Reborn in 2010, the AI ​​in my mind is too powerful.

Rewind to six months ago, a few months after Aurora announced its space debris cleanup plan.

Livovich, who was cutting weeds in his backyard with a sickle, heard his wife calling him and quickly put down the sickle and went inside.

Two kind-looking men were sitting on the sofa drinking tea. When they saw him coming, the bald man stood up and said, "Levovich, the head of the US-KS project team at the Central Institute of Science, right?"

The ancient name of the Central Institute of Science instantly transported Lvovich back to the communist era. He gestured for his wife to go back to the yard and continue weeding, then asked in a low voice, "More than thirty years have passed, and I don't know if I should still abide by the original gag order. But you should still identify yourselves first."

The bald man was startled by this. He nodded and produced his identification: "We're from the Russian Federal Security Service. We're currently investigating some Soviet-era satellites that were previously questionable. We're not entirely sure if there are any problems, but from what you're saying, you seem to know something?"

Livovich hesitated for a moment and said, "I don't know if I can say this, but could you find a higher-ranking official to give me instructions? I'm not sure if what I know is a big deal, but I did receive a direct order not to reveal what happened back then."

"Could you tell me first who gave you those orders?"

"It was Comrade Chebrikov who gave me the order personally."

The other person, who had been sitting on the sofa, stood up: "This happened in the 1980s. Chebrikov was the chairman of the KGB then, right? We didn't find any connection to you in the documents he left behind. Are you sure it was him who gave the order?"

Livovich nodded: "I confirm, because he gave me the order himself."

-------------------------------

Sergei, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service, met with Livovich in his office, but he wasn't really that concerned about the matter.

It wasn't that he was slacking off at work, but rather that he had encountered far too many confidential incidents, big and small, over the past few months. Most of them were false alarms, and a small number were indeed true, but those secrets that were being guarded so closely now had little practical significance.

However, he still made a personal appearance this time, after all, Chebrikov's name carries too much weight in the intelligence community.

He joined the KGB in 1967 to manage personnel appointments and became deputy vice-chairman the following year. He was Brezhnev's man, a spy planted by Brezhnev within Andropov's organization. However, he gained Andropov's trust. After Andropov came to power, he smoothly took over the reins of the KGB.

After the two veteran generals who came to power died of illness within a year, the Soviet leadership, headed by him, was eager to find a younger, longer-lived, and more impactful new leader to reverse the unfavorable situation of the Soviet Union.

At the age of 54, Gorbachev thus became the youngest leader of the Soviet Union.

In a sense, the Soviet leadership succeeded. With both of his predecessors dying after just over a year in power, Gorbachev remained in good health after taking office and seemed poised to live to be 90!

Of course, he lived longer than the Soviet Union, which probably surprised many high-ranking Soviet officials.

At the beginning of Gorbachev's rise to power, Chebrikov was very supportive of him. He was deeply involved in the anti-corruption and discipline reform movement during the Andropov era, which was in line with Gorbachev's strategy of accelerating reform and order.

However, in 1987, Chebrikov and Gorbachev had a serious disagreement.

At the heart of their disagreement was Gorbachev's push for openness and the relaxation of controls on the media and speech.

As KGB Chairman, Chebrikov was deeply disturbed by this, believing it would lead to a complete denial of Soviet history and undermine the authority of the Party and state security agencies.

Chebrikov publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the direction of reforms at a Politburo meeting. In a speech, he warned that Western intelligence agencies were using openness and democratization to overthrow the Soviet Union.

He saw the rise of national separatism in the constituent republics and believed that Gorbachev's policies were condoning separatist forces.

Unfortunately, the Chernobyl disaster a year earlier had brought the Soviet people's trust in the leadership to almost zero, and Chebrkov's voice was simply not enough to change the course of history.

Moreover, the collapse of the Soviet Union was not something that could have been avoided by this one event. At that time, the Soviet economy had begun to collapse, and basic necessities were in short supply. Queuing became the most common activity for the Soviet people.

