A long time later…
Sorcha walked home through the park, tired and fraying at the edges. She was thankful every day for having decided that this was the best spot for the colony’s large, main park. Right along the route between the colonial administration building and her home. The walk home always relaxed her. And this evening she was in particular need of relaxing.
It was the air, mostly. The smell of the grass crunching beneath her feet, the pollen drifting from the flowers and the gentle aroma of trees on the breeze. The smell of the lake. It was so much fresher here than anywhere else in the colony. Everywhere else it was just a little stale. Like air-conditioned air in an office block. She looked up at the sky. It was deep blue tinged with the amber of the sun setting on the horizon.
Of course the sky wasn’t real. If you looked closely enough you could see the blurs running in a crisscross across the sky where the projectors created the illusion. Beyond the gridded dome above lay the pink sky of Mars. And an atmosphere that was still rather hostile to both Human and Titan alike.
Fifteen minutes later she walked through the door of her suburban home. It looked a lot like the one she grew up in Tannhauser Gate. Though this one had an upstairs.
“Your son is going to forget what you look like.” A rather unimpressed voice said from the low light of the kitchen at the end of the hallway.
Sorcha sighed. She had been expecting that.
“Yes, I know, sorry…”
“Don’t say sorry to me,” Her mother said. “Say sorry to him.”
“I will, I assume he’s asleep?” Sorcha said, dropping herself heavily into the dining chair beside her mother.
Naskia smiled a small smile, her lips remaining fully closed. “He is. His great aunt Eyrn was over after work. She wore him out. I don’t know how she does it, normally he wears me out.”
“Well she does have the advantage of taking her bracelets off. Far easier to keep up with a five year old when you’re one third of your weight.”
“I really must looked into making something similar. I go to bed every night feeling each and every one of my joints.” Naskia grumbled.
Sorcha sighed once more. “Yes, sorry. I’ll try to get home before bedtime more often.”
“I don’t mind tuppy.” Her mother said, placing a hand atop her daughter’s. “There’s nothing I love more than putting my grandson to bed. He just misses you. He made you something.”
“He did?”
Naskia nodded and opened her mouth. “Well, he designed something. Then got a bit bored with it and moved on to his worm habitat. I stuck it on the fridge.”
Sorcha stood up and eagerly made her way to the fridge. It was a patchwork of family notices, pictures, certificates and one more piece of paper that hadn’t been there this morning. One half was schematics. Sorcha assembled the pieces in her mind. It was a rudimentary holographic projector. The other half looked to be the code that worked the projector. She couldn’t quite tell what it was. She suspected a picture he’d drawn and some writing. And judging by the writing it was a picture of her mother, herself, Joseph and their son. A large grin drew across her face as she read the words.
‘Niall loves Mummy, Daddy and Nana’
“Awww…” Sorcha touched her palm to a mouth and felt the pang of guilt.
“You did something just like it when you were little too. Your father was quite proud. He knew it would work. And so did you, so you didn’t build it either. Just went on to your next project.” Naskia said. “Though I’m pretty sure you were seven. Little Niall is two years ahead of you.”
Sorcha sighed. All she wanted to do was go upstairs and crawl into bed beside her boy but she couldn’t. Not yet anyway.
“Go on,” Naskia said. “Go see him.”
“Can’t…” Sorcha blinked heavy eyelids. “…I have to stay up. Wait for Joseph to come home.”
“I’m sure he won’t mind you getting some rest…”
“It’s not that Mum. We’ve exhausted our budget. And we’re still losing atmosphere. Depending on what the engineering team come up with, we may have to abandon phase three. Just stick with this small city under a dome.” Sorcha explained.
Naskia grimaced and hugged her exhausted daughter. “Go. Be with your boy.”
“Mum, I can’t…” Sorcha sighed once more. “…maybe…maybe you could take a look?”
She knew it was a longshot. She’d asked a few times before and the answer had always come back the same.
“I can’t tuppy…”
“You can Mum!” Sorcha snapped back.
“You have a whole team of dedicated engineers working on this. I’m just a high school science teacher.” Naskia replied.
Sorcha shook her head. “You’re not just a high school science teacher. You’re a highly regarded and respected physicist!”
“I think you overestimate my abilities…”
“And I think you underestimate yourself, Mum.” Sorcha shouted before remembering she had a small boy asleep upstairs. “Half the communications equipment used in the Empire is based on your research! It was you who figured out how Dad’s reactor worked!”
“My work is obsolete now…”
“No, it isn’t. It’s moved on a bit but the fundamentals are still yours. Entirely yours.” Sorcha continued.
Naskia shrugged. “I never could have done any of it without your father. He got me through university! He helped me refine my ideas! And he left clues in his work that only I could see.”
Sorcha waited for the line she knew was coming next.
