Chapter 2 Chapter One

In the vast and boundless universe, compelling hostility always seems to follow every step of the way.Danger popped up suddenly, passed by, and then turned around and came back in a moment.It's always coming and going so often.The stars blinked their cold eyes and ignored everything. Space engineer Nick.Jenkins is riding the CT bull to deal with the dangers with aplomb. The CT cow is the tool he uses to collect and load those untouchable CT meteors.A dangerous hybrid machine that is part mining machine and part spaceship; made of matter and antimatter.Jenkins' seat was exposed, with a miniature atomic reactor underneath and an antigravity drive behind him, all made of accessible matter.Across the thick anti-radiation lead plate, in front of him is the dangerous CT ore box.Delicate repulsors connect the front and rear parts, and the repulsion keeps them from actually touching.

Jenkins, in a free-piloting space suit, sits cat-hunted on a CT bull, with alert gray eyes. He gripped the cold steering wheel tightly, his hands stiff and numb in plastic gloves. "Go back, boy!" The only sound he could hear was the slight sound of air flow from the submandibular deceleration valve, and he always imagined it as a voice coming from a universe without air and sound. "Let's go back!" He bit his lips tightly and didn't answer. Too many people are too scared to go to space because they have a nervous breakdown in the first place because they can talk to the air current.Human beings are far from evolved enough to adapt to the empty, cold, meteor-filled frontier of space, and not at all able to overcome our own loneliness.

"You can't adjust to life here!" Nobody fits in, and even the most melancholy can break down here.He thought of Jean Lagerina.La Gerina's mind was as quick and quick as a CT test gun, but even he broke down and talked to the air currents.The engineer returned from a several-month sabbatical at Port Burroughs, still afraid of riding a CT bull and facing the deadness of space, and begged Drake to transfer him to a special laboratory in a cave. "You can't overcome loneliness!" Qi Qi laughed at him. Jenkins didn't want to have a nervous breakdown himself.He didn't want to hear any doubts and fears in his heart, let alone answer them.He still has work to do.

"You should stay on Earth obediently," Airflow continued. "You and your kind are too delicate, how can you survive here? And so stupid, how can you conquer CT Meteor?" Jenkins struggled impatiently under his bulky spacesuit to stay awake.He had spent so much time in space that he hadn't seen the green fields and rippling seas of Earth for months.He was tired of the days when there was no breeze or even a woman's voice. There was once such a girl, as long as you think of her, you will forget the sound of the airflow.He couldn't help thinking of her... Her name was Jane Harding.They met three years ago on a long-distance space voyage.At that time, both of them arrived in space for the first time, and they felt the novelty brought by the boundless darkness together, enjoyed the scenery of space together, played games together, and ate together.The feeling of being alone in space heightened their intimacy, but then, things went wrong.

She was still in high spirits when Jenkins said he wanted to see her the night before he reached Burroughs Steps.But as soon as he heard that he was going to work in CT Company, the atmosphere changed completely.He still doesn't understand what happened. She seemed to have suffered an unspeakable injury, but she tried her best to conceal it, and her expression suddenly became vigilant.In order to change her sudden indifference, Jenkins hopefully showed her his treasure—the book written by his uncle, and eagerly told her about Martin.Brian's big dream of getting endless energy from CT, desperately asking her what the hell happened.She just listened quietly, her face pale and strange, but she didn't say anything.

When the spaceship touched down, Jenkins caught another glimpse of her.She just nodded coldly and walked away.He wanted to chase after her, and asked her to explain the reason, or even ask her for the new address, but his wounded self-esteem stopped him.Jane finally disappeared into the crowd.For two years, he stayed on the desolate Liberty Star and never saw her again. He also thought about going back to Port Burroughs to find her as soon as the power plant was up and running, and to prove to her that he was not a sucker and that his uncle was not a sweet-talking daydreamer.But so far from fulfilling Brian's amazing dream, her beauty fades into the memory with time.Gradually indifferent, he no longer wants to find her.

