Ceres Chaos [Exosuit Progression]

“Summer vacation guys, let's go!” Ardan stuck his fist up as they sat in an AI-driven hovercar which sped across the outer zones of the city.

“This planet’s only season is summer, Ardan, what I want is a winter vacation! I haven’t seen snow in person yet, and VR doesn’t count!” Braton replied as he sat in the driver’s seat, though he hardly drove at all as the wheel was being managed automatically.

The military orphanage obviously taught them how to drive and operate military vehicles, but that doesn’t mean that they had a civilian license. He sat there mostly because he was too large to sit in the backseat.

The surface was hot almost all year round, though it hardly bothered the five kids. With more than sufficient cooling in the hovercar, it was easy enough to avoid most of the heat.

Lisa had her legs up on the dashboard, leaning back in the front passenger seat while she nonchalantly browsed through her multi, ignoring the distressed Ardan who was sat right smack between Erik and Trissa in the backseat, who were both looking out their respective windows.

Ardan felt like only he and Braton were the only ones talking. Even Erik who used to chat so much with him was ignoring him, hurting his feelings. Ardan had to continuously console himself that it was not personal, it was just that Erik was going through a bad time.

“Destination in 10 minutes: Zone 20 - Fye Greenhouse.” The AI of the hovercar reported as they started to slow down, reaching a massive glass dome.

While Athen was designated as a mining planet, the city still had to find a way to reduce its reliance on external food in the event of isolation from the star trading network.

This was a permanent problem for every planet of the Loeric Empire, especially considering that they were subjected to recurring wars and non-stop aggression from the slovesa.

The first wave of colonists lived on nutri-paste and the local wildlife, but that was unsustainable for the entire city. People eventually wanted a better quality of food other than the same old bland nutri-paste.

It was fine for the first ten years, but if they truly wanted to develop a city, they needed a proper agricultural system.

Hence, there was an early push to create greenhouses both on the surface and underground, aiming for at least 50% domestic production. While the goal has not yet been achieved, subsidies and grants from the New Saint’s city administration got it close.

In the event that the single spaceport over the city was blockaded or under attack, Athen could at least sustain a good amount of its population through rationing for at least a year, assuming they were willing to eat nutri-paste all day.

However, the city administration didn’t own all the greenhouses. More than 60% of the agricultural industry in Athen was privatized, either directly owned by the Dynasty of Hawthorn or the locals.

It was the de-facto standard across the empire, that recognized the driving potential of private farmers on obtaining the full economic benefit of what they grew on their lands. This led to a diverse range of agricultural economic activity.

A few foreign companies invested in various industries, such as specific exotic beautiful plants that could only grow on such hot planets, but the bulk of the money came from creating edible and tasty food.

Ardan’s family owned one such greenhouse, holding it for almost close to thirty years. They were a mainstay of Zone 20.

Naturally, such locations also became vacation hotspots for the people living in the outer zones. Most of them worked in the mining industry or manufacturing sector and didn’t want to rent a hotel for a staycation in just another different cave.

The greenhouse full of lush plants and boundless farms served as an exotic-enough destination for the workers to take leave and relax.

Commercial buildings also popped up next to these hotspots, serving the recreational sector which formed a sort of holiday destination with everything included.

The local tourism industry exploded thanks to the dreary surface of Athen and the long hours underground. Humans still had instincts towards the sun, and while the inners could get on by easily with their artificial day and night cycle, nothing beat a real planet-induced cycle.

Even some foreign tourists from heavily urbanized habitats or cities travelled here to get a glimpse of the ‘frontier’. Though Athen was not close to the border conflict between the Loeric Empire and the slovesa, it did use to be a former slovesa planet, hence the allure.

It was to such a place that the five of them were headed to, for a week of well-deserved relaxation and fun.

“Hah! Ceres is going to miss out on this!” Ardan sneered, still angry at the departure of Ceres.

Ceres had effectively left him in the dark, ditching his mentor role. While Ardan also knew that this wasn’t intentional and that the competition meant a lot to Ceres, he was still indignant at the fact.