“Without him, I’m nothing special.”
Sorcha shook her head and braced her fingers on her forehead. They’d had this conversation too many times and it always ended the same way.
The years after Niall and Aertimus’ deaths had been hard on Naskia. It was made harder still when her father died. She slowly withdrew herself from the world, leaving her work and the teaching job she inherited from Niall. She left the home in Tannhauser Gate, unable to live inside of a reminder of the life she had lived with her husband. She moved in with Eyrn, helping the now Lady Bass look after her young family. It helped give her some purpose.
And then six years ago she was invited by her daughter and her husband to live with them in their new home on the new world they were trying to build. She took up a post in the colony’s high school teaching science to the children of the settlers. And not long after she became grandmother to baby Niall.
Things almost felt like they were good again. But there was still a hole in her. A hole where her husband had been, where her work had been. New research projects or challenges no longer interested her. It didn’t feel right without him. It just didn’t feel the same, not being able to bounce ideas and theories off of someone who could think completely differently but still understand you completely.
And Sorcha had let it go on for far too long.
“Here,” she said a stuffed a pad containing Joseph’s notes into her mother’s hand. “We’ve been here for six years now. And you seemed like you’ve been getting better. Not back to how you were, but better…”
“Tuppy please…”
“No. Daddy would hate to see you like this. It would kill him. I know because it’s killing me.”
Naskia’s eyes welled up. “I don’t know what you want from me…”
“Look over Joseph’s notes. Try at least. Because if we can’t fix this, we have to leave. We have to leave our home. The place your grandson was born and the only place you’ve been anywhere near yourself again.” Sorcha said and stormed out of the kitchen. She stopped halfway up the stairs and looked at her mother. “And I don’t want Niall seeing you like that.”
Realising she had no choice, Naskia poured herself a glass of kapavi, she needed to steady her nerves. She settled into a dining room chair and began to review Joseph’s notes. The newly generated atmosphere of Mars was suffering the same problem as Mars had for billions of years. It was being blown away. It would need to be constantly topped up. Which was just not economically plausible.
“Well…that’s quite the conundrum…” Naskia said taking a sip of her kapavi. It was an especially rich brand of kapavi, grown right here on Mars. The nitrogen rich soil was especially good for growing crops. It would be a shame if it had to be abandoned.
She chewed on the inside of cheek and wondered what her husband would do if he were trying to solve this problem. Something involving insane amounts of energy, high energy plasma and craziness.
And then her eyes lit up. She had an idea. An idea worthy of Niall. And idea that just might work.
****
The sun was coming up on the roof of the dome as Joseph trudged his way through the front door of his home. He was surprised to see the light was still on in the kitchen. He was especially surprised to see his mother-in-law asleep, with her down on the dining room table, his notes in front of her and an empty bottle of kapavi beside her.
He was a little annoyed. He’d wanted to have a glass. It was the last bottle he had. And likely to be one of the last of its kind ever made. It was the one thing he’d been looking forward to enjoying before he had to break the news to Sorcha. There was no way for them to stop the atmospheric leakage. The colony wouldn’t be able to grow beyond the dome.
He picked up the bottle and dumped it into the recycling with the rest of the glass, making enough noise to startle Naskia awake.
“I did it…” She mumbled as she stretched and yawned herself awake.
“Not really healthy sitting up by yourself drinking other people’s kapavi, is it?” Joseph said, clearly annoyed.
Naskia shook some of the cobwebs from her head and slowly rose out of her chair, walked to the sink and filled a glass of water. “Sorry, I was celebrating.”
“What’s there to celebrate?” He asked.
“I did it. I solved it.” She said excitedly.
“Solved what?”
“The atmospheric leakage!” She said and handed him her own pad.
Joseph practically snatched it from her hand and scrolled through. He slumped into a chair as he got deeper and deeper into her idea. He’d spent the night with engineering minds far better than himself and watched in despair as one by one they’d given up. What was on this pad was the opposite of the direction they’d been going.
Mars’ magnetosphere was hotch potch at best and only covered a small percentage of the world. The Empire had attempted to construct an artificial magnetosphere as it had done on other worlds. But usually the artificial magnetosphere was built because a world did not have one, not to supplement a partial one. The native Martian magnetosphere refused to cooperate with its artificial neighbour.
Which had led to the solar winds stripping down the reborn atmosphere of the red planet.
Naskia’s solution could conservatively be described as radical. Eight thousand one hundred heavy duty mining lasers with plasma cannons positioned four degrees apart all over the surface of Mars. The core of the red planet had long cooled to rock, taking the magnetosphere with it. Naskia’s solution was to throw the firepower of an entire fleet at it and to melt it back down once more.
It was insane.
“There’s no way it could work.” Joseph said eventually.