"You are too far away from the earth," the sound of the airflow suddenly sounded again, "You weak race only deserve to stay on the earth. On the frontier of space, you get nothing but damage and death.You want to harvest CT Meteor and it will just kill you! Jenkins gritted his teeth, determined not to listen. The imaginary voice was actually a warning from loneliness and tiredness, and it was far from dangerous at present, after all, he could still realize that it was only imagination. But if he listened for a long time Too long and he'll eventually forget about it. He lowered his head and looked at the radar viewer in the middle of the steering wheel. There was no image in it, his thin jaw was clenched tightly, and his lips were firmly drawn.He couldn't stop the rush, couldn't get rid of the fear that lingered in the sound, but he couldn't answer.

Suddenly, a white dot appeared on the observer.He turned the CT bull around to center the white dot on the scope, then bent awkwardly to open the cover of the CT test gun.He rode the CT bull towards the still invisible meteor, and finally the pointer on the distance meter moved to the ten kilometers mark. it's time. Nervously, he poked the fire button with a hard-gloved finger.Even though the meteor on the spotter was too far away to be seen at all, the search wave would automatically aim its gun at it.In the night sky, silently, the slender anti-gravity helical coil shot out a grain of iron substance for testing.

The small gun fired a test pellet of just one-half milligram of iron, the key to a strong reaction with CT.Once it hits a CT target, it is no longer a substance. Waiting for a moment for the firelight to appear, Jenkins turned the CT cow aside. He instinctively wanted to hide behind the lead sheet, but he knew that human instincts did not apply in space.When the terrifyingly penetrating radiation emitted by the fire passed through his unprotected body, it would be as clean as a bullet passing through glass, with relatively little damage.However, once the radiation encounters any common cover, it will form a weaker but more deadly secondary radiation.

"Meteor swarms will catch you, engineer," Airflow sneered softly, "Maybe you can keep your body from being lonely, cold, maybe you can make oxygen, ice, and food, but all your little tricks are not enough to keep you from that radiation—CT radiation." This is the extremely terrifying voice in his heart.The human body is inherently unable to withstand the deadly radiation produced by the annihilation of swarms of atomic nuclei and the secondary radiation formed by penetrating ordinary obstacles.The power of this type of radiation has been recognized since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.Astronauts call it CT radiation.

