Age of Cosmic Exploration, 1 Read online

  Since its inception, scientific technology has enjoyed exponential growth. It benefitted from multiple industrial revolutions and theoretical contributions of pioneers from multiple fields and showed no signs of slowing down until the end of the twentieth century where it seemed to have plateaued.

  It was, however, in this period of progressive lull that the Americans had unlocked the mystery of the alien spaceship. Perhaps more than a mere coincidence, it was in that same year that they announced their mastery of space-warping technology. The promise was to warp the first human outside the confines of the solar system by the end of the year 2027. It was easily the biggest news of the century!

  Back in the present, Yao Yuan carried on with his explanation, "I've received a mail from a senior of mine around the month of April 2028. It contained an encrypted series of codes. Considering this senior is a key decryption expert, it wasn't much of a surprise. Our relationship goes way back to when I saved his daughter during an international crisis, and we have been mailing correspondents since then. Around the time I received the mail, I had just returned from a trip to his place. That was when he introduced me to this newly-created decryption key of his. Thinking that was his way of getting me to try his keys, I solved the code without giving it much thought. As you might have guessed, the results of those codes are these sets of numbers and letters."

  Facing his companions, Yao Yuan carried on gravely, "Perhaps it was wrong of me to dismiss it as one of his decoding trails, because not long after that, apocalyptic rumors of every kind started festering around the interwebs. It was then that I intuited these were probably more than a mere trial run. To clear things up, I flew to Italy to visit his family, but when I was there, they were already under heavy surveillance. Based on my observations, I could tell that the surveyors were of American or British intelligence. It was fortunate that I had the foresight to be in disguise then or else it would have been impossible to slip away from the scene without drawing their attention. Nevertheless, their presence did confirm my suspicion that these letters and numbers are more important than I previously thought they were.

  Nevertheless, for the life of me, I was unable to fathom their significance then. My wildest guess was that they referred to some top secret intel that was of note to both the US and the UK, thus explaining the situation I encountered. That was back in the summer of 2029. All of my attention was concentrated on saving this old friend of mine…

  Just as the preparations for the rescue operation was going into its final phase, which was more or less a month ago, I’m pretty sure you guys are familiar with what happened then. Important personnel and all the rich and powerful suddenly disappeared overnight. What's more frightening is that none of the country’s officials reached out to release any sort of statement; the world simply went on like nothing had ever happened. It was then that I realized that we're in deeper waters than I thought."

  Here, Yao Yuan paused. When he carried on, his brows were in knots as if in pain. "As you guys may know, I consider myself quite familiar with European myths, and when I saw the text part of the code, I immediately thought of the tale of Noah's Ark… The story goes that because God saw how sinful the world had become, he decided to punish man by summoning an endless storm. The punishment was meant to literally and figuratively cleanse the world. Only one man managed to survive the ordeal: Noah. Before the storm, Noah received an omen from God; he was to build an ark and corral pairs of animals of opposite sexes onto it. And because of that, Noah and his family, as well as those animals on board, became the sole survivors of the apocalypse. The survivors were said to have repopulated into what we know as the world today, and the ark that was responsible for saving the world was named Noah, after its builder."

  Wong, who was beside Yao Yuan, piped up. "Captain Yao, if we were to connect the story you've just told and these sets of coordinates, you don't think…"

  Yao Yuan nodded his confirmation. "That's exactly what I thought! If I'm not mistaken, these coordinates triangulate the location of our Noah, the spaceship that will save the world just like in the story! This might be our only hope of escaping extinction!"

  Since a month ago, when the upper echelons of human society started disappearing, the world was thrown into a state of unease. There were small protests and inquiries, but overall civility prevailed. It was a period of contained anarchy as people waited for a new order of hierarchy to arrange itself.

  Things took a turn for the worse, however, when speculations of conspiracies started flying across the masses. As expected of unverifiable sources, there were variations to the story, but the gist was that when the Americans did their first space-warp experiment in 2027, it disrupted the space-time continuum. The result was that astronomers all over the world started to discover an anomaly in space. There appeared to be a rogue asteroid that was hurtling at lightspeed towards the solar system. The asteroid, suspected to be a fragment of a much bigger neutron star, was low in volume but high in mass, thus making it incredibly dense and therefore dangerous. Astronomers calculated its density to be multiple times that of earth. They also deduced that based on its trajectory and speed, it would come into contact with the sun around the summer of 2030. The impact would be unimaginably bad. The solar nova would eclipse the whole solar system but not before charring everything to crisps. Without the higher-ups to dictate order, the news plummeted the world into an apocalyptic frenzy. People wailed in despair or went attacking others in some sort of widespread lunatic high. Situations got so bad that the army staged a military coup, which unfortunately quickly spiraled into an indiscriminate massacre. It seemed like the apocalyptic gloom had broken everyone's minds.

  It was indeed the end of the world!

