Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 148: War!

The Hope’s military force was highly efficient, so they only had to spend 10 minutes to pull the AI probes from the warehouse. These 10 probes were some of the 50 probes that the Hope had salvaged from the junkyard. Even though mankind could replicate some of the technology used to build the drones, some of the smaller parts required nanotechnology that mankind didn’t have access to. Therefore, the 50 drones were extremely valuable, because the replicated models couldn’t be as powerful as the originals.

Yao Yuan’s determination could be seen from the fact that he had ordered to deploy 10 drones in one go. 10 drones could literally scan the whole solar system they were in with ease. Yao Yuan, in fact, wanted to deploy all 50 drones. After all, this organic spaceship could very well ruin their prospect of finding a second home planet!

10 minutes later, the 10 drones lifted into the air through the open hole. The moment the drones reached the surface, they shot into space. Their speed was so fast that they seared burning trails into the atmosphere.

"Armed with particle accelerators and high-energy electromagnetic batteries, the drones can reach a maximum speed of 1,400 kilometers per second and last for 72 hours. No wonder it’s a technology from the 4th revolution."

As Yao Yuan spoke, a 3-D image slowly materialized. Details of Moon 2 became clearer as the drones gently descended onto the moon, inching closer and closer to the muscular landmass.

"…Detection of high-energy reaction! Energy surging towards the 4 suspected reactors. Energy rising, possible anti-air weapons!"

An urgent voice said through the communicator. Before anyone could respond, the 3-D image blinked out of existence, and barely a beat later, every other surveillance device in the room also started to fail.

"Are we under attack? What kind of attack? Energy weapon? Laser weapon?"

Yao Yuan yelled through the communicator. A hurried response came several seconds later. "No, not a weapon attack, but… creator’s particles!"

When they looked out the window, they saw a bright layer of ions clashing with one another, a physical manifestation of creator’s particle coming into conflict with the Hope’s particle isolator. If this was the Hope prior to the junkyard, all energy would have been lost by now.

Everyone returned to the meeting room with heavy footsteps. The situation was obvious; regardless of whether it was an organism or an organic spaceship, it represented a level 2 civilization since it had access to both polymerized reactors and the creator’s particle. Based on these observations, it could be concluded that it was not a simple mutation.

"…As everyone can witness for themselves, all of our surveillance technology has been rendered useless… We have to rely on our eyes to keep watch over this thing… Of course, this is the same for our enemy. The creator’s particle has made surveillance impossible for the both of us."

Yao Yuan paused to think before adding, "First, I need Ying to lead the dispatch unit… excluding the scientists of course, back to the surface. I need the 9 of you to keep a close eye on the giant organism. I want you to immediately report back to the Hope the second it tries to do anything, be it flying towards us or it dispatching satellites or things of that sort."

"Mission duration?" Ying stood up to ask.

"…12 hours," Yao Yuan answered. "You and the female black star guard, Ye Mu, are the only seekers we have, so I’ll have Ol’ Wong bring her to take over after the 12 hours. I’ll be relying on you to keep the surveillance active. Dismissed."

Ying saluted. "Yes, Sir!" Then he made eye contact with Zhang Heng, Liu Bia, Ebon, and Ren Tao before leading all 4 of them hastily out of the room.

Yao Yuan then turned to the scientists. "Continue working with the surveillance data we have. Other than that, continue sampling the planet, make sure the excavation continues, and increase the speed if possible. In other words, keep to your stations; we need as much information as we can get… Bo Li, if you can, please stay behind."

The scientists only got more worried after witnessing the meat muscle creature sucking the moon dry. Even without Yao Yuan’s urging, they wished to return to their labs to find out more about this unknown organism!

Finally, only Yao Yuan, Bo Li, and a few technical workers were left in the room. Yao Yuan took the opportunity to ask, "Bo Li, you’re the designer and creator of our space combat jet and the space troopers’ equipment. I wish to ask… Do you think our current equipment is enough to defend the Hope if a war ensues on this planet?"

A slight panic entered Bo Li’s eye as she answered, "You really think the monster will descend on this planet? If such a big creature were to fall from space, the only way the Hope could defend itself would be by warping. I don’t think an atomic bomb or the Supermagnetic Planet Annihilating Rail-Cannon will be of any use. Yes, they could harm parts of the creature, but due to its great size, the majority of it will remain… unless we manage to destroy ‘that’ thing."

"Destroy ‘that’ thing huh?" Yao Yuan smiled ruefully. "If only we had the technology. Regardless, temporarily, at least for the next 5 years… the creature won’t come to this planet. Call it the Diviner’s intuition, but realistically speaking, it won’t be attacking so soon because one, it hasn’t completely drained the moon yet, and two, it has to be wary of us suddenly appearing in this planet’s underground.

"Therefore, it’s my speculation that it’ll send out small crafts or landing crew to test the waters. However, since the creature is already in the 4th revolution, and because of its size, we have to suspect that it’ll have a larger population than us… Since we can’t prevail in terms of number… I hope we’ll at least have the upper hand in terms of quality. That’s why I asked you those questions."

"In terms of quality, I don’t think we should have anything to worry about. Even though our space combat jet is only the result of the initial stage of 4th revolution and thus pales in comparison to jets that will arise in later revolutions, it won’t be completely overwhelmed. It won’t be a situation where we’re the prehistoric mankind fighting a jet using stone axes," Bo Li offered.

"Furthermore, I think you’ve missed out on an important detail."

Yao Yuan was stumped. "What detail?"

Bo Li replied, "The Homo Evolutis, obviously. Our number of Homo Evolutis is higher than the junkyard alien civilization, so they had to rely on normal citizens to pilot their warships. Even though the warships had great power, they went unused because of their pilots. Therefore, I can assure you that in terms of quality, as long as we’re not seriously outnumbered, we’ll be fine. A Homo Evolutis-piloted combat jet could easily take on 10 normally-piloted warships! That much is certain!"

Yao Yuan relaxed only slightly because Bo Li had raised an important point… What if they are seriously outnumbered?

"No matter what, we must try our best to protect this planet! It’ll be impossible to locate another planet that has greenery and a blue sea and sky, a planet that could give us hope! How can we allow it to be consumed by an alien monster?! We will never let that happen! If the worst happens, we’ll just reveal our trump card!"

Ying led the 9 member unit up to the surface. They descended the shuttle but knew not to wander 10 meters away from it, because that was the safe zone… the safe zone from the interference of the creator’s particle. Even though each of their spacesuits was outfitted with an individual isolator, operating those required a great amount of energy, so they shouldn’t be used unless truly necessary.

The time was almost dusk. Moon 2 hung low in the sky, its surface pockmarked with craters and cracks. Like a malign growth, a mass of muscles pulsated on its surface.

"So ugly and disgusting," Ying said snidely.

"This planet shall be mankind’s second home planet. We will not allow you to contaminate it!"