"Firefox One, please go to the designated location to conduct reconnaissance of the space city as soon as possible, and evacuate immediately in case of danger."
"Firefox One received it, I'll start the afterburner right now."
As the pilot Elliott pressed the red button at hand, a stream of extremely pure inert gas fuel was immediately injected into the afterburner chamber behind the exploration vessel's propeller.
Suddenly, a bright blue stream of hot ions suddenly shot out from the rear of the nearly forty-meter-long exploration boat, codenamed "Firefox." The thrust suddenly increased several times and Juarez, who was in the passenger seat, felt as if he was being pushed forward by the seat. However, he was unable to move due to the huge inertia and could only stare at the person in the distance who was constantly moving. The growing black spot remained silent.
If you have to find a realistic description for this feeling, Juarez thinks that he is like sitting on an out-of-control roller coaster, and he is in the first row.
Compared with the French guy's discomfort, Elliot, who has carried out hundreds of exploration missions, seems to be very comfortable. Not only did he not tighten his lips and look ferocious like Juarez, he even had the energy to speak.
"This feels more exciting than flying a helicopter, right? Don't regret coming to Mars, because even if you regret it now, it's too late!"
Feeling the constant pressure from the anti-German suit he was wearing, Elliot cheered happily.
A simple exploration mission cannot bring out his superb flying skills at all. Now he has a rare opportunity to unleash the full strength of the beast under his feet, and he must not miss it.
The happy time was short-lived. For Elliot, only a few minutes had passed since he left the transport carrier, but in Juarez's eyes, every second he spent just now was extremely long.
Invisible forces coming from all directions kept squeezing his internal organs. Although it was not painful and his body was not substantially injured, the dizziness that was more severe than during training still made this man leave the Mars base for the first time. The young man shook his head repeatedly, trying to recalibrate his sense of direction.
Seeing that the co-pilot was about to vomit in his brand-new helmet, Elliot quickly unbuckled the magnetic seat belt on his chest after turning on the image transmission function, and shouted loudly while getting Juarez a vomit bag: " Hold on! I'll get it soon! Don't vomit in the helmet! The mission is so urgent that I forgot to get the spare helmet!"
Juarez, who originally planned to kill first and then fight later, relied on his strong willpower to suppress his desire to vomit after hearing that there was no spare helmet to replace.
As for the vomit that might well up from his throat at any time, seeing that Elliot was still rummaging through boxes and cabinets with his back to him, not looking like he was going to find a vomit bag soon, he made his choice decisively. .
"Gudong!"
As a loud swallowing sound sounded in the communication channel, Elliot stopped rummaging with his hands and turned his head to look at his co-pilot with admiration. But in the vast ocean of admiration, there seems to be a trace of apology and gloating.
"Ahem, actually, there are spare spacesuits on the spaceship..."
Under Juarez's resentful gaze, the ace driver slowly returned to his seat, stuffed the crumpled vomit bag into the opponent's hand and explained: "The regulations of the Immigration Agency do not allow us to waste resources casually. In addition, I haven’t used this thing for a long time, and it has been kept at the bottom of the storage compartment. It’s normal for it to be hard to find, right? Hahaha..."
In the awkward atmosphere in the cab, the new orders coming from the communication channel made Elliot, who was about to suffocate from the death stare, breathe a sigh of relief. The secret passage mission came at just the right time.
"The results of the scanner are out. The space city has lost most of its areas and functions, and more than 80% of the mounted buildings fell into Uranus' atmosphere and cannot be recovered."
"Given that the disk-shaped main structure of the space city is in pretty good condition, and the scanner has not found any signs of life activity, all exploration boats are ready to land! In addition, the Navy of the Immigration Agency will always pay attention to your movements outside the space city, so there is no need to worry about safety. Problem, you can evacuate at any time in case of an accident."
Elliot, who had been grateful to his commander just now, suddenly turned gloomy when he heard this. As far as he knew, no more than 30% of the members of the exploration boat force had received formal military training. Most of them were civilians like him before joining the Immigration Agency. .
Now that their superiors have sent them to land on the space city, it is clear that they want to use the exploration boat force as cannon fodder for exploring the road. The naval fleet built by various countries through selling iron is easy to adapt to changes. Even if a battle does break out, they can leave at any time without losing all their interstellar power and suffer a diplomatic disadvantage.
"Damn guys! How dare these shameless bastards! Aren't they afraid of being punished by the Star Group?"
Seeing that Elliot only accepted the order in a calm tone, Juarez did not care about the "vomit bag incident" just now, but said in disbelief: "I remember that there are clear regulations in the Space Code promulgated by the Star Group! No matter what the situation is, such an order to push civilians into a pit of fire is absolutely prohibited! Anyone who issues an order must go to the World Court!"
