|| 1st Month, 25th Day, Year 433 of... ||
Sands and stones as far as the eyes could see. The sun was at it's peak and the heat was tantalizing. In the middle of this barren wasteland stood a figure wearing thick clothing seemingly unperturbed by the agonizing heat.
"This is good enough."
I spoke after looking around and seeing no one as far as my eyes could see. Someone would be wondering why I am here in the middle of nowhere. And that would be for one simple reason.
[[ "Are you ready for testing, Sol?" ]]
I heard a voice come through my earpiece and ask. Although less than a month has passed, it seemed like my contributions in providing the theories from my past life and the alien technology that Annukazians left helped accelerating Atlantis' technological progress to the point that it is near reaching my past world's technology in terms of communication. But all of these are just prototypes and aren't available to the public yet. But this is not what we are testing today.
"No, I'm not ready to be blown to bits."
[[ "I see. You requested this anyway. Solarus will be dropped at Mt. Bar'ah in T-Minus 5... 4..." ]]
Soon I heard the sound of an object cutting through the air making me look up in the sky, meeting the sun's intense shine. Fortunately I am covered from head to toe in protective equipment including shaded visors. I was able to see a sleek triangular atlantean spacecraft making its way to the sky above Mt. Bar'ah.
[[ "...2... 1. Dropping Solarus. Approximate time till contact to the surface is..." ]]
I didn't listen to the voice in my earpiece anymore and just stared forward waiting in anticipation as I looked at Mt. Bar'ah. Just as a few seconds passed, a sudden blinding flash of light was emitted from the mountain that is expanding at the speed of light. Even though I was about 300 miles away from the mountain I can still see the blinding flash of light that engulfed the whole mountain in a second from here.
"How beautiful yet also... oh so deadly. I wonder if this is what Oppenheimer felt aside from guilt."
Oppenheimer may have built a nuclear fission bomb and not a nuclear fusion bomb but I guess he would've understood what I felt. What I felt when I saw the sheer destruction that my creation inflicted on the land was nothing but joy. Because now we can finally have a chance at completely eradicating those Annukazians.
Although this nuclear fusion bomb lacked the accuracy of homing missiles, yet, it is undetectable until explosion from which it was released from the directional electromagnetic field generator in an instant. This recreated a miniaturized explosion of a star (although only 1 trillionth of its power because they cannot accurately recreate a super nova). Also, I can still make improvements on its power somehow if I am given time.
Although they already have the 4 miniature nuclear fusion reactors seized from the Annukazians, having their own made by their own hands made Sol feel satisfaction. Now they can make as many nuclear fusion reactors they want and power the other 12 cities with them. The city of Atlantis being powered by nuclear fusion reactors makes her wonder how they haven't realized that electricity is involved in it. But remembering that a renowned researcher named Archibald proposed the theory of ever-present energies in Terra called archea which was named after him, they can't be blamed for looking at things from the wrong perspective.
Though it was indeed a relief that not that much is different between her past world's and this world's laws of physics (as far as she could see). If it was, she would be struggling as she would need to study everything from scratch without the help of her past life's memories and it may take a few decades of her life. That is if she didn't die from more research accidents like the one that took her left hand.
Soon, the blinding flash of light subsided and everything returned to normal. Except for a few missing things like the Mt. Bar'ah. Even I didn't expect the destruction to be this much (maybe I did but dismissed it). With the lack of the nuclear radiation problem nuclear fission bombs posed, we can now fire these at a few notable Annukazian bases at their death star wannabe satellite indiscriminately. We can still use that huge mother ship by then because a few nuclear fusion bombs can't possibly fully destroy Annukazian's prized mother ship (I think).
[[ "Report the extent of damage seen." ]]
This old man is getting more and more arrogant in his tone. I guess successfully launching a Solarus is a good reason for him to be proud. I shook my head with a chuckle and spoke to him.
"Mount Bar'ah is gone now along with a few mountains in the mountain range. About approximately 30~40 mile radius around the mountain range was scorched and destroyed due to the heat and shockwave."
[[ "Hmm. The proto bomber aircraft will pick you up in a few minutes." ]]
Then the call was cut. That old man probably went ahead to brag to the other department, specifically the communications research department. The communications department has been having high results recently due to my help and he probably feels that with me helping the weapons department now, they'll be able to raise their heads high in front of those smug people from the communications department.
"What a drag."
" . . . "
[[ Access Granted. Welcome back, Researcher Sol Nostrad Elvict ]]
The door slid open after I looked at the pinhole camera on the wall. As soon as I entered, I was greeted with the sight of Anneva watching something on the holographic projector while sitting at the sofa. It was the scene of me and the nuclear fusion explosion that happened earlier.
["How beautiful... yet oh so deadly."]
Saying it and hearing it from the holographic projector feels different. Now I'm just embarrassed at how cringe that line felt to me. Who knew that they were keeping records of the experiment. I didn't certainly know!
"Look at you blush. Anyone would feel that way if they suddenly made an extremely powerful weapon. So your monologue was definitely not that embarrassing."
