On a Godless Planet:Volume2A Chapter 12
Chapter 12: Gain Ground[edit]
–Looking back, I think maybe we overdid it
●
Ki saw the rest of them transfer in.
First Shifu, then Senpai and…
“Why is the human prostrating toward Senpai-san?”
“Wh-what is going on here!?”
“The answer would only give you heartburn. Are you sure you want to know?”
“I think I’m good.”
Then Balancer appeared at the center of the group and faced Raidou.
<So what is the situation here?>
“This high ground is 300m up, so we can see about 65km from here. I can see the occasional smaller flame dragon moving around, but they aren’t coming this way.”
Their current workplace was a table of rock 300m tall.
Dark clouds flowed through the sky and it was actually more than 200 degrees. The air was primarily carbon dioxide, so…
“What do we do now?”
●
Balancer nodded their screen and responded to Enkidu.
<You have Kido with you this time and this is Bilgamesh, Enkidu, and Eshtar’s first time officially taking part, correct? My explanation is based on that assumption.>
That assumption let them skip a lot.
<The terraforming was originally done by us AIs. As you can see from the divine worlds we have created, we can control a vast amount of ether and influence the ley lines. Thus, we can “remake” an entire planet by influencing its ley lines. But to increase efficiency and eliminate uncertainty, we would use terraforming devices that we are constantly adjusting and managing. That is how humanity planned for the terraforming to work.>
However…
<The influence of the planet’s primitive spirits made that method impossible. We AIs then noticed the presence of divine protections and responded to the emergency by creating the gods from ether materials. We work for humanity, which prevents us from creating humans, but that does not apply to the creation of gods and we made the political decision that gods would be more convenient anyway.>
“But gods like to do their own thing, so we didn’t obey you.”
<We are far higher on the hierarchy of power, but we have the terraforming to consider. Thus, we chose to leave each other alone but to cooperate on the terraforming. The gods advance the terraforming to an initial phase that we can expand upon. That is the standard form of our cooperation.>
A hand rose then. Bilgamesh took a look around before asking his question.
“So when the gods are in charge of creating their world, they only create a single region and you expand that to cover the entire planet?”
<Correct. Once it is advanced enough for that. We must provide the humans with a completely terraformed planet they can land on safely. So when we determine your work can be applied to the planet as a whole, we create a process that will apply an ether recreation of your terraformed region so we can safely and efficiently apply it to the rest of the planet.>
<But,> continued Balancer. <Innumerable checks must be made to ensure it can be applied to the whole planet. And they must be run several times over, so it frequently turns out that countless other creation processes must be created before a single creation can be approved. When that happens, the entire process can take forever.>
“Then let’s quit and go home!”
“…”
“…”
“Who said anything about going home!? Take this seriously, people!!”
At least she was backing down quickly now. Anyway, the process would take forever doing things the normal way, so…
<When a general-case creation process has been developed, it is applied to a small area as an experiment. Strictly speaking, countless crosschecks are necessary, but the smaller experiment can confirm the major tasks like “creating land” and “creating water” are safe. Then the details can be worked out and it can be applied to the planet as a whole.>
“Can you explain it using boobs?”
“When buying a bra, you could spend all day at the store looking at all the factors: cup size, fit, texture, price, and so on. So instead, we’re choosing one that seems good enough and getting back to our life.”
“So close! But I wasn’t asking to explain it using bras! But thanks for the valuable info all the same! How do you shop for bras, Senpai!?”
“Eh? The new-style uniform has pads inside, so I don’t need to wear a bra?”
Shifu tapped Senpai-san on the shoulder.
●
Raidou watched as the idiot flew 70m and ran back.
Level up notices kept appearing around Senpai-san the entire time.
“Simply put, we create a miniature garden first and use that as our base. We’ve made some decent progress with that back on our planet.”
“Wow! A barefoot kick from Senpai is like heaven on Earth – or whatever planet this is! Anyway, Raidou-senpai, are you saying it’s like SimCity?”
“It’s not that simple.”
How could he better describe it? To speak on Sumeragi’s level…
“It’s like a SimCity based on SimEarth that uses a method more like Populous.”
“Oh, I think I get it now.”
“You do? Do you, Kido-san?”
“Do you really think I will if you don’t?”
