Stellaris: Earth Alliance

Chapter 1 The journey is the sea of ​​stars
AD 2500, star calendar year 0.

With the emergence of the first spacecraft and the discovery of hyperspace lanes, the distance between galaxies is no longer out of reach.

The subsequent information received from extraterrestrial civilizations allowed human civilizations on the earth to quickly unite together to establish a prosperous and unified United Nations of the Earth.

Our journey is the sea of ​​stars!
-

A scientific research spacecraft is being built on the majestic space elevator. At the United Nations headquarters in New York City, North America, representatives from various countries are arguing over future policies.

"The 56th meeting of Bill 136 on Extraterrestrial Things, regarding whether aliens in this country have full citizenship rights, ended. The final result of the meeting was 5200 votes in favor and 4800 votes against. The voting results are invalid."

The first-generation artificial intelligence 550A announced the final voting results, and mechanical electronic sounds echoed in the quiet United Nations conference hall.

For this result, some people breathed a sigh of relief, while others got angry and scolded others around them.

"Aliens are equal to us, and they also have basic human rights. Do you want to turn others into slaves?"

Representatives from other countries who were reprimanded just sneered, "Xenophile trash."

"you!"

"If you think those crawling lizards can be considered humans, I suggest you check their brains first."

The representative took the bag and left, not wanting to say any more nonsense to the other party.

There was constant noise in the huge conference hall, but in the end the meeting ended in despair.

"Recently, the Earth United Nations held its 136th meeting on extraterrestrial affairs in New York City, North America. The content of the meeting..."

On the home TV screen, a beautiful human lady is broadcasting interstellar news on Interstellar TV, which uses a simple drawing of a space elevator as its station logo.

The alien preview next to the lady shows an intelligent reptilian creature with four fleshy beards more than ten centimeters long at the corners of its mouth, a triangle on the top of its head, and uneven skin filled with fleshy spots. It is translated as Quillac. .

"Xiao Xu, when will your scientific research spaceship set off? Is it going to the galaxy controlled by Sunflower Seeds?"

At the dinner table, the family turned on the TV and chatted while eating. The mother saw that aliens were mentioned in the news, so she looked at her son next to her.

Qin Xu had just passed the one-in-a-thousand test as an astronaut on a scientific research ship this year. He just caught up with the completion of the new scientific research ship and successfully enlisted in the army.

Qin Xu was immersed in cooking. Normally, there was no such good food at home, but today it was like a deprived meal for a full banquet.

But in fact, Qin Xu really wanted to tell his parents that today's spaceships are different from the past, and there is no such thing as flying a little bit after hundreds of years.

The discovery of the hyperspace channel made it possible to travel back and forth between star systems and even between galaxies in half a year.

This expedition may come back in about a year or two.

But looking at Qin Xu's current posture, it seemed as if he wouldn't be able to come back in a few hundred years.

"Mom, that's called Quillak, not sunflower seeds." Qin Xu said inarticulately while chewing a big lobster, "The destination is the Centauri galaxy. The main purpose is to explore the situation of that galaxy and at the same time prepare for the subsequent projects. The ship clears the way and explores the location of resources.”

It seemed that the atmosphere at home was a little strange. Qin Xu suddenly stopped eating, swallowed the food in his mouth, and said awkwardly: "I only went out for about a year or two, and it's not like I won't come back..."

My mother suddenly started wiping away tears, and then beat and scolded her father, who had been silent beside her, "It's all your fault for letting Xiaoxu take the exam to be an astronaut. It's so dangerous. What's the use of a job that lasts for decades?"

Dad was also a little helpless, "How could I have known that there would be such an evil thing. Qin Xu has been poor at reading since he was a child, and his brain is also not good. He went to the worst high school, and the most expensive and poor college, and his grades were off the mark. It’s not enough, so I just stuffed money in.”

"But do you know how difficult it is to take the astronaut exam? You have to choose one among tens of thousands of people. Several of my friends who graduated from 985 did not get into it. He has the worst junior college. I just wanted to stimulate him and make him a little better. Heart. Who knows, just entered..."

Seeing that his parents were about to quarrel again, Qin Xu hurriedly said: "I want to go. I want to see the outside world."

Mom stared at Qin Xu for a long time, and in the end she could only hide her tears and sigh. She didn't say anything more, but silently gave Qin Xu a few more drumsticks.

The space elevator in Equatorial Guinea soars into the sky. Qin Xu cannot see the top of the space elevator even at an altitude of tens of thousands of meters while flying.

The girl sitting next to Qin Xu saw him looking up out of the window and couldn't help but said: "The space elevator extends all the way to outer space, and we can't see the top from the airplane."

Qin Xu came back to his senses and said awkwardly: "Haha, I heard in the news that the space elevator is tens of thousands of meters high, so I thought I could see it here."

"To be precise, it's 9.6 kilometers. Our current altitude is still far from the top of the space elevator." She paused, "My name is Chen Xiaomeng."

"I'm……"

Qin Xugang was about to speak, but the other party interrupted him.

"I know you, Qin Xu. You are the only one who has received perfect marks in the shooting test since the Earth United Nations selected astronauts over the years. You broke the convention of not recruiting astronauts specially and passed with unqualified scores in physics, sociology, and engineering. Selection.”

