Uranus RobberyStar Map Draftsman I: Federation War

How long is a life? Maybe it is the length between one opening and one closing of the eyes.

Dawn ship has successfully gained slingshot acceleration at Saturn, and Chang’E predicts that Dawn ship will enter Uranus’ low altitude orbit in a day, the third and final slingshot gravitational acceleration for Dawn ship. Since food shortages began, Dawn Lucius only eats once a day, squeezing pureed food into his mouth and then stuffing it with a mouthful of leaves, mixing them together and chewing them before swallowing. Time is a son of a bitch, Dawn Lucius in addition to infinitely close to his own death, time also let his body has some improvement, from the biological data in the flexible device, his internal organs extrusion injury is healing, but the data in the device also has a bad place, serious nutritional deficiencies, severe hunger, arrhythmia, pulse drop, he is living like a dry corpse.

When Dawn Lucius first accelerated to 1,000 kilometers, it was as if someone had put many pieces of broken glass in his brain and chest, and if he walked fast, those pieces of glass would cut into his flesh, causing him to shed tears. The stars glowed lazily, and behind those lights, there were probably countless children like Stacean Lucius, looking forward to their father’s return. Dawn Lucius has changed Chang’E’s humor parameters and now it doesn’t need Dawn Lucius to call “Chang’E”, it can start up from time to time, telling Dawn Lucius new jokes it just learned, or recommending Dawn Lucius its favorite music, sometimes Chang’E will tell Dawn Lucius a sad piece of literature, Dawn Lucius still feels lonely.

“Chang’E.”

“I’m here, miss me?” The female voice was sweet, like a naughty first love.

“What do you think, Stacean Lucius is doing now?”

“Sleeping, I guess, it’s the middle of the night in the time zone he’s in.”

“I wonder if he kicked the covers?”

“Mommy will cover him up, don’t worry.” The AI’s words were comforting, and Dawn Lucius lay on the floor, tears sliding down his creased skin.

“Will he be mad at me if I don’t help him bring the stars back?” Dawn Lucius asked with a sob.

“Yes, he’ll definitely say ‘Daddy’s a liar’, but yeah, he’ll still jump into your arms and ask if you’ve experienced anything interesting!”

“Ha ...... ha.” Dawn Lucius forced a couple of laughs as he thought about Stacean Lucius’ small head that smelled slightly of sweat, soft hair, and how Dawn Lucius felt like he was on some mountain maid in the spring with the air filled with the scent of flowers every time Dawn Lucius put his nose to his head.

“Commander Lucius, are you ready for the story?”

“There’s ah, engineers killing engineers, kind of a ...... very powerful story.”

“No, no, no.” Chang’E hastily refused. “How can you tell scary stories to children? Change it.”

“Oh, well, I’ll have to think about it.” Dawn Lucius’ voice was faint.

“Commander Lucius, are you okay?” Chang’E asked, and after a few seconds of silence, it spoke again. “I detect that your life signature is below the alert line, is there anything I can do for you?”

“Mission accomplished!” Dawn Lucius finished and fell back into a deep sleep.

He remembered when he went to the Space Academy and the professor discussed the problem of peace, if the countries of the world are united to engage in astronautics engineering, then the progress achieved must be greater than today, each country do take their own advantages out to cooperate, rather than a country to do everything by themselves, good at the engine to do a good job on the engine, do not go into what the antenna, good at the antenna to optimize the antenna to the extreme, do not spend time Don’t waste your time on the engine. Think about it, all of humanity, the smartest people working together, can bring the universe voyage forward many years to achieve. The professor is not optimistic about this idea. Throughout human history, peace has been predicated on the existence of a superpower overriding other nations and ensuring that small nations do not violate each other. But the problem comes again, first of all, there are small countries want to escape the control of the big powers, they will incite others to confront with the big countries together, and eventually it will lead to the collapse of the original system to ensure peace, the world back into war; secondly, no one can clearly know the intentions of other countries, since the impervious to guess, the human instinct of self-preservation always drive the action in the direction of the military, here again into a vicious circle, originally Enhancement of the military is for self-preservation, others seem you are to prepare for invasion, here again into the vicious circle.

Dawn Lucius recalled asking her professor at graduation what would happen if she ever met an astronaut from another country in space.

“The first battle is the decisive battle.” This was the professor’s answer.

Dawn Lucius pulled the quilt over him, he felt cold and thought to himself that it might be because he was going into the orbit of Uranus, a gaseous ice giant, four times the size of Earth, and because it was far from the sun, the temperature on Uranus was low, it had about eighty percent hydrogen inside, but that hydrogen was frozen into ice clouds, and if humans could visit its interior The clouds floating in the sky are a heap of ice. At the mention of ice, Dawn Lucius feels even colder, and he pulls the covers up to his neck.

