The stars, but they become the gray wind

"Aerial battleships? No, no, no. The Hundred-Handed Giant is far more advanced than those Iron Tortoise aerial battleships that rely on anti-gravity, core force, and completely disregard aerodynamics. Their onboard weapons are limited to cannons with a range of more than ten kilometers. It can even be said that the two are not even on the same technological level."

"To be precise, its official classification is a heavy airborne cruise control aircraft, but we are more accustomed to calling it an airborne aircraft carrier."

"Oh, by the way, Princess Charlotte, you must not understand the concept of aircraft carriers yet, right? That's right... there are no such things as aircraft carriers in this era. It's normal that you don't understand this concept." Carissa spread her hands at Charlotte's puzzled expression.

"Let me think about it... First I have to start with the concept of aircraft carrier..." Carlisle thought while playing with a strand of hair by her ear.

"First...Princess Charlotte, you should be familiar with the battleships in the Kingdom's army that use artillery as their primary weapon, right?"

"Well...but I still don't understand, what does this have to do with the aircraft carrier you mentioned?" Charlotte nodded.

"The most important thing to understand about battleships is that they are essentially high-tonnage naval vessels that rely primarily on large-caliber guns for attack and heavy armor for protection."

"An aircraft carrier is a ship whose primary combat weapon is carrier-based aircraft. The carrier itself can accommodate takeoff and landing of carrier-based aircraft, as well as certain maintenance and repair capabilities. Everything on an aircraft carrier is essentially designed to serve the carrier-based aircraft on board. The various artillery and other weapons carried by the aircraft are only secondary to the carrier-based aircraft."

"Excuse me, the carrier-based aircraft you're talking about...are they those small-looking aircraft surrounding that thing?"

"That's right. An aircraft carrier is a platform. Its primary means of attack is its carrier-based aircraft, which can launch attacks beyond visual range. Princess Charlotte, I think you understand what I'm saying, don't you?"

"I think... I understand, but I never thought that aircraft could be made so small?" Charlotte muttered while staring blankly at the Raven fighters surrounding the Hundred-Handed Giant in the distance.

"These seemingly small aircraft are also made of anti-gravity ores. Are the anti-gravity cores keeping them flying? If so, how do they manage to fly so fast?" Dorothy, who was squeezed behind the cockpit seat, asked curiously.

"Anti-gravity cores? We don't need that. The reason those fighters can fly is because of their excellent aerodynamic design and powerful jet engines."

"Is it really possible to create a flying machine with such excellent performance without relying on an anti-gravity core? I once read a paper published by a Kingdom scholar that said it was technically impossible to create a small flying machine with stable flight without relying on anti-gravity ore technology or airbags filled with light gas." Dorothy said in surprise.

"Haha...it's not surprising that some of you would have such thoughts. After all, due to the existence of things like anti-gravity ore, your aerodynamic development is seriously insufficient. Coupled with the limited energy utilization efficiency and output of your power system, it's normal that you can't build a fixed-wing aircraft that relies on aerodynamics."

"What's more, even if you can create something convenient like anti-gravity ore, the poor load capacity and endurance of early fixed-wing aircraft will never be able to compete with the mature anti-gravity airships." Carlisle added.

"Okay, everyone, hold on tight, we're about to land." Aze, who was sitting in the main driver's seat, reminded everyone.

On the Hundred-Armed Giant, the outer door of the upper hangar slowly opened, revealing the helicopter pad below. The Osprey, which turned its high-speed rotating rotors to a vertical state, slowly approached the parking deck. As the landing gear landed steadily on the apron, the Osprey transport plane successfully docked on the upper deck of the Hundred-Armed Giant.

"The automatic driving system is indeed reliable." Aze said while glancing at Calisi beside him intentionally or unintentionally.

"Uh... why... my driving skills are really not bad..." Carlisle, who felt a little guilty when Aze looked at her, retorted.

"Forget it, we've stopped anyway. Why don't you all go to the restaurant and have a rest and a cup of tea? If you have any questions, you can sit in the restaurant and talk slowly." Aze turned his head and asked the people crowded near the cockpit door.

"Angel sister, I agree!" Mary suddenly raised her right hand and agreed loudly. Charlotte and Angel looked at Mary with some surprise.

"OK, let's go to the restaurant!" Aze agreed happily and opened the rear door of the cabin. Aze happily pulled Mary and walked down the ramp of the rear door.

"You... have all of you been brought back?" At this time, a familiar voice came from the stairs not far from the apron. Yuki, holding a data tablet in his hand, walked down the stairs slowly, looking at the large group of beautiful girls who were brought back by his two companions.

"Hey... Yuuki, are you used to operating this giant toy called the Hundred-armed Giant?"

