> Mobile Suit Gundam Nova <
June 25th/ I.J.C. 196 / EOTT's Central Alliance branch./
Our silence accompanied the rest of the ride, we only looked outside silently, and Mama who just ruffled my head silently, as if trying to comfort me, when we hit the ground, I immediately lost the belt and got up.
"Looks like we've arrived. Come on, Mama. Let's quickly grab our things. There are so many places I want to go sightseeing!" I said, trying to appear excited. However, the pain in my heart continued to grow, and I chose to ignore it.
"Mmh, let's go. It's been so long that I forgot how this place looks," Mama said as she took my hand. Getting our luggage was very easy since they came with us on this elevator, had already loaded onto the cart bot, and were waiting for us outside.
Mama input for it to follow after us and we journey from the hallway toward the terminal where we quickly head toward the exit.
The moment the door opened, something new entered my nose. It was…a breeze of fresh air, devoid of any hint of salty water, and a smell of the tree. Unlike the one in the colony, the gravity here felt right. There was no hint of it being a little airy here. Gravity means for humans…
The speed rotation of Siga is around 99 meters per second, and it took around 60 seconds to get one full rotation, roughly counting it to being one rotation per minute, this generates enough gravity to mimic Earth but there is still a difference, such as inconsistency in height, meaning the higher you go, the lower the gravity is, if you stuck in the middle of Siga, you would just fall infinitely, well, you would fall eventually but the speed accumulate would instantly crush the brain if it did not already crush before since human body is so weak.
Ah… I'm thinking about something useless again.
Well, I don't know why the gravity felt right, but it just…as if something was telling me this was like home. Even though my home is on Siga side 7, that house is surrounded by fields of wheat and grains.
Not here…not on earth.
"What's wrong, Yoha? You suddenly squeeze my hand." Mama asked with a concerned face and her face showed a hint of pain although she tried not to show it, I immediately released my grip.
"sorry…I was just…thinking about home."
"Me too, dear, me too. Well, we can return there any time, but first, let's get you ready, alright? Look, our ride is there." Mama pointed forward, the surroundings had changed, instead of a field of trees and flowers, now I was in front of a…It was a tiny plane, and from the look of it, it was more of a private plane than anything that was designed to look like a military plane.
The plane was at least 20 meters in length and around 10 meters in height, it was at least twice the size of a commercial plane or a normal private jet.
I guess it could be passed as a fighter in terms of design but with no weapon attached…But why is the bottom part kind of weird? As if it would be used to attach to something? Hmm…
Looking around, I saw no other ride besides this one ... so I guess we were going in this private plane then.
As we walked forward, the hatch opened up and dropped down the stairs, it was nothing elegant or beautiful just… functional. Guess they really go for the aesthetic of a real fighter? Well, not that it was bad or anything.
Then, suddenly, a shadow loomed over from the hatch. When I looked, I saw an old man around 70 or so. He displayed some real elegance just standing there, looking over us.
Then suddenly, just when I met his cold dark eyes, A sudden chill went through my spine, as I suddenly felt a sudden weight press down on me, all of it just from meeting his eyes.
As if I was staring straight into the abyss itself.
I broke eye contact after just a second of looking and I could hear a little bit of chuckle from him.
"Welcome back, Ms. Araya. And welcome, Little Miss Yoha. My name is Hemston Vetacrow. The Butler of the Ottoman house. Now, let's make haste, as Master and Madame are waiting for the two of you." Hemston said with a light bow, as he went back inside the plane.
I stared at Mama, who just shrugged as she took me by the hand. Inside the plane it was full of accommodations, whether it would be drinks, food, or entertainment.
"Be a good girl and stay here, no exploring, ok? Mama needs to talk with Hemston." Mama said quickly as she put me down and tightened the seatbelts, leaving me no room to protest.
So the only thing I could do was watch as Mama left for the cockpit.
"...haaa…What is he…" Now that I was left alone and had time to think, I shuddered a bit at the memory of just now, his gaze was so terrifying, It was as if I stared into it for too long, that gaze would inevitably pull me away, what more his behavior makes him even more terrifying, from his gesture to his words, everything seems so perfect it almost not human.
Terrifying is the only word that I could use to describe him. He seems old, yet he still displays a perfect gesture without even a flaw, he should be far older than Mama, at least in the range of seventy.
