94. Defense System

Obelisks, giant aliens, and mysterious towers of metal shooting beams of color from their tips at the sky, ominous sounds produced by their bodies at their base was a Terminal growing from the center of a platform where a select few items could be crafted and the place to be teleported to various arenas.

That was how they were in the video game, with also in the lore being a tool for an Overseer could bend the Ark to its will like it was a sandbox game. But that was in the video game, Liam did not possess the entire know-how for recreating these structures, even less so the immense support behind them.

He needed to build everything from his existing knowledge and that wasn't an easy task.

As such the Green Obelisk was drastically different that of the video game, the only genuine similarities were in aesthetic and size because Liam liked it, he could have made giant floating bricks and the result would have been the same in terms of utility. It's just that he preferred to have both function and form when he could.

Still, he didn't waste his time in designing the Tekgram of these hyper-advanced megastructures. They weren't that of the game but there was no need for what their main purpose of existence was in many points dissimilar.

And in itself, the lack of functions was due to the fact it was only the very beginning, it was only one Obelisk as well.

The beam of green and white light crackling with soundless lighting had reached the very beginning of the thermosphere, in fact, it was three dozen kilometers in. The sheer scale and brightness of the light beam within the crystal clear dusky sky made it visible to everything on the side of the moon.

The beam gained in intensity to suddenly vanish confusion as not having that time to spread it was already back up, more powerful than ever. Then the lozenge at the top of the metal edifice became almost blindingly white and a massive sphere of energy was shot into the sky from its quadruple-pointed spire.

Once the ball of pure energy reached the same height as the beam limit it compressed the air all around to the point that even from the ground it could be seen shuddering under an unknown pressure then it exploded and with it came an oddly ordered wave of bluish-white that spread through the sky at astonishing speed.

The wave of energy moved past the Hallelujah Mountains leaving behind a ceiling of massive blue hexagonal interconnected together, they turned that world dark as they took on an almost black blue.

Polyphemus, the sister's moons, the stars, and the entirety of the sky disappeared in one instant and continued to do so as the blue omnidirectional wave progressed.

This site was not exclusive to the individuals on site but to everyone in the thousands of kilometers of that epicenter causing great panic for the uninformed natives whose only reaction was to freeze in shock.

Luckily for them, the All-Mother had stopped all of her children from eating this easy prey as she knew it would become a silly point to blame her mate from the short-sighted point of view of her other children.

Their minds were that tiniest fragment of who she was so she knew how each functioned, from their deepest most shameful secret to their happiest memory.

The wave of tightly weaved blue hexagons could even be seen from the other moons, and for that matter even from Earth in around five years due to the speed of light, it was a jaw-dropping sight for the few individuals on the mining sites with a clear view of Pandora.

The blue and green moon pulsing with bioluminescence disappears behind this artificial veil. A vail that in order of seconds had covered a tiny bit more than a third of the moon.

{I-I can't believe my eyes…}, an old Na'vi said, his incredulous voice for the one close to him to hear. His body filled with awe, terror, and a pure sensation of veneration at the sight, he couldn't, didn't, and mustn't move.

Each of the Green Obelisk's pulses in rhythm with that of the All-Mother and All-Father setting nearly the entirety of the Na'vi population around the tower in that state, but not only even the ones at the edges of the veil in the sky felt a strange sensation.

As for the humans… In many aspects, their reaction was not much different. All

religions might have died out for the most part but what was before them, the scale of it, the technology that could be considered magic if not straight up godly compared to what they ever saw, and the one having built it all it all who stood out above all. The originator of everything.

To say a shift in the minds of a no-small percentage of the Hell's Gate population would be a lie. Many had changed and had begun to consider Liam as someone more than their leader, someone akin to… Not a god per se, they weren't delusional, but a being far above human in both moral, mental, and physical aspects, someone that for them was but evident to follow, venerate, and obey for he was their guide

This… The Obelisk with everything was just another nail in the coffin for they knew they were right beyond words, the Na'vi calling him by title such as All-Father cementing this reality further.

The words of the Na'vi were not fanatic babble of brainless savage as some still considered it so, an ironic idea considering they experienced a larger spectrum of emotions but also more intensely. Though it might also be one of the reasons some considered them so.

