wandering planet

Although the wandering squad has stayed on several planets, this is the first time they have discovered such a strong energy response.

Moreover, this energy response is unusual, it only concentrates on a certain point, and it seems that it is not the energy produced by the internal action of the planet itself.

"This is close to the Ios star field." Lin Ni said a word, "The Ios star field is a place where predators often appear."

He made a decision to explore on the ground.

This decision was strongly opposed by Fei Lian.

"Captain, I have already told you that although the Phoenix ship is equipped with some weapons, it does not have mature ship-to-ship confrontation equipment. If it is really a predator, what can we do? They are equipped with combat weapons and equipment We are just vanguard ships, which are used for pathfinding." Fei Lian walked around Lin Ni, "And the real mission of the Phoenix is ​​not to discover and destroy the predators, but to open up a route back to Earth. If this The first exploration failed, and the Phoenix was taken away by the looters again?"

Linney looked at him.

Fei Lian paused, then whispered, "I don't want to fall into a deep sleep again, waiting for the next person to wake me up."

Linney didn't want to give up.

"Fei Lian, in the future that my brother sees, the reason why Marseille is facing the crisis of destruction is because it is besieged by predators." He explained to Fei Lian very patiently, "Why did the predators learn to work as a team? Attacking a planet in a state of siege. These are all I want to understand. It is not the ultimate goal for us to open up the route back to Earth, but the ultimate goal is to protect the people on Marseilles and allow human history to continue.”

Fei Lian recognized his status as the captain, so he could not disobey Linney's order.

But when Lin Ni was about to leave his seat to prepare for exploration, Fei Lian locked the seat belt on his seat.

"...Fei Lian?!" Lin Ni tossed for a long time, but he didn't untie the metal belt that restrained him, "What does this mean?"

"You can land and explore, but the captain can't leave the cockpit. This is my request." Fei Lian's expression was extremely serious, "Lin Ni, I always think your decision is wrong, but I am powerless to disobey. Small ships only Being able to carry three people, Ovid recovered from his injuries very quickly, and he can completely replace you to land and explore. As the captain, you cannot participate in such dangerous activities.”

Both Jiang Che and Song Junxing agreed with Fei Lian's opinion, not to mention Ovid, he totally agreed with it.

Lin Ni couldn't help but couldn't convince Fei Lian, so he agreed.

Pierre and Tang Mo also wanted to land and explore, but the situation of the crab shell was complicated. They could only watch Jiang Che and others board the small ship, leave the Phoenix, and land towards the crab shell.

The small ship was parked where the Phoenix had originally placed all kinds of lifeboats, and next to it was the lifeboat that once carried them from Faust to the Black Sea.

After the small ship left the Phoenix, neither Pierre nor Tang Mo left immediately, they lingered beside the lifeboat.

"It's so small." Tang Mo walked around the lifeboat, "I didn't think so before getting on the Phoenix."

They did a lot of things on this lifeboat, and now the lifeboat still retains the platform that Jiang Che had set up randomly at that time, and even the fish pond in Ovid's room is still preserved, but it is impossible to raise fish in it.

Pierre opened the hatch, went up and turned around.The power of the lifeboat has been turned off, and it is pitch black inside.He turned on the small flashlight he carried with him and sat in the pilothouse of the lifeboat.

Leaving Faust and boarding a lifeboat—this is the beginning of a change in his life.

It was also the first time he took control of a ship as the main pilot member.

Although Pierre's position was still only that of the navigator, Linney obviously gave him more authority, as if he were the deputy captain of the lifeboat.

That felt really, really good.

He, and Lin Ni, led everyone to the Black Sea, and then to the Earth.

Pierre leaned over the console and closed his eyes.The button was cold and rough, pressing against his skin, but he felt kind.

When we get back to Earth, the lifeship should be able to find energy, and then it will be able to restart.

Or, it will enter some great museum.All the scars on its body will be preserved and quietly placed somewhere in the museum.Humans on Earth would walk past it, staring at the silver plaque with its deeds written all over it.

