1252 Three Plans To Survival
When he attended the imperial meeting, every representative was gathered. From the Sanguine race to the Crystal race, from Bali to Irene. There was also Oob floating around a seat, flapping its wings.
Varian leaned into his throne and nodded at them to begin the meeting.
"We've come up with three plans." Secretary Alison, in usual work clothes, stood up and addressed him.
"First plan: evacuate everyone into Hortus. Stay low. Since you said this has a slight chance of exposure, we'll use the spaceships to transfer them out of the solar system. Thanks to Boo, we have the capacity to send out ten billion people. They can survive for 10 years in space.
It'll reduce the burden on Hortus and if the data is right, the chance of being found is less than 0.0001%. It's a safe bet."
Varian was expected many radical methods of offensive. But the evacuation plan being the primary consideration caught him off guard. Its details were ridiculous or impressive, depending on how he viewed it.
"Evacuate ten billion people? Out of solar system?" Varian cocked his head and looked down at Alison with a serious gaze that muttered. 'Are you kidding me?'
Not too long ago, humanity struggled to evacuate a few billion Neptunians to a neighboring planet. There were hundreds of millions of deaths because of the failure.
But Alison was proposing the evacuation of ten billion humans out of the solar system. It's hard to make a sharp comparison, but it's at least a million times harder. Not a hundred or a thousand, a million times harder.
Compared to the massive radius of the solar system stretching for two light years, the distance between two planets wouldn't even be visible. The distance was more than 100,000 larger.
The fuel, supplies, transportation—everything was leagues above what was recently possible.
Varian didn't express his disbelief but it was open for everyone to see.
As if waiting for the chance, a cute white ghost bolted into the throne hall and yelled. "Master, it's all thanks to Boo! Boo upgraded the spaceships, gave them stealth, designed space-expansion arrays and life support systems! And soooo many things!"
"Oh," Varian recalled the arrays on Ghost ship when he first found it. They were mind-boggling to him back then. Now, not so much. But if they could be upgraded and mass-produced…
'But why did the duchies do this if it's so easy?'
"Ahem, ahem." Oob flapped its wings and floated beside Boo. "The ruins had some suitable inheritance related to inorganic life. It's the worst inheritance, so I gave it to this ghost. Now, it's no longer a mass-produced AI. It's a special, evolved life form."
Varian scanned Boo and realized that the little ghost actually had something akin to a soul?
If Boo had its normal presence, he'd have detected it. Its changed presence was the reason he wasn't able to spot it in the palace.
"Anyway, their stealth is guaranteed. So, no worries master. In fact, if you really want to, we can transport all humans alive today outside the solar system. It's just…the materials we have won't be enough. We'd have to loot a few hundred auction houses from Centaurus."
Boo rubbed its hands like a greedy criminal and said.
'…It didn't take after me, right?' Varian refuted that thought straight away. No way he'd loot something. He'd only 'borrow' for an indefinite period of time. Both are not the same!
Alison walked to them and gave them a stern look. The two troublemakers wilted at the sight of the 'emperor-in-change' and returned to their seats.
"Second plan: We will wage a guerrilla war through the usage of Hortus, small worlds, and Boo's advanced stealth spaceships. Meanwhile, we'll keep the locations of core regions an absolute secret.
Since they're the prime candidates for crown prince, they could not justify staying here if they only manage to kill average human guerrillas.
Our losses could extend up from a few billion to an estimated count of 10 billion. The candidates will leave after their futile attempt but will send their people to keep this place under watch.
But by intentionally showing ourselves as weak, we'd persuade them to send only weak awakeners. Of course, relatively weak. Your Majesty should be able to kill all the ones sent or brainwash them one by one. We'll have to see then."
Varian thought about this plan for a moment before deciding to reject it. Whether successful or not, a billion lives were too much to pay.
If things were going to be screwed up, he'd rather send a good chunk of the population away than use them as cannon fodder.
"What's the third path?"
Alison looked at Kevin and Bali for a moment before continuing. "It's not a third plan. It's an urgent report you need to hear. The Abyss Emperor's letter, Oob believes it has found it when that…woman's power shook the entire solar system."
Varian turned to Oob and it conveyed the location.
With a gesture of his palm, everyone in the room was teleported to the edge of the solar system. Varian stretched his hand into the void and clenched his fist.
Something revealed itself.
A deep, deep space portal. From here all the way to…
Varian couldn't accurately estimate it. But Boo came forward and said the coordinates led to Jai Empire.
There was a letter in the portal in a protective transparent barrier.
"The letter would break randomly between five and fifty years," Oob commented, causing everyone other than Varian to tremble.
On the other hand, Varian easily broke the barrier and read the letter. Interestingly, it had definitive evidence to support Haedon's claims.
As he studied the structure, he realized that it'd create a very, very narrow strip of space link between the two space points using the portal.
But its presence would make it so much easier for the Zions to create an actual space portal and reach here.
At his words, the members either sighed in relief for having found it early or lamented their weakness.
Varian, on the other hand, stared at the piece of paper and the proto-space portal with wide eyes.
'Wait a minute!'
