Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 172 - 173 Crisis... Extraterrestrial Life
Chapter 172: Chapter 173 Crisis… Extraterrestrial Life!
Chapter 172: Chapter 173 Crisis… Extraterrestrial Life!
Senior Brother Zhao stood still for a while, seemingly a bit uneasy, “Alas, who’d blame the soldiers for not learning to calculate? Sending them is just sending them to their deaths…”
“I will get them ready as soon as possible with all the equipment and the related counterweight mass… Once the timing is right, we can explore again.”
“No problem, rest assured.”
Zhang Yuan saw the worried look on Senior Brother Zhao’s face, the wrinkles on his forehead and the white hair at his temples, at least forty years older than himself.
He suddenly remembered the scene of Old Zhao sneaking a peak at comics in the laboratory, things like “Pirate King” and “Eight Dragon Balls” aimed at a younger audience. After many years had passed, and taking on the role of captain, there were no more such leisurely moments. He had become more serious and carried a conservatism that suited middle age.
“It must be tough being a captain,” Zhang Yuan said.
Senior Brother Zhao sighed, “Yes, there’s just too much of a variety of things. Everyone has their own ideas, and sometimes it’s like a tangled mess, nowhere near as straightforward as staying in the laboratory! And all day long worrying about aliens suddenly popping out from high-dimensional fragments, what kind of situation is this!”
“I think the probability of that happening is very low, don’t find trouble for yourself,” Zhang Yuan took a sip of water and said, “Think about it, this kind of supercivilization, would they really need to harness the power of a supernova, to blow it to bits? It’s too barbaric and too absurd…”
“I’m more inclined to think that the supercivilization has forgotten about it, or to say, they simply don’t care about this thing and let it explode if it explodes.”
“Moreover, we’ve already cracked the entry method to the high-dimensional fragment, incidentally reducing the probability. If it was an interstellar portal, how could it have been so easily deciphered?”
“…That’s also true. But for a captain, any small probability event must be taken into consideration. Our weapons are too poor; we cannot afford any mistakes.”
After a long discussion, which lasted until late into the night, Zhang Yuan finally stood up to say goodbye.
When he returned to his little room, Lin Xuanyuan had already fallen asleep. After washing up, Zhang Yuan quietly lay down beside her.
When the time came, the Ferris wheel started to accelerate, generating a centrifugal force equal to Earth’s gravity. Lin Xuanyuan rolled over into his arms.
The warmth and softness in his embrace felt very good.
But Zhang Yuan didn’t do anything more; after working all day, everyone was tired, who had the leisure or desire to do anything else…
He had a good habit of reflecting on what he had done, learned, and gained throughout the day before going to bed. Maintaining this self-disciplined state was the source of progress.
After pondering for a few minutes, Zhang Yuan suddenly felt a strange palpitation, an idea flashed through his mind like lightning—they had forgotten something at the day’s meeting!
This palpitation was eerie yet incredibly strong; Zhang Yuan could not help frowning and pondering hard.
Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour passed, and Zhang Yuan tossed and turned in bed, with no sign of sleepiness. The palpitation grew stronger and stronger, always with a heart-pounding sense of horror.
Subsequently, a series of associations formed in his mind.
“Perhaps… that glass shard is a bullet? Not some kind of space gate…”
“After hitting the object, it directly absorbs the culprit, and incidentally, locks them straight into the high-dimensional prison?”
“Or perhaps it’s some kind of storage pocket?”
How strange, what exactly had they forgotten?
Zhang Yuan carefully recalled the scientists’ speculations during the meeting, starting from the beginning and analytically going through them one by one.
He quickly found… a suspicious point of enormous proportions!
In the meeting, it was established that the high-dimensional fragment was triggered a total of two times.
The first time was when a high temperature caused by hitting the spaceship’s wall activated it;
The second time was when Zhang Yuan struggled out from inside, activating it from within.
But the answer of “two times” might not be entirely correct!
There might have been three times, and one of them was missed by everyone!
Zhang Yuan remembered that since the supernova exploded and the spaceship’s wall was breached, it took him more than fifteen minutes to rush over in a hurry.
Then, they discussed the relevant repair matters behind the air pressure door. As a result, this high-dimensional fragment appeared out of nowhere and was in an active state. It absorbed them all, and only he, Zhang Yuan, escaped.
“So, the first activation of the high-dimensional fragment lasted for over fifteen minutes?”
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Zhang Yuan remembered that humanity had fully observed it for only about twenty seconds during that instance, and compared to 15 minutes, the time difference was just too great.
“It’s possible, the number of times it was activated… not just twice!”
During the first activation, a hole was punched through the spaceship’s wall, and the relevant monitoring equipment had been destroyed by the intense radiation from the supernova, making it impossible for people to observe any other occurrences.
“After its first activation, it quickly calmed down.”
“The second activation happened fifteen minutes later, and it sucked us three right in.”
“The third activation occurred because I escaped from inside it, triggering some mechanism.”
Since no one saw the quiet periods before the first two activations, humanity mistakenly combined them into one event.
So, if this speculation is true, how did this additional instance, the second one, come about?
Zhang Yuan quickly came to a chilling speculation…
Could something have escaped from the high-dimensional fragment?
Just like when he escaped!
“Alien life?!”
Zhang Yuan was startled by the possibility, feeling like he had fallen into an ice cave, with all his hairs standing on end!
He hastily dropped Lin Xuanxuan, who was in his arms, and scrambled up from the bed.
“What’s the matter? Go to sleep,” Lin Xuanxuan muttered, disoriented, and fell back asleep.
“There’s an emergency!” Zhang Yuan said, too rushed to bother with her, and hurriedly picked up his phone to call Captain Zhao.
“Hello.”
“Old Zhao, where are you?”
Hearing Zhang Yuan’s slightly panicked voice, Captain Zhao became serious, “I’m still in the Captain’s Room, what’s the matter?”
“It’s a big deal, I’m on my way!”
Although the centrifuge was spinning at high speed, there was still a way to get out of the room.
Near the door, there was a small emergency safety seat. If you strapped it on, you could slide along the track of the centrifuge to the central axis. The speed would gradually decrease during the slide, and then you could get off.
Zhang Yuan rushed to the Captain’s Room.
He found Senior Brother Zhao still in the room, frowning and pondering something, with several soldiers reporting their duties.
When he saw Zhang Yuan, he spoke with a hint of complaint, “What’s the matter? It’s so late, I was about to go to sleep.”
“We might have missed some information.” Zhang Yuan swallowed, his voice urgent yet straightforward as he relayed his thoughts, including some speculations.
“What? Alien life!”
Senior Brother Zhao’s eyes widened, the slight listlessness he had was gone, replaced by cold sweat on his forehead!
His voice involuntarily grew louder, “Are you saying that’s true?!”
Zhang Yuan shook his head, “How would I know exactly… It’s just speculation. It’s possible that when the high-dimensional fragment hit the spaceship, the energy was extremely high, and it really lasted for fifteen minutes.”
“But it’s also possible… if this possibility really came into play…”
Zhao Qingfeng’s expression flickered, unsettled. Just the speculation alone was enough to be horrifying.
The soldiers standing guard at the door too exchanged glances, their blood boiling and a restless heat surging through them—if this speculation held water, the crisis would be enormous!
The prospect of an unknown life form having slipped into the spaceship was a crisis that could lead to the annihilation of an entire species!
