Chapter 18 Chapter Seventeen

After all, Jenkins is an earthling, not quite used to space, and can only rely on those weird instruments and outdated maps that Mackey has never used to find his way to Albania.He spent half an hour observing and calculating, and finally found it.He also placed the robot driver.At this moment, he has the energy to pay attention to Jane. "Hey," he frowned, "am I that funny?" "Not funny, Nick, I'm just a little surprised." She looked him over. "Space engineer, CT miner, astronaut, and now, bandit! You might be as good as your uncle!" "Seriously, Jane, do you really want the transmitter to work?"

"What else do I have to do for you to believe me?" "You rescued me from prison, you were not afraid of radiation, you got on this spaceship, and you supported me in robbing my uncle, why?" "There are several reasons. One is because I like you and can't bear to see you die in prison." "Dead? The rebellion is over." "But your danger is not from the mob. Didn't you expect that? Someone is going to kill you in case someone else gets your CT technology." "It's great that you rescued me from prison." The words that came out of my mouth were unintentionally sarcasm.

Jane shuddered, as if hurt. "Thanks, really," Jenkins added quickly, "I just wanted to get to know you!" "It must be difficult!" She let out a wry smile, "I have been trying to understand you and your uncle for two years. I appreciate the method you used when you robbed the alloy just now. Since you are much better than him, you really May conquer CT." "It's been conquered long ago. All the engineering work is done, but it wasn't me, old Drake. I'll tell you about him." A stool was pulled out from the stage, motioning for her to sit beside her.

"I want you to understand Drake. A guy like him has solved all the technical problems long ago, and now the only obstacle left is the people. If you understand him, you will also want to establish energy freedom." She seemed interested and nodded with a smile.She might really like herself, she might just pity herself, but it's clear she's interested in understanding what drives people to do crazy things like conquer CT. "I don't know Drake very well myself, and he doesn't talk very much. But sometimes, when he reminds me of some deadly properties of CT, he also tells how I know it. Using CT is the most difficult thing space engineers have ever done. Great things, people who understand this technology will inevitably talk about it. I only heard these stories bit by bit after I got to know the Drakes, Karen, Anders, and Ann. I And met Rob Mackey."

"I've met Mackey," her voice was full of confusion. "I heard Brian say that he has an extraordinary sixth sense. I want to talk to him, but he won't say anything." "That's right. But I've seen him fly this tugboat from one asteroid to another asteroid a hundred kilometers away without looking at the instruments. Drake also mentioned his superhumanity. They are four An old partner for more than ten years. Let me tell you how they met." Jane was still listening quietly, but Jenkins always felt that she was doubting his own words. "Old Drake was born in Port Burroughs, and his family moved back to Earth in order to give him a good education. But he didn't want to be a human on Earth, and returned to space as soon as he got his engineering degree. He took a He took the flight from Sun City to Callisto Leninsk—Ultramarine. He had already had great ambitions at that time, and planned to persuade Jupiter to sponsor him to investigate on the Trojan group of stars. These asteroids have long been owned by Jupiter, but they have not been developed. Come out, it still says on the map it might be CT. Drake can't stand the word 'maybe', he's the kind of guy who wants to actively understand and push the frontiers of space. So he packs a test gun and was brave enough to use it."

"The End of the World didn't reach Leninsk," Jane objected calmly. "There was a Kagonovich conspiracy there, and the liner was forced to turn back. Then something happened, and the spaceship broke into the meteor cluster." "You said it earlier. Drake did not reach Leninsk that time, but he did not give up. Years later, when General Goldmark Golaner's space expedition arrived on the main planet of Troy, Drake And Mackey had already planted a Trusteeship flag on Mount Achilles above it. The general hadn't figured out if the asteroids were material or not when they got there."

Hearing Nick so emphatically the title of general, Jane picked up her head angrily. "General Goldmark Golan is my uncle," she interrupted him excitedly. "I used to play chess with him a lot. He was also a passenger on the last flight of the End of the World, but I didn't listen to him." Mention the name Drake." "Of course not," Jenkins laughed. "Drake is just a rock rat on an asteroid, and he's a general on Earth." "He has passed away, please respect his name. He belonged to an old and good family of Star Corporation." Jane became exasperated.

"You too," he looked at the angry face, "but not Drake. He was kicked out of his stateroom because General Goldmark Golaner needed an office and he was only given a hammock in the cargo hold go to bed." "My uncle does need an office," she argued hastily. "He has an urgent mission. Even on a spaceship, there are important things to do." "He really deserves to be forgiven," Nick sneers, "because he didn't complete that so-called urgent task either. Kagonovich is no longer at the mercy of anyone, not even the respected Goldmark Go General Lane is no exception."

"You are distorting history!" Jane retorted, "No one manipulated that dictator! It was with the help of our interstellar company that he mastered the highest power on Jupiter. He has always pretended to be friendly on the surface, but secretly But he is planning how to destroy our company. He not only set up a secret fleet, colluded with the reactionary forces on Mars and Venus, and even instigated the asteroids to oppose us!" "That's just your one-sidedness." Nick looked at her angry look and laughed, "In the beginning, in Drake's cabin, your uncle was too busy deciphering the bad news from Leninsk and Sun City. Excited, but why did Kagonovich run away when he really made a move?"

