The stars, but they become the gray wind

It's still unclear who is behind the asteroid hijacking and theft, but the space agency, the M7 Alliance, has announced it will conduct a thorough investigation.

…………

At the Mars base, Kelly had already guessed what her father and Dave were going to do. She had originally planned to stay in her dormitory with Alex and wait quietly for things to be over. However, she suddenly received an email on her personal computer, and the content of this email made Kelly a little confused.

After searching high and low for something, I finally found it. The answer is within reach, Ms. Kelly. But... does this answer really mean anything to the world, and what kind of meaning does it have? You have to figure it out for yourself.

Following this text message, Kelly opened a small data packet and discovered that it contained a countdown program, and the countdown would start at around 36 minutes.

Wu Yiqi Thread Eight Another Seven Liu Yi "???"

Kelly looked at the confusing message and countdown with confusion. Just when she thought it was a prank played on her, a gunshot was suddenly heard in the base, scaring Kelly so much that she stood up from the table.

.........

A few minutes ago, Mike, a CIA intelligence officer, received an order from Earth to rush into the North Korean cabin and arrest the mastermind behind the sabotage of the asteroid mission. He decided to ignore the order of the base commander Danielle and lead his men directly into the North Korean cabin.

"Isn't this too much?" Danielle wanted to stop the security team who were preparing air guns and door-breaking explosives.

"I am still the commander of the base, and I order you to stop the action!" Danielle gave the order to Mike from the CIA in an unquestionable tone.

"Commander, I have orders, and with all due respect, my orders are directly issued by the Ministry of Defense and take precedence over your command authority."

.........

At this time, Miles, the unlucky black market businessman who was beaten and illegally detained in the underground cabin of the Mars base, and another Martian worker who was caught because he was separated from the others on the way to the North Korean cabin, finally waited for rescue.

A group of Martian workers rushed in and pinned down the KGB agent who had beaten them together with the CIA agent, and rescued the two men whose faces were covered with bruises. Seeing the injuries on the two men's faces due to illegal detention and beatings, several people angrily kicked the KGB agent who was pinned to the ground several times before leaving.

.........

[Stargate module ready to deploy, asteroid disintegration procedure ready, countdown begins: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, start...]

An asteroid with a diameter of more than 300 kilometers directly broke away from the Trojan asteroid group under the action of the inertia-free engine, got rid of the shadow of Jupiter, instantly accelerated to 50% of the speed of light, and flew to another Jupiter Lagrange point area that can be observed by humans.

The asteroid hurtles through space at a speed of nearly 1.5 kilometers per second, ignoring its own huge mass, and crosses a distance of millions of kilometers in an instant. Within a distance of just tens of kilometers, the asymmetric gravity field created by the inertia-free engine reverses and brakes instantly, slowing down its speed from 50% of the speed of light to zero within 15 seconds.

Immediately afterwards, the asteroid, which had returned to a stationary state, began to disintegrate. Trillions of von Neumann self-replicators drilled out from under the hollowed-out surface of the asteroid and began to completely assimilate and devour the last layer of material remaining on the asteroid's surface, turning it into part of the stargate that was being formed.

The huge ring extended, grew, closed, and solidified in space. The surface of the ring also gradually changed from a fibrous substance full of biomass to the absolutely smooth silver-white mirror surface of the color nuclear force material.

"Anchor the wormhole and start." The purple-haired girl far away on Earth pressed the button on the holographic screen in front of her.

The space at the center of the wormhole was torn open by the superluminal negative energy flow, and neutrino jets and high-energy particle rays close to the speed of light were ejected from the hole in the center of the stargate, which was created by folding two points in distant space, and rushed towards the direction of the inner solar system.

At this moment, the countdown on the personal computer in Kelly's room had just begun.

[The Slow Domain Space Wormhole Hub has been connected, and the Liulin Eryang III Sibaba Star Gate has been activated.]

It is expected that Mars will observe the Stargate in 36 minutes, and Earth will observe the Stargate in 48 minutes.

"A huge surprise to human civilization."

Near Jupiter's Trojan asteroid belt, Renlong also planned to show his hand and directly drove the Fantasy Light out of the cover of Jupiter's shadow and rushed to the star gate with a diameter of 1000 kilometers at a speed of 100,000 kilometers per second, which is more than 30% of the speed of light. Inside the star gate, the wormhole interface like water waves and whirlpools will step on the accelerator of the future of human civilization and completely cut off all retreat routes.

