r/redditserials

new installment of my serial THE 36 is live today. it's Jewish folk horror about my mother — the one person i know who actually met one of the thirty-six hidden holy ones who hold up the world, at eighteen, and has spent the rest of her life dealing with the fallout. notebooks, birds, candlesticks, gematria, and a darker number she won't say out loud. every other thursday. start at chapter one 👉 here

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GLOSSARY This links to a post on the free section of my Patreon.

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Svetlana’s mind bounced to all sorts of scenarios in the mere moments it took for the Azeria cores to feel and respond to her panic, ranging from the improbable to the impossible, many of them involving the Puritasi, though there were some scenarios where the northern witch was to blame. Deidre had seen her close to Svetlana’s nexus shortly after Svetlana had been freed.

As she reflexively shifted her avatar to where her core rested, she felt the other three cores focus on the monstrous something that had moved. Knowing that they were they to support her helped Svetlana calm down and realize how outlandish her fearful imagination had been.

It was also ridiculous in another way. She still had five more zones than the Azeria nexus did; her strongest zone bosses were more powerful than Azeria’s raid bosses at this point and she shouldn’t feel so dependent on them for protection. Though she didn’t have any new raid bosses yet — she didn’t know who or what she wanted for those roles.

But those were thoughts for another time; for now, she needed to focus on the thing breaching across part of her territory.

Whatever the creature was, it was truly massive. The initial analysis quickly determined that the slightly curved, wall-like mass was just a small portion of the actual creature. Larger than even the northern witch could order about. At least she was pretty sure. The only part that was inside Svetlana’s territory was the dense, rock-like carapace, wrapped around the living creature, which was why Svetlana had not noticed it before it moved.

Mordecai’s attention quickly moved off once they verified the creature was not going to move further into the nexus, so that he could look into his stored memories to see if he could find a match. Kazue’s attention remained long enough to check in on Svetlana before she too moved her attention. This time to search the information they’d gathered in their library.

Moriko’s core remained with her so that they could gain additional clues that they could pass on to Mordecai and Kazue.

The curve jutting out of her wall suggested a barrel shape, whereas the curve maintained the same shape and width along its length. It seemed to be more of a cylinder since it didn’t seem to jut out into a fat center. Assuming a perfectly circular cross-section, they estimated it to be over a mile in diameter. The length couldn’t be estimated, but even a stubby body would have to be several miles long to have that kind of diameter.

The segmented carapace appeared to not be just rock-like; it was made of a mix of minerals and rock that had been compressed into a material denser than lead, nearly as hard as diamond, and far tougher than any normal rock. And that was before taking into account that it was infused with condensed mana that rendered it even stronger, much like how mana particles altered the base substances of mithril and adamantine.

This same material coated and infused the surrounding rock — the creature was slowly secreting a thick, liquid version of it, which reinforced the tunnel it was moving through and presumably making. When they passed that information on, to Mordecai, he thought that this seemed like an adaptation meant for moving through much deeper ground, and he used that to narrow down his search even more.

The creature had no draconic aspect to its aura, but it was strongly infused with elemental earth energy, which explained how it could manipulate the rock and minerals to such an extreme degree. This information caused Kazue’s core to mutter with frustration and complain that all this wasn’t helping her search any, but she still continued to look though there information, and her concern was clear.

It wasn’t too much longer when Mordecai found the answer, and everyone relaxed with his announcement, ‘I know what it is, and it is very passive. The only danger is if you stand directly in front of it, or are touching it at the wrong time. Its size suggests that it is very old and at this late stage of its life, it only moves in surges, and it takes a while to gather itself for each surge. What Svetlana had sensed was the ripple of its movement along its length.’

That made sense to Svetlana once she thought about it. She had grown her territory into a sphere very suddenly in the heat of battle, and hadn’t really considered it after. Since then, she’d been so busy reconstructing her early zones that she hadn’t explored the huge amount of territory that she’d claimed when she’d expanded her zones into spheres. The bottom of her outermost zone was twice as deep as her core was, for now. So it was not that the creature had invaded her territory, but that she had invaded its tunnel.

