At 5:00 on the Apocalypse Star, near the First Star Port of the Apocalypse Star.
Helen stared at the scene outside the cabin in astonishment, stuttering, "Now I understand why they built the Star Port so close to the planet. Is this... is this a planet?!"
All the others stared solemnly at the view outside the window, for the celestial entity in their field of vision was not an alien planet like Earth, but was something indescribable.
It was a large, primarily spherical composite structure, devoid of a clear atmosphere like Earth's, composed of several layers of energy shields, a shallow crust, a deep crust, and was still visibly harbor at the planet's core. More importantly, it was larger than an entire star system.
Long, long ago, a tremendous explosion occurred in Yoggrande, where the old gods lived. It split in two, turning into the current New Genesis Star and Apocalypse Star. The second world of the old gods was reborn as the fourth world.
The editors in DC were divided on the settings for the Apocalypse Star. Some settings placed it in its own world, where any planet seems like dust in contrast; others posited that all planets in the material world are actually ensconced within the gas bubble of the New Genesis Star, accessible only via Sonic Channels.
However, the Apocalypse Star that Helen and her companions saw truly existed in the physical world. But as no one aboard the ship understood the universal cosmic scale, and Little Bruce had no previous knowledge to interpret the data on the structural map of the Apocalypse Star, most of their prior understanding rested on common sense.
"So, I was the one who was too ignorant?!" Helen was petrified with shock, her hand pressed against the glass window, exclaiming, "This is simply unscientific! How does a planet this large deal with the issue of gravity...."
She spun around to face the window, screaming, "And, is it really necessary for this star to exist?! It's not even as big as a component on the planet!"
Everyone turned to look at the star not far from the Star Port. Harley sighed and said, "Is it possible that this is just a large lightbulb for the Star Port, and the Apocalypse Star doesn't need it to provide heat and light?"
Little Bruce was frowning, pouring over the blueprints in his hand, trying to understand the scale and data on them. Finally, he shook his head gently and said, "If that is the case, we may have to reconfigure our current plan."
Little Bruce sat down at the table to review more data, the others gathering around him. As he scanned page after page he commented, "Our initial plan was to board the transport ship and mix in with the local populace, but now it seems the two crust layers of the Apocalypse Star likely won't have what we need. Even if they did, we wouldn't be able to find it. This planet is far bigger than the entire Solar System, probably millions of times larger than Earth. Looking for anything on this celestial body is like searching for a needle in a haystack."
Helen slumped upon the tabletop, muttering under her breath, "This makes no sense! How can a celestial body that doesn't comply with the laws of physics exist?"
"Our estimated arrival time to the Star Port is in about thirty minutes. We need to redesign our operation plan now. I believe we should retain our plan of boarding the transport ship to reach our destination, but we should not proceed to the two crust layers. Instead, we must venture towards the planet's core."
Pointing at a map, Little Bruce said, "The enemies we face have the same issues as us. Judging by the technological level of those who have attacked Earth, they cannot use teleportation as easily as eating or drinking. Distance is a problem for them as well."
"Given this, it's unlikely that many important facilities are located on the two crust layers. I suspect the deep and shallow crust layers are merely prisons and barrack fields, or perhaps experimental sites. The real core facilities must be at the core of the planet, which would be the true core of the Apocalypse Star."
"So you're saying we need to find a transport ship heading towards the planet's core?" Harley questioned, a frown creasing her face. Processing Little Bruce's line of thought, she shook her head, "This might be difficult. Firstly, we can't get detailed information about the transport routes. We don't know which one will head towards the core and our window to select a ship isn't long. Secondly, if we pick the wrong ship and get stuck on either of the crust layers, it would be very difficult to leave, given the enormous size."
The room went silent, everyone taken aback by the sheer size of the star and its challenges.
The problem they now faced was that if they made a single mistake in landing on the planet's core and ended up on either of the crust layers instead; as long as they didn't successfully break free within a short time, they were likely to get scattered.
And once spread out on the surface the size of a whole star system, the chances of finding each other again, or even locating an escape point, were slim. Humans were as insignificant as ants on Earth. In a entire star system, they were much less than dust.
The amount of land that a creature of a certain size can occupy is limited. Beyond a certain limit, transportation becomes an issue, and the solution doesn't rely on more routes or faster speed, but on special methods like teleportation. Otherwise, further expansion would hit a wall in terms of transport, a type of logistics blockade.
Judging from the invading Apocalypse Star Army, their height and weight are not much different from humans, and aside from Sonic Channels, they don't have mature miniaturized teleportation technology. This suggests that the two layers of the planetary surface are likely not a normal society, as they don't possess the necessary logistics conditions for a regular civilized society.
