History of Human Space Exploitation

Chapter 14 Unknown journey

An agreement clearly signed by Party A as Pei Hui and Party B as Luozhang Southern Land Reclamation Co., Ltd. was clearly projected on the retina of Party A, Pei Hui.In just one millisecond, after Pei Hui confirmed his acceptance of the transaction in his cortical consciousness, his personal DNA signature information will be combined with the contract text to form a unique official text, which will be uploaded to the star area real estate and The database server of the resource exchange is available for all who need it.

Through this transaction, Pei Hui got two things. One is to prove that he has no visible debts as a "star area outstanding credit citizen" status, and the other is to prove that he and his grandparents and fathers have been on Luozhangxing so far and no longer own A simple protocol of a few hundred bytes for any surface land, or any property attached to the surface or subsurface.These seemingly huge debts may be nothing more than an entry in several similar figures for interstellar tycoons, but for Pei Huijia, it has been due to the artificially created imbalance between supply and demand of minerals for more than 60 years, which has led to the need for continuous borrowing The end result of getting by and staying in business.

About 70 years ago, Pei Hui's grandfather, Pei Tian, ​​came to Luozhang with the planet-level immigration transport fleet.Pei Tian originally lived on Tianlong [-] and made a living doing odd jobs in the city. Although the salary was sometimes more and sometimes less, he could feed the whole family comfortably by himself, so he could get by.However, no matter how decadent and idle a person is, he can't stand up to the bombarding advertisements for immigrants to the new planet by members of the Professional Planetary Development Association and various development companies, large or small.In the first few years, such huge holographic advertisements only appeared on squares, on public transportation, or on the curtain walls of buildings. At that time, people could still regard seeing as ignoring.And later, when such advertisements, even a few well-designed advertisements, appeared on fast food packaging boxes, toilet paper in public toilets, and even on every floor tile passed by pedestrians, people could accept different opinions according to their preferences. A hint of the type of ad.

Under such a propaganda campaign, perhaps the pioneering spirit in Pei Tian's heart was excavated or created, and he boarded the immigration ship that only needed 999.31 hours' wages to pay for the ship's fare.The one-month trip on the ship was not boring. On the ship, Pei Tian met Pei Hui's grandmother, who was also a red-haired young woman who was very similar to Pei Tian.After arriving at Luozhang, a habitable planet with a Kamin index of [-], according to the agreement, Pei Tian and his fiancée Liu Yuxuan, who had been in a hot relationship for more than a month, signed a land authorization contract with the planet development company.

The content of the contract is very simple and fair, that is, the new immigrants can provide tools, materials and robots worth 20.00 joint credits in the company's concession for agricultural reclamation or mineral development.60.00% to 75% of the grain and minerals produced each year can be kept as daily expenses and daily necessities, and the rest will be sold to the company at a price of 15% to 15% of the market price.The execution time of the agreement is [-] years. If the new immigrants want to terminate the agreement and buy out the cultivated land or mining area at one time within [-] years, they only need to click on the global real estate transaction network at that time, according to Luo Zhangxing’s Kamin index, resource endowment, development depth and future expectations. The land price calculated by the parameters can be paid to the company.

In the first 800 years of human development of the universe, because there are still a large number of unknowable fields to be developed, the small development companies and groups that existed in the early days can still balance their own interests and long-term development, that is, they can use the funds they get to travel through the universe. Tunnel to develop more planets.However, after Pei Hui’s grandfather Pei Tian completed the first 15-year agreement and lived in a stable life for more than ten years, due to technical reasons and political reasons that have a deeper impact on human society, the overall outward development speed has slowed down.Such a situation has resulted in no objective number of new planets or new galaxies in the entire human-accessible universe, providing companies and adventurers with more themes of sudden wealth and skyrocketing stocks, and an economic result is small companies They have integrated their resources and formed large companies, or used their resources as bargaining assets to be acquired by large companies with considerable joint credit points.

