"."
At his words, a glint flashed in Halsey's eyes. She did not immediately reject Sui Meng's idea; instead, she fell into brief thought.
"Using the ring's extreme spacetime warping during startup as a propulsion medium… in theory, it isn't impossible."
She rapidly assembled a physical model in her mind. "The key would be directional guidance of energy and maintaining corridor stability, to keep the fleet from being shredded by dimensional turbulence or thrown to the wrong point in time—"
As she spoke, she turned to Cortana: "Cortana, tap the Grand Device 01 core physical engine database.
Pull the Carson–Riemann graviton-flow constraint equations, the nonlinear spacetime metric perturbation model, and the hypothesis framework I last submitted on dark-matter vacuum energy-level transition.
We need a provisional 'ultra-long-range spacetime bridge' model. Compute, under a fleet-safe passage constraint, the minimum energy threshold—and how to obtain it—to constrain targeting accuracy within one thousand light-years interior to Andromeda."
"Directive received. Building model. Allocating all compute."
A fine data sheen passed through the twin pupils of Cortana's prosthetic. Her core processor spun at full throttle, grinding on the high-dimensional physics and cutting-edge theory in Halsey's brief.
Vast datasets collided and iterated in the invisible layer.
Moments later, Cortana lifted her head. Her results appeared in midair as a holo—
a steep curve charting energy requirement versus distance.
"Model run complete.
Conclusion: feasible.
However, to construct and sustain a temporary hyperspatial bridge to 2.54 million light-years and ensure safe fleet transit, the energy requirement is extreme.
Back-calculation indicates Grand Device 01, in its next operating cycle, would need to additionally draw in, convert, and 'ignite' the total hydrogen fusion output released over the full lifetimes of twelve G-type main-sequence stars—sunlike stars.
In short, it would have to 'consume' twelve sunlike stars' worth of mass, fully converting their substance into startup ignition energy."
Halsey looked to Sui Meng, her tone growing weighty:
"That means we would have to destroy twelve stable stellar systems.
And by cosmic life-distribution models, sunlike systems have a non-negligible chance of harboring habitable zones and even nascent life—perhaps sapience. Even if no sapients exist at present, destroying the stars would break the gravitational balance and ecological potential of those regions. The long-term impact would be incalculable."
Sui Meng listened in silence. His face was hidden under the helm, but the sharp eyes did not waver.
He paused a few seconds, then spoke—voice steady, carrying a ruler's and guardian's cold resolve, beyond any personal feeling:
"Doctor, I understand the cost.
But weighing the ledger, sacrificing the potential futures of twelve stellar systems to identify—and fundamentally strangle—an already proven, systematic reaper and exterminator of sapient civilizations, namely the Marker and its makers, is an act of responsibility to all extant and future sapient species in this universe.
This is not only for the Human Empire's interest, but to preserve the multiform life of the universe and prevent more 'Tavorantis tragedies.'"
He paused, his tone firmer: "The Human Empire's aim is to unify the multiverse and establish order and peace.
That responsibility means not only sheltering those within our frontiers, but also making hard, necessary choices for the survival of a wider scope when needed.
That is the burden of the Empire."
Just then, the War Maiden with the keenest psionic sense frowned slightly. She stepped forward and reported softly to Sui Meng, her voice airy and alert:
"Your Highness, I sense, deeper within the ruins, approximately 1.7 kilometers away, a… non-typical special fluctuation.
It is extremely faint, but its essence is very ancient. It carries a hollowness that belongs neither to life nor to death.
It is unlike any energy we have ever encountered."
"."
Sui Meng's eyes narrowed. He focused his own formidable psionics, sweeping outward like an invisible radar in the direction she indicated.
Sure enough, he too caught a trace—barely there—like something fused into the rock itself, yet with a peculiar, indescribable 'activity.'
"I feel it."
Sui Meng's voice was low. He moved at once.
He turned to the Xianzhen Honor Guard and the War Maidens, and gave a crisp, decisive order: "All Xianzhen, War Maidens, remain here and form a circular defensive array.
Your highest priority is to ensure Dr. Halsey's and Cortana's absolute safety at all costs."
He knew well that, faced with the unknown—especially dangers possibly tied to psionics or higher-order entities—the best choice was for a Primarch to scout personally.
His nature endowed him to meet almost any extreme case.
Halsey, by contrast, was a critical pillar of science—yet a "mortal" in essence—who must be protected under the tightest guard.
The force of thirty Xianzhen Honor Guards and four War Maidens could resist or delay, for a time, nearly any known enemy—including sub-Primarch-class threats.
They might not overcome a foe on the Primarch's level, but they could certainly win precious seconds—
enough time for a Xianzhen to hit a short-hop beacon and rip Halsey and Cortana out of danger.
On multiversal battlefields, to extract safely from before a Primarch-class foe is proof of capability and worth—not shame.
And if the foe proved a warp daemon or psionic entity, four specialists among the War Maidens could hold for a time.
"Yes, Your Highness."
The War Maidens answered softly, while the silent Xianzhen immediately shifted formation, enclosing Halsey and Cortana at center. The low murmur of powered weapons and faint psionic halos rose as they went to maximum alert.
With arrangements set, Sui Meng hesitated no longer.
He tightened his grip on his power war-spear. The towering, five-and-a-half-meter frame moved—measured, resolute steps—alone, toward the source of that unknown 'anomaly' in the depths of the ruins.
Soon, his form was swallowed by the heavier dark ahead. Only the sound of armor in motion and the occasional crisp rasp of the spearpoint against stone echoed in the dead stillness of the ruin—
thud, thud!