"Except for the multi-purpose food printer in the restaurant with its fancy functions, I know the entire plane very well. And... why did you have to install that weird food printer in the restaurant? Instead of eating the food made by that thing, I would rather make it myself in the kitchen." Yuki complained with a frown.

"Huh? Really? I remember the food printed out by that thing wasn't as delicious as the other two, three, four, and three steaks, but it wasn't that bad, was it?"

"Uh... Anyway, you'll understand if you go and see for yourself..."

.........

A few minutes later, in the dining room of the Hundred-Armed Titan's crew living quarters, Ange and the others watched as Kalisi pointed with her index finger at a magical luminous panel that flashed dynamic images like a movie. Then, as Kalisi pressed the confirmation button, the nanomaterial printing device on the side began to spray nanomaterials and began to produce the dishes Kalisi needed little by little from the molecular level.

Ten seconds later, with a "ding" sound, a bowl of tofu pudding was sent out from the machine. Carly picked up the spoon beside her, scooped a small piece of tofu from it and put it into her mouth.

"Huh? Why is it sweet? I ordered salty tofu pudding."

"Do you understand now?" Jiecheng said, covering his forehead.

"I don't know what's wrong with this thing. Every time it outputs food, some aspects are different from what you want."

"I ordered a bowl of beef noodles from this before, and specifically marked it as not spicy, but the soup it poured out was so spicy it almost made me want to breathe fire."

"I input a cup of iced tea, and it output a cup of scalding hot tea. But when I wanted hot tea, it outputted cold tea that was frozen into ice cubes."

"What's wrong with your food printer?" Yuki asked Carlisle with a gloomy face.

"Why is it that every time the output is the opposite of what is required?"

"What's even more frustrating is that after I learned about this thing's properties, I deliberately entered the opposite of what I wanted every time in order to get the food I wanted. For example, when I wanted hot tea, I entered "cold tea." But then, as if to go against me, the thing suddenly output what I entered and actually gave me a cup of cold tea."

"So this thing has the function of 'I predicted your prediction'?" Yuki said angrily, pointing at the machine next to him.

"Uh... maybe there's something wrong with the internal procedures?" Carlisle touched the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Anyway, I'd rather die than use this crappy machine. I might as well go into the kitchen myself." Yuki simply gave up on this machine that seemed to be against her.

"Uh...how about I give it a try?" Aze, who was standing aside, raised his mobile phone and suggested.

…………

After a while, looking at the dozens of cups of milk tea with ice cubes floating in them neatly placed on the table, Aze gave up completely. Every time she entered the request for hot milk tea on the machine, she got cold milk tea with ice cubes floating in the cup. After trying dozens of times in a row, Aze took a deep breath and slapped the screen in front of her as if to vent her anger.

"Can't you just give me what I want?!??"

"What's wrong with this machine? Why is the output every time completely opposite to what I input?" Aze complained a little annoyed about the food printer in front of him.

"Uh... forget it, don't be angry. After all, it's not that you can't drink it, right? Look, Mary is drinking it." Carlisle patted Aze's shoulder and comforted him, pointing to Mary who was already holding one of the cups of iced milk tea and drinking it.

"Forget it, I won't argue with this broken machine. Sorry, I can only drink it cold. You guys just have to make do with it." Aze, who found that he had no way to deal with this strange machine, could only say helplessly.

"Angel sister, it tastes good when it's iced too..." Mary also comforted Aze.

"Forget it, just treat it as iced milk tea..." Aze took one of the cups and savored it carefully.

.........

Ten minutes later, while enjoying their ice-cold milk tea, Anjie, Charlotte, and the others sat on some chairs made of some unfamiliar material, and talked with Carissa, Yuuki, and Aze who were sitting opposite them.

"So... counting the carrier-based aircraft you mentioned, this thing we are in is essentially an aircraft carrier flying in the air?" Dorothy took notes in a notebook provided by Yuki.

"It's just that... whether it's this thing we're in or those aircraft out there, the level of technology behind it is simply beyond the reach of any country or group, right? Even this one of you... uh... Miss Angel? The style doesn't seem to fit in with this thing we're in. Do angels and gods also like and excel at such high-tech products?" Dorothy put down her notebook at this point.

this.

"Miss Dorothy, I'd like to know what you think of the universe and the stars in the night sky."

"The universe? That unreachable region? And as for the stars? They're probably just like the sun we see every day, right?"

"So, Dorothy and Miss Angel, do you believe in the existence of the Black Lizard Alien?" Carisi said in a slightly playful tone.

"Black Lizardman? Isn't that one of Ange's usual jokes? That kind of thing can only exist in fantasy novels, right?" Dorothy shook her head.

