Chapter 21: The Truth of Despair
In December 10003, the newly built star battleship Ark Pioneer set off from the base on the back of the moon, with the goal of sailing as far as the terrestrial planet Proxima b in the constellation Centauri about 4.2 light-years away. For this voyage, the "Moon Shadow" of the Moonback Base's intelligent brain spent a lot of effort to build a manned starship that rushed out of the solar system for the first time in human history, from the hardware supporting the construction of the Ark Pioneer to the selection and training of astronauts. Before flying to Proxima Centauri B, the Starship Ark Herald carried out its maiden voyage test, and it took only 10 days for the robot from Earth to base itself on Pluto, and the test of the first voyage was very successful. In order to maintain the long-distance instant communication between the Moonback Base and the Starship Ark Herald when departing for Proxima Centauri B, the robot agreed to temporarily open the satellite orbit over Pluto, allowing the Earth Ark to place a communication satellite Shoujie as a relay base for the communication signals between the Moonback Base and the Starship Ark Herald.
The starship Ark Herald carried 150 astronauts, half male to half female, led by Captain Zhehuada, including Li Xinying, who officially became a telepath, and another teleporter, Anda. They are important people in the entourage, because if there are aborigines or aliens on Proxima B, they need telepathic connections from telepaths to communicate with each other. Of course, if there are only low-level life forms on Proxima Centauri B, and extraterrestrial civilizations have not yet evolved, it may be difficult for the telepathic telepathic communication with them. Another reason for the need for a telepathizer is the need to communicate with Peter, the robot who is traveling with him. The robot sent the youngest leader Peter to accompany him throughout the journey, because the nuclear engine given by the robot, if it was accidentally damaged during the voyage and needed to be repaired, then the robot Peter could provide appropriate assistance, plus the interpretation and use of the star map of the Proxima B space, only Peter, who is a robot, knows best, so for the sake of safety, only the robot Peter accompanied is the most sensible arrangement.
Anda, an older male telegrapher, is 90 years old, and because he is celibate, he is now alone and has nothing to worry about, so he applied for a job on the Starship Ark Herald, thinking that this would be his last space mission before retirement, and he eagerly hopes that this mission will be successfully completed in order to make the trip worthwhile. He was a little sorry for Li Xinying, a little girl in her early 20s, who took the initiative to apply for Proxima B, and he said earnestly: "Little sister Xinying, why did you waste your precious youth on this mission? It would take 10 years to travel from Earth to Neighbor B, a long and uncertain future, and even with a nuclear engine that is close to the speed of light. These precious 10 years are enough for you to fall in love, get married and have children with your lover, and build a happy family. You're not like me, I don't have any relatives on Earth and I don't have many friends, that's why I chose to join this adventure. Your parents will miss you!"
Li Xinying sighed and said slowly, "Have you ever heard of the "Water Source Project"?"
Psychic Angela responded, "Yes! Although it is hard to believe, I believe that the "Silver Moon" of the intelligent brain of the Earth Ark has no reason to deceive us."
Li Xinying said a little sadly, "The heart transmitter who uncovered the mystery of "Yuan Shui" is my younger brother, and he practiced the process of "Yuan Shen" producing "Yuan Shui" in the evolution with his own life. But what you don't know is that the "Moon Shadow", the intelligent brain of the moon back base, exchanged this secret and robots for a nuclear-powered engine and a space star map. I joined this mission to fulfill my brother's original intention, which is to contribute to the future apocalypse of the Earth Ark, and I want to witness the day when the humans of the Earth Ark officially burst out of the solar system. My parents are still young, and when I return to Earth in 10 years, I will be able to give them a good old age."
Anda sighed and touched the top of Li Xinying's head, and said regretfully, "I didn't expect you to be young and already a person with a story. Come on, I'll take good care of you."
After 12 days of flying to Pluto's robot supply station, refueling and receiving the robot Peter, he introduced himself to the entire crew of the starship Earth Ark, and then got to the point, saying, "After we leave Pluto, we officially enter the Kuiper belt, which is full of discrete microplanets. We sailed in an orbit that did not directly cross the entire doughnut-like Kuiper Belt, but sailed 15 degrees above the ecliptic, trying to skim over it to avoid encounters with a large number of asteroids or comets. However, choosing this route is risky, because we may encounter Planet X, which is close to perihelion once in 10,000 years, and large and small comets and gravel that are scurrying around this space due to the influence of Planet X. However, since that channel is the most direct airspace leading to Proxima B, if we circumvent the path of Planet X, it will take us 3 times as long to reach Proxima B. Since our robot's star map is relatively complete and the orbit of Planet X is also studied in depth, I propose the above course after weighing the pros and cons of the two pairs."
Captain Jevada officially explained, "The course suggested by the above-mentioned robot Peter has been repeatedly deduced and verified by our Earth Ark Brain "Silver Moon" and the Moon Shadow of the Moon Base Brain "Moon Shadow", and finally the most feasible plan has been obtained. Although there is a certain risk, if we get around Planet X, it will take us 3 times longer to get there, and we will have a severe shortage of energy to support us to reach Proxima B."
