Chapter 14: December 13th, 2349

“There you are,” a familiar voice came near Raavi’s location.

Raavi was busy looking at the porthole that showed the emptiness of space. He felt calm and composed with his environment. Another month had transpired. He was standing in the passageway that was near the bridge of the UHN Opet. The sound of a familiar female voice was one that grabbed his attention.

He already knew who it was as he turned to look at Akari. It was during her off-hours as she was dressed in a pink silk dress with red and blue flowers on it. Her clawed padded feet would tap the floors as her tail would slink along with it.

“Akari?” Raavi reacted. “I wasn’t expecting seeing you here.”

“Why would you?” she said with a smile. “What? You are not tired of my own antics already?”

He smiled back at her as he saw her walk up next to him. Her rodent eyes were scanning at what he was looking at.

“Nah ... just expecting you and Jabr being together as usual,” he told her.

“Hey. I have to give the big guy some time. Besides, he is on duty at the moment and helping Nanook and the Ibeji twins with something. Sometimes even I have to get around the ship every once in an awhile ... just as you are yourself.”

“Ugh...” he said as he put his hand to his hips. “I still can’t get that polar bear to crack a smile at me, and your husband managed to get him laughing at a joke within a month.”

The rat woman shrugged. “Nanook is a hard man to please. He also knows that Jabr grew up on New Olympia compared to you.”

“That’s right. Jabr was adopted.”

“Yep. Grew up on the streets of Oshun and was rescued. He was part of the orphan exchange program that was made to New Olympia. He was just a kid as he grew up here in New Olympia. Then of course, we met ... and well ... you already know this.”

“I haven’t heard much about Oshun. I hope they are doing alright after everything.”

“I am sure that they are. They are probably feeling some relief after the recent treaty.”

She gave a brief yawn as Raavi could see her large two incisor teeth before she closed her mouth.

“Yeah, I just needed to see the place a little bit,” he said. “Opet is currently on watch, and I needed to stretch my legs a little bit.”

He turned to look at the porthole as he looked at the emptiness of space. He could see a closer view of the lifeless surface of New Olympia. He could even see in greater detail one of the craters caused by some asteroid long ago. He could tell that the ship was much closer, almost as if it was trying to get somewhere.

“So happy...” Akari commented near Raavi. “Finally, get a chance to start exploring again.”

“A part of me feels the same way,” he replied. “I still can’t believe that your mother managed to perform that stunt of hers a couple of days ago.”

“Yeah ... my mother still has it,” Akari said as she gave a big grin.

“I think that she might have made a big contribution to the peace treaty between one of the Itrean clans.”

“Well ... she didn’t exactly do much.”

“Nonetheless, I feel that I might have seriously misjudged her in the last month. She seemed a little bit cold-hearted in her actions with the battle last month ... and the battle after that.”

“She doesn’t have an easy job,” Akari explained as Raavi turned to look at her. “She is trapped in the bureaucracy and leadership role in the fleet. A part of her feels exactly the way I would, but she knows that if she went rogue, the council would immediately stomp down her actions. At the same time, she has to play the role of negotiator to the UHN for New Olympia. This often puts her under a lot of stress at times. I still wonder if the council was upset with her actions a couple of days ago.”

“I guess we have to consider ourselves lucky that she is allowing us to go exploring again.”

“Ah...” Akari remarked as she put her hand to her chest. “Makes me so happy that we get to go exploring and with me to see it all.”

“You still been pouring through all the data from our last exploration mission?”

“Oh yeah. I love the data you picked up from these planets. To see the data of supergiant stars near the galactic core to planet K2-18b or to see the ringworld planet of J1200-KX50d that would put the ringworld of J1407b to shame.”

Raavi nodded as he felt a wave of nostalgia. “I remember J1200 ... umm that world. That ring was enormous as we flew through it. It had a ring that was the orbital distance of Sol to Mars.”

“It must have been something,” she remarked. “It must have been like looking at a giant wall.”

