msmithbooks Chapter 9 Arrival at Golun Star
Chapter 9 Arrival at Golun Star
An hour later, Cheng Xu and Hu Zhou arrived at the Chengmingxing Police Station's parking area on time.
What appeared before them was a colossal vessel whose entirety could not be seen at a glance.
The streamlined hull is based on a matte space gray, covered with silver-white painted lines, and adorned with intermittent blue lights.
Countless tunnels extended from the hangar, connecting to the hull of the giant ship, their lights gleaming—these were the devices used to transport weapons and supplies.
"The giant whale-class multi-functional interstellar transport ship is 450 meters long and 80 meters high. It is a behemoth designed by integrating the form of the space creature [deep-space floating whale] with mechanical geometry."
Hu Zhou introduced Cheng Xu.
"The main cargo hold in the middle section of the ship consists of twelve independent modules, which can carry one-third of the Chengming Star Branch when fully loaded."
Cheng Xu looked up at the giant spaceship, overwhelmed by its imposing weight and advanced technology. Standing at the boarding gate, he felt as insignificant as an ant.
Seeing that Cheng Xu was engrossed in watching, Hu Zhou waved his hand in front of him.
"We'll board the ship first. As arranged by the branch office, the personnel involved in this mission need to gather in the top-level operations conference room, where someone will explain the specifics of the mission to us."
"If there's a free time later, I'll take you on a tour of the transport ship."
After saying that, the two of them went into the capsule-shaped boarding cabin.
After identity verification and security scanning, a feeling of weightlessness came over me, and the boarding cabin rapidly ascended.
A moment later, with a "click", the magnetic sealing ring of the boarding cabin was rigidly connected to the hull.
A low, steady sound of air pressure equalization came from the connection point, and the hatch slowly opened, illuminating Cheng Xu's vision with soft white light.
He stepped out of the cabin, his feet on a dark gray, honeycomb-patterned, non-slip grating floor. The curved walls were covered with a white coating, and the light filtering through illuminated the entire space.
"Let's go. There are only twenty minutes left before the meeting time." Hu Zhou's voice came from behind.
The two walked along the passageway, passed through three security gates, and took the ship's elevators twice before finally reaching the top deck of the ship.
The operations conference room is located directly above the bridge, occupying the panoramic dome position at the very front of the spacecraft.
Its entrance is not a gate, but a black alloy curved surface that blends into the curved wall, with only a tiny vertical light slit on the surface.
After facial recognition verification, the curved surface silently slides open to both sides, revealing the interior.
Upon entering the operations conference room, the first thing you notice is the subtle drop in temperature, with a faint mixture of ozone and recirculated air in the air.
The entire conference room is shaped like an inverted bowl, approximately fifteen meters in diameter. The walls taper upwards from the floor edge, are entirely transparent, and present a realistic view of the spaceship's front.
Suspended seats are scattered throughout the circular conference room, with a podium equipped with virtual imaging equipment at the very center.
At this moment, there were already about ten people in the conference room, chatting in twos and threes. Hearing the commotion coming from the door, everyone looked over.
The atmosphere in the conference room seemed to freeze for a moment. Hu Zhou immediately reacted and pulled Cheng Xu toward the nearest tall, thin man in black.
"Let me introduce you. This is Wen Mu, the director of the branch's Anomaly Research Center. He's usually engrossed in his research, so you probably won't have many opportunities to meet him."
"Hello, hello," Cheng Xu greeted politely.
"Hello there."
Wen Mu replied curtly. The two middle-aged men in lab coats behind him waved enthusiastically to Cheng Xu.
"Xiao Cheng, you're participating in this mission too? Director Wen isn't very good at socializing, so please forgive his cold attitude."
"Director, this is Cheng Xu from the Anomaly Control Section 1. Don't let his young age fool you, he's incredibly capable. He was the one who handled the anomaly case that was brought back last time."
Both were researchers under Wen Mu, and they were brothers. The older brother was named Dai Shan, and the younger brother was named Dai Chuan.
Because of their work interactions, the two had known Cheng Xu for a long time and had a fairly good relationship.
They were the researchers who had witnessed the resentment incubation chamber encountering spacetime turbulence. Perhaps considering this factor, the two were selected for this mission.
Hu Zhou led Cheng Xu around the conference room, introducing him to everything.
"This is Director Tang Shutong of the Logistics Support Section, who is also the chief steward of the branch's armory."
The thin, elderly man in casual clothes nodded to Cheng Xu.
"Director Fan Qingniao, the head of the anomaly containment zone, you already know each other, so I won't go into too much detail."
