Yggdrasil

~ Xenoblade Chronicles 2


It took more time to finally climb the Beanstalk than Maribel had expected.

Even ignoring the paperwork and immigration they had to fill out before they could even enter the base of the tower – Level Benetnash - the actual climb itself took 6 and a half hours. When Maribel had exclaimed shock at how long it would take, Renko had reminded her that Rhadamanthus itself was about two thousand kilometers above them. The Beanstalk's elevator trains traveled about as fast as the Shinkansen back home, but even at such speeds it would take time.

"And this is just low Earth orbit!" Renko had said. "Imagine how long it'd take to get to a place like the Moon! Or farther!"

It was a humbling thought. Not even an hour into the trip, Maribel had felt the boundary between the sky and space. The Karman line, Renko later told her. She wondered what would've happened if she had tugged at such a boundary? She hadn't, of course. She'd signed too many safety forms to even enter this place to consider doing so.

"How does all of this work?" Maribel had asked after they passed that boundary. Renko, predictably, began to explain in great detail what the Beanstalk and Rhadamanthus were.

"It's not a space elevator, if that's what you're thinking! Even with how far we've advanced, humans have yet to find a material strong enough to build such a thing."

"Eh? Then how have we built this Beanstalk?"

"What if I told you that it was hollow? No, seriously! It's a space fountain! Specifically, an Atlas Pillar!"

"Renko, you're throwing jargon around again…"

"It's simple Merry, I promise! Think of the Beanstalk as a bundle of tubes. Each of these tubes is a vacuum, through which streams of mass drivers are shot through! When the stream reaches the station, it's deflected back down, transferring its momentum to the Rhadamanthus! That's what keeps the station up there. And the stream itself is reused when it comes back down to the Earth. It's a miracle of active support, with an efficiency rate of ninety-nine point-"

Maribel let the physics wash over her. She had studied Relative Psychology. She had no head for these sorts of things at all. But even if it might as well have been French, Maribel enjoyed listening to Renko talk. Her voice and gestures were animate with such excitement that they couldn't be contained. It was lucky that the cabin they were in was empty aside from them. Not many could tolerate Renko at full tilt.

"Now entering level five, Phecda."

The kaleido-screens that plastered the walls of the elevator train showed a vast black sky. Far below, the projected blue horizon glowed fuzzily, curving gently away. Maribel wished she could see the real view, even if glass might have been too much to ask.

"Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar, Benetnash…" Maribel recited the names of the levels of the Beanstalk they had passed so far. "Those are strange names."

"They're the names of the seven stars of the Big Dipper," Renko explained. "We'd know them as the stars of the North Dipper."

"Giving such names, it almost feels arrogant, no?"

"Really? I don't think so."

Maribel and Renko passed the time for a while, talking about the stars and their connection to the gods of old, and giving such names to the modern monuments of men. And then they took a nap, leaning against each other. The Earth grew smaller and smaller, the sky blacker and blacker. And had they been awake, high up in the heavens growing closer, they would've seen a glowing ring encircling the Earth.

"Now entering level six, Merak."

"Now entering level seven, Dubhe."

"Do you think that Rhadamanthus is called Polaris?" Maribel asked through a yawn, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Because Dubhe is the star that points towards Polaris, right? It would make sense."

Their luggage would be delivered to their flat aboard the Rhadamanthus. Because of the nature of the Beanstalk, there was no worry about weight limitations. When they finally reached their destination, it was freely that they stepped aboard the Rhadamanthus.

The moment she stepped off the train, Maribel's head began to pound. As if someone was hitting her with a hammer, over and over. She nearly stumbled, vision blurring. Renko caught her.

"Merry?!"

For a terrible moment, Merry felt disjointed from her body. Like she had been unmoored. She floated in the vast darkness of space. A vast darkness broken only by a single shining point of light.

She focused on Renko, who was rubbing circles into her back, and the moment passed.

"Are you alright?" Renko asked, brow furrowed.

"I'm fine…" Maribel said, squinting against the harsh light of the station.

"Doctor Usami?"

A woman with beautiful silver hair walked up to them.

"I'm Doctor Galea," she introduced herself, smiling warmly.

"Eh? Oh!"

Galea's attention turned towards Maribel.

"Are you alright, Miss Hearn?" she asked, face creasing with worry.

"I'm fine," Maribel said, "I'm a bit sickly, so stuff like this happens…Wait, you know who I am?"

"Oh, yes. Doctor Usami talked about you quite a lot," Galea said, smiling. Maribel smiled herself, glancing at Renko out of the corner of her eyes.

"Is that so~?"

"Anyway!" Renko said loudly, though she still didn't let go of Maribel. "What are you doing here, Doctor Galea?"

"Please, Galea is just fine. And I thought I'd welcome you aboard the Rhadamanthus."

"That's very kind of you, Galea," Maribel said.

"Yes, well, I had intended to show you two something special, but if you aren't feeling well…"

"Please, don't worry about me."

"What was it you wanted to show us?" Renko asked.

Galea, after giving Maribel another worried look, smiled.

"The Icarus ."

"The what!?"


A shout out to Isaac Arthur for helping me try to figure out how the Beanstalk even worked in terms of engineering. His Space Tower and Orbital Rings episodes were very informative.