She felt like she had only just come to grips with this information when Mordecai was already declaring that he wanted to bring family, near-family, and close friends of near-family on a day-trip to see and learn about the creature. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to jump so quickly from battle-ready to learning holiday, nor include so many people as her nearest and dearest. It was experiences like this that had divided her from Deidre.

Speaking of, Deidre would be one of the people visiting along with Fuyuko, Amrydor, and Satsuki. And with them would be Carmilla, Mavialeko, Galan, Derek, and Gemeti, all of whom she’d be meeting for the first time, though she had Deidre’s memories of most of them. Svet would be amongst them as well, so she could speak to and learn more about them. She wasn’t sure if the creature or the people would be more interesting and strange.

Mordecai also had some directions to prepare for this field trip. ‘Svetlana, would you create a cavern as close as you can to the tunnel? I’ll send Enki and Cimbu to help dig out the rest, but we’ll need your light-zone dragon as well, and any others whom you think will be useful. Breaking through the concretion of the tunnel wall is going to take a lot of work.’

It had been early afternoon when Svetlana had detected the movement — by the time the cavern was prepared, and Krystraeliv had directed some of her roots that deeply, it was well into the evening, and dinner had been delayed to focus on the project, though snacks had been made available lest the younger folk get too restless. Or Kazue, for that matter.

In the end, it had been Zushi who had proven key in breaking through the tunnel beyond Svetlana’s territory for a better view of the creature: he could simply press himself against the reinforced stone and focus on absorbing the material. It was much slower than with a normal object, but he was able to make steady progress.

When everything was ready, Krystraeliv transported the group to a ledge that had a good view of the wall-like stretch of segmented carapace.

Mordecai beamed in pleasure at seeing the gigantic creature. “Isn’t it magnificent? It’s called a shamir, but there are a few other names for them, depending on how you translate various species’ preferred terms. Deep tunneler, ground bearer, and world builder cover most translations, though that ignores some nuance of language and culture. Wait here a moment — it should be safe to approach, but I want to make sure first.”

He jumped down from the ledge instead of using the path Svetlana had made on one side and strode toward the enormous worm to place a hand on the carapace. After several seconds of silence as he felt for even the faintest vibration from the shamir, Mordecai nodded. “Alright, feel free to come check it out — there’s no hint of it moving.” Svetlana did notice, however, that he did not remove his hand from the shamir.

Fuyuko was the first to move, leaping off the ledge the same way Mordecai had. Moriko, however, could fly, so beat her daughter to the carapace to touch its cool side.

Svet shook her head as to how much alike their adopted daughter was to her parents. It obviously wasn’t trauma that had made her cleave so strongly to them. She just seemed to be lucky enough to find the right place at the right time.

Everybody else walked down the sloped path instead, with Mavi riding on Amrydor’s shoulders, chattering away with Gemeti, while Carmilla walked behind them looking like one of Svetlana’s faeries when they were making plans. The boy named Galan said something about someone named Shizo while poking Derek in the side, who instantly turned red. And at the back, Satsuki walked close beside Deidre, holding her arm as if in support.

Svet watched them all as she walked along an extension of the ledge that followed the wall, staying above where the rest of them were gathering — in order to get a good angle to walk up to the shamir, it had been necessary to dig beyond Svetlana’s borders, so the internal avatar couldn’t come all the way down. Just being so close to the edge pulled at her mana, threatening to unravel her.

“So what’s it do?” Mavi asked as she patted the creature. “Why’s it called a world builder? It doesn’t look like it builds anything other than itself.”

Mordecai smiled. “Well, that’s a matter of perspective. Remember the sort of people who gave it that name. They live deep underground, where there are large caverns and big tunnels that maintain their shape for a long time. Those tunnels were left behind by these creatures. So the shamir literally built the world those people live in.”

