Chapter 6 Chapter 5 The Glitter that Disappeared

Karen Hood's office shares a large, glass-enclosed reception room with the department manager's office.The morning before Rick was about to leave StarCorp, he met Karen there.He had just come out of a conversation with Vickers, thinking wistfully, and missed her burst, and the two almost bumped into each other. Vickers told him to sign a new contract: one more year of work for Interstellar, at $60,000 a year, with the task of "developing some sort of classified device."Rick did not sign, and he suspected that these so-called secret equipment would become CT missiles.And Max Vickers was potbellied, sly-eyed, insincere and unenthusiastic, and Rick didn't trust him at all.

"I'm not interested in the development of these classified equipment." Rick told Vickers, "I want to build a CT power station. Unless I know what I'm going to do, I will leave Interstellar." "What are you going to do?" "I haven't decided yet." "Think about it tonight, and come see me tomorrow." Vickers leaned on the table, his thin gray eyes flashing with vigilance, "However, if you want to study CT, you'd better do it for Let's do it." "I'll think about it." Rick felt a little uneasy. So when he came out of Vickers' office, he was blank-eyed, preoccupied with that conundrum.It was difficult for him to choose. On the one hand, he was unwilling to develop "some kind of confidential equipment" for Interstellar, and on the other hand, he was unwilling to give up the research on the CT chassis.

"Hi!" Karen was just a step away from Rick, "Rick, is there anything urgent?" "Sorry!" Rick hurriedly moved aside to avoid bumping into Karen, "I was thinking about something and didn't see you." "You may be overthinking it." Her tone is friendly, and her blue eyes are full of kind coconut elms.All of a sudden, she's a lovely normal girl again, instead of the unattainable, haughty public servant from StarCorp.Rick felt a sudden pain in his heart. If he left the company, he would never see her again.Thinking of this, he blurted out: "Excuse me, are you free tonight?"

"I'm afraid not." The smile faded from her face, "Paul is taking me to dinner at the Officers' Club of the Guards. "Oh, I see." He tried hard to hide his disappointment, not wanting her to know how much he cared about her, "please forgive me for being presumptuous." He dodges away. "Rick!" Karen said, grabbing his arm. "Are you really going to be so condescending? I've wanted to talk to you for a long time. Would you like me to buy you lunch?" "If—oh! Of course!" Rick became slightly excited, "I'll invite you."

"Then let's meet there at noon," she said softly.Mandate time is not used on the planet Burroughs, and by the time Karen said noon came, it was already midnight in this town.Still unable to make a choice, Rick walked distraughtly down the crooked street, where flashing neon signs cast colorful lights on his face. "Hi Rick!" Karen emerged from a taxi down the street, smiling. The CT restaurant's sign is a giant Drake CT sign, which reminds Rick of his father's job, and he can't help but puff out his chest.But he was discouraged again when he thought that the creator of the sign was now old, injured, and ultimately a total failure.

"A weird place." Karen hesitated for a moment, as if she thought it was too weird, but she took Rick's arm and said, "Let's go eat. "Karen, I'm sorry." Rick couldn't help apologizing, "You don't belong in this kind of scumbag place, I really shouldn't have you here." He paused for a moment, then added, "I mean, It's no use trying, we're from two different worlds. I'm just an asteroid called 'Rock Rat,' and you're born with a lot of money." "Stop it!" Karen blushed. "You're not fair! We're not that far apart. Your mother's family is just as rich, and you know I work for a living."

"I know." Rick said with a sneer on his face, "I know you're the new deputy department manager—because you happen to be the niece of the high commissioner. Karen was silent for a moment, then whispered, "You've got to admit I'm a very competent assistant manager—I can run an entire department as well as Vickers does. I'm only here because I like it here. Rick liked Karen getting excited, but he wasn't going to tell her about it. "I could stay in Sun City," Karen went on, "I have my own money and have many opportunities to marry richer people, but I'm not interested in those fancy parties, I don't want to be someone Merry billionaire plaything. If you think this frontier town is too tough for a lady, you're dead wrong. I'm not a squeamish violet, and here I work hard to get Own position. I like it here, and the people—even their vulgar words." She nodded at the stevedores at the counter, "and... please don't sniff at my Uncle Austin."

"I didn't expect you to think that," Rick said regretfully. "Is that what you think I don't like to hear?" "Oh, of course not." Karen smiled, her anger gone. "I've always wanted to tell you this, but never wanted to argue with you. What I'm going to tell you is a little more serious, But we can wait until we finish eating." After they finished eating, Karen seriously pushed the plate aside and sat up straighter, much to Rick's concern. "Karen," he tried to force a smile, "...what the hell is the bad news?"

"Paul said you were going to resign from the company." "Yes," Rick's hand fiddled with a glass, and a little water from the woods spilled out, "why not?" Karen shrugged impatiently. "Come on, Rick. StarCorp doesn't shut up. We know your father and his mates are doing unlicensed CT research. I'm afraid you just want to go back and help them. Don't you see how stupid it is?" ?” Rick stirred the cold coffee in his mug and looked up at Karen unhappily.Her eyes were serious, and her flowing hair made it hard for him to believe how inaccessible her proud world was.