  The degree of annihilation rendered it so that it wasn't something that could be avoided by hiding and living underground for decades, nor could it be deterred by moving to Mars. This was going to be a complete eradication of the solar system! There appeared to be no way out.

  The Hail Mary pass would be the culprit that started it all: space-warp technology. One could theoretically use it in a spacecraft to warp over vast distances to beyond the solar system and hopefully locate a hospitable planet in outer space and survive.

  Nevertheless, this information would have been privy to the rich and famous as well, and one could surmise that that was the reason behind their mass disappearances. Various covert intel operatives confirmed that these people were, just like the plot of the sci-fi film ‘2012,’ building a spacecraft in secret, behind the prying eyes of the public. It was a literal survival of the fittest! They had colluded among themselves to seek survival on their own and leave the rest of humanity to their own devices.

  The lack of scientific knowledge and leadership was acting against the chance of survival for the roughly seventy billion people that were left behind. Furthermore, for humanity, time was running out. It was already summer of 2029, so the speculated end was less than a year away. Mankind was on its final lap.

  The combination of despair and devastation from abandonment twisted humanity back unto its ugly, basic instincts. The world became a cesspool of iniquity, dominated by death, famine, pestilence, and war. The first victims to fall to the Apocalypse were the unfortunate influentials that were left behind, or the scapegoats. Their families were subjected to unspeakable horrors before being granted the sweet release of death. The next to succumb were the women, who were then followed by the children. With no weaker targets to subjugate, the men finally turned upon themselves.

  "But, let's not lose hope!" stressed Yao Yuan, with a punch on the table, denting its metal surface. Between gritted teeth, he declared, "Brothers, have hope! If these codes have a merit of truth, then we mustn't lose hope! This Ark could be our last hope for survival!"

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  Chapter3 Target!

  "Now that we have a fixed mission target, it's time to hammer down some other deta
ils," said Yao Yuan. As he said it, the gravity of the situation gradually dawned on the Black Star Unit.

  "The first will be the location. The coordinates have been confirmed to pinpoint the area where the spacecraft is said to have crashed in Tennessee. This further confirms my suspicion that there's a secret base around there somewhere and that is exactly where we are heading.

  After arrival, the imminent objective is to secure a spacecraft. Next, we will need to learn how to start and pilot it. Those are the fundamentals of our mission. Beyond that… Of course, we will need to secure sufficient rations and drinkable water. The craft will have an air and water purifier, but it will be best if we can round up additional units in case of emergency, because we have to remember that we're going to outer space here. Without air and water, death will be certain. Other than that, we will also need repair kits, spare parts, and weaponry.

  Next will be an important yet tricky matter: human resources. I hate to mimic the ones that left before us, but we have to be realistic here. Based on the size of the craft, we are going to have to decide how many passengers we are taking. This can't be helped; we simply can't rescue everyone… Of course, within our powers, we will help as many people as possible to ensure the continuity of humanity, but we will have to be selective. First priority will be given to scientists or academics, and after that, it will be technical workers or educators, before finally taking in soldiers or officers like us that haven't turned against humanity in these dire times. Of course, extreme vetting is compulsory to ensure that there won't be any felons among us.

  That is a very long to-do list and I'm aware that we might not be able to complete all of these tasks with the time we have left, which leads me to the last issue: time. As you all know, time is already ticking for us. Although experts’ estimations state that we have almost eight months left before things hit the fan, I fear that in reality, it might be less than that. If the asteroid is as dense as the statistics predicted, then we will have to account for its immense gravitational pull. As it charts its way to the sun, that force will be more and more clearly felt. The pull and push dynamism between intergalactic entities could cause unforeseeable damage, especially to delicate technological devices, and that could utterly undo our effort. It could very well spell doom. Therefore, it's best to escape before then, which dramatically shortens our remaining time down to about four to six months," Yao Yuan explained.

  "Alright, team! That concludes all of the research and analysis that I've collated over the past month. Hopefully everyone is clear about our situation now. Our immediate course of action is to depart for Tennessee, and hopefully get there in under six days. We'll give ourselves half a month to locate the spacecraft and another one month to learn to operate it. Remember, guys, this is our last hope… No, not our last hope, but the last hope for all of humanity!" Yao Yuan intoned as he worked himself to his finish. "So believe me, brothers, when I say we shall not bring shame to the Black Star name! FOR GLORY OR FOR DEATH!"

  "FOR GLORY OR FOR DEATH!" echoed the rest of the room.

  Yes, indeed… for glory or for death, because against the certainty of victory, even death shall be perceived as glory…

  Silence tends to precede the storm, so the night passed without commotion. It has been a long time since the Black Star Unit could lie down to rest without worrying about their lives, and they knew that this was going to be similarly a rare occurrence in the foreseeable future. Therefore, all of the members of the group laid down their guard and tired bodies, each intent on savoring their first restful sleep in a long time. The next morning, the group woke up refreshed and readied. After a simple meal, they gathered to prepare for Yao Yuan's commands.

