The day after Jeno left the Voyager:

"Is everything ready?" Glancing at the command cabin, which had returned to its busy state after half a year, Zhou Xin asked. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"Everything is working well with the powertrain." A person in front of Zhou Xin reported, "Energy is being injected into the warp engine. ”

"The energy conversion unit is working fine." Another person reported, "The warp engine is slowly recharging." ”

"An in-ship notice has been issued, and all the ship's personnel have made preparations before entering the warp speed state, and everything is normal on this ship." The Voyager also reported.

"There's nothing wrong with the warp engine." The barrage of normal reports didn't put Zhou Xin at ease, and he asked Spred, who was on the screen with the researchers conducting a detailed examination of the warp engine.

Glancing at the readings on the instrument, Spred looked up and said to Zhou Xin: "We have tested this state many times before, and there will be no problems." He then added, "The next crucial point is when the warp engine is fully charged, and if everything is still working properly at that time, there will be no problems with the engine before it enters warp flight." ”

Not long after Spred finished speaking, two reports came from Zhou Xin's front and communicator, "The warp engine is fully charged." "The warp engine has been fully charged and is working at full capacity."

Without caring about the letter, Spred on the screen gave a series of instructions to the researchers around him. With his instructions, Zhou Xin saw that the researchers were even busier, and even Spred joined them.

The busy inspection state lasted for more than half an hour, and Spred said in Zhou Xin's anxious gaze: "The inspection results are all normal, and the warp engine can be started at any time." ”

After hearing this, Zhou Xin calmed down. After taking a deep breath, he began to give the command, "Start the warp engine, get ready to get into the warp state." ”

"Start the warp engine and get ready to get into the warp state." A person in front of Zhou Xin repeated the order. Subsequently, the Voyager also repeated this order on the ship-wide radio.

In the exterior images displayed on the screen, Zhou Xin once again saw the familiar space distortion. With this picture, everyone, including him, became excited. In addition to the excitement, everyone still maintained a basic calm, and they continued to work in an orderly manner.

Listening to all the normal reports coming from his ears continuously, Zhou Xin's mood became more and more excited. So much so that he didn't even realize that it took longer than before the Voyager went into warp speed this time. Of course, it could also be because he hadn't experienced many warp flights before. Spred, however, noticed this, but he didn't bring it up right away because all of the warp engine's stats remained normal except for this anomaly.

Nearly two minutes later, a "Voyager has successfully entered the warp state, and the warp engine is working properly. The starlight from the outside world disappeared from the screen. This was also followed by enthusiastic cheers from the command cabin.

"It worked!" At this time, Zhou Xin also said to Spred on the screen with excitement.

"We still can't take it lightly." Spred said. He and the researchers around him weren't as excited as they were in the command module, and they were still monitoring the state of the warp engine on the instruments as before. After glancing at the data and seeing that there was nothing wrong, he continued to say to Zhou Xin: "Only when we successfully leave the warp state and the warp engine is still normal, can we prove that the engine has indeed been repaired." ”

Listening to Spred's words, Zhou Xin also calmed down, and he asked, "How long do we have to maintain the warp speed state to be able to complete this test?" ”

After thinking about it, Spred replied, "About an hour, we need to do a full test of the engine in warp speed." After the test, you can leave the warp state. After saying that, he didn't bother to continue the conversation with Zhou Xin, but joined the researchers who checked the engine. Seeing this, Zhou Xin had no choice but to sit there and quietly wait for the results of Spred's examination.

In a quiet atmosphere, an hour passed, and Spred they also completed a full inspection of the warp engine. To Zhou Xin's slight reassurance, the results of this examination were still normal.

"When are we going to be able to get out of warp now?" After Spred finished speaking, Zhou Xin asked.

"Anytime."

"Okay, let's get out of warp now." Zhou Xin immediately gave the order.

"Ready to get out of warp state." "Attention everyone, this ship is about to exit the warp state." At this moment, the voices of the ship's pilot and the Voyager rang out at the same time.

In less than five minutes, the Voyager managed to exit its warp state and return to normal space.

But just a successful exit from warp doesn't mean much. Spred then spent nearly half an hour examining the warp engine in detail. After completing the examination, his brow furrowed.

"What's wrong? Are there any other problems with the warp engine? Seeing his expression, Zhou Xin asked nervously.

"There was a small accident, but it wasn't very serious." Spred's answer made everyone who heard nervous, and he explained in detail, "Based on the observations of the external probe, our ship has only advanced a distance of about seven light hours in just over an hour. In other words, the maximum speed that a warp engine can support today is only about seven times the speed of light. ”

"What went wrong?" Zhou Xin asked, "Is it because the neutron matter we obtained contains too many impurities, so it affects the flight speed?" ”

"The problem is indeed related to the core neutron matter, but it is not the problem of impurities." Spred dismissed Zhou's idea, and then he explained, "According to my analysis, the biggest possibility is that the amount of neutron matter we have obtained is not enough, which affects the speed of warp flight to a certain extent. In fact, I had already discovered that it wasn't just the speed of the warp flight, but the time it took for the Voyager to go into the warp flight state was nearly twice as long as before. Since the spacecraft was able to maintain warp speed and continue to fly, there was only one reason for this - the amount of neutron matter in the engine core was too small. ”

"In that case, will this have any bad effects on the warp engine or even us?" Zhou Xin asked with concern.

