(Before reading the following chapter, it is advisable to review the "Interlude of Another World" at the end of each previous chapter.)

Curse of the Stars

Part 6 The Star Project

"Didn't you notice that this is a science fiction novel?"

1 Hello, Goddess of Wisdom

Consciousness told Gao Jie that she had woken up, from hibernation to be exact. The temperature in the hibernation chamber began to rise slowly, only 1 degree Celsius per hour to be on the safe side, but it was enough to bring humans out of hibernation. During this hour, Gao Jie's body was paralyzed by the low temperature, and he did not feel the slightest feeling, and even his consciousness could only do limited, repetitive activities, not knowing when and where he was.

Fortunately, the hatch of the hibernation module was transparent, and she could barely make out the surrounding hibernation capsule and equipment, and then she realized that she was on the space shuttle bound for the Minerva space station. About two more hours later, the temperature rose by 2 degrees Celsius, and Gao Jie felt that his torso was able to move, but his tongue had not yet regained sensation, and he did not even have the strength to swallow saliva.

"You are completely out of hibernation and have been allowed to leave the hibernation pod." The voice of artificial intelligence (hereinafter referred to as AI) sounded, followed by the sound of the cabin door opening, Gao Jie only felt that his body was instantly immersed in the warm current, but he quickly adapted to this sudden temperature difference. The blood was flowing rapidly in his body again, and Gao Jie clearly felt that his body was returning to normal, and his consciousness was gradually becoming clearer.

The AI on the space shuttle had already turned on the soft lights, and Gao Jie looked through the hatch to see the people in the hibernation capsule around him, and they were not yet out of hibernation. The AI sensed that someone was moving in the cabin and broadcast: "Signs of human activity have been detected, do you want to switch to manual operation?" Gao Jie wanted to answer, but couldn't speak normally for voice control, and the only way to make the AI stop broadcasting the inquiry was to press the corresponding button in the operation room.

Gao Jie's physical strength was not fully recovered, but she still floated and moved quickly in the space shuttle without gravity, and after passing through the living and medical modules, she reached the control module located in the nose position, pressed the button to let the shuttle maintain AI control, and the broadcast stopped. Gao Jie looked out through the window of the control cabin (nose), countless stars could be seen in the dark universe, there was no atmospheric scattering, so it seemed much dimmer than on the earth, but directly above the field of vision, there was a very clear and bright white point of light, like a lighthouse guiding the space shuttle, Gao Jie quickly understood - that was the Minerva space station, and if you looked closely, the space station vaguely showed the outline of the shape of a bamboo......

At this time, Gao Jie realized that her hair was still wet, and she returned to the living module to dry her hair, just in time to meet with the commander of the space station who arrived. The commander of the space station has just woken up, and his body movements are not very coordinated, which makes Gao Jie a little embarrassed that she didn't even remember the name of the commander, but the two can't speak yet, and only rely on gestures to communicate.

"You shut it off?" The commander pointed to the AI voice broadcaster.

"Yes." Gao Jie nodded, and the commander smiled and gave her a thumbs up, thinking that she had done the right thing, because it was his job.

"Let's get ready." The commander gestured to the living compartment locker, and then floated to the hibernation chamber to check on the others, and before leaving, he pointed to his wrist again, telling Gao Jie to pay attention to the time. Gao Jie looked at the electronic display on the wall:

November 7, 2099 at 1:51 a.m

A rough calculation of near-fully awake consciousness is that from Earth to Jupiter's orbit, this sleep took more than 900 days (in terms of surface time). After feeling a sigh of emotion, Gao Jie dries her hair and puts on a real-time translation headset that can translate any recognizable Earth language into the user's designated language.

……

Five hours later, all 25 of the shuttle members woke up, but only a few of them were able to speak normally. After another 5 hours, the AI reminds that it has entered the docking orbit, and people immediately fix themselves and the floating objects nearby to prevent damage caused by collisions during docking. About 30 minutes later, there was a slight vibration in the hull of the ship, and the commander announced on the radio that the docking had been successful and that they were ready to enter the space station.

As mentioned earlier, the Minerva space station is shaped like a bamboo, the shuttle lands on the central axis, and the disc wheels at the two ends are various compartments and modules. After the docking was successful, the commander came to the central control room of the space station, there were not many buttons on the control board, most of the operations could be handed over to the AI, and those complicated buttons were hidden under another platform.

"Hello, Mom." The commander wittily said to the control board, and then activated the power of the space station, unblocked the closed doors between the cabins, and turned on all the lighting. "The reading is normal." The commander was satisfied with the data on the screen, and then sent a command to the personnel of the space station through the broadcast, "Centrifugal gravity will be activated in 3 minutes, and all personnel are ready." "Everyone immediately fixed themselves.

Three minutes later, the Minerva space station really started spinning like a hollow bamboo under the action of fuel thrusters, "20%. "AI reports gravity readings," ...... 50%…… 80%…… 1G。 "The rotational acceleration time is short, centrifugal gravity in the space station has been formed.

