Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 351: Addition

In warp drive…

To be honest, the Hope being able to escape certain death had plenty to do with luck. Even though there was the joy of surviving the impossible, many were chilled to the core… it was from the helplessness of facing a much too strong enemy.

Therefore, the first few days after entering warp drive, the atmosphere on the Hope was low until several days later, when the Noah One's passengers came out of the epidemic prevention unit, that changed things. In these few days, they were checked and treated by the Hope's medical unit and were kept in the Hope's sixth floor, a simple but giant hall with simple, metallic corridors. In reality, this was a place specifically built to accommodate these passengers from the Noah One.

In fact, of the 3,000 survivors of the Noah One, around 90 percent of them had fainted. The continuous running, thirst, and hunger on the cursed planet combined with the later fear and nightmare-like situation had drained everyone. When they boarded the Hope and saw the familiar faces of other human beings, they sighed immensely in relief. As they let their guards down, the collected anxiety came at once and several thousand of them collapsed on the spot. All of them were shuffled to the epidemic prevention unit. Most skipped the showers that were provided and slumped onto the beds to sleep.

The medical personnel on the Hope and temporary volunteers with the directions of the related personnel sent the fainted members to their beds. Doctors and nurses went about checking their injuries. They treated those who were injured and gave glucose packs to those who weren't. There were many things to be done.

Back on Earth, to save a group of 200 people suffering from food poisoning required the combined effort of the whole hospital. However, there were 3,000 people who were on the brink of collapse, many of them were elders. Without immediate medical intervention, they might die.

Because of that, after the first batch of thousand something volunteers had completed their work of moving all the passengers from the Noah One to the epidemic prevention unit, the Hope's ministry of health called in a second batch of two thousand something volunteers and workers to help with the situation. The work was done in two hours thanks to the help of the group of AI robots. Efforts like cleaning and moving were carried out by them.

On the second day the Hope entered warp drive, the passengers from the Noah One had been asleep for 28 hours and some of them started to wake up. Since they were attached to feeding drips while they were unconscious, they did not feel hungry. However, they still needed to take care of their bladder needs, so when they woke up, the first thing most of them did was search for the toilet.

The Hope's general layout was not much different from the Noah One's. The only difference was probably the wider size. After all, the Hope had been through many upgrades and the internal environment had been greatly widened. After all, this mothership was expected to host 120,000 plus citizens from Earth. After decades in space, now the Hope had a population of 200,000 plus, and if there had been no upgrades, they would not be able to fit into the original Noah Two.

Therefore, when the Noah One's passenger woke up, they were led to the toilets by the medical members or volunteers. Along the way, the first thing that came to them was the size of the place, the second was the cleanliness. Of course, the Noah One was also clean, but due to the incomplete warp, there were places on the Noah One that were missing and there were obvious signs of repair, which often made people frown.

The Hope was different. Even though it had undergone plenty of human upgrades, it was at least one decade newer than the Noah One. Whether it was materials or technology, it was leaps and bounds ahead of the Noah One.

Yun Si was one of the first few to wake up. Of course, he too woke up because of his bladder. Another reason was his alertness. After all, he was a soldier, even though he was attached to the medical unit. However, after the loss of the Noah One, as one of the leaders who led the survivors and as a Diviner, he assumed the role of scout and had maintained that habit until now.

When Yun Si woke up, he realized that he was lying on top of a clean, white bed and was covered by a furry blanket. The blanket was soft and warm; it had the feel of real fur. The surroundings were comfortable and safe. If not for his bladder and alertness, he would've continued sleeping.

The surroundings were quiet other than the occasional footsteps, whispered conversations, and snoring. However, these voices served to prove the safety of the area. Yun Si looked around to find that he was in a large room that housed at least 30 beds. There were plenty of beds, but the place was not cramped. Beside each bed was a metallic table that protruded from the wall. Each of them was decorated with a pot of flowers. Based on the freshness of the flowers, they looked recently picked.

Yun Si quietly took out the needle that was attached to his arm to not wake up the others. His feet searched for a pair of wool slippers, and right then, he realized that he was wearing a wide, cotton shirt. His own garments were probably ruined. After all, they were nothing more than rags. However, he remembered that his dairy was in his clothes. It recorded their lives of escape on the cursed planet. It was probably with the high officials of the Noah Two.

Yun Si had too many questions. If this ship was really the Noah Two, how could its technology be so much more advanced than the Noah One's? Furthermore, his conversation with Guang Zhen only led to more questions… Was this spaceship really sent by Earth's various governments? Or had something happened to Earth?

Yun Si had wandered out of the room as he thought about those things. Outside the room was a long, metallic corridor. He saw several people stationed in the corridor, and there were others in the same outfits. He was accosting them with questions.

Pressured by his bladder, he rushed forward to ask for the toilet's location while quietly studying them.

These people were obviously humans. There were Asians and Caucasians, but there were no Africans. They were all fluent in Chinese even though most knew English. When they were approached in English, they too could answer in English. Their actions were friendly and they always had a smile. The key thing was that Yun Si was certain these were not original members from the Noah One, so in other words, this was really a human spaceship.

When one of them told Yun Si the toilet's location, suddenly, the other one found something on the computer. He raised his head to ask, "Are you Mr. Yang Yun Si?"

Yun Si was startled before answering, "Yes, I am."

The member immediately added, "It's like this, Mr. Yang Yun Si. You are a Homo Evolutis, so the injection you got was different from normal citizens. Now you are allowed to leave this place. At the same time, Commander Wong hoped you would report to the Black Star Troopers' base at the fifth floor as soon as possible. This is your ID card, please keep it close to you. You can use the card to access the computers by the streets to find out about your current location, and it will allow you to take all the public transportation for free."

Yun Si accepted the silver, metallic card dumbly. He did not ask anymore questions, because it was obvious that these people were only messengers. They would not be able to give him the details he wanted. Black Star Troopers…

"The unit led by Wong Guang Zhen is the Black Star Troopers, isn't it? What kind of military unit is it? Plus, the commander…"

Yun Si thought about these as he found his way to the toilet. There, he met with many who also just woke up. Everyone greeted him with respect. After all, he was quite famous among the survivors, as he had rescued them many times. He greeted them with a smile. When he left the toilet, he ran into another friendly face… Major Jacko.

"…So you too have received the same message?"

These two could be considered old friends. During the escape, other than Austin, who had the highest rank, both of them were one rank below Austin, so they had a good relationship. After all, they had been through death together.

Jacko smiled and said, "Not only you and me, most soldiers have received the same orders. However, the biggest difference was that I was called to report to the Defence Unit Barracks at the 4th floor, while you and other survivors of the mysterious virus were told to report to the Black Star Troopers' base at the fifth floor. Obviously, these are two different military units. It sounds like… in the future, you might be my senior officer."

"They separated us just like that?" Yun Si said suddenly.

When Jacko heard that, he frowned immediately. He looked around before leaning into him to whisper, "You better not say that openly… After all, they have saved all of us. I know you are not satisfied with Commander Wong's decision, but that is the best solution in this situation. Don't get mad, listen to me…

"My father was in politics, so I was taught these lessons when I was young… Politics is heartless, so what can we do? There are only 3,000 of us… After all, we are all humans too; let's just see how they treat us. For now, the rescue, retreat, and the latest medical attention, they have done everything they could. Forget about the Noah One, or… I might even become your enemy in the future, because we…

"Have officially joined the Noah Two!"