He went on alone. Heavy footfalls boomed in the empty corridors.
The deeper he went, the colder the air felt, the more thickly the dust of ages lay.
In psionic sense, that aberrant fluctuation winked in and out—like an eye watching from the dark—guiding his direction.
The passage narrowed. The wall-carvings changed.
Early splendor and confidence gave way to symbols and warnings—
warped forms, shattered stars, and myriad iconography for "isolation" and "freezing."
Clearly, this was the record of Tavorantis's shift from flourish to decline—and at last, to the end times.
After roughly a kilometer, he reached the mouth of a giant circular cavern.
Within, a soft, un-natural blue glow breathed.
The strange fluctuation was clearest here.
At the threshold, Sui Meng swept the cavern with a honed gaze.
It resembled a vast geode, but the walls were not natural crystal. They were inlaid with a substance he had never seen—like black basalt, but laced with an undercurrent of eerie blue energy.
These materials formed a complex geometric network covering the walls and vault. The network's energy all ran toward the center.
There, a roughly three-meter-tall irregular polyhedron hovered.
Its body was pitch black, mirror-smooth, yet it seemed to swallow all light. Only within did that dim blue faintly glow—pulsing to some slow rhythm, like the heart of a sleeping giant.
That hollow, ancient, neither-life-nor-death fluctuation emanated from the black polyhedron.
Sui Meng could feel clearly—it was nothing like a Marker.
Marker energy seduces, invades, and warps life. This, by contrast…
was like a cold, pure 'information carrier'—or some kind of 'recording device.'
He did not close hastily. Through his armor's comms, on a secure channel, he described to Halsey what he saw.
Receiving the live feed and data, Halsey came fully alert.
"Cortana, analyze its energy spectrum and substance."
Cortana went to work at once. "Energy spectrum analysis… no matches to any known profile.
Substance composition cannot yet be fully parsed. It contains a large fraction of unknown elemental isotopes and… non-baryonic matter.
Structural stability is extremely high. Internal energy flow exhibits a highly ordered, quantum-stratified pattern.
Preliminary judgment: this is not a weapon or a power device. It is more likely an advanced 'information storage core.'"
"Information storage?" Halsey mused. "Did the Tavorantins seal something here at the last?"
"Probability is high," Cortana said. "Its energy fluctuation shares traits with known quantum memories or crystal data banks. It also seems to be… waiting for a specific 'key' or condition to activate and read."
Then the hovering black polyhedron changed.
The blue light on its surface brightened, rushing faster. The cavern's energy network lit in turn, and a low hum filled the air.
An invisible pressure rolled out—not hostile, but… appraising? Expectant?
Sui Meng tightened his grip, psionic shield rippling around him, ready for any attack.
But none came.
Instead, a soft beam lanced from the polyhedron. A dynamic holo-star map sprang up before Sui Meng—
the Andromeda coordinates the Tavorantins had set.
A moment later, floods of fast, complex Tavorantis script and formulae appeared alongside.
"It's trying to communicate," Halsey's excited voice came over comms. "Cortana—record and decrypt everything!"
Cortana's processing spiked to the limit. Her prosthetic even flushed faintly warm.
"The data stream is immense… includes tech material far beyond the museum's record… some concerns intergalactic communication theory and—"
Abruptly, the stream cut.
The black polyhedron's glow dimmed swiftly, returning to its former calm—as if nothing had happened.
"What happened?" Sui Meng asked.
"Transfer ceased suddenly," Cortana reported. "Cause unknown.
Data captured is being parsed. Preliminary read: the stream included basics of Tavorantis research into intergalactic travel theory—and an extremely brief, repeating warning."
"The warning?" Sui Meng pressed.
Cortana paused—as if to confirm the fidelity—then spoke, voice heavy, repeating the message:
"Warning: The predators are not creators.
Beyond the cradle, all is hunting ground.
Silence is survival."
The cavern fell death-still.
"The predators are not creators…" Halsey echoed softly. "So they denied any sanctity to the Marker's makers and called them… predators? The 'cradle'—the Milky Way? 'Beyond the cradle, all is hunting ground'…
Andromeda is a hunting ground?
And 'Silence is survival'… a warning to those who come after: do not initiate contact, do not answer?"
A final message, preserved by the Tavorantins by some extreme means, still whispered to successors.
Behind the Marker, it was clearly not a generous, energy-sharing advanced civilization—but an unknown "predator" that cast entire galaxies as hunting grounds.
At the edge of extinction, the Tavorantins spent their last strength—not for revenge—but to shout a blood-won warning to those who might follow.
Sui Meng stared into the quieted black polyhedron, gaze deep.
The Tavorantins' image grew more "grand" in his mind. Their sacrifice was not only to halt a blood moon, but to pass a truth that bears on countless civilizations' survival.
After a long silence, he keyed the comms and issued new orders to Halsey and the fleet:
"Mission objectives updated.
Top priority: ensure the absolute safety of this 'information core' and transfer it intact to the Renwei Yonggu's isolation lab.
Also, designate the Tavorantis civilization as 'Martyrs' and posthumously confer on them the honor status of Imperial Allies.
Their sacrifice and their warning will never be forgotten.
As for the plan to go to Andromeda—"
He paused, then continued: "Not canceled—for now. But the strategic objective shifts from 'active search and contact' to 'armed reconnaissance and threat assessment.'
We need to know what manner of being owns that hunting ground. The Empire never backs down from a threat."
______
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