Super Mothership

"Super Mothership ()"

Orion Cantilever, Solar System, Mars.

The Mars in front of him is no longer the desert and lonely appearance of more than ten years ago.

In the orbit of the planet, three space elevators run straight through the sky and the earth, and three spaceports of different sizes are all under construction or expansion.

Tens of millions of small robots tirelessly execute construction instructions one by one, turning countless materials into buildings and facilities.

Hundreds of spaceships continue to unload various construction equipment to the spaceport, and then transport them to the colony city below through space elevators to support construction. Everything on Mars is changing with each passing day.

The stars are dotted, like amber-like colonial urban clusters expanding outward with the space elevator as the center, igniting the fire of civilization on Mars.

So far, nearly 30 million people on Earth in the first three large metropolitan areas of Mars have completed space immigration, and hundreds of millions of people have lived or worked here through virtual reality technology.

The existence of Captain Ghost has opened up a stable and safe development environment for the solar system, and virtual reality technology has strongly promoted global scientific and technological research and development.

Coupled with the explosion of foreign technologies and industries, the current Earth civilization has gradually developed into a colonization system with the Earth-Moon system and Mars as the core, with footprints throughout the solar system.

As another important colonization core for the development of Earth civilization, Mars has been favored by key resources in recent years. Various merchant ships travel between the Earth-Moon system and Mars, transporting raw materials back to the moon, and then supporting them with various finished products and equipment. Mars construction.

In the outer space orbit of Mars, you can not only see three busy spaceports and a space elevator with a length of thousands of kilometers, but also a huge beam of light that runs through the sky and the earth!

Through the "Prometheus Energy Project", the huge solar energy drawn from the central star was put into the back of Mars far from the city group without hesitation, injecting a large amount of energy into the entire planet and accelerating the "heating" of Mars.

According to the Mars transformation plan formulated by scientists, as the temperature rises, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide inside Mars will increase rapidly, which is conducive to the further formation of the water circulation system.

In about another year or two, some improved plant seeds can be spread on the surface of Mars, and through means such as spawning, Mars can quickly give birth to the initial life planet environment.

The next step is to adjust the environment little by little, so that Mars will gradually become a second planet suitable for human survival.

...

"Jerry, I miss home."

Tom was wearing an outer spacewalk suit, sitting on the edge of Spaceport 3 with his legs slumped, looking at the busy scene around him with a melancholy face.

"Shit! You were playing mahjong at 'home' half an hour ago!"

Jerry was checking the data with a terminal, and he couldn't help but glance at Tom.

Behind the two of them, a large number of small robots are working. The army of fully automated robots has crushed the traditional construction team with engineering efficiency. The nearby facilities are changing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Today, when modularization and automation are fully popularized, building an airport facility is not much more difficult than building a base with a click of a mouse in the Red Alert.

As seasoned veteran astronauts, Tom and Jerry are one of the few crews who need to work in a variety of space environments.

Because Spaceport 3 is a new generation of "technical verification port", the two of them were sent here for acceptance work and "survival environment testing" during this period.

"It's all virtual, virtual! Do you understand? It feels completely different from the real thing!" Tom yelled at Jerry in dissatisfaction.

"Really? I remember that the fidelity of the virtual world is close to 99.9%. Let me ask you, is your optic nerve discovering the picture distortion, or is your pain nerve unable to feel the iron fist of love?"

"Uh...that's not it."

"So?"

"No! Jerry, that's not the problem! Although the picture is beautiful and the feeling is very real,

But don't you think that the virtual hug has no warmth, and even Kiss has a smell of data, it's like I'm licking the screen, can you understand what I mean? ' Tom explained gesturing.

Jerry finally put down the data panel in his hand, and looked at Tom seriously for a while, "In love? I remember you just went back to the moon last month to take a vacation?"

"Oh Jerry! You really...get me!" Tom scratched his helmet.

"I met Meera on the moon, you don't know, she is so charming, she just hooked my heart away, I feel like I can't live without her anymore, I decided! She proposed!"

"Seriously this time?" Jerry looked at him suspiciously.

"I swear by the name of pancake fruit!"

Jerry immediately believed.

"Alas! Boogie retired, I didn't expect you to get married..." Jerry sighed, a little helpless in his eyes.

From the International Space Station, to the "New Continent" lunar exploration, to the Mars colonization plan, the three have been partners for many years, and have been fighting on the front line of human expansion. go……

Although I can meet often through virtual reality technology, I still feel a little empty in my heart.

Humans who have just entered space are still learning to adapt to the long space interval of the universe.

"Okay! I respect your decision and wish you happiness! So, when are you going to file your resignation report?"

"Resign? No no no! Jerry, you misunderstood. I said I wanted to go home and get married, but I didn't say I wanted to leave! You are still here, why would I abandon you to wander in the endless starry sky? We are gold. partner!"

Jerry was moved by these words, but he was also very surprised, "Aren't you going?"

"Of course! Our goal is the sea of ​​stars, and I'm planning to apply for the first real astronaut to walk out of the solar system next year. How can I go now?

I said so much, I just want you to give me more marriage leave. "

Jerry: "..."

Although he was a little speechless to this out-of-tune companion, Jerry was in a good mood with the feeling of being lost and found again.

"Approval! I'll apply for marriage leave for you now. Is one month enough?"

Now Jerry is a senior pioneering astronaut at the Lv8 level, and in terms of position, he is already Tom's immediate boss.

"I'm afraid not enough."

"Then...two months?" Although there was a shortage of manpower, as a friend for many years, Jerry thought about it and gave way.

This year, the Earth civilization with a huge population explosion still lacks people everywhere, and the population growth rate has never been able to keep up with the rapid development of civilization. High-end talents like Tom and Jerry are even scarcer.

"This... I'm afraid it's still not enough." Tom scratched his head a little embarrassedly.

Jerry's eyes widened, "You're going back to get married, not going back to have a baby. Could it be that you want me to grant you half-year maternity leave?"

"Cough cough! If 2 months are used for marriage and honeymoon, then of course that's enough, but I still have to spend some time cultivating more relationship with Mela's three children..."

three kids...

Jerry looked at Tom speechlessly.

Because all countries have implemented very extreme policies to encourage childbirth, there has been a continuous baby boom on the earth in recent years, coupled with the popularization of test tube babies, artificial wombs and babysitting robot technology, it is not uncommon for a woman to bring several babies. thing.

It is also because of policy reasons that the legal age of marriage for women has dropped again and again. Now unmarried adult women are really scarce on the earth, and it is difficult for Tom...

Considering the problem of work, Jerry deliberately refused, but when he thought that his old friend had finally found his happiness, he couldn't help but soften his heart.

But just as he was about to give him a few more days off, Tom spoke again.

"Of course, in addition to the three children, before I get married, I still need to convince Mela to get a divorce certificate first, which will take a lot of work. I made an estimate. Holidays... oops!"

Before the words were finished, the person had already been kicked, and was kicked directly from the edge of the space station 1,200 kilometers away from the surface of Mars.

"Why do not you go to hell!"

In the headset, Jerry's roar is long overdue...