36 Ready to fly

An hour after Miller's message was sent, the Minerva space station received a reply from the fugitive fleet, asking for evidence that would demonstrate the ability to "wipe out" the Nt fleet, and Miller sent all test records for the last two weeks to the fugitive fleet. Due to the large content of the supporting materials, the transmission took a day, and it was not until three days later that a reply was received from the fugitive fleet, which roughly read:

"The Minerva command group will be given the following control from now on: control of the Slingshot 0, control of some of the armed ships of the fugitive fleet, and control of the communications spacecraft."

Nothing could be more indicative of the fugitive fleet's sincerity, and the Minerva has once again gained the trust of the decision-makers!

The Nt fleet outside the solar system is still advancing, and is expected to reach the vicinity of Pluto's orbit in a week, which is within the interception range of Slingshot 0. As the last line of defense on Earth, Slingshot 0 may seem shabby, but the people on the Minerva have enough confidence and ability to make this last line of defense play a huge role.

At this time, the communication distance between Minerva and Slingshot 0 was not the most ideal, and the information transmission time was several hours, but due to the valuable experience of intercepting space mines, the researchers on the Minerva still accurately calculated the best time to intercept the Nt fleet - 2:55:54 GMT on April 15, 2104 AD.

The arrow is already on the string.

Due to the impact of the rain of debris, some components of the Minerva space station were severely damaged, and the centrifugal gravity device could no longer be activated, and all members had to continue their work in a weightless environment. The high enthusiasm and full grasp allowed the members to solve one problem after another in a difficult environment, and everyone was fighting selflessly to save themselves and their families, but also to save the earth and human civilization.

Finally, the time has come to decide the fateful moment.

At 0:08:21 on April 15, the communication ship of the fugitive fleet sent a light wave communication to the direction of the Nt fleet at the request of the Minerva.

"No More Ageless"

This message was the "anti-invincible" control command that Lucien had worked out for several days without sleep, and after many verifications and tests, it was finally confirmed that this control command perfectly restrained the "One More Age" command. The message was converted into audio and cobbled together with recordings of Lucien "during his lifetime" in order to keep decision-makers from doubting that Lucien was still alive.

Fifteen minutes later, Minerva delivered a command to Slingshot 0 to launch a nuclear missile at an approaching target.

The astronomical observatory on Earth monitored the situation of the Nt fleet and the interception point in real time, and even though not long ago, many of the staff of the observatory were depressed and gave up on themselves because they did not board the escape spacecraft, but when they learned about the results of the research on the Minerva, it was like seeing the spark of hope, and no one did not want to grasp this last straw. Although all observations were delayed by an average of 5 hours from the actual time.

Then there will be a long wait of hours – which will be the longest hours of many people's lives.

2:55:25 - The light wave message "should" reach the interception point, and the "should" reach the Nt fleet.

2:55:32 - Minerva's message "should" be received by Slingshot 0, and the "anti-invincibility" command "should" have broken the invincibility of the Nt fleet.

2:55:38 - Slingshot 0 "should" launch six nuclear missiles,

2:55:54 - The interception "should" have happened......

People are waiting for the results of the interception...... People are going through this unforgettable, difficult time......

Due to the malfunction of the observation equipment on the Minerva, the first to receive observations was Mir-2 -

6:27 a.m. - Minerva observes a feed from the interception site: balls of light erupting in all directions......

6:51 a.m. - The fugitive fleet receives footage from Mir-2, and 1 minute later, their observations come out, consistent with Mir-2's......

7:15 a.m. - Mir-2 does not detect the trajectory of the three ships of the Nt fleet and continues to verify the situation......

7:49 a.m. - The fugitive fleet also fails to observe the presence of the three ships of the Nt fleet, while they receive information from the same outcome on Mir-2......

8:22 a.m. - Mir-2's seventh observation confirms that the NT fleet has been successfully destroyed! The members of the space station began to celebrate......

8:31 a.m. - The decision-makers of the fugitive fleet hold an emergency meeting to discuss the next steps, and in 5 minutes, they announce that the Nt fleet has been completely destroyed......

8:33 a.m. - The observation station on Earth finally receives the interception: four flashing balls of light, three of which have been confirmed to be the result of a direct nuclear bomb......

8:40 p.m. - People at the Earth Observatory begin to cheer, hug each other, and burst into tears......

……

9:41 a.m. - On Minerva, Miller solemnly announces to all members of the space station via radio:

"Friends, I think you already know the results...... I just received a message from the fugitive fleet that they have decided to stop all propulsion units...... Don't worry, there's a rescue ship coming to us at full speed to take us aboard the fugitive fleet, and they've promised to wait for us to board before returning to Earth......"

Cheers echoed through the space station.

"Friends, we can proudly say: we have saved human civilization."