“I remember even Opet squinting her eyes when we flew through it ... including myself. I think one of the other things that I remember was the trip to planet H200 ... uh ... I can’t remember the name.”

“H200-K732,” Akari corrected.

“Yeah, that one ... the planet had gases that changed color as it would orbit its star. It would be red and then change to green after it would slingshot around. It happened so fast that I wondered if we jumped to another system.”

“Mmmm... , “ Akari remarked as she shuddered. “Can’t wait to see it up close and personal. I was so close back on Europa, and then the whole war had to ruin it. Happy to hear that Minerva and Ericsson are talking about going to Eutera now that the T’rintar clan are releasing the prisoners they captured from there. Still waiting on that other sweater for her to make.”

“That AI robot?”

“Yeah. Minerva promised to make some clothes for my baby. Maybe she can make some for yours as well.”

Raavi looked down at her stomach. The rodent-like woman was still in the very early stages of her pregnancy. She still didn’t even have much of a bump showing since it was still too early.

“Hmmm ... maybe...” Raavi remarked. “Depends on how good her tailoring skills are.”

“They are the best. Her baby is doing just fine.”

“Humans and robots having kids together...” he paused as he shrugged. “You start opening up those doors...”

“Hey. Minerva is a great person,” She said as she slapped his arm.

“Not saying she is bad. I guess I have no room to complain about it, though.”

He looked at the porthole as he could see that the vessel was getting closer and closer to its destination. The fleet was nowhere in his sights since of the change of location.

“So our second mission to go out exploring is also us saying goodbye to another,” Raavi remarked.

“I admit that I was really starting to like the gal,” Akari remarked as she patted Raavi on the shoulder. “At least we are getting a new person to replace her. Do you know who it is?”

He shook his head. “No idea. I just heard it was a he.”

“Hmmm ... I guess we will find out.”

“I am curious. Why not just teleport into New Olympia instead of us traveling into it?”

“Not all of us have the ability to teleport, Raavi,” Akari explained. “I myself would have teleported me and Jabr off of the Tison if that were the case, but even then, that would have raised suspicions on how we just disappeared from the ship. That is why we left the old natural way.”

“I guess that makes sense ... still, I see what you mean, though.”

“At least you will finally get a chance to see the inside of New Olympia for the first time instead of seeing it with pictures.”

“That makes sense.”

She patted her stomach as she changed the subject. “Still nothing yet,” she remarked. “Opet is going to be one regular mommy with that weight gain of hers. Three kids, wow, you must be excited.”

“Heh. Yeah, I am happy. I just have to be patient.”

“Same here. I would say that my mother would be excited, but she is already a great great great great ... how many greats is that?” she paused as she seemed to think about it. “Anyways, she is more than some grandmother by now.”

Raavi could see that the ship was starting to make additional course changes as it was getting near a massive hatch on New Olympia’s surface. He was having a more challenging time seeing the surface as all he could see was space.

“Well...” she explained. “I think it is time I head by the hatch and wait for us to give a good send-off for our friend and companion and welcome our new one.”

“Yeah, I am going to head back to the bridge and see how Opet is doing.”

With that, Raavi watched as Akari gave the nod to her. She turned and proceeded down the passageway towards the direction of the elevator. He watched as she playfully swung her rat-like tail as she walked down the corridor.

He turned and proceeded back to the bridge door. It didn’t take long for him to reach it as the door slid open for him to enter. As he entered, he briefly looked at the computer projector in the room and then went straight to the downward stairs that led to the heart of the bridge itself.

Upon reaching the bottom floor, he looked at the large display screen that depicted more of New Olympia’s surface. He walked up to the couch and could see Opet was sitting comfortably there. Her crocodile-like tail was slung to her left as she watched everything. She noticed Raavi as she smiled and looked at him.

“You are just in time, husband,” she remarked to him. “Come and have a seat and enjoy everything that you see.”

He briefly looked at her as he went and sat up close to her on the large comfortable couch. Her distended stomach was only a sign that more of his children were growing inside of her. She went and wrapped her arm around his shoulder as he sat back and relaxed.