Imagine, extending your current commute the length of 2 million times longer. That's pretty much how it is when you navigate the surface of Apocalypse star just to locate a bus station. This is why Little Bruce suspected that the crust is mainly a prison; any civilization that requires normal transportation would not be able to bear the cost of traffic development.
This has multiplied the complexity of Little Bruce and his group's initial plan about a few million times. Correcting any mistaken decision would take an unimaginable amount of time commuting.
At this point, a glimmer of insight sparked in Helen's eyes. She slapped the table, attracting the attention of everyone, and said: "If we can't discern which transport ship will head to the core, then instead of taking a transport ship, we take a ship that is bound to head for the core."
With a serious look, Damian chimed in, "The problem now is that we don't know which ship is certain to…"
"If there's no certainty, we create certainty!" Helen's eyes gleamed brightly as she looked at a photo of the Star Port and exclaimed: "Pull down the Star Port!"
All eyes turned to her. She looked back at everyone and added: "If the First Star Port falls, someone has to send a message to the core. Regardless of their method of getting to the core, we can follow closely behind."
In the meeting room, Stark, through Harley's eyes, was watching Helen. He spread his hands in a victorious grin. Nick gave him a thumbs-up while Reed scoffed.
"Future wisdom will prove who the real cosmic genius is." Stark, with his arms crossed, raised an eyebrow at Reed and swung his neck from side to side, saying, "Some people can't even prove they are attractive men."
Reed sucked in a breath, rolled up his sleeves, and charged at Stark. Bruce Banner, emotionless, held him back, saying, "Doing this will just prove you are the only one here who can't beat Tony Stark."
Reed wanted to retort, but looking around, he was indeed the weakest of this bizarre crowd, not even as tough as the muscle Stark had worked out in the gym.
In the spaceship's control room, everyone was looking at Helen with a knowing look. Harley immediately chuckled and said, "That's right, how could I forget that causing some destruction would do the trick? At least the person who alerts us will take us to a significant figure, and then it will be much easier to force them to reveal the location of the important facilities."
"But the guards of the star port are not easy to deal with," said the hitherto silent Constantine, lying on his side. "Even if the main ship we saw earlier exploded, it might not necessarily cause the star port to fall."
"That's a problem." Helen, thinking, resting her thumb against her chin, said, "We know nothing about the structure, material, or protective force of the star port. How are we going to make a bomb to ensure the star port can be bombed?"
Little Bruce also fell into contemplation. It was an impossible task with no rice, their information was too limited, and even if they had ideas, they lacked the conditions to implement them on the ground.
"I think we should find a big spaceship." Damian said, licking his lips, "Just one large enough to hit the star port, it would certainly collapse, wouldn't it?"
"What about the shield of the star port?" Little Bruce raised a question. Damian was lost for words, for he had never come into contact with any large-scale shield, it was hard to assert that the shield could be broken by a collision.
"Damn it." Harley scratched her head and cursed, "We should have brought some powerful explosives in advance!"
"But the explosives we found might not be able to handle this high technology," said Constantine with a sigh, "Everything is bound by humans' imagination. Perhaps their use of energy is not any of the ones that we understand, and the explosion might not be useful."
While the others were discussing how to break the star port's defense, Helen quietly pulled Harley to one side and said, "Why not ask the magical Book of the Dead?"
Harley looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"Hey, wait, where are you two going?" Damian looked at the sneaky Harley and Helen headed to the other side of the cabin and yelled.
"Um... We are going to the bathroom." Harley grinned.
"Do you have to go to the bathroom together???"
"Oh, that's what girls do! Boys, mind your own business!" Harley deliberately raised her voice and gave Damian a flirtatious look. Damian made a retching gesture, rolled his eyes, and ignored them. Harley and Helen scampered off to another room in the cabin.
Harley placed the Book of the Dead flat on the table, then rubbed her hands together. Helen leaned in closer.
Just as Harley reached out to open the book, it closed with a 'pop'. Harley turned her head to look at Helen's excited expression and narrowed her eyes, saying, "It seems you know more about this book than you let on when we first met."
"Uh, I..." Helen stuttered a little, Harley's sudden change of attitude and unexpected question caused her brain to fail for a moment, so she didn't pull off a suitable reaction and Harley caught her.
"You really do know what this book is all about!" Harley raised her voice, "I knew something was off, tell me now!"
At this moment, the black Book of the Dead opened by itself, no longer concise as always, lines of text rapidly appeared on the pages. It was clearly the method that Harley and Helen were anxiously seeking to destroy the star port.
The two of them had no leisure to quibble, they both bent over and looked at the method written on the pages. The moment they saw it, they froze like statues.
After the people in Wayne Manor saw the method written in the book, they all realized something and turned their heads to look at Shiller.
Shiller picked up his wine glass and drank it quickly. He raised the empty glass in a toast.
"Exactly, I am the one controlling the book."