Age of Cosmic Exploration, 3

by Zhttty

  Liu Bai raised his hand. "What about me? Do I need to carry along some medical kits?"

  Yao Yuan shook his head. "That will not be necessary. Because of the unique space environment, you won’t be able to provide treatment without taking off the spacesuit anyway… right, a reminder. Behind the combat suit’s shoulders, heels, and waist, there are mini rocket propellers. Their functionality can persist for 5 whole minutes and they are ocular activated. There is a scanner on the top end of your space helmet. If you stare at the spot for more than 5 seconds, it will light up red. Keep staring at it for another 5 seconds and the propellers will be activated.

  "Similarly, the direction of the propellers will be determined by your eyes. After the propellers are activated, they will push you towards the direction you’re looking at. The propellers can’t be halted midway, so please reserve them for emergency use only. The speed they provide isn’t fast enough to prompt any serious worry, but please don’t underestimate the power of inertia in space."

  Yao Yuan stopped once more and his expression dimmed. He continued, "I cannot stress enough the importance of these propellers. Because the warship husk is a complete unknown, there is no guarantee the shuttle will not lose control like how the airships did. This propeller system may be our last hope for getting back to the Hope!

  "For tomorrow’s mission, I will request the Hope to open and train all its spotlights at our target destination. Yes, the junkyard is 10,000 kilometers away, but even so, we should still be able to see where the Hope is. So, God forbid, if we are stranded in space, please follow the lights closely! Propel yourself towards the lights because that represents our hope!

  "Dismissed!

  "Be at the gathering point by 9 AM tomorrow!

  "We will start the mission at 9 on the dot and it will be officially called Operation Leap!"

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  Chapter111 Blank Space

  All 12 members of the unit dealt with the incoming mission in their own unique ways. Ying and Ebon were happily preparing their guns and ammos, pumped for a new mission; Zhang Heng was worried sick, barely managing a bite of his dinner; Chou Yue spent the whole night talking with Ren Tao; Yao Yuan threw himself into administrative work until 10 PM and had a dreamless sleep until 8:30 AM the next morning.

  Before 9 AM, all 12 of them gathered at the shuttle hangar, the location where their equipment and spacesuits stood at the ready. As the clock struck 9, they would collectively walk into the shuttle to begin Operation Leap.

  "Do you feel any danger now?" Ren Tao suddenly whispered to Chou Yue.

  Chou Yue fired back sullenly. "What? You refused to talk to me yesterday night but now suddenly you’re willing to do so?"

  Ren Tao smiled brightly. "That’s because we’re boarding. Now is the time you should be able to tell whether there is any danger."

  Chou Yue was adamant to not give Ren Tao any time of her day, but in the end, she ceded. "There’s nothing now, but why didn’t you approach Zhang Heng with the question? I’m just a half-baked Diviner, so there’s no point in asking me!"

  Ren Tao stopped to seriously consider her question before finally admitting, "That’s because you’re closer to me, so it’s much more convenient."

  "You idiot!"

  At the same time, Yao Yuan incidentally was asking Zhang Heng that very question, a question to which Zhang Heng firmly replied, "No, there’s no sign of danger."

  "Great, everyone, please put on your spacesuits and get ready. We will enter the shuttle and start the mission at 8:55!"

  Under Yao Yuan’s command, everyone started to get into their spacesuits. With the attending officials helping, the prep-work was quickly done. After Yao Yuan led everyone into the shuttle, everyone ventured to their assigned station, waiting for the countdown to start.

  As the countdown dropped to 0, the shuttle accelerated on the rails before gliding out of the Hope. With Yao Yuan at the helm, they sped towards their destination at maximum speed. None spoke during the journey, Ying and Ebon calmly went over their load, Zhang Heng and Chou Yue sat to a side quietly while Ren Tao was his usual spaced-out self… 10 minutes later, the shuttle decelerated as it inched closer to the junkyard’s outer perimeter. They were at a speed of several hundred meters per second but were still decelerating.

