The Central Switching Plaza on Ceres was a massive amphitheater carved from solid basalt. It spanned three miles across the northern crater basin under a pressurized dome of transparent star-jade.
Eighty bronze-and-glass projection pillars lined the edge of the plaza. Each pillar broadcast real-time holographic feeds from across the solar system: the solar mirror towers of Mercury, Earth's orbital ring cities, the blast furnaces of Mars, mining rigs on Vesta, and cryogenic substations out in the Kuiper Belt.
Billions of citizens, cultivators, and laborers watched through municipal screens on five planets and twelve asteroid habitats.
In the center of the Ceres amphitheater stood an elevated platform of polished granite. Four wide flights of stairs led to the top. Mounted on the platform was a ten-foot-tall industrial switchboard built from heavy structural steel and insulated with star-jade slabs. In the center rested the **Master Grid Knife Switch**: a massive twelve-foot copper-and-star-jade blade with an insulated rubber handle, built to carry ten point zero zettawatts of continuous current.
Standing on the platform before the switch was Austin.
He wore his standard attire: double-knee canvas work trousers, steel-toed boots, a fresh neon orange safety vest with silver reflective chevrons, and his yellow fiberglass hard hat. Across his lower back, fifteen hundred pounds of certified lead ballast held his frame in solid balance under one hundred Gs of local surface gravity. Over his shoulders, twin ninety-degree star-jade exhaust diverters hummed with a quiet sapphire shimmer.
In his left hand, Austin carried his aluminum clipboard. In his right hand, he held a wired municipal microphone.
Sitting on a red velvet cushion beside Austin’s boots was Pug.
Pug wore his official Chief Quality Assurance Inspector vest, his tiny yellow hard hat, and his clear safety goggles. Between his paws lay his platinum regulation tennis ball, resting securely against his chest.
At the base of the platform stood the planetary leaders: Sovereign Chen Tian, Sword Patriarch Jiang Taixu, Abbot Xuanji, Tie Kuang, Xuan Ming, and Arch-Dominus Wu Ji. They stood at rigid attention with hard hats tucked respectfully under their arms.
Austin tapped the microphone with a heavy work-gloved thumb: *thump-thump*.
A burst of static echoed through the Ceres amphitheater and across eighty projection pillars throughout the solar system. The chatter of billions died into total, breathless silence.
"Afternoon, everyone," Austin began, his voice flat, steady, and thoroughly unhurried. "We're gathered here today for the formal commissioning and commercial turnover of the Solar System Unified Kardashev-Two Power Grid."
Across Earth and Mars, imperial elders and grand patriarchs leaned forward. They expected a grand speech about celestial lordship, divine lineage, or eternal dominion over the mortal realm.
Austin flipped a page on his clipboard.
"First," Austin continued, "I want to go over our safety metrics. Over the five-year construction cycle of this project, we logged forty-eight billion man-hours across six planets and thirty asteroid excavation sites. Total lost-time incidents: zero. Total reportable electrical arc flashes: zero. Total code non-compliance citations left unaddressed: zero. That proves the value of good housekeeping, proper lockout/tagout discipline, and wearing your personal protective gear."
Down below, Abbot Xuanji nodded vigorously, wiping a tear of monastic joy from his beard. Wu Ji puffed out his chest with pride in his neon vest.
"Second," Austin said, tapping his grease pencil against the mic, "we completed the master interconnect. We have twelve million miles of star-jade cable energized at twenty-two thousand kilovolts DC. We have fifty-two primary switching substations, four hundred thousand local distribution transformers, and a continuous delivery capacity of ten point zero zero zettawatts. That is ten thousand exawatts of clean, balanced, three-phase power."
He paused, adjusting his welding goggles and looking straight into the primary broadcast camera.
"Now, a few operational reminders for all homeowners, sect masters, and facility managers," Austin instructed, his tone turning practical and stern. "Do not use cheater plugs to bypass the ground pin on three-prong outlets. If I find anyone cutting off the ground prong with side cutters so they can plug an alchemy cauldron into a regular wall outlet, I will pull your meter. Your service will be cut at the pole. Second, do not daisy-chain six-outlet power strips together beneath your desks. Power strips are not permanent extension cords. If you need more outlets, hire a licensed electrician to pull another twenty-amp branch circuit with twelve-gauge Romex. Third, never place a copper penny behind a blown glass screw-in fuse to bypass overcurrent protection. If a fuse blows, the circuit is overloaded. Fixing an overload with a penny is how you burn your entire sect compound down."
Jiang Taixu smiled faintly, nodding in complete agreement. Abbot Xuanji hastily scribbled Austin’s warnings into his prayer book.
