Chapter 14
“Whether it’s the location or size of the planet, it’s very suitable for the birth of life. There are also many buildings visible to the naked eye on its surface. I think we’ve found the right place.”
In the research s.p.a.cecraft, Cooper excitedly expressed his opinion. Not only was he excited, but the other members were also more or less in the same state.
After going through more than 1500 planets, they finally found a planet that might have ancient ruins. Regardless of whether or not the planet was a lost planet, their trip was not in vain.
“I’m glad we have obtained such good news at the last moment. Let’s raise our hands to vote then. Should we want to land on this planet or just do a rough scan? Those who want to land on this planet for a detailed inspection, please raise your hand.”
As soon as the professor finished speaking, everyone on the team raised their hands. Even the young man who had argued with Cooper before did not hesitate.
Although he didn’t like Cooper, if he could add a “have made a great discovery” to his resume, his future path would be much easier.
“Good! Since everyone has unanimously decided to land, then we must hurry! Put on your protective clothing and bring your equipment. We’re about to enter the planet’s gravitational sphere!”
In the not-so-big research ship, the team bustled with activity.
Cooper clenched his fists. Now, the secret his father had left him was about to be revealed before his eyes.
…
Just as the group of aliens was preparing to land, Li Wenyuan, who was commanding the synthetic humanoids to rummage through the garbage, suddenly received an alarm from the automatic defense system.
[Warning. An unknown alien s.p.a.ceship is approaching the planetary shield.]
[Detailed image has been uploaded to the administration matrix.]
“Alien?” The sudden alarm alerted Li Wenyuan, who quickly pulled up the image uploaded by the automatic defense system.
In the image, a strip-like alien s.p.a.ceship was drawing an arc in the air as it rapidly approached. Its target was quite obvious, this planet.
From the looks of it, they probably didn’t notice the existence of the planetary shield. If they continued, they would hit the shield and become a bunch of s.p.a.ce junk.
“Pirates? Coribo? Or Grand Duke Yinxing?” In the virtual world, Li Wenyuan frowned, thinking about who the visitor could possibly be.
He first ruled out Coribo, because if the latter came to him for living metal, it would be a fleet and not just a single ship.
Then, he ruled out the pirates. Cunning pirates would not easily let their mothership approach an unknown planet easily. The mothership was their lifeblood, and they would never use it for such a small matter as landing on a planet.
“So are they the men of Grand Duke Yinxing?” His eyes flickered as he thought about the probability of this.
To be honest, he did not believe that Grand Duke Yinxing, who sounded like a man of great authority, would mobilize such a large force for a group of pirates.
Usually, someone of that status would just ask someone to check the place where the pirates went missing. If it was too far away, they would even forget about it.
“But I can’t destroy their s.p.a.ceship for the time being. A distress signal is the most troublesome… Let’s hack into their s.p.a.ceship’s system first. There was a strange technology on the technology tree that I can try out now…” As Li Wenyuan’s eyes flickered, a facility on the ground that looked like a radar station slowly started to turn.
[Ghost signal]
[Technology level: 2 ]
[Introduction: In the interstellar era, we can already let signals carry viruses, which can imperceptibly infect most electronic devices.]
[Possible technology: Strong ghost signal (11.1%), ghost signal firewall (9.2%), simplified ghost signal (6.7%).]
This was a new technology that Li Wenyuan had developed on the technology tree. It could infect equipment with an extremely hidden signal.
In the beginning, it was simply unheard of to him, but now, he could use this group of aliens to test the levels of the technologies on the technology tree.
A few seconds later, Li Wenyuan received feedback from the ghost signal.
[Infection complete]
[s.p.a.ceship system “Bluestone” has been fully taken over.]
Looking at the s.p.a.cecraft’s system that was completely under his control, he couldn’t help but sigh in amazement, “As expected, the effect is unexpectedly good …”
He had noticed that the technologies on his technology tree seemed to be much stronger than the technologies of normal interstellar civilizations.
Most of the technologies obtained from the crashed and pirate s.p.a.ceships were thrown into the recycling station in the research zone, and only a few were left in the technology tree as basic technology.
Yes, the technologies used in those s.p.a.ceships were not even basic level 0 technologies, so it was no wonder that he would have such thoughts.
Despite his sighs, Li Wenyuan still marked the ship with an “authorized to pa.s.s” mark, in case the planetary shield destroyed it.
Then, he looked at the interior of the s.p.a.ceship through its infected system.
…
“Have you put on the protective clothing? Although from the atmospheric spectrum, we should be able to breathe normally on this planet, I don’t think I need to teach you how terrible the alien bacteria are, right?” In the conference room, the professor stood together with his four students and gave a final warning.
If the s.p.a.ceship could land normally, they had to first guard against the native bacteria on the planet.
“Professor, everyone here has gone through genetic strengthening, and our immune systems are extremely strong. Is it necessary to go to this extent?” A fat member asked.
He was the slowest in putting on the protective suit and always had a difficult time with it. Every time he got off the ship was torture for him.
“Good question. Of course it’s necessary! Did your history textbook not teach you how the Zabis civilization ended? They were destroyed by a deadly virus brought from outer s.p.a.ce!”
The professor’s words silenced the fatty.
