Early morning sunlight sparkled on the vast launch site of the Unity Empire, casting long shadows upon massive catapults and enchanted gear set with runes. With anticipation crackling in the air, imbued with magic and mechanical potential, Sharath stood surrounded by engineers, mages, and scholars, studying the newest upgrades on the pulley project. Seven months of careful planning had paid off with a working prototype that could launch constructs into the stratosphere—but stable orbit, much less landing on the moon, was as yet untested.
The initial series of launches were tiny, nearly experimental, but exhilarating. Lofting trees infused with magical beans were placed in the catapult, stabilized with great care using runes and mechanical support. The pulleys whirred, and the constructs soared upwards in curves of light, vanishing into the stripping atmosphere before falling with partial success. Some fell upright, branches whole; others bent, roots splintered, or opened too far, flattening on landing. Every failure was scrutinized: magical harmonics had to be reset, timing tweaked, and runic stabilizers strengthened.
Following weeks of slight gains, the crew undertook the initial stable orbit attempt. The payload—a group of specially treated trees and test material—was released with exact timing, runes glimmering in intricate designs. For an instant, it was flawless: the constructs reached the border of the stratosphere, then the atmosphere beyond, twirling elegantly. But minute misalignments in magical resonance created slight wavers. The payload oscillated, fighting against gravitational forces, before finally descending in a partial lunar orbit. It skimmed the surface of the Moon, hard landing in a shallow crater. Some of the branches were broken; magical leaves were charred, but the experiment yielded precious data.
Sharath recognized that to progress, they would require living test subjects. Deliberately designed payloads consisted of miniature magical animals: floating foxes, robust winged beasts, and magically immune rodents, each with tiny monitoring runes. Sharath, foreseeing survival problems, started working on magical space suits and oxygen tanks, proportioned for the animals and, later, humans. Oxygen control, temperature management, and rune-encompassed life support systems took prominence in the design.
Marcel, on the other hand, labored to enhance flight equipment to serve as payloads. "If engines begin operating at the Moon's gravity level," he described, "we can control descent and ensure a soft landing. But engines need to account for atmosphere-less areas, gravity, and environmental variability." Marcel's crew built small thrusters, incorporated magical propulsion, and attached the engines to BTS computers to track paths in real-time.
Testing was challenging. Animals were sent in batches: initially, small oxygen bottles for short flights; subsequent flights were long periods with life-support magic. Each launch uncovered new problems. Oxygen availability lasted longer than anticipated in low-gravity environments, yet magical backlash from lingering runes sometimes affected monitoring equipment. Networked BTS computers flashed during transmission as high-altitude magical interference interfered with signal coordination. Still, every test yielded insights.
Those were followed by experiments involving magic beans, water, and nutrients. Sharath imagined payloads with self-sustaining ecosystems. Seeds from magical trees, if given water and nutrients, would grow in hostile environments—even lunar-like landscapes. Bean-filled pods were launched into low orbit, surrounded by tiny environmental domes. Some pods inflated well, growing tree-like frames in sealed habitats. Growth rates, nutrient uptake, and magical energy transfers were tracked by the team, refining soil formulas, watering systems, and rune-based growth accelerators on an iterative basis.
Difficulties continued:
Instability of the stratosphere: Air movement, density waves, and updrafts at high altitude caused wobbling on ascent. Every catapult shot necessitated precise timing of mechanical tension and magical pulses.
Magical backlash: Remaining runes occasionally conflicted with new spells, generating bizarre energy spikes. During one test, a magical spike reversed a payload's spin in flight, resulting in a sudden crash. Engineers and mages needed to create fail-safe rune circuits to stabilize these interactions.
Networked computer coordination: BTS computers controlling more than one payload occasionally disagreed, broadcasting conflicting stabilization orders. Sharath himself took charge of developing a synchronization protocol permitting distributed control of multiple structures, reconciling runic energy and mechanical timing.
Seven months of experiment, mistake, re-calibration, and incremental progress led to a publicity-generating test flight. This time, the payload consisted of magical trees, nutrients, water, and small animals in life-support suits. The pulley catapult launched them into a controlled trajectory, propelled by synchronized runes and BTS calculation. Onlookers suspended their breath as the structures crossed the stratosphere, stabilized in orbital position, and headed for the Moon's gravitational force. Marcel's powered flying contraption fired when it hit lunar gravity, ensuring safe landing.
The drop was not flawless: some minor damage was done to branches, and a few nutrient containers broke, but all animals lived, reporting through magical runic monitoring arrays. Trees grew slowly in test lunar soil, their magical beans taking in nutrients and water shipped in payloads. Preliminary data indicated survival rates many times better than estimated, and oxygen tanks far outperformed design specifications.
The summit-goers applauded. Scholars made notes, engineers studied metrics, and kids stared in wonder at the luminescent images of trees and beasts flourishing under space-type conditions. Sharath smiled, knowing this was the beginning of bringing habitable, self-contained ecosystems outside of Eldora, and pushing the boundaries of magic and technology together.
As darkness descended on the Unity Empire, the team sat in a circle around the luminescent BTS computers. Magical currents mapped the course of each test, designating successes and failures equally. Sharath thoughtfully pondered: for each misfire, wobble, and unanticipated magical fluke, they had gained new knowledge. For each wobble of the stratosphere and lunar crash landing, they moved nearer to perpetually sustaining orbital experiments.
The Moon was no longer a distant fantasy—it was a laboratory, a testing ground, and a frontier for magic, ingenuity, and life itself. And Sharath, being the visionary that he was, knew that humans, constructs, and magical flora would live together among the stars, with pulleys, runes, and the pulse of a civilization bold enough to venture beyond its world.