Chapter 663: Mirror in the Sky
Though Argrave had said not long ago that he trusted his brother, now that his intentions were clear and they’d all agreed to help Orion on his search, he did consult two encyclopedias for answers. The first was his own head—not to toot his own horn, of course. He’d be tooting Erlebnis’, anyhow, considering the god had gathered the knowledge only to use it as a cudgel to unsuccessfully break his mind. The second encyclopedia was almost directly responsible for the first.
Its name was Raven.
“Do you know how many voyages have been attempted to the moon?” Raven asked Argrave as they walked side-by-side.
“Eighty-seven.” Argrave looked at the obsidian confines of Raven’s lab, wondering where the man was leading them.
“I’ll assume that’s not a guess. My point is the same—very many have voyaged seeking the stars, the sun, and the moon.” An eye and mouth appeared on Raven’s elbow, enabling him to emphasize his point without turning his head. “All of them failed. No one has been to the moon and back—not the gods of space, nor deities of any stripe. This so-called lunar dragon your brother insists exists is a statistical impossibility.”
“But not a physical one,” Argrave pointed out.
Raven stopped in his tracks, turning his body toward Argrave. “So you’ve told me. The notion of people, without magic, achieving such a thing is… fanciful. It was hard enough to get them collaborate to fight Gerechtigkeit—building a spacecraft capable of not only making it to the moon, but returning…”
“I’m no rocket scientist. I can understand that might surprise you.” Argrave held his hands out to kill the imaginary doubt. “But all of the problems that exist—lack of air, lack of protection, and I’m sure a thousand others I’m forgetting… they can be remedied. Flight trajectories can be calculated with math, and controlled with precise application of force. It takes a lot of data, a lot of time, and a lot of variables to discover and consider. But… from my meager understanding of the world, there’s no reason why it’s impossible. Doubly so when magic does exist.”
“I know.” Raven waved his hand, and an obsidian doorway parted. “By all means, it should be possible. Yet it never has been.”