Age of Cosmic Exploration, 3

by Zhttty

  Others did the same. However, before they could get even 10 meters away, a metallic partition started to drop down further down the corridor they were in, intending to cut off their path.

  "Sh*t!" Yao Yuan instinctively grabbed hold of his rifle, but he soon realized that that was futile. All the structural weak points had already crumbled during the previous destruction, and sadly, there was no opening big enough for them to pass through in sight.

  Finally, the partition closed with a tremor, and the party had no way left but forward!

  The mysterious source of danger was also imminent…

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  Chapter113 Robot!

  Yao Yuan was already searching for solutions before the partition dropped completely. He looked left and then right before yelling, "The hole on the wall, follow me!"

  Before he finished his sentence, Yao Yuan had already leaped over the hole [1]. He landed in a room whose door had already been blasted off and miscellaneous broken machine parts covered the floor. Training his weapon at the opening where the door once stood, he yelled behind him, "Don’t let your guard down! We are moving forward! Ebon and Wa Luo, you two bring up the rear!"

  Yao Yuan took big steps towards the opening… but he remained careful. Try as he might, he could only go so fast in zero-gravity space.

  Yao Yuan involuntarily moved his eyes to the red lights blinking at the top of his helmet, but he quickly caught himself. It was still not the time to employ the one-use propellers.

  The propellers must be reserved for emergencies only because they would only stop after they had exhausted their fuel. Attached to the back of the spacesuits’ shoulders, waist, and heels, the propeller ports, the size of a coin, were impressive marvels!

  They were emergency movement devices that made use of man’s newest battery model!

  The technology was harvested from the internal mechanism of the music box. Even Yao Yuan was impressed at the inroads the scientists had managed within the 15 days after the music box was discovered.

  The music box’s battery was the size of a button, but it held an energy storage that was tens of thousands of times larger than normal lithium batteries!

  It was so extraordinary that it could hardly be described as a battery. It was more akin to a high-energy electromagnetic device. Such an object the size of a button could bring immeasurable progress to the fields of Gaussian technology, nanotech, and electromagnetic technology.

  It was a device that was well beyond man’s scientific possibility at the time!

  However, while it was something man couldn’t create from scratch, with the presence of a replica, duplication was entirely possible…

  The fact that it could be duplicated proved once more that the technological level of this alien race wasn’t so far off from the Hope’s. Some of their technologies might seem far-fetched, but scientists pointed out that they were already in the theoretical stage for some of them. Further contact with this alien civilization would only hurry that process along.

  The batteries that powered the rocket propellers were such duplicated replicas. Through the process of electrolysis, the battery supercharged its surrounding chemical carbides into forming thin wisps of powerful corpuscular streams which then propelled the wearer forward at high speeds. That was the theoretical mechanism behind the rocket propellers.

  Nevertheless, not many knew of the existence of this future-tech battery. The actual number of the people who were in the know was less than 100, and of those 100, 90 percent of them were pertinent scientists and researchers. Yao Yuan had a hard time explaining this propeller to Chou Yue and Ren Tao without divulging top secret information. It was very likely that this battery would spearhead mankind’s fourth industrial revolution!

  (Yes, I mustn’t lose sight of our goal. The catalyst for the fourth revolution has to be inside this junkyard. Replicating the battery inside the music box alone has already brought incremental progress to the Hope’s technological level. Understanding it fully will definitely introduce a giant leap to the Hope’s scientific standard!) Yao Yuan reminded himself. Gritting his teeth, he pushed forward… His eyes were burning with the determination of a man who wasn’t afraid to face death!

  "Quickly, we must get away from this area that still has electrical currents!"

  Leaping out of the room, Yao Yuan unhesitatingly waved his team down another broken down corridor. They had only taken several steps before the world around Yao Yuan silenced and he sensed a danger source rushing towards them!

  "Be careful! Danger incoming!"

  "From the front!"

  Zhang Heng and Chou shouted in unison. With their warning still reverberating around the walls and Yao Yuan barely lifting his space rifle, a luminous robot appeared in front of them, floating down their direction fast!

