Every moment the clock ticked every closer to Crossed Antennaes eventual arrival. Her thoughts were a mix of boredom and excited anticipation. There wasnt much else for her to do but think and wait, which made everything take longer. All of the energy of the ship was stable, and the purely technological parts came back with no warnings.
The only moment of uncertainty came as the ship crossed the dead zone, the transition between natural energy and ascension energy. Or lower and upper energy, but that was a bit insulting to the lower realms- along with the entire name.
During that time, the ship ran purely on technological means. While there wasnt much it had to do since it was already accelerated as far as it was going to go, remaining in subspace wasnt something that happened trivially. Not that Crossed Antennae really understood all of those details. Scholars with a century of study didnt necessarily understand all the details alone, so how could a single ant? Void ants were clever, but they could only learn so much so quickly.
The flushing of natural energy from the systems was both exciting and worrying. While she was happy to be able to freely devour the energy, everything felt empty. There were weeks where the ship drifted through nothingness.
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Then she began to sense the ascension energy. Shed been exposed to a small amount from Anton, but it was different when it was just everywhere, floating around like air. Not that there was actually any air around the ship.
She nibbled on the ascension energy as the ship itself began to slowly absorb some of it, filling its systems. As far as she could tell, it thought things were going fine- not that the ship actually thought anything. It was just a bunch of formations and computer systems that measured things. Still, she at least felt it was storing energy fine without any leaks.
Then they finally came to the system. It only took a few hours to reach the planet from there- but they werent immediately landing. Instead, they curved around the planet in question, then the star, lowering their momentum greatly. Ultimately that process took several days as they slowed from near lightspeed with subspace multiplication to something resembling sensible planetary speeds.
The ship landed itself without any real input from Crossed Antennae, for which she was glad. And it seemed to be good except for the lack of energy. The planet itself was rather disappointing. Barely higher energy levels than the void of space around it. Even if it was ascension energy, it wasnt much.
But the ship said there was air, and she could see some plants. When it was determined to be safe, she exited the ship herself. Grass stretched from horizon to horizon, providing very little benefit except how it limited soil erosion.
This place would need a lot of work. Building up natural energy was important. Ascension energy, she corrected herself. And yet, they couldnt build up too much. After all, it had to look almost the same as it did now. Enough to fool anyone attempting to colonize it for later invasions of the lower realms, at least. That way, they could launch simultaneous attacks and wipe them all out. That was the plan, though of course something would go wrong. No plans lasted centuries without running into some issues.
But before then, they needed to start planting. Her progeny began waking up from their artificial hibernations, and the queen commanded them, picking out where they should begin planting their seeds. They would need to be conservative with their feeding on the local energy for a while, until it could start building up sufficiently.
Having landed and immediately become busy, Crossed Antennae forgot about her worries. Her loneliness and fear were set aside as she was filled with purpose. She didnt forget to signal her arrival, but she wouldnt hear back for some time- and it would be even longer before any relevant action was taken that would affect her.
Until then, she had her job as a queen to fulfill, to grow her colony and work towards the best results for the void ants and their allies. And at least the dense energy filled her with hope for how they might develop.
-----
As it turned out, it was not so easy to shift the loyalty of groups planted by the Exalted Quadrant. On Ceretos, only a small portion had been willing to fight with the planet- and many of them made that choice more for practical purposes, betting on them being the winning side. Not that that was necessarily wrong. In fact, if they were to make choices like that in their current situation then all of them would swiftly wish to join up with the Lower Realms Alliance. After all, one side had Assimilation cultivators. And soon enough, more than a single Enrichment cultivator.
Devon didnt know if he would outpace others. Lev and the Grasping Willow were growing at a steady pace, and he could advance at any time. There were others from Ceretos and around the alliance that had the potential as well. Ty Quigley was somewhat behind in cultivation time, but he also had the talent. Though without conflict, perhaps he would fall a bit behind.
Still, despite the annoying stubbornness of the Hardened Crown Sect Devon was glad to hear that people were at least willing to listen and talk. Nothing had come to blows yet- except with regards to Naamah and the Nidec branch of the Hardened Crown Sect, which really didnt count. Nobody had ever expected otherwise.
As for the local cultivators of Nidec who werent associated with the Exalted Quadrant, they seemed to be eagerly awaiting the results. Joining the Lower Realms Alliance would be good for them with very few downsides- though there were some requirements such as giving up slaves. Not that it was easy to have enslaved cultivators of significant power, so it was ultimately very inefficient to have many slaves. And horrid, of course, but Devon understood that people didnt always consider morality before profit or convenience or the like.
But aside from submitting to the universal laws of the Lower Realms Alliance, which werent particularly burdensome as such things went, joining the alliance came with so many upsides. Knowledge, not just about cultivation but technology as well as the ability to improve the natural energy of planets. Just that was hard enough to ignore, plus there was the promise to stand together against invasions from the upper realms.