“It’s very old,” Amrydor said softly. “And I think it’s close to dying, but it’s so old that I don’t really know what ‘close to death’ means. It could be thousands of years away.” He sighed and shook his head. “I didn’t know I could feel the age of something like that.”

“You’re probably correct,” Mordecai replied in a somber tone. “This creature is the oldest mortal thing you will likely ever see, and one of the last of its kind on this world.”

Kazue glanced up at him. “On this world? And why are they so rare?”

“Allow me to answer this,” Satsuki said. “I have some information from my travels that I do not think Mordecai has, and it all comes down to their life cycle. Newly hatched shamir have an instinctive drive to move away from other shamir, and this instinct is stronger around larger shamir. If there is a sufficiently large shamir nearby, it becomes enough of a push that their affinity for earth allows them to, well, ‘earth step’, but to an entirely different world. One without much else other than rock for them to eat. They are very simple but very resilient and adaptable, and do not require air or liquid water. Whatever is bound inside of rock is enough for them. Their ability to find other worlds and move to them is impressive, and no one has been able to mimic that power using spells. Though I should note that they appear to lose that ability within a month of hatching, and none have ever been tracked as using it more than once.”

Mordecai gave her a skeptical look. “This doesn’t seem like the sort of information you would have memorized.”

“A lady must have a few secrets,” she replied demurely. “It would be awful of a man to strip away all of her mystery, don’t you think?”

Somehow, that sounded like a pointed invitation to search for her secrets by stripping her. Given the face that Fuyuko just made, Svetlana was pretty certain she and everyone else had gotten the same implication. In a teasing tone, Mordecai answered, “I think Kazue would appreciate knowing the secrets of her knight and lady-in-waiting, but that is a conversation for later.”

Watching Satsuki twitch and glance nervously at Kazue was entertaining, and given that the nine-tail had sworn to be Kazue’s knight and lady-in-waiting, Svetlana suspected that it would be difficult for Satsuki to hide any secrets if Kazue pressed her for them.

Svetlana was also reminded of the distraction and confusion spell Kazue had used in battle. It had momentarily distracted Dimitri too, though the illusions had not had any magical effect on him.

This had made him even angrier when he realized he was staring at the images Kazue had created, but it had wonderfully entertained Svetlana. She had kept the memory of the lewd illusions, and her faeries now used versions of it to entrance her delvers.

Carmilla had ignored their byplay while she studied the shamir, and she now asked, “It’s not supposed to be this close to the surface, is it?”

“No, it’s not,” Mordecai said. “This is incredibly shallow for a shamir, or at least, one this old, as smaller tunnels can sometimes be found closer to the surface. My guess is that it was going around an underground lake or a magma plume. Neither would be particularly harmful, but either one would be an unpleasant experience. Based on how level it is, we are probably at the upper end of its curve before it begins to dive back down to a more comfortable depth.”

“Wait,” Svet said from the ledge above. “Does that mean there may be a potential volcano beneath us?”

Mordecai shook his head. “While it might be possible, that is not something to worry about. Any magma entering your territory would become yours to claim and convert into mana if you needed to.”

Fuyuko rapped her knuckles on the shamir’s carapace. “Is this thing strong enough to fend off Gil?” Moriko looked pretty curious too, while Satsuki rolled her eyes with a disgusted expression.

Svet, on the other hand, wondered who this Gil was.

“Hmm.” Mordecai thought about it briefly, then shrugged. “Sort of. It wouldn’t be able to fight back, but it would twist and surge forward as much as it could until it exhausted itself. This would make it harder for Gil to keep attacking the same location. I am not sure how long it would take Gil to cut his way through the carapace, but it wouldn’t be easy. So, given enough time, yes, Gil could cut through. Not that this would necessarily kill the shamir — much like normal worms, it’s possible for both halves to survive.”

The idea of a single person being able to cut through such a massive creature was outlandish, but Mordecai seemed serious, so Svetlana sent, ‘Who is this Gil? How strong is he?’

