by <unknown>
Still, fortunately, Chen Chen only visited his parents once in a week or two.
After taking a deep breath, Chen Chen sat at the computer desk, but suddenly the computer turned on automatically, and Little X's face appeared on the screen. "Sir Godfather, I have good news for you. The 'Ark' has been set up on Mars!"
"So fast?"
Chen Chen raised his eyebrows. It had only been a month or so since the Ares spacecraft had taken off. It also would take a week for Ares to reach Mars. In other words, it took less than a month for them to reach the north pole of Mars and build an underground base.
"It's still a little shoddy."
Little X smiled. "The main reason is that not only the gravity is weaker, so the work becomes more effective, but also that the ice sheet made of dry ice is softer. Therefore, in just a few days, we dug through the north pole's ice sheet and reached the ground.
"Not only that, but we also happened to find a cavern in the ground. That cave meets the requirements for the construction of an underground base without any major modifications, so the construction of the underground base was initially completed in less than a month!"
"Well done…"
Chen Chen nodded. "So, now the earth and Mars are completely connected? As long as we fire up the Ark, we can travel from the earth to Mars smoothly?"
"If the Ark on Mars doesn't malfunction, then yes."
Little X replied, "But after all, it was assembled by a group of engineering Black Knights. Without my supervision, I'm not sure that it'll succeed at once. Should I turn on the Ark now and try it?"
"Okay, you get ready first, I'll come right away!"
Chen Chen immediately stood up as he said, opened the door directly, went downstairs, and walked outside.
"Little Chen, where are you going?"
His mother asked immediately with concern.
"There's something in the company that I need to deal with. Dad, Mom, and everyone, have a good chat."
Chen Chen smiled and then, without waiting for them to answer, he left without looking back…
…
An hour later, Chen Chen returned to the Spire Laboratory.
Chapter 528: Mars |
When Chen Chen arrived in the teleportation room, he happened to hear the sound of electronic broadcasts coming from inside.
"The teleporter Watchman 1 is warming and starting up…"
This voice was none other than one of the clones of Little X, which was also the supervisory intelligence that managed the Spire Experimental Base — X-111.
Over a hundred Black Knights had gathered in the hall that was once named "the Ark teleporter", but now the Ark teleporter had been renamed to "the teleporter Watchman 1", and the one set up on Mars was "Watchman 2". "Watchman 3" would be set up on the moon.
"Start the molecular locator!"
Chen Chen walked in by himself, only to see that the Watchman teleportation room was much larger than the Gantz sphere teleportation room. It was about two to three hundred square meters, like a massive hall.
The entire hall was made of shining metal, surrounded by rows of complicated equipment, and in the center of the hall was a circular platform about two meters high. On the platform was covered in mysterious red lines — it was the Watchman 1 teleporter.
"Everyone is ready, the molecular locator will be activated now!
"The interstellar coordinate lock is active…
"Remote sensing exploration has been confirmed, ready to start teleportation…
"The target receiver is activated, ready to start teleportation…"
As the voice of X-111 kept updating, Little X's figure came up from the side. She stood in front of Chen Chen and said happily, "Sir Godfather, you came just in time, the experiment is about to begin!"
Chen Chen nodded and saw that on the other side of the hall, Delta-level personnel walked in tremblingly. At the Black Knight's signal, they slowly walked onto the Watchman's platform.
"The personnel are already in place…
"The Watchman teleporter is teleporting in ten seconds…
"Ten!
"Nine!
"Eight!"
…
"Three!
"Two!
"One!"
"Gurgle…"
As the countdown ended, suddenly, a strange liquid gushed from the center of the platform, directly suspended in front of the Delta-level experiment subject.
The experiment subject swallowed hard. He had been asked before to touch the liquid when it appeared. At this moment, seeing the liquid had appeared, he had no choice but to stretch out his hand and touch the liquid uneasily.
"Whoosh!"
However, the moment he touched the stream of water, his body was directly sucked in and then there was a flicker before everyone's eyes as if a light had flashed by. When they could see again, where were the water stream and the Delta-level research subject on the Watchman teleporter's platform?
Both of these had disappeared…
"Teleportation of the subject has begun."
Little X smiled like a pretty flower. She turned her head and looked at Chen Chen. "If there's no accident, it'll take ten minutes and thirty-seven seconds. This Delta-level experiment subject will arrive at the Spire 2 Laboratory on Mars. If we wait for Spire 2 to send back a message, it also takes ten minutes and thirty-eight seconds. That is to say, after 21 minutes and fifteen seconds, we'll be able to know whether the experiment was successful!"
Chen Chen nodded when he heard the words.
He knew that the distance between Mars and the earth was never fixed. The earth moved in an elliptical orbit around the sun and Mars was the same. Therefore, the distance between the two planets changed constantly due to their orbits around the sun.
The distance between the earth and Mars depended on the orbital position of the two planets at the time of the teleportation. The nearest would be about 55 million kilometers and the farthest was 400 million kilometers.
