CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ASCENDANCY — The Den — Day 1
Later that evening, while the others sat around the hearth, I stayed at the table with ARi. I couldn’t stop thinking about the Raptors, about everything we’d seen, and about how unprepared we were. Metal kept coming back to the top of the list. Without it, almost nothing else we needed to build was possible.
“We’re going to have to figure some things out fast,” I said. “Getting access to metal has to be the priority. What are our real options here?”
“Everything about this world’s composition says ferrous materials should be here,” ARi said. “Rocky planets need iron in their formation. It should be in the core, in the crust. But I can’t detect any deposits near the surface. Either they’re buried impossibly deep, or something else is going on.”
A lump had formed in my throat. “ARi, is it possible the surface was already harvested? You can phase materials. That technology obviously exists.”
She looked at me, and the expression that crossed her face was grim. “Gavin, I think I’m starting to understand why the race that attacked Earth did it the way they did. They didn’t need to fight us for it. They just needed to knock out our defenses. They could orbit and phase everything. The buildings, the roads, our technology. With the right tech and no one to stop them, they could scrape our world clean.”
“Do you think that’s already happened here?”
“I don’t know,” ARi said. “It’s only a theory. But maybe this world was contested too. That’s why the Ascendancy is happening here.”
She paused, and I could see her working through it. “It would explain why there’s no iron anywhere near the surface. It wouldn’t take long for a planet’s ecology to reclaim whatever was left behind. Even on Earth, there were studies suggesting it wouldn’t take more than a couple hundred years for nature to retake the world.”
ARi went quiet, and I could see this was hitting her hard. I could see her hand trembling on the table. I reached across and put my hand over hers. She looked down at it, then back to me.
“Gavin, if that’s what happened here, then there was a civilization on this world. If someone did this to them, countless lives could have been lost in that process.” She continued, and I could hear real fear in her voice. “If they were planning to strip the Earth the same way that this world was stripped…”
The weight of it settled over the table. Neither of us said anything for a moment.
“Someone has to stop this,” she said quietly.
“Let’s start by surviving,” I said. “No iron is a serious problem. We can’t make artificial magnets without ferrous metals. Electric motors become nearly impossible to build. Most machinery that relies on iron or steel is off the table. It limits what we can research and manufacture in a real way.”
Tanya came and sat next to ARi and put her arm around her. The others had drifted over from the hearth without me noticing.
“We might not be able to make magnets,” Tanya said, “but physics and chemistry still work. If the bunker needs power and electricity isn’t an option, I have other ideas. We excavate under the den, place the first Control-Node fifty yards below our feet, and keep going down. Deep enough and we can tap geothermal energy.”
“That’s a good long-term solution,” ARi said, “but a lot depends on what’s actually below us.” She pulled up a projection on the wall, and everyone settled in around the table.
“In a stable geological region, we’d need around ninety-two nodes to generate enough pressure to convert water into usable steam. In a more active region, maybe forty. Volcanic could be as low as twenty-six, but I don’t think our topography points that direction. Geothermal might not work the way you’re hoping.” She paused. “But there could be another path.”
She waved her hand, and the projection shifted. “I leveled up and haven’t assigned my attribute points yet. We haven’t set any real research objectives either. We’ve been running on-demand research, which works for immediate needs, but we have better options. There are research trees for mining constructs in the utility category. They’re expensive, but I think we should take a look at them.”
“How expensive?” Tim asked.
“The ER cost alone is going to hurt,” ARi said. “The Phase Miner is 92 and takes two days to research. The Collection Unit is 85 and a day and a half. But the bigger problem isn’t just the research cost.” She pulled up another window and let them look at it. “These aren’t simple constructs. The Miner needs metal for its housing, ceramics for heat and pressure tolerance, composite materials for the phase emitters. The Collection Unit shares most of the same base requirements as our utility constructs and then adds on top of that.”
Kyle leaned forward. “So we need the mining constructs to get the materials, but we need the materials to build them.”
“That’s exactly the problem,” ARi said.
I studied the projection. The concept was simple enough. The Miner used the same Phase-Field technology as ARi, which meant the same upfront limitations. Material couldn’t just disappear into nothing. Whatever the Miner processed had to go somewhere, and that somewhere was the Collection Unit.
“Can we upgrade the output?” I asked. “I get that these things can operate well past ARi’s effective range, but what are we going to do with all of the materials that get collected? If they come out raw, we could have mountains of gravel and other resources that are no good to us if they aren’t processed.”
“Tier 1 gives us raw chunks. Gravel, rubble, whatever the Miner pushes through. To get anything organized, like bricks, ingots, or other usable forms, we need at least the Tier 2 collector upgrade.”
“Tier 3 isn’t even on the table right now,” she continued. “My total energy reserve isn’t high enough to manufacture it. I’m not there yet, and won’t be for a while.”
“So Tier 2 is the real goal then,” I said. “We can make raw materials work in the short term, and honestly we’ll probably find uses for the bulk material in construction, but we’re going to need you to process it.”
“That’s not going to be very efficient, but it will give us the ability to gather resources that are currently out of my range and the potential of digging down deep enough to make use of the heat and pressure at those depths,” ARi said.
