Returning to the Spaceship

While Zhang Desen was congratulating himself on being on the left side of this cigar-shaped space mothership, a lingering sense of worry crept into his mind—would those small meteoroids manage to puncture the hull of the spacecraft?

Because many meteoroids travel at such extreme velocities, they pose an immense threat to spaceships. A great number of them move much faster than bullets fired from a firearm.

However, before Zhang Desen could dwell on the thought any further, those small meteoroids finally collided with the colossal cigar-shaped space mothership. The massive impact sent violent tremors rippling through the entire vessel.

To avoid being shaken off and cast into the abyss of space by the violent shaking, Zhang Desen had no choice but to grab desperately onto the handholds designated for spacewalks.

The violent impact lasted for a full five minutes before finally subsiding. Zhang Desen let out a long breath of relief. Immediately afterward, he conducted a thorough inspection and found that everything was holding up surprisingly well. The small space meteoroids had failed to penetrate the main control room armor of the space mothership.

At least, the area where Zhang Desen was stationed remained unbreached. This led him to realize that the external defensive armor of these alien spacecraft was indeed formidable. If conditions permitted in the future, dealing with such a space mothership would likely be best accomplished through a direct nuclear strike.

Zhang Desen's eavesdropping device was still firmly attached to the metal plate. He quickly reset the equipment to its original configuration and resumed trying to listen in on whatever the aliens inside might be discussing. At the same time, he immediately called out to Li Longfang:

"Longfang, Longfang! How severe is the damage to our ship from the impact of those small meteoroids? Please answer, please answer!"

Li Longfang responded almost immediately, his voice coming through clearly:

"Captain, Captain! I haven't sustained any impact over here. Repeat, I haven't sustained any impact over here. Over!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Desen let out a relieved sigh and said:

"Brother Longfang, it seems we are quite lucky. The impact zone of those small meteoroids didn't include the section where our ship is located. Our position happened to miss the strike zone completely. We are truly fortunate!"

Li Longfang replied instantly:

"Indeed, Captain. Are you returning now, or will you continue gathering intelligence?"

Zhang Desen answered:

"Naturally, I will continue eavesdropping. I was just getting to the most fascinating part. How could I possibly pack up and head back now after getting so deeply invested?"

Li Longfang responded promptly:

"Understood, Captain. If anything comes up, please call me immediately, and I will do everything in my power to help. Also, Captain, please keep an eye on your oxygen reserves. Make sure you don't run into any unexpected trouble due to oxygen levels."

Zhang Desen smiled and said:

"Don't worry, my oxygen reserves are currently more than sufficient. I never slack off when it comes to oxygen. Alright, they are about to resume their discussion. Keep quiet and no need to reply."

Just at that moment, inside the main control room of the cigar-shaped space mothership, a monitor finally reported:

"The small meteoroid impact has ended. The small meteoroid impact has ended. Everyone may return to your respective stations. Everyone may return to your respective stations."

The officer in charge, Emba, then spoke up:

"Everyone, is everyone alright? Report to me immediately."

Following this, everyone reported that they were uninjured. Upon hearing that all was well, Officer Emba immediately continued:

"Very well, since everyone is unharmed, let us resume the meeting. I want to ask everyone, how should we deal with those highly intelligent civilizations from beyond the heliopause of the Solar System? Should we negotiate with them or declare war?"

Mandel answered without hesitation:

"Officer Emba, I believe that negotiation holds no benefit at this point. Judging by the scale and capabilities demonstrated by those enemies, their comprehensive strength is likely formidable. Meanwhile, we possess only remnants of our former power. Our stellar system was destroyed by a disaster caused by a black hole, and our new home has not yet been established. Consequently, the bargaining chips in our hands are very few. They will inevitably look down upon us due to our lack of leverage, and we will undoubtedly find ourselves in a passive position."

At this point, Wedell also chimed in:

"Yes, Officer Emba. For the very same reason, if we go to war with them now, the losses will outweigh the gains, as we would leave ourselves with zero room for maneuver."

After listening, Emba fell into a brief contemplation before asking:

"Then, given the current situation, how do you suggest we handle our present predicament?"

Wedell suggested:

"Sir, I believe we should remain aloof from the conflict."

Hearing this, Emba immediately asked:

"How do you propose we remain aloof? After all, all of our civilians are currently within the Solar System."

Wedell replied:

"Just as Commander Mandel stated, space routes could be severed at any moment. We might as well capture more slaves—as many as possible. After all, their intelligent civilization isn't that advanced anyway. Once the number of captives reaches a certain threshold, should we encounter any dire crisis, we can arm them and use them to strike at the enemy."

