Chapter 26: Floating Es ape Pod

Under the leader's command, our ship went as near as 5 billion kilometers from the star. That was the limit of the escape velocity from the star. Anything past this point would be sucked toward the star by the star's powerful gravitational pull.

We all knew that a white dwarf was a result of the decline of a fixed star, a prelude to black hole.[1] As the star declined, its gravitational pull would only grow stronger. The league's technology had reached a level where we could brazenly explore the various planets, but a star was an entirely different case. Regardless of the stage a star was in, it would remain a force of nature, a forbidden zone of all life.

We started searching in the new search zone. After more than 6 hours, Old Du suddenly exclaimed, "A flying object has been discovered! A flying object has been discovered!"

We all looked at Old Du's discovery. Sure enough, an escape pod could be seen. The pod was a pleasant sight, as at the very least, it proved that all our efforts weren't pointless.

"It's Milky Way's escape pod," said Dodo.

"Get closer immediately," Zhang Xingxing commanded.

"Milky Way's escape pod, this is Mimas I. We're the rescue team. Please reply if you hear me. Please reply if you hear me," Zhang Xingxing spoke repeatedly into the communicator.

However, no reply came. It was unknown if the person in the pod was still alive.

"Approach it," commanded the leader decisively. At the same time, she also commanded Dodo to update Chen Qiang and Angela on the discovery.

As we approached the pod, we saw no movement coming from it. We sent our docking bridge over, and while waiting, we looked at the pod through our windows. However, we saw nothing. Our laser probe did not indicate any signs of life in the pod either.

"I'll go with Canyue," Zhang Xingxing said.

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"Roger," I replied.

When the docking bridge finished attaching to the pod, the door opened. Both of us stepped into the pod. There were three rooms in the pod. In the outer and middle rooms, everything was arranged neatly, as though nobody had been there before. When we scanned the rooms, we found nothing.

"Check the monitoring records in the inner cabin and see what happened exactly," said Zhang Xingxing.

We rushed to the inner cabin's door, but we found with surprise that the door had been locked from the inside.

"Is anyone inside?" I asked.

I looked at Zhang Xingxing and found that she looked even more nervous than me. The door and the speech command system were fully locked, leaving Zhang Xingxing with no choice but to knock on the door. She hoped to at least get some response from within, but only silence answered us. Our probe was still showing no signs of life.

"Canyue, blow the door out with directional blasting," commanded the team leader.

As ordered, I installed the directional cluster bomb on the door. Then, we retreated back to the middle cabin. With an oppressive boom, the door opened.

Just to be safe, I took out my gun and stepped into the inner cabin before Zhang Xingxing. It was completely dark inside, so I turned on my lighting equipment in a well-practiced manner. The inner cabin was messy, as though someone had intentionally damaged it. But after a search, I still failed to detect any signs of life or any other trails.

"It's safe," I said.

The team leader immediately entered and turned on the monitoring device. The screen only showed a sheet of white. Evidently, the video portion of the recording had been damaged.

However, the audio still worked. The voice from the final minutes of the ship rang out: "Captain, captain, we lost all power and are rapidly approaching the companion star."

"Prepare the escape pod. Try to see if we can catapult it to a safe distance."

"The pod has been shot out. From its energy readings, it will be able to barely reach a safe distance."

"Captain, the outer sensor indicated that we will enter the atmosphere of the companion star. The pressure is too strong. None of our signals can be sent out anymore. We have lost all contact with the headquarters."

"Cassie, why didn't you board the pod?"

"I want to face all danger with the crew."

"Sigh, foolish girl."

"Everything has been installed. Don't worry, Zhang Han. I will accompany you till the end."

"Captain, captain, we are encountering an unknown situation." 

"Di! Di! Di! Di!" The recording ended.

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"Father. Aunt Cassie," Zhang Xingxing's eyes brimmed with tears when she heard her father's voice. "Looks like Aunt Cassie had given up the chance to escape in order to accompany Father."

I wanted to comfort her, but I had no idea what to do since I had very little experience with women.

While I was hesitating, Zhang Xingxing lifted her head with determination in her eyes. "Aunt Cassie mentioned that everything has been installed! Canyue, search around! Try to find the things Aunt Cassie left behind," said the leader.

"Yes!" I replied. After seeing how calm she remained, my respect for her grew.

We carpet-searched the pod. From the freezer compartment, I found a black hexagonal case.

"Is this it?" I asked.

Zhang Xingxing rushed over. The case was pitch-black, with delicate patterns carved on its surface. The design resembled the starry sky with clouds, and we could see that the case was actually three components being closely assembled together. However, we couldn't find a way to open the case.

"This must be it! Return to Mimas I and look for a way to open it," said Zhang Xingxing.

And thus, we returned to Mimas I. Old Du studied the box, but he didn't find anything.

After Dodo scanned the box, it said, "This case is composed of an element unknown to us. It was made of a material we have yet to discover."

Even after spending a long time thinking, Old Du couldn't discover how to open the case. "This case is probably something that can't be opened with force. It is most likely an insurance installation. Only by opening it correctly would the things within be preserved," opined Old Du.

We nodded in agreement.

"Are we sure that this thing here can only be a case? A container for something else?" Zhang Bao'er suddenly asked.

That made me realize something. "Zhang Bao'er, oh, Zhang Bao'er, we have truly underestimated you. It seems like, at times, great intelligence may appear to be stupidity."

An alien object like this could not be judged with our common sense. I lifted the case, and we started to study the case carefully.

"The pattern on the case is a map. That might be a clue," I said.

Hearing that, Dodo instantly scanned the case and duplicated the patterns onto the screen.

"Well done, Canyue!" Zhang Xingxing suddenly praised me.

A sense of pride rose involuntarily in me, and I smugly thought, 'So for scenarios like this, they still have to rely on my genius brain, heheheh.'

A star chart could be seen on the screen. The Sirius System was easily recognizable due to the two stars that orbited each other. Additionally, there were four smaller celestial bodies depicted to the left and right of the two stars. Beneath the two stars were numerous clouds, and beneath the clouds seemed to be a sea and a forest. Beside the forest and the sea was a massive path. And beside the path were numerous circles. One of the circles had a square in it.

"So what does this mean? This seems like a map," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Yes, I think it's a map, too," said Old Du.

Everyone agreed that it was a map, but it was also crucial for us to actually decipher it.

"Can I say something?" I asked.

"Spit it out," said the leader.

"In my opinion," I started. "The two bigger celestial bodies are definitely the two stars of the Sirius System. As for the four smaller celestial bodies, they are probably the planets orbiting Sirius A. We have already discovered Sirius I. There might be a Sirius II, Sirius III, and Sirius IV yet to be discovered. 

"The clouds probably symbolize a protective layer akin to an atmosphere or something. The forest and sea are probably something you can find on one of the planets. As for the path and the circles, the path may be a trajectory while the circles might be spaceships."

In truth, the part with the path and circles was beyond my understanding. I was basically creating my theory out of thin air.

"I agree. But since there are four planets, which planet does this map refer to? Also, we have only discovered Sirius I so far. Where are the other three planets?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

'Are there a lot of planets around?' mumbled Zhang Bao'er.

"In that case, let's return to the mothership to further analyze the case. We don't have enough brain power here to solve this," said Zhang Xingxing.

We obeyed and prepared to return. An hour later, everyone was gathered in Saturn's meeting room.

1. White dwarfs can't transform to black holes as far as we know. I don't know if this is simply an author's mistake or intentional, but it doesn't really affect the story much. ☜

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