The hum of fusion tools and the faint static of power conduits echoed through the old Arkbound bunker — a place that now felt more like a legend in the making than a workshop.
In the central bay, three Aetheric Resonance Reactors had been securely mounted inside the partially completed starship frame. The skeleton of the ship — now nearing 32% completion — towered overhead, an 8-story metal titan waiting for breath.
Raen stood with a tablet in hand, reviewing the telemetry from the reactors. Korin was calibrating output from the second reactor, while Lira carefully analyzed the containment field readouts.
"We're stabilizing faster than I expected," Lira said, her eyes fixed on the swirling energy model projected in front of her. "That last sync test between the three cores only had a 0.004% variance."
"Which means," Korin added with a grin, "if someone decided to crash this thing into a mountain, the ship would still keep running."
Raen gave a half-smile. "Let's aim for more elegant applications."
As he walked along the catwalk above the main hangar floor, Raen tapped his comm.
Raen: "Nyra, status on relocation progress?"
Nyra: "Kael just got the 500 bots delivered and assigned. The HQ and Space HQ are at 90% completion now. I'm overseeing the assembly line shift today. Saelyn's already moved in."
Raen: "Good. Within the next 70 days, we'll need that city functional."
He looked down at the engineers and bots fitting the secondary energy veins of the propulsion ring. The future wasn't coming — it was being welded together, one alloy plate at a time.
Korin joined him at the rail. "We're ahead of schedule. But once this ship is ready… what then?"
Raen didn't answer immediately.
"We test the reach of our vision," he finally said. "And start writing the next chapter — not just for Arkbound, but for humanity."
Lira turned, eyebrow raised. "You're talking off-world deployment already?"
Raen simply nodded. The reactor glow below reflected in his eyes — steady, alive, burning with purpose.
Incoming Call: Kael
Kael: "Just a heads-up. Elios is settled in. He chose a site for Arkbound Space HQ's future expansion. Wide land, clean skies. And he's already asking questions I can't answer."
Raen smirked. "Good. That's why he's here."