Chapter 1277 - Set Sail!

After a short break, the starship named “SS Origin”, set off from Celestial City.

The passengers waiting on Celestial City witnessed the shocking scene again.

The engine located on the bottom of the starship emitted an eerie blue glow that provided thrust for the starship, it slowly drifted away from Celestial City.

“The orbital parameters have been corrected.”

“The reactive nitrogen shield is operating normally.”

“Confirm star path safety.”

“All non-fleet personnel should enter the hibernation chamber.”

“The engine is confirmed to be normal, preset power to 10%, ignition is ready.”

“…”

Inside the bridge, reports came one after another.

The brain of the ship was located here, and the bridge also served as the nerve center of the entire ship. All information were collected in this location and all orders were issued out from this hub.

The captain stood at the back of the bridge. His cold and determined eyes stared straight ahead.

On the large holographic screen directly in front of the bridge, a star map that covered the entire solar system unfolded. The orbits of all observable objects were marked in detail in this star map.

A green arc marked the route of SS Origin connected Earth to Mars. SS Origin would orbit for one-fourth around the high Mars orbit before the starship set off to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, then it would sail through the deep space directly to Kuiper Belt. SS Origin would then cruise on the edge of the Solar System, perform training, scientific research, and exploration tasks issued by the Earth Defense Alliance.

From this point on, loneliness would become their shadow that constantly lingered with them. Until the starship receive the order to end the mission, returning to Earth was a distant dream.

However, they were already mentally prepared for this. Even if they would never be able to come back, they did not hesitate when they stepped on board.

Whether it was for their motherland or for the common future of human civilization…

“Captain.” The final procedure before departure was completed. The deputy captain approached the captain, and performed a Celestial Trade Navy salute. “Waiting for orders.”

Captain nodded, picked up the microphone from the command table, and ordered with might.

“Ignite!”

From Celestial City, in the deep and eerie universe, the two clusters of blue glows that held SS Origin gradually extinguished.

Instead, there was a brighter ball of flame.

The flame, like a small Sun, suddenly radiated from the end of the ship’s hull, emitted dazzling white light, and formed layers of heat waves behind it.

Deuterium imprisoned by a strong magnetic field collided violently with Helium-3, and at this moment all the light and heat generated by nuclear fusion were gathered into a bundle by the huge melting furnace. The force pushed SS Origin to the distant starry sky at an incredible speed.

Like a second sunrise.

The dazzling white light instantly blinded everyone.

When their eyes reopened again, the emotions that bloomed in each pupil was all, without exception, shock and excitement.

The passengers that stood in Celestial City waved their arms, and sent the starship off with cheers, whistles, and the flashes of the camera. People all knew that it would become a star in the darkness, and eventually disappear.

The workers of Celestial Shipyard, the astronauts working in the space station, and the people busy around Celestial City all stopped their work at this moment. They looked out the window or into the holographic screen as departed SS Origin. Their face all shared the same excitement and pride.

At the same time that SS Origin ignited, bright fireworks bloomed over Penglai. In this digitized city of the future, every holographic screen belonged to Future Group and every broadcast was playing the incredible scene.

People, regardless of race, nationality, religion, gender, were all watching this in front of their TV… They all cheered for the same reason, prayed for the same dream, blessed for the same name.

Of course, the Internet gave the strongest response.

Three days before the departure of SS Origin, the three keywords “Origin”, “Envoy-Class Starship” and “Earth Fleet” emerged as the top ten most searched words of every major search engines. And when Celestial Trade’s official website annouced its launch, major TV and online media broadcasted the ignition of the fusion engine, the name “Origin” overtook the popularity of any scandals and became the most searched keyword!

There was no background music.

There was no post editing.

But even so, the scene that looked like a second Sun rising was imprinted in everyone’s eyes and soul. It was like a flame had ignited from deep inside the bone marrow, dissipating all the darkness and fear that people once had against extraterrestrial civilization.

Videos of the ignition went viral. The comment section of Celestial Trade’s website was bombarded with comments.

“So… that is a nuclear fusion engine?”

“That is the Envoy-class Starship of Future Heavy Industries?”

“So big… I can’t describe it any other way.”

“Will such a big ship be able to fly out of the Solar System?”

“I wonder if this thing can win against an aircraft carrier battle group …”

“As a UA citizen… well, I don’t know what to say.”

“I don’t know if this can fly to the Gliese 581, but in theory it should only be a matter of time?”

“Long live Celestial Trade! Long live the Earth Defense Alliance! The Earth Fleet will win!”

“The Finnish people sends our congratulations on the successful launch of the Earth Fleet, we will defeat those 20.5 light years away, and revenge the dead Finns and British soldiers who died by Lake Inari …”

“…”

Celestial City, Space Command Center.

With both hands behind him, like most people on Celestial City, Jiang Chen was also looking at the “Sun” disappearing in the distance.

On his right-hand side, countless holographic screens were unfolded, and the real-time reports of SS Origin were summarized by Jean and presented in front of him.

But Jiang Chen didn’t read them at all.

Without even thinking, he could guess the reports.

Everyone was astonished.

To be honest, even Jiang Chen himself was astonished by the scene when the Envoy-class set sail.

Although the scene was emulated countless times in the VR system, actually witnessing the launch was the most shocking experience he ever had.

An idea suddenly appeared in his head.

Brahma, Zheng He, and the space colonization ship that disappeared in the void along with its name … even the starships that symbolized the most advanced forces before the apocalypse, were probably not as astonishing?

After a short while, Jiang Chen shook his head and denied this unrealistic thought.

Although Future Heavy Industries absorbed the technologies of Pan-Asia Cooperation at an incredible speed, he must acknowledge that the gap between the two was still there.

Not to mention, in the case of a damaged space elevator, the ability to launch a colony ship vertically from the atmosphere would be an impossible task for Future Heavy Industries. This demanded extremely high requirements for the material strength, engines, and shield technology of the starship.

At present, SS Origin was equipped with a reactive nitrogen shield to protect itself against the meteorite, and the main engine used the simple, crude and efficient fusion engine. The “Holy Shield” system used in Wanghai may be able to see a breakthrough soon, but the warp drive engine was still far from becoming a reality …

But he could be proud of one thing.

Looking at the universe outside the floor-to-ceiling window, Jiang Chen smiled

He had heard a little about the history of that world from Lin Lin

On that timeline, the time point Pan-Asia Cooperation took this great leap was at the end of the 21st century…