"There won't be any problems other than those two minor issues." Spred replied in the affirmative, and then he added, "You can understand that the engine is not underpowered, and this is not harmful to the engine, only has some effect on the performance of the engine." ”

"That's good." Zhou Xin breathed a sigh of relief, and then he asked, "Since there is no problem, can we go back?" ”

"Well, let's go back."

On the way back, based on the results of the previous checks, Sprede once again tested the performance of the warp engine. But at his command, no matter how much energy was poured into the warp engine, or even a slight overload within safe limits, the Voyager did not fly at an average speed of eight times the speed of light.

For this slightly flawed result, Zhou Xin felt acceptable. After all, compared to a lump of metal that had completely lost its functionality before, the warp engine is now at least usable. It's a third slower than it used to be, but it's still a lot faster than the main engine on the Voyager, and that's enough. As for the others, they also believe in the same idea. Even as the main developer of the repair plan, Spred thought that it was a fluke that the warp engine could be restored to its current state, but that there were no other problems.

Now that the warp engine has been repaired, the day when Zhou Xin and them will leave here is not far off. Prior to this, in order to receive hundreds of children from the community, Voyager finally had the opportunity to come into contact with the local civilization for the first time since arriving in the system.

"I really didn't expect you to come and meet me in person." Zhou Xin looked at Demancha on the screen and said in surprise.

"More than 100 children, this is our hope, I don't feel comfortable if I don't come in person." Demancha replied, and then he smiled, "Of course, I have already taken care of the aftermath before I came, and I have chosen all the incumbents. ”

Although Demancha said it in a joking tone, Zhou Xin didn't think it was a joke to say this topic at this time, and he said seriously: "Thank you very much for your trust. Rest assured, your trip will be very pleasant. It will even go down in our history - it was the first time that our civilization had an official exchange with another civilization in public. ”

"That's a real pleasure for us." Demancha replied, and then he tried to calm the solemn atmosphere, "You don't have to be so serious, if I don't believe you, I won't put our hopes in your hands." Then he shrugged his shoulders, "Although when I raised this issue to the council two days ago, I was immediately opposed by many people. ”

"Oh? So how did this idea get approved by others? Dart asked curiously.

"Then I have to mention that Jeno is back at the right time." Demancha laughed again, "The meeting was in its final stages, and when it was time to vote on the idea, Jeno happened to come back by shuttle. That being the case, I suggest that the parliament listen to his thoughts. It was Jeno's description and the practice of keeping his children on the Voyager that changed the minds of some of the councillors so that they could be put into practice. ”

"If that's the case, then I regret it." Zhou Xin joked, "If I had known, I would have asked Jeno to go back later, so that there would be more than a hundred less burdens on my spaceship." ”

"You don't want to run away from that." Demancha continued, "Do you think I wouldn't have been able to get the council to agree without Jeno? It's just that the process may be a little more cumbersome than it is now. Alright, send me your location coordinates, and after listening to Jeno's description, I can't wait to see your ship. ”

As soon as Demancha's words fell, the voice of the Voyager sounded in Zhou Xin's ears, "Your Excellency Captain, the other party has requested to obtain the location coordinates of this ship, do you agree?" ”

"Send it to them."

"I've received location information from the other party." The voice from Demancha's side came from the communicator, "The location of the other party is about six thousand yum (twenty thousand kilometers) away from our spacecraft. ”

"I didn't expect you to be so close." Hearing the report next to him, Demancha was a little surprised, "Isn't this right under the nose of our base, why didn't we find out before." ”

"We only moved here after we made contact with you, and we weren't here before." Zhou Xin replied, "If it weren't for the existence of the scientific research bases of Ewen and Kazlan on the scorching star, we would have been able to fly closer. By the way, what exactly are the functions of those two scientific research bases? ”

"Who knows." "I think it might have something to do with us. The Ewen seem to have sensed signs of activity on our satellites, so they have set up a base on the ground. But until now, the base has not found us. As for the Kazlans, they are not to be outdone because the Euns have established a base on the satellite, and so far I have not figured out what the Kazlan base is for. ”

Not long after saying this, Demancha exclaimed in surprise, "Oh! I seem to have seen your ship. Oh, my God! From this distance, you can see how big your ship really is. ”

"It's not that big, I've seen a lot bigger ships than us." Demancha's words reminded Zhou Xin of the spherical battleship they had encountered before.

"It's already big for us." Demancha's words revealed an envy that could not be concealed, "If only we could have a ship of this size." ”

While chatting, the Community's ship slowly approached the Voyager. In space, a 100-meter-long spaceship can be seen approaching another behemoth that is many times larger than it. Compared to that behemoth, the 100-meter-long ship can be considered a "small" sampan at best, and it can't even compare to an engine in its tail.

As the Community's spacecraft came to a range of 1,000 kilometers from the Voyager, the Voyager's voice sounded in the command cabin again, "Detect the nearby Community spaceship, this ship is guiding its route, and the hangar is ready to start the containment procedure." With this sound, a door opened on the flank of the Voyager......