.........

Inside the Martian base, the workers were furious at seeing their coworkers illegally detained and beaten. They were filled with rage. They helped Miles and another worker who had been beaten, treating their wounds on their faces and bodies.

"Did you hear what happened?"

"what's up?"

"They're planning to storm the North Korean cabin. Ed, Sparks, Richie and the others are all there now."

"We can't just stand by and watch. We have to do something! I've had enough of these bastards!"

"Yes, these bastards have now dared to illegally detain and beat us. We should remind them who is the one who truly makes this base run!"

"That's right!" The Martian workers present echoed.

"let's go!"

"Everyone come with me!"

After suffering long-term unfair treatment, the angry Martian workers began their own actions. They picked up wrenches, metal pipes and other tools that they often used in their daily maintenance work at the base, intending to teach a lesson to the security team who had long suppressed their protests and were about to rush into the North Korean cabin.

By the time Danielle, who was still in the command room, and Ed, who was hiding in the North Korean cabin, reacted, the angry Martian workers had already started fighting with the security team in the narrow corridor outside the North Korean cabin. Danielle and Ed immediately rushed to the corridor, trying to dissuade the people who had already started fighting, but the Martian workers and security team who had already broken out into a large-scale fight were by no means something that the two commanders who had already lost command of the base could hold back. In the chaotic fight, a security team member pulled out a pistol and was about to fire a warning shot into the air. Several Martian workers quickly held down his hand holding the gun and tried to take the gun away. In the end, the pistol was suddenly knocked into the pipe on the wall beside them along with several people in the scramble. With a gunshot, everyone present stopped fighting and subconsciously lay down on the ground.

"Daniel!" Ed opened his mouth and looked at Danielle's chest.

Danielle lowered her head and found that her clothes were stained red by the blood flowing from her chest. She fell to the ground exhausted.

"No, no, no!"

"Quick! To the medical bay!"

.........

"I need an IV! Three liters of normal saline! Now!"

"She's lost too much blood, go get a blood bag!" The last scene Daniel saw before he lost consciousness due to the severe pain was the base's doctor Dimitri putting the oxygen mask on his face, as well as Ed's wrinkled face and voice.

"Dani, hang in there, you'll get through this!"

"Hold on, Dany, don't sleep!"

"Prepare for surgery immediately! Get the portable X-ray machine in the cabinet!" Dimitri calmly directed the medical staff in the base to perform an emergency operation. Outside the medical room, Kelly, who had run to make sure her father was safe because of the gunshot just now, looked at Danielle lying on the operating table.

At this time, there are less than ten minutes left before the countdown on the personal computer in Kelly's room reaches zero, and there are still twenty-one minutes and nine seconds for the light emitted from near Jupiter to reach the earth. After 21 minutes and 09 seconds, human understanding of the universe will usher in an unprecedented change.

Chapter 190: First Contact of Human Civilization (6000 words)

While the whole world was still in shock over the biggest theft in human history, several graduate students at the Goddard Space Flight Center were gathered in the computer room waiting for the data from the Paine Telescope to be downloaded. They were also discussing the stolen asteroid, an unprecedented theft in human history. The reason they cared so much was simple: this asteroid was discovered by their team.

"Ah... the Pan telescope's new round of Jupiter observation data has been downloaded. Can someone get me a cup of coffee? I'm exhausted from working overtime tonight." A researcher on the project team complained.

"Here." A colleague next to him threw him a can of coffee.

"Thanks. Let me see the new data from the Paine Telescope on Jupiter... Hmm? What the hell is this?"

"What's the matter that makes you so surprised?"

"No, there's something new next to Jupiter. Have you seen this thing in the observation data before?" The researcher moved aside slightly to let his colleagues see his monitor screen, and pointed to the ring-shaped object floating on Jupiter's Lagrange point on the computer screen.

"What the fuck is this?"

"Uh, are you sure this is observation data from the Paine Space Telescope and not some random PS picture?" Another researcher laughed twice, walked forward and operated the computer. When he confirmed that the image was indeed observation data from the Paine Space Telescope and it was not some random PS picture prank, his smile froze.

"What the fuck?"

"Fuck, this is broken."

Not only him, but everyone at the scene had frozen expressions.

"Have we... observed an alien artifact?"