Pierre's name will appear on the sign.

Pierre was very excited by his own imagination.He carefully and repeatedly chewed on this almost imaginary joy, and secretly decided not to reveal this idea to anyone until the museum was actually built.

"In fact, small ships are not as useful as our lifeboats." Ovid, who was using small ships for the first time, couldn't help but said, "It's uncomfortable to operate."

He had managed the lifeboat instead of Linney, and he had a very good impression of the lifeboat's wheelhouse.

Small ships are originally small in size and rely more on manual operation. The entire operating system is still quite different from that of lifeboats.Ovid looked left and right, observed for a while, and probably felt a little pattern, indicating that he wanted to get started.

Jiang Che handed over his position to him, turned around and sorted out his equipment.

Since the atmosphere of the crab shell has disappeared, the equipment they wear on their bodies is more complicated and heavy.Jiang Che has never felt that air is such a light and lovely thing, especially against the backdrop of the two heavy oxygen tanks on his back.

"Humanity's scientific development has gone through 500 years..." He asked Lin Ni through the communicator in the helmet, "Is that how you say it? Excuse me, why is the oxygen tank still so heavy? It's unreasonable."

"This is very reasonable." Linney replied, "No matter how human beings develop science, they cannot change the composition of oxygen and its quality. The oxygen tanks you carry are enough to carry out five hours of exploration in a vacuum environment, of course it will Heavy. Don’t worry, it will become lighter and lighter. The carbon dioxide and other impurities formed by respiration will be discharged out of the protective clothing through the filter system, and the quality of the gas will gradually decrease. You also..."

"Forget it, anyway, the gravity of the crab shell is very small, and it will be easy after landing." Jiang Che said weakly, "What is the reason that causes the atmosphere of the crab shell to dissipate? I heard from you, it may be because of the disappearance of gravity? But now it seems Gravity has recovered a bit, what's going on?"

Linney kept silent about the question which he could not answer.

Half an hour later, the small ship landed smoothly on the towering plain of the crab shell.

Jiang Che took a few steps on the ground to confirm that this planet has gravity.But the gravitational force is very small, and he is still able to jump up with dozens of kilograms of equipment on his back.

This plateau of crab shells is wild.Gone are the tall trees, the flocks of birds, and the sky described by the captain of the Scenic Fleet.The "light tide" of the star that the crab shell has been orbiting revealed a huge fiery red figure above the horizon, and the heat poured directly on the surface of the planet without any hindrance.Jiang Che glanced at the thermometer: the surface temperature of the crab shell has exceeded the counting range of the thermometer and cannot be displayed.

"This side is directly affected by the heat of the 'Light Tide', and it is indeed very hot, but the other side does not have any heat source, so it will be very cold." Ovid followed Jiang Che's footsteps, "This place is relatively dry in the first place. , and now even the atmosphere that regulates the temperature has disappeared, obviously it is not suitable for the original organisms to survive."

The three of them didn't talk much, they had to hurry up and look for the place where the abnormal energy reaction occurred.

The vast plateau is like a rough chest completely exposed to the universe.

As they moved forward, the kicked-up gravel rolled on the ground, and due to the weak gravity, they flew up one after another and hit the metal surface of the small ship, making a bang bang sound.

The rocky ground underfoot was extremely hard, with little soil cover.

Perhaps some kind of storm was created when gravity and the atmosphere disappeared.It takes away everything that is not very secure on the ground, like birds, like tall trees and soil.When the atmosphere is completely dissipated, the storm is gone forever.But the things that have been scattered in the universe can never come back.

The three of them walked for about an hour, and all of them felt pain in their eyes and tears came out.

The reflection from the ground was so strong that they had to raise their hands to cover the part of the helmet where the eyes were.

"I've already walked around." Song Junxing's eyes were full of tears and bloodshot eyes. He was so uncomfortable that he had to squint his eyes, leaving only a gap that ants couldn't crawl in. "Fortunately, the ground is flat and it's not difficult to walk. But we No portals to that energy point have been found."