-----
This timing is terrible, Aerona complained.
How so? Devon asked.
Im talking about running into this Shining Cooperative, while were still dealing with Nidec. I mean, I dont feel the need to be personally involved in all of this but we only have so many people specialized in diplomatic matters. At least Anton proposed a generous time limit, but even then five years is a bit of a rush.
You think theyll be a problem?
Not really, Aerona said. Udre joined after everything with Ekict. So weve seen exactly one conflict. Just Vrelt. And while that was bad enough to be cautious she shrugged. Im still optimistic. I doubt this Shining Cooperative would be eager for a war even if theyd normally be the type, given the fact that their first contact was Anton.
Devon nodded, Its hard to want to fight with my grandpa. Hes so nice. And terrifyingly strong.
Exactly, Aerona said. So worst case, theyll tell us to stay out of their territory. But if they are friendly, then the process could vary greatly in how smoothly we connect. There could be decades of variability if the situation is approached too timidly. Or too aggressively.
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And thats why we have people like you who are passionate about this stuff, Devon said. Also I do think we should probably be focused on the location were currently at, dont you think?
If I was needed, I probably would, Aerona shrugged. But Treloar is doing a good job of talking to the people who dont need to be headbutted into submission. Naamah is probably going to be successful with the Hardened Crown Sect, they just have to put up a fight for a decade to make themselves feel good.
So in your estimation, Vrelts integration will be relatively smooth?
I hope so. But I cant be sure, Aerona admitted. But there are no secrets here, and the balance of power isnt as strongly for the upper realms individuals. And the alliance is more prepared if something goes wrong.
Im more concerned about that part. Focusing on Vrelt while still having to watch our border with the Shining Cooperative as if we even knew what that border was its tough.
Good, Aerona said. It will remind us that protecting the whole of the lower realms against assault is going to be a large task. And that just because we have a few hundred years left doesnt mean we can slack off. People have to be reminded about such things every once in a while.
Grandpas pretty good at that. He doesnt forget whats important.
Its true, Aerona admitted. With his growth plans, everyone would kind of accidentally end up strong enough to wipe out any and all invaders. Though people focused on combat are still going to be necessary.
On that note, how do you feel about being in the same stage of cultivation as this guy? Devon pulled out his communicator and showed her a picture.
Infuriated. Then immediately calmed by his cuteness. Thats Three Squeaks, right? And Meep?
Yeah. You should meet them some day.
Akrys is pretty tightly closed off, Aerona reminded Devon.
If only you were closely tied to some of the few people authorized to enter the system Devon shrugged. And hopefully theyll achieve some sort of unification or otherwise open up to the galactic community through their own will in a century or so.
With those guys working on it, I cant help but believe theyll be successful, Aerona said. Also, extremely motivated to break through to Life Transformation sooner rather than later.
Maybe you need something to push you. Like trying to talk to the Hardened Crown Sect yourself.
I dont know if thats a good idea, Aerona said. She crossed her arms. Or if it is, I hate it.
Devon shrugged. Im just saying. Perhaps pushing your diplomatic limits will help. Though obviously you have to judge for yourself whether you can be successful with both your goal and your cultivation. We wouldnt want to compromise either one.
Okay, hear me out. Learning a new language would be good, right? And there arent that many language varieties except what is spoken on Akrys. So I should learn from them.
How many clicking, chittering, and squawking noises can you make consistently? Devon asked, grinning.
P-probably a lot? I have good control over my voice.
The hard part is doing it without embarrassment, Devon said. Like Three Squeaks actual name sounds like this. High pitched noises that didnt fit Devons look at all somehow extracted themselves from his voice box.
Wow, thats uh I kind of knew the names were representative but they seem pretty cumbersome.
Meep isnt so bad, Devon said, making a quick noise. Though it takes the man himself probably five seconds to work up to making that sound.
I doubt theyll actually ever need me, Aerona said. But if youre willing, I would like to learn the language.
Sure. I mostly speak from the meerkat angle, but the language is pretty generous with its sounds. Oh, but there are some nonverbal individuals there as well. The Great Queen taught some stick insects something like void ant sign, but obviously its not exactly the same.
I know void ant sign, Aerona said. I think I can probably pick that up pretty quickly.
Lets just make sure we dont miss things that are happening here, Devon grinned. Honestly, speaking the awakened beast language of Akrys was rather embarrassing, given how hed learned it, but Aerona was one of the few people he would feel comfortable using it in front of. Everyone else standing around them wouldnt get anything. Devon wondered what sort of private conversation people thought they were having. They might pick something out from the weird ways his mouth moved, but theyd probably never truly figure it out.
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