Emba asked with a hint of skepticism:

"Are you certain those slaves won't suddenly revolt once armed, throwing our situation into even greater chaos?"

Wedell replied with absolute confidence:

"Officer Emba can rest assured. We just need to subject them to a few surgical procedures. In about an hour, I can submit the preliminary proposal for the new surgery to you for review. Once you have seen it, we can make our final decision."

Mandel added:

"Moreover, there is an additional benefit: should we unexpectedly face food shortages, we can also use these slaves as a supplementary food source. This provides multiple layers of security, ensuring we safely survive this unknown crisis."

However, they were entirely unaware that their conversation had deeply infuriated Zhang Desen, who was eavesdropping on the transmission. Because the audio was being relayed in real time to Zhang Desen's ship, Li Longfang, who was holding down the fort aboard the vessel, heard the entire exchange as well. Unable to contain his anger, Li Longfang transmitted over the radio to Zhang Desen:

"Captain, these bastards look down on us far too much. And now they want to treat our people like livestock. Let's make a move right now and wipe them all out."

Maintaining a rational mindset, Zhang Desen replied:

"Calm down, Brother Longfang. You are furious, and in truth, I am even more angry. Right now, I want nothing more than to annihilate every last one of them directly. But the problem is that our overall strength is currently insufficient, so we must endure for the time being."

Li Longfang argued:

"That may be true. But just imagine—at any moment, they could endanger our compatriots, subjecting them to slow torture until death while they are completely at their mercy. The thought of this makes me feel utterly sick at heart, and I believe we ought to take some action."

Nevertheless, Zhang Desen stated:

"You can rest easy. I said we must endure, but I never said we wouldn't take any action. I suspect that once night falls over Hezhou City, this fellow named Emba will definitely return there to capture what they consider their prey. Therefore, we only need to wait for them to arrive at Hezhou City and greet them then, and we can have a face-to-face conversation with them at that time."

Li Longfang asked:

"But once we are down on Earth, seeing everything we use, won't they look down upon us even more?"

Zhang Desen answered:

"You don't need to overthink it. Naturally, we will make certain preparations, but nothing overly elaborate. I'll explain everything to you in detail when I return."

Li Longfang agreed.

Meanwhile, the meeting inside the main control room of the colossal cigar-shaped space mothership was drawing to a close. The officer named Emba declared:

"Very well, everything will proceed as you suggested. Wedell, remember—I expect to see your new proposal within one hour. As for the rest, we will discuss it after I return from the Hezhou City of the Great Xing Nation among the humans on Earth. I will go there personally once night falls. Dismissed."

"Understood!!!"

Following this, everyone in the main control room returned to their respective stations to carry out their duties. Zhang Desen, certain that no further intelligence could be gleaned, began making his way back along his original route. When he reached the underside of the cigar-shaped space mothership, he naturally utilized the manned maneuvering unit once again to propel himself back toward his own spacecraft.

Watching Zhang Desen slowly approach, Li Longfang remarked:

"That manned maneuvering unit is truly impressive. It's surprisingly practical out here in space!"

Zhang Desen replied:

"It always has its uses; otherwise, why would it have been invented?"

The manned maneuvering unit is a propulsion device designed for extravehicular activity, equipped with high-pressure nitrogen gas and multiple nitrogen thrusters mounted at various positions and orientations on a "seat."

Astronauts manipulate hand controls to fire thrusters at different locations, generating reactive forces for attitude control. The unit can carry a specific quantity of high-pressure nitrogen, enabling astronauts to operate up to hundreds of meters away from their spacecraft.

Released from a spacecraft to allow astronauts to fly freely in space, this device ensures stable and unhindered movement in zero gravity.

Resembling a backpack in appearance, the manned maneuvering unit consists of compressed nitrogen tanks, a gas supply system, jet thrusters, electronic control equipment, a thermal control system, and storage batteries.

Operating on high-pressure nitrogen as propulsion in a weightless environment, the astronaut uses hand controllers on the left and right mechanical arms to direct nitrogen out of thruster nozzles mounted in various locations, altering flight speed, direction, and posture to achieve upward, downward, lateral, and rotational maneuvers.

The device also supplies breathing oxygen, maintains required temperature and humidity levels for life support, and houses specialized equipment to keep the astronaut in orbit alongside the spacecraft. It is outfitted with two redundant sets of nitrogen tanks and gas supplies to prevent any malfunction from endangering the astronaut's safety.

Before long, Zhang Desen reached the upper hatch of his spacecraft and safely re-entered the interior. Yet just as he finished changing out of his intravehicular spacesuit, a call came through from the *Craters*, which was stationed near Hezhou City.