Chebrikov was removed from his post as KGB chairman in 1988 and transferred to the Central Secretariat to oversee law and policy. In 1989, he was ousted from the Politburo. By 1990, he was no longer even a member of the Central Committee and had been completely marginalized.

In a sense, this might have saved him from jail, since he did not participate in the August 19 coup.

Unlike some of his colleagues, such as Gorbachev, he did not spend his retirement giving speeches, publishing books, or setting up foundations.

He chose complete silence, refusing to write memoirs, give interviews, or comment on current affairs, almost disappearing from the public eye and living a low-key retirement life in Moscow.

This is very much in line with the style of his generation of old-school KGB agents. He was both a staunch believer in the Soviet system and a loser of it. He watched helplessly as what he had dedicated his life to protecting crumbled, powerless to stop it, and without the proper platform or resources to fight on.

In theory, Russia inherited most of the legacy of the Soviet Union, but this generation doesn't actually identify with Russia at all.

After the failed coup attempt in August 1991, shredders ran continuously for several days in the KGB headquarters compound, piling up documents that couldn't be burned in time. Eventually, they were simply hauled away by truck for destruction. The then-KGB chairman, Bakatin, later admitted that a large number of files were destroyed.

Some overseas stations also received notices to completely destroy sensitive files. When Russia was first established, its intelligence was almost nonexistent.

In this situation, whatever Chebrikov said personally, regardless of whether it still has any impact today, is something that Sergei must take seriously.

In the office, he didn't ask anything, but instead had Livovich write down everything he knew on a piece of paper.

This is an old method passed down from the Soviet Union. So, for those who haven't made any mistakes but whose insiders need information, make them write, and then keep a close eye on them. This method is much more effective. They will unconsciously write a lot more, and their psychological defenses will be unconsciously broken down.

After Lvovich finished writing, Sergei didn't even glance at it. He simply tucked the pages into a folder and asked in a calm tone, "Tell me what you know. What you just wrote will be reported directly to the highest-ranking officer. Now I'm giving you a chance to explain in more detail. Don't leave anything out."

Livovich, a technician, had lost his initial desire to keep the secret under pressure. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "What's written on the paper is all I know. I was the team leader for the US-KS project. The US-KS series consisted of seven satellites, all launched into geostationary orbit."

These satellites were originally intended to monitor U.S. nuclear capabilities. Russia later also used them, but due to funding issues, their deployment was discontinued and no further upgrades were made.

What I want to talk about is one of the satellites, codenamed Cosmos 1546. My orders were simply to help with some data calculations. There was another person assisting me; her name was Mileva, but I know she has passed away. I was responsible for submitting various data to her, and she was responsible for figuring out how to put things inside.

Those on the production line knew that the satellite's payload bay was sealed and installed by designated personnel; they were not allowed to inquire about it.

These are all things I know, and then there's my guess. Although it wasn't explicitly stated, I can roughly guess some things. I think that's why Comrade Chebrikov personally received me and gave me the order to keep it a secret.

I think they must have put three nuclear bombs in there.

Sergei calmly nodded: "Okay, we understand the situation. You can go home now. Don't spread this around, and don't leave the city anytime soon. Of course, we will definitely be monitoring you to some extent."

He felt that Sergei's attitude was much calmer than he had expected, which made him even a little disappointed. The secret he had kept all this time seemed to be a joke.

That's true. What era are we living in now? It's the era of robot wars. Those nuclear bombs aren't that big to begin with. Even if they were discovered, at most people would just curse the Soviet Union for violating Article 4 of the Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits sending nuclear weapons into Earth orbit.

However, the US and the USSR exploited loopholes and developed many partial orbital weapons. As long as it does not complete a full orbit, it is not considered an orbital weapon.

In conclusion, it seems that the secret I've been keeping all this time isn't important.

In the office behind him, Sergei waited a few seconds after the door closed before quickly picking up the phone: "Connect me to the Kremlin, I have something important to report."