“Hour long burns, four times a day for just over a year. It’ll work. What’s more once the atmosphere gets going it’ll help to insulate the surface, trapping the heat in. There’d be tectonic disturbance and volcanic activity but nothing we can’t handle.” Naskia said.
Joseph shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair in disbelief. “But the cost alone…”
“I already called Loona. She promised we’d colonise Mars. She’ll fund it.” Naskia said with a confident grin.
“I…I…How? We’ve had a team of engineers working on this for six months! How did you come up with this?” Joseph asked.
Naskia smiled and took a sip at her water. “It was rather simple actually.” She said. “It’s just physics.”
———————————————————————————————-
And that is it. After more than three years, three stories, numerous sides and around three quarters of a million words I am done! Thank you all for reading and for your encouragement. When I started writing Physics back in March 2013 I just wanted to write about an arrogant Irishman winding up a neurotic, giant brunette and add a little bit more to the fantastic universe JS had laid out. I did not envision it becoming as widely read as it did (This site alone has over a million hits – not including other incarnations and the previous site). It’s a rather strange feeling to write something that means quite a lot to you have to have other people care about it just as much. So really, thanks for reading and commenting and everything.
My thanks also to DX and Dann. Without them I wouldn’t be anywhere near as good a writer. And especially to JS for letting me dabble in his universe and for setting such a high bar in the first place.
I’ll likely pop back in from time to time but I think I’ve earned a little break. My best to you all.
OHH
ok this novel, made me cry, really really cry damn, perhaps i’m too much emotonial but damn… you write the sad parts in excellent way
i lucky i read only the final chapter of promise, i didn’t understand that was after this novel, i only search info about Lyroo after the Zeramblin act, i’m a lucky devil to avoid spoiler
one question, in epilogue four we have a time skip, but in the epiloge five we return to 2127 right? or they have need so much time for capture Vasha?
i still need to read alliance inteliggence: but i prefer write here the final consideration
i’m not a gts fan, i discovered this world only in october 2017 by my friend that forgot to hide some images, so i don’t understand some issues like the underage problem or the fear of being discovered, but i can tell this. I find the argument interesting when the stories has a really plot, so i discovered this, and if the first story interested me, with physich, when the argument about the fight of titan’s racism and classism are enter in the equation. two argument that very interested me. well i dived into this saga like a rocket. and i don’t regret about this
you create a very interested universe, good charachter and a good setting. Perhaps too many giants female, but i understand the base of begin of this universe. and like my friend already said. if you not continue this saga, was aniway a good and fun experience.
Thank you kindly. And we aren’t done — well, not completely. We will keep puttering away at Alliance, and we want to eventually go back and edit things. But on behalf of all of us, I’m very glad you enjoyed this — we wanted the story to stand on its own merits, and I’m very glad you found it to.
Hey. I know this I very informal, but do you guys want help editing things? I went back and edited all the grammar mistakes out of Nomad just for fun.
First of all apologies for the delay in responding, life has been very busy as of late.
Hybrid was a tough write. I tried to avoid ending it the way it did but it did have to happen. In the end I gave in and it’s a better story for it.
I started mostly wanting to do a story on a grumpy guy with a loveable girl who was too good for him, who would eventually complement one another.
I grew up in a religious civil war that I never understood. People killing each other over minor, petty things that had been blown up beyond all reason so Iwanted to add a layer about the patent absurdity of bigotry, which this universe allows for with little subtlety.
As for the time skip, I wanted the epilogues to be done in themes. There were so many to do it meant they weren’t as neat as I liked.
Thanks for reading and I’m glad you enjoyed!
no problem man, i only write the comments because i fell ist right to do, I do not ask for an answer by force
so you so you confirm the back and forth in the epilogues? sorry sometimes i’m a little slow…
Dude, I WROTE part of the series and even I have a hard time keeping track of the age thing sometimes. Best bet is to not question, that or ask D.X 😉
I’m glad you enjoyed the series, and thanks for the reviews!
TD
And now NASA actually wants to do this http://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-wants-to-launch-a-giant-magnetic-shield-to-make-mars-habitable
Congratulations indeed on this remarkable finish, and thank you so very much for giving Naskia back to us. Niall and Naskia were always my favorites, though many others preferred others, such as Alex and Rixie, for example. Physics was where my heart caught in the Titanverse, and I so miss regular stories in this Story. Thank you for all the awesome creativity and love… I loved every word. You are my creative hero, Thank you so very much!
Niall and Naskia had a great relationship, definitely.
This may be the end of this story, but I sincerely hope this is not the last we ever see of these characters.
Thank u all for the best giantess story ever written in my opinion. There are plenty of good stories out there but none better than this. Nail was always one of my favorite characters. Aside from Alex and rixe. I hope that js and company continue to write but if not still great story. The way nail and artie sacrificed to save everyone was awesome!
