Chapter 3 Chapter two

Suddenly, another white dot appeared on the observer. As soon as the CT bull entered the testable area, Jenkins hit another iron nine on target.Analysis of the flare revealed that the CT meteor's main components are iron and tungsten, just what La Gerana's special laboratory needed.He can't wait to drive over. The air was still buzzing under his jaw, but it was no longer in the way.He was so concentrated that he had no time to listen to the nagging of fear.Although this CT cow is specially designed for mining, it is not easy or safe to actually work.Jenkins slowed down, adjusted the white point to the center of the scope, and continued to drive forward. Finally, a large uneven CT stone appeared in front of him.He leaned forward cautiously while looking at the Geiger on his wrist.

His judgment of distance and speed was fairly accurate, and he just avoided the constantly rotating CT stone.He managed to fit it into the ore box, and looked happily at the scale on the weight scale. It was already two tons. The light green clock pointed to 13:02, and there were still six hours before Lagerina needed the ore. "Nick, Jenkins!" He froze for a moment, and what came out of the air was Captain Mackey's drawn-out voice. "Did you hear that, Nick? Stop mining and come right back. Something happened here!" "What happened?" Surprised, he really thought Mackey had spoken.Mackey has always been old Drake's loyal friend and right-hand man, always busy transporting various items from Port Burroughs and Albania to Liberty Star.His tugboat was probably nearby, and the voice came through the beamphone.

But Jenkins distinctly remembers getting tired of the loudspeaker buzzing and turning it off.Amused by his nervousness, he lowered his head to look at the scope again, and whistled vigorously, trying to cover the sound of the draft. "Did you hear that?" He seemed to hear McKee's drawn-out, somewhat anxious voice again, and the short, ugly spaceman appeared in his mind, and McKee's slightly squinting eyes were particularly perplexing. , horrified, "Nick, come back!" Jenkins blinked and whistled louder. "Nick, it's true!" The sound of airflow continued, "Listen to me..."

Jenkins couldn't help listening.He remembered what Brian had said: Mackey is a mutant, adapted to this strange frontier of space.Mackey himself, of course, has never boasted about his extraordinary talent, and Nick has always remained skeptical of the inconclusive spirituality.However, there was no doubt that Mackey was able to steer his tugboat through the meteor shower without the aid of any course charts or instruments.This is enough to prove his accurate grasp of time, distance and speed. "Nick, we need you. Something happened. I wanted to escape to the sky in a spaceship and call Mr. Brian, but now my eyes are black."

"Really?" Jenkins knew that a sane person should not talk to Airflow, but he still couldn't help asking, "What happened?" "I don't know yet." The weak voice seemed to be struggling and slow, "I can indeed feel some things that others can't. A professor said that I have a different kind of energy, but I also have limitations... Jenkins wanted to listen eagerly, but the sound disappeared from the air flow, and only the vibration of the oxygen valve opening and closing could be heard regularly.After a while, the voice spoke again. "...it's hard to know what hasn't happened yet...won't happen any time soon. But I feel a danger, a CT explosion that none of us can stop...a ​​mutiny from someone I trust..." The voice gradually weakened and finally disappeared.

"Impossible!" Jenkins murmured hoarsely to himself, "Which of us would betray the Freedom Star?" Airstream just sighed now.Mackey's scowl faded from his mind.He adjusted the CT bull, and two blurry lights flashed on the scope, maybe more metal.But all he could think about now was Mackey's warning. Jenkins suddenly started picking in fear, turned the CT bull and flew towards the Star of Liberty.The asteroid is located 10,000 kilometers away. He turned on the loudspeaker and searched for the beam signal of the Freedom Star with the beam receiving mirror. "Freedom Star Beam!" Suddenly, a call sounded from his helmet, "HSMT-89AK-44." Jenkins was startled by the sudden appearance, and quickly raised his hand to turn off the loudspeaker.The piercing call had drowned out the sound of the air, negating the idea that Munchie had called him.

"It's time for a vacation," he said wearily.He'd love to stay on the Liberty Star until the new reactor was built, but if he took a vacation now, he might be able to make it back before the work was done.Besides, the use of CT requires a particularly sound mind, and old Drake can understand.He reminded himself again, didn't La Gerina also suddenly asked for leave?I didn't feel any embarrassment when I came back. "It's my turn to ask for leave next time," he said softly. "I'm starting to freak out at the sound of the draft." Jenkins put his hand on the speaker switch again.