The merger of companies is most likely to form oligopoly monopoly, and the policy and price alliance formed between oligarchs. In addition, the human-cosmic coalition government at that time has been struggling for many years in the ups and downs. Naturally, it has no energy to interfere with the oligopoly companies. Behavior.Pei Tian was the first to feel the despair brought about by the monopoly: at that time, the company that controlled Luo Zhangxing had already controlled the development and operation rights of the new immigrant planets in the [-] adjacent galaxies. Increase the prices of the living and production materials they have, such as fusion fuel, high-hardness drill bits of large mineral mining machines, etc.This naturally led to these new immigrants to the planet who were relatively wealthy and lived a good life, and slowly began the long journey of debt and debt repayment.

Now, although Pei Hui, who is already homeless, has his head down, he doesn't know what to think.His only remaining property is the old small two-stage fusion transport boat that his grandfather drove between the Liangshuoxing iron mine area and Luozhangxing where his family is located 50 years ago.The fusion fuel in the spaceship, according to the display on the ship's computer, should be able to serve him at least for a trip of no less than ten astronomical units. It has been used normally for more than 100 years in a new state, and it has been working for another 30 years in a half-new and half-old place, and then it is repaired and used to the current engine. In fact, it may only be able to run a distance of no more than four astronomical units.

Four astronomical units, where can we go from Luozhangxing?The nearest star tunnel, No. 1-9-31, is separated by a distance of 1 astronomical units, and from the star map, there are almost no inhabited planets within three astronomical units of this star tunnel.Although there is an all-material supply station operated by the star district government next to the 9-31-[-] Star Tunnel, the cash-strapped Pei Hui can only pay limited joint credits to the underground food supply station to buy some synthetic protein bars and multivitamins particles.In the meantime, the only thing that can be used to treat one's taste buds kindly is the pizza that has been the most popular among interstellar drifters for hundreds of years.

Several reprints of "Daily Life of Amateur Space Travelers 9973 Questions" have carefully described the most basic style of sausage pizza in a way that everyone can understand, but in today's world where interstellar tycoons persist in competing for profits with ordinary people. In the [-]s, the materials used gradually had to cut corners and reduce quality.Pei Hui thought, even when Ms. Zhu Xiaoyue invented the interstellar pizza baking method, those original interstellar pizzas used to serve no more joint credit than homeless men and criminals used at least more flour, cheese and sausage than when he was just sensible. is much better.And... the food that is eaten in various interstellar space supply stations now is not as good as those composites more than ten years ago.

Eyes staring blankly at the holographic interstellar navigation map composed of seven or eight colors in the middle of the cruise room, Pei Hui didn't know where his next destination should be.The periphery of the holographic navigation map has previously been set to be in a sphere with a radius of three astronomical units centered on Star Tunnel 1-9-31.The inside of the sphere is roughly 60.00% of the East Thistle star area. Outside the sphere, because the navigation map is no longer displayed, it looks like an invisible cosmic wall enclosing these red, green, blue, and orange dots and lines. Inside the sphere, it also looks like a universe that is integrated with the not-so-large space of the cruising room when viewed from the sphere, defying the people in the spherical living circle with its vastness and darkness.

Where are you going?Pei Hui was alone, and all his property was the old spaceship and the crude equipment and supplies on the spaceship. In addition, the fuel tank of the spaceship could only allow him to safely reach the place represented by the red and orange origins in the holographic sphere. Come on, where can he go?
Pei Hui's family can only let him go to the ordinary primary education center in the south of Luozhang from the age of seven to 15 to receive basic literacy, basic equipment use and basic survival skills, but now he is in his 20s. The scope and depth of understanding of the universe and human beings are much higher than those of their parents and grandparents.All this is due to the fact that a scientist known only as Wells 70 years ago created a new information transmission mode under accidental conditions, that is, the current Wells information flow in the universe.

The basic principle of the information flow in Wells is that, through the Planck space, the disturbance peak-to-valley difference with the size of one billionth of a gluon is used, and the energy of the order of millroentgen is used to achieve information within a million light-years. Implement dissemination.Under such a mechanism, each information source distributor only needs to have a brain-sized miniature fusion communicator, and without any relay device or any intermediate storage medium, it can Broadcast information within the range or send one-to-one, one-to-many encrypted information.