  Yes, the robot was floating. It was about 30 centimeters off the ground to be precise, and it was gliding towards the group with lighting speed. But most surprisingly… other than the few weak spots of lights that lit up its joints, the robot didn’t appear to be corporeal; like a ghost, it floated freely in zero-gravity space.

  Could the robot be… a tentacle monster?!

  The thing was a cylindrical, alien-made machinery of some sort. Four tentacle-like appendages that mirrored robotic arms came out of the top and middle end of the creature as it floated above ground on a spinning, circular plate. The creature wasn’t at its top form because the damage on its body was conspicuous, two of its appendages were torn apart, and a giant wound cut across its torso, revealing the gears within. Regardless, it still posed a threatening presence, especially when it got increasingly closer, radiating a milky-white glow.

  "Aaaaah!"

  Standing in the middle of the group, a panicked Ebon roared. Training his machine gun at the robot, he muscled his way forward to the front of the group where Yao Yuan stood.

  "Stop! Calm yourself!" Yao Yuan yelled when he realized what Ebon was up to. Unlike the other Black Star members who respected him as the leader, Ebon looked at him with a starry-eyed admiration. Ebon had once said on the battlefield that he would die before he would allow any harm to come to Yao Yuan!

  As Ebon pushed others out of the way, the color of the glow surrounding the robot started to deepen. First it changed to yellow, then pink, red, green, and finally blue… Ebon used his elbow to push Yao Yuan behind him as he pointed his machine gun straight at the robot, his eyes bulging and his whole body tense.

  "Calm down!" Yao Yuan shouted again as he pulled Ebon backwards. After he regained his position at the front of the group, he added, "The thing moves incredibly fast, so if it truly meant us harm, it wouldn’t be standing there now. I suspect there’s some restriction preventing it from attacking us! Don’t you agree, Ren Tao?"

  Ren Tao had his hands out, shielding Chou Yue, who stood behind him. He replied instantly, "I concur. Since we’re in the middle of an alien warship, it should come as no surprise that there are alien guards… after all, isn’t it the same on the Hope? That said, even if we don’t have the proper ID, it probably won’t attack us indiscriminately!"

  "ID, huh?" Yao Yuan echoed. "Right, some scientists did mention that in the future, for the sake of convenience, ID might be embedded in one’s arms or even head to replace conventional ID cards. Of course, to account for fringe cases where the ID chip or the scanning device in the robot is broken, it is unlikely the robot guards are programmed to attack indiscriminately on sight…"

  Right then, Ying, Liu Bai, Lee, and most of the Black Stars had also reached Yao Yuan’s side. Ebon roared, "Have you two lost it? The robot is standing right in front of us and you’re still arguing scientific theories?!"

  "Chill," Ren Tao shrugged. "Didn’t you see that the color around the robot has changed back to normal? I believe that as long as we don’t do anything hostile, it will not rashly attack us. I bet it’s still trying to ana
lyze our group, which has no proper ID. We should take this opportunity to learn more about this warship, things like how many robot guards it has, what weapons these guards carry, where is their zone of defense, and of course, the possibility of bypassing our lack of ID conundrum. As long as we avoid unnecessary conflict, things should be just fine…"

  "Shut it, you d*ck!" Ebon howled in return. "I wasn’t talking to you…"

  "Ebon!" Yao Yuan cut him off. "Who are you calling a d*ck? Ren Tao is now part of our team, so watch your mouth!"

  Ebon mumbled recalcitrantly, but eventually he apologized. Ren Tao wasn’t paying him much attention though. He stared directly at the robot as if he were in trance. Several seconds later, he told Yao Yuan, "Something’s off… The robot’s light has returned to its normal white, but it doesn’t seem to be staying that way. Plus, the fact that it’s standing there without any response while blocking our way is a bit weird…"

  Yao Yuan too had the same suspicion. Lo and behold, the color of the robot slowly changed to yellow, but it still showed no sign of moving… "It’s communicating with us! I bet it’s producing some kind of sound, but we can’t hear it because we’re in space! Then again, we wouldn’t be able to understand what it’s saying anyway. I believe it wants us to drop our weapons and follow it to perhaps their police station or barracks…

  "Our failure to do so might cause it to start attacking us!"

