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The force was overwhelming, like an invisible hand pressing against every inch of their skin, squeezing and hammering, twisting their organs together. This massive overload was caused by the rocket’s acceleration during liftoff.

Fortunately, the seats were soft enough, and everyone had undergone extensive training at the astronaut training base. This sudden overload shock only made them tense for a moment without causing any unbearable sensations.

“Altitude climbing… 2,000 meters… 5,000 meters…”

“Yaw nozzles ready! Performing attitude adjustment in 3, 2, 1, activate!”

Over the radio channel, the ground control center’s reports came in one after another. Twenty seconds after the rocket took off, those in the space shuttle’s passenger cabin could clearly feel the rocket beginning to tilt, their bodies involuntarily adjusting to the new orientation.

“Don’t worry, this is the rocket adjusting its direction,” Wei Cheng reassured everyone over the radio channel. “The rocket doesn’t enter space directly in a straight line. After ascending vertically to a certain height, the yaw nozzles of the first-stage booster will adjust the rocket’s attitude, tilting it at an angle to gradually enter Earth’s orbit.”

He continued, “Our position will tilt slightly. Just relax, it’s like our training. The current overload value isn’t significant. The real test will come when the second-stage booster kicks in. Also, keep an eye on the little penguin toy hanging in the cabin. It’s a gravity indicator and will help your brain determine the direction of gravity to prevent dizziness. Focus on the little penguin to discern where the ground and the sky are.”

These facts had been explained many times by Wei Cheng back on Earth. But now, inside a rapidly ascending rocket with no visible outside references, it was natural to feel disoriented.

Lin Xian, Gao Yang, and Chu An Qing followed Wei Cheng’s advice, focusing on the small penguin toy hanging in front of the passenger cabin. Initially, the penguin hung straight down, motionless. Now, it began to tilt to the left, as if pushed by an invisible hand. In reality, it wasn’t the penguin tilting, but Lin Xian and the others. The penguin’s tilt indicated the true direction of Earth’s gravity.

Watching the penguin, the dizziness vanished. This reference point gave their brains a clear basis for judging the direction of gravity.

After what felt like a long minute, the ground control center reported over the radio channel: “Altitude over 100 kilometers, entering the thin atmosphere, jettison the escape tower!”

Lin Xian felt a vibration. This was the escape tower at the top of the rocket separating. The escape tower’s purpose was to launch the capsule away from the rocket in case of a malfunction within the atmosphere, allowing it to escape to a safe distance before deploying parachutes to gently return the capsule to the ground. Now, having passed the 100-kilometer Kármán line and entering space, the escape tower was redundant.

“First-stage booster fuel depleted! Prepare for separation! Second-stage booster ready!”

“First-stage boosters separated! Second-stage booster ignition!”

Another tremor shook the cabin. Wei Cheng had explained that the rocket’s propulsion was divided into three stages. The first stage involved four boosters filled with aviation fuel and liquid oxygen, propelling the rocket out of the atmosphere. Once their fuel was depleted, these boosters would detach, and the second-stage booster would ignite to continue propelling the rocket upward.

Suddenly, another powerful acceleration overload hit, pressing everyone into their seats with incredible force! Lin Xian felt like he was being crushed, almost merging with the chair behind him. The radio channel went silent. Even Wei Cheng, who had been chatting cheerfully, couldn’t speak under the 4-g acceleration overload.

At that moment, the ground control center’s voice came through again: “Reached the intended space altitude! Jettisoning the heat shield fairing!”

A slight tremor followed. Lin Xian and Chu An Qing looked through the space shuttle’s windows, seeing the fairing surrounding the space shuttle split open. At this altitude, nearing a vacuum, there was no air friction heating. The heat shield fairing had fulfilled its mission of protecting the space shuttle during atmospheric ascent and was no longer needed.

Under the 4-g acceleration, Lin Xian turned his head with difficulty, looking out into the dark space. It was truly black. Even with the occasional star visible, without moonlight, the pitch-black backdrop of the universe was incredibly oppressive. Below the window, a bright blue hue could be seen. Undoubtedly, that was Mother Earth. Due to the viewing angle, Lin Xian could only see a corner of Earth’s curvature and scattered clouds.

“Second-stage booster fuel depleted! Prepare for separation!”

“Third-stage booster ignition!”

Another jolt of deceleration, followed by the push of acceleration. The third-stage booster was the final one. The once-mighty rocket had now shed all but the topmost section, exposing the space shuttle for orbital ascent. Looking at the small penguin again, it was now entirely tilted, pointing straight down towards their feet, the ground, Earth. This reference indicated that the space shuttle was now “horizontal,” parallel to the Earth’s east-west direction.

