Ali continued, "Yes, that's the first clue. The second is..."
"...The second is the disappearance of her grandfather. I know a lot about Suzuki Oden, the hero who won the Seropene War and made the Sixth Empire famous, becoming the most powerful empire under his rule. I had many questions about this man, especially since he hasn't aged yet, which is a mystery in itself. A man who raised his nation, defied old age, and now we're talking about his disappearance. I'm sure he's connected to this. Well, let's stop here. There's something more important I want to talk to you about while the girls are asleep!"
Julius stammered at the sudden change, "Uh... okay."
Ali turned to him with a serious look. "Now, 016, how much longer until we arrive?"
016: "About five days at this rate."
Ali: "Good. And what are the chances of another wave of gravitational disturbance?" 016: "Currently, the situation is stable. We have a 90% chance of reaching the lab before the next possible wave."
Ali: "Good. Now, Julius, I suggest we take turns rowing. I'll row at night, and you in the morning. What do you think?"
Julius: "What? No, no, we don't need that. I told you, I'm well-trained for this kind of stress."
Ali: "But no matter how well-trained you are, you're still human. There will come a time when you get tired, and you're our only hope of protecting us from the fast attack. We don't know how many dangers we'll face next, and Noor Luna and I won't be able to match your strength. So, I'm asking you to rest at night while I continue so we don't stop. We don't have much time left." Julius reluctantly agreed, and he was a little annoyed by the decision, but the more he thought about it, the more logical it seemed. Then, Julius asked Ali unexpectedly: "But I remembered, didn't you say the water level hasn't dropped since the disaster? How will we reach the depth of the entrance?" "If it's as you say, located at the bottom of the mountain?" Ali replied, lying down to get some sleep before nightfall and they switched places. "Actually, I was working on this project and I've finished it now. I sent it to the ant colony at my base, and they're working on it." Julius, completely bewildered, said, "Finished the project? What project? An ant colony?" Ali replied, "Oh, I forgot you're an idiot. I'm sorry, friend, I'm tired of all this mental work. I'm going to sleep now and maybe I'll tell you about it later."
016 said, "Don't worry, brother Julius, forget about that lazy fellow. I'll explain it to you. First, Mr. Ali built the entire laboratory using a special series of small, medium, and large robots called the ant colony. The mountain that Mr. Ali chose was like a treasure that every empire would covet. The mountain's outer layer was covered with methyl metal, which was like an invincible shield for the base, in addition to the brown color it acquired, making it It was difficult to distinguish it from an ordinary mountain. The mountain was rich in endless quantities of minerals and rare stones such as gold, diamonds, rubies, and lapis lazuli, even fuels and natural gases, but..." Julius wondered, "But what?" 016: "The slightest mistake would have caused a great explosion, and you can't even penetrate the mountain since it's made of methane. But Mr. Ali created the first robot, named the Queen. It was a tool that carved the mountain using a high-tech laser and manufactured the additional robots needed in various fields. It was equipped with artificial intelligence that allowed it to program the robots without Mr. Ali needing to program each one individually. Some of these robots specialized in drilling, some in pouring concrete, others in maintaining the working robots, some in manufacturing spare parts and drilling tools, and others in storing resources. All of this from just one robot. It was an integrated system inspired by an ant colony. Now, Mr. Ali has assigned them a project whose simple idea is that they will create a tunnel about twenty meters away from the entrance, then it will emerge to the surface of the earth. This tunnel will be the one leading to the cave entrance that leads to the laboratory." Julius spoke in amazement, "Wait, are the robots going to build a tunnel upwards that is one thousand three hundred meters long?" 016: "Of course not, brother. That would take a long time, and emptying it of water would require even more energy. So, Mr. Ali arranged the super-Voltino engines in a circle around the tunnel, which would extend only a few meters upwards. The engines would be twenty meters from the tunnel, meaning the tunnel would be the eye of the resulting vortex. There would be about ten super-Voltino engines, each capable of generating 2 billion Newtons. The pressure at the bottom would be approximately 128 atmospheres, or 128 tons per square meter. The total power of the system would be 3 terawatts." 016 turned to Julius, who was starting to smoke from his ears and head. Julius: "Sorry, I didn't understand anything." 016 sighed, sounding like a real person. "Well, the idea is that Mr. Ali has a plan to create a vortex. We'll be in the center of it, and there will be an engine that the lab will send to us to balance the speed of the water's rotation at the bottom. As you know, at the bottom, the water's rotation speed will be approximately 600 km/h, and the engine will propel the boat forward at that speed." Similar and opposite direction, so it will depend on you, Julius, to steer the boat away from the flying debris. Then we'll reach the tunnel and enter it, or else..."