Mordecai replied, ‘He’s an immortal older than Satsuki and myself combined, and at least as strong as that age implies. He escorted Fuyuko to Azeria after saving her from bleeding out. She’d killed a peryton by herself after it ambushed her, though it nearly had its revenge. Here’s Gil playing with me during his visit.’

The images Mordecai sent over of the ‘game’ that had played out in Azeria’s wetland zone were incredible, and Azeria had only seven zones at the time! There was also no way for Mordecai and Kazue to give detailed instructions that fast — all of that coordination had to have been from their inhabitants already knowing and understanding their roles, and just being told when to act.

Svetlana’s felt even more enlightened about how valuable the sort of training Azeria did with its inhabitants was. The way they had defeated her under-trained inhabitants was one thing, but for their inhabitants to put on such a display against a person as powerful as this Gil… she shook off her awe and wandering thoughts to focus on the rest of the conversation.

There were a few more questions, but as fascinating as it initially was to encounter such a creature, the shamir was also not doing anything, so interest soon began to fade. When everyone seemed ready to go back, Mordecai said, “Mavi, could you let Krystraeliv know that trusted guests and family are allowed to ask to be transported here? Let’s keep it to them and inhabitants for now, though we might want to allow some researchers or scholars eventually.”

Svet crossed her arms in thought. How would she create a space for researchers and scholars when much of what they would be here to study would be outside the reach of her nexus? Well, perhaps she could borrow more help from Enki and Cimbu to shape the rock nearby.

After that, it was time to head back home for a late dinner, to which they also invited Svet. With the shamir fresh in everyone’s mind, conversation readily turned to questions about other deep-dwelling species that were rarely heard of on the surface.

Mavi seemed to be thrilled about being ‘terrified’ by all the ‘scary’ creatures that lived in the world far beneath them, while Fuyuko and Moriko seemed more interested in which ones would make for interesting fights.

The conversation kept everyone up later than normal, but eventually Fuyuko and the others dragged themselves off to bed. Kazue had fallen asleep already, curled up in a large, comfy chair, and Mordecai scooped her up to carry her to their bedroom.

Moriko grumbled about him poaching the cute fox, and he just smirked. Svet laughed as she took her leave. What interesting people she had found her way amongst.

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You know the story, like every schoolchild knows it. In the year 3 B.I., the Aligned Systems discovered the first true alien ruins on Burrow's Moon.

It kick-started the field of xeno-archaeology into the juggernaut it is today.

And it started the now more than 350-year-long hunt for more relics.

But have we been lied to?

Is this all a scam?

Are the documentaries nothing but fakes and AI slop, and are the Aligned Systems hiding the truth?

Maybe.

Now, here's the thing. If we believe history conspiracists, all of this never happened the way you and I have been told.

In this episode of History Unveiled*, we will dive into alien ships found on Earth, the development of the first A-Drive, and maybe find out who, or what, really started the catastrophic seven-gauge earthquake.*

— Excerpt from History Unveiled***, Episode 3127, Whistler-Tube, ca. 350 Post-Independence***

Captain Smith only wanted to pick up a cup of coffee before joining the Task Force meeting. Sadly, Dr. Shanks, Dr. Hunter, and IronBallz waited at the door of his quarters for him.

The month had started so nicely, but it was about to become stressful.

Four weeks ago, the new VI core was finally installed, and Ferdinand had begun to support the crew in uncovering the secrets of Burrow's Moonbase.

It seemed Fakeiand, as the crew called the alien AI, had intentionally scrambled sensor readings and worked against the crew where it could.

Ferdinand had taken over the ship's VI functions and cleaned hundreds of thousands of trojans, scramblers, keyloggers, and other malware left behind by Fakeiand.

In minutes, he uncovered an extremely low-energy signal from the relic docking port.

It was Batract. Or rather, an ancient variation of it.

Decoding the signal and creating a fake passkey took some time, but the chaos field was down. Sleipnirs could now fly down to the underground docks without issues.

