Chapter 12 Chapter 11 CT Fog

Ann stood angrily among the crates and packages that Captain Erikson had dumped on the ground, watching Anders.When she saw his black uniform and epaulettes, the anger in her eyes gave way to a look of wariness. "You work for Drake and Mackey's engineering company, don't you?" Anders asked casually. "I'm looking for Captain Mackey. Do you know where I can find him?" "Are you from the Interstellar Company?" She said in a cold tone that people in the Interstellar Company are not welcome, "I can't help you, and I don't know where Captain Mackey is, anyway, he's not here."

"You really don't know where he is?" She just looked at him warily and said nothing. "He's gone to Port Burroughs," she finally said, and Anders sensed her uneasiness. "He was going to be back right away, but he called from there two days ago to say he was delayed. He Didn't tell me why. But, Colonel, I'm sorry, my father is waiting for me to go back." She leaves him quickly and walks quickly to her car. "Please wait a moment, Miss O'Brien." Ann turned her head, with tears of sorrow in her eyes. "I...I overheard your conversation with Captain Erikson," Anders said with some embarrassment. "Do you want to rent his spaceship?"

Ann walked back to Anders hesitantly.Anders couldn't help smiling at her when he saw some oil on her face.Suddenly, a smile appeared on Ann's face. Her teeth were white and neat, as beautiful as a scallop, and her moist eyes were clear and moving. "I thought you knew Rick Drake," Ann said, "and he probably told you his father had a little metallurgical lab on Liberty Star. Mr. Drake is out there alone now. It's been Mackey The captain delivered the necessities for him. Since Captain Mackey was delayed, I hired Captain Erickson to deliver the shipment. But we hit a CT mote or two on the way and he turned back. I don't know What should I do."

"Maybe I can help you," Anders said hopefully. "I've just been assigned to CT Patrol. We're investigating a dangerous CT meteor stream around and over the Star of Liberty. Since we Going that way, I think we can drop things off to Drake Chongchong." "Really?" A gleam of joy flashed across Ann O'Barian's face, but her face suddenly turned cold, revealing a look of distrust, "But why do you have to go to the Star of Liberty?" "Here's an order," said Anders, "that the patrol should help the less fortunate civilians—and, I rather like your little freckles on your nose. Would you like me to help you deliver this shipment?"

Ann flinched, then decided he didn't mean to offend her. "Mr. Drake will be desperate soon, and I don't know when Captain Mackey will be back." She nodded suddenly. "I'll go with you." "You?" Anders smiled at her in surprise. "We're talking about your goods." "I have to go because..." Ann hesitated, glanced at Anders, and then continued, "Because Mr. Drake was injured, it was an...experimental accident. If he agrees, I would like to accompany Watch him till Captain Mackey comes back." "In that case..." Anders was surprised again, because no women he knew would go to such a lonely and dangerous place to care for a wounded person. "I'm honored," he whispered, "it must be a pleasure to be with you."

"Thank you, Colonel." Ann smiled suspiciously, "When are we going to leave?" "Sometime tonight, I have to load your cargo onto the ship." "I didn't want to believe you, Colonel, but maybe I was wrong." Ann searched the expression on his lids with her eyes, "Maybe I am biased, because you are from Earth. Maybe you are not..." Ann blushed Yes, Anders had a smile on his face.Ann asked impulsively: "Colonel, would you like to come to my house for dinner?" "It's an honor." Anders immediately agreed. Anders returned to the "Golden Eagle" spacecraft and ordered Muadore to load Ann's cargo on the spacecraft.Ann waited for him in the car, and they drove south together.

"Is the name Obania derived from O'Barian?" Anders asked. Ann nodded towards a rusted iron tower beside the road.There is a mottled signboard hanging on the iron tower, which reads: No. 1 Uranium Mine O'Brien Mining Company "Before Star Wars, my father came here first." Ann said, "He invited Mr. Drake to modify this planet, and helped him build an anti-gravity ore separator. The mines weren't rich here, but he made some money. Then the Trusteeship took all the mines and we were bankrupt." She told it quietly, as if telling someone else's story: "Rick Drake and I grew up here. Rick was never happy. He wanted me to go to Earth with him to finish my education, Dad Also promised to help me pay for my tuition, but I didn't go. I like it here. For the last two years, I have worked for Drake and Mackey. Captain Robo taught me how to fly the spaceship, and I sometimes help Mr. Drake. machines, but I stay here most of the time to run the corporate office."

