I couldn't hate on Sarah for bein' made exempt by Sam.

    That was just the way the Battlestar had broken...

    And so, everythin' which'd gone down with me 'n' Michelle I tried to put down to, fate.

    Gettin' back to Sarah...'Starbuck' had problems of her own... Even though she'd strived to be Top Dawg by attackin' the Nastar with the spirit of Kara Thrace, Centrifuge was still unrelentin' and took her down at every given opportunity.

    For most, G-Loc really was a son-of-a-bitch.

    So, when Sarah had asked for my help weeks back, I took pity and introduced her to my guy at iPlaza. When we entered lookin' to part with plenty of credits, he was kind enough to do Sarah a deal on the amount of fibre-mesh she was after.

    Also, to break it down, iPlaza was the outlet for Fuji-Apple - the globular entity to rise from the competitive ashes of Amazon; the corporate biomass which'd absorbed Google and Facebook; among others in years passed. In this day 'n' age, A.I.D.A's, Beambook and Ducker had replaced the old offerings and iPlaza's biggest consumable was the iSpec, casually known as the iDot - a bio-integrated operatin' system with expandable 3D printin' capability!

    Hell, I loved mine! The iDot allowed me to conjure my gnarly hoverboard and geek out every time I rode it!

    Anyways, enough with the banal backstory.

    With The Medical now done 'n' dusted, all that was left to do was witness the Base Teams create the Land and Aviation Technologies, and for us three to respond to any professional requests if called upon. For two special reasons...I hoped we would be... In fact, I had my fingers crossed, and was genuinely countin' on it...

    Days later we were back in CPC headquarters. Mine 'n' Sarah's AV Holo-Suite was positioned in the middle of the central chamber. And Chon was ready to deliver the first communication on Phase Two! "Greetings, Citizens of the Tripod Coalition. At this time, I am back in Zhōngnánhǎi, joined by five of our leaders - as the sixth, Olaf Fedor, is working hard for us in Baikonur - and stood beside the visionary of The Contingency..." To be specific, Chon was talkin' about Xen, who I was hopin' was about to come through for me... "Now while Xen Lai is present, this is by no means an interview. I'm told that what will follow will be an update on what we already know, as well as some, developments..."

    Xen looked left 'n' right at his cohorts, then allowed me to focus in on his infamous face. "Good morning, everyone. Firstly, I'd like to apologize for my general absence. Understandably, I've been in huge demand as I continue to work behind the scenes with the people you see either side of me. Pressing on, I'd like to introduce another of my associates, who I'd cited during The Solution..."

    I didn't have to wonder for too long on who it might be. With haste, Xen beamed out a holoscreen link and flung it my way. Once my Holo-Suite's lens had absorbed it, the associate manifested with a configured sizzle. And after three blinks, my iLenses locked on and focused... It identified the man and his geographical location... "At the summit, I introduced James Tayden Raythorpe, one of NASA's planetary scientists. Furthermore," Xen breathed, "I explained how James helped to inspire The Solution, via his preparatory theories on Mars. Now regarding progress on the Red World, James and his archaeological research team will soon be off to Mars again to continue their Landscape Project... But until then, James has been overseeing something for us...

    "James," Xen said at my screen, "could you please elaborate?"

    "Of course," the new-age Attenborough, teased. "Good day to you all; I'm James; and I'm currently talking to you from the Mongolian Plateau."

    "James, go on," Xen permitted. "Tell us, what have you been up to?"

    "Well, Xen, as you know, I've been here since April and my role has been overseeing one thousand Army A.I.S.U's who've been hard at work. Their core tasks have been the construction, excavation and insertion of an Earth-based Electromagnetic Hub. This task is now complete, with the hub ready for use as soon as Dwarven Earthian Star is operational and orbitbound.

    "And on a separate and forgiving note," James sighed, "this dwarven task was a far easier undertaking than the original one would have been - had a mega hub been needed for the bigger behemoth, Earthian Star..."

    After a deflated buffer of Xen's lips, he acknowledged Raythorpe. "James, I know, and thank you. That's great news. Now can you briefly explain how the dwarf's mini hub will work?"

    "Sure," Raythorpe grinned. "But I'll go softly and in layman's terms. Okay, so, nothing can break a magnetic field or cancel one out. Still, we can redirect the negative and positive pole charges of two magnets sat next to each other. Traditionally, we did this by using a third and bigger magnet and placing it between the two original magnets. This created a magnet sandwich of sorts. The smaller magnets attracted and repelled each other, but the bigger magnet channeled away the majority of the combined flux. Everyone still following?" James asked, his forehead wrinkling after a cock of his monobrow.

    "We are, yes James," Xen said. "Keep flowing my friend, you have The Coalition's attention!"

    "Alrighty," James quipped. "In the case of Earth and your sanctuary star, we are looking to generate and connect an electromagnetic holo-beam between the plateau and Earth Orbit, which will work in a similar way. A permanent tractor beam, of sorts. And so, in order to achieve this, we have manufactured two hubs on a profund scale, with electromagnetic currents replacing the scientific tradition of physical magnets. Therefore, when the two hubs connect, this will create flux and force your sanctuary star into a controlled spin - thus - allowing an immense measure of artificial gravity to be created, courtesy of centripetal force. Xen, back over to you."

    "Thank you, James," Xen said with serious grace. "The attempt of a simplified breakdown is really appreciated."

    Straight after, Xen gave Chon a quick glance, clearly lookin' to share more. "Now from this point up until December 2049, these are the other things that will be happening..." the savant teased.

    For my own reasons, I braced myself...