Julius swallowed hard. "Or else...?"
016, his face a screen, said menacingly, "We'll be crushed under that pressure... That's why Mr. Ali has prepared a backup plan in case anything goes wrong."
Julius paused, astonished. "Wow, he really is a genius, isn't he? But then why didn't he build a submarine?"
016: "We don't have all the necessary resources to build one, like radioactive materials such as uranium or plutonium. He has them, but they're not enriched enough for operation. Besides, he's never actually built one, although he considered it as a possible solution. But you can't risk something you've never tried before, and it's extremely complex. It's not easy."
"Make one, but the Voltino motors are plentiful in the lab, so it will save time and effort if we use them directly."
Julius asked in surprise, "Has he tried the method he's using now before?"
016: "No, but he's done enough calculations to ensure a 99% success rate, so don't worry... Okay."
Julius turned to Ali, who was fast asleep, having not slept for two full days working on this project. He was amazed by Ali's intelligence. Time passed until the sun was almost setting, and the three of them woke up. There was a distance between them, so no one could see the others' faces. Julius sensed the tension in the air and suggested they eat. Afterward, they decided to eat. Ali suddenly turned to Noor.
"Oh, I'm really sorry, for... for my previous behavior," he said.
Noor looked up from the floor to tell him it was okay, but as soon as their eyes met,
the girl remembered the terror in his eyes and looked back down at the floor. She said, "It's okay, it's okay. I'm just sorry I upset you by speaking rudely to you." Ali felt the gap between them widen, and the atmosphere grew increasingly gloomy. 016 whispered in Julius's ear, "Listen, brother, at this rate, I don't think you'll ever be an uncle."
Julius said, "Yes, I think so too. The situation is serious and needs to be addressed immediately."
The two replied awkwardly, "Of course it's not like that." Ali added, "Anyone who wants to fall in love with a ten-year-old girl should just die." "Yes, who would fall in love with a skeleton like that?" Noor commented, which angered Ali. "Haaah, a skeleton, my ass! Look at yourself, you ugly thing... Haaah!" The insults started flying again, and Luna began to laugh. Julius smiled at 016 and said, "Thank you." 016 replied, "You're welcome, brother."
Everything was normal so far, but then a pair of red eyes began shining from the water in the distance, drawing ever closer…
After the two girls fell asleep, and Ali pretended to sleep too, Julius, once he was sure they were both asleep, woke Ali to switch places. Ali woke up and took the helm from Julius. The first helm was normal, but the second was a little uncomfortable for him; it was just a rough, unpolished piece of wood for rowing, but it was better than nothing. As Ali rowed, everyone slept, and silence reigned. You could only hear the sound of the water lapping against the oars. Then, an unusually thick fog appeared. This fog wasn't normal; they weren't in a humid place for this to happen. But Ali quickly realized something was wrong. He stopped the boat and began calling out in a low voice so as not to wake his friends, "Is anyone around? Hey… Hello… Umm… Strange. I thought it was fog from someone or…"
Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind. Some aquatic creatures can release fog nearby. He turned around quickly, feeling he had missed something, and heard a clatter behind him from the movement of something among their belongings. As soon as he turned around, he saw...