"The Black Lizards may not exist, but... who said that beings similar to them are not allowed to appear..." Carlisle said in a puzzled manner.

"How could that kind of thing...wait...you're not trying to say...you're aliens?" Dorothy was about to retort, but suddenly realized that there was something more to Carlisle's words.

"Congratulations! You've already guessed most of it right, Miss Dorothy."

"So... are you really aliens?" Dorothy thought about the huge aircraft under her feet that was so advanced that she could hardly understand it, and the witchcraft-like powers that Calisi had demonstrated before, and gradually had a guess in her mind.

"But if you are aliens, then why does she look like the angels in our religious myths and legends?" Dorothy pointed at Aze and asked loudly.

"Any technology so advanced that it's difficult to understand is indistinguishable from magic or miracles. There's a chance that the gods from myths and legends thousands of years ago might actually be aliens so advanced that they're difficult to understand. Isn't that right, Ms. Dorothy?"

"Really? Really?" Dorothy was momentarily frightened by Carlisle's words.

"It's fake. I don't know whether the gods in your myths and legends are aliens, but Aze was born looking like that, exactly like the angels in your myths and legends, so I borrowed that vest to use." Carlisle said with an indifferent expression.

"Woo... Actually, I don't care whether Angel Sister is a real angel or not... After all, you have protected me many times. Even if you are not a real angel, you are still my best friend." Mary, who was a little shy, said to Aze.

"Mary, you are really my little angel." Hearing Mary's praise, Aze smiled and reached out to touch Mary's head.

"By the way, are you interested in taking a look at the world you live in?" At this time, Carlisle suddenly said to Anjie and others.

"Do you mean?"

"Are you interested in the true appearance of the Earth beneath your feet, the entire solar system within which it resides, and even the Milky Way?"

"If you don't mind, I can take you all to watch it."

In front of them, Charlotte and Ange looked at each other, and finally nodded, agreeing to Carisi's invitation.

.........

Inside the CIC war room, a group of people were gathered around the holographic projection table in the center of the room.

"Everyone, I'm about to begin." Carlisle snapped her fingers, the lights in the room dimmed, and a transparent holographic projection unfolded in front of everyone. Charlotte and others, who had never seen such a scene, looked at the holographic projection floating in front of them in surprise.

"First, this is the Earth you and your ancestors have lived on for millions of years."

A three-dimensional holographic projection sphere with a blue and green surface was projected in front of several people.

"There are seven continents and eight oceans here. I think you must be familiar with them."

"Next is the star you see most often in the night sky: Mars." Carlisle said, and moved the view further away, and a completely red planet appeared in front of everyone.

Mars, or Mars. Mars is about 5500 million kilometers from Earth at its closest approach and over 4 million kilometers at its farthest. Its red color is due to the high concentration of iron oxide in its soil. This is the origin of the red planet's name and appearance.

As she spoke, Kaleese zoomed in on the image of Mars. Its crimson surface bore a massive bulge and a vast canyon. "These are two of the most spectacular locations in the entire solar system: Valles Marineris, spanning the entire Martian hemisphere, and Olympus Mons, the highest point in the entire solar system!" Kaleese exclaimed with some excitement.

Chapter 81 The wheel of history heading in another direction?

"Is this... a canyon?" Beat asked, pointing his finger at the rough, narrow, ugly "scar" on the belly of the red sphere projected by the holographic display in front of him.

"Yes, Valles Marineris on Mars. I believe Miss Beatle and Princess Charlotte must have heard of the famous Grand Canyon in America, right?"

"Well... discovered by Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Corona, it's known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World." Charlotte, who was well-versed in geography, answered fluently.

"The Grand Canyon is 446 kilometers long, with an average width of 16 kilometers, a maximum depth of 2133 meters, and an average depth of over 1500 meters... The 4000-kilometer-long Valles Marineris presented before you is enough to make the Grand Canyon and other seven wonders of nature pale in comparison..." Carlisle reached out and zoomed in to magnify the details of the Valles Marineris on Mars on the holographic projection.

"It's nearly 4000 kilometers long, over 200 kilometers wide at its widest point, and reaches a depth of seven kilometers. That's nearly 10 times longer, 20 times wider, and five times deeper than the Grand Canyon, a natural wonder of Earth." Calisi thoughtfully gave Angel and the others a cosmological lesson. The one who listened with the most gusto and interest wasn't Charlotte, Angel, or Chise, but Mary.