The heavily made-up, alluring woman smiled at Cheng Xu: "Xiao Cheng is the most worry-free person among those in your department who ask me to approve the detention procedures. Lao Hu, you'd better take good care of him."
"Absolutely. I wanted to bring him out for some training this time."
Hu Zhou then pointed to the 2.2-meter-tall giant beside him: "Xue Zijing, the director of the Special Operations Division, is a ruthless man who can fight wild beasts hand-to-hand without equipment. He is also a major fighting force in this mission."
"Haha! Fu Chen mentioned you to me, saying you're quite good. But you're still a bit thin, young man. Come to the Special Operations Department another day and work out more."
Xue Zijing's high-pitched voice revealed a unique kind of boldness.
Cheng Xu greeted each of the directors and directly felt the importance that the Chengmingxing Branch attached to the Tomb of Crystal Rock, as so many senior managers had been mobilized.
Tang Shutong, Xue Zijing, and the others were also feeling uneasy.
Everyone present knew Cheng Xu's true identity, and many were facing a terminal-level anomaly for the first time.
Thanks to the targeted training provided by the Administration Bureau beforehand, everyone was able to maintain their personas and avoid being exposed.
Only then did they realize just how heavy the psychological pressure Hu Zhou had been under on a daily basis, and they all cast their gazes at him with a mixture of admiration and pity.
"Please take your seats, everyone. The spaceship is about to take off. Captain Fu Chen and I will now explain the mission details to you."
The crisp sound of high heels clicking on the floor echoed at the doorway. A capable and serious woman, adjusting the nose pads of her glasses, walked from the conference room door to the podium.
Cheng Xu recognized the woman. Her name was Cui Tang, and she was the head of the Second Abnormal Control Section, at the same level as Hu Zhou.
Unlike the First Division where Cheng Xu worked, the Second Anomaly Control Division was mainly responsible for the containment and control of alert-level and critical-level anomalies within the branch.
The two departments often had meals together to exchange experiences in the management of abnormal situations. Cheng Xu had seen Cui Tang a few times during these meals.
The man following behind Cui Tang was Fu Chen, who had previously worked with him to resolve the fungal tide mission.
A slight tremor came from beneath my feet, and the view outside the transparent wall changed; the transport ship was taking off from the port.
An image of a slowly rotating planet appeared above the stage, with a predominantly gray-brown background and clearly visible undulating terrain folds.
"What you are seeing now is a virtual projection of the planet Golun. It is a planet that has been dominated by rocky mineral veins since its birth."
With a light tap of his finger, Cui Tang magnified the details on the projection, revealing different landforms such as mountain textures, deep rift valleys, and gravel plains.
"Starting from the basic silicon-based life forms that appeared in ancient times, after hundreds of millions of years of natural evolution, various silicon-based biological groups have emerged on the planet Golun, including the Crystal Rock Clan."
"The Crystalline Rock family uses a crystalline silicate network as its core framework and has a protein-like tunable silicon-oxygen polymer chain, which efficiently absorbs the radiation energy of stars with a semiconductor silicon-based skin layer."
"This is a scaled-down projection of a typical individual from the Crystal Rock family. This group has a history spanning millions of years."
The projection of Golun Star shrank and was placed aside, replaced by a huge humanoid mineral life form.
Standing over three meters tall, it is primarily composed of translucent rock, covered by a hard composite rock layer, while its interior displays a variety of vibrant colors due to the presence of various associated minerals.
"In the year 5245 of the Nova Calendar, the Crystal Rock Clan mobilized the entire clan to launch a forbidden ritual."
"According to the Bureau's subsequent investigation, the purpose of this ceremony was most likely to completely eliminate the Crystal Rock Clan's hostile groups."
"Because Golun is located at the edge of the galaxy, the data monitored by the instruments is limited."
All we know is that through this ritual, the Crystal Clan triggered the terrifying heat hidden in the Earth's core, causing a devastating impact on the surface ecology of Golun Star.
"After the ritual, all life on Golun was wiped out. Some time later, the Crystal Tomb was formed, covering one-third of Golun's surface. Within the area affected by the anomaly, the original landscape gradually crystallized."
Cui Tang reached out and wiped, and the image of Ge Lunxing expanded again, its surface gradually covered with a crystal-like colorful shell, resembling bright moss spots.
In the center of the moss-covered patches, she magnified a dark red area.
"The core area of the ceremony transformed into a lava lake, the surface of which was shrouded in high-energy radiation, and only specially made equipment could briefly enter it."
Everyone remained silent. The information Cui Tang had just shared was from classified files, and several people, including Cheng Xu, were learning the details of the Crystal Rock Tomb's appearance for the first time.
After a brief pause, once everyone had processed the information, Fu Chen spoke:
"Twenty hours ago, after the deployment point sent back an early warning signal, Golun Xing lost contact with the outside world."