Finally, the push of acceleration disappeared! The ground control center’s last announcement came through the radio: “Third-stage booster separation! Space shuttle release!”

“Rocket launch successful! Space shuttle successfully in orbit! Wishing you all the best!”

The space shuttle, now in stable flight, allowed everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, they could breathe normally.

“Lin Xian… Lin Xian, look at the penguin!” Chu An Qing’s voice came through her helmet.

Lin Xian looked at the small penguin hanging in the cabin. It was floating! The penguin was now freely drifting in the air, directionless and aimless.

Lin Xian nodded: “We’ve been weightless for a while now. Didn’t you feel it?”

Only then did Chu An Qing realize… if the penguin was weightless, she must be too! She had been so nervous, strapped tightly in her seat by various safety belts, that she hadn’t noticed.

“It just shows… you have an amazing constitution… not even noticing this,” Gao Yang’s voice came through in broken sentences. It was clear that compared to Chu An Qing, who hadn’t even noticed the weightlessness, Gao Yang was struggling.

“Look out the window, young astronauts,” Wei Cheng’s confident laughter echoed through the radio. “You can proudly say that you’re the youngest astronauts in history. No one as young as you has ever been to space… no, we might even drop the astronaut qualifier.”

“You four are the youngest space travelers on Earth!”

After speaking, Wei Cheng suddenly realized it might be inappropriate. Maybe Yellow Finch wasn’t that old? Excluding her from the category of young people seemed unfit.

“Yellow Finch, may I ask your age?” he inquired.

“Focus on flying,” Yellow Finch coldly replied.

“Understood!” Wei Cheng wisely fell silent.

The joke eased the tension, making everyone laugh. Lin Xian and Chu An Qing sat together, looking out the window. They could see a corner of the space shuttle’s wing. And then, the enormous Earth! So vast… they could only see a slight curve of its edge. They seemed to be above an ocean, with no land in sight, but the light was bright, illuminating the Earth below. The blue of the ocean and the white of the clouds interwove like a delicate watercolor painting.

“It’s so beautiful…” Chu An Qing sighed. In the world, only about a hundred people had the opportunity to see Earth from this angle. And at this moment, as Wei Cheng had said, they were undoubtedly the youngest group. And she was the youngest among them. A 19-year-old astronaut. This record might remain unbroken for many years.

Beep beep.

A light sound indicated the second radio channel. This channel included only five people, excluding Wei Cheng, and was used for discussing tactics.

“We are now in a 270-kilometer orbit, traveling at 7.5 kilometers per second; the space-time particle is currently 1,500 kilometers high, moving at Mach 1, or slightly below the speed of sound!”

Liu Feng, who had been silent, spoke through the radio: “As I predicted, the space-time particle’s speed reduction follows a pattern, but it’s uncertain if it will continue to slow down. It’s already very slow, and if it slows further, it will be disadvantageous for us because the space shuttle uses a working fluid engine with a minimum flight speed limit.”

“Based on the current speed, we will orbit two-thirds of the Earth from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, descending to 100 kilometers and reducing speed to about Mach 1, synchronizing with the space-time particle.”

“The space-time particle’s direction remains stable without any changes. So, ideally, we’ll encounter the space-time particle at 11:50 AM over the Atlantic at 100 kilometers altitude, and the capture plan will begin then.”

“I’ll use tracking equipment to guide Coach Wei Cheng to get as close as possible to the space-time particle without physical contact. We don’t know what will happen if we touch this mysterious particle, so it’s best to maintain a safe distance and let Gao Yang use the robotic arm and the rice cooker to capture it.”

“If we can’t capture it, we’ll consider the ‘close encounter tactic,’ to see if we can let the space-time particle pass through the space shuttle’s outer shell and into the aircraft. We’ll then manually capture it with another rice cooker.”

Liu Feng outlined the complete “SpaceXime Particle Capture Plan” that had been thoroughly researched on Earth. The plan had two stages. The first stage involved Liu Feng guiding the space shuttle, and Gao Yang operating the robotic arm to attempt capturing the space-time particle from a safe distance at an altitude of 100 kilometers.

If this failed, there was a more aggressive second stage—the ‘close encounter tactic.’ This tactic was also proposed by Liu Feng. He said: “We don’t have enough experimental data to confirm if the space-time particle can pass through walls, iron plates, or any material in the universe. But theoretically, it should, as it has no physical form and is not affected by any external force. It should be able to penetrate any material and remain stable.”