On the 20th day of the voyage, the starship Ark Herald crossed two-thirds of the Kuiper Belt from above, and it seems that there are still 10 days before it can leave the Kuiper Belt, officially stepping into the unknown territory of mankind leaving the solar system. Although thousands of probes have been sent out of the Kuiper Belt and out of the solar system, this is the first time in human history that a living human has rushed out of the solar system and headed for the depths of the universe. And as expected, their starship encountered Planet X, which was twice as large as Jupiter, and this celestial body had been known about its existence for a long time, but this was the first time that humans had observed it so closely, only to see this dark gray celestial body, whose internal structure was unknown to humans, and the starship sent a small probe into the orbit of Planet X for further observations.
Captain Jevada slowed the ship's speed and tried to keep a safe distance from the gravitational field of Planet X, while everyone on board held their breath and prepared to deal with the giant comets and rocks flying towards the starship, either avoiding them or smashing them with laser cannons. Since the size of the starship is as thin as dust compared to the miniature objects scurrying around Planet X, it gives them little chance of colliding, so they sail forward without danger. At this time, the robot Peter directly pointed out that there was a satellite in the sky above Planet X that was slowly approaching, and he said that the orbit of this satellite could be a stepping stone for the starship to escape from Planet X. Because the satellite is too large to be shattered, it can only be avoided, when the captain Zhehuada ordered the starship to turn to the right, 10 stones with a diameter of 1 km to 5 kilometers pulled by the gravity of the satellite shot towards the starship, and the astronauts held the shooting post and quickly aimed and shot, but there were still fragments of the stone that hit the right nuclear-powered engine, but under the immediate decision of the captain Zhehuada, he ignored the flying rocks and accelerated away from Planet X. After several hardships, the starship finally escaped, and although the nuclear-powered engine on the right was damaged, it was finally in danger. Peter the robot now tells everyone that he can fix a nuclear-powered engine. So the captain of the ship, Zhehuada, ordered a temporary suspension of sailing for a short rest of 10 hours, and after the robot Peter went into space to successfully repair the nuclear power engine, the starship set off again.
When the Starship Ark Herald officially sailed out of the Kuiper Belt and officially rushed out of the solar system, the intelligent brain "Moon Shadow" from the base on the back of the moon issued an urgent contact instruction. Captain Zhehuada connected to the instant messaging mode, only to hear the "Moon Shadow" of the brain asking: "Please send your current coordinates to our moon base immediately. Our telescopes have captured the anomaly of the Starship Ark Herald."
Captain Jevada looked at the coordinates of the starship and found that the starship was supposed to be on the X-axis coordinates of the Kuiper Belt from the Earth, but now it was on the Kuiper Belt on the other side of the Sun. That is, the coordinates of the starship are on the x-axis coordinates on the side of the sun, and the starship is now separated from the earth by the entire sun. This is like a portal device, which quickly teleports the starship Ark Herald, which is about to rush out of the solar system and leave the Kuiper belt, to the opposite end of the Kuiper belt, and the lunar base astronomical telescope, which is concerned about the starship's movements, captures the entire teleportation process. So the "Moon Shadow" of the Moonback Base ordered: "Captain Jevada, you are now teleporting to the other end of the Kuiper belt, and now please fly outward from the x-axis coordinates of the sun and accelerate away from the Kuiper belt again." The Starship Ark Herald flew into the Kuiper Belt with its back to the sun as instructed, and then quickly sailed away, hoping to successfully exit the solar system, but unfortunately, this invisible portal device teleported the starship to the Kuiper Belt at the other end of the Kuiper Belt again.
The "Moon Shadow" of the Moonback Base once again ordered: "Captain Jevada asks you to drastically revise the starship's orbit, from an orbit balanced with the Kuiper Belt to an orbit at an angle of 90 degrees to the Kuiper Belt, break through from above, and try to leave the solar system." The Starship Ark Herald adjusted its orbit as instructed and accelerated upwards at a right angle of 90 degrees to the Sun and the Kuiper Belt, while the portal mechanism was activated again, and the Starship Ark Herald instantly appeared below the Sun and the Kuiper Belt at a 90-degree angle. After several attempts, the Starship Ark Herald failed to actually fly out of the solar system, and finally returned to the base on the back of the moon.
Moon Shadow, the intelligent brain of the Moonback Base, asked the robot Petra, "Do you already know that humans can't leave the solar system at all, and that there is an invisible force operating to prevent humans from moving to outer space, and what do you know, please explain to us?"
Peter the Robot said calmly, "It's not just humans on Earth, in fact, all life forms can't fly out of the solar system, and your exploration satellites can fly out of the solar system and into the depths of space because they are lifeless. And neither we, the robots, the Zerg, the Virgiles, nor you, are considered living beings, so they can't leave the solar system. Originally, we wanted to find out the recipe for producing "Yuan Shui" from you earthlings, assuming that in the future, your Earth Ark will be swallowed by the sun, and without the earth humans, we can also make "Yuan Shui" by ourselves, and then slowly seek a way to leave the solar system. However, it was unfortunately discovered that only the mental activities of human beings can produce "Yuan Shui", so if the human beings on Earth die, the "Yuan Shui" on which we live will also disappear. That's why we have revealed to you this desperate truth through the voyage of the Starship Ark Harbing."