  "Alright, we’re officially in the junkyard area. The shuttle can’t move fast beyond this point because there are too many floating pieces around us. We will reach the point where the airships lost control in another 20 kilometers. Zhang Heng and Chou Yue, tell me the instant you feel danger," Yao Yuan announced, while keeping his eyes on the navigation.

  The duo nodded in reply. As the shuttle crawled to the break-off point, the sense of worry in the shuttle started to mount. Even Yao Yuan, who had been in plenty of battlefields and life-or-death situations, started having clammy hands.

  And then the lights in the shuttle started flickering before going off completely. Other than the headlights fitted into the spacesuit, it was a world of darkness inside the shuttle.

  Not only that, even the lights from the control panel had disappeared. In that moment, it felt like all 12 of them had been dropped into space, because it was as empty and dark inside as it was outside!

  "Zhang Heng! Chou Yue! Do you feel any danger?" Yao Yuan yelled hurriedly as he tried to bring the shuttle back under control.

  He waited for several seconds, but there was still no reply. A chill grabbed his heart, fearing that the twp of them were dead. He turned back in a hurry and was relieved to see 11 weak globs of light in the dark. He looked closer and spotted Zhang Heng and Chou Yue’s faces, and their mouths were moving rapidly as if in speech.

  "What’s happening? Is it because you’ve felt danger? Why aren’t you speaking?" Yao Yuan turned back to the control panel in a hurry, but he still heard no forthcoming reply.

  (… Of course! The internal communicator must have lost its power!) The reality of the situation finally dawned on Yao Yuan and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  In preparation for moments like these, other than the modification done on the shuttle, extra efforts had been made to improve the spacesuits’ autonomy. Naturally, there had been updates to help it defend against signal interference, but beyond that, the autonomy of the spacesuit had also been increased in the sense that it would remain operational for as long as 12 hours from the moment the main electrical supply was lost. This was thanks to an isolated battery that was added to the combat suit prototypes [1].

  If they had to rely completely on external power supply to maintain the spacesuits’ life support, it was certain they would die in a matter of seconds if the shuttle’s power supply was cut off. Thankfully, they came prepared for this scenario.

  (Looks like this is the reason behind the airships’ loss of control. Electricity will be lost if you venture into the 300 kilometers danger zone. No wonder we can’t hear each other’s voices, the communication system must be down. It should be the same with the shuttle’s life support system as well.) Yao Yuan released his grasp on the control stick to unlatch the wolf-eye flashlight from his utility belt. The glare on the flashlight was so strong that it could cause temporary blindness if directed at one’s eyes, so Yao Yuan was careful to aim it at the ceiling before switching it on.

  Almost instantly, the room lit up in the reflection of the light. Ying, Ebon, and Liu Bai stood intensely with their weapons out; Ren Tao stood in front of Chou Yue, shielding her; while Zhang Heng had his Gaussian gun in one hand and his rifle in another as he scanned his surroundings.

  With the arrival of light, all 12 of them turned to one another trying to speak but failed to do so, so they gave up before finally all turning to Yao Yuan.

  Yao Yuan set his flashlight down on the floor, allowing it to continue shining at the ceiling. Straightening up, he signed some commands at Lee and then at Ying.

  Lee immediately took out
his own wolf-eye flashlight as he walked to the control panel. Pointing it out the window that sat above the control panel, he switched it on. The glare of the light was admittedly strong, but it still wasn’t strong enough to pierce the darkness of space. Only the outlines of the metallic pieces crowding around them were revealed by the light. After all, the warship husk was 300 kilometers away!

  Then Ying joined him. Activating his power, he looked out the window. After some time, he pointed at a location some distance away. Yao Yuan quickly signed for Ying and Lee to take a break.

  (Now that we have a general direction of our destination, we need to find out whether this shuttle is still controllable…) Yao Yuan thought to himself. Jiggling the control stick, the shuttle slowly turned under his control. After turning about 180 degrees, the weak clump of lights, which was the Hope, appeared before their eyes.