"Retrieve all the data from this round of Jupiter observations!" The researcher sitting in front of the computer took a deep breath, touched his chest, forced himself to calm down, and continued to work on the computer.

"This is?"

"An asteroid with a diameter of about 300 kilometers? But this relative position and speed... damn!"

"What's wrong?" The others were still a little confused.

"This is the asteroid's original position, captured by the Paine Telescope. Its position three seconds later and the calculated velocity are 45 kilometers different from its original position! This asteroid f*cking moved 45 kilometers in three seconds!!! In a straight line!"

"This means... his speed is as high as 15 kilometers per second. Do you know what level of speed that is?"

"Half the speed of light." Another researcher standing near the computer swallowed nervously and answered.

"And these are all the subsequent images observed by the Paine Telescope..." The researcher sitting in front of the computer switched one by one the subsequent images observed by the Paine Telescope.

"The 300-kilometer-diameter asteroid suddenly accelerated to half the speed of light. After approaching Jupiter's second Lagrange point, its speed was reduced to zero almost the moment it entered the Lagrange point area, and then it stopped in the second Lagrange point area of ​​Jupiter. Immediately afterwards, the asteroid in the image began to show abnormalities, and the reflectivity of the asteroid's surface changed. Then... it disintegrated." The researcher in front of the computer continued to switch the monitoring images. The people in the computer room witnessed the entire process of the asteroid disintegrating and forming this huge ring from the rapidly switching images.

Then, they saw something even more shocking. Something flew out from the dark side of Jupiter. Based on its relative position to Jupiter, the speed of this thing reached more than 30% of the speed of light. And like the asteroid, they did not see any acceleration process. If the researchers present were not mistaken, then it only took 1.5 seconds for this "thing" to appear behind Jupiter and accelerate to 30% of the speed of light.

"If... I mean, if this is really what we think it is, then it wouldn't be surprising if we could do this?"

"Alien civilization... and a highly advanced alien civilization!"

Just then, the phone in the laboratory rang, and a researcher walked over to the phone and picked it up.

"Hello? What? Confirm? Okay, I understand." The researcher with dark circles under his eyes hung up the phone.

"What happened?"

"Just now, it was a call from the duty officer at the Keck Observatories I and II in Hawaii. He said that not long ago, the Kamioka neutrino detectors in Japan and the Buck III neutrino detector in the Soviet Union observed a neutrino jet coming from space. After confirmation, the source of this neutrino jet came from near Jupiter. So, they contacted the Keck Observatory, and they also observed this near Jupiter.

The researcher pointed with trembling hands at the huge ring-shaped object in Jupiter's Lagrange point on the monitor.

"The source of the neutrino jet is that ring."

…………

When US President Al Gore and Soviet leader Korchenko, who had just arrived in New York on a special plane to deal with the asteroid theft incident, had just taken their seats in the UN Security Council meeting hall, before they could even get comfortable, Gore's adviser in charge of space agency affairs hurriedly pushed the door open with a document, whispered a few words in Gore's ear, and handed the document to Gore. The same scene happened with the Soviet leader and several other representatives of other countries present at the United Nations.

"This was observed near Jupiter using the Paine Telescope."

"We have confirmed this with observatories around the world, and the information is correct. According to the assessment of our expert team, this object is... 100% man-made."

"Where's the news?"

"It hasn't been released yet, but it's only a matter of time before the news leaks out. The Paine Telescope research team plans to hold a press conference to officially announce the discovery."

"Is it impossible to conceal it?"

"You have to understand, Mr. President, all you need is a simple telescope pointed at Jupiter. As long as the user is not blind, they can see something new near Jupiter."

Gore glanced around the room and saw that all the representatives had solemn expressions. This was no longer a matter of an asteroid being stolen. In the face of the first contact with extraterrestrial life, even the asteroid worth 20 trillion US dollars seemed insignificant.

…………

At the Happy Valley Base on Mars, thanks to Dr. Dimitri's rescue, Commander Daniel, who was shot and wounded, has finally stabilized. Although she is still in a coma, she is no longer in danger of life.

At this time, Palmer, as the deputy commander, was not in the Mars base, and Daniel was unconscious due to injury and unable to continue to exercise command and leadership of the base. As the former base executive officer and commander, Ed could only temporarily take on this responsibility.

Inside the base, many injured Martian workers and security guards were looking worriedly in the direction of Commander Daniel's ward in the medical room. While the doctor was treating their wounds, they stared at each other silently. Their previous unpleasant experiences made them not know how to speak. Obviously, the incident had gotten out of control in the end.

