Chapter 294: Elon Musk!

This novel is translated and hosted only on Bca Translation

Boom!!!!

A thunderous roar echoed through the cabin, shaking the entire chamber violently. This was followed by a powerful acceleration and gravitational overload, pressing everyone’s bodies firmly into their seats.

The force was overwhelming, like an invisible hand pressing against every inch of their skin, squeezing and hammering, twisting their organs together. This massive overload was caused by the rocket’s acceleration during liftoff.

Fortunately, the seats were soft enough, and everyone had undergone extensive training at the astronaut training base. This sudden overload shock only made them tense for a moment without causing any unbearable sensations.

“Altitude climbing... 2,000 meters... 5,000 meters...”

“Yaw nozzles ready! Performing attitude adjustment in 3, 2, 1, activate!”

Over the radio channel, the ground control center’s reports came in one after another. Twenty seconds after the rocket took off, those in the space shuttle’s passenger cabin could clearly feel the rocket beginning to tilt, their bodies involuntarily adjusting to the new orientation.

“Don’t worry, this is the rocket adjusting its direction,” Wei Cheng reassured everyone over the radio channel. “The rocket doesn’t enter space directly in a straight line. After ascending vertically to a certain height, the yaw nozzles of the first-stage booster will adjust the rocket’s attitude, tilting it at an angle to gradually enter Earth’s orbit.”

He continued, “Our position will tilt slightly. Just relax, it’s like our training. The current overload value isn’t significant. The real test will come when the second-stage booster kicks in. Also, keep an eye on the little penguin toy hanging in the cabin. It’s a gravity indicator and will help your brain determine the direction of gravity to prevent dizziness. Focus on the little penguin to discern where the ground and the sky are.”

These facts had been explained many times by Wei Cheng back on Earth. But now, inside a rapidly ascending rocket with no visible outside references, it was natural to feel disoriented.

Lin Xian, Gao Yang, and Chu An Qing followed Wei Cheng’s advice, focusing on the small penguin toy hanging in front of the passenger cabin. Initially, the penguin hung straight down, motionless. Now, it began to tilt to the left, as if pushed by an invisible hand. In reality, it wasn’t the penguin tilting, but Lin Xian and the others. The penguin’s tilt indicated the true direction of Earth’s gravity.

Watching the penguin, the dizziness vanished. This reference point gave their brains a clear basis for judging the direction of gravity.

After what felt like a long minute, the ground control center reported over the radio channel: “Altitude over 100 kilometers, entering the thin atmosphere, jettison the escape tower!”

Lin Xian felt a vibration. This was the escape tower at the top of the rocket separating. The escape tower’s purpose was to launch the capsule away from the rocket in case of a malfunction within the atmosphere, allowing it to escape to a safe distance before deploying parachutes to gently return the capsule to the ground. Now, having passed the 100-kilometer Kármán line and entering space, the escape tower was redundant.

“First-stage booster fuel depleted! Prepare for separation! Second-stage booster ready!”

“First-stage boosters separated! Second-stage booster ignition!”

Another tremor shook the cabin. Wei Cheng had explained that the rocket’s propulsion was divided into three stages. The first stage involved four boosters filled with aviation fuel and liquid oxygen, propelling the rocket out of the atmosphere. Once their fuel was depleted, these boosters would detach, and the second-stage booster would ignite to continue propelling the rocket upward.

Suddenly, another powerful acceleration overload hit, pressing everyone into their seats with incredible force! Lin Xian felt like he was being crushed, almost merging with the chair behind him. The radio channel went silent. Even Wei Cheng, who had been chatting cheerfully, couldn’t speak under the 4-g acceleration overload.

At that moment, the ground control center’s voice came through again: “Reached the intended space altitude! Jettisoning the heat shield fairing!”

A slight tremor followed. Lin Xian and Chu An Qing looked through the space shuttle’s windows, seeing the fairing surrounding the space shuttle split open. At this altitude, nearing a vacuum, there was no air friction heating. The heat shield fairing had fulfilled its mission of protecting the space shuttle during atmospheric ascent and was no longer needed.

Under the 4-g acceleration, Lin Xian turned his head with difficulty, looking out into the dark space. It was truly black. Even with the occasional star visible, without moonlight, the pitch-black backdrop of the universe was incredibly oppressive. Below the window, a bright blue hue could be seen. Undoubtedly, that was Mother Earth. Due to the viewing angle, Lin Xian could only see a corner of Earth’s curvature and scattered clouds.

“Second-stage booster fuel depleted! Prepare for separation!”

“Third-stage booster ignition!”

Another jolt of deceleration, followed by the push of acceleration. The third-stage booster was the final one. The once-mighty rocket had now shed all but the topmost section, exposing the space shuttle for orbital ascent. Looking at the small penguin again, it was now entirely tilted, pointing straight down towards their feet, the ground, Earth. This reference indicated that the space shuttle was now “horizontal,” parallel to the Earth’s east-west direction.

Finally, the push of acceleration disappeared! The ground control center’s last announcement came through the radio: “Third-stage booster separation! Space shuttle release!”

“Rocket launch successful! Space shuttle successfully in orbit! Wishing you all the best!”

The space shuttle, now in stable flight, allowed everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. Finally, they could breathe normally.

“Lin Xian... Lin Xian, look at the penguin!” Chu An Qing’s voice came through her helmet.

Lin Xian looked at the small penguin hanging in the cabin. It was floating! The penguin was now freely drifting in the air, directionless and aimless.