“I had to get a chance to see this,” he told her.

“I know. Most of the mortals have had a chance to see it up close, but with us, we rarely do. At least you will get the chance.”

Raavi watched the view screen and admired the view. The vessel was continuing to do a wrap around orbit of New Olympia. The main entrance into New Olympia was lined with the star’s direct sunlight that illuminated every square inch of ground available. Unlike the New Olympian fleet that stuck together as a group and stayed in high orbit, the UHN Opet was closing in on the world. Its bow was pointed directly at the surface. While New Olympia was virtually lifeless, pockets of activity were still happening on the ground. Millions of year’s worth of impact craters dotted it. There was still tectonic activity and shifting landmasses here and there, creating basic mountains and hills. Orange and red dirt caves gave a prime look with occasional signs of green tint here and there. Being trapped in the orbit of a red dwarf star still meant that tidal heating had been yanking the planet around. While there was a lack of a genuine atmosphere, there were still gases that built up and moved around naturally. Even a world that continually faces its star still wobbled and moved like Luna that was held by Earth. Even some geologists could find some joy studying the world’s surface, even if most individuals view it as unappealing to the naked eye.

That was, of course, until you saw the one thing that did stick out of New Olympia’s surface. It was the only few things that gave any form of activity going on in the world. There were no forms of buildings or artificial structures with the exception of the great hatches that dotted the entire sphere. These hatches were small at first, but as the ship got closer and closer, it was becoming apparent that they were enormous.

The ship used its vectoring thrusters as its rear engines activated. It began to push the ship forward as it used its forward-mounted thrusters to ensure that it would maneuver towards the hatch without the fear of the planet’s gravity pulling it down too hard. Eventually, as the ship began to move faster and faster, the rear engines ceased, and the forward thrusters lightened up a little bit to maintain a slow trajectory towards the surface.

The hatch was getting bigger and bigger. It consisted of a large oval looking sliding door with four bulbous structures that lined its rectangular frame. They were large light-emitting structures that seemed to give warning, caution, or the go-ahead signals for any incoming ships. In this case, the lights were green.

“This is what the tourists would see as they came in,” Raavi remarked.

“Depends,” Opet explained. “Sometimes they come in on the other side hatch depending if the star is flaring up. Our ships are shielded, but the makeshift QX transports we and everyone else use lack the proper protection to block high levels of harmful radiation. Thankfully the star is rather quiet.”

The hatch was getting bigger and bigger as the ship was slowly heading into it. The viewscreen depicted the large sliding gray doors where Raavi could see the details better and better. He could see the familiar multi-colored colored pinwheel of the New Olympian emblem that was painted in the center doors. As Raavi looked at the symbol more and more, it reminded him of something, but it was overshadowed as Opet started to speak.

“I am going to miss her,” Opet said with some sorrow in her voice. “Gaap and Iwa have been great to have but to lose Neb Petti. She has been like a sister to me ... even if she doesn’t completely agree.”

“I know,” Raavi commented. “Even I thought she was interesting for a person.”

“You know ... she doesn’t want to admit it, but if she didn’t have a boyfriend back in New Olympia ... she would have ... well ... she did make some comments about you that were in high regard.”

“Really? Like what?”

“Hmmm,” she paused as she put her finger to her big hippo-like snout before she put it down. “Nah ... it is something that should remain secret between two women.”

The two watched as the great hatch of New Olympia began to open. The forward thrusters continued to glow as the planet was trying hard to yank the vessel towards it. The vectoring thrusters would make occasional adjustments to ensure that the ship wouldn’t spin and fall in the wrong way.

The giant hatches didn’t seem to look anything spectacular. It was little more than an oversized gray sliding door, but as the ship was about to enter into it, Raavi could see the sheer size of it. It was designed to handle ships that were even bigger than the UHN Opet. Even the largest transports such as the UHN Osiris could easily go into the planet’s gapping maw.

