"Lilith, if I remember rightly— the construction platform of that other starship is not far from here?" Zhao Chen asked Lilith suddenly.
Lilith nodded, and opened a map of the interior of the interstellar industrial ship. "Just ahead."
"Then let us go and have a look." Zhao Chen looked at Spider Queen Iris with an air of great mystery. "In point of fact we do not have only one T5 interstellar warship."
"There is another? Did you not say before that this was the only T5 interstellar warship you have under construction at present?" Spider Queen Iris got a start.
"What I said just now was that this is the only combat-type T5 interstellar warship we have under construction at present," Zhao Chen explained.
With the mini shuttle to carry them, Zhao Chen and the rest had scarcely exchanged a few sentences before they caught sight of another colossus.
Exceeding the T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought in bulk.
And exceeding the T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought in degree of completion besides; the outline of its exterior could already be clearly made out.
There was no weapon equipment of any kind upon this interstellar warship's hull, which showed that it was no combat-type interstellar warship.
Spider Queen Iris grasped Zhao Chen's meaning too.
"This is a T5-grade auxiliary-type interstellar warship?" Spider Queen Iris asked.
Zhao Chen nodded. "It is. Its name is the 'Creator-class Starship' — and as the name implies, it sets about creating a world."
"Creating a world?" Spider Queen Iris was astonished beyond measure.
The harpy Avina cast a curious look over.
"This T5 Creator-class Starship can remake a planet's ecological environment. Not every planet can be remade, of course. With a gaseous planet, for instance, it can do nothing. What it can do is take planets originally unfit for living things to inhabit and remake them into something better suited to living things to inhabit. The principle it works on is very simple. Within the T5 Creator-class Starship there is a great quantity of 'ecology-remaking nano-worms.' ………… It need only fly to a position above a planet and spend a day releasing the 'ecology-remaking nano-worms,' after which it can fly on to the next planet and go on working. In theory it can remake at least 300 planets of standard size in a year." Zhao Chen introduced the relevant performance of this T5 Creator-class Starship to the two of them.
"Then… then would that not create a great number of habitable planets, upon which food crops of every kind could be planted, meeting the living needs of the inhabitants of those planets!" the harpy Avina said with some excitement.
"It would. By our calculations, for one habitable planet of standard size, the remade ecological environment upon it can meet the living needs of 10 billion people. And can sustain that for 100 million years at the least. Though upon habitable planets of this kind no industry can be developed, there being no mineral deposits; they can serve only as basic agricultural planets," Zhao Chen explained.
"10 billion people… that is more than enough." The harpy Avina called to mind the environment her own people lived in.
The overwhelming majority of whom lived upon low-quality habitable planets under skies full of yellow sand.
"Nana, this T5 Creator-class Starship looks near enough finished to me?" Zhao Chen asked Nana.
Nana called up the relevant data and said, "By our construction plan, the T5 Creator-class Starship, Number One Ship, will roll off the line and be delivered around the middle of August. But because it is the first of its class, it will need a rather long stretch of trial navigation, trial operation, and the gathering of data of every kind. Genuine service use may need another month yet."
"That is two months, then. And by that time we shall be able to build a great number of habitable planets in the Owl Dragon star system, and the living environment here can be greatly raised as well." Zhao Chen said it with satisfaction.
"We interstellar dwarves can have a planet of our own too!" Annie waved her small fists and said it excitedly.
"A planet of your own?" The harpy Avina looked at Annie in astonishment.
Annie put both hands on her hips and said proudly, "This is our Commander-in-Chief's regulation. Among those who serve the Owl Dragon Legion loyally, besides the human race there are other outside races. Such as us interstellar dwarves, the succubus race, and those from your Warhammer — the White-Tiger tribe and so on. A very large part of these people work within the Owl Dragon Legion. Our Commander-in-Chief has said that so long as one's performance is outstanding, one may be rewarded with several habitable planets! And our Commander-in-Chief has promised my sister and me that so long as we get these two T5 interstellar warships off the line and into service smoothly, he will give me 10 habitable planets when the time comes. And by then I, Annie, shall be Lord Annie!"
The harpy Avina looked to Zhao Chen in surprise.
"There is a regulation of that kind. I have promised Charlotte too that I shall set aside some habitable planets for their White-Tiger tribe when the time comes, for such beast-folk as are willing to move over here to live upon. The Owl Dragon star system is not large, and the planets available for remaking are not many. But the five star regions newly opened up outside the Starlight Empire are all my territory. And the Reef Star Region besides. I shall carry out habitable-planet remaking projects in all of them by degrees," Zhao Chen said.
An extraordinary light showed in the harpy Avina's eyes, as though she saw a scene of teeming interstellar life.
"Very well; we have near enough finished our round here. By way of welcoming your arrival, I have had a welcome banquet prepared." Zhao Chen made the invitation with a smile.
...
"This is… what place is this? Did we not just now board a strange interstellar warship?" The harpy Avina looked at the scene before her, like some paradise beyond the world.
She looked back at the long corridor behind her; had she not in truth just walked out of that corridor—
she would likely have supposed she must be dreaming.
"Can this be an interstellar warship on the side of ecological environment?" Spider Queen Iris, being of the profession, soon made out its character.
"It is; to put it precisely, it should be reckoned an ecological plantation, possessed of industrial chains in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery. Chiefly it supplies natural foodstuffs of every kind. This one is the most advanced we have at present, the T4 Golden-Eden-class Starship. Before this we had besides the T3 Silver-Eden-class Starship and the T2 Bronze-Eden-class Starship, though these have now ceased production and only those in service are retained," Zhao Chen explained.
"The construction cost of this, and the development cost, must be very high? You actually built an interstellar warship of this sort for the sake of getting food." Spider Queen Iris looked at Zhao Chen in astonishment.
In the Warhammer Interstellar Commonwealth there would be no investing in research along such lines.
"The people regard food as heaven," Zhao Chen said with a smile.
Thereafter the party passed through an orchard and came to the lakeside.
By this time each of them had fruits of one kind and another in hand.
"The flavor truly is fine." Spider Queen Iris munched at the fruit in her hand; beside her she had woven a temporary spider-web besides, upon which a heap of fruit was set.
Zhao Chen had earlier given them leave to pick at will, so long as nothing was wasted.
"Right then, let us picnic here." Zhao Chen pointed at a picnic camp not far off, made ready long since.
A bonfire, fine food, and fine scenery.
Zhao Chen leaned back on a deck chair, enjoying himself, and let his gaze stray to the harpy Avina, standing at the lakeside in a daze.
Harpy Avina: win-over index 97%
And this figure was still rising without cease.
"My… my lord, may… may I fly up and have a look?" The harpy Avina looked toward Zhao Chen.
"You may. I shall send you a map; you can fly wherever you like," Zhao Chen said offhand.
Annie at this point waved a hand and said, "Sister Avina, since you're flying out — you might catch me a few rabbits over on the grassland next door. Spicy rabbit heads are dead good!"
"Mm… very well." The harpy Avina answered, then spread her wings and shot into the sky.
She hung above this lake surface and looked round upon the fine scenery about her.
Orchard… pasture… farmland… lake… and even snow-capped mountains.
Too beautiful.