Jenkins crouched on the CT bull, waiting.When he counted to six seconds, a purple light flashed past his closed eyes.The decomposition spectrograph on the test gun worked silently, and a shaded green light shone softly on the recording paper. Jenkins lowered his head awkwardly in the stiff spacesuit, looking at the analysis results on the note.Silicon, forty-four percent, plus oxygen, aluminum, magnesium, and a little iron.Another silicon star.Before humans dreamed of flying into space, it was one of these CT planets that collided with the Adonis planet, which gave rise to the asteroid belt today.If the power plant is built, this silicon star will be invaluable energy, but now it is useless.What he wants to collect is CT iron and tungsten, which Lagerina wants to use to make special laboratory machines.He shook his head.Ride off the CT bull and start looking for another CT meteor on the spotter. "Give it up," the airflow continued, "you know you don't have to do it at all. You can ask your leave to go to Port Burroughs and ask your uncle to give you the official document from the company, and you can go to the office again. Find Jane Harding." "Anyway, you're not fit to live in space." Maybe it was, but he was a space engineer, the son of another engineer.When he was three years old, his father was buried in the meteor cluster.As an outstanding graduate of the famous university in Sun City—Space Engineering Institute, I am ready to use the three centuries of wisdom of engineers to challenge space. The first generation of space engineers never left Earth, yet they accomplished amazing things.Maxey Gore is one of them. When he observed the solar vortex, he discovered the power of anti-gravity, which can control the size and direction at will.Instead of rockets, reverse gravity sent humans into space. Later engineers arrived on the planets, creating the wealth and power of the Star Corporation, and what was more enduring, the lofty code of bold and selfless devotion to the happiness of mankind.It has not been polluted so far, and the dangerous tempering makes it still radiant.One of the heirs of this great maxim was old Jim.Drake. Drake was old now, broad-shouldered, and his red hair was thinning and graying.Fifty years ago, he began to devote himself to conquering CT meteors and developing CT energy.His first invention was the CT indicator. The CT indicator is a huge cobweb-shaped wheel, which is placed in the orbit around the more dangerous meteor groups. Its wide mirror reflects the sun that never sets. warn.Thanks to it, many astronauts survived. Jenkins shifted in the cold seat and looked up at the starry night sky.Suddenly, he found that the red light of an indicator was going off, and he was right next to the meteor cluster.He couldn't help counting the seconds. The orange-red light glowed for four seconds, warning that the meteors were ten to fourteen metric tons in mass.The blue light lasted for three seconds, indicating that the average diameter of the meteor cluster was over a thousand kilometers.The red light stays on for another five seconds, indicating that this CT cloud is made up of a hundred thousand dangerous meteors. Jenkins determined his position according to the indicator, turned the direction of the CT bull, and drove towards the outside of the meteor cluster.He looked down at the scope, hoping to spot another meteor. "We're going to kill you, Jenkins!" Airflow snarled, "If the heating fails, we'll freeze you like a solid piece of iron; and when the reactor beneath you explodes, we'll turn you into a wisp of smoke ;When your space suit is torn, I will dry you into a mummy. And the most wonderful thing is, let you meet a shooting star!" The oxygen supply valve was closed, then suddenly opened again, and the airflow seemed to laugh. "How do you want to die, little engineer?" It sneered, "When your body collides with a few kilograms of CT stone, do you want to light up the night sky like a new star? Maybe you prefer a slower death , died of CT radiation?" Jenkins stared at the viewer without any image, afraid to listen to the sound. "Wait, silly boy!" Airflow continued to sneer, "Even if you engineers can really develop CT energy, how can you control it? How can you use it for the benefit of mankind without being caught by those politicians spreading rumors everywhere?" What about money-obsessed financiers and those stingy people who abuse it?" Jenkins shifted restlessly again and began to think of Martin Bryan. "Think about Hiroshima!" Airflow was still laughing, "Think about World War III and later Star Wars. The engineer who first studied nuclear fission was the same as you, thinking of benefiting mankind, but what happened? A few people who have mastered nuclear power end up ruling all mankind. How can you allow the tragedy of history to repeat itself?" Brian will figure it out, Jenkins thought. Not only is he a famous engineer, he knows how to beat the politicians and financiers.Brian can do anything. Jenkins took another look at the observer, which still had no images, and continued to drive out of the meteor cluster.He tried his best to ignore the sound of airflow, but he couldn't drive away his fear.In a trance, those voices seemed to be the mutterings of the countless people who died when the CT meteor hit the star of Adonis. "Let us stay here alone!" said the invisible ghost, as if to say, "Let us rest, unless you want to die like us." Jenkins shuddered involuntarily.He took a sip of bitter tea through the straw in his helmet; stubbornly trying to shake himself awake.There must have been some kind of life on planet Adonis.Even CT life is possible in space.But he was a cool-headed engineer who knew that humans found nothing in these dead worlds. "What are you looking for, boy?" His buried fear still whispered, "Find out the secret of our death so that you can destroy your proud planet with a strong CT reaction?" Not that, Jenkins told himself firmly.The grand blueprint described in Uncle's book will bring new life to these energy-deficient planets, not death. "Now look around," the despondent voice in his head warned again, "look at the two defunct planets that were destroyed by the energy you were looking for!" Jenkins shrugged in embarrassment, Looking down at the scope, he believed that Brian would be able to find a solution to these problems.