"Well…no use thinking about it… I can only see how it will go for now." Deciding to leave the headache for the future, I looked out toward the windows. Suddenly, the engine of the plane roared to life. I could feel it shake a little, and then the view changed as the plane lifted off the ground. Surprisingly, there was no engine sound after the initial start-up.
Everything was very smooth, to the point that it could be on par with the ride I had with that stellar ship in terms of smoothness. Everything was quiet as we lifted off the Port and soon into the sky.
The window showed me that the speed we were going was quite the feat, as in just a minute, the view of the Earth Elevator was getting distant, and the city below was nowhere to be seen.
"If it is this fast, We could cross a country in around one or two hours. How much Energy does this thing consume? No no, energy is not the problem, it is actually how the engine was able to process that power. Rotor? Nah, that too old school, wouldn't work, hm…hovering? That could work, but then the problem came with the size, it did not match the plane at all, I saw there was an engine on the back, but honestly, maybe it was the materials. Hm…lightweight, handles heat well, capable of withstanding cold, a mobile suit materials? This is made from nanocarbons?"
Tapping the steel, I could hear a satisfying clink from it.
"The outer layer is made from Titanium Alloy enhanced with a Nanotube resulting in new materials called titanium graphene. The material is five times stronger than steel yet half the weight." An old voice comes from behind.
Turning to look, I see the same old man who came to greet us, Hemston Vetacrow, he said. "The inner is mostly made up of Aerogel-infused ceramic, which helps regulate the temperature, and just as you thought of just now, this jet uses hover technology. Electromagnetic Plasma Thruster, using Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide as a conductor, using this, we could ionize the surrounding air to push the aircraft. Although this won't work in space travel."
"Hmm…Then? For internal Energy, I assume it was a compact Fusion Reactor?" I shoot out the obvious question. And he just nods with a smile.
"That is precisely the case. Would you like to go see the inside of the machine? I have prepared a radiation suit to match your size just in case-"
"Really!? I can go watch it work?!" Shooting out of my seat with an exciting smile, I could see the surprise of Hemston who I just cut his word.
"...Truly, you are his child…"
"What was that?" I didn't quite catch his word, so I asked again.
"Hoho, I just said there are many things to show you, do you know these aircraft use nanolite mesh in order to construct the sofa you were sitting on? That means even if those were to get bombed, slashed, burned, it wouldn't even be scratched." Hemston said as he walked in front to guide me.
"Huh…Why use such expensive material on something that is not important? Those meshes are used in constructing a colony, aren't they?"
"Precisely, but this is mostly just an experiment from my master, as he is quite eccentric in taste. This aircraft is just one of his failed experiments. I request to take it out since it mostly just sits on the hanger catching dust." Hemston explains.
"Why not recycle them? If the part is going to sit there, why not recycle it?" That would be the most logical thing to do. Even if it fails, if no part is damaged, then they should just scrap it to make a new and better one.
"That is his…personality, he isn't one to discard stuff…" Hemston said, his face showing a hint of pride.
"Master…madam, honestly, I have no idea who I am going to meet." Everyone I know is going like oh, you got big backing, oh you can't escape politics, and no one is even willing to tell me why!
Sylv and that boy know something; they know of my backing. I lost against that boy once, but I will never lose again, I only lost because I have no leverage in negotiation and no information… and Sylv is still playing a game with me, she is deliberately being dodgy about my connection, I think she already figured something out, giving her personality….
"Ah…That's why huh…I think you have nothing to worry about, the master and madam are eager to meet you, they have considered Lady Araya to be their daughter and you, to be their granddaughter. So don't worry about it, young Miss Yoha."
"Don't call me Young Miss, it feels as if I was some…rich third generation daughter…ah…I'm really going to be one." Oh…dang, I never realized it before, I'm going to be like those kids, the third-generation rich, wait…Am I going to be going Ohoho? Nono, Will I be like Sylv? Honestly, I would rather die than be like her.
"We arrived, now, let's clean ourselves first." Hemston guided me into a small room, where suddenly, I was sprayed with disinfectant spray, then, the wall of the room, revealing a hazard suit my size.
"Let me help you with this." Hemston quickly got me inside the suit without even making me feel uncomfortable, the experience lasted only for a minute before I was now breathing through an oxygen tank on my hip.
"This is quite different from a space suit…" I said, I could hear my voice going out of the filter a bit, well…filter. This suit was…how to say…more skintight, and very very light.