“Without him, I’m nothing special.”
Can somebody dope slap some sense into Naskia for me, please?
************
Congratulations on finishing the story. I greatly enjoyed it, to the point that I’m actually a little bummed that we’ve now reached the end of the series’ main storyline. But it can’t be helped; every good story needs to end sooner or later.
That it does FH. Cheers for keeping us on our toes with your encyclopedic knowledge.
Well done!
Congrats OHH its a nice ending to a near epic story. I really started becoming a fan of the series beginning with your first story – Physics. However its sad to see Naskia still in mourning for her lost family members, that has to be rough. But she still has her daughter and grandchild and the remainder of her family so that has to be a comfort.
Also sad that after all these years she did not develop her self-esteem, even with all of her achievements
Interesting to note; there is no human interaction or even references in the chapter..
Happy trails….
“Interesting to note; there is no human interaction or even references in the chapter..”
Sorcha is half Human, as is Joseph. They must count?
I guess… I meant direct interaction with 100% humans.
Congratulations on finishing a rather epic story, as you’ve said you’ve more than earned a break.
Thanks Kusanagi
@OpenHighHat. I love your writing. If it wasn’t for Physics, I wouldn’t have read the rest of the Titan Series. That would be too bad, because they were all good.
I read a poser story from Titan long ago and that kept me from reading the Titan novels.
Cheers Barrowman, I appreciate it.
Poser story? Was that Butre’s?
Not sure. The text was the same as chapter 2 of Titan. It was the Introduction of Brinn and I hated her right away. 😉 Nothing wrong with the art, but the behaviour of the character Brinn was so annoying. 😉
Luckely I began reading Physics somehow and it was interesting to see the interaction and development. That opened the door to read Titan and have more faith in its character development, but I would not read the Brinn chapters in that novel.
Thanks to JS, Dann and DX as well, for creating entertaining stories and an interesting universe. Interesting perspectives. All the effort put in. Thanks for this interesting Sci-Fi and experience. We can only hope that someting like this becomes a Tv-series.
There is so much more to tell, but than this post will be very long.
Congratulations indeed, you certainly left a mark on the community with Physics and now Hybrid to wrap things up beautifully!
Cheers Nostory
Congratulations on finishing this thrilling story. *applauds*
I just noticed the bookends. Your part of the series starts and ends with the word ‘physics’.
Cheers AR. Where’s the first?
The title Physics. So not in the narrative itself, but in its very name.
Ah wow, all these years and it ends on Mars, so close.
I am glad you thought it came out as thrilling in the end. There was a LOT to set up and juggle in this story. Getting the pacing and action mixed with detail was a pain in the ass. It felt like a bit of a slog to write in parts but getting to write the final arc was fun.
You have earned a little break. But just a little one ! 😀
Thank you for all those years of great stories.
What’s next for the Titanverse ? Is it over ?
As we’ve said before, it ain’t over, untill JS gets bored.
😉
Which will be awhile, it seems.
Let me know when it becomes the longest work of fiction in history. The Mahabharata clocks in at 2.5 million words in English translation, and there’s a 3.5 million word Super Smash Brothers fanfic.
This isn’t a single work though, not sure if that makes a difference.
Depends on how you decide to count. You could decide that the whole series is one story, or you could divide it.
Or the fat lady sings……..
🙂
I was a little sad to see what happened to Naskia. I figured she’d start to come out of it once she figured out Niall’s design. At least not we know for sure the spark is back.
Joseph needs to make a few late night calls. Gotta find another bottle of kapavi to celebrate. Oh, and let the engineers know too I suppose.
It was a triple whammy for her really. Niall, Aerti and then her father. Three of the people she was closest too. Combine that with taking a great deal of time out and someone can lose them self in that.
I wanted to write something a bit more detailed on it but I couldn’t. So I skipped to the (sort of) happy ending.
I must say, it’s sad to see this ending. I’ve literally been reading since this started, back before you guys had a site. And I do remember pretty much every story, from the first Titan to even those that were removed. In all honesty, this has literally been my go-to series for a good read, and every time I saw a new chapter was up it brightened my day.
Cheers Nergal, it’s been good to have you. Hopefully we’ll still have a few bits n pieces to come.
Being somewhat technical minded myself, I’ve rather enjoyed your stories. Granted, even all the negativity in the comments hasn’t deterred me from considering this universe and the stories some of the best I’ve read. Reading this chapter I was slightly confused at the move to Mars from where they were before, but it still reads well. I wish you well in your future endevours.
Probably because Tau Ceti is in good hands, and maybe the two of them wanted to avoid any hero worship. Besides, Mars is just next door as far as warp travel is concerned.
That’s because I left out a line!
Which line was that?
“A long time later” lol