Raidou didn’t think it really mattered as long as Sumeragi understood, but he explained anyway.
“For a base, we erect a field at a point on the planet and create an ordinary living space within. You can think of that like a city. But to create that, we first need to create the land there and it has to show some decent results. And those results can then be used to create the ordinary living space inside the field.”
“That’s right,” agreed Shifu. “If you want to create land, you first create land in your miniature garden. If you want to create water, you first create water in your miniature garden. If you do it all out here, then you have to deal with this environment, right? There are strict crosschecks throughout, which can make it all fall apart or make it unusable, but the environment is less harsh inside the field and only the bare minimum of checks are necessary, so it won’t fall apart so easily. And…”
“Balancer, if it goes well in the miniature garden, you can apply it here too, can’t you?”
<Yes. Once the results inside the miniature garden have been confirmed, they can be applied to the planet. That said, regional crosschecks will be applied, but since the initial checks have already been passed and we already know if will be stable in the end, those checks will be a lot less of a burden.>
Someone tilted her head at that. It was Kidou. She frowned and…
“I kind of get why you do the same thing twice, but I also kind of don’t.”
“It’s for safety, isn’t it?”
<Yes. This planet’s environment is still harsh, so it is ill suited for experiments and inspections. And those inspections take time, so it is better to create a safe place on the planet and perform the experiments and inspections there.>
“So it’s faster in the long run to do it that way?”
“It’s why we have time to help out here.”
“Bil.”
“Hm. We have no precedent to go off of, so I say we use the method which is supposed to be fastest.”
“That’s good enough for me.”
“Okay.” Raidou nodded and turned to Balancer. “We have the miniature garden built. That just leaves…the terraforming.”
●
<Very well,> said Balancer. <Then let us resume the terraforming. You had already decided on the axis and rotation, so I put that in place with Yomoji’s help when we had some free time.>
“Ehh!? S-sorry about that, Yomoji-san!”
“I woulllld prefer thanks to an apollllogy.”
“Thanks a bunch, club head! You’re so cool!”
“Good, good But no morrrre than that.”
“You don’t like too much appreciation?”
“Baaaack in my day, my peeeeople were praising me soooo much it got annoying, so I told them to crossss the desert and live there to keep them awayyyy from me.”
“You hate your believers, don’t you? Don’t you?”
Then Kido raised her hand.
“If you’ve set the axis and rotation, how has it changed the planet?”
“I was wondering that too. It should have had a dramatic effect.”
<I am glad you noticed. It was the planet’s own spirits who stopped its rotation, but Yomoji used his absurd power to force it to rotate again. The spirits are working hard to stop it now, so you should have Yomoji periodically come here and see if his absurd power is still working.>
“Is that why there are so few flame dragons around?”
<Correct,> said Balancer. <Can you tell me what is happening to the planet right now, Kuwajiri?>
●
Kuwajiri recalled what had happened with their planet. This was from experience, not just knowledge. So…
“The rotation of the planet will separate the planet’s components by relative density. The principle of centrifugal force will cause a portion of the atmosphere to scatter into space, countless chemical reactions will occur within the planet, and layers of components will form there.”
What did they have to consider first because of that?
“Normally, the position of the poles. But…”
<But?>
“The terraforming includes one special condition. So first, Balancer, tell us if you can or can’t intervene in the separation of the planet’s components.”
●
I didn’t understand what Kuwajiri-san was getting at. Shifu-san, Raidou-san, and Yomoji-san were all nodding in apparent understanding, but…
“…?”
“Why would Balancer need to intervene?”
If the Mesopotamians didn’t know either, this was likely something the Norse group had experienced when terraforming their planet.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if we directly terraform this star system, we run into a certain problem.”
Namely…
“This star system’s planets were originally habitable for humans.”
That was enough for me.
“You mean this planet wasn’t originally like this?”
“Yes. So what danger would we run into if we terraformed it without thinking first?”
“Well,” I replied. “If the planet used to be habitable for humans, it must have had dirt and something like trees on the surface. As well as other plants and animals. Those would have come about after the planet formed…but when the planet turned to this, they would all have been swallowed up.”
“Yes. This planet is now a sea of lava. But it is possible this lava is not the same lava as when the planet was born..”
