Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 412: Entry and Research

"Warp drive engine exhaustion 80, 75, 70… dropping steadily."

"Initiating flux propulsion system…"

"Activating creator's particle vibrator…"

"Preparation of Black Star Troopers complete…"

"I order," Yao Yuan sat in the captain's chair and said, "Exit warp drive."

"Yes, Captain's order, exiting warp drive."

"Countdown to exiting warp drive, 10, 9, 8, 7…"

"Exited warp drive!"

After a blue flash, the Hope exited warp drive, and the thing that was revealed before their eyes was a solar system… Of course, they could only see the sun as most of the planets were still too far away to be seen with the naked eye.

"Surveillance complete, there is no trace of creator's particle, gravitational reaction, or electromagnetic resonance…"

"There is no threat within observable distance."

"Diviners reported no sense of danger."

Yao Yuan finally sighed. "Lower the alert level to level 3. Power down the necessary defense systems and patrolling guard. The Hope will return to its normal situation as we operate the second step of the manifesto, noving towards the target planet."

After Yao Yuan had given all the orders, he went to the Black Star Troopers' headquarters, where Guang Zhen was in the middle of a discussion with the unit leaders.

"We've just entered this solar system and yet practically every civilian already knows what we're going to do next thanks to the Hope's a-bit-too-vibrant mass media. Do you know? I've been trying to suggest to the government to control the media. After all, it won't do to have what we just discussed in the meeting this morning to be released to the public this afternoon, right? Alas, your commander is a stubborn mule, he rejected my suggestion…"

Guang Zhen shrugged and said seriously, "Alright, back to the issue at hand. As everyone knows, this solar system might be extremely meaningful to us human beings. Even though we are unable to confirm for now whether it will be our New Solar System, the possibility of that happening is more than 70 percent. In other words, this place will quite possibly be our new home base, the place where most of us will grow old and die.

"From tomorrow onwards, the Black Star Troopers will be delineated into five divisions. Two of them will be responsible for guarding the Hope and its surrounding area, while the remaining three will explore this solar system. Yes, you have not misheard me, I need you to leave the Hope and comb this solar system.

"The goal of this mission is to collect information on the basic details of the planets, like their gravity, atmosphere, and available supplies as well as note the important defense points within this solar system."

Guang Zhen paused to let the information sink in before continuing, "As I've mentioned earlier, if this solar system really does become our New Solar System, then this place will be our main base for the next hundred, thousand, maybe even ten thousand years. Thus, we need to find out which spots are suitable for the construction of defense spots, supply spots, and hidden bases. That is your mission objective."

When Yao Yuan arrived, Guang Zhen had already given all the orders. When the latter noticed Yao Yuan, he poured him a cup of coffee before adding, "Now all the Black Star Trooper units wish to go out and explore. This is not what I expected. It's a hard decision to make."

Yao Yuan accepted the coffee and frowned. He took a sip and said, "I'm sure you can come up with a solution. If it's really impossible, then we'll just use a rotation system. It might even be a good training opportunity. After all, the Black Star Troopers will need to defend the whole solar system after we settle. There will be plenty of occasions when we'll need them to fight outside of the Hope. Might as well let them get used to it now."

Guang Zhen laughed. "I know you're a tea person, but this is a new batch of coffee, you should have a change of taste once in a while… Either way, I believe this solar system is a good find. Even though the number of planets is small, there are plenty of asteroid clusters. Those are easier to mine and they form a natural defensive wall. What were those representatives thinking about when they said we needed more than 5 terrestrial planets? Do they think we have several billion in population? Do we need so many planets to house our population? Or are we humans creatures that survive on metals and we need more than 5 terrestrial planets worth of minerals to survive? They must be kidding."

Yao Yuan took another sip of the coffee. It was fragrant yet bitter, no sugar because that was Guang Zhen's habit. He didn't say anything but followed Guang Zhen's topic. "They have their concerns; after all, the civilians whom they serve do not know so many details. Isn't that how politics work? At least for the Hope's civilians, more terrestrial planets equal more materials and supplies, which brings about more occupational opportunities. The representatives are thinking about the civilians' profit and benefits, so we cannot really blame them. After all, when the Hope was lacking in supplies and was rationing them, even you and me didn't have the heart to smoke that additional cigarette each day, much less the normal civilians, so you can see where their decision is coming from."

