Polish the Planet
Polish the Planet
The Scarred Nebula had been flashing a beam of light in the purplish-red gaseous cloud for thousands of years But a new family member appeared on the edge of the 7.7-lightyear-wide spatial rift among the handful of star systems. Planet Inferno was like a beautiful snowball hanging on the side of the Scarred Nebula. It became the only scenery in the desolate region. The sunlight from the nearby star shone on the planet and produced a sea of golden glow across the cloud top.
The Petrachelys flew towards the golden glow and arrived above the clouds of Inferno. The geo-positioning equipment, which Hao Ren had set up on the cloud top became temporary atmospheric satellites, constantly monitoring the planet. Hao Ren ordered Nolan to hover the spacecraft at a distance of a few dozen meters above the cloud top and establish a connection with the atmospheric satellites. The MDT reported, "The readings are normal. It's been half a month, and it looks like all parameters are stable."
"After all, it was the Prime 'Leg Force' of a true goddess that put it in place; it shouldn't be a problem." Hao Ren nodded. "When will the representative of the Fairy Mining Conglomerate arrive?"
A holographic image of Nolan appeared on the flight deck. "They're already here. Their spacecraft are on standby at the outer edge of the nebula."
As she spoke, she could not help but cast her eyes on the console, because the hologram of a blonde girl was sitting there as cool as a cucumber. She turned a blind eye to everyone else's stare. The blonde girl's conscience was right in the slot beneath her buttocks. The brick had gotten the upper hand in the battle over the console. The brick's success had nothing to do with the girl's heart but everything to do with its thick skin.
"Don't even bother. It won't budge." Hao Ren looked at MDT in Pattianne form, shaking his head and sighing. "Didn't I even try the crowbar earlier? Let's just call the Fairy Mining Conglomerate now."
Nolan groaned inwardly as she sent a navigational signal to the Fairy ships that were waiting at the border of the Scarred Nebula, permitting them to enter Inferno's airspace. After a while, the profiteers and their mining fleet appeared on the monitor.
A spatial rift, like that of a pale blue door, appeared in the lower orbit of Inferno before a fleet of more than 10 large mining ships and a command ship jumped out of it. The Fairy spacecraft had distinctive red paint, and their front armor had strange decals of a queen bee-like coat of arms. The command ship was a slender triple-ship, symmetrically joined together by a standard axle. It was a tad smaller than the Petrachelys, but its unique position in the fleet and its sophisticated antenna system made it stand out as the command center of the entire fleet.
However, Hao Ren was more interested in the Fairy mining ships because they were more prominent and more eye-catching. The mining ships were like giant boxes joined together, with exposed mechanical parts running between the joints. Zooming in, Hao Ren could see that their mechanical components were an extension of the mineral-processing plant. On the upper and lower decks of the mining ships were huge openings for smaller collection vessels to go in and out. The mining ships were huge, and their axes were more than 10 km in length considering their unique uses. By civilian vessel standards in the Macroworld, they were giants. Even the Petrachelys paled in comparison.
While Hao Ren focused his attention on the mining ships, Nolan connected to the Data Network and retrieved information about the mining ships. The large mining ships had a complete processing plant onboard where initial processing and conversion of minerals could be carried out. The "large boxes" made up a high-throughput dimensional door, through which the space-time system would send the processed minerals directly to the Fairy planet. Without that mechanism, it was impossible for the limited number of mining ships to complete the planet-scale mining operation.
The Fairy merchants were wealthy. To carry out activities in every universe, they had offices and bases everywhere. They bought a few planets in that universe as their commercial base, and the planet, Mines was one of them. The Fairy Mining Conglomerate built mineral-processing plants on the planet and in the space surrounding the planet. They used Mines as an export base for ore to nearby markets in the universe. There were even rumors that Mines had consumed one percent of the mass of the world, which was of course nonsense. Nonetheless, the Fairy merchants welcomed the exaggeration to promote their business.
Later, the group of profiteers was investigated by the Space Administration's Material Control Department for the "free transfer of cosmic mass without proper backfilling".
Hao Ren took a glance at the information. To ensure a smooth transformation for planet Inferno, he had to first understand and verify the Fairy Mining Conglomerate's technical capability. He was delighted with the powerful mining ships and convinced that if the profiteers could dig away a group of meteors, they would surely be able to polish planet Inferno.
There was a request to connect their communication systems. Hao Ren tidied his clothes and got back in his captain's seat. A middle-aged man with a mustache and slicked back hair appeared on the holographic projection.
Nolan switched on an extra holographic projection for Hao Ren to access the information he needed. It was said that the representative of the Fairy Mining Conglomerate, Vanske Creden, once led his team digging through the largest solid planet in the universe. He received the epithet, "The digging man who dug through the sky".
Hao Ren felt the epithet sounded a little wrong. He pondered for a while but decided not to harp on about it.
"I am honored to be given the opportunity to undertake this remarkable excavation project," Vanske Creden introduced himself. "We have studied your requirements for the work and we are ready to start at any time," Vanske Creden said in a no-nonsense manner.
Hao Ren nodded. "Do you know the first requirement of this project?"
"Safety first," Vanske, like any qualified businessman, sounded and appeared trustworthy, though it may not have been the case in reality. "Each of our mining ships carries a gravity controller. With this gravity controller, the broken crust will be drawn into space directly without worries of objects falling to the world below. Of course, we have also considered the situation of the crust becoming fragile during the second-half of the excavation phase. We will mobilize a sufficient number of gravity-generating ships to pull the planet's entire surface crust directly into space."
While he spoke, Vanske sent his project proposal to Hao Ren. The MDT confirmed the plan and ran a mathematical simulation, which came out positive. "What he says is true. It's certainly the most cost-effective solution."
"There's no problem with the plan, and the incorporated contract has been signed according to the original draft I sent you earlier." Hao Ren looked up. "Are these all of your mining ships? Will it be enough?"
"Of course there are more to come," Vanske explained. "We hope to start work as soon as possible to solve the urgent needs of our customers. Therefore, before the start of any large-scale project, a leading team always arrives first to accommodate our customer. It is a long-standing practice of ours that adheres to our business philosophy—'We want our customers to experience the perfect service as soon as possible even if it means a higher cost for us.'
Hao Ren suddenly found the profiteers appearing entirely trustworthy. The MDT reminded him, "Actually, they're afraid that you might use your authority as an inspector to give the project to someone else. They've come early to first plant their stakes all over the site so that you won't be able to reappoint another contractor."
Hao Ren was speechless.
He hemmed and said, "Then waste no more time. You can start work now; polish the planet."