.........

"Aim all available observation arrays at Jupiter's second Lagrange point? What does this mean?" Ed frowned when he received this inexplicable order from Earth.

"Uh... Boss, they also sent a few pictures, saying this is what the Thomas Paine Telescope saw near Jupiter."

"Open it and show it to me." The communications equipment technician sitting in front of the computer screen opened the images sent from Earth, which were said to be the latest round of observation data of Jupiter by the Thomas Paine Telescope.

"What the hell is this?" Ed looked at the image of the huge ring on Jupiter's Lagrange point in surprise. After confirming it several times, he realized that today was neither April Fool's Day nor a prank. Ed took a breath.

"Uh… Admiral?"

"Do as they say and aim all available observation arrays at Jupiter's second Lagrange point!"

.........

"Thank you all for coming to this emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. I know that you all came to this emergency meeting originally for the Goldilocks asteroid, but not long ago, we received an urgent message from observatories around the world, led by the Thomas Paine Space Telescope research team. Now I will introduce the details of this incident to you.

The French representative, who is the current president of the UN Security Council, announced on the stage that his remarks were mainly addressed to the official reporters from various countries who were carrying cameras at the back of the venue. The representatives from various countries had already learned the relevant news in advance before the meeting began.

"This afternoon, during a new round of observations of Jupiter, the Thomas Paine Space Telescope discovered a 300-kilometer-diameter asteroid. It suddenly broke away from its original position in a counterintuitive manner and flew towards Jupiter's second Lagrange point at 50% of the speed of light. Our expert team's observations and calculations show that the asteroid accelerated to 50% of the speed of light almost instantly. We didn't observe any acceleration. Then, after arriving at the second Lagrange point, its speed instantly dropped to zero, again without any observed deceleration, before it docked at Jupiter's second Lagrange point. Subsequently, we observed the entire asteroid begin to disintegrate, ultimately forming this..."

The French representative switched the UN emblem on the big screen behind him to the huge ring-shaped object observed by observatories of various countries near Jupiter.

"Preliminary estimates indicate the object is about 1000 kilometers in diameter. After its formation, major scientific research institutions around the world, including the Buck III detector in the Soviet Union and the Kamioka neutrino detector in Japan, detected a high-energy neutrino jet emanating from the location of the ring.

"After observing this neutrino jet, the state of this ring-shaped object underwent an unknown change." The French representative switched the image to the next one, and there seemed to be an extra layer of water wave-like substance on the inside of the ring.

"This is?"

"We can't confirm it yet, but several astrophysicists on our advisory team strongly believe this could be a wormhole."

Reporters in the rear and staff from official media of various countries were shocked to hear the news. They originally thought that the content of this meeting was about how to deal with the stolen asteroids, but this sudden news caught everyone off guard.

First contact, a concept that everyone previously believed only existed in fictional science fiction works, has suddenly become a reality. A huge alien building with a diameter of more than 1000 kilometers and a spacecraft that looks like an alien spacecraft appeared near Jupiter as predicted. Humanity is about to face its first contact with extraterrestrial intelligent life without any preparation.

…………

Kelly felt that she might have run into a bad day. Ever since she arrived at the Mars base, all kinds of bad things have never stopped. In the first few days at the Mars base, she encountered a workers' strike and the security team imposed martial law. She had not been able to concentrate on her research for a few days before Commander Daniel was accidentally shot and injured. And now... the emails in Kelly's computer were about to explode. All her colleagues and peers on Earth were sending her messages frantically. A huge alien artifact and spaceship appeared at the Lagrange point of Jupiter. Kelly was stunned. She had been studying and searching for alien microorganisms for more than ten years, and now an alien civilization that obviously had technology much more advanced than humans ran directly into her face.

After the news from Earth came and was confirmed, Dave rushed to see Kelly.

"Dave, you have to understand, I'm a little overwhelmed right now."

"why?"

"I've spent my whole life searching for alien life, which is the simplest form of life: microorganisms. Now you suddenly tell me that an alien race that is much more advanced than humans has come to the solar system. This is like a pie in the sky... no... it should be called gold falling from the sky, and it landed right in front of you." Kelly remembered the countdown in the strange email not long ago. When she and Ed finally breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the room after Commander Daniel was out of danger, the countdown on the computer had returned to zero.