He remembered when he used to look at the stars with Stacean Lucius, and Stacean Lucius told him that we must go to Uranus’ moons together in the future. “Why do you want to go?” Dawn Lucius asked Stacean Lucius.

“Dad, that moon you’re talking about, is it circling Uranus?” As Stacean Lucius spoke, he couldn’t keep his hands off the telescope, which could see the outline of the moon’s base, and Stacean Lucius always liked to come here to look at the stars.

“Yeah.”

“Then we can just about play for a month.” Stacean Lucius put his face behind the telescope.

“Why is it a month?” Dawn Lucius wondered.

“Uranus has thirty moons, we play one day per moon, just a month well.”

Dawn Lucius had no good way to explain to him, but finally he had to tell him that Uranus was busy now, busy pressing diamonds, and that Uranus’ own gravity was so strong that it pressed the carbon in the atmosphere into diamonds, but ah, these diamonds were still liquid, floating on top of Uranus’ diamond sea, and it had to collect these diamonds and give them to his teacher before he could go play. Dawn Lucius remembered Stacean Lucius didn’t want to disturb Uranus when he seriously explained that he was a responsible little man and he was quite proud of himself.

The flex device screen flashed a danger alert and the watchtower was busy, Chang’E was playing the alert again and alerting Dawn Lucius on the screen. Dawn Lucius felt his ears sting like a raging bull rattling in his ear drum. Dawn Lucius climbed to the captain’s seat and the impact alert appeared on the screen, he didn’t react, Uranus’ There are satellite belts in orbit and also floating meteorites, which are carried around by Uranus and are unlikely to actively hit the Dawn ship. However, Chang’E did detect an active impact hazard.

“Chang’E.” Dawn Lucius finished shouting Chang’E, seemingly exhausted of his strength, his body like a boneless puddle of flesh, left to flow at will.

“I am.”

“Report back.”

“Commander Lucius, we are about to enter Uranus low altitude orbit, but there are two auto-accelerating craft in this orbit, heading towards the Dawn ship and will impact the Dawn ship in twenty minutes. The damage assessment is that the Dawn ship may disintegrate.”

“What is it?”

“Artificial object, checked to two jet engines in the tail, no life characteristics.”

“What is it?”

“No specific features, extrapolated from the current form, it is a rival craft.” The female voice did not behave so sweetly.

“A bomb?”

“It’s impossible to tell.”

“Where is the opponent?”

“Location?”

“Yes.”

“Slingshot acceleration has been obtained, zero point eight astronomical units from Uranus.”

“Intent.”

“Stop Dawn ship from flying out of Uranus orbit.”

“Circumvention?” Dawn Lucius had little strength left, and the danger of this sudden entry up had him worried.

“It’s too late, we’ve been captured by Uranus’ gravity, and this is the only orbit that will be suitable to gain acceleration.” The female voice said.

“Lower orbit?”

“Dangerous.”

“Feasible?”

“It works!”

“Specific programs.”

“Dawn ship allows Uranus to capture to a lower orbit with more slingshot gravity, when Dawn ship escapes, it will need higher acceleration, which may cause engine meltdown, Dawn ship will not be able to escape from Uranus, eventually, Uranus will pull Dawn ship towards its interior until Dawn ship crashes. ”

“Probability of success?”

“Six percent.”

“Not zero?”

“No!”

Upon hearing Chang’E’s return, Dawn Lucius reluctantly sat up, he tested the seat with his elbows to see if it was soft, accelerating again would overwhelm his body, he laid back down again, let out a deep breath and said. “Please execute.”

“Dawn ship will execute a new flight plan, today’s encounter will be transmitted back to the moon base along with new data, execution code: JHL1303, execute!”

The Dawn ship was getting closer to Uranus, and even though it was not yet in low altitude orbit, Dawn Lucius felt the pull of gravity, and he scanned the computer screen. Dawn Lucius took out painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs from his pocket, his hands were shaking so much that he couldn’t distinguish between the drugs, he simply ate them all, he didn’t have the strength to get water to drink, so he chewed and swallowed them in his mouth.

Thinking that a low orbit would be enough to circumvent the craft’s impact, Chang’E’s calculations showed that the two craft had redirected their course, and now they were like cruise missiles locked onto the Dawn ship, which would come crashing down as usual even if the Dawn ship changed its trajectory. “Can’t just sit there and wait.” Dawn Lucius thought to himself, “Besides changing the orbit, is the wormhole jump the only way to save the Dawn ship? Dawn Lucius is a scientist, he does not believe in wormhole jumps, at least, this thing has not been verified to exist, the Earth’s physicists have been studying wormholes, some people say they have observed, but can not tell clearly what is observed.

