Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 291: Complicated Emotions

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Six more months later and it would be another three months before the next controllable warp. In other words, the Hope was going to stop for three months in space.

This latest stop made everyone on the Hope widen their eyes in shock, then it was followed by a complicated feelings of both excitement and disappointment.

This was because the latest warp location was inside a solar system, one with a functioning sun, multiple gas giants, more than ten terrestrial planets, and multiple asteroid belts. The sun was orange-red in color, larger in size than Earth’s sun. The whole solar system was larger than Earth’s solar system. It was a slice of a God-given paradise!

From the information gathered from ZERO and the space merchants, every space civilization that had found a life-preserving planet would be assaulted by a neutron star fragment in three to five years. However, it was different for non-life-preserving planets. One could live there for millions upon millions of years, and if nothing severe happened within the solar system, one could live there forever.

Changing a non-life-preserving planet to a life-preserving planet was an impossibility, at least it was impossible for civilizations under level 9. This was something accessible to god-tier space civilizations only, but of course, this was all rumour. The biggest issue in this was that non-life-preserving planets didn’t have the ability to produce "soul." What was the first one must do to completely terraform a non-life preserving planet?

The answer was not building skyscrapers, or population migration. The first thing to do was to cultivate plants, a large amount of plants, be it terrestrial or aquatic… Of course, if the race didn’t need oxygen to survive, they would have to cultivate other plants that released the air they needed.

However, one mustn’t miss out on the law of preservation of life. This law not only dictated the souls of intelligent lifeforms but also that of flora and fauna. It was just that normally they used so little "soul" that they were not taken into the equation. However, what about when it was an amount that was needed to cover a whole planet? The "soul" exhaustion would be humongous. Plus, this would not be a one time investment. As they died, new "souls" would have to be injected. From this perspective, non-life-preserving planets were actually soul killing planets!

Therefore, there was no such thing as an artificial planet, not because the technology wasn’t there, but the conditions couldn’t be fulfilled. Unless the planet was housing more than a hundred Homo Evolutis, then perhaps that would be enough to fulfil the "soul" exhaustion and cycle of the planet. However, which race would have more than 100 cosmic adapters?

Well, human beings did!

This was why the Hope was submerged in a haze of complicated feelings. With the technologies taken from the space merchants, after mankind completely breaks through the nanobot technology, mankind will have reached the peak of the 4th revolution and will have access to ways to terraform a planet, to make its environment suitable for living. In other words, they will be able to manually create a life-preserving planet. Since it was not a life-preserving planet to begin with, it wouldn’t be targeted by a neutron star fragment, and mankind could enjoy nature on this planet. Of course, this wouldn’t last forever. The moment the number of Homo Evolutis among mankind fell beneath the 100 threshold, the environment would wilt and mankind would be forced to escape into space again. However, it would be hundreds of years before that would happen.

This was one of the future human plans stored in the Hope’s central mainframe, Project Base. Mankind would find an insignificant solar system and use at least a decade to terraform a terrestrial planet. After that, mankind could populate the planet so that the population size won’t be hindered by the Hope’s limited space. This will allow the new generation to enjoy and realize the importance of nature. At the same time, this planet would be the base for mankind’s spaceship fleet. Mankind would have spaceships that would explore space using space warp technology. In this manner, mankind would slowly enter the fifth revolution and become a level 3 space civilization or something even stronger….

Project Base was the perfect resting and resuscitation plan tailored for mankind. However, there were a few difficulties to overcome. One was the technology required to terraform a planet, because it might involve technology from the 5th revolution. The second was the limitation of time. The 10 years was a rough estimate, it might take up to possibly a hundred years to terraform a planet.

The last difficulty was the third one, a perfectly safe solar system. This was something hard to find. Alas, the one they had found themselves in fitted this requirement perfectly. It was a large solar system with a large amount of terrestrial planets, so human beings could choose the most perfect one for transformation. They could take into account the different planets’ gravity, rotational speed, and distance from the sun. At the same time, the other planets would become places to store mineral wealth. Even the gas giants could provide an endless supply of gaseous minerals. Some super weapons from 5th revolution, like implosion grenades, used these gases as the main ingredient!

In conclusion, this solar system was too important to the Hope. Even just a small degree of resource mining was better than none. If possible, they would want to build a new spaceship, but all that had to be abandoned due to the Noah One. The Hope couldn’t use the propulsion device, because it would violate the law of space inertia, and if there was a space civilization nearby, the Hope would light up like a beacon in the dark. Therefore, the Hope could only idle in space.

Everyone in the Hope eyed this solar system with complicated emotions. A perfect resource gathering spot, a solar system that would be perfect for the construction of a human base. If the Hope was to do this the normal way, it would take several thousand random warps before it would land in a location this good. Such an opportunity… such a waste!

"… So many resources gone to waste."

Inside the Hope’s canteen, the leader of the energy department sighed and groused to the officials that were sitting at the same table.

This was a normal lunch meeting. Many government officials and servants would have lunch at the canteen. They were served a fixed portion, but they could use their own H-coins to purchase more. For example, the menu that day was prime steaks. The perfect accompaniment would be a glass of wine. Of course, that was luxury only those with high enough ranks could enjoy.

At this moment, the energy department leader was sharing the table with a few others officials. They were all middle to high ranking officers in the government. One of them was Lee Cheng Wen, who was enjoying a bowl of beef noodles. When the energy leader offered his complaints, Cheng Wen frowned but didn’t elaborate.

The officer sitting on the other side also added, "It is a waste. The Hope’s storage might still have plenty, but we’ve already exhausted half of the full capacity. The biggest exhaustion came from those scientists, and this month’s quota from them has increased again. Furthermore, the captain wants to increase the investment quotient towards the Genesis project. The supply quota will increase by 20 percent. If this continues, the Hope’s supply will drop below the critical threshold…"

The few other officials nodded in agreement, only Cheng Wen said, with a smile, "But the Genesis is currently the Hope’s strongest weapon, so it has to be built. Plus, it is being hosted by Professor Bo Li and is progressing well. There is no waste of resources. That is the best situation, isn’t it?"

The officers nodded, but some of them still said, "Yes, the Genesis is related to the Hope’s survival and shouldn’t be dismissed, but this opportunity before us shouldn’t be missed either. A stable and large solar system. Who knows how many resources we can mine from here? Probably more than enough to create a spaceship fleet as big as a small planet. We can use them to increase the security of the Hope. However, all of this have to be given up simply because of those humans on the Noah One…"

The officer’s voice petered off to a whisper until no one could hear him anymore.

Cheng Wen sighed inwardly. The thing that he was most afraid of had occurred. The decision to begin a war was decided by profit, but the decision to continue a war or not was decided by the bearing capacity of the citizens.

Frankly, a war was fought with blood because the blood of one’s fellow man would inspire the will to fight. This was bound to happen during war. Sometimes, this blood came from a hero, sometimes the innocent, and sometimes the blood was "forced" out by the government. The saying "slaughter a town to alert the whole country" has its truth…

Cheng Wen could pick up from the hidden threats from these officers’ tones. If the citizens lost their desire to save their fellow man from the Noah One, then how would the Hope’s high officials squash this selfish or self-preserving ideals burgeoning in the citizens?

The hero’s blood, the innocent’s blood, or the blood "flowing" from governmental suppression?

Maybe it’s time for me to step in…

Cheng Wen sighed as he came to a decision. He didn’t forget that he was also a Thinker, a hidden Thinker on the Hope…

Translator's Thoughts

Lonelytree Lonelytree

Sorry, forgot to update lol