Rolling his eyes at the excited co-pilot beside him, Elliot said calmly: "Don't be stupid, why do you think this mission to explore the space city was handed over to the Mars Immigration Agency? I guess it's the Star Group's fleet for some reason. We can’t take care of this place for now, otherwise those bastards won’t dare to take the lead on civilians even if they have a hundred courages.”
After hearing the veteran's explanation, Juarez nodded first, then shook his head.
"Then do we really want to be cannon fodder for the Immigration Agency? If there are still living aliens in the space city, I don't want to be sliced up and studied by them as experimental materials..."
Elliot smiled helplessly after hearing this, and in silence let go of the joystick in his hand, letting the exploration boat sail in a direction that deviated from the planned route.
"Firefox One, you have deviated from the course. You have thirty seconds to return to the correct direction, otherwise it will be regarded as disobedience, and the navy will then 'escort' you back to Mars to accept the judge's decision."
After understanding the cold tone of his superior on the channel, Juarez immediately cut off the communication and looked at Elliot with the helplessness of a drowning man who saw the life-saving straw floating away.
"I know you have a way, Elliot! If it doesn't work, we will go back to Earth! No, go to the moon! The Star Group's base there will definitely accept us! They..."
"Be quiet, Juarez. The Type 2 exploration craft is not prepared for long-distance space travel. With our current fuel surplus, it will be difficult to fly to Saturn, let alone the moon."
Before the co-pilot could finish speaking, the other person's answer was like a bucket of cold water poured on his head, helping him realize that he was three billion kilometers away from the earth. At such a long distance, not to mention the group of stars, even the gods coming down to earth may not be able to hear the two people calling for help.
After Elliot calibrated the course, Juarez, who seemed to have seen through the world, left his seat and rummaged in Elliot's locker.
Sensing that the co-pilot was in a trance, Elliot, who had set up automatic driving, walked up behind him and asked softly: "What are you looking for?"
"Food, medicine, weapons, anything to increase our chances of survival."
The ace pilot who realized that the opponent was not out of control nodded in agreement when he heard this. He held down Juarez's slightly shaking forearm and said in a deep voice: "What we need is something more useful than these personal belongings." ,follow me."
While the French were opening the hatch of the small warehouse in the exploration boat, Elliot ducked to the locker, pushed the two-dimensional magazine at the bottom, and then whistled and pretended. He followed the former's footsteps as if nothing had happened.
...
Soon, dozens of exploration boats of roughly the same model but with different exterior painting styles gathered in a hole somewhere in the space city that resembled a spacecraft parking port. Under the parked exploration boat, there are hundreds of Mars exploration team members wearing heavy space suits.
They gathered in small groups according to their respective detachments, exchanging little information and their opinions on the mission.
Scanning the overcrowded crowd in the mooring port, Elliot guessed that the passengers of some exploration boats were far more than the two pilots, but other remaining team members who participated in the operation out of curiosity. Unexpectedly, the price of excessive curiosity was that he was used as cannon fodder by the Immigration Agency and other countries on the earth.
The Mars One star is easily spotted thanks to his signature orange-red flight helmet. However, considering that the other party's condition might not be much better than their own at this time, they all gave up the idea of talking to each other and instead silently sorted out the supplies they found in the small boat.
"We are dead! This space city is most likely an outpost built by aliens to invade the earth. Even if they are no longer here, the automatic defense mechanism inside will not stop working. There are not enough weapons and protective equipment. We must die!"
An exploration team member with obvious mental problems ignored the warnings of his companions and stood directly on a storage box in the center of the crowd. He used the loudspeaker of the space suit to shout in frustration, such as "We are dead". Until he was shackled by his teammates who came to stop him, this person kept repeating his shocking guesses.
"Are these things really going to be inside? Automatic defense mechanisms?"
Checking the sufficient oxygen level in the spacesuit, Juarez said with some worry: "How about we wait here? Maybe the Star Group will come to rescue us in a few days."
"Maybe, but your destiny is in your own hands. Don't have too much hope for rescue, otherwise I'm afraid you will become a lunatic before me, so I won't have anyone to talk to."
Juarez, who could no longer tell whether this was a joke or not, sighed and clenched the thing that could barely be called a weapon after searching the storage warehouse for a long time.
The Holy Sword of Physics, also known as the crowbar.
The only electromagnetic pistol on the Firefox 1 exploration boat is used by the more experienced Elliot, and Juarez has no objection to this. Because he did not have enough shooting experience, during the training, his shooting course scores were always passing, and he was no match for Elliot.
