One after another customised Blackbirds launched from the runway in Solomon Base.
The planes rushed to leave the planet at a rapid pace. It didn't take long for them to do a rotation around the globe before being slingshot away from Earth towards deep space and the direction of Mars.
Some distance away, the solar sails were deployed, resembling doughnuts made from bronze sheets.
Sure enough, the speed of the planes picked up; it looked like wind began to blow into the sails.
Marcus, who was in the cockpit, looked at the holograms. He was checking the data he was getting from this.
"Amazing, it did work." He commented with a fascinated look.
"It shouldn't have worked?" Kallen asked, looking concerned.
"Maybe? This is a considerably primitive technology. Where we used to use regular sails made from cloth, these are made from thin layers of metal.
It's nothing special, but because of how big the sails are, the speed we are getting is considerable even when we have Ion Technology.
Ion Technology is based on Solar energy; we are trying to imitate what is pushing these sails.
But it's simply the scale of things. The sun is enormous, and the power it produces is huge. One of the flares it can emit can easily be sixteen Earths stacked one on another." He gave a swift rundown.
"I guess…" The crimson-haired pilot of 'the Beast' isn't that knowledgeable about space, so she can't comment.
"So… we are applying old technology on this… I never even considered something like this." Leila, floating next to Kallen and Jeanne, stroked her chin.
"Yes. Well, you don't read enough fiction."
"...Says the guy who hasn't opened a book in months." Leila pouted at his comment. "Besides, I read books, but not the ones you mentioned." She went on self-defence.
"You do know that he commented like that on purpose," Kallen whispered to Leila.
"I know." The blonde rolled her eyes. She knew that he said that on purpose.
"You just love teasing me like that!" In the end, she couldn't stop and commented with narrowed eyes.
"Okay, okay, relax. You are a 'realist' while I am a bit of a 'dreamer'."
That comment made her stop in her tracks.
Since when has she been a realist? The girl always had this…idealism…
After what happened to her father and mother, she always wanted people to understand each other and stop conflicts…
But after seeing Tiranis for the first time in her life…
A machine that could fly and could effortlessly lay waste to entire frontline garrisons without effort…
It was something similar to getting over the edge and accepting the fact that one needs power to do anything.
The girl realised that and, for a second, just aimlessly gazed at the void.
At that moment, her left eye began to hurt…
The girl closed it and placed her hand on it.
'What just happened?'
"...I need to do something. I will see you later." With that said, Leila flew away towards the doors.
Kallen and Jeanne looked at her for a second.
"Is she okay?" Marcus' Knight asked.
"I don't know. This is the first time that she has just left like that." The crimson-haired pilot replied with crossed arms.
"I will check on her later. For now, I have a meeting." Marcus' eyes were on the holograms before him.
"Legion connect the other two planes. We are going to discuss the travel route." The Inventor Prince instructed his AI.
[Understood, establishing connection.]
A few moments later, a pair of holograms appeared in front of Marcus.
One is his older sister, and the other one is Milly.
"Let's talk about the route."
The Prince went straight to the point. Before him, a holographic map of Earth appeared; next to them were their three plane models.
He began to guide the planes away.
"At first, we picked up the speed from Earth's rotation, and it slingshot us away towards Mars.
The Solar Sails were a complete success; they allowed us to reach 22 thousand miles per second, and the speed is still picking up.
"That's around 5% to 6% of light speed. We would reach it in around 4 hours, however…"
"We still need to slow down."
Cornelia replied as she was holding a book in her hand. It was a physics book.
"Indeed, the technology I have is still lacking. While I have upgraded the wings, it can now rotate, but it will take a considerable amount of time to slow down."
"How long?" Milly asked.
"We will arrive in the Asteroid Belt in a day and a half," Marcus replied to the blonde while checking the ETA with the current speed.
"Legion, fold the sails, we are getting too fast."
[Folding the sails.]
"I was expecting longer, but this is good." The Princess commented. She was ready for an expedition that would last over a week.
"We will pass Mars as well, we will be the first humans to see it with our own eyes."
"Oh! Can we land there!?" Milly immediately asked
"There is not much to see there." The Princess blew her excitement bubble.
"It's just a barren rock with a dead core," Cornelia commented with her usual snarly voice.
"Yes. I know, but we will colonise all of the planets! That's what Marcus said! So Mars and Venus will be under our control! Mars already has places named! But Venus? We have no idea about its landmasses!"
The council student president sounded excited. She had some ideas.
"You just want land to be named after you." The 2nd Princess saw through the girl without even trying.
"Hehehe, you know me well enough, Princess Cornelia." Milly laughed nerviously.
"I still remember when you were small. You didn't change much, Milly Ashford." The Witch of Britannia smiled, causing Milly's laugh to get even more nervous.
"Relax, Milly, we can name solar systems after you and your mood. The space is enormous." Marcus sighed, trying to slow her down.
"Patience for now, Milly."
"I know, I know." She sighed. All she was trying to do was lighten the mood.
"I can use Flidais to see the Red Planet." The girl realised that midway.
