Age of Cosmic Exploration, 3

by Zhttty

  After another five kilometers into the junkyard, the debris floating around them had significantly increased. They even started to spot the bigger pieces among them. However, Zhang Heng still received no sign of danger and Ying too hadn’t found anything useful.

  "Attention, members of the shuttle, you are getting closer to a piece of energy-laden spaceship part. Please be careful, you are currently 308 kilometers from it. You have seven more kilometers before entering its danger zone!"

  Yao Yuan nodded. "Understood, please keep us apprised of the situation!" Nevertheless, they kept moving forward.

  Slowly but surely, the shuttle kept gliding closer to the large spaceship part to a point where Guang Zhen shouted through the communicator asking them to return.

  Yao Yuan looked at their progress chart and it showed that they had ventured 11 kilometers into the junkyard. He persuaded himself to go back since this was only their first flight, so there was no need to take such enormous risk.

  "Okay, the shuttle is preparing to return…" Yao Yuan answered as he moved to turn the shuttle around. He was going to use the shuttle’s perimeter engines to propel the shuttle around. After the shuttle turned about 10 degrees, Ying suddenly frowned.

  "Wait! Yao Yuan, I saw something!"

  Yao Yuan quickly directed the shuttle’s light beam to where Ying was pointing. The glint of a small, transparent object was picked up by the light!

  Yao Yuan could feel his heart skip a beat. He had no idea what the thing was, but since it was so distinctively different from the metallic debris around it, it had to be useful. He yelled into the communicator, "Hope, I need a reading on the shuttle’s distance to the big spaceship part!"

  "…The shuttle is currently 11 kilometers into the junkyard and two kilometers away from a sizeable spaceship part."

  "Thank you." Yao Yuan turned to the other two in the shuttle. "The spot of reflection is not within the 300 kilometers radius from any spaceship part, so I’ve decided that we will go for it! Zhang Heng, keep your power open, and Ying, keep an eye on our surroundings and other possible objects of interest.

  "We are going to get ourselves our first alien-made product!"

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  Chapter107 Music Box

  The retrieval of the alien object was successful. There was no accident.

  Nevertheless, the object was handled with extreme care.

  First, the extra metallic debris that was stuck to the object was peeled off and set off to the side. Then, a layer of plastic cover was wrapped around the object to prevent it from being exposed to outside air since there was no telling what reaction it might have with airborne microbes and viruses.

  After that, it was deposited into a small, glass chest which was then tightly sealed. Lastly, it was taken into the shuttle and secured among the shelves. Care was taken to ensure it wouldn’t fall off the edge or knock into other stuff.

  "Collect the peeled metallic pieces using the mechanical arms and then we’ll return to the Hope," Yao Yuan ordered, in a low and weak voice. Keeping multiple superhuman abilities open had put an insurmountable amount of pressure on Yao Yuan’s well-being, but he still tried his best to focus as he steered the shuttle back to the Hope.

  Heavy with everyone’s prayers, the trio on the shuttle returned safely to the Hope. Even before the shuttle door opened, they could see that a spacesuit-wearing crowd had gathered around the hangar awaiting their return.

  As the trio stepped gingerly off the cabin, the crowd separated into 2. The larger party rushed instantly into the shuttle to box and transport the collected metallic planks, while a small run-off of the larger group went to secure the glass chest. So much attention and care was given to the chest that one would think they were handling a newborn baby.

  On the other hand, without removing their spacesuits, Yao Yuan, Zhang Heng, and Ying followed the smaller of the two parties to a miniature, vacuum isolation chamber. After that, they had to walk through a microbial disinfectant bath. Only then could they remove their spacesuits.

  "Good God, this is annoying! Do we have to do this every time we return from space?" grumbled a tired Zhang Heng.

  Yao Yuan nodded lightly. "Yes, it is troublesome, but unfortunately necessary. These steps have to be taken until the Academy comes up with a powerful antibiotic… but I don’t think we will live to see that happen."