Meaning…
“If the planet continued to transform until it was habitable for humans, those were later changes. If those changes were absorbed, this lava might have a different composition.”
What danger did that present?
“How about it, Balancer? If that has happened, won’t we have too many uncertain factors if we can’t eliminate those extra components? Are our ideas and knowledge enough to solve that in the terraforming?”
●
Balancer realized they had been right to call in the gods with past experience.
<The planet is actually very similar to its primitive state right now. When the plants and animals were absorbed, it was done by having them fuse with the spirits, so you can think of it as altering their physical properties. However…>
However…
<Given the quantity, I would still recommend screening it.>
“What’s the problem with having that stuff melted in?”
<Simply put, it will likely change the surface material.>
“What do you mean by that?”
“Sumeragi, when you’re eating a snack and drinking a glass of water, what happens to the surface of the water?”
“You get grease floating there!”
“You’re a slob, Mucho! And I’m not just saying that because you interrupted me. I’m saying it because, um, uh…oh, right!”
The idiot eventually gave a shout, pointing at Eshtar.
“Okay, fine! I did say it because you interrupted me! I’m man enough to admit it!”
“Ah ha ha ha! That’s what you get, idiot! And the floating grease was the right answer, wasn’t it!?”
“It was,” said Kuwajiri. “Generally speaking, oil is lighter than water. There wasn’t complete consensus about this, but it’s thought most of the oil during the Earth age was created when the ‘original materials’ – that is, ancient plants and animals – were buried and transformed. So it is thought that those original materials were buried below volcanic ash and sediment, creating oil underground. But…”
<If a planet is already rich with oil in its lava state, the oil could cover the surface when the surface does form. And even if oceans form, the oil would cover them because it is lighter than water.>
<The planet’s spirits should be aware of this. I do not know how intelligent they are, but they appear to be taking the materials not found in the planet’s original state and transforming them into the original materials. I would like to say that fixes the problem, but like I said, you should screen the results to ensure you can trust them.>
So…
<Keep this problem in mind as part of your knowledge, Kuwajiri. Now, can you answer my previous question? Can you tell me what is happening to the planet right now?>
●
Kuwajiri calmly replied.
“The poles are forming and the surface is hardening.”
She opened a Revelation Board. It displayed a sphere and described its motion when it rotated.
“Think of it like throwing several ingredients into a mixer and switching it on.”
“Can one of the ingredients be a banana!?”
She ignored him. Dealing with him this soon would be a waste of her time and pride. Yes, do not let a simple banana rattle you, Kuwajiri Tsubomi. You are an excellent knowledge god.
“Raidou-senpai, all I had to do was mention a banana and it rattled her.”
“Did that rollback traumatize her that badly? Hey, Kuwajiri, you don’t have to worry about anything Sumeragi says. Think of it as background noise.”
I don’t need your help. Oh, but thank you for caring. However…
“T-to keep the conversation going, we’ve got everything all mixed up in our mixer. So now what?”
“When you do that, three types of motion occur.”
She indicated them on the Revelation Board diagram.
“First, centrifugal force blasts the planet’s components towards its surface. In the Earth’s case, this is mostly iron, but the iron near the surface collects a lot of other stuff and gathers toward the surface.”
And…
“Everything underground exists as compressed magma, but the circulation of the atmosphere on the surface keeps the surface much cooler than underground. The materials that contact the surface will cool and harden, creating the beginnings of the crust.”
“That’s a lot like how a handmade ice cream maker works. You put the ingredients in the container, cool it from the outside, and spin it until frozen ice cream forms on the inside.”
●
“I compare it to a mixer blasting the components outwards and she compares it to an ice cream maker. Why does her metaphor sound so different from mine?”
“Don’t let it bother you, Kuwajiri-chan! Everyone loves the simplicity of your explanations!”
●
Kuwajiri decided to not let it get to her. She wasn’t done with her explanation anyway.
“The second motion is what happens underground during the mixing. Simply put, it creates…”
A vortex.
“The attraction itself acts like an outside wall, so while the components are being spun underground, they form something like a vortex. Do you know what that causes?”
“The concepts of up and down…or north and south, I guess?”
“Close.”
She was satisfied with that answer. Did it show on her face? She wasn’t sure. But to continue speaking…
“The Earth’s core is thought to be primarily iron. Liquefied rock and metal rotates around it along with the planet’s rotation, which creates a dynamo effect. That is, it creates a magnet. That creates the north and south poles at the north and south ends of the planet.”