Deep down, however, he knew that whatever this vacation was, it would be nothing compared to what Ceres would be enjoying from Cardenia Hawthorn herself. However, for the five of them, it would have to do for now. Their relationship was strained after all, seeing Erik and Trissa act like this.

As the hover-car neared the spherical glass dome of the greenhouse, which was surrounded by low-level shopping malls and hotels, Lisa too couldn’t stop looking out the hover-car window and taking in the view.

The greenhouse was fairly large, about close to 5 kilometres across in diameter. The glass dome was supported by large pillars spaced out across the land, but what was more impressive to her was that it wasn’t the only greenhouse in the area.

The entire zone seemed to be filled with similar glass domes, with scores of similar hovercars flying about in designated flight lines.

The hover-car redirected towards the greenhouse entrance, which was guarded by two security guards that had a look of absolute boredom.

While crime has generally dropped across the city ever since the introduction of legalized riots and protests, private security firms still made a living from protecting such installations from potential trespassers and vagrants.

Naturally, their only duty was to buy enough time for the public enforcers to make it, so their combat abilities were not impressive either. If they entered the competition, they probably would have not made it past the first stage of the qualifiers.

In that sense, Braton, Trissa and Erik were all much stronger and well-trained in combat compared to the average citizen in the outer zones.

With the greenhouse owned by Ardan’s family, they easily went through the entrance, entering an idyllic landscape rarely seen even in holo-movies or VR worlds.

Such green landscapes could only be seen in very few actual planets in the Loeric Empire naturally, which were all agricultural in nature.

The Strathon system never had such a planet, with Strathon being mostly covered in cities while Athen only had sparse native vegetation that could either make people high or kill them or both.

The never-ending rows of greenery, bushes and trees of all sorts of fruits extended into the horizon, while the scorching sun that the orphans were so used to had been mellowed out by the filtering of the glass dome, making the temperature slightly lower than the outside.

“It’s like an inner zone, but with actual light and without the shitty discrimination!” Lisa smiled to herself.

Automated metal drones hovered and roamed the fields and farms, watering or fertilizing the crops and plants. It was one of the rare few greenhouses that didn’t implement vertical farming, instead keeping it this way simply to profit from more tourist money as a business decision.

The greenhouse wasn’t just filled with such farms, it also had a small area where the main command building was, as well as a few houses and dormitories for workers who lived on site.

Hardly any worker collects the crops themselves, instead managing and maintaining the drones that carried out most of the heavy lifting, such as watering, tiling or harvesting the crops.

A good amount of people were seen working in the command building which had all clear glass walls, while a few workers were taking a break outside, lying on the grass.

The buildings were all adorned in the ancient human’s middle age style, making it seem like a fantasy town to the group of five who had watched famous holo-films that were generally the uncountable reboot of the same franchise from Earth a thousand years ago.

Filmmakers had no reason to let go of such a good cash cow even though the premise of the stories was outdated – in fact, it helped to unite humanity and remind everyone of their shared heritage from Earth.

Naturally, films like Ring of the Lords and Stellar Wars were revamped with new technology incessantly, making their battles and stories ever more realistic with the advent of holo-technology.

The architectural difference between the outside of the greenhouse and this medieval ‘fantasy’ town surprised the group of orphans, who all looked at Ardan who was still seated meekly in the backseat.

“Haha, my dad’s a huge nature buff, and he loves ancient films! This is our vacation house right here, and we come here at least once every year apart from business trips.” He pointed out of the hovercar window to a large mansion that looked closer to a miniaturized medieval castle than anything else.

Erik and Trissa dropped whatever animosity they had between them and couldn’t stop staring at the little town that was overlooked by the large mansion.

Lisa started grinning uncontrollably to herself as she imagined what she could roleplay as – the evil queen.

Braton still had his mind half stuck on what happened between Erik and Trissa, and the other half on if there were enough training weights in the large mansion. Maybe he could lift some of the drones?

“There’s no training room here, it’s a pure relaxation house, so you can relax here for the week.” Ardan smiled, while Braton’s face paled. He didn’t sign up for this!

“No no no, I didn’t know it was going to be like this! I have to eat 12 times a day and do 200 curls every three hours! You can’t break my habits like that!”