She turned suddenly to look at Anders' face with intense interest. "I don't know why I'm telling you this." "Because I want to know." They drove through the town, which was just a rough side street.There are some simple houses along the street, half of which have been abandoned.On the rusted front door of a tin house, Anders saw another sign with peeling writing on it: Drake and Mackey, Space Engineers "It's so different." Anders thought of Karen Hood's spacious office in Port Burroughs and how different she was from the handsome and simple asteroid girl in front of her, with her sophisticated and lovely appearance.He thought about it, and couldn't help but smile meaningfully.

"Am I being funny, Colonel?" "I'm sorry," Anders whispered, "I was just wondering what kind of girl you were." Ann drove the car even faster.The car made a sharp turn and stopped in front of the O'Barian's house.The house is still the same as it was forty years ago, and it has lost its luster now. Ann jumped out of the car before Anders got out.He followed Ann up the wide steps, and Ann seemed a little out of breath, but smiled at him as they entered the room. Ann introduced her father to Anders.Bruce O'Brien is tall, bushy-haired, still living in the good old days.His sad eyes were bloodshot, and his nose and temples had high veins that looked like he had been drinking too much.

"This is Colonel Anders, Dad." Anna's sly smile made Anders suspect that her innocence was just his imagination. "He's a guy who wants CT missiles. He's from Interstellar. Maybe he wants to find out if there are any CT missiles here. But he wants to have dinner with us." "I've been doing a little CT research with Rick Drake," Anders says hopefully.By this time Ann had gone away, leaving him with her father. "Rick told me something about this interesting work that Drake and Mackey were doing. I assume you've seen that metallurgical lab they built on Liberty Star?"