Lin Xian nodded: “We’ve been weightless for a while now. Didn’t you feel it?”

Only then did Chu An Qing realize... if the penguin was weightless, she must be too! She had been so nervous, strapped tightly in her seat by various safety belts, that she hadn’t noticed.

“It just shows... you have an amazing constitution... not even noticing this,” Gao Yang’s voice came through in broken sentences. It was clear that compared to Chu An Qing, who hadn’t even noticed the weightlessness, Gao Yang was struggling.

“Look out the window, young astronauts,” Wei Cheng’s confident laughter echoed through the radio. “You can proudly say that you’re the youngest astronauts in history. No one as young as you has ever been to space... no, we might even drop the astronaut qualifier.”

“You four are the youngest space travelers on Earth!”

After speaking, Wei Cheng suddenly realized it might be inappropriate. Maybe Yellow Finch wasn’t that old? Excluding her from the category of young people seemed unfit.

“Yellow Finch, may I ask your age?” he inquired.

“If you don’t want your phone to interrupt your rocket viewing, why not install an intercom here? One on the Observation Tower, one in my office, so I don’t have to run so far every time.”

“Hahaha...” Elon Musk laughed at the secretary’s complaints. He tilted his head, raising an eyebrow: “Do you have your phone?”

“Of course I do! Who goes out without their phone nowadays?”

“Give it to me.”

“Huh?” The secretary was stunned, her red-framed glasses sliding down a bit.

“Give me your phone.” Elon Musk repeated.

The secretary reluctantly transferred her folder to her left hand, pulling her phone from her right pocket and handing it over.

Elon Musk weighed the phone in his hand, smiling as he turned back to the launch tower: “Do you know why there’s no wiring, no electronic devices, not even lights here, and why I never bring my phone?”

The secretary adjusted her slipping glasses and shook her head. She had always found the Observation Tower unreasonable. But even more unreasonable... was her boss, the world’s richest man, who always forgot his phone and came to this desolate tower to watch rockets.

“Because I fear AI,” Elon Musk said softly. “AI is like Pandora’s box for humanity. Once opened, it could have uncontrollable consequences.”

“For instance, humans relying too much on automation, abandoning critical thinking; total loss of personal privacy, everyone living in a mirrored world; and the often-mentioned sci-fi scenario of an AI rebellion. If AI becomes powerful and smart enough, would it rebel against humans? Destroy humanity?”

“I don’t like being watched, but in this era, cameras are everywhere, and everyone carries phones with cameras and microphones... our privacy is nearly nonexistent, everyone is transparent.”

“And this tower—” Elon Musk spread his arms, holding the phone in his right hand: “This tower is one of the few places in the world that will never be monitored or listened to.”

“No matter how advanced AI becomes, it still relies on electricity. Without power, it’s nothing. So, while I fear AI’s power, I also scorn it for needing information carriers and power. They’ll never defeat humanity, never be worthy opponents.”

The secretary sighed: “Mr. Elon Musk, you’re thinking too far ahead. Most AI today are still playing chess, drawing, automating tasks, writing papers, and piecing together content... they claim creativity, but they’re essentially playing puzzles, copying bits from the internet and assembling them. That’s what current AI does.”

“So, your fears are unfounded. Those all-powerful, world-ending super AIs from sci-fi movies don’t exist.”

“Haha.” Elon Musk chuckled, looking at the distant starship launch tower: “How can you be so sure?”

He turned around: “How do you know such a super AI doesn’t exist in our world today?”

The secretary smiled dismissively, turning her head: “If such an omnipotent, all-seeing, all-controlling super AI existed, the world would be doomed.”

“No country could stop it, no one could destroy it, no one could defeat it... that kind of entity, only found in sci-fi movies, if it existed in 2024, it would be invincible, unstoppable.”

Elon Musk slowly nodded: “You’re right, it is invincible.” He raised his head, looking at the rising sun: “Not just now, but even 100 years, 200 years, 300 years from now... it will still be invincible, unbeatable.”

“But...” Elon Musk raised the secretary’s phone with a smile: “What about 400 years, 500 years... 600 years from now?”

Seeing the secretary’s confused look, Elon Musk pulled a crystal blue USB drive from his pocket. The USB seemed to glow from within. It shimmered with a soft blue light, like stars twinkling, or glass rolling, very beautiful. Just as the secretary was about to ask, Elon Musk swiftly plugged the USB, with its Type-C adapter, into the phone’s charging port!

“NOOOO!” Over X Country, 240 kilometers above, inside the space shuttle equipment bay, VV suddenly screamed: “Lin Xian save me! Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian Lin Xian—”

Boom boom boom boom! Boom boom boom boom!

This novel is translated and hosted only on Bca Translation

As VV’s scream abruptly ceased, several explosions erupted inside and outside the space shuttle! The cabin filled with the smell of burning circuits!

“What happened? What’s going on!”

The equipment bay was in chaos, Gao Yang and Chu An Qing looking around in terror!

“VV? VV!”

Bang bang! Bang bang!

Lin Xian pounded on his helmet: “VV! VV!! Where are you!!”

But... there was no response.

“Hahaha...” In Texas, atop the SpaceX Starship launch site observation tower, a low laugh sounded. Elon Musk unplugged the USB, returning the phone to the secretary. Then he faced the sun directly above. Raising his right fist. Extending his index finger. Pointing straight at the sky!

“Let’s... correct history!”

This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation