Launch

So soon after the research and competition phase had ended, so did the manufacturing phase, so wealthy and skilled modern humanity was. The great day, the end of so much and the beginning of so much more, finally arrived, the capstone of many years of struggle. The first stage of the plan begun earnestly, the various pieces of launch infrastructure, freshly built, assuming their positions, with billions upon billions of eyes affixed to them. The launch of the Founders had overrun social media and journalism circles for weeks now, so many facts and opinions, hopes and doubts, and dreams and nightmares shared. All these ideas exchanged, and at last, the one way to test them had come. The air of the ceremony, metaphorically speaking, was of profound wonder, anticipation, and some anxiety, not unlike that which preceded space missions so many decades ago.

The first fleet of Founders, collectively dubbed NSI I, floated in space in their harnesses, lined up behind two mass drivers. These colossal tubes of electromagnets and radiating fins stretched for kilometers, attached to great capacitors nearly filled. These mass drivers, though still awe-inspiring to the public, are not new; they had launched various small probes outside of the Earth System before. After a set of speeches by an elite handful of politicians, CEOs, and lead engineers, the scene sprung to life. At the back of each mass driver, two great arms reached out for the closest Founder in the group as the Founder's harness came off. The arms gripped it securely, then gently and accurately inserted it into the compartment at the back of the mass drivers' great tubes. Upon insertion, a hefty lid swung closed upon each. It sealed with a thud and hiss, a touch most watchers knew was not real, but a perfectly normal addition inserted for cinematic effect by the AIs processing the footage live. With this, the countdown began, and trillions of muscle fibers tensed. Second by second, the numbers went down, time seeming to slow to a sluggish march. The number thirty rang out, and the last of the final checks ended. The number twenty, and the supercapacitors of the mass drivers were topped off. The number ten, and the rush of electricity had filled the drivers' great thirst, reduced to a low trickle. The number five, and a low rumble resounded through the drivers. The numbers four, three, two, and one, the climax of the suspension, the utterly massive tubes just milliseconds from springing to life. And then the long-awaited word: "Liftoff." With a uproarious ringing heard only via the seismometers, though played back to the billions of ears so closely affixed, an utterly massive current surged from the supercapacitors. Each little bullet in the chamber lurched forward nigh instantaneously, and yet kept getting faster. Each ring boosted it to an even more ludicrous speed, a speed that brought the next ring even faster. Only a few seconds after launch, two invisibly quick particles hurtled out into the expanse of space, two tiny pinpricks in the dark.

The eyes stayed glued, for the Founders had momentum to gain still. Close footage of the Founders revealed a laser sail quickly unfurling, while several massive lasers, previously sitting quietly in space, sparked to life. The power surged, producing a most powerful, if invisible, beam of light that reached the solar sail and back to the laser nigh instantly. Each laser sported large dishes of silvery metal around its emitter, which reflected the laser back, and forth, and back, as many times as possible, within the first milliseconds of the lasers activating. This produced great thrust on the Founders' backs, multiplied several times as the laser beams struck multiply, the laser sail becoming red hot and shining bright as the founders torpedoed onward. Awe filled billions of hearts as the Founders shrank away, as seconds became minutes. The Founders were invisible now, but the lasers shone on, as they were to do for quite some time more. The attention of the public soon redirected to the second pair of Founders, as their harnesses came off, ready for their turn.

In unison, both launch systems ejected the next pair, and the next, taking just over 24 hours to launch the whole of the fleet. Public attention had sharply waned after the first couple launches, but even still, no launch is witnessed by fewer than sixteen billion eyes. Attention and media coverage largely ceased after the final members of NSI I shot down the tube, as the mass drivers and lasers would need some weeks to rearrange themselves in preparation for their next target. Just like the first, NSI II careened into the void two by two, witnessed by far fewer than the first fleet. Then the launch infrastructure again moved, and then NSI III came out, and so on. With a final spike in media coverage following the last two Founders of the last fleet, all humanity had to do now was wait.

And wait they did.