The new Sector Commander, Admiral Russo, intended to send at least a company of Marines down before any scientist would risk his life again.

The scientists were unhappy, to say the least.

Most of all, Doctors Shanks and Hunter.

Before Smith could even say a word, all three started to speak.

"The possible loss of archaeological data is massive, Captain. Those are Marines. They have no idea how to preserve a dig."

"Yes, and they might encounter problems they can't solve and blow up unimaginable technical relics. This site could advance human development centuries or more, the programmable matter alone…"

'And don't forget we need to uncover what the Batract did down there with my ancestors, and if they were already infected with Hyphae or au naturel, so to say.'

Smith tried to walk faster, but the two doctors followed him left and right. He reached his breaking point when the Glider IronBallz jumped from Shanks' shoulder onto his head and pulled his ears, screaming.

'Captain, do you hear me? I need to go down with the Marines.'

"Silence, all three of you."

Grabbing the Glider by his neck and pulling him off his head, he looked the elder in his eyes. "And never pull my ears again, do you understand?"

'Yes, but…'

"No. No buts. I'll have to go to a Task Force meeting with Admiral Russo, now that Sanders is on her way to Nekoo. And convincing him to send scientists in with the Marines will be difficult enough without you all pestering me."

Shanks was seemingly the only one who had really listened.

"You trying to get us on the transports?"

"Of course. I don't want the Marines all alone down there. No one knows what these morons would break without scientific oversight."

Smith turned his hand, allowing IronBallz to sit on it instead of hanging by his neck.

"And you come with me. If I get my head chewed off by No-Nonsense Russo, I'm taking you with me, understood?"

'What do you need me for?'

IronBallz tried to jump off Smith's hand and reach the Glider gangways on the ceiling. Smith was faster and snatched the elder Glider mid-jump.

'That's harassment. You're constraining my free movement.'

"You harassed me before I had my coffee, so shut up and think of a way to convince Russo. Otherwise we'll sit here for months until the Marines give the all-clear."

IronBallz turned his head almost 180 degrees. All Gliders could turn their necks like owls, and Smith always got a little sick seeing this.

'I… might have an idea, but I want to try it first with you.'

Smith wasn't able to even say "What" before it hit him.

Feelings of loneliness and desperation. The moon getting smaller as he stared out of a window. Other Gliders around him, their fear and confusion intensified over the biological link they shared.

A reptile hand grabbing him by his neck fur, pulling him out of the small transport cage into a larger one, with more scared Gliders.

Then he was back on the Magellan. Shanks and Hunter each holding him up by an arm.

"What the hell?"

Shanks' face looked especially shocked.

"Sir, your eyes turned almost white and then you almost collapsed. What happened?"

Smith didn't know exactly. "IronBallz, I saw…"

'I shared my memory. The deep memory. I don't know what or how, but this place… I think somehow these memories here allow me to unlock new abilities.'

Smith shook off the stabilizing hands.

"And I'm your guinea pig?"

Hunter shook his head.

"It's not this place. It's our implant."

All three stared at Hunter.

"It's the implant that allows us to hear Glider speech. It is connected to our brains. And I think our brains adapt to it, rewiring to accept new inputs."

'So it's not me that changes?'

IronBallz seemed almost sad to hear it.

"No. Well, maybe you adapted a bit, too, but in general, your 'biological Wi-Fi' transmits far more than speech. This data is processed by the implants, but our brain neurons don't process it. Until now, I guess."

"But all of a sudden?"

Hunter thought about Doctor Shanks' question.

"No, but Captain Smith had the most exposure to Gliders. He's talking to IronBallz or ShutUpBitch all the time, so his brain is rewiring the most."

Smith massaged his temples.

All he wanted was a cup of coffee. Instead, he got memories implanted of thousands-of-years-dead Gliders.

"Go to the infirmary. Get other Gliders and check that out with the Doctors there. I want to know what happens, and I want to be able to stop it, if needed."