“You mean the things a compass points at? What does that change?”
“Sumeragi-chan? Do you remember her saying the Earth’s primary material is iron?”
“For example, iron is found as a mineral in seawater. It is also found in the mantle flowing below the continents. Their motion is subtly influenced by the poles.”
<We are getting ahead of ourselves, but that is the famous theory of continental drift. The path taken by continental drift is greatly influenced by the presence of the poles.>
“And,” said Kuwajiri. “The third motion is the atmospheric currents. At the surface, those currents are created by factors like air pressure and temperature, but only because the atmosphere is carried by the planet’s rotation. The rotation’s effects differ between the surface and the upper levels of the atmosphere and the two have complex effects on each other.”
In other words…
“Once the planet rotates, it begins to gain a surface and rapidly takes shape. Theoretically, all you need to shape the planet is the axis, but things can play out differently in praxis.”
“We’re doing wordplay now?”
That caught Kuwajiri completely by surprise.
●
Balancer saw the idiot stare up at Kuwajiri from below while dancing around her.
“Oh!? Ohhh!? What was that, Kuwajiri-san? Did you really just make that rhyme? Did you think we it would make sound clever?”
“Sh-shut up! I didn’t do it on purpose! It was an accident!”
●
Eshita found all of this fascinating.
She was a goddess who was curious about everything. So…
“So if all you need is the axis, are we even necessary at this point?”
“Oh, you’re right. Senpai can create the land, but if the rotation will make the ground harden, why not just let that happen?”
<Keep in mind that he planet’s spirits are still fighting back. And even if you create the surface with the rotation, a large number of crosschecks are still necessary. Furthermore, the surface created by that might not be suitable for human life. Toxic metals could gather on the surface, for example. I believe the safest method is to use the rotation-created surface as a starting point for the gods to create human-suitable land.>
“Yes. I agree that the safety of the humans should be our top priority.”
Was her name Kido? Eshita was starting to think anything that goddess said was correct. So…
“So you’re saying it won’t be that easy? Okay, everyone, get working! I’ll provide moral support while munching on snacks!”
“You work too!”
●
Balancer continued the conversation after confirming that everyone understood the situation.
<This is skipping ahead some, but what do you think happens to the axis and poles once the surface has formed? Shifu, do you know?>
“Huh? Why would you ask me?”
But after a few seconds, Shifu had an answer.
“Oh, I know. This happened to the planet we already terraformed. The axis and poles periodically shift, right?”
<Correct. To be more accurate, the axis, poles, rotation, and the path of its revolution around the sun change periodically.>
Everyone but the Norse gods frowned.
“Even the path of revolution!? I-is that really safe?”
<It is. Since you will be adjusting this planet to reproduce Earth, I will explain this as if it were Earth.>
Balancer looked to Kuwajiri, so she displayed a diagram of the planet and of its revolution path.
<Maybe I should have explained this earlier, but this is something all of you first-time terraformers should know.>
What was that?
<We have great power and knowledge and we can work from an excellent environment, but even with all that, 'perfectly reproducing Earth is impossible. I want you to keep that in mind.>
●
<Listen,> began Balancer. <First of all, the axis will periodically wobble and then wobble back. During the 90s, the Earth was wobbling between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees over a period of approximately 41 thousand years.>
“Only 2 degrees? Does that even matter?”
“The Earth’s diameter was nearly 13 thousand kilometers, so how much do you think a 2 degree variant amounts to?”
<That would be 2/360 = x/13000. This would shift the top and bottom of the axis by about 72km each.>
“How much is 72 kilometers? And I said ‘meters’, so no turning this into a weight joke.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it!”
The idiot turning toward Shifu triggered his motion control for opening a Revelation Board.
●
“Hooray! You’ve gotta keep your basic gags covered!”
While Sumeragi-kun ran back, I opened a Revelation Board and measured it out.
“Um, 72km is the distance from Tachikawa to the my home at Mt. Fuji.”
“Your home?”
“Well, okay, it’s actually my sister who lives on Mt. Fuji, but my dad and I have land nearby.”
“Senpai-chan, you have a tendency to undersell yourself as a god, so you should really have more confidence.”