Guang Zhen scoffed with derision, but he didn't retort. After a long time, he said, "It's almost noon, let's go have lunch and then go to that place."

Yao Yuan didn't argue, that was the purpose of his visit after all. Other than to check up on the progress of the Black Star Troopers, it was to visit that place with Guang Zhen…

After lunch, Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen used an inconspicuous hovercraft to travel deeper into the Hope. They turned off the main road into a small corridor. When they descended, there was a large door before them. Hanging on the door was the insignia of the research center and two large letters… HE.

Yes, this was the Homo Evolutis research center, known as HE center for short. In fact, ever since this research center was established, it was hidden from public view. Even though Yao Yuan didn't ban any mass media reporters from exploring the place, the reporters could only get information about the most surface things due to their lack of clearance credentials.

"…HE center experiment, Case Study C-127."

Before Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen was a monster-man with a very large brain… or rather a monster that looked like a human. Its brain was half the size of its body, which was to say that it was incredibly large. This meant that it could only lie in bed due to the heavy imbalance. However, the most surprising fact was that it was not a remains or specimen, it had eyes and a nose, and it was still alive.

"This is the only living case study we have left. It is now 6 months old and its brain kept on mutating since its cloning birth. We have taken out parts of its unimportant brain cells and discovered that it was only the lipids and cholesterol that were mutating and growing and not the actual brain matter. We cannot control or cure this mutation. In other words, it has caused the disintegration of its brain capacity. To put it simply, it is a retard, the type which has zero consciousness of itself and the world around it…

"Secondly, we are still unable to counteract the progeria in the clones. The cells of the clone grow old at 1,400 times the normal human speed, this means that progeria has begun when they are still babies.

"This case study C has survived the longest, it has been alive for 6 months and its cellular age shows that it is only over 20 years old. That is already a big break through… but we still cannot solve the issue of the brain. If the speed of brain mutation is allowed to continue, at most we will have 1 more week before the body won't be able to support the weight of its brain and die. So case study C is officially a failure."

The manager of the HE center reported to the two leaders with shame and guilt coloring his face. Just like the earlier case studies A and B, this experiment also ended with a failure.

Yao Yuan nodded expressionlessly before saying, "This is a new field, so failure is inevitable. Learn from the mistake and prepare better for case study D, good luck."

After everyone had left, Guang Zhen asked Yao Yuan seriously, "Yao Yuan, this experiment C-127… the cells for the cloning come from you?"

Yao Yuan nodded. "Yes… Cloning of Homo Evolutis started from the day the HE center was established. When it comes to the cloning of normal human beings, where due to the limitation of genetics, other than genetic disease, the clones are no different from normal human beings. However, the cloning of Homo Evolutis has always led to failure no matter the methods used. Under these circumstances, it is only fair that I provide my own cells for the cloning experiments…"

Cloning was something that violated the rules of human nature and various religious doctrines; therefore, many countries had banned the technology back in the old Earth. Cloning was done in extreme secret on the Hope. In fact, the civilians had no idea that part of the resources had been channelled into this research.

However, this was a necessity because in the wide cosmos, humanity was as weak as a small bug inside a large forest. They could be wiped out at any moment due to numerous reasons. The human population was too low, only several ten thousand people, it was barely over the limitation for genetic variance. Should a great tragedy happen to the Hope, other than the sperm and ovum banks, reviving the greats from the genetic bank was also part of the human revivification plan. The most important part, naturally, was the HE center, who was responsible for the collection of Homo Evolutis genes!

In fact, from the information garnered by humanity, most level 3 and above space civilizations had experimented on Homo Evolutis or cosmic adapters, and cloning happened to be the most popular type, but… until now, there had been no successful examples.

Guang Zhen sighed. "If the cloning of Homo Evolutis is successful, of course it's good, but we shan't force it if it's impossible, because cloning Homo Evolutis is only a small part of that plan, our real focus is still that plan.

"The human fortification research plan."