After Miller finished speaking, he slowly turned off the microphone and sat quietly in his chair, his tired face finally relieved. At the same time, Gao Jie was alone in his room, and read the "Star Project" written by himself again, and then turned out Wang Chen's photo and looked at it quietly. On the other side, Lucien floated alone in Research Room 2, closing his eyes and quietly feeling the comfort of being redeemed.

The members had already begun to celebrate: applause, laughter, cries...... There was a mix of voices, and of course the same thing happened on the fugitive fleet, on Mir-2, on Earth's observatories......

The sword of doom that once hung over these people's heads was now finally destroyed by their joint efforts.

……

……

……

When all the excitement calmed down, Miller and the others still had to face the current reality: even if the crisis of the invasion of the Nt fleet was resolved, Minerva still had to face the immediate difficulties: due to the previous debris rain, the space station could only barely maintain its basic operations, other functions including centrifugal gravity could no longer be activated, and the replenishment - especially the stock of fresh water could no longer support the current consumption.

For this reason, before the rescue ship arrived, Miller had to repeat the same trick: arrange for some members to enter the hibernation chamber. Since the same measures have been taken before, the arrangements of the hibernation personnel this time are reversed from the last time, after all, it is no longer possible to carry out any research work on the space station, and it is feasible to wait for the arrival of the rescue spacecraft even if all the members enter the hibernation module.

On the third day after the Nt fleet invasion crisis was resolved, 10 members of the space station entered the hibernation module - including Ryan, Shilka, and others.

There were two exceptions: Lucien Brown, who was still not placed in the hibernation chamber this time; The other is Gao Jie, who wants to go to the future to see her family early.

……

On June 5th, about a month before the arrival of the rescue spacecraft, Miller came to Research Room 2 to discuss some things with Lucien, and the two people, who had been at odds with each other, were able to talk face to face calmly at this time, after all, the main contradiction had disappeared.

Lucien never left Research Room 2 since the debris rain impact, or he had been hiding there, so the only people who knew that he had developed the "Anti-Invincible" command were Miller, Gao Jie, Ryan, and Shilka. As he was never seen again, the team was unable to determine if he survived the destruction of Research Room 3, and some even believed him to be dead.

After exchanging pleasantries, the commander said straight to the point: "There is infighting among the decision-makers on the fugitive fleet. ”

"Because of what?" Lucien asked, he didn't quite understand what else would cause humanity to split after the crisis of the Nt fleet was resolved.

"Simple, I guess you guessed," said the Commander, with a grim expression, "to give you a hint: it's here for us." ”

Without thinking, Lucien blurted out, "N particles." ”

"Yes."

The two of them were surrounded by N-particles in Research Room 2, which did no harm or effect on them, but their tone was as if they were talking about something extremely dangerous, and a tense atmosphere permeated the room.

Miller sighed and said, "I've been receiving news these days, some from Earth, and more from the fugitive fleet...... I can clearly sense that there is a split within the decision-makers. Miller took out the PDA and gave it to Lucien, "Look at the message I received: some asked me to protect the remaining N particles so that I could continue to develop its new functions; Some told me to quickly destroy the N particles to maintain the existing peace situation; Others even let me destroy the entire Minerva, a bit extreme, but ...... The purpose is still good......"

"It's all from the fugitive fleet?" Lucien asked, looking at the uncountable messages on the screen.

"For the most part, you can clearly see the faction and position of the sender, and from this information, there are at least three factions in the fugitive fleet...... There are also those from Earth, whose ideas are more exciting and crazy, and even want to work with us to replace the gang on the fugitive fleet...... Oh, and Mir-2 sent a similar message...... You see, after the rescue ship, an engineering ship is also coming here, obviously to take over and bring the N particles back for research...... There are also spaceships sent to Pluto's orbit to salvage the wreckage of the Nt fleet, and who knows how much space junk is left there......"

"It's crazy!" Lucien bit her lip and sighed, "So you came to me to say that these are ......?" ”

Miller solemnly asked, "Can you completely eliminate the N particles here?" ”

"You want the N-particles to disappear completely?"

"Yes, without the N-particle, humanity would at least be able to maintain the false peace inherited from the era of great reconciliation. But as soon as the N particles reach the earth, the current disputes among these decision-makers will evolve into contradictions between national camps, and then we will return to the sad international situation that existed before the era of great reconciliation......"

"Even at the expense of provoking trouble and waging war for the sake of competing for N-particles......"

Miller clapped his hands: "Yes, you see we have a consensus on this issue...... So, can you exclude or destroy the N particles here? ”

"I'm sorry, I don't have the power to destroy them." Lucien said with some annoyance.

"And what about sending them into the universe?" Miller frowned and continued to ask.

"I can't do it."

"Then throw the entire research room 2 into a wormhole!" Miller said, clenching his fists.

Lucien nodded: "Good idea! But there's a bigger problem......"

Miller had just seen hope, and when he heard Lucien say this, he wondered, "What is the problem?" ”

"Because—

"—I have N-particles on my body too!"