"HSMT-89AK-44," the automated call sounded again, "Freedom..." The signal was interrupted. "Hello?" He held his breath, because the switch hadn't been turned off, he turned the receiving mirror anxiously, and searched for the Freedom Star beam again, but there was no signal.He kept turning up the volume, and finally the subtle interference of the skylight turned into rumbling thunder in the helmet, but there was still no signal. "Has the transmitter been turned off? Something has happened. Someone must have turned it off, so I won't be able to rush back to rescue it!" He suddenly felt his throat go dry, and he snapped off the loudspeaker impatiently.There was a dead silence in the space, and nothing could be heard.Then the slight sigh of Airflow reappeared.

"Captain Mackey," he said excitedly, "can you tell me..." The whistling airflow stopped talking. Jenkins felt a sudden panic. He needed the signal from the transmitter to return to Liberty Star. He was not a mutant who had adapted to life in space.Now he could only rely on those inconvenient instruments and his dull senses, he was really frightened and panicked. Gem-like stars spread out from around him, shining coldly in the distance, and the familiar constellations also split into several unfamiliar pieces.The sun shrunk, shining a blinding blue light where it didn't belong. There should be a star of freedom in front of the CT cow, but now another indicator is flashing...

No, it must be the one I saw just now!He eagerly counted the seconds to confirm this as the different colored lights of the indicators flashed.Four, three, five.He breathed a sigh of relief, feeling more at ease.After confirming his position, he turned the CT cow and drove out from the dangerous center of the meteor swarm. The Star of Liberty is still beyond the test range of the observer, and even invisible to the eyes, but it must be in the north.Jenkins gave the steering wheel a jerk and the CT Bull flew north. He watched the scope hopefully in the dark.Surrounded by millions of dangerous meteors, Drake and Mackey use Liberty's inverse gravitational field to trap them both as metal, energy reserves, and fortifications.When he estimated that the Star of Liberty was thousands of kilometers away, he slowed down.None of the three stars seen through the tester is the Freedom Star.

They are all stellar.Jenkins rode the CT bull, slowly turning in a big circle, looking for it. CT Bull had no supplies, no flight charts, or even enough energy for a long-distance flight. He had to find the Star of Liberty immediately. Another dot appeared on the viewer.It could be Liberty Star, but it could also be a CT meteor so close that his dull senses couldn't make out anything.After a while, the pointer on the distance meter reached the 800-kilometer mark. Definitely Freedom Star!He could have signaled the asteroid guy through the beam phone transmitter, but he had no weapons, not even a box of CT rounds for the test gun.Surprise is his only worry about his enemies. Jenkins drove the CT cow at full speed to a distance of 300 kilometers from the Freedom Star, and then slowed down.At 200 kilometers, he determined the direction, made the Star of Liberty face and blocked the Polaris, and then began to pass through the three layers of floating mines that Drake used for inner defense. After entering the layer of drifting mines, as the distance shortens, the Star of Liberty looks bigger and bigger, and finally a cube-shaped iron asteroid with uneven surface appears.At each pole of it was a spidery tower, and the signal lights on the top of the tower were all extinguished.There was no movement on the entire planet. Goodbye Mackey's old tugboat.The Short was still parked on the long, narrow landing field, like an upside-down rusty ingot.The signal lights on the spacecraft were not on, and there was no one outside the white warehouse.A green light that was normally on at the top of the cliff where the living quarters are is now also off.He panicked again. Due to the special design, the CT Bull cannot land directly on the ground.He had no choice but to drive the CT cow to the other side of the planet, and landed on the edge of an iron tower. Then he held his breath, held the steering wheel firmly with both hands, and carefully slid the CT cow into the cave.The slightest mistake at this point can cause catastrophic friction between the material iron at the entrance of the cave and the ore box. Finally, the CT cow stopped at a fixed position on the CT iron slideway, and it was also fixed with the anti-gravity anchor head.Jenkins shut down the reactor and fumbled with frozen hands to undo the clips that held the spacesuit to the CT cow seat.He climbed off the machine stiffly. From CT Bull's toolbox he found a clumsy wrench, the closest thing he could find. So, with a wrench in his hand, he drove the space suit through a dark corridor to the CT laboratory, looking for those unknown enemies.