"I just... feel like it's not right to be remembered by the world as someone who brought the possibility of an apocalypse to the world. But I am happy that we could finally pose a threat to those Annukazians."
I made my way to the sofa and sat beside her as we watched the 6 minutes long explosion. Looking at the video itself provided me insights and details that I wasn't able to see when I looked at it from far away. This could help me find where I could improve it. But even so I would rather detonate the next one outside the planet.
Only I could really understand the horrors of a nuclear fusion bomb going wrong can inflict if it was repeatedly detonated in our planet. The very thing that my past life's physicists feared may happen and I could set the atmosphere of Terra ablaze with one wrong move. That's why I'd rather detonate it at the Annukazians on the moon.
Silence was all that remained as both of us focused on watching the explosion. This lasted until the video ended, when Anneva finally spoke up.
"I heard you're going back to the front lines."
My face darkened as I heard her words filled with worry. Indeed. It has been decided that I am fully capable of returning to my former position as Major General of the Atlantean Army. Due to my accomplishment in creating the nuclear fusion bomb, the king of Atlantis granted me access to the Apple of Eden as long as the detonation of the bomb and the results were passable. This happened as soon as we finished creating Solarus 13 days ago.
With me having access to the Apple of Eden, it was already a given that I would be given more responsibilities and duty in the form of being a Major General again. Being given access to the Apple of Eden means I will definitely recover my hand. I guess this is the king's way of keeping me in line.
"Do not worry, Anneva. I will only officially become a Major General again next year or so. For now, we can spend time together."
"Wh-wha—"
"Do you not want to accompany me in my research until I am dispatched to the front lines?"
I looked at her with a teasing smile as I knew what she expected to hear. This made her blush even more and suddenly move to punch me, which I dodged with ease.
"Who wants to be with you!"
"Well, I want to be here and spend time with you until then. Even if you don't want to, please at least grant this one request of mine."
Moving closer to her, I went and embraced her. I felt her stiffening upon feeling my embrace but soon relaxed as we fell unto a comfortable silence. I can see her red ears blushing in embarrassment.
"Y-You are insufferably shameless. But I will generously grant your wish. Be thankful!"
I looked at her cute haughty face and couldn't help but chuckle.
" . . . "
The days passed by in a blink of an eye and soon two months have passed. The climate was getting more warmer as the heat gets higher. It was nearing summer now. During these past two months, Sol and Anneva spent their days together at Sol's research facility and her house doing research projects together.
I looked at the mirror and stared at the person it reflected. It was a woman with a half mask made of steel on the right side of her face adorned with elaborate engravings and an amethyst crystal hanging off of it. She also had a scar running through her left eye but despite it all, her beauty can't be masked.
"You've been staring at your reflection for a while now, Sol."
"You can't blame me. I look too good."
As I turned around to look at Anneva with a light chuckle, I was left gawking at the sight of her as she made her way towards me.
Anneva walked towards me wearing her pure black dress that accentuated her curves and gave her the aura of a fallen angel. Her lustrous golden blonde hair fell down till her hips as she stared at me with her fiery crimson eyes with a tug of smile on her face.
"Are you finished gawking at me, miss narcissist?"
"Yes. But I haven't seen every inch of this beautiful artwork in front of me yet."
"I can say the same to this beautiful narcissist in front of me too."
She smiled as she pinched my chin and stared at my eyes before moving away and looking at my clothes. I am dressed in a formal military attire that I often used when I was still serving in the front lines years ago. It was a neat purple black military uniform with white streaks and gold embroidery. I wore my cap atop my head as my brown hair flowed down my shoulders.
"Looking great aren't you. Though why do you have to be so formal. It's a party. And although you'll be awarding those newbies, it is not required to be dressed in official uniform."
I just smiled and continued looking at myself in the mirror. This uniform was something of great significance to Sol, to me. With some of the heads of the twelve constellations coming to the party, I need to be presentable. I don't want old friends to ridicule me again just because of my young age. (The real reason is she doesn't want to wear a dress)
"This is good, great even. So don't worry about me. On the contrary, I greatly worry about you Anneva. How would you enter the party without an invitation."
As I said so, I took out a small letter with the seal of house Leo Stargate. It was the invitation to the party that the Leo family hosted as farewell to the soldiers that will be fighting at the frontline.
"Do not worry about me. I have my ways. Did you prepare your speech?"
She just smiled and continued tidying herself up. She did say that her father was somewhat one of the richest people on Terra so I think she can enter. I just shrugged.
"Of course, I did. How else would I escape those old fart's ridicule?"
I am looking forward to meeting some past acquaintances.
In a well lit office filled with smoke, a figure stood overlooking the city outside of his abode. He went and exhaled a puff of smoke before turning back and taking something out of his desk drawer. It was a folder.
"Another evaluation mission, tsk!"
[[ Top Secret: Operation ———
Major General ||REDACTED||... ]]
"It's her? It seems like I'll be meeting that brat again. As soon as I see her, I will teach her a lesson for touching my daughter!"
On the other hand, Sol suddenly felt a twitch in her left eye followed by a sneeze.
"Uggghh— looks like somebody's bad mouthing me again."
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