“Don’t worry I’ll find something for you to lift, and we got more than enough food here. Maybe try lifting the hovercar?”

“It’s too large for curls!”

The hovercar finally landed at the porch of the large mansion, which boasted a huge gate four meters tall, with an automated humanoid drone dressed in a butler suit waiting outside.

“Welcome back, young master Ardan. Your friends have been registered with the automated defence system – no harm shall come to them while they are on this premise until they are no longer your friends.” The butler drone spoke with a monotonous voice as it bowed.

“Don’t be like that, Albus!” Ardan got out of the hovercar, finally free from the tension that Erik and Trissa had been emitting over the whole ride.

The others got out too, stretching their limbs and taking in the view. Erik and Trissa kept a considerable distance away, while they admired the environment.

The trees and bushes were kept impeccable while the mansion’s walls were sparkling white, giving a sense of luxury to all of them. Braton gulped, not imagining that he could ever have the chance to stay in such a place in his life.

“Command ALBUS confirmed – activating personality to level 9. What’s up dog? It’s been a long time since your little bitch ass left this summer house all alone to my poor self to clean up after you! Don’t think I didn’t know you puked under the staircase last year and decided to leave it there! If it wasn’t for my upgraded sensors, I wouldn’t have found...”

“STOP STOP STOP! Revert command Albus!” Ardan quickly rushed up to the drone, trying to cover its speakers with his hand, while Lisa and Erik just stared at Ardan. Was Ardan secretly a masochist?

“Hahaha my butler drone is super funny, it’s just a joke guys, go ahead to your rooms and settle in! Sorry, I don’t have enough rooms for all of us, so guys and girls each have one room. I’ll join you guys soon!”

***

In the boy’s room, an interrogation was happening.

“Alright brother Erik, lay it down for me.” Braton sat down on the bed, the bed creaking under his weight while he took out a nutri-paste bar and started chomping. No matter what Ardan said, he was going to get his 12 meals a day.

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it, but I essentially got cockblocked hard. Just give me some time to work things out. Don’t tell the others.” Erik sighed as he lay on his bed.

Three beds had been arranged in the large hotel room that looked exactly like a normal modern room. They were half expecting some ancient fantasy-style bedroom, but it looks like they skimped on the internals.

“Okay okay, I won’t ask you anymore! You can consider my lips sealed. But tell me what happened though.” His eyes glinting with devious schemes, Braton stared at Erik, who sighed even louder.

***

“Erik got cockblocked, that’s all I got out from him, what did you learn?” Braton sat down next to Lisa in the backyard garden of the mansion.

The two of them sat on a bench that overlooked the farms in the distance, gentle breezes drawing patterns amongst the plants. This meeting had already been planned before the trip began. No way these two were about to give up that easily on such juicy gossip.

“Nothing, I’m not that close to her yet.” Lisa shrugged as she relaxed on the bench. “We’re not that close yet, you know, and she didn’t even say a word to me in the room.” Lisa was slightly bummed that the room wasn’t fantasy themed nor queen-like as she expected, but she was more bummed that she didn’t have any female friends at all.

Yes, it was a military orphanage and girls were trained just as hard as guys, but she was ostracized due to being too dominating and stubborn, making it hard for her to get along with other girls in her year. Especially since most of them were taller than her. She hated that.

She half-expected Trissa to open up to her due to both of them being fairly strong for their year, even considering the age gap between them.

“I suspect you didn’t ask her at all and just stared at her, as usual,” Braton recalled the way Lisa just stared down the orphanage director, Ann Lesion to get what she wanted.

“N-n-no I didn’t, I asked her straight to the face and she just glared at me!” Lisa stuttered, obviously lying straight to Braton’s face.

Braton just sighed. “It’s going to be a long week, isn’t it?”

Their multi-terminals had a beep – it was Ardan. “Hey guys, let’s go on a tour of the place now!”

Braton’s eyes glinted and he looked straight at Lisa: “This is your chance to get closer to Trissa, you must form a bond and find out what happened! No more awkward stares, you hear me?!”