"By the way, Father, what are your plans for that ruin in Sulawesi?" Mike asked Josh, sipping his coffee.
"Hmm? Why are you asking? Or is it because you're already eyeing my title?" Josh glanced at his eldest son with a smirk.
"Hehe, no way! I'm just really curious about that ruin!" Mike scratched his head.
"...Why the sudden interest in the ruin?" Josh asked, a bit surprised.
"Well, I've just been a bit bored lately. Finally got some summer vacation, but Carol's busy with state affairs all day, and Ben's glued to the training ground. I'm going crazy with nothing to do. So I remembered that ruin... Dad, how about taking me on an expedition?" Mike leaned in with a grin.
Schools in Europe had seasonal breaks—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—so summer vacation was a thing.
"It's not impossible. When we first discovered the ruin, we weren't confident enough to explore it, so we just sealed it off. Now that things have settled, opening it up again shouldn't be a big problem... But first, you'll need your mother's approval," Josh said after thinking it over.
"So if Mom agrees, you'll take me?" Mike's eyes lit up.
"That's right," Josh nodded.
"Yes! That's great—Mom already said she's fine with it as long as you say yes!" Mike cheered immediately.
...??
You little schemer—waiting to trap me, huh?
Well, fine. Let's go, then.
Even though no one knew exactly what was on the other side of the interstellar teleportation gate, with his current strength, Josh was confident there wouldn't be any major issues.
Now that the decision was made, the first task was selecting who would go.
Josh initially considered bringing the whole family—but the first to refuse was Margaret. She'd recently become obsessed with gem crafting… not the ordinary kind, of course, but Azeroth's arcane jewelcrafting. She'd already burned through a decent chunk of Josh's magical materials and gemstones.
Still, Josh supported her hobby—he could afford the damage with his deep pockets.
The second to refuse was Carol. She said she was too busy.
Josh wasn't surprised. The Austro-United Kingdom had only been established for less than a year. While Josh had the economy and military covered, it was still a newly formed nation made from merging several others, filled with internal complications and political friction. Carol had much to learn and handle if she wanted to be a truly great monarch.
Although… Josh did notice that Carol seemed oddly excited when she heard he was leaving Earth. Probably just his imagination.
His youngest son, Ben, was extremely enthusiastic about the expedition. He said combat training at home wasn't challenging enough anymore, and going to an alien ruin would be the perfect real-world experience to help him grow stronger.
Josh then asked Xu Wenwu if he'd like to join, but he also declined—and for a reason that left Josh speechless.
Jia Ying was pregnant. Five months along. With twins, no less—just like Mike and Carol had been.
With Silvermoon City's tech, checking the babies' gender was no issue. There were no laws banning that anymore—and even if there were, they wouldn't apply on the moon anyway!
Howard Duck, who had also settled in Silvermoon City, expressed strong interest in the ruin as well.
And when Vereesa, heard that Josh was planning to activate the ruin, she sent Yondu over, saying it was a good opportunity for the boy to gain some real-world experience.
With that, the team for exploring the interstellar teleportation gate was set.
Josh would lead the mission personally, accompanied by his eldest son Mike, his youngest son Ben, Howard Duck, Yondu, and his assistant, Bresta.
Of course, while Josh was confident that he could protect everyone with his current strength, he didn't just charge ahead recklessly and activate the gate without caution.
…
Inside the ruin's teleportation platform, Josh stood with the Broken Steel Sword in hand. Around him were several all-terrain military robots, tethered with thick cables.
As Josh inserted the sword into the stone pedestal and gave it a gentle twist, an invisible energy pulse burst from the ceiling of the teleportation plaza above, forming a ripple-like gateway midair.
Standing on the platform, Josh could feel a subtle pull from above.
"Send the robots through first," Josh ordered.
A few moments later, the tethered machines began moving forward and were slowly pulled into the gate.
"Sir, the air on the other side is breathable for humans. It's another ruin structure, seemingly abandoned, like this one. No signs of life. It may be located underground or underwater, based on environmental indicators. Should we proceed with further scanning?" one of the technicians asked Josh after the bots returned several minutes later, bringing footage from the other side.
"No need. As long as it's a normal planet and not a star or black hole, that's good enough for me," Josh waved off the suggestion.
He'd only been concerned about ending up in some extreme environment. Now that he knew it was a stable, terrestrial location, everything else was manageable.
Josh then signaled for the others to suit up in full-body tactical gear. Without hesitation, he took the lead and jumped straight into the midair portal.
With a flash and a moment of disorientation, Josh landed in another ruin—nearly identical to the one in Sulawesi. The portal here also hung in midair.
But unlike Earth's side, where the sword served as the activation key, this side had something else resting on the central pedestal—a brilliant, radiant crystal.
This explained why Earth's portal had functioned despite lacking its own power source—the energy core was here on the other end.
While Josh took in the surroundings, one by one, the others dropped through the portal behind him.
After the team landed, a wave of military robots followed—hundreds of them, including several massive Transformers.
Once everyone was through, Josh approached the pedestal, picked up the crystal, and the portal closed immediately.
"Father, what are you doing?" Mike asked, puzzled.
"This crystal is clearly the power core for the portal. Since we're heading out on an expedition, it makes sense to take it with us. Otherwise, what if something—or someone—shows up while we're gone and takes the crystal? We'd be stuck here with no way back," Josh explained matter-of-factly.