In the past, because the communication method relied on the high-power relay quantum communication space stations at both ends of each star tunnel, although the information transmitted at the speed of light did not need to pass through the interstellar gaps of tens, hundreds, or even tens of thousands of light-years, the fact is that In the vast space of the universe, the communication period between the farthest ends of human beings still reaches seven standard months.Furthermore, the high-power relay quantum communication space station requires extremely high maintenance costs and permanent personnel due to its inherent instability in principle. It can barely maintain its operation in the era when the entire human universe is in peaceful development, but when the entire universe is in its own right In times of decline or decline, many remote star regions have truly become information islands.

Thanks to the information flow in Wells, Pei Hui has obtained from the almost unlimited information flow in the past ten years what he dreamed and longed for since childhood, about adventure, wandering around the world, and enjoying in the vast universe. Dark stories of all kinds.Confusedly watching the holographic navigation ball's eyes gradually focus and regain consciousness, Pei Hui ordered "Xiao Dian Dian" to adjust the range of visible navigation requests to fifteen astronomical units, and marked all artificial celestial bodies with records in this range in purple , and this range also includes the credible and unreliable coordinate points he recorded in the information flow and rumors in the past ten years.

The search results displayed made Pei Hui clenched his fists with sweat. At a distance of 1 AU from Star Tunnel No. 9-31-190, there was an explosion about [-] years ago due to the merger of two neutron stars. The star tunnel that was closed by the impact of the gravitational waves produced.And around the Star Tunnel whose serial number is unknown, of course, there is a high-power relay quantum communication space station that spent a lot of money and considerable manpower stationed in the past, and there are several mines that are used to receive the raw ore mined in the mining area at the other end of the Star Tunnel. Large space smelter.

Pei Hui's plan is as follows: Although the old spaceship can only take him to a distance of four astronomical units under the condition of "absolute safety", this is the calculation result under the condition of absolute safety of sufficient acceleration and deceleration .If you are in the gravitational well of Luozhang Star, use the gravitational slingshot acceleration method that has been used by no one as early as the end of the earth era, and use manual intervention to align and drive to star tunnel No. 1-9-31 and pass through, and then use the remaining energy 20.00% After making a course correction, the spacecraft can reach the edge of the star tunnel after several months of inertial driving.Finally, use the remaining fusion fuel to slow down to a safe speed, and slowly approach and rub against those old unknown space stations.

"

You were born among the hills and brooks of the Shire, but now home is behind and the world is ahead

I think it is not some amazing achievement that keeps the darkness out, but what ordinary people do every day, their ordinary good deeds.

The real world is not in your books and on your maps, it's outside.

Over the cold misty mountains

To the deep ancient cave rock

The pines roar on the top of the mountains
The night wind mourns like a broken heartstring

Scarlet flames burn endlessly
Giant trees spread like torches in the forest
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
"

These few words and phrases in the books handed down from ancient times made Pei Hui feel excited when reading or thinking about them.Although he may not be able to compare with the halfling who has traveled thousands of mountains and rivers in Middle-earth and experienced incomparable wonders, he believes that as long as he takes his own steps, it will always be the best comfort to his inner reverie .

The universe is vast, star tunnels weave a network, prestige and knowledge, no land contends for an annexation, everyone is in danger,

Desires are hard to fill, the stars are shining, the wrecked ship sails in the sky, the slingshot surveys the sky, and marches towards the unknown.

Pei Hui didn't know what was waiting for him around the Star Tunnel whose serial number had been forgotten. Maybe it was the death that fell on him before reaching the destination, or maybe there was no supplies to be found after arriving. Maybe it's the interstellar pirates who have been there for many years, waiting for a fool like him to come to the door, maybe some new gadgets that have no logic at all, who knows?Isn't that what adventure to the unknown is all about?

(End of this chapter)