A mystifying sound similar to plasma but distinctly different began to echo as it accompanied the whistling of the winds, and then the sky lit up. The dark blue hexagons in their entirety switched to transparent arctic blue, it was like looking at a pixelated screen glitching for a brief instant, a screen thousands of kilometers across that was here the sky.

This new color and transparency changed again until the veil started to completely disappear from the side, all except the green beam of light emitted by the Green Obelisk, its point of origin.

But if one were to look at the sky with a magnifier of some kind or someone with particularly good eyesight and the weather was adequate then the ghost forms of those hexagons could be seen.

Suddenly there was a pending silence as the Avatar of All-Mother and the All-Father parted their forehead away, her mesmerizing pale pink eyes full of an intelligence so utterly alien and primal that for whoever not of out of mundane and with hunt of Psionic aptitude would they lose all their composure, ranging from shock to death.

Yet those very same eyes of a being so old that collections of stars could not begin to rival her seniority were showing genuine wonder as she parted a dark brown lock of hair with her clawed fingers.

Below a few millimeters of skin with the roots of hair was morphing in a never-ending cycle of normal bodily tissues to that of blue energy.

'Your physical shed, the shift has begun in the material world…', she told her mate through their ever-growing and strengthening bond that was now both telepathic and empathetic. It was a fairly recent development mostly due to repeated uses and their having trained to obtain this level of clarity.

'Not truly… But it is not an inaccurate statement, it's sooner than I would have preferred but not unexpected and within our estimation. We will need to work fast. The two other Obelisks need to be made for everything to go smoothly.', Liam sent back, his gaze focused onto her eyes giving a sight of his own.

The silver of his iris was glowing while capillaries pumped by his heart a mix of his blood and Element. The process he was going through was inevitable, but the gain of Element wasn't the direct reason why it had hastened considerably; the only reason was his specimen implant and how it regulated the exotic chemical in his body.

It would be an all the more fascinating subject if it wasn't him the one to go through it but from what he could theorize that what was happening was because the implant was disconnected from the systems it should normally be connected to as well that it had preprogrammed measures in such a case.

Measures that at least one must be happening. At least that is what Liam supposed.

And he did because it wasn't done randomly, if it was he would have gotten through much more physical change. The five words; eldritch abomination and body horror would be a very tame but representative description of what Element could do when running wild in an organism such as him.

His Tek Chestplate lit up and as his boots left the platform, he spread his arms and slowly turned on himself, Eywa staying still, her presence seemingly invisible to all but a very select few.

The All-Father's intense silver eyes and their gleam caught all while a smile of happiness and relief came to be, he was genuinely joyous even with what was just discovered. His eyes were seen by all but it only enhanced his very presence, solidifying his image as something more, something greater than them.

{Behold! Behold, for this the first of three that will adorn the land and sky of my mate, the Great Mother!}, the All-Father exclaimed with pride oozing at his every word, his booming voice reaching everyone's ears via speaker all around, his voice was strong enough to be clearly heard in half a kilometer radius.

But not everyone was well versed in Na'vi enough to fully comprehend his words so it was at the same time automatically translated for those by their Exopacks.

{This is the Green Obelisk, an edifice with many purposes but one that all of you have observed that is for my, your, our protection and that of every single life residing upon this moon. A shield to ward off the danger of the stars. This was not the result of me alone, it may be a part of me, an integral aspect of my being, it was born of my blood and design, and I'm the guiding force yet… And yet I'm not blind to the assistance given to me, I will never not concede the help that was, is, and would be given. For this, I feel grateful, and I thank from the sincerest part of my being the ones that have made great and many sacrifices for my cause, for the cause of the All-Mother, for the ones of everyone as all of them are but one, for our survival.}, he finished, his grateful smile of a pure white shining under the green light of the Obelisk as he hovered down.

The pending and heavy silence at the All-Father's last sentences was utterly shattered. The emotions that had been accumulating in the minds of all but until now were kept under control saw that valves of their metaphorical dams figuratively explode.

Cry of joy, elation and so much more echoed as each individual expressed their seemingly boundless positive emotions. Liam, not much to stay longer than necessary, grasped the yet-clawed finger of his mate and disappeared in a flash of white and blue, teleporting them away via the Obelisk.

Three days later within the Operation Center of the Conmod of Hell's Gate a meeting about what unfolded during the construction of the Green Pillar of Creation as the Na'vi was happening. Partaking in it were six people, the highest placed in the Scoreboard of Merit and Shame as many called it.