"Do whatever you want," Cornelia said to the blonde before looking at Marcus.
"Let's continue, Lelouch."
"Right." The Inventor Prince returned to his explanation.
"We will circle Mars several times to lower our speed further before slingshooting towards the Asteroid Belt."
He dragged three plane holograms to the red planet, circling the fourth planet from the sun before moving them to their destination.
"Once we are there, we shall use our machines to find and collect the asteroids that we need."
"Do these machines have thrust power to move such large asteroids?" Cornelia might trust her machine's might when it comes to fighting Knightmares and blowing up things, but moving a 1-mile-wide rock is a bit of a stretch.
"That's where our experiments will continue." Marcus immediately replied that he was giddy for this part.
"Of course, how could I forget about that?"
The Princess sighed as she finished the call. She has a book to read.
"So that's why you brought all of your scientists with you." Milly realised why he packed all of his nerd friends.
"Indeed, the second generation of beam technology needs to happen. I simply can't imagine 3rd generation machines use weapons that are equivalent to muskets.
It's simply too primitive."
"A weapon that can melt tungsten like it's nothing is not primitive." Milly deadpanned as she ended her call as well.
Arguing with him about semantics like that is not something she wants to do right now.
"Well, they both ended the call with me," Marcus complained for a second before sighing.
He was now depressed!
~~~~~~A Day Later~~~~~~
"Oh… look at that!" Anna pointed at the red planet in the distance.
The three planes were passing by Mars, and everyone looked through the windows to look at the alien world below.
"It's a pity that neither the E.U. nor Britannia did any decent amount of research when it comes to other celestial bodies." The girl complained to her friend.
"I know, Anaheim already started hiring people for this reason," Leila explained as he looked at the barren world.
She has no idea how they are going to turn this place into a habitable one… but it does make her excited for the future.
Different worlds, different biomes, different night skies. Not just Mars, but Venus or something more exotic like Saturn's moons.
Saturn is like a miniature sun itself…
'We do need Helium-3 for more potent fusion reactors.
Our current ones work, but if we push them more, they will begin to power down.'
The blonde frowned for a second. Their reactors are powerful, that much is certain, but the next generation, the 3rd generation, will require helium-3 to function as a proper sun.
These reactors will be more stable, and they will generate legitimate gravity.
"Good to hear." Anna was happy to hear that! Finally, some research not related to weapons!
"That's because we will never know when our time on Earth is over." Marcus' voice said from the side as he floated over.
He looked at Mars, his eyes were trembling, and he finally saw it!
"...What do you mean by that?" The glasses girl looked at him.
"We live in cycles." He lazily motioned with his hand.
"Super Volcanoes and Meteorites. There is legitimate evidence that humanity was reset at least once." He said with narrowed eyes.
"!"
"!"
"To survive, to overcome things like these, we need to tame the very surroundings. We need to become multiplanetary.
Simple as that." Marcus explained to them.
"...I see… that is a good goal." Anna slowly nodded.
"I assume you already have plans for this planet?" Leila asked him as she looked the barren world before her.
"Of course." He motioned with his hand, and a hologram appeared before him.
He lazily drew a circle before explaining to them.
"Mars' core has stopped spinning. That means it doesn't generate a magnetic field or have moving tectonic plates.
This means that we need to make a magnetic field of our own."
He tapped at the north and south poles and four times around the equator.
"If we place at least six huge fusion reactors in these locations, we can…technically generate a magnetic field by ourselves.
Once that is in place, we can begin restoring the atmosphere." He drew a circle around Mars.
"Thankfully, we have an enormous amount of CO2 from Venus. We can drain that planet for years to restore Mars." The inventor Prince smiled as he had plans for the sister planet as well.
"...And Venus?" The blonde asked, she is feeling more attached to Venus than Mars. It's funny how these two worlds are completely opposite to each other.
"Venus has completely different issues. One Venus day is longer than one Venus year. The planet barely rotates. It gets an insane amount of heat this way.
"To fix it, we will need some serious machinery."
"One of them is to drain the CO2, then some shielding that can deflect the heat that comes from the sun.
On top of that, we don't know how active the planet is by itself." Marcus stroked his chin; he was treating this as if it were a mathematical problem in a classroom.
"...I see…" Leila's curiosity was satisfied.
"It is exciting, isn't it? This is far more interesting than making Knightmares or Mobile Suits!" Anna looked at him with glistering eyes. The girl wants to get on this action already!
"I know. But first, we need to fix our backyard. Then we can focus on the interesting stuff."
He smiled at her enthusiasm, making the girl float over to him.
"D-Do you have some other projects!?"
"..."
Leila looked at her friend, who was down bad for her prince.
"Do you even consider how we will terraform Venus?"
"..." Anna didn't say anything, but her eyes were telling him to show her, as she was like a small girl in a sweet shop.
"Orbital rings."
He showed her the next major project.
"These will be on every single planet that we will own. They will assist with power, weather control, overpopulation and space industry. On top of that, we will be able to beam up and down things with gravity technology."
The Inventor Prince showed her his Project ORBIT.