  Ying stood beside Yao Yuan without a word. As Yao Yuan finished, he took advantage of the break in conversation to add, "If there’s nothing more, I shall go take my rest."

  Yao Yuan nodded at Ying before turning to Zhang Heng. "You should go rest as well. Even though the pressure from using a passive skill is less demanding than an active one, I’m sure you’re tired as well. Go take a good rest, because things are going to get hectic for the next few days."

  Zhang Heng yawned as Ying took his wordless retreat. "Okay then, Captain. Now that you’ve mentioned it, I do feel drained. Weird, it doesn’t feel that way when you’re actively using the power." Zhang Heng bade Yao Yuan goodbye before turning to follow Ying.

  Yao Yuan was left behind with the group of people that they had followed. To be frank, Yao Yuan wished to trade places with Zhang Heng or Ying because he was definitely more tired than either of them. However, since he was not only the leader of this expedition but also of this ship, he didn’t have that luxury.

  "How’s the surveillance on the junkyard?" Yao Yuan asked as someone handed him a folder.

  That someone was Barbie. Dressed to the nines in a revealing, lace dress, she replied professionally, "The 24 hour surveillance on the junkyard didn’t reveal any development worth noting. And this here is a proposal written by a group of scientists."

  "Huh, a report by Bo Li?" Yao Yuan asked no one in particular when he saw the name on the cover. Then he started to read in earnest.

  The more he read, the deeper his frown. According to the proposal, the Hope was way too close to the junkyard. It was only 1,000 kilometers away from the junkyard’s outer perimeter, and more worryingly, only 1,000 and several hundred kilometers away from the bigger spaceship pieces within it. The Gaussian weaponry invented by Bo Li’s team could easily penetrate the Hope’s walls at this distance, so one could imagine the damage that could be wrought if they were assaulted by laser or plasma weaponry.

  The safest distance provided in the proposal was… more than 10,000 kilometers away.

  Even though Gaussian bullets would only take 10 seconds to traverse a distance of 10,000 kilometers, the great distance would drop its accuracy to almost 0. Granted the Hope’s massive body wouldn’t be able to evade the bullets easily, that wouldn’t matter when the bullets couldn’t even connect in the first place.

  The proposal elaborated that high precision triangulation was needed for long-distance combat in space, and unless this ruined civilization had access to advanced technology like a photon computer, they would be safe a distance away. Furthermore, even if they had a photon computer, it would have been ruined or pillaged in the midst of its downfall. The proposal decided on a 10,000 kilometers distance on the grounds that a homing system on stray missiles wouldn’t be efficient enough to strike its target accurately that far away.

  "10,000 kilometers, is it?" echoed Yao Yuan as he mulled over the findings of the proposal.

  The upgraded shuttle could travel at a maximum speed of 10 kilometers per second in zero-gravity. It would take about 15 minutes to cross 10,000 kilometers, but taking into account acceleration and deceleration, that would increase to about 20 minutes.

  "Alright, I’ll approve of this proposal. Send this to the engine room, tell them to move the Hope 10,000 kilometers away from the junkyard. Is there anything else?" Yao Yuan queried.

  Barbie shook her head before adding, "There is nothing else at the moment, but I do need to remind Captain that you have a meeting scheduled at 3 PM. It will be about the external cabin.
"

  "OK, noted," Yao Yuan said as he glanced at his watch. Nodding, he added, "Then I shall take a rest before then. Please wake me up at about 2.30 PM. However if there’s any update on the junkyard, the metallic planks, and the small alien object, do wake me up immediately."

  "Okay," Barbie replied as she wrote into her datebook. Finished, she looked up and smiled. "Then I shall wish you a good rest, captain. Sweet dreams."

  Yao Yuan chuckled lightly. He then lugged his tired body to one of the nearby electromobiles to get back to his chamber. He started snoring the moment his body hit the bed.

  At the same time, a series of biochemical tests were being done on the spaceship’s metallic planks and the small, mysterious object. This testing, which was overseen by Mitsuhara Saburo, was carried out to ensure that these alien objects didn’t contain harmful microbes. The result was negative, but nevertheless, to be safe, Saburo decided to conduct a life experiment using a ZH lab rat.