The idea of suddenly getting memories of Glider orgies wasn't something he enjoyed.

"Doctor Shanks, you're with me, too."

Smith turned and walked to the airlock.

Admiral Russo's flagship, the A Short Fall of Gravitas, had docked directly on the Magellan. Usually, this sort of docking wasn't done anymore, since ships had grown considerably larger than 30 years ago, when it was still normal procedure.

But they were capable of doing it, and it was still standard procedure in the books. So Admiral Russo had ordered a docking.

He didn't care that the Gravitas was an older battle cruiser, still with rotating habitat sections.

The docking exercise required precise movement in orbit around a moon at thousands of kilometers per hour. Avoiding the older ship's rotating parts turned that precision into a navigational nightmare.

Smith hadn't seen his Navigator that nervous since the Second Battle of Sirius.

After a short brisk walk through the Gravitas's corridors, they reached a meeting room with Admiral Russo already waiting.

"Captain, nice of you to join us. You look horrible. Take a seat. We were just discussing the moon ruins."

Smith took the seat thankfully. The memory fragments still had some grip over him.

Doctor Shanks and IronBallz had to wait outside, a fact that didn't sit well with Smith at all. Russo seemed to see scientists as supporting characters in the Navy-run theatre.

People like Russo were the kind who had initially blocked the construction of the Magellan. And where would we be if the ship hadn't been built?

Opposite Smith sat a dark-haired female Navy Captain. Smith hadn't met her yet, but her shoulder insignia bore the patch of the Relief Fleet. She gave him a short, friendly smile before she focused back on the holographic projection at the front of the desk.

Standing next to the projection were two Marine Majors. The nametags read Roth and Pfershy. Smith knew Pfershy from reports.

A no-nonsense Marine. No wonder Russo had him on this mission.

"We can start again, sir, if you like," Roth offered to the Admiral.

"Nonsense. This data was gathered by Smith, so I very well expect he knows it."

Russo was in a good mood today, it seemed. Not.

"Very well, sir." Roth continued. "As we said, after the docking area, we have multiple large chambers. One is where the away team found the dead body. The fact that some technology is still working makes the existence of traps or security measures a possibility."

Major Pfershy pointed into the hologram.

"We plan to secure the chambers around the dock and prepare a FOB there. Two companies will be enough. From there, we can plan further expeditions, provided Magellan can provide specialists and scientists."

With this, the Major looked at Smith.

Captain Smith was surprised. He was prepared to fight tooth and nail to get his people aboard.

"Yes. Everything you need."

"Well, another meeting that should have been an email. Majors, prepare your men to move. Captain Smith, meet Captain Aylin Kaya. She's the Captain of the President's End. She and her ship will support you here until the Pioneers create the station."

Captain Kaya gave Smith another friendly smile, followed by a "Captain."

Greeting the Captain back, Smith then asked, "Station? Sorry, sir, I must have missed a memo."

"Well, then better be on time next time. Captain Kaya here had the idea to create a geosynchronous station with an orbital lift down to the relic site. It's cheaper in the long run than to park a ship here for years."

"Yes. The Magellan is a highly specialized ship. Wasting her parked here in orbit is… well, wasteful."

Smith had had the same thoughts, but to be pushed aside didn't feel right. They had discovered the ruins. But before he could counter Captain Kaya's argument, she had already continued.

"I can't imagine what wonders the Magellan could find out there instead of just focusing on these ruins. Captain Smith, I envy you. In a year, you crossed the galaxy twice and found these ruins."

"Yeah, stop telling each other how wonderful your ships are and start working. I have to undock and go back to Burrow One. This whole star system is a madhouse."

With this, the Admiral left the meeting room.

"Captain, can I come over to the Magellan and take a Sleipnir from there to my ship? Otherwise, my Navigator has to hard-dock the President's End again, and I don't think he has the nerves to do it again."

Smith understood the notion.