“So, if Gao Yang can’t capture the space-time particle, we can try to let the space shuttle ‘collide’ with it, allowing the space-time particle to penetrate into the space shuttle.”

“Then, we’ll use the rice cooker Gao Yang trained with at the Capital city Training Base to catch it manually, like catching butterflies or dragonflies!”

At the time, everyone was amazed by Liu Feng’s plan! Gao Yang even asked: “Why don’t we make dozens of rice cookers… the space-time particle capture devices, and fill the space shuttle’s interior with them? That way, we wouldn’t need the robotic arm. We could just crash into it, trapping the space-time particle inside the space shuttle, and it would eventually end up in one of the rice cookers.”

Then, Lin Xian rolled his eyes at Gao Yang: “Liu Feng already said that this is only a last resort if you can’t catch the space-time particle. We have no evidence that the space-time particle can pass through walls. If it can’t, this space mission would be a waste.”

“And who can guarantee that touching the space-time particle won’t be dangerous? If it burns a hole in the space shuttle, we would crash. Liu Feng’s plan is cautious: try capturing it with the robotic arm first. If that fails, then use the last resort.”

Lin Xian turned his head, looking at the rice cooker secured in the equipment bay. Liu Feng had made two rice cookers. One was attached to the robotic arm for Gao Yang to use. The other was in the equipment bay, prepared for the last resort. The space-time particle was too much of an unknown. Therefore, caution, caution, and more caution.

Beep beep.

The radio channel switched back to Line 1, and Wei Cheng’s voice came through: “So, everyone, feel free to move around. I’ll continue to lower our orbital altitude and speed, and we’ll meet the Alpha substance over the Atlantic at 100 kilometers in 3 hours.”

“I’ll remind you in advance. At Mach 1, it’s as slow as a commercial airliner, so moving around the cabin is fine, even opening visors to talk.”

“We’re still in low gravity, so be careful when moving. As we descend and slow down, gravity will gradually increase. When we reach 100 kilometers, gravity will be like on the ground.”

Everyone unbuckled their seatbelts and headed to the equipment bay. Normally, a complete orbit around Earth at first cosmic speed takes about 90 minutes. But Wei Cheng had to lower the altitude and speed, so orbiting two-thirds of the way would take over 3 hours. Fortunately, the space shuttle was much more stable than regular spacecraft.

Gao Yang had already started warming up his fingers. Lin Xian pressed his helmet against the window, trying to look up but couldn’t tell which way was “up.” He tapped his helmet twice: “VV, any movement from Elon Musk or Kevin Walker?”

“Nothing, everything is normal,” VV responded. “Elon Musk is still at the Observation Tower, and Kevin Walker hasn’t launched any attacks on the space shuttle. Not sure what they’re waiting for.”

“But… everything is under control. It feels like they’re too late to do anything. The American space shuttle is cruising at 1,200 kilometers altitude, and Elon Musk is still staring at the rocket, doing nothing.”

“Even though the Observation Tower has no wires or electronic devices, and we can’t hear if he’s saying anything, what can he do in a place like that?”

“I’m watching him through the cameras on the starship launch tower. He seems to be looking this way… for a long time. He must be narcissistic or really loves rockets, staring at the starship rocket for so long.”

Lin Xian nodded: “Keep monitoring, stay vigilant.” He trusted VV. This AI never dropped the ball. Despite thinking for so long, he couldn’t figure out… if Kevin Walker or Elon Musk planned to steal the space-time particle, how would they do it? Every angle and corner was securely monitored by VV. What could they do?

In Texas, USA, at Boca Chica, SpaceX Starship Launch Site. Observation Tower.

At this time, the sun was just rising. A new day, a new sun. The night in X Country was the dawn in the USA. A fresh spring breeze ruffled Elon Musk’s hair, making it even messier. Though the world’s richest man’s hair was always disheveled, unkempt. But the higher you are, the colder it gets.

Leaning against the Observation Tower, overlooking the entire starship launch site, the wind was still strong enough to make him squint. At this moment, Elon Musk was staring intently at the launch tower in the center of the launch site. Steel supports extended around it, securing the 40-meter-tall medium rocket aimed at the sky.

“Mr. Elon Musk!”

Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack—the urgent sound of high heels on steel. A secretary in a business skirt and coat ran up the spiral steel staircase, appearing breathless at the corner. She adjusted her red-framed glasses, glaring at Elon Musk: “Mr. Elon Musk! Why do you always come here without your phone? When there’s something important, I can’t reach you! I have to run up here in heels every time!”

