Chapter 8 Chapter VII

When his uncle came back again, Jenkins found that he had changed a lot. "CT Wars?" Uncle hummed the song they heard last night at Galaxy Nightclub as he dressed for a date with the blonde who sang it. "Of course it's going to blow up. I knew it when I was working with Mackey, and I was sad about it for a while." He smiled, as if mocking his own naivety and ignorance. "Old Drake once said that it is very simple to make a CT missile," he added easily, "put a CT iron bar into the material iron shell, and then seal the iron shell. But these two All these things have to be magnetized in advance, and they are separated by the repulsive force generated by magnetism. When in use, only one magnet is needed to detonate, or smash the shell, exposing the CT to the air, or even vibrate the iron shell vigorously to make them touch each other. can explode, releasing a thousand times the energy of an equivalent amount of plutonium metal."

Bryce looked back and saw Nick's disbelieving expression, and chuckled softly: "An engineer with a little guts can make this thing." He played the new song easily, as if the prophesied disaster and The dream of a fifth freedom has nothing to do with him. "Nobody's going to build a CT missile!" Jenkins blurted out. "Nobody's going to do that!" "Someone will." Uncle was ready to go out, but stopped leniently, "Of course Drake and Mackey won't. Drake said that since the CT meteor cluster indicator was successfully placed, several planets They sent spies to contact him, wanting to sign military contracts. Someone must want to build CT missiles."

Jenkins gasped for breath and wanted to say something, but the words didn't come out.The inadvertent mention of this inevitable war stunned him, and his uncle's indifference and indifference made him even more sad.He didn't understand why his uncle was like this, and he really didn't know what to say. Brian stood quietly for a while, and said earnestly: "Nick, you know, sometimes I am very sad. I also hope that the old money of the Star Corporation will not change me, let me keep the original, be a single-minded person. Stupid kid trying to build the Fifth Freedom. But they taught me so much in no time."

"Huh?" Nick stared at him with doubts in his eyes. "Interstellar Corporation owns almost all the uranium and diamonds except Jupiter," he explained, "the company's proven reserves of these two metals in the custody area are worth 300 billion yuan, and the directors are still working with the energy supply. Cutting prices up dramatically. I should have known before I wrote that book that they would not tolerate a brat breaking their monopoly in the Trust." "What the hell happened?" "Interstellar veterans want to teach me not to laugh at them, but not to write articles to criticize." Brian shrugged his thick shoulders, the short-term distress on his face slowly disappeared, and he laughed again, "I lobby everywhere, spread my Wrote the book, even stood up in the street and gave a speech, and got their attention. So the police came and savagely interfered with me, because the old rich don't like me like that." He tossed back his drooping hair.

"I learned my lesson and gave up. So I started looking for a job again, only to find out that Interstellar was still teaching me." "what happened?" "I can't find a job anywhere." Brian laughed easily, "I just found out that I had already been blacklisted by the company. Once, passing by the Jinxing Legation, I happened to see a poster rewarding people to go to Prospecting for uranium. I went. While waiting to meet the Minister, I drew mines in the Venusian ocean and sketched a uranium separation plant on the back of an old envelope." Cloth Ryan smiled softly, "That's the real beginning..."

In the next few days, he was so absorbed in drafting the plan for the anti-gravity well that he completely forgot about the blonde girl at the Galaxy Nightclub. Later, he went back to the trusteeship to present the proposal and patent documents to the delegation from Jupiter.Nick was back at school too, and his uncle's book had been piously placed on the desk. Two years later, my uncle's banker was still paying his tuition fees, and there was no news of my uncle himself.His mother died soon after, leaving Nick alone.He no longer wants to accept Brian's largesse without being able to start the career he craves.

CT research is still an illegal practice.The lack of energy creates economic depression.There are fewer and fewer open positions throughout the civil space engineering field.He was reluctant to go to the Earth Space Fleet, although the recruiting officer promised him that he would soon be transferred to the high-level Space Guard in the Trust Land, and even hinted that he might be engaged in secret military research.He refused, he didn't want to use CT for war. Graduation is approaching, and he has yet to find a job.He began to understand a little bit the great pressure to change his uncle, and sometimes he worried that he would not be able to withstand this pressure.

However, a letter from Sirian changed everything. The letter from Port Burroughs was printed on a sheet of hard-to-wear white metal, with large golden letters gleaming on it: CT.The letter also included the names of the company's board of directors: Martin Bryan, chairman, and Dean Drake, minister of engineering and technology.Astonishingly, all of the trusteeship's senior commissioners are directors of the company. "Dear Nick," his uncle wrote, "I'm sorry it's taken so long to answer your letter. Mr. Gast has kept your letter for me. The Jupiter friends have put me through a prison for two years. It was really unexpected. Thankfully, I managed to break through the joints and return to Port Burroughs before the antigravity well had time to conduct all the tests in Jupiter's atmosphere. The duplicity Jupiter announced that The project failed, it was a scam, going to escrow court to sue me for all the fees they prepaid.

"Now, Mr. Adam Gast has won a lawsuit against me for the money they owe me, plus a million dollars in damages for wrongful arrest and willful slander. Those people are forced to pay this against their will. A lot of money. I used it to build a company, which you and I think are very important CT companies. "You can imagine my surprise when Adam and I were in the courthouse awaiting trial to find my old friends Drake and Mackey. These two asteroid entrants are facing two counts of illegal research on CT and treason. sue. "According to the plaintiff's testimony, they invested all the profits from the performance of the emplacement contract into illegal research. Their research has advanced enough to threaten the trustee government. At that time they had no money for defense lawyers. If they are lucky, no Sentenced to death for treason, or at least life imprisonment.

"Of course, other people were also involved in this conspiracy. The charges against Anders and Rick Drake are still pending. Anders is a native of Earth and a former officer of the Space Guard. Married to the asteroid man and lost his job. His wife is Ann O’Brien, the daughter of the leader of the famous rebel army. Rick used to be an engineer of the Interstellar Company. His wife’s original name was Karen Hood. The inheritor was forced to give up his inheritance right because he married the asteroid. "Rick and Anders are still on the Liberty Star and have not been arrested. After the space fleet lost three warships in a row around the Liberty Star, they gave up their plan to arrest them.

"Actually, there was only one witness for the plaintiff, and he claimed to have seen the laboratory on the Star of Liberty. He was originally an asteroid man with a criminal record who was paroled specifically to spy for the Interstellar Corporation. His testimony also involved To the Free Space Party." "The Asteroid Underworld is still plotting to overthrow the Trusteeship. The spy says, 'It is said that the head of that illegal organization is Bruce O'Brien.' But to implicate O'Brien in the plot, There is no hard evidence yet. "Nevertheless, the plaintiff has gone to great lengths to prove that CT research was sponsored and supported by the Free Space Party, and that he himself was sent by Drake and Mackey to build a CT laboratory on the Liberty Star. perjury, the Trustee government wanted to put the two defendants to death. "McGee was arrested when he took Drake to Port Burroughs for treatment of a radiation injury to his hand. Urego, a renowned radiation sickness expert testified in court that Drake's injury was likely caused by a CT accident of. "Conviction seems beyond doubt. Drake is still in treatment and can't defend himself. Mackey won't speak, even if guards whip him. Rick's wife seeks her Relatives in Sun City helped, but the arrogant Hood family rejected her again. Mrs. Anders also begged her father for help, but O'Brien was also in danger and refused to agree. Some people bet that nine out of ten Lake would be sentenced to death for treason. "That's when I happened to run into them."