"At that time, what can he do? There is no weapon on the spaceship, and the fuel is almost exhausted. The Jupiter beam signal suddenly calls on Mars, Venus and the asteroids to abolish the power of the Interstellar Corporation in various places, interrupt the transportation of the Interstellar Corporation, Her chin lifted haughtily. "It was a truly brave and wise decision for him to return instead of surrender!" "He may be brave, but he is not wise at all! Listen to Drake, not only did he not expect the Jupiters to take action, but he also hoped to go to an asteroid to refuel! You know, the Earth fleet has left We left the moon base and went to suppress these small uprisings!"

"It's very interesting!" She sneered, looking unconvinced, "Do you want to describe Mr. Drake as a Bodhisattva who saves all beings from all disasters?" Nick looked at her hesitantly.Every word she uttered reminded him of her ancient aristocratic status robbed of energy freedom, and he still didn't understand her.He paused for a moment, then continued. "Jupiter's military force has already been in action before the spacecraft returned. The Earth Fleet heading to Jupiter was called back to defend the Earth, and all the spacecraft of the Interstellar Corporation were ordered to return to the base. "So the End of the World couldn't find any other spacecraft to rescue. The officers on the ship planned to land and refuel on the nearby New Yukon asteroid, where there was an interstellar company trading post. They didn't dare to send out any signals. It took a lot of effort to reach the asteroid, but there was no one there, and all the buildings were blown up. Later, they found Mackey, who had been mining on the other side of the asteroid. I don't know what happened, but I was carrying a bag of pitchblende in exchange for daily necessities. "Almost everyone there was frightened away, and he was left alone, millions of kilometers from the nearest inhabited asteroid. He was only twenty years old at the time. Preparing to be in that new environment Lives independently. He doesn't have a spaceship yet, only a space suit. "He used the light on his helmet to signal to the people on the spaceship, and wanted to exchange some ore for salt and tea. Your uncle didn't understand why he was willing to live alone in a pressurized tent, and concluded that he was a Jupiter spy, so he ignored Mai Qi objected, took him aboard the spaceship, and conducted a thorough interrogation. Finally, seeing that he refused to admit it, he was locked in the guard room. "The spaceship ran out of fuel, and the reactor quickly extinguished. The spaceship drifted towards the sun, and the people on the spaceship were still fantasizing about saving their lives under the condition of insufficient rations. When the war is over, the Earth fleet will come to rescue them . "The idea is tantamount to suicide. After the ship flew towards the sun for several hours, Mackey asked to see the officers on the ship. But he did not expose any plots on Jupiter, only reminded them that the ship was heading towards a group of dangerous CT meteor flies away. "I don't know, after they heard it, they all burst into laughter. Neither the map nor the instruments showed any meteors ahead, and there was no window to look out of in the guard room. They didn't believe it. Of course, it can't be all to blame. They, at that time, they would have been nervous enough. Plus, Mackey was always awkward around other people, so people couldn't believe him. "McGee was sent back to the guard room again. Drake heard the officers jeer that there was an ugly asteroid man who claimed to be able to see CT meteors hundreds of thousands of kilometers away through the thick iron cabin. He just Feeling a little weird, not funny, having spent his childhood in the frontiers of space, he respected those native asteroids. He asked to meet this weirdo, and the officers agreed. "So, they met for the first time. Mackey learned the lesson just now, and always refused to talk. Later, when he found out that Drake was also from the asteroid, he gave him a detailed description of the CT meteor cloud in front of him. position, velocity and density. "Drake took him at his word and found the officers and then Goldmark. General Golaner said it. In their eyes, however, Drake was just another rock rat, who too was suspected, questioned harshly, and sent to the guardhouse.The spacecraft continued to fly in the original direction. "The whole cluster of CT meteor clouds is just a group of CT dust particles with a total weight of about one ton, scattered in a space slightly larger than the volume of the earth. These dust particles are too small to be seen in telescopes or on radar waves. Can't respond. Later, the spacecraft approached the outer edge of the CT cloud, and the dust particles began to react with the outer shell. The indicator light of the Geiger kept flashing, and a harsh warning sound came out. This was already after the fuel was used up. It's the second day. "Goldmark. Golaner may have believed Mackey and Drake at the time, but the ship had no power to turn, and the anti-gravity safety field in the cabin was about to become unsustainable. He ordered people to be cautious." The secret of the Geiger device, let the spaceship float, and he has nothing to do. "However, the secret was not kept for long. A CT the size of a grain of sand hit the reaction chamber in the middle of the spacecraft, smashing a two-meter-wide hole in the cabin shell. The air escaped from the cabin, and in an instant , half of the crew died, and one of the lifeboats was smashed. Your uncle left the spaceship in the other one. "Drake and Mackey were left on the spaceship. The lifeboat was already full of people more important than them, and no one cared how these two little rock ratmen would die. There was almost no fuel on the lifeboat at that time, you Uncle is just thinking about how to die slowly and feel better."