  As Yao Yuan explained, the color on the robot turned a faded yellow… They didn’t have much time left!

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  Chapter114 Bait and Switch!

  "Tell me, Ren Tao. Do you think this is the only robot on this ship?" noticing the robot’s color turning yellow, Yao Yuan quickly asked.

  All the clues started to line up in Ren Tao’s head as silence descended upon his world. He replied almost instantly, "No, there has to be more than one. Previously, Zhang Heng and my sis sensed the danger coming from another direction different from where this robot came from. However, since there isn’t another robot behind us at this moment, I believe these robots have their own zone of activity, and the one before us is only responsible for this zone!"

  "I too come to the same conclusion… Now, a second question," Yao Yuan added as his hand went searching for the Gaussian gun strapped to his waist. "Do you think the other robots will respond aggressively if we attack this one before us?"

  "Absolutely!" Ren Tao answered. "It took us about 10 seconds to move from that previous area to this one, but this robot was already waiting for us. Such an impressive reactionary time means that there has to be a shared communication system between all the robots. Harming one will definitely tip off the others!"

  Yao Yuan already had his hand over the gun, but he didn’t unsheathe it. Without turning about, he asked Ren Tao, "One last question… Do you think these robots are armed with long-range weapons using high-penetration or highly-explosive ammo?"

  "…" This time Ren Tao hesitated for 3 seconds before replying, "It’s unlikely. From what I’ve observed so far, they don’t have powerful AI, but simple ones to facilitate identification. It doesn’t appear like they are aware that the ship’s ruined and there is no life remaining on it. In other words, they are only programs. And in an intact warship, it’s highly unlikely that they’re programmed to use high-penetration or highly-explosive weaponry!"

  "So you mean even if they are equipped with long-range weapons, they won’t be able to penetrate metallic walls?"

  Then Yao Yuan growled, in a low voice, "Black Stars, we’ll fire in 3 seconds! Take down this robot asap! After that, follow my instructions closely!"

  "3, 2, 1…"

  "Fire!"

  The first to unload was Ebon. The machine gun he was using was a specifically modified prototype that could be used in space. The recoil was still present, but at least it would no longer stray away from its target.

  Thanks to the aforementioned recoiling force, the bullet hail pushed all 10 members of Black Star Unit, Zhang Heng included, backwards. The lack of friction in space meant that the backwards momentum would not stop without external aid. The human wave of 10 crashed into Chou Yue and Ren Tao, carrying the 2 unfortunate souls with it. It wasn't until several of them managed to grab hold of holes on the walls and ground for support that the party of 12 stopped rolling backwards.

  When they straightened up, the robot was already blown far back into the dark chasm. Not long after, a resounding explosion shook the warship husk.

  After the group blasted the robot away, Yao Yuan was certain manmade weapons could do damage to the warship’s robot guards, albeit one that was infinitely small. Based on the bullet wounds on the robot’s shell, many of the bullets barely dented its surface!

  The ones that pierced the shell and inflicted damage were the ones fired by the Gaussian guns.

  Yao Yuan, however, knew they didn’t have the time to linger. Without missing a beat, he yelled, "Back to the room we leaped out of! Quick!"

  Using the punctured wall as some sort of a horizontal rock-climbing surface, Yao Yuan clambered his way back to the room. Along the way, he asked, "Zhang Heng, Chou Yue, is there any danger surrounding us?"

  Zhang Heng reported instantly, "Yes, there are sources of danger book-ending this corridor, the blocked corridor we escaped from, and there are some more moving towards us from the level above."

  Chou Yue confirmed, "He’s right. They are coming onto us fast."

