(Monday's Chapter)
Mars terraforming was right on schedule, with atmosphere in place, the planet can finally sustain life.
It's possible thanks to five massive weather towers that Empire has spread throughout the whole planet.
One tower at each pole and three at the equator. Such a configuration covered the entire planet, thus allowing for weather circulation.
With proper weather circulation and atmospheric conditions, there are no further gas losses. That gets destroyed by the sun's destructive rays.
The protection comes from towers, each with two fusion reactors. One was for the atmosphere, and the other for the magnetic field surrounding the planet.
Five magnetic fields overlap, creating a fairly strong field capable of sustaining an atmosphere.
It's one of the greatest achievements of Anna's Science department.
Now that Empire has completed the initial phase, cargo ships have brought water over by the logistics department, and soon enough, weather patterns have returned to Mars for the first time in hundreds of millions of years.
Marsian desert storms have calmed, as they used to last for months, if not years; however, because of how landmass evolved on Mars, which is similar to Earth's Pangea, the Empire has predicted more intense weather patterns in the future.
The water circulation in the new massive ocean has revealed that storms in this world will be intense.
But that was better than no atmosphere at all.
After all, their cities will be in domes; these domes will provide augmented storm protection and even stronger gravity, since Mars' gravity is naturally weaker.
"It's strange, isn't it? Red planet is no longer so red." Leila said to Cornelia, who is quite often a visitor in this world.
The pair were overseeing the latest logistics operation for Mars.
It's hilarious, considering how often Cornelia would comment about the dustball world. Now it's no longer a dustball, but it has a considerable amount of water in the northern hemisphere and a decent amount of greenery in the southern hemisphere.
"Yes… It is true. The sheer progress…" Cornelia's Innovator eyes stayed on the planet.
"Indeed… Trajan said what's the big deal?" Leila shook her head as she watched logistic ships land in the world. They are preparing for the dome arrivals.
*Snort*
"My nephew doesn't quite understand how little we expected to live on Mars in our younger days." The Imperial Princess shook her head.
"A pipe dream… I hoped that Europia survives the war with Euro Britannia, now… twelve years later, we are watching Mars getting terraformed." Leila said with a sigh.
Cornelia looked at her for a second.
"Indeed. All I cared about was making sure my sister was fine and protected from my father and his ambitions.
Now I am an aunt, and my father has a tan worthy of a retired old man." The Goddess of Victory commented with disbelief. She can't believe how much things have changed in a decade.
"Hmm?"
In the distant horizon, there was a huge burst of red light.
"...It would seem my brother can't get enough of his huge cannon." Cornelia deadpanned as she knew what it was.
"...Yeah… men and their toys." Leila's eyes stayed where the beam was.
'It's huge… far bigger than the last one. Did Marcus perfect Brain Burst?'
~~~
"...365 Million…"
"We can't monitor further."
[I pick it up at Jupiter's sphere of influence.] Legion commented as the AI summoned a hologram. It was an observation post from Jupiter, a live stream from the Gas Giant.
[Estimation of the GN Engine-powered cannon is around 500 million miles.]
[However, the massive burst of energy has melted the focusing lenses. I recommend improving the design.] Legion highlighted areas that need improvement.
"Hmm… impressive numbers," Marcus said from his command chair.
"I am not surprised. The cannon's energy source is a legitimate engine with the sun as its core. The sheer energy it can emit is absurd." Anna said, arms crossed, "The horizon is still red from all the Geass energy and Quantum brain waves." The Empress added as she saw that the void wasn't as black…
"Indeed." The Emperor nodded as he checked the design.
'It works, the patterns that affect the brain are there.'
With that said, he downloaded the schematics.
"That's settled, I will be going to the other Earth next gate opening." He said to his wife.
"Oh. Then Claudia and I will be coming with you." Anna smiled at the chance to spend more time with her husband.
"Yes, it will be a good holiday, and our daughter needs to spend some time away from her studies." Marcus nodded before sighing.
It's amusing, in his opinion, how obsessed his two eldest children are. Both of them are twelve and live in Academy City these days.
Grade school was over, and they are in legitimate 'big leagues' now.
Claudia inherited Anna's fascination with biology, perhaps because Anna had shown her 'collection'. And it's a huge room with all sorts of creatures that she is keeping in her 'workshop'. Marcus is not the only one who has one of those.
In Anna's case, she is studying bugs, snakes, and all sorts of critters kept in naturally recreated environments.
Maybe that's what piqued her curiosity. Regardless, his eldest daughter is studying biology and, in turn, the environment, and, by the looks of it, she will have Mars under her belt by the time she graduates.
Developing the 'red planet' into a self-sufficient ecology.
Then there is Trajan, Marcus's eldest son, who is the same as Anna, living in Academy City, studying robotics, software, designing, and mechanics, and at the same time slowly putting together his Unicorn Gundam.
Marcus joins in to help him from time to time, but the boy is stubborn like him and, in certain situations, doesn't want his help.
Still, because of his two kids, Marcus bought himself an estate in Academy City, so… he rotates between Lagrange 3 and Earth when he is in this reality.
"Yes… I think Claudia inherited your obsessions." Anna chuckled nerviously.
"No way. I am not that bad!" The Emperor complained back.
The Empress narrowed her eyes. She walked over and smelled him.
"You stink! When was the last time you had a shower? Or shaved your beard? Hmm???" She narrowed her eyes.
"...Yeah, fine…I get it." He stiffened for a second before smelling himself, and a grimace appeared on his face.