That’s just who I am, so it isn’t that easy.
But Kido-san pressed her lips together when she saw my Revelation Board.
“So if the axis shifts that far, does it change the area covered by night and day by that much?”
<That is correct. And this happens along a wide range instead of a straight-line distance, so it causes largescale changes to the climate.>
Also…
<Even with a solid axis, the Earth’s own weight and distribution of components causes it to wobble a lot as it rotates. Because the axis isn’t actually a physical thing. In fact, it rotates such that it draws out a circle of about 10m around the axis and that circle’s diameter grows and shrinks over a period of about 6 years. This is known as polar motion.>
“That’s a lot of ‘abouts’.”
<Well, we are talking about something the size of the Earth. And,> said Balancer. <The same applies to its magnetic poles. The core of the Earth is in motion and is surprisingly light, so the rotation and other movement causes it to move and the movement of the continents on the surface alters the distribution of matter forming the poles, so the poles wobble and move quite frequently. They sometimes move more than 60km in a single year.>
“Doesn’t that affect how well compasses work?”
<I would question how often you would need to use a compass to navigate in the 90s, but it shouldn’t cause a major problem even if you did. For one, the central axis is fixed and the poles will return to the center point in the end.>
●
There’s a lot to this, was my thought after making it back.
“So the axis, rotation, and poles are wobbling all over the place. You mentioned the revolution before, so does that wobble too?”
“If it does, what causes the change there?”
<It does. For the revolution, the orbits of the other planets affect it. The planets pass each other by in their orbits. This is at a great distance, but their gravity still pulls on each other. So in Earth’s case, its orbit around the sun becomes elliptical and then returns over a period of 100 thousand years.>
The screen’s explanation continued.
<This complex interaction of influence alters the amount of sunlight that reaches the Earth and the area of its surface that light reaches. But most of the factors are cyclical, so it creates a cycle of periods where more or less sunlight reaches the Earth. Do you know what that creates?”
“You picking a fight with me?”
The screen ignored me, turning to Senpai instead. I shouted “Hey, I’m talking to you over here!” but still got ignored.
<Anyway, the revolution changes over a period of 100 thousand years and the axis wobbles over a period of 41 thousand years. Do you know what that creates?>
“Eh? Um, if the amount of sunlight changes…does it get colder?”
“Is it a major ice age when the revolution and axis cycles coincide, a medium ice age during the revolution cycle, and a minor ice age during the axis cycle?”
<Precisely. The Earth’s ice ages are created by the complex combinations of these motions.>
Kido-senpai was pretty cool, but it was also kind of cute how Senpai kept bowing to thank her.
“Th-thank you!”
“I only came to the realization when you mentioned it getting colder. It was a simple matter of association. If anything, you gave me the answer.”
Kido-senpai then turned toward Balancer.
“Is it possible to adjust those cycles?”
●
Balancer had their pride.
That pride required them to be the cleverest AI for their human creators. So…
<I believe it would ultimately be possible. However…>
“Woulllld it even be worrrrth it?”
“Agreed. If we can safely and certainly complete the terraforming without it, why go out of our way to recreate the ice ages? The only reason I can think is that this planet has ice ages harsher than on Earth and we want to reduce that intensity.”
As a king, Bilgamesh was a politician, which meant he knew how to compromise. If he were not half-god, Balancer thought it would have been interesting to receive instructions from him as a human.
But this conclusion was an important one.
<Yes, you must decide how perfectly to recreate the Earth. If something is not necessary, it can be omitted. That option is why I have decided this will never be Earth. And…>
There was more.
<Allow me to show you one external factor preventing this from being Earth.>
Balancer displayed a diagram of the star system on the ground below them all.
That would normally be of this star system, but not this time.
<This is the Earth’s star system: the solar system.>
They all looked down and then tilted their heads.
<Do you remember the name of the Roman gods’ leader?>
Interlude[edit]
“The planet Jupiter’s called the ‘wood star’ in Japanese, so should we call the Roman god Tree Man? Was there one of those in Mega Man?”
“I think there was a Wood Man in 2?”
<How many times have I told you we are talking about planets here? Oh, wait. This is the first.>
| Back to Chapter 11 | Return to Main Page | Forward to Chapter 13 |