  (Phew, it looks like even though the electricity has been shut down, stripping the shuttle of its automated functionalities, it still can be manually operated. No wonder both Zhang Heng and Chou Yue didn’t sense any danger… there is a simple workaround to all this.) Yao Yuan turned the shuttle back around, down the direction where Ying was previously pointing.

  By then, all of them knew the communicator had broken down, so they returned quietly to their stations. Only Chou Yue stood frozen at her spot. She was badly shaken by the whole incident. The sudden darkness was a tremendous shock to her. Tears that she was unable to wipe dried on her face. Feeling beside herself, she clung onto Ren Tao’s arm.

  Ren Tao, on the other hand, still wore his oblivious look… but this time, there was cogitation behind those seemingly vacant eyes.

  In any case, the shuttle continued to move forward. There was nothing but an abyss around them. There was no visible change in scenery or even conversation to signify that time was even moving… so much so that it felt like they were traversing a blank space… After an incalculable period of time had passed, a dark outline gradually materialized before them.

  When the flashlight finally caught parts of outline in its rays, the lights within the shuttle suddenly came back on! And just like that, it was as if the time spent in the dark hadn’t even happened…

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  Chapter112 Warship Husk!

  "Of the 300 kilometers danger zone, only the 10 kilometers nearest to the warship will not send us into a blackout."

  After the systems came back online, Yao Yuan didn’t instantly continue their journey to the warship husk. Instead, he parked the shuttle to initiate multiple checks. He wanted to know their distance from the husk and the shuttle’s internal conditions.

  The examination lasted for 10 minutes, and after it finished, Yao Yuan shared the results with the rest of his party. Certain that everything was back to normal, they continued on to their destination.

  The area of blank space came as a surprise, but it was definitely all show. However, as the shuttle came ever closer to the warship husk, Zhang Heng and Chou Yue both felt a tingling sense of incoming danger. Nevertheless, the feeling was not one that screamed of immediate threat… in fact, it was not unlike how they felt prior to the earthquake that shook the meteorite base.

  This insidious feeling assaulted Yao Yuan as well.

  This didn’t raise any alarm for the party though because they had already expected to face some sort of dangerous encounter within the husk. In any case, they could not turn back now because humanity’s ultimate survival in space depended on the success of this mission. The technological advancement that could be salvaged from within the warship would provide humanity with a better standing in the great cosmos. As the saying goes, with great risk comes great rewards, so as dangerous as it might be, this was a mission that they must see to its very end!

  Yao Yuan was ready to sacrifice a lot to claim the technology within the alien warship, be it a few more decades of the Hope idling within this star system, the death of his partners, or even his own!

  This was because all the mentioned sacrifices combined were still less important than the 200 years that humanity would need if they were to enter their fourth industrial revolution the traditional way.

  "…4 more kilometers to our destination. Everyone, we are nearing the husk. To be safe, let’s all review our mission. First, Zhang Heng, Chou Yue?" With his hand over the controls, Yao Yuan asked of the party.

  Zhang Heng replied hurriedly, "I am to sense the presence of immediate danger like the activation of internal defense mechanism."

  Chou Yue hesitated. "Mine is to sense threats that are more long-term or drawn out, like the possibility of a self-destructive device in the warship husk."

  Yao Yuan nodded before passing the question to his Black Star comrades.

  "The Black Stars’ mission is to be vigilant for traces of movement while protecting Zhang Heng, Chou Yue, and Ren Tao. Also, we are to set up a safety perimeter during searches and pit stops," Lee said, representing the whole group.

  Ying added, "Using my power, I’m responsible for sniping high-armored machinery."

  Ebon followed, "I’ll provide backline support, but when normal weapons fail, I’m told to use the Gaussian gun."

  "As the one responsible for everything explosive, it’s my job to demolish locked doors or safe boxes with the smallest damage possible to the surroundings," said Wa Luo.

