Cleaning Up After The Ancients - Chapter 108

Chapter 108 - A Quick Trip

The Chinese government had given Eventus permission for an orbital entry vector into their airspace. Which turned what would have been a roughly eight hour trip into one that barely took them an hour.

“Do you ever get tired of it?” Xiaoyi asked softly as the Jumper began to dip back into the Earth's atmosphere.

“The infinite expanse of the universe?” Eventus asked with a fond smile. “I haven't yet.”

And all things considered, he rather hoped he never would. 

“I bet you think that sort of worry is silly then.” Xiaoyi mused almost pityingly.

Eventus let out a slightly sad sigh. “Even amongst my people, only one in three were able to bear the weight of eternity for more than a few thousand years.”

In the end, those who couldn't would let old age catch up to them. Whereupon their souls would reincarnate. A tiny bit stronger, a tiny bit more, and maybe finally be able to find the eternal drive necessary to keep going all the way till they eventually reached ascension.

Xiaoyi quirked her lips. “On the subject, I’ve been skimming over various cultural reports from the Atlantis expedition. And I was somewhat amazed to find your people’s beliefs about certain things so mirrored our own.”

“That’s probably less amazing than it looks on the surface.” Eventus offered apologetically. “Given the almost equal distribution of my people’s distinctive genetic markers across your planet,  it’s safe to say that those who stayed on Earth scattered in pretty much all directions before deciding on a place to settle down and make the attempt at Ascencion.”

And they had done a more than admirable job at hiding away everything they’d brought back with them, because his scans had yet to detect so much as a mostly spent energy cell.

“Then I suppose I might not be any luckier than the average.” Xiaoyi mused almost to herself before offering a wry smile in response to the questioning look Eventus sent her way.

“When the ATA gene was first discovered my government began an intensive testing regime to locate those of our population who possessed it. They were somewhat distressed to discover however that the number of our people who possessed the gene seemed to be nearly seven times lower than that of certain other countries.”

Knowing what he did about Authoritarian governments, Eventus felt a momentary stab of pity for those in China who had been found to actually possess the active form of the control gene.

“I was not among those who were found to have it.” Xiaoyi added in a tone that seemingly had just a tinge of relief in it. “However as part of the new Pancea initiative all members of the IOA are being afforded the opportunity to take Doctor Beckett’s gene activation retrovirus. And I was more than a little surprised to be one of those it actually worked on.”

Eventus got the distinct sense from the way her tone had wavered in places that it hadn’t exactly been her choice to accept the retrovirus. And he made a mental note to reinforce the idea with Xiaoyi’s government that she was his preferred diplomatic contact so she wouldn’t just be disappeared somewhere after his vacation was over with.

“You have my congratulations then." He offered with a slight headbow. “Should you one day find yourself on Atlantis, I am sure we could put your new capabilities to good use.”

“The offer is much appreciated.” Xiaoyi returned as for a moment an almost self-deprecating look seemed to flash across her face. “But I’m afraid there is currently little use in the expedition for someone from my government whose only claim to fame is a psychology doctorate.”

Frowning as he considered that, Eventus couldn’t help but acknowledge that it was highly unlikely that anyone in the western slanted expedition would offer the Chinese woman the level of trust needed to successfully practice that particular branch of medicine.

“Well, if you ever want to branch out, basic implanted knowledge courses are available on Atlantis to all who meet the necessary genetic pre-requisites.”

Though he was pretty sure Doctor Weir had put out some sort of memo telling her people not to even ask about the possibility of using the technology given he hadn’t had even a single person come to him with an interest in it since explaining the various limitations.

“Like what Doctor Beckett went through?” Xiaoyi inquired, giving him an odd look.

“No.” Eventus shook his head. “That was a full specialist course, in human terms it would be the difference between an associate degree and a medical degree.”

For all intents and purposes it was the same basic course all of his people went through while growing up before they decided on what they wanted their first speciality to be. But that would be more than enough for a human to get their foot in the door of pretty much any Atlantis based operation they choose.

“I see.” Xiaoyi murmured, glancing out the windows and tracking the clouds as they passed by.

“We’re about to pass under the six thousand foot ceiling and on approach to the mainland.” Eventus told her after a minute. “Is there a specific location it would be good to start with, or should I just pick randomly from the list of approved locations?”

“Given your mentioned interest in our world's media, I thought Hengdian World Studios might be a good destination to start with.” Xiaoyi put forward with a smile. “It's currently in the middle of a filming block. So a few of the less used villas are available for use as habitable suites.”

That last part was certainly an interesting addition given his research hadn’t suggested that sort of thing as an actual option, though amusing even without it that particular location would have actually been his first choice too. Likely for the exact same reasons Xiaoyi had been told to try and direct him towards it by her government. 

Functionally speaking, it was somewhere that was entirely built around putting on an easily controlled show, while also showcasing the general feel of the Chinese people’s culture and history. Yes, that did of course mean he wouldn't be getting an authentic experience, however that was never really going to be in the cards anyways. And well, Eventus was far too done with everything at the moment to really care so long as he could still relax.

“It’s your country, so I'll bow to your experience with destination choices.”

He brought up the map on the canopy display, and then after taking a moment to run a location search adjusted their course towards Dongyang.

“Do you have the exact location you want me to set the jumpers down?”

Xiaoyi reached down into her handbag and pulled out a small booklet whose pages she quickly flipped through. “Can this ship access our global positioning system?”

“Easily.” Eventus confirmed.

“Then take us to 29.182334 by 120.300707.” Xiaoyi instructed. “There will be an arranged landing zone nearby.”

The seasons were currently crossing the border between spring and summer on Earth’s northern hemisphere, which meant the entire area under their ship was awash with the vibrant green of growing plantlife. The Jumper’s speed did not let that last long however, and they soon began passing over the lines of a living city before reaching a walled mini-city that strategically straddled the lines between modern and ancient.

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Author’s Notes: Needed a transitionary and general location establishing chapter, next up will be the greeting party. And yes, I did actually go to the trouble of hunting down workable GPS cordinates.