Qin Xu sounded embarrassed at first, but when he heard from behind, he could only cough in embarrassment.

"Okay, okay, it's all over. And those papers are not made by humans at all, okay. I heard others say that a score of 30 points in a single subject is already very good...passed with a score of 60? This is too difficult, really Can anyone pass the exam?"

Qin Xu changed the subject and looked at the beautiful woman in front of him, "How many points did you get in the three subjects combined?"

Chen Xiaomeng was silent for a while, "2560 points."

"what?"

Qin Xu was stunned for a moment, with a face full of shock, "So the test paper is not a [-]-point system?"

"..."

The special plane bearing the flag of Asian country Z and the logo of the deep space fleet flew over the bustling metropolis of Africa, and its destination was directly towards the space elevator in Equatorial Guinea.

On the plane were all soldiers wearing deep space fleet uniforms. Just as the awkward chat between the two ended, the voice of the first-generation artificial intelligence 550A came from the plane.

"Welcome aboard the Z country astronaut plane. My name is artificial intelligence code 550A. From now on, you are a member of the deep space fleet and have the power to issue orders to me. The order execution priority is D level."

The space elevator pulled everyone upward at rocket-like speed. The outstanding astronauts from country Z immediately vomited on the ground as soon as they stepped out of the hatch.

"Will you also experience this kind of acceleration when flying a spacecraft?"

Qin Xu asked Chen Xiaomeng next to him.

Chen Xiaomeng's face was equally pale. She glanced at Qin Xu, who seemed to be fine, but she really didn't have the energy to answer his question.Chen Xiaomeng clicked on the exclusive communicator for scientific research astronauts.

550A's voice came from the communicator, "No."

Qin Xu looked at the communicator on his watch and said with some novelty: "You are quite smart."

"Because I am an artificial intelligence."

550A was silent for a while and then said: "D-class astronaut Qin Xu, during the shooting test, your muzzle moved first, and I moved last, hitting the target that I temporarily changed the direction of movement sixteen times. I want to know. how did you do it."

"Is there such a thing? Maybe you saw it wrong."

Qin Xu deliberately changed the subject.

"I am an artificial intelligence."

550A replied calmly.

"Artificial intelligence can also make mistakes, what do you think?"

Qin Xu looked at Chen Xiaomeng next to him.

Chen Xiao dreamed for a while and said: "Under normal circumstances, artificial intelligence will not make mistakes."

Qin Xu asked seriously: "Then do you think it is more likely that artificial intelligence will make mistakes, or that I can predict the future?"

Chen Xiaomeng was silenced, "It seems that artificial intelligence is more likely to make mistakes..."

Qin Xu smiled and said, "That's right."

"..."

"..."

At the dock at the top of the space elevator, Lieutenant Su Lixuan briefly boosted morale before preparing to let a group of astronauts board the ship.

Suddenly, a piece of information was delivered to Su Lixuan. Su Lixuan took the information and shouted loudly: "Qin Xu comes out."

"To!"

Qin Xu stood out.

"Others board the ship in an orderly manner, targeting the Centauri galaxy."

"what?"

The people around him passed by in a hurry, leaving Qin Xu messy among the passing crowd.

"come here."

When they were almost gone, Su Lixuan finally let Qin Xu come to him.

Qin Xu immediately went over and said, "Captain, why don't you let me get on the ship?"

Su Lixuan patted him on the shoulder, "You can get on the ship, but do you know why a scientific research ship requires 1000 people, but we called 1001 people this time?"

Qin Xu thought hard for a while, and then shook his head violently.

"Because out of those 1001, one person doesn't need to do anything."

"why?"

Qin Xu asked.

"Because in the thousand-point exam, his physics and engineering exams combined only scored 38 points."

"..."

-

In the Office of the President of the Earth United Nations, President Vanessa is browsing the overall data of the Earth United Nations that has been sorted out by artificial intelligence 550A.

On the list of astronauts, 550A carefully marked each person's expertise, including those who were good at particle physics, propulsion mechanics, materials science, industry, etc.

There is only one exception, and that is Qin Xu's expertise. There are three question marks.

"550A, you asked Qin Xu to be specially recruited. Why do you put three question marks on his expertise?"

"Mr. President, I need your authorization to determine the name of Qin Xu's expertise."

Vanessa hesitated for a while and then nodded, "Agree to authorize."

550A's creative thinking module was unlocked, and Qin Xu wrote "spiritual medium" in his specialty column.

Vanessa frowned, "Is this a new word you created? I don't understand what it means."

"Spiritual medium, spirit is the spirit, and medium refers to the medium used for communication."

"Acting as a medium to communicate with gods? Is this his ability? 550A, are you kidding? You are an artificial intelligence, and you should be the most determined materialist."

Vanessa expressed confusion.

550A still said coldly in the electronic voice: "It is precisely because I am the staunchest materialist that I believe in the existence of gods the most."

"why?"

The red light on the camera staring at Vanessa flashed and the focus zoomed.

"Because the elimination of idealistic things has always been the highest mission of mechanical life."

(End of this chapter)