"And fourth," Austin added, "keep your tree branches trimmed fifteen feet back from overhead distribution lines. I don't care if it's a three-thousand-year-old sacred spirit-peach tree planted by your clan founder. If branches encroach on the municipal utility easement, the local public works crew will come by with a gas-powered pole saw and take them down."
Austin took out a digital low-resistance ohmmeter from his tool pouch. He handed the two test leads down to Tie Kuang.
"Tie Kuang, check contact resistance across the main switch jaws."
Tie Kuang clamped the heavy copper kelvin clips onto the upper and lower spring jaws of the twelve-foot switch.
"Reading: one point two micro-ohms, Boss!" Tie Kuang shouted back, reading the digital display. "Zero oxidation. The silver plating is pristine."
"Good," Austin said, slipping the microphone into its cradle on the board. "Tie Kuang, verify line vacuum across the interplanetary spine."
"Vacuum across all forty astronomical units verified at ten to the minus ninth torr, Boss!" Tie Kuang bellowed from the bottom of the stairs.
"Xuan Ming, verify phase alignment."
"All three phases synchronized to sixty point zero zero zero hertz, Master Austin!" Xuan Ming called back, his voice trembling with solemn reverence.
Austin turned to the twelve-foot copper switch blade.
He reached up with his right hand, gripping the heavy vulcanized rubber handle.
He looked down at Pug.
"Pug," Austin said. "Auxiliary trip lever."
*"BARK!"*
Pug trotted over to the base of the switchboard. He lifted his front right paw and placed it firmly on the spring-loaded red safety trip pedal.
"On three," Austin said. "One. Two. Three."
*CLUUUUUUNK.*
Austin pulled down on the twelve-foot handle with one smooth, unyielding heave of his shoulders. At the exact same microsecond, Pug pressed his paw down on the red safety release pedal.
The massive copper-and-star-jade switch blade slammed home into its silver-plated spring contacts with a heavy, industrial thump that shook the granite platform.
For half a second, space seemed to hold its breath.
And then, the solar system ignited.
No destructive surge. No chaotic lightning arcing across the busbars. Just a clean, blinding web of pure, stable cyan illumination racing along high-voltage corridors.
From the burning corona of Mercury, ten zettawatts of balanced electrical energy surged into the main interplanetary busbars. Star-jade cables running through deep space between Venus, Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt lit up in brilliant neon-blue lines of power.
On Earth, every city from the Eastern Seaboard to the Western Deserts blazed with steady, warm golden light. Streetlights, heating coils, and water pumps engaged in flawless harmony.
On Mars, five-mile smelting foundries roared as hundreds of electric arc furnaces bathed red canyons in radiant heat.
On Ceres, the circumferential magnetic rail hummed with infinite kinetic potential.
Out in the frozen darkness of the Kuiper Belt, forty AU from the sun, deep switching substations lit up. They shone like a necklace of brilliant sapphire stars encircling the outer edge of human space.
A golden system notification filled Austin's retinal display:
Across six worlds, billions of voices rose in a single roar of celebration.
Fireworks carved from non-toxic mineral salts burst above the cities of Earth and the domes of Mars. Monks in Abbot Xuanji’s laundromats cheered as their steam irons hummed with infinite power. Former soldiers of the Void Concordat wept openly on railway embankments, waving white hard hats in the air.
Up on the granite platform, Austin stepped back from the switchboard.
He pulled clean white cotton inspection gloves from his pocket, wiped a speck of dust off the copper blade, and nodded once.
"Clean contact," Austin said softly. "Zero arcing across the blades. That’s how a main service disconnect should seat."
He looked down at Pug, who was sitting beside his boots. The dog's tail wagged happily as he chewed on a fresh piece of beef jerky Tie Kuang had just tossed him.
"Good job on the trip pedal, Pug," Austin told him, reaching down to give his ears a firm scratch. "Didn't hesitate on the stroke."
*"WOOF!"* Pug yipped, leaning his little head against Austin’s heavy steel-toed boot.
Sovereign Chen Tian and Jiang Taixu walked up the stairs, bowing low before the master foreman.
"Foreman Austin," Chen Tian said, his voice choked with emotion. "The mortal realm and the immortal heavens are forever indebted to your labor. What decree do you have for the planetary councils?"
Austin looked at his clipboard, clicking his grease pencil.
"Keep the gutters clear, test your GFCI breakers once a month, and pay your electric bills before the twenty-fifth," Austin replied calmly.
He slung his five-foot pipe wrench back over his shoulder, turned toward the platform stairs, and walked down toward the staging bay.
"Now if you'll excuse me," Austin said over his shoulder. "I have one final piece of paperwork to complete. I have to certify my own dantian under the ASME Section Eight Pressure Vessel Code before the afternoon is out."