Organizations including the Interstellar Explorers Association and the Institute of Cosmic Rocks were unable to contact the branch stations on Golun.
"The Chengmingxing Branch activated its emergency plan 19 hours ago, dispatching five personnel from the Special Operations Division to Golun Star aboard a Noyarsk-class spacecraft."
"12 hours ago, the spacecraft crashed out of control after reaching the atmosphere of the planet Golun. The five crew members evacuated in an emergency but also lost contact."
"This is the last full-system image transmitted back to the branch office by the spacecraft."
The image shows a view from directly in front of the spaceship's deck, with the surface of the planet Golun covered in various colored crystalline rocks.
"As you can see, within eight hours of the incident, the influence of the Crystal Tomb had expanded to the entire planet."
Cheng Xu held his breath.
An explosive expansion of the scope of an anomaly's impact is the most troublesome unexpected situation for the administration, as it often means that the anomaly itself is completely out of control.
The video playback continued. As the spaceship drew closer to Golun, the image began to shake violently, then crashed headlong into the surface of Golun.
Fortunately, the five crew members on board the spaceship were all seasoned veterans who remained calm under pressure. Seeing that the spaceship was out of control, they quickly entered the emergency escape device at this critical moment.
Less than ten seconds after the ejection capsule catapulted off the ship, a violent explosion interrupted the footage.
Fu Chen said calmly:
"Based on the analysis of spaceship data and the inability to communicate, the Crystal Tomb may have generated a certain field after the mutation, which interfered with, shielded, and even destroyed all mechanical facilities."
"Therefore, as we approached Golun Star, we could not land in the usual way and needed to use special equipment to reach the surface."
"The equipment is still being inspected and tested. We expect that in an hour, you will be asked to go to the main cargo warehouse number one, where the Special Operations Department will explain how to use it and the precautions."
"Next, I will analyze the Golun Star map in detail, as well as the mission objectives for each group..."
According to the branch office's plan, the group first needs to establish a base on Golun Star and try to restore contact with the outside world.
The research team and logistics team were stationed at the base camp, responsible for collecting samples and analyzing the causes of the anomalies in the Crystal Tomb.
Led by Xue Zijing and Fu Chen, the combat agents will wear exoskeletons made of special metal to carry out exploration and search and rescue operations.
Cheng Xu heard Hu Zhou say that this exoskeleton was specially prepared by the Chengming Star Branch to deal with similar situations. The exoskeleton is covered with a coating of concentrated extract of the [Boundless Black Hole], which can absorb most of the abnormal-related effects.
Everyone's expectations for the situation on Golun Star were not optimistic.
After all, in the event of an abnormal and uncontrolled situation at the original critical level, the danger factor would increase exponentially.
Even though there are many emergency shelters built on Golun Star, it is still unknown how many people will survive in the face of a sudden disaster.
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Compared to the small and agile Harrier-class spacecraft, the Whale-class transport ships are not known for their speed.
After completing the training on the special equipment, there were still nearly nine hours left before the arrival of Golun Star.
Some people chose to return to the temporary rest room to rest and recuperate, while others found a quiet place to handle their official business.
Directors such as Wen Mu and Cui Tang continued to discuss the possible situations after the landing in a small meeting and drafted contingency plans.
After greeting Hu Zhou, Cheng Xu returned to the command center where he had been.
He reclined on the comfortable chair, gazing at the deep starry sky.
This was Cheng Xu's first time leaving Chengming Star, his first time entering space, and his first time being surrounded by stars.
The vast majority of the field of vision was blackness that seemed to swallow everything, with only sparse glimmers of light dotting the canvas, gradually closing in as the ship sailed closer.
The spaceship beneath me felt like an isolated island, making me feel incredibly small.
He didn't know how much time had passed before he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
It felt so reassuring, like sleeping in a warm embrace, with the soft sound of breathing in my ears.
The operatives waiting in the shadows received their orders and tiptoed into the operations room.
The next moment, he saw a sight he would never forget.
One after another, beams of brilliant starlight shone in the dark universe, weaving together a vast sea of stars.
Cheng Xu's chest heaved, the starlight flickering and shimmering, each flash perfectly matching the rhythm of his breath.
At the operative's urgent call, the others rushed to the door of the operations room. Their eyes were filled with the vast starry sky, and they didn't dare to breathe loudly.
The spectacular sight outside the transparent dome only came to an end when the pre-programmed broadcast echoed throughout the spaceship.
"This ship is about to arrive in outer orbit around Golun Star. Please prepare accordingly!"
Cheng Xu opened his eyes.
The starlight was hidden in the darkness.