The Martial Unity

”From what we can tell, Captain,” the analyst continued with a barely constrained voice of excitement. ”We are looking at artificial structures, rather than natural and organic development. Based on what we can tell, the macrobes are utilizing the structures as a form of shelter. Based on the scans that we have conducted…”

She zoomed in further into the hologram until each structure was visible with great detail. What was clearly visible were large colonies of those very macrobes that appeared to be huddled together in dense groups.

What was especially noteworthy was that they weren’t touching the ground.

They were floating above it.

”They constructed these reef-life structures for the same purpose that a lot of aquatic creatures have reefs in the first place,” she continued with an intense tone. ”As shelter and as a place to call home. What’s most shocking is that the structures appeared to be made not out of naturally occurring iron ore, but actually refined iron. We can tell based on the magnitude of the photoelectric effect that we have detected in connection to those structures, those are either an alloy with a high presence of iron or pure iron!”

That was certainly telling. The extraction and purification process of ores into the desired element was quite primitive for a civilization like Gaian Civilization, but it wasn’t something that primitive life could do, either.

”Are they… intelligent?” Ria’s eyes widened.

”We do not have decisive proof on that at this point in time,” the analyst replied with a cautious tone. ”But what we can say with greater confidence is that they are complex. They do not organize themselves in a manner as simple as their micro-brethren. Not just that, we have detected other anomalies as well with other specimens that we have observed.”

She zoomed into another part of the hologram projection, pointing at the still image that they had managed to capture with their scan of an area.

”Is that…” Ria frowned. ”…a firestorm?”

It clearly resembled one, like a twister made out of flames, albeit quite minor.

But at the very center of it were macrobes.

Who appeared to be unharmed by the flames.

”I thought you said they were likely filled with hydrogen and helium.” Sternon raised an eyebrow. Wouldn’t fire be very bad for them? Wait, wouldn’t fire in general be bad if there’s so much hydrogen and oxygen on the planet? Why doesn’t a single match ignite half the planet?”

The analyst’s expression grew uncertain before she shook her head.

”Unfortunately, we don’t know yet. It is true that such a high proportion of hydrogen gas and oxygen should make for extremely dangerous combinations, but it is possible that the helium prevents conflagrations from spreading too far. It is also possible that there are other mechanisms at play that we simply aren’t aware of.”

Ria frowned. This raised the risks associated with an operation on Planet Pinky. If what was visible made the planet more dangerous, then the risks that weren’t immediately visible were going to be even worse.

Not to mention, they had absolutely no idea about what was inside the manifold that was undoubtedly hiding within the depths of the planet.

”What about the main thing that we’re looking for?” Ria asked with an impatient tone. ”What about the quantum entropy anomalies?”

”We have detected two, for now,” the analyst remarked as she updated the map with the most recent data that had been collected by the Stellarch.

The map featured two red dots with waves radiating from them, indicating the anomalous entropy.

”Strangely enough, both of these points have firestorms over them,” the analyst frowned. ”An odd coincidence, but we should be able to find other spots that are easier to get to.”

Ria’s amber eyes sharpened. She got the feeling that that wasn’t going to be the case, as someone with great intuition around causality, she didn’t believe in coincidences all that much.

”Do we have the gear to deal with this kind of environmental anomaly?” Ria turned towards Misha, who fell into thought at those words, before nodding.

”Not specifically this, but yes, we do have exosuits that are designed to withstand high pressures and heat. And with our power, we should be able to handle it even better. The biggest problem will be whether Siliscia can sequester oxygen with soil that is so rich in iron.”

Siliscia snorted with a rare display of arrogance. ”Elven technology can handle it easily. In fact, the iron allows me to try out some of our more innovative exoplanet solutions.”

”Good.” Ria nodded, turning back to the map. ”Let’s prepare those solutions right away then. Once we have a complete scan of the planet, we’ll have to get started. Ah…”

She turned towards the analyst with a confused expression.

”There are several probes of human origin on this planet, right? Why did none of them ever catch a glimpse of these highly fantastical forms of life?”

The analysts frowned at those questions, almost like they hadn’t even considered them.

It was true, this planet wasn’t that far from the frontier of human civilization, and it was within the domain of influence of humanity and had been studied by probes.

So why didn’t their research lead them to find information on these macrobes?

It simply didn’t add up.

”…That is something that we can verify after we hack all of the probes,” the captain offered. ”For now, let’s focus on the operation and gather all the information we can. We can decide on whether we want to conduct a more thorough analysis of this anomalous world once we have finished this sweep of the world.”

Ria nodded. ”Until then, we’ll get on with some preparations. Each of us has some work to do.”

While the Stellarch continued about its lengthy planetary entropy surveillance sweep, the five pathwalkers immediately got to making preliminary preparations based on what they already knew.

Because the information that they had on Planet Pinky wasn’t as clear prior to their direct scans of the environment, they hadn’t been able to make their preparations for the operation as precise as they could now, given that they had gained much more information on the macrobes.