  "As the information relay person, I will keep a constant eye on everyone’s internal communicators. In situations where they are jammed, I will help relay information using the multi-frequency communicator to ensure a constant stream of communication," added Xiao Yan.

  "As the so-called Thinker, I am tasked to provide solutions if we’re stuck in an ambush or trap… But is that really useful?" Ren Tao finished.

  Yao Yuan chuckled. "Frankly, I myself can’t tell, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. I’m not going to let anyone die because we’re unprepared.

  "Okay, we’re officially entering the husk…"

  Yao Yuan circled around the husk looking for an entrance. To be fair, since the warship husk was already torn apart, there were plenty of open apertures, but none of them served as a valid landing spot.

  "It’s no use. Fine, we’ll use the mechanical arms to clamp the shuttle to the warship."

  A stymied Yao Yuan announced. Guiding the shuttle to one of the biggest apertures, he released the shuttle’s mechanical arms when they were about 1 meter away from the warship’s edge. The arms latched onto the warship’s metallic edge, and after a brief, violent shake, the shuttle stood secured in space.

  "Right, I hope everyone’s ready for an adventure."

  Yao Yuan stood up from the driver’s seat. Grabbing the space rifle beside him, he strode to the front of the party. Then the shuttle door opened to reveal a world of darkness. It was as if they were staring into a monster’s gaping maw. Undeterred, Yao Yuan stepped out of the shuttle, yelling, "For Glory!"

  "Or for death!" echoed the rest of the Black Star Unit as they moved to follow Yao Yuan.

  The last to remain were Zhang Heng, Ren Tao, and Chou Yue. Without hesitation, Zhang Heng too jumped out of the shuttle yelling the slogan. Finally, when it was only Ren Tao and Chou Yue, he asked, "So… who first?"

  Pouting, Chou Yue mumbled, "That is such a corny slogan. Why did they pick something so cringe-worthy? Even the ‘I’ll be back’ from Terminator 6 might be better, and that’s saying a lot… Anyway, you know I don’t like to be the last one out, so I’ll go first."

  Ren Tao smiled, and after Chou Yue got off the shuttle, he whispered under his breath, "I quite like the slogan actually." With that, he too descended the shuttle.

  Standing at the entrance to the warship husk, Yao Yuan waited patiently for the whole party to assemble. After everyone was there and the Black Star Unit had their weapons at the ready, Yao Yuan finally switched on his wolf-eye flashlight.

  The rays of light revealed a
scene of absolute wreckage. There were punctures and holes made by explosions and tearing while metallic baubles and parts of differing sizes littered the general area. However, based on the husk’s inner structure, the party still managed to envision its original glory.

  In all honesty, there was a hint of disappointment that threaded through the group. This was because they were expecting a scene that was much more high tech and not something that looked so similar to the inner chambers of the Hope. With the exception of the walls and partitions that were thinner than the ones on the Hope, making the space wider, the structure was about 70 to 80 percent similar to the insides of the Hope.

  Nevertheless, since there was neither danger nor findings in the entrance area, the group moved deeper into the husk. Wary of the zero-gravity environment, extra cautiousness was present in every step taken. That combined with the lack of lighting and the multiple of obstructions that littered the floor made their progress regretfully slow.

  Hugging the walls, the party moved steadily into the husk. About 10 minutes later, they saw lights flickering some distance away before them. This meant that the corridor in front of them still had access to an electrical current!

  "…Proceed cautiously. Be mindful of your partner," Yao Yuan advised.

  The group then moved carefully to the flickering light source. As they stepped closer to their destination, the amount of damage they could see around them got significantly lesser. The area they were heading toward was making out to be the most fully-preserved space after the devastation. If there was a discovery to find, this would be where they were going to find it.

  As they reached the end of a long corridor, a dim, red light suddenly flashed around them. Almost instantaneously, both Zhang Heng and Chou Yue shouted, "Danger! Danger incoming!"

  Hearing that, Yao Yuan yelled, "Retreat! Move back to the place where there are no flashing lights!" Turning around, he used the wall to climb his way back to safety.