331 Gummer 3 (1/2)
Lily took it back. She took it all back! Zero's luck couldn't have been any worse despite his confidence. They were initially twenty million years away from Gummer but after taking three wormholes to weird places, Zero was now two hundred million years away from Gummer on a place that not even the maps could help him with.
\”Don't worry, Lily. It's not that bad. At least there is plenty of space junk that I can absorb while we wait for a new wormhole to appear. Besides, isn't this an adventure? How rare is it to find a new space that doesn't exist on the map? Wii, are you recording this new planetary system?\”
The eggplant fairy was already working on it and Mii determined it to be unfounded because it was newly created. \”Solo must have been here not too long ago,\” the strawberry fairy concluded. \”It's only two million years old.\”
Zero nodded and Lily's mind boggled with the numbers. Two million was enough time for an entire planet to be restructured completely.
\”Interesting,\” Zero nodded. \”Does that mean it doesn't have a name? Any signs of life yet?\”
Wii sent out feelers and was waiting for them to return. Mii was already adding extra information to the mindscape library. This new solar system only had four planets but two dwarf stars in the middle of the planets' orbit. They seem to form a smiley face so Zero named the unfound galaxy Smileyverse. Lily tried not to judge the lack of naming sense and the mindscape sisters simply ignored it in favour of preparing for the next wormhole.
Lily groaned. Will they ever reach Gummer?
The next wormhole that Zero took turned out to be their lucky break. Zero was very satisfied when he was spat out by the wormhole only five million years away from Gummer.
\”I think I will slowly make my way over without the help of any more wormholes,\” Zero said and his assistants agreed. This would probably be the closest Zero would get to the ruined galaxy they needed to be at. Five million years might take light a long time to reach its destination but for Zero, it was only going to take him about two days of continuous warping.
Wii worked overtime while Mii and Lily took turns working on recording the distance travelled with each of Zero's warp. Unlike teleportation that consumes mana, Zero found out that Origin was able to manipulate the plane and pull Zero closer to the destination he wanted to be at. Something about melting into the plane between the borders of the plane and void to borrow the aggressive forces of the chaos energy to push them forward... It sounded like quite the dangerous idea but Lily had to admit, it worked very well.
Wii sensed that her master was feeling down and decided to keep Zero company. \”Don't worry,\” she told the young doctor. \”Merlin gave you something to counter chaos energy remember? That pouch he gave you on your graduation is personally crafted by him. It wouldn't be so easily defeated even if Origin is exhausted. However, I think it's better to practice conserving Origin's strength while travelling instead of depleting it completely now that we know Origin's limits.\”
Zero agreed. \”Thank you. Please let Mii and Lily know that they should monitor Origin's energy levels. If it falls below twenty percent, please stop the warp. Also, is there any way to make Origin recover faster? It wouldn't accept mana. Is chaos energy the only way to help it recover its strength?\”
Wii sighed. \”Yes. However, we're rather shorthanded as of now. The system is doing its best to replicate what you need but it still has many restrictions. Unless we get Murvin's blessing, a lot of functions will still be locked.\”
The young doctor sulked. While he was stuck here in the middle of nowhere and occasionally absorbing some stray space junk that floated his way, he couldn't do anything. Origin needed at least half an hour to recover its strength after crawling a million light-years. They had to continuously repeat the process and Zero was bored out of his mind. Thankfully, this was their fourth push. In the next warp jump, Zero should arrive at Gummer.
\”Can we play a game?\” he asked Wii who didn't have much to do either. The eggplant fairy was quick to agree and they settled for a game of chess. Wii and Zero were evenly matched now and the first game ended in a draw after eighty moves. Zero wondered how he would be like against Poseidon.
\”Is the clone still playing chess with Poseidon?\” he asked.
Wii nodded. \”Lost every game but is getting better as we speak. Due to the concentration required in the mindscape, I only set the memories of the clone to sync with the mindscape once a day. Mii is too busy and I cannot assist my sister with her work. Analysing these complicated notes are out of my area of expertise. I'm better at number-crunching and organising things.\”
Zero found it funny. \”Why not? You're both sisters, right?\”
\”We were born to specialise in different things,\” Wii replied dryly. \”I'm a personification after you developed your Parallel Minds. Mii is actually a personification of the Mind's Eye system tasked to assist you in learning new things and accomplish your goals.\”
Zero nodded and pushed a pawn forward. \”That explains it. I always thought that both of you shared memories, knowledge and all. Sometimes the both of you act in sync without even needing communication. I wonder how you do it.\”
Wii laughed. \”That's because we use telepathy in order not to disturb your concentration. It's a skill that all mindscape registered assistants possess. We often talk to Zoe to ask her for advice too.\”
That was news to Zero who paused in the middle of the game. \”You can talk to Zoe? But isn't she mute?\”
Wii tilted her head in confusion. \”Mute? That's just because of the vow she made. She can actually speak, especially in the mindscape telepathy. Her voice is very beautiful, like the clear sparkling notes from a windchime.\”