Chapter 65: Landing
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
In the interstellar era, landers were commonly used for exploring new planets. According to Lin Xu’s estimation, the size of a lander was close to that of a large civilian airliner before the apocalypse, and in addition to normal living and accommodation functions, military landers were also equipped with an arsenal of weapons, vehicle parking and corresponding defense systems.
Lander 309 detached from the Victoria and flew to Earth with Lin Xu and others on board. The cosmic backdrop was like a thick ink, and the daylight-illuminated Earth was streaked with azure, white, and turquoise colors, and through the porthole, the dappled moon floated silently beside Earth.
The upper part of the moon was missing a piece, which was said to have been broken by the Ark fleet that fled Earth. Countless pieces of the moon were scattered across the universe, forming a small celestial ring around Earth under the effect of Earth’s gravity.
The landers and spacecraft heading toward Earth were careful to avoid this ring, and countless flying devices trailed their trailing flames toward Earth, like a million arrows, to announce the arrival of humans.
Lin Xu also saw several sturdy spacecraft, cautiously approaching the debris belt, using their mechanical arms to grab fragments of lunar rocks and man-made space junk mixed in with the moon rocks. They were also precious historical artifacts.
Looking into the distance, the curved outline of Earth met the universe, wrapped in a ghostly blue arc of light. But soon, the fleet of spacecraft and the debris belt disappeared from the view, and the lander entered the atmosphere, accompanied by the daylight refracted and scattered by Earth’s atmosphere, and the dark and endless universe was replaced by clouds and blue sky, as if mankind had fallen into a gentle embrace in this moment.
In the distance, the green horizon was still curved. The lander descended at a steady rate, and the AI alerted the gravity control system inside the lander module that it was adjusting the gravity inside the module according to Earth’s gravity.
Ryan was left alone in the lander rest area, his nose pressed against the porthole glass, his eyes firmly fixed on the surface, his eyes were unspeakable shock and joy, even his bones were trembling.
Inside the cockpit, Arnold and Cassandra operated the lander, while Heinrich and Lin Xu stood behind the helm. From the moment the lander dipped into Earth’s atmosphere, all of them did not speak again, and quietly stared out the window. This was the home planet of mankind…
“309 has reached its intended cruising altitude.” The AI’s electronic voice sounded in the cockpit and a transparent blue stereo terrain projection appeared above the console, “Currently 6.213 kilometers above ground, position is troposphere, high precision radar terrain projection is ready, please pilot for next operation.”
“Marshal, where do we land?” Arnold asked. Before entering Earth, Heinrich only gave a general marker of the mountain range, without further confirmation of the exact marker location. Heinrich looked at Lin Xu.
Lin Xu blinked, snapping back from the azure blue, and took a few steps forward to approach the front viewport. For Lin Xu, what was more familiar than the precise topographic projection was the mountainous landscape of ancient Earth.
The lander hovered above a lush green land mass, leaving the clouds behind, and looking down, the outline of the land was clearly visible, a ridge of mountains rising and falling like a dragon.
“Southeast, land at the beginning of this mountain range.”
Apocalypse’s main base in the East Region was built in the plains of the foothills at the start of the southeast of Kun Ling. If this is the Earth he had lived on, three thousand years after the departure of humans, there should be some old buildings remaining in ruins.
But the more the lander dropped in altitude, the clearer the surface pattern became, and the more Lin Xu felt something was wrong.
The overall outline of the Kunling Mountains was structurally intact, just like the mountains Lin Xu remembered, but the outline of the terrain at the end of the mountains had changed.
“Wait.” Lin Xu called out to the two pilots to stop continuing the descent, “I need the topographic contour map with the surface vegetation removed.”
Cassandra followed Lin Xu’s request to enter the relevant parameters and change the terrain projection pattern. Marshal Chu’s operation was off the record, Cassandra did not know what Heinrich wanted to find on Earth, nor did she understand why he brought Lin Xu with him and asked Lin Xu to show the way. But she knew how to follow all the instructions of her superiors.
Four seconds later, a new projection map was revealed, and as her eyes swept over the projection, Lin Xu’s brow gradually furrowed.
… The contours of the terrain at the end of the mountain range had indeed changed, and a large sunken crater, estimated to be about twenty kilometers in diameter, appeared in the direction where the base was located in memory. Lin Xu pointed out the location where the huge crater was located, “Land right here.”
“Dr. Lin, this is a lake.” Cassandra pulled up an infrared temperature-sensitive imaging topographic map, and the temperature where the giant crater was located was significantly lower than the surrounding area, “The impact of the lander jets could have affected the water balance of the lake, leading to its biological destruction.”
But no lake of this size has ever existed at the end of Kun Ling. Lin Xu was a little confused. Was the marker of the main base that Heinrich had picked up in the Kuiper Belt really just a coincidence?
“Land close by.” Heinrich held Lin Xu’s shoulders and helped him add, “After landing, fly the craft separately to get closer.”
Cassandra and Arnold searched for an open, geologically stable area halfway up the nearby mountain to land their craft, and with a metallic shudder and a roll of smoke, they finally set foot on Earth’s soil.
–
Before exiting the pod, they needed to change into isolation suits and power exoskeletons. The black isolation suits were cut in the same style as the combat suits, except that the separate combat suits were changed to a one-piece style, with gloves attached to the cuffs and the pant legs tied into the boots.
Of the two non-professionals, Ryan had never been to the Military Academy, but after spending so many years with his General father, he had been trained to wear the various uniforms of the military.
