Chapter 1: The Atlantis

The vastness of space, boundless, like a huge black curtain, appears extraordinarily empty, nothing, no sunlight, no heat, no air, and it seems that there is no dust. There are only extremely distant galaxies, where a faint light emits from them. It seems that only this little bit of starlight can make people aware of their existence.

In this seemingly completely empty space, a huge "stone" is silently suspended. Yes, this is the Atlantis, humanity's first interstellar manned spacecraft. Although it is speeding forward at a speed of 1,000 kilometers per second, it is so "turtle speed" compared to the long interstellar journey that can be measured in light years! It makes it seem as if it is moving at the limit speed that a human being can reach.

This is a spindle-shaped "stone". Yes, in order to minimize the impact surface in space, its designers designed it in a streamlined style, although in the incomparably empty universe, the probability of a starship being hit head-on is infinitely close to zero, but it is this extremely small probability that the designers dare not take lightly. After all, even a cosmic floating object with a diameter of 1 centimeter had an intimate contact with the starship by chance, and the energy generated by its high-speed movement in an instant was enough to wipe out this steel giant beast and the hundreds of thousands of people in its belly.

Atlantis is the pinnacle of human technology and industrial development. Before it, mankind had never made anything comparable to it, and even the largest displacement aircraft carrier built by country M in the distant 20th century was only a small sampan in front of it, perhaps not even a sampan, to be exact, like a skyscraper and a thatched shed. When it was first designed and built, there were more than 50,000 drawing designers alone, which could only be completed with the assistance of super-giant computers, and the storage space occupied by the drawings reached an astonishing 10.2 million tons; In order to build this behemoth, all the experienced shipbuilders of the Federation were used, and more than 10 million tons of new alloys were used, which consumed enough electricity to last the world for ten years. In order to allow it to be launched, a huge space station was built in geosynchronous orbit, and the parts made on the earth were transported little by little in the way of ants moving, and then assembled into a whole.

It is 10 kilometers long as a whole, with a diameter of about 4 kilometers at the widest part of the hull, and a buffer space of up to 300 meters wide is set up inside the hull, close to the bulkhead, which is filled with a large number of flame retardant and anti-impact foam-like substances, so that even if it encounters an impact, it will not immediately cause the hull to burn or explode, ensuring that the ship's damage management personnel have enough time to react.

Inside the hull, there is space comparable to that of a medium-sized city. It can be said that Atlantis is a flying city. In this city, there are as many as 500,000 inhabitants, or 500,000 interstellar immigrants, interstellar pioneers. They are a very adventurous and sacrificial people. They come from all continents of the earth, belong to various peoples, and have the blood of different bloodlines in their veins. Instead of a short journey, they are faced with a relay voyage that will take thousands of years and take several or even more than a dozen generations. They bid farewell to the familiar earth, farewell to their beloved family and friends, and embarked on this journey that is destined to be impossible to return with the tragic feelings of "the strong man is gone". Although they know that they can only take a small step in their lives.

Of course, the seemingly huge starship is stretched thin compared to the survival needs of 500,000 people. After all, they are not robots, they are living beings of flesh and blood, they want to breathe, they have to eat, clothe, shelter and move, they have to survive, and only by surviving can they complete their mission. This requires a complete system within the starship, including an ecosystem suitable for human survival and a social system that meets the most basic needs of people.

The limited space and resources in the starship require that each "resident" must be an outstanding talent in one or more fields, and be able to provide useful services for the operation of the starship and the operation of the city. Everyone here must work after the age of 16, exchanging their labor for the necessities of life while supporting the small society within the starship.

Similarly, in order for the starship and its internal society to work and operate normally, the entire starship has also been divided into functional areas. For example, the power support system, which is responsible for powering the starship and providing energy to the entire city, is located in a reading area behind the starship, including two high-power main space engines, twelve low-power space engines to adjust the starship's flight attitude, as well as four engine systems for backup, as well as a heavily protected energy storage storehouse, which stores enough fuel to keep the starship running for 3,000 years. The ecological maintenance system, inside the starship, simulates the atmospheric composition of the earth and the water cycle, and constructs a complete ecological circulation system suitable for human survival; The material production system, located in the lower layer of the starship, is divided into agricultural and pastoral areas and industrial areas, making full use of the internal space of the starship and the ecological circulation system built by the starship to carry out agricultural and animal husbandry production, providing food and meat products for everyone, and also becoming an integral part of the entire ecological circulation system, and the crops planted can absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen; The industrial production sector uses products from agricultural and pastoral areas as raw materials to produce food and clothing to meet people's living needs. As the core department of the ship, the command and control system is located in the center of the hull, and a large number of internal security forces and space combat units are deployed on the upper and lower floors to ensure its safety. The system is divided into two parts, namely the central computer control system and the captain's command system, adhering to the principle of "data fairness" since the birth of the computer, the central computer is responsible for collecting and processing the data and information of all the people on the ship, arranging everyone's work, determining their contribution value, and according to the contribution value, material allocation, job appointment (including the captain, after all, in a long journey, it is impossible to have only one captain); The captain is responsible for handling all affairs and emergencies on board, and exercising military and administrative powers under the authorization of the central computer.

It can be said that this is a very complex system, which has to support the normal operation of the interstellar voyage ship for thousands of years, and more importantly, to maintain the normal operation of human society on the ship for thousands of years. Its complexity is far from being articulate in a pale text. Fortunately, all of this got off to a good start after Atlantis' successful launch into space. And all the people who have put their lives into it are also gratifying and proud.