  The rat showed no visible difference to its activity after 1 hour of close enclosure with pieces of the spaceship metals. The pathologist finally concluded that there was no harmful microbe on the two alien objects.

  "… Isn’t this to be expected? These two things have survived in space for god knows how many years. Even if there were microbes in the beginning, they would have been long dead by now after such a long exposure to a lack of light and air," whispered one of the interns, taking a jab at the pathologists’ extra cautiousness.

  To his shock and consternation, a pathologist heard him. Without raising a fuss, the pathologist merely whispered back, "And how do you know what form these alien microbes would take? The fact that the cosmos could create life is already in itself an enigmatic miracle. None of us know where the limit of evolution lies. Even the smallest crack on Earth could contain never-before-seen organisms, much less in space. Maybe there is a type of organism that could survive solely on solar radiation. We can’t afford to be too careful, young man. The lives of 10,000 plus people and not to mention the whole human civilization depends on us. We must be as thorough as we can be."

  The young intern nodded obediently in silent shame. After the pathologist walked away, his mouth turned up in derision, but he wisely kept his thoughts to himself as he sauntered over to the experiment tables.

  "We’ve confirmed that there is no harmful microbe or bacteria on the alien objects. The life experiment confirms this observation," Saburo announced to the rest of the group.

  The group was made up of scientists from diverse fields, ranging from psychics, kinetics, and energy to biometrics. They greeted Saburo’s news with applause. Suddenly, a sing-songy melody cut through the thunderous claps.

  Everyone froze to follow the melody. Their eyes finally fell upon a glinting, metallic sphere. The sphere was the size of a child’s balled up fist. It was lying in the middle of its shed shell and it was the source of the melody.

  And a soft, melodious tune, not unlike a child’s humming, filled the lab…

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  Chapter108 A Child’s Last Words

  Yao Yuan awoke to Barbie’s voice. He looked at his watch and it showed 2.30 pm. After a simple bathroom ritual, he left for a 4th floor conference room to join the discussion on the Hope’s external cabin.

  After several months of construction, the first external cabin was finally ready. Its size was 1/10 of the Hope’s 6th floor biomes. The space would be perfect for a cattle farm, which could increase the Hope’s daily milk production by 2 to 3 times.

  However, due to the wide range of products processed by the Hope, its Department of Agriculture had birthed many sub-committees. There were committees for vegetable products, wheat products, meat products, animal by-products, and luxury products like coffee, cocoa, as well as tobacco, and every single one of them was vying for this valuable space.

  The discussion was thus sidetracked by intra-departmental politics and sarcastic barbs. This was Yao Yuan’s first taste of western policy-making, where each committee had their own say to the matter. For example, representatives from the staple food committee proclaimed that the Hope’s food storage was still below the safety line, so they would face food shortage if there was calamity.

  The committee for luxury products, on the other hand, invited an economist to give a speech on the negative impacts a decrease in luxury products would have on the Hope’s overall economy… The discussion dragged on with each committee plying for the spot until Yao Yuan dictatorially decided to use the external cabin to farm animal by-products like milk and eggs. Yao Yuan sighed inwardly, knowing that chaos was going to repeat when the next cabin was ready.

  The discussion concluded at around 4.30 PM. As Yao Yuan exited the room, he murmured, "Goodness, Barbie, don’t you westerners have a sense of organizational discipline? But… then again, I’ve witnessed the presence of such discipline working as a company headhunter."

  Barbie covered her mouth and giggled. "The difference between the two is obvious. There is oftentimes no worker protection when you work for a company. The higher-ups could willy-nilly let a general worker or even a manager go. One could complain, but that would normally be to no avail. The best you can do is accept the severance deal and quickly look for your next meal ticket.

  "A governmental posting is wildly difference. A president can’t just let his or her cabinet ministers go without proper justification. This is especially true for a democratic society because the public backlash would be devastating. The president would have little chance of getting re-elected."

