Chapter 73: The Planet Sirius

Chapter 73: Chapter 73: The Planet Sirius

With everything done, Liam leaned back in his seat, telling Light of Time to summarise the geological survey report on the planet Sirius that Daniel had sent him a few days earlier.

[The planet Sirius, classified as an agricultural planet, day cycle of twenty-five hours. The axial tilt is small, so the two hemispheres barely trade seasons with each other. The Southern Hemisphere falls in the subtropical zone, arable land around twelve thousand hectares. The Northern Hemisphere falls in the temperate zone, arable land around eight thousand hectares.]

Liam did a quick sum in his head. Twenty thousand hectares, close to seven times the whole eastern district he had registered on Cygnus.

And Cygnus was dead soil, the whole of it had to rely on microbial compost to be brought back to life. Sirius was different. The land in this place was all living soil. Apart from the twenty thousand arable hectares, the rest, even the acid sulfate areas, could all be restored.

Light of Time diligently read on: [There are three large rivers running out towards the Southeast, the Northwest and the Northeast. These three rivers have twelve small tributaries in all. The pH index runs from 3.6 to 4.2. The content of dissolved iron and aluminium exceeds the safe threshold for crops. The acid-sulfate layer lies at a depth of forty to sixty centimetres. The survey records no aquatic organisms in any of the tributaries, the main rivers included.]

Liam tapped his fingers against the arm of the seat.

With the water and the soil in such an acid sulfate state, set in his previous life this would have been a thoroughly intractable problem. But this was an age of super technology, so dealing with this problem was as easy as turning over a hand.

Acidity is produced when the layer of soil containing pyrite ore is dried out and comes into contact with oxygen, creating sulfuric acid. All that was needed was to seal this layer of soil tight, after that to carry out the leaching of the acidity from the water source and the soil in the riverbed, then it would be done.

Liam opened up his contacts, found Leonardo’s ID, placed a video call over. The ring sounded twice, Leonardo had already picked up. Looking at his face, green in places and purple in others, Liam was taken aback:

"Who have you been fighting that your face has ended up like that?"

Leonardo rubbed at the swelling below the corner of his mouth, saying in irritation: "Late yesterday afternoon two Longfang Beasts broke out of their pen, charging straight into our headquarters. It took us several hours to catch them, before it was shoved back into the pen one of them even used its hind legs to kick me straight in the face several times in a row."

Liam laughed until his whole body shook: "So has it made it onto a plate yet?"

Leonardo bared his teeth in a grin, which disturbed the wound at the corner of his mouth again, hurting enough to make him hiss in a few breaths: "Ow... We grilled it last night already. What is it you are calling me about?"

"I need to seal off a large amount of acid sulfate soil, the farm at your place has Subsurface Vitrification technology, doesn’t it? Lease it to me for two days."

Leonardo nodded: "Three million per hectare of land. When do you need it?"

"This very afternoon. Ah, where is Logan, why can I not get through to him?"

Leonardo tutted, saying: "Dragged home by that old father of his to go and be matched up. The fifth time this year, every single Omega gets frightened into tears by that fierce mug of his. I cannot understand why his father keeps at it so stubbornly."

Liam shrugged: "He is getting on in years too, it stands to reason his parents are anxious. Are you coming over to my place this afternoon? Before long I am going to need a large number of workers and construction machines, so come over to survey the terrain and quote me a price while you are at it."

Leonardo scratched his head: "At this rate I am about to become a Central Smart Unit, everything ends up in my hands. Is there anything you need, I will bring it over for you this afternoon."

"Nothing needed." Liam answered. Just then the ship’s announcement that it was about to land rang out, he said to Leonardo: "I have to get off the ship, see you this afternoon."

The ship dropped its altitude, slipping down through the cloud layer.

Liam pressed himself up against the observation window.

The lower half of his field of vision was a stretch of deep green spreading all the way out to the horizon, green to the point of being nearly black, the colour of the thickets and the wild trees that had overrun the areas of land not yet cleared.

Sirius had mountains, but they had all been levelled flat a hundred years ago. This was precisely what made Liam feel the loss. Rivers, mountains, seas are a mysterious storehouse of nature’s resources. Anything you cannot find on the flat land, go up a mountain or down into the sea, you will certainly find it.

The upper half of his field of vision was a paler colour, a greyish green, with low, sparse grass. And cutting across both those areas, flowing in windings like an enormous network of tree roots, were rivers the colour of turmeric.

Imagining that in only two more days these rivers would turn crystal clear, a strange feeling suddenly welled up from the bottom of Liam’s heart. This river system, looked at from high above, really did resemble the one in his homeland, which gave Liam a slight illusion, as though he had returned to his previous life.

He blurted out a question to the soldier beside him: "Do you know of any species of sea-beast with a mild temperament, one that does no harm to people?"

The soldier was blank for a moment, then said: "There are some, there are, but the look of them is very ugly, so everyone refuses to eat them." He opened up his smart watch, typed out the names he knew, holding it over for Liam to see: "This long sprawling one is called the Crackle Beast. Its face is sharply pointed, its body long and utterly slippery. Every time it leaps up onto the bank it gives off a small current of electricity that crackles. Its electricity only stings, it does not kill."

