Chapter 1324: The Interstellar Grand Stage (Part 48)

Passing through the garden of the Raptor Palace and bypassing the political hall on the west side, one could reach the teleportation station leading to the large teleportation portal. Loki held her staff and walked into the teleportation station; she had already planned to leave.

This visit was just to release a signal; others would naturally help her explain the rest. Loki stepped into the gate of the teleportation station, but waited slightly at the entrance for half a minute before lifting her foot to walk toward the teleportation portal.

Sure enough, the moment she touched the teleportation portal, a shout came from behind: "Princess Loki! Princess Loki! Wait! The Queen wants to see you!"

Loki retracted her foot. She turned her head, looking very surprised, and said: "The Queen wants to see me?"

"Yes, Princess. I am very sorry, I am afraid you will have to postpone your subsequent arrangements. The Queen has something very important to find you for!" The female diplomat Atu had an apologetic expression.

Loki frowned slightly, but still turned around, walked toward the outside of the teleportation station, and said: "In any case, seeing the Queen is my honor."

Atu breathed a sigh of relief, then showed a smile. She thought that Loki must be the best-tempered Asgardian; if it were any other Aesir, they would have snorted coldly and walked away.

But on the way to the throne room, Atu still tried hard to make up for it: "I am really sorry, Princess Loki. The Queen's message was very urgent, and we also received the notice temporarily. Perhaps there really is something important..."

Loki nodded without speaking, but she knew clearly that she was singing a duet with Thanos; she had actually been waiting for the Queen to summon her.

Loki entered the throne room and saw the Queen standing before the throne. She stroked her chest with one hand and knelt slightly to salute. This was considered a relatively grand etiquette in Asgard, but still not the grandest.

The Queen of the Shi'ar Empire and the God King of Asgard were of equal rank. Loki was a foreign guest, so the etiquette could be reduced by one level. Although she didn't need to kneel on one knee, the degree of her curtsy was too small, which could be said to be slightly rude.

The Queen noticed her action and sighed slightly in her heart. She knew that such behavior of suddenly calling someone to see her during a private visit would definitely be criticized. She had been at a disadvantage from the very beginning of this negotiation.

Now it only depended on whether Thanos's deduction was correct. The Queen thought that, in fact, she didn't want to admit that an outsider was actually more clear-headed than the advisors raised within the royal family.

But all monarchies had the same problem: nobles only looked at their own interests and were always inclined to be conservative in national affairs. The advice the Queen could get from them was to refuse everything and maintain the status quo.

But obviously, the Queen of the Shi'ar Empire was more far-sighted than these nobles. She knew that the struggle of the interstellar society was like sailing against the current; if you don't advance, you retreat. Continuing to maintain the status quo meant inevitable decline.

Adjusting her mindset, the Queen spoke first: "Long time no see, Princess Loki. How is His Majesty Odin?"

"The All-Father is very well. I convey his greetings to you on his behalf, Your Majesty."

After a simple exchange of pleasantries, neither side gained any advantage. Although Loki appeared slightly cold, she was also watertight and had no offense. The Queen couldn't pick out any mistakes either.

"I heard from Pole that you have some understanding of our dimension cutting and transport technology, and feel that we have taken the wrong path?" the Queen asked.

"This technology is a hot topic in the Shi'ar Empire recently, but in fact, it is not new technology either. When I was young, I heard that the Shi'ar Empire was researching this technology. As for the right or wrong of the path, at least in my opinion, I am afraid it is very difficult to solve the defects of the large teleportation portal..."

The Queen hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to speak directly. She began to pace before the throne and said in a low voice: "You didn't come here without a target, and I didn't summon you just for pleasantries..."

"We both understand the dilemma of the Shi'ar Empire and Asgard. I think, perhaps in some aspects, we have complementary points. Since you have already come here, I will take this behavior as a signal seeking cooperation, and naturally, I also want to talk to you about the current situation of our two sides..."

Loki's eyes paused. She also didn't intend to beat around the bush anymore, but lowered her eyes and said: "Asgard is indeed facing some problems now, but compared to the dilemma of the Shi'ar Empire, what we have encountered are just small troubles..."

The Queen weighed it in her heart and finally decided to use the answer Thanos gave her. She said: "Asgard wants to give up conquering the universe and no longer seize interests in an extremely violent posture, but such a change will also make the subjects of the Nine Realms feel panic."

"They are not sure whether Asgard can obtain resources as rich as before through diplomatic means, and don't know whether they can still develop under such conditions... You need to stabilize the hearts of the people."

"And similarly, when you step into the interstellar society, your label will no longer be Asgard, but the Nine Realms. The powerful side of the God race will be weakened, and people will pay more attention to the overall strength of the civilization."

"But among the Nine Realms, the gap between the upper and lower limits is too large. Civilizations like humans do not yet have the ability for interstellar colonization. You want to make up for this shortcoming, but you are troubled by the technology tree developed on the basis of divine power, which cannot be used by those races with weak bodies."

"Your spaceships have no life support systems, almost no safety defense measures, no disaster warnings, and everything serves attack power, because the God race doesn't need these. You only need to sail the ship, fire the cannons, and then board. But other races can't."