Secondly, who knows what kind of dangers are hidden in this space city. As an amateur full-armor combat enthusiast, maybe the crowbar is more practical than the pistol in his hands. At least he knows how to wield the former. The earth and the tiger bring forth the wind.
Before the crowd dispersed, several senior members of the exploration team counted the number of people. After discovering that there were more than 300 people, the seemingly inexorable sadness on their faces finally faded away.
Although it is not possible to organize these people for the time being, in this deserted space station that is completely silent and exudes a breathtaking atmosphere, it is always a good thing to have more of your own kind.
"Boom, boom boom..."
Just when Elliot and the two were thinking about whether they should find a team to join, bursts of heart-wrenching sounds of metal twisting came from above everyone's heads, and the sound of structural collapse kept ringing in their ears.
The shaking ground caused some of the exploration team members who had been playing cards and chatting not long ago to stand up in panic and frantically searched for a way to the interior of the space city.
Obviously, this old space city, which is at least a thousand years old, is no longer as prosperous as it once was. It was overwhelmed by dozens of unexpected exploration ships. The sudden increase in weight became the last straw that broke the camel's back. .
Seeing that the regional buildings mounted on the space city were constantly falling off due to violent shaking, and being dragged into the azure abyss that was difficult to see through by Uranus's huge gravity, Elliot had no choice but to run to a corner of the docking port with the helpless Juarez.
According to the observation of the ace pilot, if there is really a passage connecting the parking port to the interior of the space city, then the direction he chose is absolutely correct.
As for why there were so few people following him, Elliot could only say that when human beings are in crisis, they like to gather in places where there are many similar people, even if he has expressed his conjecture on the public channel. also the same.
Amidst the screams that could be heard every moment in the channel, the group came to the edge of the berthing port. Sure enough, they found a closed alloy sliding door in the corner, and there was a small door on the side of the small door. Heavy-duty blast doors for transporting bulky cargo.
Looking back, I saw that a full third of the metal platform that was just out of sight had disappeared. If the alloy sliding door cannot be opened, then in two minutes at most, they will accelerate towards Uranus together with the parts falling like meteors.
Considering that the temperature of Uranus's atmosphere is the lowest in the entire solar system, and even if they successfully crossed the atmosphere with their extraordinary luck and the parachutes that come with their spacesuits, the liquid surface full of methane oceans is by no means an environment in which humans can survive.
With an infinite desire for life, more than a dozen exploration team members firmly grasped the groove of the alloy door with all their strength.
Just when the edge of the gradually collapsing platform was about to spread to their feet, Juarez, who insisted on letting the female team members go first and ended up at the last place, jumped into the corridor behind the door and became one of the few lucky ones in the team. one.
Thanks to two team members wearing industrial exoskeletons who opened the sliding door in time, no one among the dozen or so people was killed or injured. As for the situation of the remaining more than 300 people, Elliott, who had lost contact with them, shook his head at Juarez, saying that he couldn't tell.
"You must be the ace pilot in Base No. 1, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Abd Rasul, who is usually responsible for transporting supplies to the Mars exploration team. And you, boy, you are almost dead and still insist on giving priority to ladies, You are considered number one!"
While everyone who was surviving the disaster was hugging each other with tears of joy, a team member wearing an exoskeleton came over, shook hands with Elliott who was recovering his breathing, and commented on Hua Lei amidst the boos of several female team members. I don't know if it was a stupid or heroic decision.
"Nicholas Elliot, nice to meet you."
After establishing initial contact with a dozen team members who were staggering in the corridor, Elliot, who was regarded as the trump card in everyone's eyes, had to take the lead and decide the next direction of this team.
After a democratic vote, the forward faction defeated the holdout faction by a vote of eight to six.
However, facing the team with low morale, Elliot did not persist in the end. He just persuaded those team members who were unwilling to go further into the space city to walk a little farther in, lest it be too late to run when the main structure collapsed again.
At the same time, in order to give the companions who were exploring the interior of the space city a better chance of survival, the six team members who stayed on the spot collected the remaining supplies for Elliot and others, including several bags of nutritionally balanced liquid food, a small amount of fresh water and Medicines and more.
"I will be here to await your triumph, Mr. Nicholas."
After half an hour of preparation and rest, Rasul chose to stay and waved his hand to Elliott. At the same time, he did not forget to take off his exoskeleton to provide a ray of light for Marseille Hua, who was visually the weakest in the team. Reis put it on.
"Boy Marseille, I hope you can stick to your heart as before when you encounter danger next time."
Rasul, who seemed to have some story to tell, finally shook his head, patted the exoskeleton on Juarez's shoulder and said nothing more.
"Wish ya'll good luck."