Spire 2 was the name of the underground laboratory built by Chen Chen on Mars. Its code number was A002, which was different from the Spire Experimental Base, No. A001, where Chen Chen was located.
As time passed, twenty minutes later, Watchman 1 received news from Mars. The Delta-level personnel had successfully reached Mars and arrived at the underground base established in the north pole.
Of course, one person was no big deal. Next, a hundred Delta-level personnel walked in. Coerced by the Black Knights with guns and live ammunition, everyone stood on the teleportation platform.
Then, a constant stream of water surged up and one of them was submerged, disappearing in front of everyone.
"The success rate is… 100%."
It was not until half an hour later when there were no more people on the teleportation platform, Little X reported again, "The 100 people that had been teleported were all successful and our power system is fully able to withstand it. After this, they'll try to teleport the group of people back. If nothing unexpected happens, then we'll continue and try to teleport items."
"Very good."
Chen Chen nodded. "When all the tests are completed, notify me."
Then Chen Chen left the Watchman teleportation room, went to the Gantz sphere teleportation room, and teleported to the quiet room where he was training.
After that, Chen Chen was immersed in the training of Field ability.
One day, two days, three days…
About three days later, the red light on the intercom at the door of the quiet room was turned on again. Chen Chen opened his eyes as if he had noticed it and the lit button seemed to be automatically pressed down by an invisible finger. There was only one beep and the voice of Little X came:
"Sir Godfather, the human teleportation experiment has been carried out 3,000 times and item teleportation has been carried out thousands of times according to the varying shapes and natures, and all of them have been successful! The current teleportation success rate is 100%!"
"Has it been done three thousand times?"
Chen Chen only then cracked a smile. He stood up and walked out of the quiet room, then teleported back to the Spire through the Gantz sphere teleportation room, and then came to the Watchman teleportation room again.
This time, Chen Chen intended to try it himself and while he was at it, he took a look at the world at the other end of the teleporter.
This time, Little X did not stop him.
As Chen Chen stepped onto the teleportation platform, Little X reminded again, "Sir Godfather, I'm afraid you won't be able to keep in touch with me when you get there but don't worry, I've already assigned the third intelligence over there — X-113. She'll be responsible for helping you manage Spire 2."
"Got it. Get ready then."
Chen Chen nodded with a blank face.
"Remote sensing exploration has been confirmed, ready to start teleportation…
"The target receiver is activated, ready to start teleportation…"
As X-111 droned on, in front of Chen Chen, there was also a stream of water gushing out from the inside, suspended in front of Chen Chen!
Seeing this, Chen Chen took a deep breath. He stretched out his hand and gently touched the stream of water. The next second, Chen Chen's vision suddenly went dark!
"Rumble!"
At this moment, Chen Chen felt as if he was half in a dream and half-awake. He did not know how much time had passed. It seemed that all this took only a few seconds and it also seemed that several years had passed. In short, when Chen Chen started to regain consciousness, he realized that he was already lying on a cold floor.
Chen Chen stretched out his hand and touched the floor. Only then did he realize that he was lying on the teleportation platform.
"Thump, thump!"
Two sets of footsteps moved to Chen Chen and then Chen Chen only felt two people helping him up. Chen Chen looked to his side, only to see the wooden faces of two Black Knights.
"Sir Commander, hello. Welcome to the Mars Spire Experimental Base No. A002."
A sexy and raspy female voice rang out. Chen Chen shook his head and then completely sobered up.
What he saw was a teleportation hall that was almost the same as the one on Earth. The only difference was that Chen Chen's body felt light and floaty.
He felt like a person who had been carrying a load of dozens of kilograms since he was born. One day, he suddenly took off that load and a fluttery feeling of ecstasy filled his body.
It felt as if he could fly with every step he took…
This was what Chen Chen experienced now.
"Your physique is very good. Although you've been teleported across the planets, it didn't produce side effects such as vomiting and dizziness."
The sexy raspy voice continued. "Let me introduce myself, I'm X's clone — number X-113. You can call me X-113. Of course, I prefer that you call me — Nancy."
"Nansie?"
Chen Chen raised his head, only to see the face of a Western woman with blonde hair and dark eyes on a virtual screen above his head.
This was unlike the little-girl-like personality of Little X and the previous X-112. This newly split X-113 had a personality that was closer to a mature woman in her thirties and her automatically generated image was also the same.
"It's Nancy with a C."
At this time, X-113 smiled and said, "This is the name I gave myself after I was born. I hope you don't mind…"
Chen Chen nodded. As the transmission of information was limited by the speed of light, Mars needed a unique intelligent system to personally control it but these intelligent avatars were controlled by Little X, so Chen Chen did not have to worry about these cloned intelligences being rebellious.
At this time, he looked around and asked, "How is the current construction of Spire 2?"
"The current construction progress is only 5%."
Nancy replied, "With the existing manpower of Spire 2, it'll take about half a year to complete the construction and that's with sufficient materials.
"At present, a teleportation hall has been built and a material storage room next to it. This is in addition to two living rooms and a training room."