Bruce O'Brien snorted contemptuously, and began to talk about the prosperity before the war.He didn't say anything about the CT chassis or anything about Drake and Mackey.When Ann came in to call them supper, Anders stood up rather gleefully, relieved. An's cooking is very good.Green peas and mashed potatoes didn't taste like dehydrated vegetables, and the steak didn't taste like it had been vacuum-frozen.Anders ate two slices of peach pie with pleasure, and found Ann looking pretty and charming in her blue apron. When they drove back to the airport together, they saw the "Golden Eagle" spacecraft parked where the "Yinhe" spacecraft had previously parked.Ann's cargo has been fully loaded.Once she parked the car, they set off for the Freedom Star.Anders asked Ann to follow him onto the bridge, and Ann looked at the equipment there expertly, and watched with great interest as Omega manipulated the robot pilot to set the course.Anders offered to help her find a sleeping cabin. "Thank you, but I want to stay here," Ann told him. "At this speed, it only takes five hours to get there, and I'm not sleepy. Besides, I need to navigate through the CT clouds." Omega politely retreated to the control room below.Anders let him and the robot pilot control the direction of navigation, but he talked to Ann.Most of what Ann was talking about was her childhood on Albania.At the time, she and Rick Drake went to school in a one-room school where her mother was their teacher.His father had a library and Mr. Drake had taught him mathematics.Ann admits that the asteroid became much cooler when she grew up, the mines ran out, the factories closed, and everyone left. "But everything will be fine if... if someone can build a CT power station." Ann's eyes shone with hope, as if that unknown project had succeeded.Her eagerness made Anders deeply regret that he could not feel her confidence in that utopian dream.He was at ease with Ann, and he talked a lot about his early days, when he was either staying in his mother's fancy room in Sun City or traveling long distances with his father, a space engineer.Anders found it so upsetting to think of Ann as an enemy of Earth & Star. Anders had someone prepare supper in the restaurant. He ordered a bottle of wine, but Ann wouldn't let him open it. "I'm already very excited talking to you." Ann smiled, her face glowing with excitement, "Besides, it's very dangerous to approach the Liberty Star. Remember Captain Erikson? You need me to navigate Just do it." They returned to the bridge. The "Golden Eagle" spacecraft is equipped with a wide observation platform like a general passenger spacecraft, so the enemy's artillery fire or CT particles can easily blow it to pieces.Anders walked to the steel armored telescope, adjusted the focus, and found the Star of Liberty. At first, Liberty was as inconspicuous in space as a speck of dust, identified only by automatic signals from its orbital markers.Anders increased the magnification of the telescope, and the Star of Liberty gradually became larger in the lens.He's looking for Jim Drake's lab when he stumbles upon something dangerous. A bright nova turned red, orange, and red again from behind the Star of Liberty—colors that indicated CT.Anders almost froze when he saw the star's sequence of color changes.His lips moved soundlessly, counting the seconds between the color changes.He left the telescope and rushed to Ann. "Is that how you protect the Star of Liberty? The signal shows that there are CT meteors around the signal light, and the range within 10,000 kilometers is extremely dangerous." "Yes." Ann said. "This CT cloud has just appeared." His voice was cold, "The authorities haven't surveyed it yet—now this is one of my tasks." He narrowed his eyes slightly, "Who installed that signal light?" of?" "Drake and Mackey," Ann said, "they're worried there's going to be an accident with the ship before you come to set up the official signal." "Then why is the Star of Liberty right in the center of the cloud?" "It's nothing strange." Ann smiled reluctantly, as if the reproachful eyes confused her and hurt her, "When we caused an explosion to change the orbit of the CT planet, these CT dust appeared gone." "Maybe," Anders laughed mockingly, "but the dust has also become an effective barrier against intruders. No wonder Captain Erikson decided to turn back. Besides, it also prepared a lot for your CT experiment." Raw material!" An tried to answer, but couldn't speak, her face turned pale.She stood there staring at Anders, her eyes filled with terror.Anders was uncomfortable thinking of her standing behind the bars of the prison on Burroughs IV, and the thought made him feel a little uncomfortable. "Ann..." he changed his words, "Miss O'Brien..." Ann still stood motionless, silent.Anders didn't think much, and reached out to pat her on the shoulder.Ann snapped open his hand and turned around quickly.She remained silent, but Anders saw her tears. Anders handed over his handkerchief apologetically.Ann grabbed the handkerchief and wiped the tears from her eyes.Finally she turned and looked at him with a sad smile on her face. "I'm an idiot," she whispered. "I thought you were really only here to survey the CT meteors. If you want to find anything against poor Mr. Drake, please take me back to Albania." "I'm afraid not." Anders liked her smile, and he regretted that she would become an enemy. "There's no time to go back. We'll go to Liberty Star." "You couldn't have gotten through that CT cloud without my help." "We can try it," Anders said excitedly, "we are equipped with anti-gravity steering device." "This kind of device can avoid the fine dust," Ann nodded, "but there are many large particles—big enough to burn your wiring and blow the spacecraft into ashes." "We'll get through," Anders insisted. "Our ship is much better equipped than Mackey's wreck." "But no one can compare to Mackey." An softly said, "He has a...feeling that he can find the cracks in the clouds without using instruments. He pointed me to a safe passage, but you will never find it." not." "Maybe," Anders whispered, "but we can try." "You don't have to worry about us." Anders smiled mockingly, "If something happens to us, the guards will send a spaceship." "You can't—" Ann began to gasp a little. But already realizing she was defeated, she cut the conversation short. She shrugged and admitted her defeat.Her beautiful teeth dug deep into her trembling lower lip, and the pain in her eyes made Anders look away. "You won, Colonel." Ann said quietly, "Of course I could send you to die, but I think that would make things worse. Let me take control of the spaceship, and I will take you along those chasms." Star of Liberty." "Very good." Anders nodded happily, "Thank you, Miss O'Barian." "You don't have to thank me!" Ann said angrily. "I wish I had never met you!" But she came to the telescope anyway, turned the spacecraft around, passed through the CT dust, and flew towards Liberty Star.