A week later.Following a full week of recovery efforts, the rebuilding process for the destruction caused by the fights and the planetquake triggered by Aron was well underway. During that period, nearly all details of the meeting, except for a few classified points, were made public. Along with this, the announcement of a handover agreement was revealed, alongside the news that strict limitations would be imposed on the elders to prevent them from interfering in the lives of the Proximians, ensuring such an incident would not repeat itself.The news was met with overwhelmingly positive reactions from both the empire's citizens and the Proximians. After enduring the recent chaos, many Proximians had been anxious that another elder might go rogue, plunging them into a similar situation once again. While joining the empire was already seen as a favorable step for them, the announcement that the emperor had made it impossible for the elders to interfere in their lives — combined with
The moment Aron logged in, Nova wasted no time and teleported him to a private simulation she had specially created for the event."It took quite some time," Aron remarked as he settled into the chair she had prepared for him.{Since their brain structure differs from ours, and they’ve evolved various ways of interpreting things throughout their existence, I had to restart the decoding process several times after analyzing each evolutionary phase. They’ve had quite a few of those over their long history,} Nova responded. As she spoke, she materialized visual representations of the distinct brain structures she had to decode, showcasing the complexity of their evolutionary changes."Why didn't you just use the little protagonists in our two workers to speed up your analysis?" Aron asked, puzzled by her decision to use a more manual approach.{The little protagonists can monitor and interfere with the brain, but due to the power level of the beings we're dealing with, they can't fully c
Two weeks later.Aron stood calmly inside one of the physical labs on his ship, his eyes fixed on five medipods positioned before him. Holograms hovered over each pod, displaying streams of data being collected in real time.Inside the pods, five bodies lay motionless, sustained by a constant supply of nutrients directly administered to their systems. The pods were designed to keep the bodies alive while preventing any activation of brain function, ensuring that consciousness remained completely dormant.Although the bodies in the pods outwardly resembled the various races of the Proximians, the similarities ended there. Internally, their structure was much closer to Aron’s own physiology than to that of the Proximians or even humans.{I think that’s enough observation. We should start the final etching,} Nova suggested, materializing beside him, ready to move on to the next critical step in their experiment."Sure, let’s do it," Aron said, stepping closer to the nearest pod. Immediat
"Do you want to test it out?" Aron asked when the three tree folks used the access he had granted them through their contract to reach out with questions about the bodies he was creating.Birch responded, "We need physical contact with the body to attempt the transfer of our consciousness.""That’s an easy fix," Aron said, and moments later, the tree folks sensed his personal ship in orbit beginning to deorbit and head toward the planet."Anything else you need?" he added."What level of consciousness can it handle? Depending on the brain's capacity, the amount of consciousness we can transfer will change, and I don’t want the brain to explode right at the start," Crabapple asked.Aron considered the question before replying, "During the transfer of part of your consciousness into your humanoid bodies, do you do it by cutting a piece of consciousness and inserting it, or is it like pouring water, gradually filling it up until the body reaches its capacity?"Cypress responded this time
“This feels different,” Birch remarked, her voice coming from her new body as she emerged from the now-open medipod.She experienced drowsiness and a headache, feeling unusually heavy, as if she needed more rest. Despite the discomfort, she was captivated by the sensations her new body provided. While she could simulate these experiences in VR, they were never fully accurate due to differences in brain data and insufficient understanding of it. Now, however, the experience was genuine, and she was engrossed in it, not caring about the drowsiness at all.She realized she couldn't ignore or dismiss these feelings; her consciousness was fully integrated with this body’s brain, making her as vulnerable and perceptive as any human or Proximian, or so she thought.Meanwhile, Cypress, though also adapting to her new body’s sensations, was focused on something else. She attempted to unfold her transparent wings, which were currently tucked against her back. As she extended them, they reveal
With time moving like a boulder falling from a mountain, the day of the long-awaited and much-anticipated handover ceremony finally arrived.Recognizing its significance, the event was declared a holiday—the first ever shared across all imperial territories. The excitement was palpable, and in front of the planet's largest public square, located by the Proximian main government building, more than twenty million Proximians had gathered to witness the historic occasion.This number had been limited due to concerns over crowd safety; any more, and the event might have turned unforgettable in the wrong way. The rest of the Proximians attended virtually, watching the broadcast from the safety of their homes, eager to be a part of this monumental event.But the ceremony wasn’t just for the Proximians. Nearly all the members of the exploration fleet, except for those on military duty, were also in attendance. This brought together representatives from both groups who would now be the member
"We are not perfect," Aron began, his tone shifting to seriousness after the customary greetings, causing many in the audience to raise their brows in curiosity."As humans, we’ve fought one another. We’ve killed, stolen, betrayed, and committed countless atrocities against each other." He paused, the weight of his words hanging in the air. People began to wonder if he regretted saying that or if he had been handed the wrong script.But Aron pressed on, undeterred. "I’m not saying this to boast of our flaws or diminish humanity. I say this to make it clear—we are flawed individuals."He continued, "Yes, we fought each other, but we also helped each other. Yes, we committed atrocities, but we also did better—so much so that those better actions overshadowed the worst. And, importantly, we learned. We learned from our mistakes and took steps to prevent them from happening again, or, if they did happen, to minimize the damage.""This," he said with conviction, "is our only real advantage
A week after the handover ceremony, the exploration fleet had begun the long process of packing for their return to Earth. With packing always taking longer than unpacking, it took an entire month for them to complete the task. Now, the entire fleet stood ready for their journey back home.{Sir, the packing is complete, and the time to move out is approaching. They are asking if they should extend the expected departure time.} Nova's voice echoed in Aron's mind as he stood inside the now-empty stellar forge."I'm about done here, so we’ll move out as scheduled," Aron replied calmly, finishing the etching of a massive rune around the wide opening of the forge.{Okay} she said as she sent the response back to the fleet admiral."Boot it up and run a full systems check to ensure everything is working as intended," Aron ordered briefly, having completed his part of the work. The remaining modifications had been handled by the miniature atomic printer he’d brought to the forge.Nova didn’t