Liam blinked. Shrink this thing’s size and its attributes down, was this not damn well an eel?

The soldier slid over to another image: "This many-legged one with the sea-blue shell has a very hard shell, you cannot eat it. Its claws are very strong yet they break very easily. Besides which the smell is very fishy, nobody wants to eat it."

Bloody hell, giant river prawns!

"As for this kind, it likes living in cold regions. This one is not ugly, but it has far too many bones. The preparation alone takes a great deal of effort, little by little people stopped favouring it."

Sturgeon!

Oh for crying out loud! What on earth is wrong with this world? Food this delicious, nourishing, cheap lying about everywhere goes uneaten, while they eat nothing but fresh food at sky-high prices!

Liam said at once: "Compile for me all the gentle sea-beast species that can be raised, then send it to me. First of all keep an eye out for the three species you have just shown me, see where the breeding stock is sold or whether they can be found in the wild."

The soldier was blank, entirely unable to understand why the young master would want him to go looking for these things. But the young master had given an order, so naturally he could not refuse.

The ship landed on the dedicated parking ground, Daniel was already waiting there. Beside him there were several Mason family bodyguards, along with one unfamiliar Alpha. Judging by his hair colour he seemed to be one of the Mason family as well.

The moment Liam stepped down off the ship, Daniel came forward at once: "Liam, I have been waiting all this while for you. Come here, let me introduce someone to you." He pulled Liam by the hand over in front of that Alpha, saying: "Liam, this is my second brother, Michael. Second brother, this is the close friend I told you about, Liam Martinez."

Liam looked at the tall, large-framed Alpha before him, breaking into a smile and nodding in greeting politely: "Hello, Mr. Mason."

Michael Mason returned the greeting as well, quietly sizing up the Omega before him. His Daddy thought extremely highly of this Omega, besides which this was the person that certain someone had met once then never been able to forget, so Michael could not help looking at him a little longer. Against the real age on the report file, this Omega looked a great deal steadier and more grown up. His gentle, beautiful appearance could not hide the sharpness about him either.

Seeing this, Gabriel immediately took one step forward, angling his body slightly to block the way in front of his own young master. Gabriel’s aura startled Michael somewhat, after which he rubbed his nose in embarrassment. He used his eyes to express his regret for his own breach of manners.

Daniel, displeased as well, pinched his brother’s arm, pulling him off to one side, scolding him in a low voice: "Brother, why are you being so ill-mannered today. Liam is going to feel you are an Alpha with no upbringing!"

Michael giggled: "Daddy and you both praise him to the skies, I only wanted to get to know him a little. I did not expect to be drawn in by the air about him, so I unconsciously looked a bit too long."

Daniel blinked: "Brother, you have not been struck by the thunderbolt of love for him, have you?"

Michael started: "Do not talk nonsense!" He hurriedly clapped a hand over his younger brother’s mouth, his face slightly pale: "Do not go ruining your own brother like that, give me ten livers’ worth of nerve and I still would not dare to like him."

Daniel looked at his brother with a thoroughly probing eye. Seeing that Michael seemed to be afraid of something, a guess formed in his head at once. His brother already had someone he loved? Afraid that person would hear and misunderstand?

Thinking so, Daniel gave a slight nod, signalling for Michael to let go of him. Although he felt a little regret inside, even if his brother were willing to take Liam, Liam might well not be willing to take him. Liam was both capable and independent, he would sooner go and get himself a child than have any need of an Alpha.

Liam paid no attention to whatever the two Mason brothers were muttering about between themselves, he only stood where he was reading the detailed statistical report on the area of acid sulfate land that the geological staff had just handed him.

Total area affected by acidity: 2,400 hectares, making up 12% of the arable land. Distributed in strips along both banks of the three large rivers and the twelve small tributaries, the width of the strips varying from one hundred and fifty to four hundred metres depending on the stretch.

Classified by degree: 900 hectares of actual acid sulfate, where the acid-sulfate layer has been turned up by ploughing or exposed by water scouring, the ground surface showing a yellow scum in the dry season; 1,500 hectares of potential acid sulfate, where the acid-sulfate layer still lies intact at a depth of fifty to sixty centimetres, not yet producing acid but which will produce it the moment it is dug deeper than forty centimetres.

Distribution by hemisphere: Southern Hemisphere 1,600 hectares, Northern Hemisphere 800 hectares.

All that was needed was to seal both these types tight beneath the ground, then this riverside area would be the ideal place for growing wet rice and for aquaculture.

Besides which, riverside housing was also a fairly popular form of tourism.

Open the door and there is the boundless rice field, in the cool of the afternoon with nothing to do you take a rod out to the river to catch fish and prawns, or else sip a cup of flower tea beside a fragrant lotus pond.

Merely from thinking about it, Liam, who had not even started his enterprise yet, was already longing for the life of retirement.