"Rick, you can't leave Interstellar. You should persuade your father to give up his reckless experiments, otherwise, he will kill himself or be punished by law." "You want me to persuade them to sign with Interstellar, don't you?" Rick gave her a wry smile on her anxious face. "Advise them to design CT missiles for your friend Anders, yes? So he can use CT missiles on other people." Blow up the crazy old world before the chassis builds a new one. Is that what you want?" Karen's face was pale and her lips were pursed tightly.Rick waited for her to explode.He seemed to have waited for a long time before hearing her answer.Tears welled up in Karen's eyes, and her voice was hoarse, almost begging:

"Don't say that, okay? Rick, no one wants to start a CT war. The least willing would be StarCorp, because we'd have the most to lose in a war. Sure, Paul was looking at military uses for CTs—but Just because we know that the Lunarians, Martians, and even the Venusians are all frantically pushing ahead with their CT weapon projects." "I think it's also because they know Anders is trying his best to develop CT weapons?", "Rick," Karen nodded remorsefully, "I'm afraid you can't see my mind, and unfortunately I can't understand yours either. But Paul says CT energy is just a delusion, and I believe him. Let's not go on about it." Stop the quarrel, please!" Rick tries to explain, he wants Karen to understand his goals.Build a huge gate reactor on a distant asteroid like Liberty Star, the part of this reactor made of CT material is placed on the CT chassis, and the CT energy will be exported to various planets in the form of a river of life.Earth's deserts, fed by water pumped across continents, are fertile farmlands that feed millions of hungry people.New cities are being built everywhere, even on planets that are now dead.Energy is inexhaustible, and human beings are finally liberated.It was a brave new world—but she would not welcome it, because it would spell the end of her own. "I think you're right," Rick said sadly. "Maybe there's really no need to talk about it." They went all the way back to the office building of Interstellar Corporation in silence, and then separated from each other.Rick had been busy all afternoon finishing the end-of-year report that Anders had asked to write. He needed to gather all the letters he knew about the intensity and frequency of the gamma-ray radiation produced by the reaction of the CT material.These figures worried him because they clearly showed the lethality of CT missiles.Rick locked his office at seventeen one hundred and walked out, thinking about going out of town. Rick walked alone on the heels of the wild countryside. He climbed up a steep mountain wall, and the town gradually became smaller under his feet, like a shining ball made of metal and glass.The farther he was from the town, the thinner the air was, making him stop and gasp for air.Rick's hands gripped the cold stone dagger to prevent falling off the cliff.He turned his head and stared at the open sky.If he fell, he would keep falling, falling, into that dark space, not into the town. Rick couldn't help but shuddered, and his fingers gripped the cold stone even more tightly.However, he also likes this sense of crisis.Since childhood, he has learned to meet challenges instead of shrinking, and this kind of fighting spirit is what he wants to seek after climbing this high cliff. He stayed there without moving.All his doubts were swept away by this clear space.This was his world, and the sleazy conspirators of the Trusteeship seemed so insignificant by comparison.Even the pain in his heart caused by Karen Hood's untouchable beauty was much less. Suddenly, he knew what to do!He won't work for Interstellar Company anymore, he wants to go home, go back to his own people.He will do what he can to help Father and Mackey with their research.He may fail and fail again, but he will continue to work towards his goal.If he can really develop the CT chassis, a bright new world will be built on it.If not—at least Karen Hood's world wouldn't be blown to pieces by a CT missile he helped design. Rick regained his breath, let go of his stiff fingers, and began to climb down the mountain.At this time, a blue flame suddenly appeared in the southern sky.Immediately he turned his face away and swooped down into the shadow of the rock.The flame was so strong that even the light it reflected on the rocks was enough to eclipse the stars, and the strong light stung his eyes. Back into a ball. Is it the Star of Liberty?When he thought of his father's experiment, he felt a sudden panic.Could it be that Father and Mackey accidentally detonated the CT film while continuing their dangerous experiment? No, it's impossible.The flame reflected on the rock wall was so hot that he had to stay in the crevice for a long time.The reacting object must have been much larger than the CT scan they were testing with, probably as big as the CT asteroid they had detonated earlier. Could it be that the CT planet hit something again?However, Mackey had accurately calculated its new orbit, allowing it to safely avoid airways and other planets.Mackey was right about what he knew.In addition, the CT patrol has been monitoring it since the last explosion to see if its new orbit is really safe.Nothing in its orbit escaped the patrol, let alone anything his size. However, the hot flame was still burning, something must have happened.A nova suddenly intensifying in brightness?An exploding star brighter than the sun despite being many light-years away?While Rick was wondering what was emitting such a strong flame, he was also thinking about how long he could withstand the scorching radiation. For a moment he could see nothing in both eyes, and slowly, he saw the shining town below him and the constellations in the sky.However, there is no fading new star in the southern sky, and there is no trace of white-hot burning and turning dark red.nothing.The sudden disappearance of that terrible light was more strange to him than its sudden arrival. Rick couldn't help shivering again.He wasn't scared, but something else.He felt a little unsteady on his feet, but his curiosity excited him.In the ominous darkness where the strong lights burned and extinguished, he felt a hidden danger, but at the same time felt an unknown hope beckoning to him.