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1083 Words
Liz noticed he was observing the flowers and asked, “What’s so special about them?”
Matt pointed at the arrangement and said, “Each metal flower has obvious imperfections and scratches” He pointed them out and traced the lines as he talked. “Except, each has to be deliberate. They are perfect in their imperfection. Look here. Instead of clean welds where the connected metal should be indistinguishable on the join, there are small beads of metal that formed when the weld was created. That seems like a mistake, but when you look closer, you see each bead is exactly the same size and shape. It’s like a master artisan was trying to recreate the work of an amateur. The little bits of steam that seem to be coming out of them isn’t uniform, but they’re also perfectly placed to show off the flower’s beauty.”
It made for a unique aesthetic he had never seen before.
Liz nodded along. “It is pretty, I’ll admit that. The inanimate made to look alive.”
As they watched the sun grow brighter amongst the starry backdrop of the distant star systems in a stunning display, they simply chatted. They had been together for decades, and the last three years had been brutal, even by their standards. But they had been together, which was what truly mattered. Even so, they always had something to talk about, and they continued to do so while admiring the view.
In a rush, the first course of their meal came out to everyone all at once, and the waiter explained the intricacies of the dish before leaving them to enjoy.
The meal was so good, Matt and Liz almost forgot about their final dessert until the ship announced, “Minkalla will be visible in twenty minutes.”
They were still a bit far out, but when they Tiered up to Tier 11, more information became available to them because of their higher status. Most of it was still locked away, and not freely accessible until Tier 13, but Luna had drilled basically everything there was to know about the planet into their heads. It got to the point that Matt had once even heard Liz muttering Minkalla’s exact diameter and mass in her sleep.
As their dessert came out, they were able to see a small dot that grew larger by the second.
Matt had only taken a few bites of the brownie confection when he started to be able to see it, and his jaw practically dropped. Sure, he knew the exact position, size, and appearance of each of the three hundred and sixty spires on Minkalla, but it was another thing to see them for himself.
Massive spires of bronze and copper towered above any height that the metals should have been able to support, let alone while moving massive cogs that were the size of most planets.
Even through the vacuum of space, he felt like he could hear the clicking of gears and chains as they rattled and clanked, interspersed with puffs of glowing steam that rose from smokestacks releasing their exhaust to space.
Despite the sight, and though he had no real context for how the planet normally looked in-person, it seemed…dull. The metal wasn’t shiny, all the mechanical components looked like they were moving lethargically, and the brass seemed darker than it should be.
Logically, it made sense, as a new cycle was about to start, preparing to re-energize the entire planet. Yet it also struck Matt as somehow incorrect. It was like seeing a dragon sick and withered. It clashed with the image he had created in his mind and resulted in a cognitive dissonance that just felt wrong.
The feeling only became worse as the sheer size of the world became clear. It was almost too massive for what it had first appeared to be Nobody really knew what Tier the planet was, just that it was above Tier 30. But grasping anything above that benchmark was impossible for the Tier 14 and below cultivators who could enter the place. Even with all his prior knowledge, Matt couldn’t help but feel like the planet shouldn’t be able to exist. Metal beams that long couldn’t support their own weight, let alone raise and lower boxes that were larger than moons.
At Tier 40, or even Tier 50, could something like that work? Surely not…even then, they didn’t have the strength to span those distances unsupported. But there they were, right before his eyes.
The metal wasn’t the only oddity. The steam from the stacks shouldn’t be expanding in a place with no atmosphere, but there it was.
Minkalla shouldn’t exist, but it did.
It was beautiful.
It was awe-inspiring.
It was daunting.
The longer Matt watched, the more unsettled he felt.
He and Liz reached for each other’s hands at nearly the same time.
Like most of the other diners, they sat around and watched a while longer. But eventually, they got up as other ships started to appear in their view. The various vessels began congregating as they approached one of the eight smaller, repurposed planets that served as Minkalla’s moons.
Each of the Great Powers had their own satellite moon orbiting around Minkalla proper, and the pair joined the rest of the participants as they boarded smaller descent vessels departing for the Empire’s world-moon.
As soon as they landed, they were in their armor and ready for a fight at any moment, despite how unlikely such a blatant assault was. Once Matt was comfortable enough to relax just the slightest bit, he was struck by the absolute lack of essence on the moon.
It made the world feel unreal, like it was made from cardboard and tissue paper. Matt felt like he could use a single finger to punch a hole through the planet without issue.
He could tell that the manmade structures were at least made of Tiered materials, but none were above Tier 7.
They landed with a swarm of other landing ships in an open-air tower that was hundreds of floors tall, allowing thousands of ships to stream in and out without impeding one another. Once inside, they found a dozen workers who directed the arrivals to a check-in station deeper inside the honeycomb-like building.
He and Liz were in their Quill and Torch Masks, but neither was personifying the alternative identities. Thankfully only a few people stopped and asked for autographs and the like.
- Writer