“If you don’t want your phone to interrupt your rocket viewing, why not install an intercom here? One on the Observation Tower, one in my office, so I don’t have to run so far every time.”

“Hahaha…” Elon Musk laughed at the secretary’s complaints. He tilted his head, raising an eyebrow: “Do you have your phone?”

“Of course I do! Who goes out without their phone nowadays?”

“Give it to me.”

“Huh?” The secretary was stunned, her red-framed glasses sliding down a bit.

“Give me your phone.” Elon Musk repeated.

The secretary reluctantly transferred her folder to her left hand, pulling her phone from her right pocket and handing it over.

Elon Musk weighed the phone in his hand, smiling as he turned back to the launch tower: “Do you know why there’s no wiring, no electronic devices, not even lights here, and why I never bring my phone?”

The secretary adjusted her slipping glasses and shook her head. She had always found the Observation Tower unreasonable. But even more unreasonable… was her boss, the world’s richest man, who always forgot his phone and came to this desolate tower to watch rockets.

“Because I fear AI,” Elon Musk said softly. “AI is like Pandora’s box for humanity. Once opened, it could have uncontrollable consequences.”

“For instance, humans relying too much on automation, abandoning critical thinking; total loss of personal privacy, everyone living in a mirrored world; and the often-mentioned sci-fi scenario of an AI rebellion. If AI becomes powerful and smart enough, would it rebel against humans? Destroy humanity?”

“I don’t like being watched, but in this era, cameras are everywhere, and everyone carries phones with cameras and microphones… our privacy is nearly nonexistent, everyone is transparent.”

“And this tower—” Elon Musk spread his arms, holding the phone in his right hand: “This tower is one of the few places in the world that will never be monitored or listened to.”

“No matter how advanced AI becomes, it still relies on electricity. Without power, it’s nothing. So, while I fear AI’s power, I also scorn it for needing information carriers and power. They’ll never defeat humanity, never be worthy opponents.”

The secretary sighed: “Mr. Elon Musk, you’re thinking too far ahead. Most AI today are still playing chess, drawing, automating tasks, writing papers, and piecing together content… they claim creativity, but they’re essentially playing puzzles, copying bits from the internet and assembling them. That’s what current AI does.”

“So, your fears are unfounded. Those all-powerful, world-ending super AIs from sci-fi movies don’t exist.”

“Haha.” Elon Musk chuckled, looking at the distant starship launch tower: “How can you be so sure?”

He turned around: “How do you know such a super AI doesn’t exist in our world today?”

The secretary smiled dismissively, turning her head: “If such an omnipotent, all-seeing, all-controlling super AI existed, the world would be doomed.”

“No country could stop it, no one could destroy it, no one could defeat it… that kind of entity, only found in sci-fi movies, if it existed in 2024, it would be invincible, unstoppable.”

Elon Musk slowly nodded: “You’re right, it is invincible.” He raised his head, looking at the rising sun: “Not just now, but even 100 years, 200 years, 300 years from now… it will still be invincible, unbeatable.”

“But…” Elon Musk raised the secretary’s phone with a smile: “What about 400 years, 500 years… 600 years from now?”

Seeing the secretary’s confused look, Elon Musk pulled a crystal blue USB drive from his pocket. The USB seemed to glow from within. It shimmered with a soft blue light, like stars twinkling, or glass rolling, very beautiful. Just as the secretary was about to ask, Elon Musk swiftly plugged the USB, with its Type-C adapter, into the phone’s charging port!

“NOOOO!” Over X Country, 240 kilometers above, inside the space shuttle equipment bay, VV suddenly screamed: “Lin Xian save me! Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian—”

Boom boom boom boom! Boom boom boom boom!

As VV’s scream abruptly ceased, several explosions erupted inside and outside the space shuttle! The cabin filled with the smell of burning circuits!

“What happened? What’s going on!”

The equipment bay was in chaos, Gao Yang and Chu An Qing looking around in terror!

“VV? VV!”

Bang bang! Bang bang!

Lin Xian pounded on his helmet: “VV! VV!! Where are you!!”

But… there was no response.

“Hahaha…” In Texas, atop the SpaceX Starship launch site observation tower, a low laugh sounded. Elon Musk unplugged the USB, returning the phone to the secretary. Then he faced the sun directly above. Raising his right fist. Extending his index finger. Pointing straight at the sky!

“Let’s… correct history!”