The planet ... the thoughts seemed to radiate in Raavi’s mind. The vessel was going inside the planet. This was the true home of New Olympia. The secrets of the gods and the mythics lie in this world.

The moment the door opened up, Raavi could see the first impressions of the place. The doors had fully opened up as the UHN Opet gently flew in. The vessel itself was flying into a massive chamber almost shaped like a barrel. It consisted of loading racks that could hold ships of various sizes. The place was well lit with multiple blue lights that highlighted a living environment. He could even see the place where there was a white QX gate jumper that was held by a series of clamps suspended in the air. As the spaceship ultimately entered past the doors, the hatch doors began to close up slowly.

Even with the revelation in seeing the colossal room, it wasn’t anything spectacular about it. There were only a couple of these racks that held ships, but it wasn’t a busy port. The chamber only consisted of a couple of windows, but most of it was just gray walls. The rest of the place had a series of large grappling arms that were designed to grab gently and tether ships to a docking area. There was plenty of space to allow vessels to move themselves into position. Even the UHN Opet didn’t even have to do much in maneuvering. All it did was continue to use its vectoring thrusters and forward thrusters to maintain a slow, steady course.

“Huh?...” Raavi remarked. “Odd ... I was expecting more than this. New Olympia doesn’t seem to be anything glorious. I remember the pictures that you showed me, but even that doesn’t reflect what I am seeing here.”

“That is because it is supposed to be that way,” Opet explained.

“Of course ... this would be the place where the tourist vessels would go to. Don’t want the outside vessels to see what we really look like ... that, of course, is much further inside.”

The massive doors closed up, creating a large metal on metal clunking sound. The UHN Opet was fully sealed up in the gigantic chamber as its forward thrusters began to push harder to cause it to come to a full stop. Raavi wondered for a moment as he gave a questioning look at Opet.

“Well?” he asked. “Are we going to dock or what?”

Opet started to chuckle a little bit. “Wait for it...”

“Wait for what? I thought...”

His words fell short as he saw the chamber begin to open up in front of him. This wasn’t just a dead-end place for ships to dock but something much more incredible. He didn’t know until the last minute that there was another series of doors that began to open up. The doors were carefully disguised to look like the walls. They began to open up from the dead center as a blue light emitted from the chamber’s end. Slowly the doors opened up to reveal more and more of the place that they were traveling into.

“Wha...” Raavi tried to say, but he was left speechless.

The ship’s thrusters began to decrease in thrust as the planet’s gravity began to pull it forward again. Once again, the vessel was in motion as it was gliding through the chamber and into something else.

At first, all that Raavi could see was nothing but pure light. The entire display of the bridge was fully bathed in this aura of illumination. As the vessel got closer and closer into it, the light continued to swallow up the ship. The doors had fully opened up as Raavi’s jaw was agape.

It was like stepping into the doors of heaven. The light began to dim down as the ship entered it. What was revealed was an enormous internal complex. New Olympia was more than just some carved out structure and caves that lie beneath the surface. It was one gigantic city. It was spherical in shape, taking up most of the planet. In many ways, New Olympia’s surface was little more than a shell of what lies beneath it. Gorgeous in all spectacular views, the colors consisted of mostly white with shades of blue, pink, red, green, and purple that radiated around it. In the center of the hollowed-out planet was a golden white sphere that slowly spun at its place.

As the ship entered, the gravity pulling on it changed. Suddenly, the vessel was no longer being pulled towards the score. It was virtually weightless as the forward thrusters began to slow down more and more till it finally ceased. After clearing the great doors, they began to close up behind the UHN Opet.

Raavi had no words to describe it. The scene was beautiful for an artificial structure. All through the wall lines were plastic sheen looking structures that jutted from the surface. Massive unknown facilities were fully active. Some areas were forested green with trees and various fauna that grew in them. They completely enveloped the surface that crawled from the bottom to the top. It was like staring into paradise.

Opet seemed to grab Raavi’s attention as she used her finger to push his mouth closed. It was enough that he snapped out of it and looked at her briefly.

“I never imagined it to be like this,” he commented with some shock. “It is ... amazing.”

