Chapter 1197
The goals that Anton had were somewhat different from Bear Hug’s, though not all that far. Bear Hug wished to be friends with every sapient individual among their planets, but Anton was not interested in being friends with them all. He felt a protective instinct, and he certainly wished to be on good terms, but for him friendship required something more. That something varied by individual, but ultimately it came down to wanting to spend more time together more than just generally wishing an individual to prosper.
Anton’s ultimate goal was for the system as a whole to accept him binding the star. Then they would have the protection of Unity. It was possible that they would not need it, as the Alliance controlled much of the surrounding area, but threats could come both internally or externally.
Anton’s experience with Unity was actually fairly recent, but he had come to know that it was more than just power. Perhaps power was the most insignificant of its offerings. There simply hadn’t been time to observe the long term effects, but in the decades since he’d reached the new stage the overall state of the Alliance had improved.
It was small things, mostly. Unexplained increases in efficiency as more people had access to what they needed, and were in turn able to provide more back to the community. For a small number of years it could have been a coincidence, but not for a sustained duration. Anton couldn’t take credit for all of it, of course, as the Alliance had been focused on universal growth from the beginning, but now people simply fit together better. It could be as small as a friendly neighborhood, or it could be the perfect gathering of minds to come up with the next generation of technological improvements or cultivation methods.
Anton didn’t know what was best for everyone, but they knew which was good enough. He had very little active participation in the process, except for circumstances like where people were gathered for Bounty. In that case he didn’t have an active star to call upon, and each step had to be more deliberate.
Bear Hug just liked people, which was great. One of those people happened to be a particularly angry briar patch… but said briar patch was becoming worn down by continued socialization. Slowly, still, because just the other day it had tried to ambush Bear Hug while they were resting.
It was entirely possible that Bear Hug didn’t sleep. If they did, it wasn’t all of them at once. Alternatively, it could have simply been the fact that the briar patch was anything but subtle. Either way, without Anton even interfering Bear Hug was awake and shortly thereafter spinning the briar patch around in the local lake.
“You should not attack people. Do you need more water? Sunlight will be available later.”
Words never ceased… and sometimes, the briar patch responded. “Release me.”