"Ahh, I assume it was during your flight to Earth. Oh, now I will open the engine room. Please stand behind me." Having said that, Hemston then goes toward the door, he opens up the hatch with a surprising display of strength that did not suit him at all.
Suddenly, a blast of heat assaulted me and pushed me back, I managed to stop by hanging onto the railing.
"Wow…This is…" Looking in the front, a generator, the size of a car, constantly moving plasma, bouncing them around. "This is…Tokamak?"
A Tokamak is a donut-shaped machine used to trap plasma so that the atoms can be smashed together and fuse, releasing its energy into the wall and transferring the heat, so that it can generate electricity.
This machine is the basis of Nuclear Fusion, it essentially mimics what dying stars are like because Mass and Energy are the same but just in different forms, they are able to transform that mass into energy.
But it was inefficient. Nuclear bombs have around fifty or more kilograms of uranium, but in actuality, only about one kilogram has a reaction, and 0.7 grams that get transferred into energy.
Just one of those manages to completely ravage a city, imagine if somehow, more than 0.7 grams were transformed into energy. Just the thought alone makes me scared…
"Those are tokamaks, yes, I'm surprised you know of this since this is not widely used as the power source for Mobile Suit."
"Of course, those wouldn't be used! They are inefficient, generate too much heat that is unable to transfer into energy, and are unstable! The only ones who would use those are the mobile suits from 100 years ago! Now the only correct answer would be Stellarator, which is just a better version of Tokamak, generates more energy, is stable, and doesn't need constant moderation. Even if they were more expensive, using more material, they are still better with us capable of mining off other planets." Huffing up a response, I suddenly think of an important question.
"Wait…Why are you using Tokamak to generate Nuclear Fusion anyway? Stellarator is much more compact, and you could have more room to add a better engine and such. Now that I think about it, isn't this plane kind of a waste of materials?"
Hovering using electromagnetic tech, Tokamak for energy generation, military mesh for stuff like sofas…This is just a mess of materials and technology being drowned together in a sea of mess to create the most waste of a…plane.
"That is certainly one way to call this, nobody wants to say this to the Master before but he sure knows of it, I think he will rather like it if you can say this to his face since he likes someone who is honest," Hemston said with a chuckle. "Now then, I think if we tour this place for long enough, Lady Araya should be finished with her call."
"Alright…I still think this is kind of a waste though…huh…now that I think about it, Why is there a weird part on the bottom of this Aircraft? It was as if this was part of something bigger and just got detached?" Yeah, the connector below was often used to connect the backpack to the mobile suit.
"That is a secret." Hemston smiled, using his finger to make a gesture of zipping his mouth as if he was playing. I didn't dwell on it much as I got out of the engine room, getting blasted again by the disinfectants, then taking off my hazard suit only to get blasted another time.
"Urgh…my hair is all messed up." It feels terrible since my hair is at least the length of my waist. I never bother to cut it since I like long hair, and I do take care of it quite dearly.
"Mmh, There is a bathroom for you to use if you want to clean yourself first," Hemston said, taking a comb from his pocket and slowly combing my hair.
"Em, that's probably a good idea…also why did you start combing my hair? I mean, I'm going to go into the bath anyway."
"It is my responsibility to make the people under my care perfect, that includes looking presentable even after such an experience," Hemston said, with one last stroke, my hair straight up with no tied end, he is actually quite gentle when untangling those. Mhh, Gotta learn one from him.
After he finished with my hair, I was led out of the engine room, and Mama suddenly appeared in front of me, looking a bit tired.
"Mama!" Jumping up into her arms, I was lifted off the floor with a tight squeeze hug from her.
"My, it seems you had fun- hm? This smell…Disinfectant? What have you guys been doing during my call?"
"Well, I got to view the engine room, see the tokamak in action, hear the sound of atoms crashing together and fusing into energy, and-"
"And pray tell, why did you go in there…hm?" My body stood still, Mama's voice dropped so cold I actually felt a chill down my spine.
"U-uh, I- I mean…isn't it…uh…interesting? This is nuclear Fusion we are talking about here, the one the sun uses to generate all of its energy and release it in space as plasma lighting up our planet and the moon, oh you know since the solar wind and stuff…hehe…he…"
Somehow, in my nervous blabber, I manage to put something I just go over through with a glance from my memory.
"Go take a bath, you stink," Mama said coldly, all I could do was nod dejectedly and have Hemston guide me toward the bathroom…