    Glancing to my left and then back up ahead, Chon 'n' Sarah tensed up, too.

    Then with an air of, confidence, Xen reeled off his premeditated plan. "Thanks to Prime Minister Fedor's military-style management, the Kazakh Republican Guard; their A.I.S.U's; and their native tradesmen have already completed piling of Baikonur across our ten thousand square mile site.

    "Having liaised with Ling Xiodau, I can confirm that all Baikonur Temporary Dormitories are complete, with the bio-holodome tech on-line, and ready to initiate the Sub-Colony parameters, should the World-Ender manifest...

    "Communication with General Harris Kanxia has assured me that Baikonur is now ready to receive the LAT constructing patrons of Base Teams One and Two - essentially the swathe of teams who are expected to arrive in droves via the intercontinental monorail network, which the People's Liberation Army will coordinate.

    "Lastly," Xen shared, "The Jong Brothers will continue to focus on:

    "Erecting towering generators in the south-east and south-west of the site, designed by Yingli-Solar-City;

    "Forging a sizeable Provisions Hall and Sewage Water Treatment Works in the south of the site;

    "Constructing one hundred new Filters that will be dotted around the perimeter of our LCA site..."

    After takin' a dry gulp, Xen then gritted his throat and I imagined some of that dragon oil Chon insisted they both had, churned. "...Everyone," he continued, "once these preliminary things have been achieved, Base Teams One and Two will turn their attention to LAT construction itself...

    "At the center of Baikonur, they will build The Pink Lady's domain, The Wealth Core.

    "Surrounding it, they will fashion its weather-proofed structure, The Cylinder.

    "Twenty miles from The Cylinder, and expanding outwards in hexagonal formation, they will forge the six Fortress Docks.

    "Finally, another twenty miles out from the vast and protective arenas, the teams will conjure our six Converting Vessel Freighters, alongside thousands of Star Shuttles..."

    At the mention of the Freighters, Battlestar Galactica came back to mind, and what Xen would say next could only have gone down in three ways.

   Xen was gonna botch our bargain and betray me like, Dr Gaius Baltar...

    Xen was gonna ignore our deal entirely by bein' as heartless as a Cylon...

    Or Xen was gonna be admirable like, Admiral Adama...

    I braced myself, and hoped to un-cross my fingers, all while the genius made the jump. "Now, with regards to the Freighters, I was recently told that designating them with a number system was, 'bogus'. Therefore," Xen chuckled, "when a 'Geek-Guru-Extraordinaire' presented me with superior alternatives, I could not ignore them..."

    BOOM! Xen was a man of his word and about to do me proud! Again, he threw another holoscreen link over my lens for all in The Coalition to see, but this one took longer to decode, configure, and manifest. But once it did, I frickin' beamed! Six schematic holograms rotated in front of my eyes and I gawped on in awe as Xen started to explain! "...At this time, I would like to officially introduce the six 'Titan-Class Freighters'. For Kazakhstan, theirs will now be known as 'Atomic' and 'Solaris'! With The Solution now redundant, Atomic will be our Archive Freighter. Its 'kin-ship', Solaris, will be our Fertilization Store Freighter.

    "For New Japan, theirs will now be known as 'Imperial' and 'Horizon'! Imperial will be our champion Hydro Freighter. Its 'kin-ship', Horizon, will be the hauler of our fleet, our Farming Freighter.

    "Conclusively," Xen smiled, "I would like to introduce China's Titan-Class Freighters. Ours will be known as 'Dynasty' and 'Stardom'! Dynasty will be our Health Care Freighter. And its 'kin-ship', Stardom, will be our Cold Vacuum Freighter."

    Xen had proven his worth, which now meant one thing. The other bargain we'd struck back on World Environment Day was bound to be honored! As I daydreamed about my professional and transitional idea...Chon stared me down through the lens, while Sarah had her glassy eyes locked on me from the side of our Suite. Once they'd fluttered their eyes shut, I knew now was the time to answer their questions which would one day signal the end of our, Trio...

    Chon: 'Big guy, I take it Xen's referring to you and the gnarly names you obviously came up with?'

    Mikey: 'Of course.'

    Chon: 'And what - you just did so for nothing?'

    Mikey: 'Please. My friend, when you're good at somethin', one never does it for free!'

    Chon: 'So, what did you ask for...?'

    Mikey: '...The opportunity to go from Enthusiast - to Ensign... Guys, six weeks ago I decided what I wanted to do once we're, orbital. And thankfully, Xen and The Elder agreed...'

    Sarah: '...And what's that Mike? Spill the mung beans, you're worrying me...'

    Mikey: 'There's no need to. Sam Branson was the first to acknowledge that I'll be more than okay. Once aboard the Dwarf, I'm gonna learn how to operate one of those things and look to become a stand-in pilot for VG. Guys, Convertin' Vessel Freighter training awaits me! You okay with it...?'

    Chon: 'Sure, Mike, we've got you, bro. Haven't we Sarah?'

    Sarah: '...Yeah, of course, no doubt...'

    Frak, it did hurt to say it to them. But not as much as it had yesterday, when I'd bought Michelle up to speed... Still, at least now all of my friends knew what I wanted to pursue.

    As I disconnected the mind-message and fluttered my eyes open, Xen's voice flooded back into the scope of Sarah's audio feed. I took it as a chance to stop the emotional stuff right then 'n' there and did my ultra best to ignore Chon 'n' Sarah's looks of woe. Thankfully, Xen was still deliverin' plenty more info in the form of 'Pulp Science Fiction - Part 2' and without much persuadin', I threw my concentration back onto that.

End of Chapter 17