At least the one alive if Max had not been shot in the neck would have been in the top two, but there was a monument in the form of a large polished meteorite that was placed where the Tree of Voices once was and where another such tree was growing.

It was where Max and everyone who had died for their survival had their name written upon it. None shall be forgotten even if they stayed unknown by the masses.

In any case. This group was composed of two Avatars wearing Tek Exopacks around their waists, Jake, Grace, three humans Katherine, Norm, and Edmund, and the last someone who even if he was slightly smaller than the Avatars made everyone feel weak, small, and inferior.

"What would you like to specifically know about the Obelisk and my words of yesterday? There are things I will not divulge, none is privy to my knowledge but I spoke little, and as exact as my words were they still were simplified and shortened for everyone's understanding. You may ask me for precision.", the post-human asked with an easy tone of voice, his eyes not as lit brilliantly as a few hours ago still glowing faintly with this alien energy far beyond anyone present comprehension as he looked.

"I will give the favor of Dr. Augustine to speak first before us all, Mister Cram, she has organized this impromptu meeting after all and must have questions of pertinence superior to ours.", the aged human, Edmund said, quite literally throwing the Avatar in question under the bus to the relief of all. To say he was nervous would be an understatement, but it was only a physical response.

"I suppose it's fair. Liam, did you truly mean everything is out of your blood, from your blood I mean? Did you mean that or something else…?", Grace asked, it was to make sure, what this entailed was enormous and made her feel even more grateful than she already was to this man, she was indebted to life, just like everyone present here and in a way of everything living on Pandora.

Without him, she understood more than most the unsettling truth of how their little rebellion against the RDA would have ended, to begin with, in defeat and the death of untold amounts, more than the death of the battle a decade ago by an astronomical amount.

And if a victory was achieved it would only be thanks to Eywa deciding to intervene directly but that would be only stopping the inevitable, they would have only been on a countdown until the RDA was back, stronger and more prepared than ever. Just the thought of what her daughter, her baby, and the horror Kiri would have gone through was enough to make her go catatonic.

"Yes but for not all, it is the main component and why Tek is for you defying all common and uncommon rules of physics and reality. It is the Element, a true negentropic exotic chemical of my body and I will not speak further than about its characteristics. Know that I'm deeply aware of every piece of Tek, no matter their size or importance, it is complex but you can compare them as a part of my body. And no, I would not let anyone study, for the moment.", he stated matter of factly, his arms bulging as he shifted them up to his chest.

"True negentropy…", Edmund muttered in confusion, negentropy wasn't a new concept, and neither was it to Grace. It's a concept inseparable from biology, the opposite of entropy and why living beings are all without exception showing considerably greater order than their chaotic environment, but that was a temporary and fragile state.

It's also a widely known if slightly different concept in the research of Psionic as it's the product of life too.

And both were quite certain even without the use of 'true' it wasn't quite the same negentropy found in biology Liam was speaking about. It brought more questions than answers but that was to be anticipated with the post-human, sadly what he added at the end meant that asking further about it would be a fruitless endeavor. But also made it so it was a possibility in the future.

"My turn then.", Jake interjected and said in a rather puzzled tone, "You built a shield similar to the other force fields but on a larger scale. And you said it was the first of three… This Obelisk covered a third of Pandora. You want to generate a shield protecting the entire planet, right? But the RDA is not a threat worthy of such defensive measure, is it?"

Liam nodded but before he could respond Norm spoke bringing up the same point but on a different angle to such an extreme measure, he had a vague idea of how strong a Tek Forcefield could be by having calculated the energy the one on the volcanic moon warded of daily, a barely ten-meter tall structure warding on a bad day the equivalent of multiple nuclear warheads.

Size wasn't a factor he preferred to take into consideration but if one Tek Forcefield of such small size could ward off this firepower then one ranging kilometers could do so much more, nevertheless three of them he could deduce would work together adding the thickness of it that was in the kilometer from satellites' images.

The moon as Jake miscalled a planet with such shielding by very large and way off estimation could be thrown in a star and survive. Norm didn't doubt Liam's benevolent intention, he never will anymore, he knew the post-human tends to go to extreme lengths but this… He didn't complain but this…

"Why the need for such a defense system? What threat would be so extensive that a shield of such scale and power is needed…", Norm asked THE question, and Liam nodded, no surprise on his face as it was something that he fully anticipated to be asked.

*

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