"...I see your point." With a sigh, he replied, making the Empress sagely nod.
With that said, he left the command seat and walked towards the hangars. Cecile nerviously chuckled in the background, the all-mighty Emperor wrapped up nicely by his wife.
~~~
"Moh, Mom, I don't want!" A black-haired girl complained as her mother dragged her out of her room.
It was Anna who had to deal with her rebellious daughter.
"Should I tell your dad?"
The moment she mentioned her father, the Princess straightened up.
"No, it's fine. I will do it." The messy Princess fixed herself a bit as she finally caved in.
The Pink-Haired Empress released her daughter, who continued to fix her long black hair.
"Go shower, then change your clothes." She instructed, then looked at the maids.
"Make sure she does everything properly. Do I make myself clear?" Anna sharply said.
"Yes, Empress." The maids nodded at the same time before following after the Princess.
'I never was like that at her age. Right? I don't think so.'
Her youth was different. There was war, and a certain pressure in the air. But this generation?
It's different. Everyone focused on their goals and performance. Her daughter is so into biology that she's working on damn evolution and genetic alteration for plants so they could work in different solar systems!
And she is only 12!
Well, Anna and Marcus both have incredible intelligence, but even then…
'She needs to relax.'
The Empress sighed before she pulled up her communications device and contacted a couple of people.
It was Feldt and Christina.
It was a simple question: do they want to visit their world…
After around half an hour, a pair of girls were in the estate and looked a bit excited.
"So, for how long are we going to visit the other Earth?" Christina asked as she had barely changed after five years. Well, she was already in her twenties when she joined Celestial Being. So she just got a bit more mature.
While Feldt, on the other hand, grew up and is now close to twenty, her time in the Empire taught her many things, considering she was an aide and assistant to the legitimate Empress.
She saw firsthand how well Marcus runs the Empire. Her time at Celestial Being by this point is like a distant dream.
"Well, we are going there for a week. Unlike Mark, who has things to do. His pet project is coming along, and he will be ready for the living metal arrival." Anna explained to them.
"...Do we even have intel on these metals?" Feldt asked curiously. She wondered if, after five years since Celestial Being's assimilation, they had some sort of proof that these things are real, because normal people can start questioning him.
"We do have it." Anna slightly nodded at the fellow pinkette's question.
"!!!"
"We do?" Christina was speechless; she didn't quite believe it before!
"C-Can… we see it?" Feldt's curiosity got piqued; she even lost composure and stuttered.
"I got it on the last portal opening from Marybell, who is running things there." Anna opened her personal hologram and sent it over to her assistants.
Feldt and Christina swiftly checked.
It was deep space, pictured via a specific filter.
"We used a specific filter, which bounces off when the surface is excessively metallic." The science Empress pointed to a 'dead spot'.
"See these? They are blank because the signal bounced off. Giving us an idea of what it looks like." Her tone got serious.
"...It's huge… it looks like a planet…" Feldt gulped down nerviously.
"Not just a planet… look… There are smaller dots." Christina zoomed in.
"Yes… We think it's an invasion fleet. Or as Mark said, these… ELS absorb anything that has Quantum Brainwaves—growing in size and mass.
By this point, it might look like an invasion fleet."
"..."
"..."
"How much time do we have left?" Feldt asked. She was nervous about her home world.
"Relax, as my husband said before, he has been preparing for years for these metals. He has an important role for them." Anna smirked a bit as she hinted at something.
One could say these aliens are his first ever proper conquest and asset expansion outside humanity.
"...We know…" Christina deadpanned a bit as she recalled a massive list of things the Empire will utilise this unique alien metal for.
She finds it… well absurd. The Emperor doesn't even know all of the details about these living metals, yet he already has massive plans for them.
'Is it his Geass foresight?'
"Regardless, we have around two years, given how fast these things are flying. They don't have proper interstellar means as we do; from our observations, they are simply rushing at the speed of a comet."
"...So like a sleeper craft from those movies? You know…hybernation and stuff…" Christina commented with crossed arms. She was a bit relieved. They have two years!
"Possible. They are not a proper organic lifeform, but a living metal. We can assume they work differently from us organics." By this point, they can only speculate what is going on with the creatures
As the trio speculated, the Princess got herself known.
"MOM!"
Anna groaned a bit when she heard that. She never realised how annoying teenagers can be!
"What is it?" The Empress began to walk towards the location of her daughter.
"WHAT SHOULD I WEAR!?"
"Why… is she screaming?" Christina commented from behind the Empress.
"It's her way of telling us that she doesn't want to go anywhere. And the estate is quite big." The Empress rolled her eyes.
"Oh…wow… I mean…"
'Is this what true peace looks like? Kids with a lot of personality?'
'At least she is not over the top spoiled for a princess…' The Brown-Haired girl thought to herself. She did spend considerable time with the Empress and her daughter over the five years she served.
She knows that the Empress spends a considerable amount of time making sure the Princess is not spoiled rotten. Same with the Emperor, the Emperor would often ground the Princess, and Imperial grounding is not simple grounding.
But that's the thing, the Princess is stubborn and extremely intelligent; those traits can get into one's head if one is not careful.
Cloudia knows that she is a Princess AND a Genius. Because of that, she could be annoying to deal with.
"I know. She is a teenager after all…" Anna rolled her eyes.
"...Yeah… not just any teenager…" Feldt smiled back. It was a strained one.
"Don't worry, Marcus should be returning soon, it's his daughter, and she listens to him more than me." The Empress smiled a bit.