The so-called training room was a place to train one's muscles.
The gravity of Mars was only one-fifth that of the earth. If one stayed on Mars for a long time, it would cause the body's muscles to shrink. This was inevitable. Only persistent exercise every day could alleviate this problem.
Of course, it could only be alleviated.
Chen Chen did not say much. He just tried to get used to everything and then said again, "Give me a protective suit. I'm going to the ground to have a look."
"Understood, please follow this Black Knight."
Nancy replied and then a Black Knight took the lead and walked toward the exit of the teleportation room with Chen Chen.
When Chen Chen stepped out of the door, he saw a wide metal passage and at the end of the passage was another gate. As Chen Chen walked to the gate, it opened automatically, revealing a 100-square-meter dressing room behind.
There were no wardrobes in the dressing room. Instead, there were rows of black automatic-dressing platforms.
This platform served to reduce the time it took to wear protective suits. Since it was developed, it had quickly spread throughout the entire Blacklight Biotechnology. Those experimenters entering and exiting were all automatically dressed, so that more than 20 minutes was saved each time, and efficiency was indirectly improved.
At this time, Chen Chen stood on the platform in a well-versed manner, aligning his feet with the footprints on the platform. In the next second, the mechanical arms quickly stretched out and began to install pieces of protective frameworks on Chen Chen's body.
This sort of protective suit was an advanced protective suit with an exoskeleton. It was a secret piece of equipment specially customized by Blacklight Biotechnology for extraterrestrial activities. The value of a set was more than three million USD.
After a series of squeaking mechanical sounds, Chen Chen had finished putting it on after five minutes.
At this time, his body was encased in non-reflective pure black protective clothing. Pieces of ceramic armor plates were interlocked and connected to each other, presenting a cold sci-fi aesthetic.
The helmet of this protective suit was a slanted triangle, connected with the body contours, enough to withstand the impact of flying sand and rocks from all directions.
Unlike ordinary spacesuits, the spacesuit worn by Chen Chen did not have any visible lenses and only had a set of high-definition camera devices, whose footage was directly projected onto Chen Chen's eyes through VR.
This kind of protective suit weighed 100kg and could reach up to 2 meters tall when worn. It also had a high-precision EMG signal sensor inside as well as a powerful motor drive system and a shock absorption device. There was also a built-in high-efficiency hydrogen battery on the back armor that could provide dozens of hours of power for the protective suit.
This was no longer a protective suit in the traditional sense. It was more like an exoskeleton armor used to strengthen soldiers' combat capabilities.
The reason for adopting this rigorous design was to resist the sandstorm on Mars and… There was a very small probability that armed conflict might occur!
Feeling that this protective suit was somewhat similar to the one in the game Dead Space, Chen Chen nodded. Then, he walked off the dressing platform and continued to walk toward the door at the end of the dressing room.
At the end of the door, there were three elevators side by side.
At this time, the elevator door in the center was opening and Chen Chen walked in heavily, after which the elevator door closed automatically.
"Sir Commander, we're currently at a depth of 1,200 meters underground. It'll take about two minutes to get to the surface. Do you want to start now?"
Nancy's voice came from the headset of the protective suit.
&nbs
p; "Start!"
Chen Chen replied. In the next second, Chen Chen only felt a sudden jolt in the elevator, then the force of gravity hit him, and the screen on the elevator door in front of him showed a row of numbers that were rapidly decreasing!
"1200…"
"1100…"
"1000…"
…
The elevator rose rapidly at a speed of ten meters per second and within two minutes, the elevator jolted again and a special alarm sounded.
"Warning, warning. You've reached the surface, please check whether your protective suit is damaged. If there's no damage, please press the green button on the right and the elevator door will open."
Chen Chen did not hesitate and directly pressed the green button.
"Whoosh!"
As the elevator doors opened on both sides, a massive white air flow suddenly rushed in and Chen Chen was even blown back half a step by it.
In the next second, Chen Chen got used to the airflow. Only then did he understand that the airflow was a storm on the surface of Mars and the storm was also filled with a large number of dry ice pellets!
Chapter 529: Meteorite |
An endless white scene filled his eyes.
Chen Chen squinted his eyes and saw from here that the north pole on Mars was very different from the north pole on Earth.
In the center of the polar region, there was also a sprawling ice continent, but unlike on Earth, the north pole of Mars had a large number of strange rocky landforms. This type of landform was called "frost dunes". From a high altitude, these dunes formed by ice and snow looked a bit like folds of ice cream.
There were also a large number of dark areas in the north pole. These dark areas were gaps formed after the gas trapped under the ice sheet was released. This made the Arctic landscape extremely complex and dangerous at the same time.
Moreover, the sun on Mars was bluish and smaller than seen from the earth, only about two-thirds the size of how it appeared on Earth.
The wind on Mars was also much stronger than that on Earth. Usually, the wind was around 6 or 7 on the Beaufort scale, and it could occasionally even form large sandstorms that spread across the planet.