Son of the Stars

Chapter 186 Authorization
"Yes, we have now switched to autonomous operation mode." Ruan Hongying repeated on the radio, "We have received authorization from the Space Administration, and the permission has been verified - the same news has also been received from the communication nodes in the Americas, Europe, and Africa regions."

On the other end of the radio, Field was obviously shocked by the news and didn't know what to say. He said to the intercom, "Um, then... this, uh, are you sure, no, are you sure that... this news is really true?"

Field was only the deputy commander, and the main obstacle preventing him from becoming the commander was his psychological defect - compared with other commanders, Field's ability to accept emergencies was obviously worse.

However, considering the shocking nature of the news and the consequences it brought, Field's incoherent request for reconfirmation can only be regarded as his "rigorousness" at best.

In the vast universe, as the group of humans farthest away from the earth in history, the entire Dawn flight mission team is like a fetus that has left the mother's body - in fact, they are much more fragile than the fetus, after all, the fetus can still survive after leaving the mother's body after full-term.

But the Dawn mission team can't do that.

There is an inexplicable connection between the earth and the spacecraft. This connection usually does not have much effect, and even its presence is very weak.

But once it switches to autonomous action mode, it means that the umbilical cord connecting the two planets is broken - and there is a big problem with the mother body, a huge problem.

If an embryo has no umbilical cord support and the mother is almost completely dead, there is no way it can survive.

No matter how much material is flying in the orbit of Mars, no matter how many blueprints and equipment are still on the Dawn 6, if human society on Earth perishes, this group of humans in the orbit of Mars and on the surface of Mars will also perish.

There were a total of six female astronauts in the original three space mission groups, but with the explosion of Dawn 8, there are only three female astronauts left.

From a genetic perspective, there aren't enough astronauts on Mars to sustain a species.

It would be sociologically impossible for astronauts to form a viable society—and even physically impossible for them to survive.

No known plant can carry out sufficient photosynthesis on the surface of Mars. The content of the water-ice mixture underground on Mars is unknown and difficult to mine. Humans cannot survive without water to drink and food.

In short, if something happens on Earth, all the astronauts will die.

"There's no point in worrying about this now." Zheng Yan was silent for a few seconds, then said into the microphone in front of her, "Even if we turn back now, it will take us a year to get home. I believe that no matter what kind of threat the human world faces, it will not be extinct due to the lack of fourteen astronauts. If humanity is doomed to perish, then there is no value in us going back."

Ruan Hongying was a little surprised by Zheng Yan's straightforwardness, but she quickly understood Zheng Yan's idea - there was no point in worrying, it was better to continue the mission. Even if humans were to become extinct, they would only be completely extinct after landing on Mars.

Countless years from now, perhaps other intelligent creatures will explore the solar system in spacecraft. After discovering the remains of the Earth, they may find the Dawn crew on Mars, which has become a wreckage. By that time, the remains of the landing module and orbital module, as well as the white bones on Mars, will become the last monument of human species and civilization. We have been to Mars.

Every astronaut wrote a suicide note when they were selected for the mission. This was especially true for the Mars landing mission, the largest and most difficult space mission that humans had undertaken in the decades since the Great Collapse. When signing up for the mission selection, everyone was prepared for this.

Now it's just a matter of preparing to cash in, there's nothing to be nervous about.

"I understand, I understand everything." Valentina's voice came from the radio, "We will continue to carry out the mission, I wish you good luck."

"Good luck to you too." Zheng Yan paused and said, "Just in case, I suggest that the landing module and orbital module implement the precautionary documentary playing procedure."

This was the strategy that the China National Space Administration had formulated for the Dawn series missions before the mission took off. In the vast universe, once an astronaut has a major collapse, it would be too late to send a rescue team from Earth. The only effective solution is to store enough historical documentaries and restraint devices on the Dawn series spacecraft, striving to provide as many means as possible to help astronauts successfully survive the major collapse crisis.

Now, the Great Collapse has broken out on Earth, and even NASA is at a point where it is “not sure it can still perform its duties.” No one knows what went wrong on Earth—is there a sudden global power outage, so there is no way to intervene?

No matter how confused they are, according to the plan of the Space Administration, when it is believed that the crew may be affected by "major collapse propagation", the emergency playback system should be turned on and historical documentaries should be played in a random loop.

In order to ensure the safety of astronauts who cannot get help in time, these documentaries are carefully selected, and they are the ones with the highest success rate in treating major collapse in the past few decades. The production may not be sophisticated, and the content may not necessarily suit the preferences of modern people - but each documentary can start from the small details, from the reaction of daily life to the changes of the times. No matter what era's standards are used, they are all very rare good works.

The documentary began to play simultaneously in the Dawn-7 and the landing module. The familiar voice sounded from all directions, stirring up the memories of everyone who heard it. It seemed to be a historical documentary that I watched for the first time when I was a child, or a familiar story that I watched with my friends in school, or the background sound that lingered in my ears when I was in love with my lover, or more like a sigh in the sound of the life monitor before I died.

"Under the repeated shocks of the Great Collapse, the remaining sane people gathered together, abandoned differences in geography, skin color and ideology, and jointly announced the establishment of a coalition government..." This line, which could not be more familiar, sounded simultaneously in the orbit of Mars, in the Martian atmosphere, and in more than 400 settlements on Earth. An invisible wind blew across Mars and Earth, as if it had never been interrupted in the past thousand years.

"The United Government has made a solemn commitment that all actions will be for the survival of mankind and all actions will ensure human safety - survival will always be the highest command of the species."
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"These reserves are enough to last at least a hundred years." At the submarine base in the Bay of Biscay, S3C7 was busy in front of a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile. At its side, No. frowned as he looked at the pile of glucose, saline and filtration equipment and asked, "What are you going to do with all this?"

"More than a hundred years. My goal is to keep those two brains running for at least three hundred years at low power consumption." S3C7's answer was a little edgy due to the speaker. "For three hundred years, the human species can continue to exist - this way I don't have to worry about the legality of the authorization."

"To track a satellite moving at the second cosmic speed for three hundred years and monitor whether the brain inside is alive, this project is too difficult, isn't it?" No. 42 asked, "How do you solve the signal transmission problem?"

"No need to transmit, theoretically it's enough to support it." S3C7 opened the top of the ballistic missile in front of him, "For systems whose operating status cannot be determined, we can make reasonable guesses based on the existing data. The rocket will ensure that they stay within the range of the Crab Pulsar's electron jet and will not explode or commit suicide. With enough biomass, they can certainly provide me with authorization for at least three hundred years."

(End of this chapter)