The 15th judge of the Ark, Ahab Thelonis, frowned, and after Diana finished speaking, he slowly spoke: "Four months ago, Chief Mechanical Engineer Jack warned us about ......"

"But he was sentenced to death and executed by you yourself three weeks ago!"

The crowd followed the prestige, and Pike, who sat in the table, looked at the judge without fear, lost his wife and daughter one after another, witnessed the execution of his friend Bob, and the "death" of his godson Trist, and this poor man who had lost almost everything became much more extreme. Ahab knew why Pike was hostile to him, and in the election campaign four years ago, Bob and his co-workers voted for him in a crucial 30-odd vote, and Bob stole medical supplies to save his son, which fell within the scope of the Ark Convention's right of amnesty for judges.

Ahab had always been a man of principle. Because of his principles, he will sentence the supporters of his crimes to death without discrimination for showing justice, he will not hesitate to execute his friends who want to make the news public for the sake of the overall situation, and he will not deliberately deal with an innocent agricultural district director because he is offended.

Judge Ahab selectively ignored Pike's statement and continued, "In order to maintain the supply of 4,000 people, the filter chamber has been overloaded. And, to make matters worse, the main part of the filter chamber continues to wear out, which was exacerbated by the shock caused by the solar storm eight months ago, and we don't have replacement parts ......."

Everyone except Diana nodded solemnly.

Diana, as the newly elected superintendent of the living quarters, did not attend the previous meeting. In previous meetings, Ahab had demanded that all attendees keep this secret, so Diana had no knowledge of the top-secret content. At this time, when she first heard the news, the survival of the entire Ark was at stake, and this powerful woman's face couldn't help but be a little flustered, and she stared at Judge Ahab deadly, hoping that the judge would come up with a solution.

It's a pity that she was destined to be disappointed.

Ahab continued, "Unless it is reduced to 50 percent of the current level, the overloaded filter chamber will continue to wear out, but once the power is reduced, the air quality in the ark will deteriorate instantaneously, and our people will not be able to stand the ......", he paused slightly, waiting for Diana, who had joined the meeting, to digest the news. Although at the beginning of the meeting, Diana had provoked him restlessly.

"So the previous filter cabin overhaul, four months, has not been repaired until now, this is just an excuse?" Diana reacted, looking at Ahab in shock, and the surrounding councillors were also silent, after all, combined with the fact that the filter chamber was aging, they could almost guess the truth, but they didn't dare, or they didn't want to verify.

Ahab continued: "Yes, four months ago I asked the engineering station to reduce the power of the filter chamber to 90 percent, which is three-quarters of the original 120 percent overload. Judging by the current situation, many of our compatriots have developed various symptoms as a result...... And it's getting worse, Dr. Abby? ”

Medical Director Abby was not as casual as Pike and Diana, and out of respect for her former friend Ahab, she stood up. The much haggard female doctor replied while sorting out the information in her hand: "Because the work load of the filter chamber has been reduced by the boat in four months, the oxygen in the entire ark has become much thinner. The people on the ark were in this environment for a long time, and with it came all kinds of sequelae of lack of oxygen, dizziness, headache, tinnitus, dizziness, weakness of limbs...... Even some people who are weak have symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, palpitation, shortness of breath, shortness of breath, rapid and weak heartbeat, and more serious, mainly the elderly, they will face purple lips and blindness. ”

The duty is to let Abby continue to speak after the report: "Your Excellency, if you continue like this, our people will not be able to stand it!" With that, she sighed and sat back down. The surrounding parliamentarians also have relatives and share the same prescription, and the abnormalities of the people around them, including their own physical discomfort, are basically well known.

Ahab's former friend's "Your Excellency" stunned Ahab, but he didn't say anything.

Ahab then looked at Kane Marcus, the chief of guards, with a blank face, "Kane, have we counted our personnel losses due to the adjustment of the filter chamber at present?" ”

"In the past three months, eighty-seven of our compatriots have left us forever, most of them are elderly, and a few children, they ......", Kane's voice choked a little, "they are all due to the sequelae of lack of oxygen...... Moreover, they died painfully......"

"And that number will grow even further, with more than 400 of our compatriots currently suffering from hypoxia, and at the same time, due to the rationing system of the Ark, it is almost impossible for them to recover with the rations they have," Abby added as she sat down, but her voice was not too emotional. As the medical director, one of the seven doctors in the Ark's population of more than 4,000, she has always been on the front line of treating patients, accustomed to seeing life and death, due to the rationing system, too many of her compatriots have left them forever because of lack of medicine, and her heart has long been numb.

Ahab slapped the table, "Thank you, Ms. Abby and Mr. Kane, for your statements. Fellow citizens, based on these four months of attempts, our efforts have failed, and reducing the power of the filter chamber is only a slow death......"

There seems to be a trend towards a growing discourse among parliamentarians and executives.

Ahab stepped down the steps and stood directly in front of the seats at the top, looking around at the anxious, expectant, or numb faces of the councillors and supervisors.

"So I decided to restore the original power of the filter chamber!"

The new head of the engineering station and the general control officer, Dr. Sinclair, nodded and accepted the order.

"In the meantime, Kane, you send more people to the 'ruined house', the Ark to the abandoned cabin, carefully search, find replacement parts", Ahab methodically assigned the task, "Dr. Sinclair, from now on, salvage all the space junk we encounter in the orbit of the Ark, and wait for subsequent screening and recovery", and then, Ahab's sharp eyes looked directly at Diana, the former judge and current director of the living quarters, "Ms. Diana, I hope that the processing department can work hard to imitate the missing parts"

Diana hesitated, "You know, the predecessor of the Ark, the space stations of various countries before the nuclear war, did not have processing equipment, and the current processing workshop of the Ark is our own manual grinding of parts, assembling them, for special materials, extremely high-precision parts, we do not have the ability to imitate ......", she even had some conspiracy theories to doubt whether Judge Ahab deliberately targeted her and deliberately embarrassed her with an impossible task.

"Just do your best", Ahab waved his hand to indicate that he knew, he didn't have much hope, if aviation materials and precision accessories were so easy to manufacture, only twelve countries would have a space station before the nuclear war.

"And then we're going to talk about the second issue, about the crisis, about the planet, about the 100 young prisoners currently in detention......

Only then did Diana react, Ahab, and he had not answered her initial question why Ahab had issued an order to allow the relatives of the juvenile prisoners to visit them once a month from this month. The previous series of news shocked her and she didn't come back to her senses for a while.

"Ninety-six years have passed since the nuclear war of annihilation in 2048, and due to the use of large-scale radiation sources such as 'dirty bombs' by nuclear powers, we have initially speculated that it will take 200 years for nuclear radiation to be dissipated, but we have no idea what is going on on Earth now...... However, the Ark's filter chamber can only support for three years, in other words, the oxygen is about to run out, and I often wonder if the radiation on the ground has been metabolized by nature for a hundred years, maybe some areas can already survive? ”

The crowd was breathless.