“To think that most of this is unused space,” Opet commented. “Everything was built ahead of its time to anticipate the future.”

“What do you mean?”

“New Olympia is going to be one of many worlds in the far future,” she explained. “Worlds that nobody wants are ones that we can do just like this. As you humans expand, so will we.”

There was so much space in the vast environment. The UHN Opet was just a dot in the sky for the New Olympians. With a hollowed-out exoplanet, the amount of openness was incredible. The vessel’s vectoring thrusters activated as it began to turn to a particular area. The rear thrusters activated for a short moment as it jutted the ship forward. For Raavi, he knew the ship must have been like some sort of skyship or white dirigible that easily scoured the area.

“Computer,” Opet called out. “Show the layout of the land on display.”

Raavi watched as the vessel’s display screen began to focus on areas where there was regular activity. It seemed to coincide with what Opet had said. Some areas were devoid of life even if the structures were completed. Other regions consisted of a variety of homes for different sizes and shapes. Some were simple homes that consisted of wood to some that were built of the finest metals. There was no grouping of these houses. You could have neighborhoods with these different sets of homes. The environment even changed as the viewpoint would adjust around. The terrain consisted of everything to beautiful shaded forests, a frozen area, to even a desert. As the camera zoomed in on one of the cities’ junctions, it began to show one of the silver and gold paved roads. There were several apartments at this spot. A vast open park consisted of many different varieties of flora and fauna.

The camera continued to zoom in as it depicted two children running and playing together. One was a human child, most likely a girl that was playing tag. Her friend appeared to be one of the millions of Yuki with a rodent-like appearance. They both had some form of gym clothes on as the human girl jumped and grabbed the pink tail of the Yuki.

“This is incredible...” Raavi said.

“It is very beautiful,” she explained. “It is just ... so artificial, though. Having the powers to make this is something we can never ignore, but ... it never beats the things that naturally create for itself.”

“Do the people see our ship?”

“We are pretty high up, but it depends on where you are at. The center core is where the council resides. It also completely powers the entire planet.”

Raavi almost shook his head. “I wonder ... in the far future ... could we get a home here?”

“Of course,” she said with a smile.

“It is just ... I see what you mean with the fact that it is artificial ... but it feels like paradise here. There is so much space here. We could have like hundreds of kids, and nobody would even know.”

“Is that an offer to me?” she asked as she squeezed him to her body. She got serious for a little bit. “I will have to think about it, though. Even if we do, it won’t be for a long while. They have a nice forested area with a cabin here that I have been looking at.”

“I figured that you had something like that in mind.”

She smiled a little bit. “I think ... that this time I prefer to have our children a little bit closer to the communities, though. A long time ago, Stephen and I had to rely on others teleporting to us all the time to help raise and teach the kids.”

The ship continued to travel forward towards its new destination. It was apparent that Raavi could see where the UHN Opet was heading. The camera began to turn around and zoom in on other areas. Another area was a mountainous section. Lines of trees of different colors grew on its side and seemed to stretch towards the slow spinning core in the planet’s center. It was just one of many various aspects of the planet.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” he told her.

“Part of me still wants to see a little more of the universe before I close down my command on the ship,” she explained as her fingers rubbed his arm. “I don’t think that you would mind coming along for the ride as well, wouldn’t you?”

“No, I wouldn’t mind.”

“Why the desire to stay here? Why do you really want to stay?”

“I can already see a place where people accept everyone ... more so than even my home on Aphadus. I can see all forms of life here. I think this place would be great.”

She nodded, but there was something that she seemed to pick up in his words and inflections. He didn’t say anything else as he looked at the screen. It was almost as if he didn’t fully answer her question or only gave a partial reason. She noted it, but she didn’t say anything else.

Before she could ask him another question, a series of trails appeared from the ship’s sides and moved forward of the UHN Opet. Raavi looked at the magical paths on the display as they began to move forward more and more to convene in the center. Each trail was unique, with one consisting of fire and flames, with the other being that of a rainbow. It was strongest from the source, but it would naturally dissipate as the two creatures responsible were flying further and further forward. Raavi swore he saw a bird coming from one of the flames’ trails, but it moved so fast as the vessel was only moving so fast.

