The Year CE 2035
The Space Elevator, a shimmering ribbon of Starmetal-carbon-fiber, stretched from the Jura Forest into the blackness of the upper atmosphere. It was a joint venture between two worlds—the "Scientific" Earth and the "Rational" Jura.
Sato Kenji stood on the observation deck of the ISS Aris, the space station that acted as the elevator's counterweight. Below him, the planet didn't look like a collection of kingdoms or a battleground for heroes. It looked like a marble of blue and green, pulsing with the soft, violet veins of the new world.
"Ready, Professor?" a voice asked.
Kenji turned. It was Pip, the Goblin "child" from the Potemkin village, now a grown engineer in a sleek EVA suit.
"Ready as I'll ever be, Pip. Did the Chancellor send the final coordinates?"
"Just arrived," Pip said, tapping his wrist-display. "He says 'Don't forget to account for the Coriolis effect. Just because you're a Hero doesn't mean you can ignore the math'."
Kenji laughed, looking out at the shuttle that would take them to the first colony on the Moon. "He's never going to let me live that down, is he?"
Far below, in the heart of the Iron-Crag, Aris closed his notebook. He had finally finished the "Scientific Rebuttal" to the Holy Prophecy. It was 1,200 pages of equations, diagrams, and proof that the universe was not a story written by a God, but a masterpiece written by its inhabitants.
He walked to the window and watched the shuttle's trail as it streaked across the sky, a bright, silver line cutting through the dark.
"The story is over, Archivist," Aris said softly.
< Correction: The 'Story' is a finite structure. This is 'Reality.' Reality has no word count. >
Aris smiled and turned off the lights in his office.
"Well said," he whispered. "Let's see what happens next."
[THE END]