Three transport ships approached the asteroid belt, which is 400 million kilometers away from the sun and is home to more than half a million asteroids, which generally have a radius of tens to thousands of meters, mainly carbonaceous, silicate and metallic.

After taking Mars, Olympus sent six armed guards to the asteroid belt, where they established more than 200 large and small military bases. Later, due to the constant attacks on the vanguard to the outer solar system, Olympus sent two additional fighter wings to the area, cruising between Jupiter and Mars non-stop, thus building an impregnable defense line for the asteroid belt.

"According to Olympus's route plan, we can approach Mars from above the ecliptic plane, then first follow the Earth-Fire Hohmann transfer orbit to bypass the defense zone of the 47th Armed Guards, and then turn into the Berne orbit to approach the Moon, and when we reach the Earth-Moon system, we must pay attention to avoid the Earth-Moon transfer orbit and the Madrid route, and approach the Earth from the direction of Greenwich, the voyage is about 109 days. After the League of Nations took over the British Isles, Greenwich's meridian became the new dividing line between the eastern and western hemispheres, which happened to be the weak link in the ground-air monitoring network, and the radar and artillery were sparsely distributed. If we're lucky, we'll not be attacked during the entire voyage. Colonel Wayne analyzed.

(Author's note: The ecliptic plane, which is the plane where the Earth's orbit around the Sun is located.) The Earth-Fire Hohmann Transfer Orbit is a relatively fuel-efficient route from Earth to Mars, which requires only two engine propulsions and takes about 259 days each way. ）

"Isn't there a better route?" Blake asked.

"No, although it takes a long time, it is the safest route." Colonel Wayne replied.

"We have to get to Earth by November. In this way, what if we reduce the sailing time on the Earth-Fire Hohmann transfer orbit? For example, the 2029VF8 asteroid entered Bourne's orbit ahead of schedule. ”

"Uh...... Mr. Black, as far as I know, the Earthfire Hohmann Transfer Orbit has been abandoned for more than ten years due to inefficient transportation, so theoretically, the longer we stay on the Earthfire Hohmann Transfer Orbit, the safer we are. If the 2029VF8 asteroid enters Bourne's orbit, we will need to cross the 19th Armed Guard Zone, which may increase the probability of our detection. ”

"It doesn't matter, Fairman's identity code can help us get by."

"Uh...... Sir...... If it succeeds, it will be good, and it will shorten our voyage to more than forty days. The bad news, though, is that Fellman's status is 'missing'......"

"How do you know that Fellman's status is 'missing'?" Blake's eyes widened suddenly, and he looked at Colonel Wayne's face and asked.

Colonel Wayne's heart tightened, and he replied calmly, "I learned about it from our intelligence officers......"

Blake's gaze softened slightly, and he continued to study the Olympus route plan in front of him, and said casually, "I'm just asking."

Seeing this, Colonel Wayne hurriedly added, "Also, if you insist on entering the Berne orbit from the 2029VF8 asteroid, I recommend taking the Klein orbit for the second half of the voyage. Then we could shorten the voyage to twenty days. ”

At this time, the pilot, who had been silent, suddenly jumped up from his chair excitedly and said, "Klein orbit? You're crazy! It can't be, I can't, absolutely not. There are 1,789 acceleration points, 997 deceleration points in the entire Klein track, and the whole track is dynamic, our computer is not powerful enough and can only be controlled manually, which means that I can't rest for a minute in the next twenty days, I'm a human, not a machine, you should know, I'm also very tired, very tired, the kind of tiredness that you can't experience, enough to kill a person's life. I've been mentally stressed for the past few months, and you know, I'm going crazy. Now you're telling me to go on the Klein track. You're just pointing fingers at the map, without any consideration of the actual situation. Let's put it this way, even at Olympus, who are assisted by a supercomputer array, no one but the most elite pilots would go on such a trajectory. ”

There was silence in the cabin, and everyone knew where they were. They were alone, isolated, and in danger of being annihilated at any time, so they had no choice but to hide in Tibet. Many of the other members of the Green Bank who accompanied him had already retreated. The inner solar system is the territory of Olympus—it was once everyone's and humanity's. In the face of layers of iron bucket-like defense lines, one by one like dragon scales, there are too many unknowns to continue to move forward.

So why would they go to great lengths to get back to Earth? Because if the underground opposition on the planet cannot be co-opted, then the defeat of the Green Bank organization is only a matter of time. And due to the communication blockade of Olympus, the information from the outer solar system cannot reach the Earth normally, so they have no other way but to go there in person.

Virgil had been locked up in confinement, and when he was brought back, Blake was furious and locked him in a small storage room on the transport ship in a fit of rage, where he was not allowed to move around freely for a week. At this time, he was speechless as he watched the arguments of the crowd, thinking that if he was the commander, he would definitely scold these fools.

"Enemy ships spotted! All personnel are in place! ”

Sirens blared in the cabin, and an armed space station drove out of the shadow on the back side of the asteroid 2031HF9. Painted orange, the armed space station is in the shape of a small ship with its ends upturned, with 24 L-1 missile launchers lined up on either side, twin electromagnetic turrets spinning, and the muzzles of the black holes facing the three transports. This is supposed to be a mass production model in the 70s of the 21st century, but it has been modified - four large white boxes are added at the end of the space station, and two large white balls are hung under the auxiliary trusses on each side, I don't know what it is for; The powertrain has also been updated, increasing the number of Hall thrusters. It looks like it should have just rested in place and started a new voyage.

(Author's note: The principle of the Hall thruster is as follows: a magnetic field is used to accelerate charged particles and eject them backwards, and the recoil force provided by the ejected charged particles can provide power.) The efficiency of this engine is much higher than that of conventional rocket engines that use chemical fuels. ）

And this 2031HF9 is a silicate asteroid with a diameter of 1.7 kilometers, located at the junction of the 31st and 29th Armed Guards defense zones, and it is now the time for the change of guards, and the military base on the asteroid should be in a vacuum. Therefore, the appearance of this armed space station was not expected by everyone.

"This is the 'Cape of Good Hope' armed space station, please identify yourself as an alien spacecraft, and the commander please show your identification code."

"Calm down, they haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. I'm here to negotiate with them. "Colonel Wayne said," Identity Code 000219B, Superintendent Fairman. We have been ordered to carry out an expedition to the outer solar system. ”

"Please wait...... Director Fairman, you haven't had any contact with HQ for about four months, and HQ is curious about what happened to you. ”

"I'll hand in a detailed report when I get back to Earth."

"Hopefully, the unfortunate news is that you've been demoted to an E-class."

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other, which meant that their next actions would be more restricted.

"E-class? Why? I risked my life to go to the outer solar system, and not only did I not get any honor, but I was actually demoted? Where is Director Osawa! Let Director Osawa speak to me personally! Look what the hell you're doing! If this is his decision, I will definitely shove a grenade into his throat in front of him and give him a taste of the fried duck neck with dynamite. Then he would make a circle of his skull and throw it at the second cosmic speed on Saturn's rings as moons. I'm going to report to headquarters, none of you can escape! ”

"Rest easy, Mr. Fairman, we deeply regret what has happened to you." The voice was official, and it didn't seem painful.

Colonel Wayne was about to say something, but was stopped by Blake, signaling him not to make a big deal about it, and Colonel Wayne changed his words and said, "I don't care about you, let me go immediately!"

"As you wish."

The armed space station started its engines, gave way to the shipping lane, and the three transport ships passed through without incident. Blake and his party passed the test safely.

That night, Morant's personal computer received a message:

Blake was already aware.

Titan, October 2, 2083 at 6:39 p.m. Haydon time