rydel needs all of the focus he can muster at this point.
Remember the sensation he felt earlier in the day, Rydel reached out, as the space around the entire planet is bent to his will. The curvature of space time responded to the commands of his glove, and he carved out a tiny sphere which contained Olympus One. Holding it in his hand, Rydel returned to the gambling table.
'You crazy son of a bitch.' The dealer looked at his left hand and lets out a chuckle, 'you want to gamble with that?'
Rydel felt himself being dragged down, as the weight of the entire planet pulled hard on his hand, as a ripping sensation tingled all the way up and down the sides of his body. Rydel fought against it hard with every ounce of his being. He thought he can easily carve out bubbles in space time without paying a price, and Rydel was wrong.
He felt something pop in his left bicep, but he has no idea what it is. However, there is no time to worry about any of this. The planet is in his hand, and he is here to play. He stepped ever closer towards the table, wobbling around as if he is carrying a heavy suitcase full of gold. Then, as he finally made it there, he is sweating all over the place.
The metaphorical dealer gave him a devilish smile, and said, 'please place your bet, bearer.'
'...' Rydel struggled to bring his left hand up onto the playing table. Mustering all of this strength, he felt another thing pop in his back as a shot of pain traversed through his body like lightning. Rydel dropped onto the floor, but he still held onto the precious luggage.
'Please place your bet, bearer.' The dealer repeated again, now sounding a little impatient.
Rydel didn't respond, instead, he gritted his teeth and pushed against the ground to bring himself up, as his left shoulder popped out of the socket and the only thing holding everything together are his soft tissues and ligaments. Rydel hissed in pain, but continued moving.
Bringing every ounce of his being together, Rydel threw his left hand, still clenched in a fist, onto the table.
'ALL IN, BITCH.'
Then, he released it, exactly as he did before, placing it in the exact orbit, with the exact velocity. A light flashes from the rolling ball, as the metaphorical gambling table dissipates in his mind. Instead, he saw nothing but pitch black and felt nothing but the cold hardness of the ground beneath him. He couldn't feel his left arms, or his lower body as he laid there. He thought he was passing out, but instead, he was stuck in this limbo of nothingness.
What is going on? And where am I?
Have I done it? Did I go crazy? Oh...am I finally passing out...Great...
'...' Zero looked on at the empty space in front of him, where Olympus Prime once was. Now, there is nothing except for the vast emptiness of space that existed in most of the universe. He looked down eagerly at the monitoring hologram, and the ship computer is scrambling to make sense of what has just happened, as all of the signals it was tracking on the planet just now disappeared and is replaced with nothing but blank.
'It's there! Olympus Prime is there!' Lady Lily said through their communications channel, 'It's orbiting at the right speed around the safe orbits!'
'Connecting visuals to the planet.' Zero ordered before Cellica's voice came through the channel.
'No need.' She said, 'I saw it. Everything is alright.'
Throwing away the communications device, Zero leaned back onto the seat and let out a long sigh of relief. His entire body was shaking through out, especially due to how long Rydel was holding onto the planet as the ship rattled before flying off in the tangential direction of it's previous instantaneous velocity in the orbit. However, despite all that, that kid has done it.
What a dangerous being.....Zero thought, but it is also thanks to him that the planet is saved.
'Another thing,' Cellica continued, 'we will need a medical droid...No...we will need Lady Lily.'
Lady Lily was monitoring everything from her own office on the ship with Sir Deva by her side when Zero ordered her to make her way towards the operating room at once. It sounded urgent, and Lady Lily's instinct told her that Rydel must have been hurt during the warping of an entire planet. As she dashed around the corners and leaped off the hand rails down three floors onto the same level as Rydel and the rest of the bearers, she felt a strange sense of unease. The air...no...the space around here felt strange, as if the very fabric of the universe has been torn apart and sewn back together.
So this is the true powers of the artifacts, where even the fabric of reality cannot be spared.
Then, as she turned yet another corner and saw the bearers gathering around a the entrance to the door, she saw all of the wall's surface charred grey as a burning smell filled the corridor.
'Where is he?' Lady Lily asked, as the bearers backed away from the door's entrance. She entered the room, and saw Rydel lying motionless on the ground, all of his clothes burnt to a crisp as his body started to glow a warm orange light like a well burnt charcoal . Cellica, who's clothes are also mostly burnt away as her exposed body is also slightly charred as a result. However, she is still conscious and kneeling by Rydel.
'Sa...Save him!' Cellica plead, before her body shook and she also fell back onto the ground.
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