“Chang’E.”

“I am.”

“Launch two engineering vehicles, ram each other, and keep flying?” Dawn Lucius had to insist on finishing his sentence, he felt pain all over his body and the painkillers he had just taken seemed to have worn off.

“It works.” The female voice was silent for a few seconds and continued. “Commander Lucius, the impact will create a large amount of debris in the area we pass, the Dawn ship goes through the debris, a large area of the hull will be pierced and the Dawn ship will still be at risk of disintegrating.”

Chang’E is right, the debris from the impact will not be captured by Uranus gravity for a short time, they are like cotton sprinkled in the air, if someone rushes into the cotton, the cotton will spare no effort to stain the person’s body, after the Dawn ship path to the impact debris area, the whole body will be pierced, and the head of the ship may be shredded. It is too late to change to high altitude orbit, the gravity of Uranus is getting stronger and stronger, if rushing into Uranus, although the gravity of this planet is only 1.2 times that of Earth, the take-off conditions are not as good as Earth, even, the super low temperature of Uranus may directly lead to the ship engine failure. Flying high does not work, flying low does not work either!

“The nearest satellite?” Dawn Lucius had a new idea.

“Tianwei II.”

“Path?”

“Titan’s orbit is lower than Dawn ship’s, and it will pass below Dawn ship in eleven minutes.”

“Size.”

“Titan is half the size of the moon, but the gravity is unknown, so if the Dawn ship wants to use Titan to attract a vehicle, there is no feasibility to predict with this option.”

“Titan’s magnetic field, the effect on the Dawn ship?”

“Commander Lucius, the magnetic field sweep of Uranus is large, and if the Dawn ship flies into the magnetic field area, we will lose directional control and the Dawn ship will probably be captured by Uranus forever.”

“Crossing time is time consuming!”

“Expect fifty minutes.”

It was too late to discuss, it was time for Dawn Lucius to make a decision. “Please execute, fly into the Skyguard magnetic field zone, ten minutes ......” Dawn Lucius swallowed hard, he felt a roaring coal furnace in his head, burning his solar system distended, he continued. “Every ten minutes, ignite an engineering vehicle and push the Dawn ship away from ......”

“Build scenario, crossing the magnetic field area takes fifty minutes, tenth minute, ignite an engineering vehicle in the opposite direction of Uranus’ gravity, second ten minutes ignite the second, third ten minutes ignite the third, ten seconds to execute the scenario, execution code: JHL1307.”

Dawn Lucius suddenly felt that artificial intelligence is not unreliable, unreliable is human, artificial intelligence does not carry personal prejudice to carry out tasks, what humans tell them to do, they do it word for word, if there is no Chang’E, Dawn Lucius can not fly so far. After the Dawn ship flew into the magnetic field area, the numbers on the computer screen began to dissolve, until it disappeared. until it disappeared and the screen went black. As the ship passed between Uranus and Uranus, it was as if Dawn Lucius had stepped into a dark night, with algae swamps beneath its feet and flesh-eating beasts hiding on either side.

Dawn Lucius’ body was near collapse, the muscles beneath his skin had dissipated, his veins like dead vines on an old stone wall, doing their dying in the cold wind, he crawled to the threshold, picked up the little water left on the floor and poured a small amount into his mouth, he didn’t dare to drink too fast now, he almost choked to death last time he drank too fast. He fell into a deep sleep, another long wait, another long unknown. Fortunately, the Dawn ship’s flight plan worked, the rival craft lost power in the magnetic field, and two more artificial meteorites were in Uranus’ orbit.

“Chang’E.”

“I am.”

“Opponent details.”

“We have obtained Uranus slingshot acceleration and will meet the rival ship in twenty-three hours, and the closest distance will be less than one hundred kilometers.”

“Risk.”

“Commander Lucius, if the opponent is setting up an attack vehicle in orbit, then the risk to the Dawn ship is high and there is no way to circumvent it.”

This Dawn Lucius knew, he turned out the health data from the flexible device, can not see exactly what the problem is, perhaps, his current physical condition can hardly use the health data, serious internal injuries, no nutritious food, body not only did not recover, eat too much leaves led him to signs of poisoning. The mission to reach the Sane ship could no longer be calculated in days, he had to arrive early, before he woke up for the last time, rival astronauts in space were all predators, if the Sane ship’s technology fell into their hands, Stacean Lucius would face war where he lived. Dawn Lucius has to protect his beloved ones, and the war and competition between countries can no longer be confined to the Earth, but space is the battlefield of the moment.

“Send a message.”

“Sending a message to a competitor?”

“Yes.”

“Using the announcement channel, the message sent can reach the other party after one hour, Commander Lucius, what do you plan to send to the other party?”

