Chapter 581: The sounds of gods
In the end, I couldn’t make a decision without more information, of course, so I announced a pause to the Council and established a telepathic link with Precio-Us to talk with them.
I didn’t send an astral projection there—it was just a telepathic conversation that was happening while I sat at the Council table and sipped on tea; my girls checked their notes, ate snacks and talked quietly or with telepathy to not distract me.
As soon as I asked, Precio-Us were eager to pour a river of information on me.
’Father! We knew you would want to know every detail. The minds that joined us were all very bright and helpful. They are also keeping the Divinity Sound in our memory, and with them, we know we could control it a little better. It lets us listen to other sounds better, too. We feel the echoes of the same sound in everything done by god-creatures. In the Champion Tree, in you, and in the sky where the ash cloud hangs. With this knowledge, we believe we can move it away.’
I frowned.
’But using this power will alert the gods to their existence... You know perfectly well that this is unacceptable, girls.’
’We won’t be using this power, only our perception of what the god-creatures did! The rest will be done by the hands of workers. It will be unnoticeable... We thought it through. The god-creatures have twisted the currents of the air in the sky unnaturally and created a stable cyclone, but we can change them back. Listen...’
Precio-Us explained the rest of their plan in great technical detail. It really didn’t include using the power they had.
According to them, the winds in the cloud altitudes above the Central Region were twisted. The air currents above our continent were wrecked by all the usnea tree plantations, which caused a lot of sudden weather changes and unexpected storms; the weather above the Central Region really was so stable that it contradicted the established patterns.
Precio-Us suggested planting new plantations in the Digging Holes Region north of the Central Region, between the mountains and the ash cloud. At the same time, we had to cut and then burn the plantations standing south of the Central Region, and the ash cloud in the Fields Region. Preferably together with a few hundred thousand living mountains.
(Like their names suggested, the Digging Holes Region had a lot of mines, while the Fields Region had a lot of fields producing food.)
Groves of the usnea trees had a "sucking" effect on the clouds on high altitudes, while fires would have an opposite, "pushing" effect on the clouds. This would break the pattern of the god-made cyclone and force the cloud closer to the mountains.
There it will cool off sooner and fall down. Coincidentally, the mountains had no buildings that could be entombed under the ash.
’But what if the gods just keep the ash cloud there with more power, Precio-Us?’
’You said in the past that they can’t do anything they want. We can guarantee that right now, no god-creatures are actively affecting this cloud.’
It actually sounded like a good plan. Despite my fears, it only used physical methods and was based on research that was entirely non-suspicious. In fact, I would’ve been cursing myself for not thinking it up sooner if not for one thing...
’You suggest that I burn an entire region’s worth of plantations! That’s not "some strategic cutting" as Researchina put it...’
’Our calculations show that only in this case the success is almost guaranteed, Father. Cutting fewer trees will increase the chances that the ash cloud won’t reach the mountains and will only move closer to them and stay afloat, or fall on populated regions.’
I nodded to myself.
Then, another thought came to me.
’You said that you can sense involvements of gods. Does that mean you can sense when they are watching us?’
’We... aren’t sure. Perhaps we do, but there is nobody near. Or perhaps we don’t, because they hide too well. But we will tell you if we sense someone. In fact, you are often being watched by gods, right, Father? We would be able to hear their presence better if we were near you.’
My expression soured. I caught a few curious and alarmed glances from the Advisers in the room.
’No way! I love you all, girls, but the experiments you are busy with are too dangerous. What if this power goes out of control again? I would rather keep acting as if I’m being watched by one of these pricks or another at all times than risk a catastrophe centred at Hive Supremo.’
’As you say, Father.’ Despite their calm reaction, I could tell that Precio-Us were a little disappointed. Just a little, though—they must’ve expected this reaction. ’Then we said everything we wanted to and gave all the technical information you need to follow the plan we suggested. We will continue our research, and keep reporting to Adviser Researchina or you.’
’Yeah. Thank you... This was very well done, really.’ I said a little bit late. ’I send you headpats with my thoughts—to each of you!’
I could almost feel them giggling. Even as a hive mind, the bees were bees... The average personality of bees certainly loved her headpats.
The Empire Council resumed its session afterwards.
We now had an entire new decision to make, which I have announced aloud to the Council. Researchina already knew most of it, but others listened with wide eyes.
"Planting this many trees in the Digging Holes region is doable, although this would take the entire army that’s stationed there, I assume. Because I don’t have so many free workers," Workharder said, glancing at Bloodhero. "But cutting the plantations in the Fields Region? They feed not just us, but several cities’ worth of humans! And since the usnea trees don’t burn until they are cut, we will have to send a lot of mechas and humans with scythes there first..."