“What was that?” he asked.

“That?” she pointed her hand. “That is Feng Huang and his wife, Simurgh. They are phoenixes. Feng Huang is the father of the phoenix family and leaves the trail of flames, while Simurgh is the mother. She is the one that is creating a rainbow behind her.”

The two trails flew together, converged, and then separated in flight. They then did a corkscrew in the air before turning around and began to fly back towards the UHN Opet. He watched as they both separated and left a trail of flames and vibrant colors. It was almost as if they were creating a road for the Opet to travel through. Raavi’s eye naturally went towards various colors as he could see the trail trace to Simurgh. He could only see her briefly as they flew behind the ship, but he swore that he could see what she looked like. It was almost a pink, purple, or brown fox with bird-like features. Her wings were stretched wide as the colors radiated from her brilliant feathers. It was all that he could see of them before both of them flew off, only leaving the dissipating trail behind them. As he looked more and more at the display, he could see other flying creatures as well.

“One thing nice with this place,” Opet commented. “We are allowed to be what we want to be without the other mortals to be in the way. The flying mythics have free realm of the enormous sky.”

Raavi could notice that the vessel was getting closer and closer to a particular destination. It appeared to be some sort of shipyard or dock station. Mounted upward, there were a few ships that were stationed there. It was too difficult to make out until they got closer.

“Not for me to care about this, but do you guys have day and night schedules here?” Raavi asked.

“Hmmm ... yes,” Opet seemed to pause a little bit as she thought about it. “It depends on the region, but we do have some areas that purposely get dark to follow schedules. This place also has lower levels below the surface to allow mythics and mortals to live below ground as well. We even have weather in some areas.”

“How?...” he asked as he tried to understand. “To create all of this is ... it is just incredible.”

“Science and magic. The combined technologies and abilities of the others can ensure that almost anything is possible.”

“I am sorry,” he said as he shook his head. “Time after time, I see something new and forget of everything that has happened. I know that I have said that over and over again of just how incredible the place is. How the New Olympians have managed to achieve so much...”

“It is alright,” she said. “It is as I have said before. You get used to all the luxuries on this planet, and you start to forget the outside exists.”

“It’s not like I forget the events between us or things like the recent two battles in orbit here ... but nonetheless...”

“Like I said, don’t worry about it, husband.” She paused for a little bit. “I just know that eventually, the UWA will have to learn the truth about us. Things like the recent battles must be shared with them. It is just...” she stopped in her conversation.

“The Itreans ... I know,” Raavi filled in her statement. “Now with everything with the T’rintar clan allying with the UWA ... it has made things complicated.”

“It does become a mess for us,” she explained.

“I have already heard on the news that the T’rintar are starting to dispatch emissaries and soldiers to the various planets of the UWA ... what does it mean for here?”

“It is ... complicated. Needless to say, the Itreans, regardless if they are allies or not, are still treated as mortals. They can’t know the secret of this place. I don’t know enough of the politics that is going on, but I do know that there is a lot of debate going on with the council.”

“Is it bad?”

“No, but it is just endless discussions right now,” Opet said. “Nobody can make up their minds. In some ways, I feel we should just reveal ourselves, but at the same time, it would just complicate the peace talks with the clan. Should the New Olympians go into open war with the other Itrean clans because humanity chooses to ally with one of them? Should the New Olympians just remain as they were? What if the Itreans have gods, and we end up angering them? In the end, I feel that nothing is really going to happen. We will have a few dignitaries show up here, and we will just wave to the Itreans in our human forms as they are kept away from the heart of this place. The secrets will remain.”

Raavi seemed to understand. His heart didn’t feel the anxiety that he used to have as he had before. If one of the clans were keeping their word to protect humanity, then they were safe, or they were at least in better condition now than ever ... but what were the changes going to be?