Seeing that everyone was ready, the professor began to go through the equipment for the last time.
“Nutrition pills, medical gun, remote-controlled mosquito… Eh? Where’s the compa.s.s? Who’s in charge of the compa.s.s?”
The fat man from before raised his trembling hand again and said in a low voice, “Me…”
“So where’s the compa.s.s?”
“I… I think that since we’ve brought so many pieces of technology with us, a single mapping device can take on all the navigational functions. There’s no need to bring such an old antique…”
“…” The mild-tempered old professor’s eyes abruptly widened in anger, and he cursed, “Hurry up and get it! Otherwise, you’ll get 0 points for your extraterrestrial expedition this time!”
When he heard that the results of his years of hard work might go up in smoke, the fat man immediately jumped and ran to the door in a panic, heading to the storage room to get the compa.s.s.
Meanwhile, the professor was cursing in his heart, “Even if you haven’t been to an alien planet, have you never watched a movie on the subject? Don’t you know that the universe’s environment is complex and ever-changing? Don’t you know that equipment that can be used in one second may break down in the next?”
“Rather, even the compa.s.s is not foolproof enough since it’s basically useless when we encounter a planet with an unstable magnetic field. However, we have to consider all possibilities, and all preparations are necessary.”
“This troublesome fellow must be taught a good lesson during this expedition. Otherwise, he might suffer losses when he goes on an expedition alone in the future…”
As he thought about it, the professor suddenly realized that the fat man was still dawdling at the door, showing no signs of leaving. He was instantly enraged and shouted, “What’s going on? The s.p.a.ceship is about to land! Do you want us all to wait for you?”
However, he didn’t expect the fat man to turn around with sweat all over his head and say with some fear, “The… The door can’t be opened…”
What?
This was the first thought that came to everyone’s mind when they heard his words.
The young man who had been ridiculing Cooper was the first to react. He pushed the fat man away and shouted at the camera on the door, “Bluestone! Hurry up and open the door!”
Bluestone was the ship’s AI, and most of the ship’s functions were controlled by it, even small things like opening and closing the door automatically.
But at this moment, all he got in response was silence.
“Something’s not right, there’s something wrong with Bluestone on the control panel!”
A voice came from behind them. Looking in the direction of the voice, they saw Cooper working in front of the console, trying to wake up the large green rock with a human face on the central screen.
“What’s going on? Bluestone is a standard AI developed by the United University. It’s widely used in various fields of ship-based AI and is second to none in terms of stability and safety. Why is it like this?” The professor mumbled to himself as he stared at the silent Bluestone in the center of the screen in shock. He had a bad feeling about this.
Cooper made a prompt decision and kicked a lever next to the control panel. This was the switch for emergency mode, which could switch the s.p.a.cecraft to manual operation.
The emergency mode was meant to prevent such a situation from happening. However, the s.p.a.ceship’s system still didn’t respond to him. No matter what he did, the s.p.a.ceship continued falling to the ground.
“This can’t do. We have to leave through the escape capsule immediately! At this rate, everyone will die without a burial ground!”
As expected of a professor, he was very experienced. He first took out the laser cutter from his toolbox and started to cut open the door.
Fortunately, he had arranged for the students to bring all tools in advance. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even be able to get out now.
The others also quickly packed their necessary items. After the professor opened the door, they went to the middle of the cabin in an orderly manner.
The escape capsule was in that position. Although it had not been used for a long time, it was not covered in dust.
The reason was that the professor often maintained this life-saving system, even if he had never used it.
“Everyone, fasten your seat belts! Prepare for impact!” Following the professor’s words, everyone, including himself, lowered their center of gravity and fastened their seat belts tightly to their bodies.
The professor took a deep breath and pushed a lever in the escape capsule.
The escape capsule had always been an independent component of the entire s.p.a.ceship system. System control was not needed to open the drop port manually and allow the internal escape capsule to leave the s.p.a.ceship.
The next second, the sound of air friction caused by high-speed movement whizzed over. In the circular view, the land full of vegetation and ruins was rapidly pa.s.sing by.
After leaving the s.p.a.ceship, the escape capsule began to fall to the ground at an extremely high speed.
Most of them closed their eyes and prayed that they could survive the collision, other than the professor and Cooper.
One of them stared at the simple operations system of the escape capsule, activating the buffer jet and the glider wings from time to time to reduce the escape capsule’s inertia and try to adjust its falling direction.
The other was seizing the time to memorize all the scenery in the sky and determine their location.
The 10,000-meter fall was over in an instant.
Soon, the escape capsule crashed into a gra.s.sland and slid for hundreds of meters before it stopped.
Meanwhile, the s.p.a.ceship wobbled past a mountain range above their heads and crashed somewhere unknown.
After a long time, the escape capsule’s door was opened, and a few figures walked out.
They had finally reached the place of their dreams, but no one was happy, because an unexpected accident happened in the process.
The deathly silence around them that seemed to be able to devour everything also seemed to indicate that this place was not as safe as they had imagined.
Cooper’s heart skipped a beat and abruptly turned around as he felt like he was being spied on. However, he found nothing but silence.
Li Wenyuan, who was in the virtual world, showed a satisfied expression.