Only Lin Xu had no previous experience with military uniforms – not counting the ones he used to build his nest. Lin Xu seemed to see that Heinrich had an ulterior motive and gave a laugh, but did not refuse.
The suit was fastened at the back, and little by little Heinrich helped Lin Xu close it, the scarred pale back covered by the black suit up to the back of his neck.
Heinrich lifted Lin Xu’s long hair and pressed the last minute clasp, Lin Xu turned around but was pushed back to his seat by his shoulder. He was a little confused, but Heinrich came around behind Lin Xu and inserted his five fingers into Lin Xu’s black hair and slowly combed it.
After smoothing out his long hair, Heinrich not so skillfully divided it into three locks and overlapped them into a braid behind Lin Xu’s back.
Lin Xu touched it with his back hand and saw Heinrich half-crouched in front of him, taking his combat boots and preparing to help Lin Xu put them on.
“I’ll do it myself.” He wasn’t spoiled enough to need someone else to help him put on his shoes. But Heinrich held Lin Xu’s ankle in silence and slipped his combat boots on, tying his trouser legs all the way down into the barrel and finally lacing them up.
When he was done, Heinrich didn’t rush to get up, but looked up at Lin Xu, who lifted his eyes and focused his scattered gaze to meet Heinrich’s.
Heinrich’s hands rested on Lin Xu’s knees, and when he tilted his head, his high brow bones no longer became an obstacle to the light, and his sharply defined golden eyes were fully presented to Lin Xu, “You’re worried about something.”
Heinrich used a declarative sentence. This caused the little smile that remained on Lin Xu’s face to fade away.
Heinrich knew that Lin Xu didn’t smile often, and even if he occasionally made this expression, it was often for others to see, such as his light smile with a slight hint of teasing when Heinrich walked into the locker room just now, while his inner thoughts were always hidden.
“I…” Lin Xu hesitated again as he spoke. He hadn’t told anyone about his past, even Heinrich, and not only had he not, but during the conscious co-connection, Lin Xu had very soberly and stubbornly kept his mental domain closed off, not giving away a single trace of it. But coming to ancient Earth, all they were exploring was the past.
Now, the giant pit was like Schrodinger’s cat, where there may or may not be an apocalypse base. If not, Lin Xu would be as indifferent as a floating duck in this world, but if so, he would have to wonder what had happened to the apocalypse base after he had torn space and time.
After all, the Ark fleet that set sail in search of a new home could not have taken all the survivors of the ancient Earth with it. Lin Xu pulled the corner of his mouth, “When I have the answer, I will tell you.”
Heinrich, as usual, respected Lin Xu’s opinion and did not pursue it. He reached out and touched the back of Lin Xu’s hand in the isolation glove, pulled him to his feet and pressed the button on the side of the isolation suit’s stand-up collar.
A light-transmitting film extended upward from the collar, tracing the bones, skin and hair, covering all exposed parts of the body.
The suit was used to block direct contact between landed humans and the Earth environment. After all, no one could say whether humans returning to Earth 3,000 years later would carry deadly space germs, or if Earth had evolved some kind of super virus that could easily kill humans, and the suit also had a certain temperature control function. But on the issue of radiation isolation, the suit was lackluster.
Measurements by the advanced unmanned detector showed that the current radiation level in Earth’s environment was thirty millisieverts per hour, one tenth of Capital Star’s normal radiation value, and no special protection procedures were needed for those exiting the capsule.
Only Lin Xu knew that this was almost 10,000 times more radiation than the Earth environment before the apocalypse.
But after entering the interstellar era, the quality of human bodies was strengthened in all aspects, including the ability to withstand all kinds of radiation, and could live in this kind of radiation environment that could kill ancient Earth humans.
Otherwise, Ika running into the black hole explosion site would not be as simple as symptoms appearing only in the form of the epidermis damage caused by radiation. The outer layer of the isolation suit was a powered exoskeleton, to assist the lander to carry out high-intensity exercise.
After putting everything on, Heinrich and Lin Xu would fly the vehicle to the lake site. Cassandra and Arnold stayed with the lander and checked the surroundings, and Ryan was allowed out of the cabin to walk around the lander.
The sky was blue, the ground was green, the trees were tall and diverse, the branches swayed gently in the mountain breeze, and the birds in the mountains were startled by the noise of the craft and fluttered their wings to get away.
Heinrich even saw a four-hoofed animal with long horns scurrying through the jungle, hiding behind a rock and looking up at the strangely shaped behemoth in the sky with moist, innocent brown eyes. “What’s that?”
Lin Xu glanced at it, “A deer, a sika deer.” The environment near the apocalypse base was not so good in the past. The four fields of the base were all cleared, and the four-way concrete or tarmac roads were covered with barricades used to keep the walkers away, and the barriers were only opened when the action teams entered and left.
A large number of trees were cut down for fuel, scattered in the wilderness, reluctant to enter the base control of human beings in the exhaustion of civilization’s legacy of supplies, and had to rely on hunting for food, but this strategy also did not last long.
Pollution, mutations, long winters caused the death of a large number of plants and animals, and humans had to huddle alone in the concrete. But the apocalypse was never a natural disaster to begin with. Otherwise, if all one had to face were physically enhanced, contagious, human-feeding zombie hordes, modern civilization’s thermal weapon technology could easily kill any plague at the time of birth.
Lin Xu also vaguely remembered that at the beginning of the apocalypse, rumors about the zombie virus were rampant, with theories of divine descent, extraterrestrialism, evolution… He listened to these news circulating around, and he himself could not conclude the real source.
Until he went up step by step and turned over the hidden information that all those in the know were silent about.
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