Yumi had been studying the projection quietly. “ARi, do these mining constructs have hardpoints like Bishop?”
“The Tier 1 Miner has two,” ARi said, and expanded another section of the projection.
Three upgrade options appeared, and I leaned in to get a better look at them.
[SYSTEM WINDOW] MINING CONSTRUCT UPGRADES:
Proximity Sensor Array – Scans surrounding terrain and transmits data on local resources
Structural Reinforcement Projector – ARi uses mined material to stabilize tunnels as the Miner works. Coats the walls and ceiling with a mineral layer as it goes to reduce cave-in risk
Excavation Blade Assembly – Focuses the phase field for cleaner cuts and better efficiency in dense geology. Increases yield by 30%
“You guys, that Proximity Sensor Array upgrade is a big deal. I said. We have no idea what’s below us. We could drive that thing straight into a pressurized gas pocket or something.”
Looking up at Yumi, I could see her nodding in agreement.
“There’s also the Structural Reinforcement Projector,” ARi said. “If we’re digging deep enough to reach geothermal pressure and we’re dealing with steam and water at those depths, the Structural Reinforcement Projector is not going to be optional either,”
“We should probably go with those first two then. The Excavation Blade Assembly doesn’t really seem like a priority at the moment,” I said. “It would be nice to see higher yields once we were able to focus on metal deposits, but until then we could just end up with 30% more gravel and stone to deal with on the other end of that collector.”
Stepping back, I looked at the window, piecing together the full picture. If we were going to invest in this, there was going to be a significant cost in both resources and time. Ultimately, though, even though some of this research was beyond the basic Tech tree, I could see just how quickly this would allow us to leap forward in our production capabilities.
“I think we should do this, you guys. I think this is one of those decisions that could help us now but make a major difference in the long game as well.”
I noticed Tim had stayed quiet through most of the conversation, his eyes moving across the projection like he was working through something. He leaned forward and tapped the table.
“I know computers are more my thing than construction, but the way I see it, the raw output from a Tier 1 collector isn’t going to be as much of a burden as it sounds. We’re going to need a lot of base material for fortifications alone. Gravel, stone, bulk fill. We’re probably going to burn through most of what that thing spits out before we even get to the point where the output quality becomes a problem.” He leaned back. “What I’d be more careful about is locking up all of ARi’s research slots right out of the gate. Queue the Miner and the Collector first, then move to the Sensor Array. If we need to, we can hold off on starting the excavation until the Array is ready, or just not go very deep at first. We still have day-to-day needs that are going to require research between now and then, and I don’t want us painted into a corner because every slot was committed.”
“That works,” ARi said. “The Miner and Collector are the foundation anyway. Nothing else matters until those two are built and running.”
We all agreed, and ARi started the research.
Nobody argued about getting some sleep after that. We made our way to the cots, and I smiled, watching Yumi’s little water drake curl up next to her. Tim volunteered for the first watch.
I closed my eyes and tried to let my mind go quiet, but it kept pulling me back through the research trees, the timelines, everything we still needed to figure out. Eventually, exhaustion won.
When I woke up later, something felt off. I could hear Yumi lightly snoring and Tim and Tanya talking in low voices near the hearth. But ARi’s cot next to mine looked wrong. The shape under the blanket wasn’t quite right.
I sat up and looked closer to see that it was a projection.
I slipped out of the cot and got dressed, moving carefully so I wouldn’t wake the others. I nodded to Tim as I passed the hearth, and he gave me a questioning look. I just pointed toward the entrance, and he nodded back.
The cool night air hit me as I stepped outside. I climbed the rock formation and found her sitting at the edge of one of the slabs, legs dangling over the side, staring out at the dark tree line.
I sat down next to her and put my arm around her shoulders.
“How long have you been out here?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said softly.
She’d been crying. I could see the tracks on her cheeks even in the dim light.
“You probably shouldn’t come out here alone without telling someone.”
“I’m fine,” she said, pulling away. “I’m not some fragile little princess.”
“I know that. But that’s not why I’m saying it.” I took a long breath. “Can I tell you something? This whole thing is completely overwhelming. I’ve had a hard time even trying to sleep tonight. Honestly, all of this scares the hell out of me too.”
ARi wiped a tear and leaned back into my shoulder. “That projection in your cot won’t fool them for long,” I said quietly.
“I know,” she said as she let the silence sit for a moment.
She looked up at me. “You’re the only one who’s ever treated me like a real person. Even before I had this body.”
“That’s because you are one.” I looked out at the tree line. “The biggest miracle here isn’t the fact that we’re on another world. It isn’t any of this technology that looks like magic. It’s you.”
ARi leaned up and kissed me on the lips, then pulled back. She smiled, her cheeks flushed, before she hopped down and ran back toward the den.
I sat there, stunned, my fingers touching my lips. My heart was pounding, and I couldn’t help but think about the ramifications of what this meant. I had really fallen for this girl. I mean, at this point, I guess we’d known each other for over a month. And I really did see her as a person, even before the Ascendancy. There was no denying my feelings. My only real hesitation was with how the others would—
ARi’s projection snapped to life beside me.
“Gavin, get back inside. We’ve got trouble.”