Not only that, but the hundreds of military robots that came with them were also left behind to guard the ruin and ensure the teleportation array remained intact.
Once they heard this, everyone suddenly understood — of course! The crystal was like a door key, and the teleportation gate was the lock. If they were going "out," they needed to take the key with them. If someone damaged the "lock" while they were gone, or the key went missing, they'd be stuck on the other side.
Under Josh's command, the accompanying robots began deploying drones to scan the entire ruin.
Within just over ten minutes, Josh had a full layout of the site and a clear idea of their location.
Unlike Earth's ruin, which was hidden deep beneath an island, this one was buried under a vast desert. The robots had to work hard to dig through the sand and open up the blocked exit.
"Ugh, I hate this kind of environment. Thank goodness for air conditioning!" Howard Duck grumbled as he stood at the exit, looking out at the endless desert while enjoying the cool air inside his protective suit.
"Two moons... looks like we're definitely not on Earth anymore," Bresta noted, glancing up at the sky where two faint satellites were visible even in daylight.
"The atmosphere is quite similar to Earth's," Mike added, checking the environmental scan on his suit's display. "We'd be able to breathe just fine even without the gear."
"But I don't think anyone wants to take it off in this heat, do they?" Josh replied, glancing at the suit's internal temperature reading — 43 degrees Celsius.
"Uh... Josh, while I totally agree with that," Howard Duck said, pointing behind him, "I don't think your son does."
"What the—Ben! What are you doing?" Josh turned around to see Ben already stripping off his protective gear, leaving only his underlayer combat suit.
"This heat can't hurt us physically," Ben said seriously. "But it's a good way to test my willpower."
Of course. What could Josh say? His youngest son was a battle maniac through and through.
Still, Josh realized Ben might have a point. While the suits offered comfort, they would be a hindrance if they encountered locals — not the most approachable look.
So Josh shrugged and took his suit off too.
Seeing this, the others followed suit and changed into lightweight field uniforms.
"Soundwave, it's your turn now," Josh said, addressing the leader of the group of Transformers accompanying them.
This "Soundwave" wasn't the original, who was now Starscream's intelligence officer — but Josh had created his own version and liked the name enough to reuse it.
"Yes, sir!" Soundwave responded, transforming along with a few of his fellow bots and blasting off into the upper atmosphere, leaving two units to stay with Josh's group.
Once in the atmosphere, the Transformers spread out, satellite-style, to scan the planet from orbit.
Before long, Josh received the results.
"This planet is quite a bit larger than Earth," he said, examining the data from the Pangu AI on his wrist display. "And it's not listed on any star charts we have. Not only that, but even the surrounding constellations don't match anything we've recorded…"
He paused, a slight frown on his face.
"This might mean… we're a lot farther from home than we thought."
But after checking again, they still couldn't match this planet or even the entire star system with anything in their current star charts.
Which meant only one thing—this planet probably wasn't even in the Milky Way.
"Whoa, that sounds exciting!" Mike said, clearly thrilled.
"There's what looks like a town about 300 kilometers from here," Josh said, checking the map. "Let's go check it out. Knockout, Smokescreen—let's move!"
The two remaining Transformers instantly transformed into rugged off-road vehicles.
While Josh could fly, the others couldn't, so they needed transportation. And when it came to smart, adaptable transport, nothing beat Transformers.
Once everyone was aboard, the two vehicles sped off across the sand toward the distant town.
"Stop."
Halfway there, Josh—riding atop Smokescreen—suddenly ordered a halt.
Smokescreen braked immediately, and Knockout did the same behind him.
With a wave of Josh's hand and a shimmer of magical energy, both vehicles vanished from sight.
Less than a minute later, a massive warship—over 200 meters long—emerged from the clouds overhead.
"A capital ship flying inside the atmosphere? Looks like this planet's tech isn't exactly primitive," Howard Duck muttered, watching the ship cruise overhead.
"But it's probably not that advanced either," Josh replied, narrowing his eyes at the vessel. "If it were, Soundwave and the others would've picked it up as soon as they launched."
"And there weren't any artificial satellites in orbit," he added.
The warship had a distinct wasteland-punk aesthetic—rugged, patched-up plating, and bristling with cannons like early Earth battleships.
But Josh couldn't spot any obvious propulsion system. No engines, no visible thrusters. Anti-gravity tech, maybe?
"That's… weird," Howard admitted.
"Even stranger," Josh added, stroking his chin, "Soundwave didn't even detect the ship while it was still in the clouds."
"Yes," Knockout chimed in. "My radar didn't pick it up either. If I weren't seeing it with my own eyes, I'd think I was hallucinating."
"Invisible, huh?" Howard's eyes widened.
Mike and Ben exchanged glances, both equally baffled.
"...You all stay here. I'm going ahead to take a closer look," Josh said as the ship faded from view into the horizon.
Before anyone could respond, Josh vanished from the vehicle.
Moments later, he reappeared—already inside the town they had spotted earlier.
The town had a vaguely Middle Eastern look from the outside, rustic and worn.
But as Josh stood near the city gates, he could clearly see hover-cars gliding through the streets inside.
The contrast was jarring. It instantly reminded him of Tatooine from Star Wars—dusty, primitive on the surface, but with pockets of high-tech life hiding just underneath.
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