Mary looked at the crimson planet on the holographic projection, and seemed to see a brand new world and vision that she had never seen before. This world was full of unknowns waiting to be explored. Unlike the boring political knowledge she had learned in the past, the new information Mary received was like a flood, reconstructing her worldview. For the first time, she truly realized that there was such an infinitely vast world above her head. At this moment, a small seed was planted in Mary's heart... a seed of yearning for the endless starry sky above her head.

.........

"So... Angel Sister, is that where you came from?" Mary asked, pointing to the thin disc composed of countless bright spots projected on the holographic display.

"Mary, you have to understand that the Milky Way is just a tiny part of the entire universe. We are from a place much farther away than other worlds in the Milky Way."

"Is that... the extragalactic galaxies outside the Milky Way that Sister Carlisle just mentioned?" Mary asked curiously while sitting on Aze's lap.

"It's even farther than that... It's farther than any corner of the universe." Aze hugged Mary who was sitting on his lap, rubbed Mary's head and replied with a smile.

"Hey? Where is that place?" Confused Mary racked her brains but still couldn't guess where Aze and others' "home" was.

.........

Meanwhile, Anjie and the others, whose worldviews had been reconstructed in a short period of time due to the unprecedented influx of new knowledge, gathered in the restaurant, eating snacks to replenish the brain cells consumed in the recent brainstorming session.

"I didn't expect... that dinosaurs actually had hair?" Dorothy sighed as she flipped through the notes in her hand.

"There are even many dinosaurs with feathers... This is really beyond imagination. I thought those things were big lizards with scales." Dorothy said as she picked up the cup and gulped down a big gulp of Coke.

"And it's a little hard to imagine. A Milky Way with a diameter of 100,000 light years? Even light needs more than 100,000 years to leave the Milky Way... It's really incomprehensibly vast. In comparison, the earth is as small as dust, and the humans living on it are not even dust, right?" Qianshi recalled the holographic projection of the Milky Way that Kalisi had shown her before. The diameter of the 100,000 light years gave her a preliminary understanding of human civilization and her own insignificance.

"Angel, what about you? What do you think of the knowledge they just taught us?" Dorothy asked Angel as she felt the stimulating taste of the bubbles in the cola bursting in her mouth.

"It's really something that shocks everyone's worldview. I think most people never even realize how amazing things are in the sky above their heads." Angel remained calm and just sighed a little.

"Didn't she also say that many people care more about their own little piece of land than the endless starry sky above them? Because often the starry sky and the unknown above don't bring people material or spiritual satisfaction, but there must still be people who look up at the stars and try to reach them. Only in this way can civilization have the motivation to continue to progress... Well, that's what she said before."

"But I still don't quite understand..." Beat, who was sitting next to Charlotte, asked doubtfully.

"What don't you understand?"

"I still don't quite understand... why are you telling us so many things that are beyond our level of understanding?"

"Is it really just like she said... to help us broaden our horizons?" Beat asked with some doubt in his tone.

"No... I think, to them, the conflict between the Kingdom and the Republic is as ridiculous as children playing house. The reason they told us this... maybe they hope that we won't limit our vision by our own cognition? Should we look further ahead?" Charlotte recalled the hidden meanings that Carissa always gave during the teaching just now.

"Nothing is permanent. Will the system built on colonialism eventually collapse?"

"Even though I don't really feel that way, there's really no way to refute what she said, right?"

"But... what she said is that even narratives like nation and ethnicity will one day die out, and the explosion of productivity and changes in production relations caused by the Industrial Revolution will rapidly accelerate this process, ultimately leading to the complete disappearance of the old national and ethnic systems and concepts in the future... I still find this a little hard to believe..." Dorothy imagined the scene where the Republic she served and other European powers completely abandoned all their own ideologies and merged into one, and the Republic's original concept of Albion as a nation and country completely disappeared. This scene made her shudder unconsciously.

"Sure enough...it's still a little hard to accept." Dorothy held her forehead and complained.

"But didn't she also say that this process will take a long time, from a few decades to hundreds of years? This is not something we need to worry about right now, right?" Angel didn't really care about the future of the Republic. She just wanted to live with Charlotte as a lover forever and give Charlotte the life she wanted.

"Indeed, we should be worried about another matter right now... the future of the Kingdom and the royal families of Europe..."

"It's hard to imagine that the kingdoms and royal families of various European countries, which are currently in power and at their peak, only have less than a decade left to remain in power..."

"So, the French Revolution and the revolution that could lead to the division of Albion are just the beginning? There are only two paths before the royal families of various countries..."

"Become the next Louis XVI, or voluntarily surrender the power in your hands and become a powerless mascot?"

"That's right!" At this moment, a voice suddenly came from the door of the restaurant, startling everyone. Carlisle strode to the table where several people were sitting, picked up an apple from the fruit plate on the table, took a bite, and continued.