He didn't know what to think of Captain Kaya. For Smith's taste, she was almost a bit too eager to please. Her praising his ship came too fast, as if she wanted to disarm him.

He would keep an eye on her. But for now, he took the win. Until the station was built, the Magellan had the ruins.

Small victories.

 

————

Eva's message made Admiral Georgiou feel uneasy.

'Admiral, there's something on the TV you must see.'

Must see… that's never good.

"What channel?"

'Probably all of them.'

Definitely not good.

He switched on the monitor. A history stream channel. He had watched a documentary about the sinking of Doggerland yesterday evening.

On the news flash band in the lower part, he saw what Eva was talking about.

Senator Shore proposes emergency legislation to outlaw abortion and curtail women's rights.

Oh my god. What had he done now?

Pressing the "Want to know more" button, the channel switched.

Two women, almost foaming at the mouth, debated the newest attack from the patriarchy, according to them.

"And even in the Army and Navy, there are still 20% less women in leadership positions, and this Senator now wants to drag us back into the kitchen."

Well, if there are 30% less women enlisting, then 20% less in leadership is a good number. Not that any of you would ever enlist…

He switched the channel. The host had a stream of the original interview on. He and his co-hosts' faces overlaid the original video, and they cheered with Shore's arguments, making them almost incomprehensible.

"Tara, have you looked at recent population statistics? Because I have, and given the current trend, humanity is about to die out. There are only about four billion humans left in the Sol system. With a replacement rate of 0.85 on Earth, this number will plummet further."

The "Boom, take that, bitch" made Georgiou feel sick.

The same idiots, just from the other aisle. And most of them flunk out in basic training because they're just bullies and insecure brats

He poured himself a glass of Tsipouro, sighed, and changed the channel again.

A political commentator arguing with his host.

"So, Mike, what do you think of the Senator's proposal?"

The middle-aged commentator with ancient-looking earbuds stared directly into the camera and cleared his throat.

Damn, is there a rule that commentators need bad audio quality?

"Well, Gaby, it sounds bad, but don't forget that Earth has a real population crisis. Earth has only three billion people. The whole Solar System, maybe four billion. And the Senator's bill consists mostly of tax incentives, and other measures to make having children as cheap as having none."

Georgiou switched the screen off. He knew he would learn all he needed tomorrow. And tons of things he didn't want to learn.

The Senator was right. As stupid as it might sound, humanity faced extinction. Either slow, by negligent birthrates, or quick, by an enemy they couldn't defeat because they lacked the numbers.

But the way the Senator went was… odd, to say the least.

"In one moment, you help me build a fleet, in the next, you start a political front that had been silent for five decades. What are you up to?"

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>Author's notes:

Hello,

The good news: we hit 1,000 followers on Royal Road, many or most of them out of this community. Thank you all. That's actually amazing.
As some know, this is my first time writing, so everything I do here is completely new to me. This, sadly, leads me to the other, less-good news.

I started writing and releasing chapters here on September 28, 2025. That's about 190,000 words in about eight months. And I did it the whole time without a backlog.

This can't go on forever.

I want to keep quality high while building up a backlog that keeps things going if life happens.

I had a week off work, and I noticed that even while I was off, the quality suffers if I write more than three chapters. Simple math says that if I release three chapters and write three chapters, the buildup is zero.

What I won't do is release chapters I'm not happy with. You deserve better.

What I also don't want to do is work without a backlog. The stress is real every time I don't meet a goal or don't get something polished in time, and that leads to worse quality.

And lastly, I don't want to feel like a content vomit machine, because that also leads to sterile, formulaic output.

So, the hard decision had to be made to effectively cut the Wednesday release until I have a sufficient backlog.

Please don't see this as me relaxing or slacking. I almost burned out from writing at the start of the year, and I'm still reeling from the consequences. No one is happy if I have to stop fully.

The story in my head is large, and if I want to bring it to life, I need to keep this up for years.

I'll keep you posted as the backlog grows and Wednesday releases will come back.

Thanks again for everything.

M.R. Reese