Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 295 - Chapter 295 Chapter 295 A Letter from The Golden Age

Chapter 295: Chapter 295: A Letter from The Golden Age Chapter 295: Chapter 295: A Letter from The Golden Age The shuttle’s altitude was slowly rising, and the cabin was nearly silent.

All the passengers harbored their own thoughts as they gazed upon the withered yellow landscape. Having spent so much time here, it was inevitable to develop some attachment.

Even on this planet, humans couldn’t breathe freely without the aid of space suits essential for survival. Yet, standing on this land, one could still feel the warmth of the once Mother Star.

A Life Planet indeed.

Perhaps they would never return…

With such a thought, an additional sense of parting filled the air.

“Ladies and gentlemen, there is no need for such melancholy,” Diplomat Wang Junpeng suddenly said. “The Universe has many more stories waiting for us to explore! The matters related to the Gleize Civilization have come to a pause for now. From here on, they should take responsibility for themselves. Flowers in a greenhouse will always be just that–if they can’t withstand the storm, they’ll never grow into towering trees.”

“They have this chapter in their history, and they should be able to learn from it.”

Hearing this, many lifted their heads anew and began discussing quietly, the atmosphere in the cabin seemed to revive with life.

Indeed, the Gleize Civilization was divided into thirds. One part headed off to a distant Outer Planet, another entered the Virtual World, and the last, under human guidance, was attempting to start a new era of their own.

Even if rebooting civilization would be quite difficult.

But then, what civilization’s path of development has not been difficult?

Humans themselves were also treading carefully on a tightrope, fearing a misstep could send them plummeting into an abyss.

Reflecting on every little thing that had happened on this planet, Wang Junpeng was filled with a myriad of emotions. He had carried out his diplomatic duties here time after time, growing and changing much as a person. From a young man, he had become middle-aged, all his youth passing by on this very planet.

Of course, even as a middle-aged individual, there remained an ambition not lesser than that of the youth… That was the pride of their generation!

“The Drifting Plan is finally set to begin. Our human branch must not fall behind The Golden Sun!”

“Better to embark on our journey than to lament the obstacles ahead!”

Listening to the many colleagues around him, Wang Junpeng couldn’t help but smile.

Seven years prior, humanity had received a series of electromagnetic wave messages, which after analysis by experts, turned out to be transmitted from the Golden Sun, which was situated near Captain Star!

These electromagnetic waves detailed the developmental state of the Golden Sun’s human branch.

The landing site of The Golden Sun, which is the Captain Star, is closer to the Sun and developed five to six hundred years more compared to the Earth Era.

With five hundred years of smooth development, they had fully digested the legacy of Earth Civilization and could now rival the former Earth Civilization, advancing to a Second-level Civilization.

Fortunately, this human branch had learned from past lessons and remained flourishing. They were seeking new directions for development, to avoid entering a mediocre lull as Earth Civilization once did.

Of course, the humans of Earth Era also had their own unique experiences, whether it be High-dimensional Fragments, the Bozeman Quantum Consciousness Converter, or the Glizerians’ Universal Factory, all of which could significantly bridge the gap between them.

“Especially the thirteen Universal Factories, they greatly accelerated our development speed. In fact, our productivity and unique technologies are not less than those of The Golden Age… How should I put it, once we send out this information, The Golden Sun will definitely be shocked!”

Even though the two branches of humanity were incredibly distant from each other, making communication exceedingly difficult, who would willingly admit to being the weaker party?

Wang Junpeng pondered as he gazed into the far reaches of the sky. At this altitude, the outline of the planet was strikingly clear, and the Constant Star shone with an abnormal brightness. This grandeur emanating from the planet was eternally mesmerizing, no matter how often one saw it.

Gleize Civilization, I wish you good luck…

After a hundred years of development, even the transport shuttles had undergone several generations of improvements, becoming more comfortable, safe, and fast. After six hours of travel and exiting the atmosphere, the shuttle activated its Ion engine and headed at full speed towards “The Kunlun Mountain”…

By this time, nearly all the passengers had shed their feelings of departure, each one eagerly peering out the windows in all directions. From tens of thousands of kilometers away, one could see the twinkling lights of the interstellar port, the busy Space Elevator, and various spaceships–some were Transport Ships, others armed guard ships loaded with a variety of weapons, engaged in formation exercises.

Kunlun Mountain, a gigantic mountain floating in space, the true heart of the Drifting Project!

Yes, Kunlun Mountain, the next generation Super Carrier!

In that moment, everyone quietly cheered, radiating a sense of pride known as pride.

Even compared to a planet, it still seemed minuscule. And yet, it was magnificent, a testament to the sweat and blood of countless scientific researchers.

Humans were not just tenfold or a hundredfold stronger than when they first arrived here but… a thousand, ten thousand times so!

The design model of this Mother Ship was modified again and again, with the design time far exceeding the time it took to build, finally settling on a cylindrical design concept with a rated tonnage of a billion tons. A billion-ton-class spaceship, carrying a population of twelve million!

Even seven years ago, due to some technological information from The Golden Age, it was slightly modified to increase the overall tonnage even further.

Once all the details were finalized, the thirteen Universal Factories were fully operational, completing the construction in just over twenty years, and it was now in the final stages of testing.

Unable to help himself, Wang Junpeng began discussing with a colleague nearby, “We should officially embark within five years.”

“Yes, I wonder where we will go.”

“We should be moving along the Cosmic String… With The Kunlun Mountain and the Universal Factory’s material recycling capabilities, we could travel in the stars for over ten thousand years.”

Suddenly, an electronic tone sounded inside the spaceship, “Beep–Docking of the spaceship will commence in five minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts and take your seats. All crew members check the operation of the spaceship and prepare for docking.”

…

At this very moment, Zhang Yuan was at the rear of “The Kunlun Mountain,” inspecting the latest engine system.

The engine of a spaceship is of utmost importance, particularly for a Mother Ship of a billion-ton magnitude. To propel it requires an extremely powerful propulsion system.

As of now, the strongest source of energy for humans was still nuclear fusion, still a substantial distance from mass-producing antimatter. In this context, how to improve the specific impulse of the engine became a crucial research challenge.

“The Kunlun Mountain” had abandoned the brute force approach of using a single colossal engine room, instead opting for a distributed propulsion using an array of small-scale nuclear fusion devices.

A single engine’s thrust was too concentrated, easily causing metal fatigue and elastic deformation of the keel. Multiple engines, on the other hand, dispersed the thrust more evenly, essentially eliminating these types of issues.