"You also have no way to re-explore a technology route on the basis of weak bodies. You have neither time nor necessity, because you know clearly that you are the alternative in the universe, and besides that, there are plenty of technologies suitable for these weak races."

"But you also know. This can be considered one of your few weaknesses. Once discovered by militarists like the Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire, they will definitely launch a technical blockade against this matter, which is why you came here in a private capacity, wanting to release a signal to us to reach cooperation..."

The Queen looked at Loki, and Loki's expression appeared very stiff, as if her mind had been pierced.

The Queen felt a bit proud. She narrowed her eyes slightly. It seems that Thanos really lives up to his reputation, predicting everything accurately and calculating everything.

But soon, Loki's expression returned to normal. She also sighed and said: "Your Majesty's wisdom is truly admirable. We don't speak in riddles; the facts are indeed so."

"Unfortunately, the dilemma of the Shi'ar Empire may not be easy to solve either. Your system determines that you cannot have the mobilization speed and execution power of militarists. Your technology is not inclined to war, but you are the wealthiest among the three great empires."

"The Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire have always used military oppression to plunder resources from the Shi'ar Empire. Their customary means are to spread panic, provoke ethnic and regional conflicts, make social economy turbulent, force industries to flee. For hundreds of years, this situation has been common."

"Since that is the case, let's open the skylight and speak brightly. The Shi'ar Empire and Asgard should indeed cooperate. You have wealth, status, and trade routes; we have military force, weapons, and deterrent power."

"More importantly, you have always been a commercial empire and have never provoked a war. We don't have to worry about you invading externally after solving internal crises. And our population is too small, almost impossible for interstellar colonization. You also don't have to worry about us developing into a fourth great empire after re-entering the economic society, crowding out your position."

"Since that is the case, our cooperation is a match made in heaven. The interstellar society should change a way of balance."

The Queen's footsteps stopped. She turned to look at Loki. In the eyes of this young Prince, she saw unspeakable ambition. The Queen closed her eyes gently, sighed, and asked: "What do you want?"

"Your dimension cutting and transport technology, as a deposit, and also as a guarantee for me to report back to the God King."

The Queen frowned. Loki's answer exceeded her expectations. She first showed a little surprise, but then hesitated, and still spoke with a serious face:

"Since we have been honest with each other, I don't want to play tricks on this kind of issue and destroy the foundation of our cooperation. I must explain to you that I can give this technology, but I am afraid it is far from what you expect."

"I know, cutting dimensions, not space, even sounds very bluffing in the interstellar scientific community. After all, a dimension can be said to be an independent world. If you can possess an independent dimension, then you can block all civilizations without dimension jump technology outside the door."

"But precisely because of this, the difficulty of this technology exceeds anyone's imagination. The Shi'ar Empire used the power of the whole country to research for hundreds of years, and the final result was just an empty shell."

"What do you mean by that?"

The Queen showed an embarrassed look, seemingly feeling ashamed to confess this to an outsider, but finally, she still said: "Cutting dimensions is the final goal. Now we are still far from this goal..."

"Up to now, we can only cut a very small piece of dimension, and cannot transport the entire dimension. The scope of cutting is not much larger than those broken dimensions common on the edge of the universe, and, the lack of dimensional structure will cause the cut-off dimensional fragments to collapse quickly because they cannot support themselves..."

Loki blinked. She understood the Queen's meaning. If it is as the Queen said, this technology can only reach this point, then it is indeed just an empty shell.

Perhaps many people would feel that cutting off a small part is already not bad, but in fact, there are many such dimensional fragments on the edge of the dark universe, all left behind when dimensions collapsed. This kind of fragment has no use at all, because it is incomplete, so it is very fragile.

No civilization would move its belongings into this kind of dimension, because it may collapse at any time due to structural instability. At that time, property would definitely not be rescued, and it would be good if people could survive.

"Then what about transport technology? Can things in the cut-off dimensional fragments be transported synchronously?" Loki asked again.

"This is possible, but it can also only be maintained for a very short period of time," the Queen replied: "And if things are not taken out before the dimension collapses, everything will disappear with the collapse of the fragments."

"Then, have you tried to fill the cut-off dimensions back?" Loki asked another question.

The Queen nodded and said: "Regarding this technology, we have tried everything. However, to fill it back, the conditions are harsh. It can only be placed in the original position, and cannot be used to fill other voids. When putting it down, there must be no external force interference, and the cosmic parameters must be completely consistent, otherwise there is a possibility of damage..."

Loki nodded and said: "Okay, then we want this technology."

The Queen raised her eyebrows in surprise. Loki shook her head and explained: "We don't need it to really be able to do anything. The point is that we have achieved major results through diplomacy. As long as the name of this result sounds good, it's fine."

The Queen suddenly realized. Indeed, if it is to stabilize the hearts of the people, it should indeed use technology that sounds very powerful to make a good start.

As for those technologies that can really be put to use, isn't there follow-up cooperation?

The Queen nodded, and then began to discuss the specific matters of cooperation with Loki.

Soon, Loki walked out of the throne room. The moment she brushed shoulders with Thanos who was entering the throne room, the two exchanged a look, calm, yet with undercurrents surging.

The curtain of the interstellar stage was pulled open, and the strange dance of the two wolves, one bright and one dark, had just played its first beat.

Two wolves protecting each other

(End of chapter)