The commander got up from his chair, there was already artificial gravity in the space station at this time, basically the same feeling as on the earth, he said through the radio: "Friends, the current data is normal, please check the conditions in the space station according to the previous training, and then patiently carry the materials...... If anyone is still dizzy, motion sickness medicine is in the infirmary, or just come to me. Ladies and gentlemen—

"Welcome to the Minerva!" This was followed by applause and cheers from all the members of the space station!

At 13:40 on November 8, 2099, 25 elite members from Earth entered the Minerva space station.

——

Minerva space station is the largest, longest-time, and most nationally involved space project ever built by human civilization, using the most durable alloy materials and composite resin materials at present, it is shaped like a bamboo, and two huge discs are various cabins with different functions. The upper disc (let's call it that) is the experimental cabin, the residential cabin, and various functional cabins, where all personnel basically operate; The lower disc is a refueling station, a warehouse, an oxygen concentrator and a storage room for various tools of the space station, as well as fuel and batteries, and the disc has a diameter of an astonishing 60 meters and a thickness of 5 meters. The length of the central axis between the upper and lower discs is 85 meters, the diameter is 8 meters, and two main pipelines and 4 auxiliary pipes are set up in the middle, which are used to connect the two discs and transport various materials back and forth. There are a total of 46 large and small thrusters on the outside of the space station, the main role of which is to adjust the distance between the space station and the wormhole and the tilt angle (orbital inclination angle of 1.303 degrees), and is also responsible for making the space station rotate to form centrifugal gravity (even without centrifugal gravity, the people in the space station can work in weightlessness like a traditional space station).

It is worth mentioning that the space shuttle that transports personnel, it is also assembled from multiple modules, and by simply separating and reassembling the modules, it becomes a medium and a small space shuttle, the medium is equipped with a robotic arm that can assist in spacewalks, space station maintenance and other tasks. In connection with the Minerva's name, the medium shuttle was named "Chariot (Char in French)", and the small shuttle was figuratively called "Owl".

There are two supply lines for the space station, one is to launch a launch vehicle directly from the earth to the space station, and the other is to launch a launch vehicle from the earth to the Martian "Peace-2" space station, using Martian gravity to accelerate and then reach Minerva, the choice of route is determined according to the relative position of the earth, Mars and Minerva, which can basically ensure that Minerva receives supplies every six months.

The communication mode between Minerva and the earth is mainly electromagnetic wave and laser transmission, AI will automatically calculate the position of "Peace-2" and the earth to choose the most suitable transmission direction, the earth's receiving station usually receives information indirectly in one to two hours, even if the radio waves and lasers are transmitted at the speed of light, it is impossible to cross this objectively huge astronomical distance, let alone cross the barrier of time.

So far, the "Meet me at the gate" offer is in place – but why hasn't it happened yet?

——

"It is a pity that from the beginning of construction to the present, the space station has not received any signals from foreign civilizations, nor has it detected any traces of foreign civilization vehicles approaching or passing by." The Minerva AI reported to the commander, and then showed all the detection and communication records of the past 25 years, in which some signals were received that were "likely" to be recognized, but after analysis, they were all confirmed to be interfering radio waves, and the alien civilization aircraft was even more nonsense, and there was no trace of it. "According to the monitoring of the area by the Earth monitoring station, there has been no trace of the activity of smart spacecraft in this area for nearly 35 years." Again, the AI says the story. In other words: during the time the Minerva space station was built, it was almost certain that the alien civilization did not reach the wormhole.

Humanity has arrived, and aliens are about to break their appointments?

The commander summoned all the members to the dining room and explained the facts before them. Faced with the dilemma that aliens have not appeared, people's reactions are also different: some people think that aliens may still be on the way, they just wait; Some people think that the aliens may have long since left, that they are not interested in humans; There are also those who believe that aliens have guided humans here in order to allow humans to pass through wormholes...... The crowd did not get bogged down in unnecessary arguments, and everyone understood that in the current time of lack of information, it is not good for anyone to jump to conclusions.

"What information has been obtained from the detection of wormholes?" The commander suddenly looked up and asked the AI.

The AI quickly responded: "About the detection record of wormholes: from 2047 to today, wormholes have been orbiting Jupiter, and the corresponding data is ......"

"Omit the data and talk directly about the detection process and results later." The commander suddenly interjected.

The AI paused and said: "I understand, there are three detection satellites that received instructions and fell into wormholes, respectively in 2051, 2075, and 2088, and the result is that the satellites completely lost communication at the moment of crashing, and have not regained contact so far." ”

"Can you tell where the wormhole leads?" The commander spoke in a serious tone.

"No, I can't know." This response finally makes people have a feeling of "AI is really a robot".

After receiving the AI's answer, all the members looked gloomy, and the Earth civilization had gone through a lot of hardships to send them here, and most of the results they got now were not optimistic, which was disappointing.

"That's where we are and what we have, so let's get here. Disband! "The commander gave orders to all the members, he knew the AI best, and he knew that there was no more information to inform everyone at this time.

The crowd began to return to the various cabins, "Hey, high! The commander stopped Gao Jie, "Come to the control room, I have something to tell you." ”