Chapter 1121
There was a bit of a dilemma for Anton to resolve in the new system. He didn’t want to delay in visiting any of the locations he had spotted, but he couldn’t be in two places at once. That was still true. But he was more than capable of multitasking, and he could at least be a little bit in two places at once. It seemed a bit rude to not show up in person for first contact, but it was actually a better idea for the icy moon.
He didn’t want to have to break through the ice- though he could- and he likewise didn’t want to damage their seafloor habitats. Meanwhile, he thought he could get through the barrier within the gas giant without harming anything. So he could have a sort of projection visit the former. Unlike what Everheart did, it would just be him creating a simple illusion and not some sort of independent entity. It would be little more than a mass of energy, but he could manage something like that easily enough having bound the local star.
Anton could even manage it while pushing back their star’s corruption, since that problem would take a significant amount of time to resolve regardless. Anton could try to do more, but splitting his thoughts into too many potential conversations at once might be a bit much.
If he had to stretch his energy between multiple planets he might have more trouble, but a single planet and one of its moons were close enough for such a task.
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Solar energy slipped through the layers of ice, following Anton’s trail of energy he had been using solely for perception. Once he was beneath the ice, he formed something like a body. He kept the amount of energy relatively conservative to not attract too much attention. He’d sensed a few things in the local waters that indicated it wasn’t entirely a lifeless planet, and he didn’t want to draw them to the habitats. Or to scare the people inside.
Obviously they would still be somewhat startled to find someone show up outside, but there was only so much Anton could do to mitigate that. He continued to dive down at a reasonable speed that would give people some time to react if they sensed him coming.
He found a nice hatch to stop outside, though he didn’t know if it would still open. It seemed like it might be functional still, which was good enough for him. Anton reached forward and carefully knocked. His energy amplified the sound to carry further, towards a group of people somewhere around fifty meters inside the undersea habitat.
As he waited for them to sort out their response, he ‘looked’ at the habitat itself. It was artfully constructed of metal and thick glass. No organic materials as far as he could see, though whether that had been because it wasn’t optimal or because they didn’t have access he couldn’t tell.