  Barbie stopped and turned to look at the animal by-products committee members who were just leaving. They had smiles all over their faces. After they were a distance away, Barbie continued, "For some reason, when you first drafted the government officers, you purposely avoided putting Chinese officials at leadership posts. Many of them had the relevant experience, but you didn’t even give them a committee leader post. Therefore, most of the leaders in the agriculture department are westerners. Furthermore, they are familiar with your temperament, so it’s only natural that everyone gave it their all to stake a claim for their own group."

  "My temperament? And what would that be?" Yao Yuan asked curiously.

  "You are what we call a ‘fake dictator,’ and that’s a compliment." Barbie giggled. "Even though you’ve proclaimed a dictatorial governing style, there have been policies like the creation of House of Representatives and policies that strive for cultural assimilation. Furthermore, other than important positions, like department leaders, all the other government postings require intra-departmental recommendations, and those are decidedly democratic. All of this combined makes you a ‘fake dictator.’"

  Yao Yuan rubbed his nose self-consciously, but he didn’t directly rebut Barbie. Instead, he said, "That’s because I have not shown my dictator side yet. Furthermore, the word ‘dictator’ has many nuances in its meaning… Actually, never mind that. Plus, aren’t you going to ask why I purposely put those Chinese officers at the lowest level? The reasoning’s mighty complicated, but here, I’ll try to explain it with a joke.

  "Once upon a time, an infamous drug lord was captured by Interpol. He was temporarily detained after his trial at the international court while he awaited his transport to his country of origin. In that period, he befriended his fellow cellmate, who was a turncoat emissary. During one of their conversations, the drug lord asked, ‘Right, we’ve been talking for so long, but I still don’t know why are you in here, and what country did you work for again?’

  "After a long and pregnant silence, the emissary replied, ‘I’m a Chinese government officer…’

  "The drug lord paused and then nodded in commiseration, ‘Okay, I get it…’"

  Barbie turned to Yao Yuan with a confused face. She frowned, waiting for the punch-line before finally conceding. "Wait, that’s it? Unlike the drug lord, I don’t think I get it."

  Y
ao Yuan laughed heartily in response. "No matter, it’s okay if you don’t get it." He massaged his temples and continued, "If there’s nothing else, I will have a simple dinner and resume my sleep. The analysis on the alien object should be ready by tomorrow morning, right?"

  Barbie replied, "Then, Captain, I’m afraid you might have to miss your sleep tonight. The preliminary result on the object is back… and it said that the scientists have identified the object’s purpose… or rather, the object has revealed its own purpose…"

  "Pat, pat, pat."

  Yao Yuan clapped his hands wordlessly. Just like what the scientists reported, the metallic sphere that sat on the table cracked open on its own to release a soft melody. An indistinctive voice could be heard intermingled within the melody, but it didn’t appear to be human-sounding. It was too sing-songy for normal conversation; it sounded more like someone or something was singing a Broadway musical.

  "This is it? The thing that we’ve risked our lives for is a damn music box?" Yao Yuan turned around with a stern expression, questioning the scientists in the room with his finger still pointing at the music box.

  The scientists too held frustrated expressions. They were also hoping for something valuable or practical, like computer hard disc, weaponry, engines, or surveillance probes. The fact that they had ended up with a mere music box didn’t sit well with them either.

  However, one of the scientists replied instantly, "Captain, please continue listening. This is not just a music box. It is a recorder as well. At around 27 minutes, when the music stops for shuffle, you can hear some alien speech."

  Reining in his annoyance, Yao Yuan pulled over a chair and sat down to listen.

  Slowly, he started to appreciate the soft-flowing melody. It gave him a sense of freedom, freedom of floating carefree through endless space. However, the freedom also hid an undercurrent of sadness, especially when paired with the vocals of the female singer. Even though the vocals were begrudgingly high-pitched, like it came from the undeveloped voice box of a child, Yao Yuan had to admit that the singer had a soothing and graceful voice.