  "So, just like what we planned yesterday. We need a means of transport that could get us to Tennessee fast. I believe the best bet will be planes. However, from my assessments, army-commissioned planes will either have been blown up in wars by now or they will be locked behind some army base. The inconvenience of travelling aside, the chances of them being guarded will be high. I do have a lot of faith in our capabilities, but it's never easy to tell who will come out on the other end in a life-or-death situation. Therefore, if it's at all possible, we shall avoid conflict at all costs. Every single one of us has an instrumental role in the overall success of the operation, so please don't lose sight of the bigger picture in the heat of the moment. The cloak-and-dagger operation yesterday night was a success and therefore we shall adopt the same tactic today. We will move only after the sun sets. The main objective is to locate the spacecraft; the rest we shall decide later."

  In a serious tone, Yao Yuan continued on with his orders, "This S city has three commercial airports: one at the edge of downtown, and the other two in the city outskirts. There was a massive bombing at the downtown airport a few days ago; that coupled with the five-day-long riot, the place has been rendered to ruins. Even my surveillance system got trashed, so the possibility of finding a working plane there is too low for us to risk the journey. Although, the other two airfields might prove to be fruitful, so I would like to us to separate evenly into two parties. One of them will follow me to the city’s southern airport, while the other party shall follow Captain Wong to survey the city’s northern airport. No matter the result, we shall meet here again at nine tonight!"

  Guang Zhen stepped ahead and gave his old captain a salute. "Sir, yes, Sir!"

  Yao Yuan nodded his approval but not before issuing Wong another serious order. "Listen to me, Wong; these are all your juniors. Now you promise me that you will bring them out and that you will bring them back here again in one piece, every single one of them!"

  "Sir, yes, Sir!" saluted Guang Zhen.

  "If there's nothing else, then… dismissed!"

  These were all military men, men of actions and not of words. They knew this could be the final goodbye for anyone of them but there weren't any maudlin affairs of farewell, because the focus on the success of the mission was of greater importance. As such, the group left the shop in silence, weaving through the deserted streets, each clutching their arms of choice as they moved towards their respective target locations.

  This was the first time Yao Yuan had seen the surface world since he went into hiding five days ago. He led at the front, scouting ahead for his team. Despite his years being in wars, the sight of the city that night still sent apprehension and sorrow down his heart.

  The carnage was indescribable…

  Rivulets of blood streamed freely over the streets, and in the summer heat, they gave out waves of revolting stench that attracted nebulous clouds of flies. Decaying bodies and rotten body parts littered the ground, acting as warm beds for maggots and worms. It wasn't a cityscape, it was a hellscape!

  It painted the perfect picture for the end of humanity. Man has always stood on the tipping scale of logic versus instinct. When neither science nor civility could save humanity anymore, these vestiges of logic would fall. When mankind was shoved into throes of doom and hopelessness, the majority of them simply cracked and regressed back to their carnal state of sin.

  Based on his field expertise, Yao Yuan could easily tell that the first to perish were the womenfolk by analyzing the bodies' stages of decay. The bodies were so badly decomposed at this point that he couldn't tell their body types nor ages, much less their facial features. Next were the children and then were the men. Based on the distribution of bodies, as well as the exposed and burnt building frames, it would be a safe bet to say that there were only a handful of survivors. About 80 percent of the city populace had perished, and not a small amount of them were wearing military fatigue.

  Nevertheless, Yao Yuan had remained relatively stoic through it all. The situation demanded that he reverted back to his Special Ops days, for he understood that he was responsible for others' lives now. It required him to be precise, careful, analytical and decisive. The lives of his team and survival of humanity hung onto his balance, so there could be no margin for error.

  As
his team progressed along, they saw a few remaining rebel troops. They were either stupidly drunk or dangerously unstable. The smallest of them had about five or six members while the larger ones were as big as twenty or thirty something in number. Not all of them were armed forces though; some of them were corralling civilians, mostly women, like livestock around the city. They noticed that one of the groups was in the middle of a killing spree, while another was indulging their carnal desires, and a few others were locked in a shootout. One even consisted wholly of gang members. How they got their hands on weapons was anyone's guess.

  Tempering his human urges, Yao Yuan carefully skirted his team's way around these pockets of chaotic activities. Their path took them through back alleys, deserted buildings, and even a stretch of sewer before reaching their destination at around two in the afternoon. There weren't any signs of life around and the number of dead bodies was also drastically lower around this area. It was good, but Yao Yuan kept on sensing a bad vibe that was lingering in the air.

  The town’s southern airport’s lobby was locked from the inside. Peering in, it was like a set piece painted fully in shades of black. Yao Yuan looked in through one of the windows and he could see that the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and everything in between were heavily singed. These included a few sets of torched remains that Yao Yuan could discern on the floor.