There are no gaps in the plateau, nor any traces of being chiseled.It's perfectly flat, even smooth -- if the criteria for smoothness weren't so stringent.

Lin Ni and Fei Lian observed the whole picture of the crab shell again on the Phoenix, planning to find another way.

Jiang Che looked at the remaining capacity of the oxygen tank, and there were still about three and a half hours left.

When I looked up again, I found that Ovid had reached the edge of the plateau.

Jiang Che is still not used to the place where the gravity is too small, he bounced carefully and came to Ovid's side.

Both of them were wearing bulky protective suits and helmets over their heads, like a big fish tank.

According to Linney and Cicero, in fact, the protective clothing currently used on the Marseille fleet is already very light and close-fitting.The protective clothing that Jiang Che wore at the Black Sea Transit Station on the Black Sea is indeed light, beautiful and safe.However, the materials on the Egret Space Station are limited, and Cicero has already given them small ships, so it is impossible to provide more limited high-quality protective clothing.

Jiang Che took some sand and gravel from the protective clothing and asked Ovid what he was looking at.

Ovid raised his finger and pointed to the mountains in the distance: "The entrance is not on the surface of the plateau, I guess it is probably hidden in the mountains."

Soon, Lin Ni and Fei Lian also made the same judgment.

The three of them started walking towards the mountains along the slightly rough road.

They are now equivalent to walking from the crab's shell to the crab's claw.

After walking for nearly two hours, I finally found a huge cave at a place where the mountain range connected to the plateau.

The entrance of the cave is about ten stories high, and two ships as big as the Phoenix can be sailed side by side. However, because it is hidden at the confluence of two mountain ranges and is covered by rocks, it can only be seen when entering the canyon.

"Do you want to go in?" Jiang Che looked at the stock of the oxygen tank, and there was still more than an hour left.

Their ships were parked in the center of the plateau, and it took about an hour to go directly across the mountains to the plateau and return to the small ship.

Time is running out.

But Ovid jumped off the cliff first.

"Ovid!" Song Junxing said angrily, "Don't rush in."

Ovid knelt on the ground, first wanted to lower his head to the ground to listen to the sound, then realized that he was wearing a helmet, so he had to switch to his hands.

Although the hands are wearing protective gloves, the ground vibration can still be felt.

After a while, he raised his head: "There is no movement nearby. There is still half an hour, let's go in."

Jiang Che also jumped down with him.

"I am responsible for checking the time. After 15 minutes of walking in, no matter whether you find something or not, you must return."

Song Junxing pulled Ovid in puzzlement: "Why did you jump down like this?"

Ovid: "I heard nothing, there seems to be no biological activity in the hole."

"Can you hear?" Song Junxing poked his helmet, "You can't hear anything! All the sounds you receive are filtered through protective clothing, fool."

At this time, the three of them had already stepped into the entrance of the cave.Ovid has been observing the ground, and there is no trace of any suspected creature left on the ground.When he raised his head and was about to refute Song Junxing, out of the corner of his eye he saw something on the black mountain wall behind Song Junxing illuminated by his own headlight.

Ovid was stunned for a moment, his face suddenly changed.

Song Junxing faced him face to face, was startled by his sudden change of face, and turned his head quickly.

There was nothing abnormal on the dark mountain wall, but in the light, there were bright reflections in some depressions, as if water had accumulated in it.

But when you get closer, you will find that those are not water.

It's the slime that sticks to the rock formations on the mountain wall.

Song Junxing immediately remembered - he had seen this kind of slime before.He even touched it!

Right on the Black Sea, among the marauder ships, there are such disgusting and sticky secretions everywhere.

"Linney, we found traces of predators." After touching and confirming the slime form, Ovid calmly reported back to Linney.

Jiang Che turned his head and looked into the dark cave.

It was like the throat of a giant beast, waiting to swallow fresh prey at any time.

They are standing in the mouth of the giant beast, standing on the dividing line between light and darkness.