  "Okay, thanks for that. I have a clearer grasp on the map of this ship now. I believe the blocked corridor and the one where we stumbled across the robot are connected. All the robot guards should be gathering at where we are now, and the one closest to us should be the robot that’s from the blocked corridor. He should be rushing down the connected corridor as we speak," Yao Yuan explained as he leaped back into the room. The rest of the party followed.

  Still catching their breath, Yao Yuan ordered, "Wa Luo, I want you to set up some mines here. Make it so that they detonate 5 seconds after activation!"

  "Yes, Sir!" Wa Luo moved to oblige even though he, and basically everyone else, had no idea why Yao Yuan would deploy such an order. This way, they themselves wouldn’t be able to escape the explosion, but they knew better than to question Yao Yuan’s battlefield expertise.

  Yao Yuan then turned to the rest. "Zhang Heng, Chou Yue, I want the 2 of you to focus on divining the distance and numbers of the robots pursuing us. When they approach the corridor outside of this room, I want you to inform me immediately. Then, at my command, everyone else will jump back through the hole to the blocked corridor and immediately run down the open end. Be quick, understand?"

  Zhang Heng nodded, but not before asking, "Both corridors are guarded by robots though! Aren’t we just jumping into their grasp?"

  "No, all the robots should be coming this way to finish us off, so the blocked corridor… should be free of robots by then!" Ren Tao suddenly offered.

  Unsatisfied, it was Chou Yue’s turn to ask, "But won’t the robot from the other corridor just come through the opening like we did?"

  Yao Yuan caught Ren Tao’s eyes and nodded. "They won’t because there’s a wall between us."

  The rest looked at the wall in question and sighed in disbelief. The "wall" had a giant opening on it where both man and robot could easily pass through. Barely standing, it could hardly be called a wall.

  "We’re dealing with robots here." Yao Yuan chuckled darkly as he supervised Wa Luo’s work. "They might have AI, but they lack common sense and logic. As long as the frame of the wall remains standing, they will treat it as a partition and will not think to cross through it. Therefore, to grab us, they will definitely take the long route around because in their AI, we’re already cornered in this room and there is no other exit other than the one in front of us!"

  "I get it now!" Lee shouted. "So we’re essentially the bait that’ll lure them to this r
oom. While the explosives deal with the robots, we’ll be escaping through the opening. That’s the plan, right?"

  "Not we, but me…" Yao Yuan continued seriously. "As the All-Rounder, I’m the perfect candidate for the bait. I’ll stay until the last 5 seconds prior to the moment the robots will enter this room. Then I’ll activate the detonation and catch up with the rest of you."

  The scope of Yao Yuan’s plan silenced the rest of his party, only Ebon alone roared, "No! You’re the captain of the ship; your life is more important than anyone of ours. I’m just a Perceptor, but I’m willing stay to be the bait. In fact, why don’t you let Ying and Zhang Heng stay with me? The three of us combined are stronger than your All-Rounder power! No matter what, you can’t be the bait!"

  Ying too added, "5 seconds is too short. It’s impossible to escape from the range of all these explosives with just 5 seconds… Leave the mission to me."

  "It has to be 5 seconds, or perhaps even less, because if the robots realize that there’s already no one in the room before then, the plan will definitely fail! I’m the only one who can escape the room in 5 seconds, so I have to be the bait!"

  Yao Yuan continued, "My power as the Perceptor grants me hyper-reflexivity, while the power of the Seeker gives me super-sight, and Diviner the power of prediction. All these combined with the rocket propeller system allows me the speed I need to get out of the room in 5 seconds. In other words, I’m the only candidate that would have any chance at survival! Got it?!

  "Plus, this is not a discussion, it’s an order!"

  It was obvious that none of the Black Star members were willing to send their leader to his death, but faced with the incontestable nature of an order, they resigned. And thus, the room sat quietly waiting for Wa Luo to finish his work.

  About 10 seconds after Wa Luo’s explosives were set, both Zhang Heng and Chou Yue scrunched up their faces, yelling, "They’re coming, the one leading is incredibly close to us!"