“The camera.”

“Commander Lucius, do you mean recording your video with a webcam?”

“Yes.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“Commander Lucius, the camera is on, after you shout ‘record’, the camera will start recording video and save it after you shout ‘stop’, it will be transmitted to the other party’s announcement channel after one minute. ”

Dawn Lucius sat up from the floor, he looked at the captain’s chair, for the usual, if on it to record a video to send to the other side, that is considered to be real diplomacy. At the very least, the lines should be prepared before recording the video, the uniform should be cleaned up, and that’s not all, the lines should have the main theme of cooperation and negotiation, not to provoke conflict, but, now is not the time to talk about cooperation, but ......

“Recording!” Dawn Lucius took several breaths, he was ready for what to say. “This is Captain Dawn Lucius, the other two engineers of Dawn ship are dead, in twenty-three hours, Dawn ship and your party will meet. If Dawn ship meets man-made craft again, Dawn ship will melt down the reactor, the explosion radius will be more than ten thousand kilometers.” After saying that, Dawn Lucius raised his hand to make a neck wiping action and said “stop” with satisfaction.

Dawn Lucius felt a cold sweat on his forehead, he had consumed too much energy, it was expected that it would only take five days for the Dawn ship to reach the location of the Sane ship, there were still seven days of food left, relatively speaking there was still a surplus, but Dawn Lucius could not eat anything at this time. He slumped onto the robot’s cylinder, moved to the medical bay, took out a bottle of saline, the last bottle, and took out another bottle of glucose from the only five bottles left and added it to the saline, barely shaking it twice, he began to swallow slowly. Save your strength. As he moved back to the watchtower, he brought the leaves and food he had packed earlier with him and set them on the floor where he often lay.

“Chang’E.”

“I am.”

“Go to Neptune ...... and call me.”

“Copy that.” The female voice was silent and spoke again. “Commander Lucius, do I need to wake you up if there’s an emergency?”

“No need.”

“Commander Lucius, my calculations show that the video you posted did not help to avoid the Dawn ship from being hit, should I wake you up if I meet the craft to hit the Dawn ship again?”

“Teach you a lesson.” Dawn Lucius, now warm all over, glucose like a small nuclear reactor, was powering his body, and he was mental enough to talk a little more, Dawn Lucius pulled the pillow back under his neck and continued. “Inside all human consensus, if you’re going to sign some kind of no-war treaty with the other side, then you have to come to the table with powerful weapons, and as the saying goes, a treaty signed without weapons is like scrap paper.”

“Commander Lucius, what is our weapon then?”

“Dawn ship.”

Dawn Lucius, half asleep and half awake for who knows how long, flipped through Stacean Lucius’ videos to pass the time, the one thing he lacked most, and the one thing he lacked least, was time. “Daddy, can we eat now?” It was Wednesday, and kindergarten had initially set up every Wednesday as a toy day, where children could bring their favorite toys to kindergarten. Stacean Lucius had brought a diorama map simulator to show his classmates the galaxy, and the teacher had temporarily changed the curriculum and taken his toys away. Stacean Lucius cried and called Dawn Lucius, who The two took Stacean Lucius out of school and brought tools to go fishing in a wetland park, where they could, if they were lucky, just bake carp in the park. The luck was indeed good too, the fish was just set on the fire, Stacean Lucius couldn’t hold back and kept asking his dad again if he could eat it, they had a great time that day, the two of them ate the fish before they went back, and when they went to bed Stacean Lucius couldn’t stop thinking about it and showed his mom how he fishes, that night Dawn Lucius lay down on the floor pretending to be a fish, Stacean Lucius was in bed using his shoelace as a fishing line to catch his dad, and the two played for more than two hours before going to sleep.

Dawn Lucius kissed the screen, “Daddy loves you!” He thought that if he could see Stacean Lucius in, he would most like to say these four words, Dawn Lucius is now especially afraid of the outcome of his own, but also wants to be relieved sooner, the contradiction in the heart pull, pain he wept. He thought of the gravitational waves observed by the observatory, the energy generated when massive black holes collide, which can distort time and space. If it really happened, would Dawn Lucius have more time, or, by folding the plane between him and Earth, he could go back to Earth and hug his son. Just then, the ship began to shake violently, and centrifugal force pushed him off the ground, sliding outward some distance before he felt a noticeable distortion in the ship’s path.

“Chang’E.”

“I am.”

“Report back.”

“Commander Lucius, we are entering Neptune Earth orbit, using Neptune’s gravity to slow down the Dawn ship.” After the female voice finished announcing, Dawn Lucius had been squeezed against the wall, and he felt his brain pushing against the shell of his brain, and the pain was like a bug trying to break through the sky and run out.