Era-VI took off and left the tarmac. Opal stood in front of the console to set the route and stared at the starry sky outside the window. From this angle, you can see the fiery Ares star, which is like a huge fireball, emitting endless of light and heat.
The Ares star has reached the end of its lifespan. It has existed for nearly 17 billion years and will consume all its light and heat in 200 million years. Due to the limitation of its own mass, it will collapse at the end of its life and form a black hole, pulling all the planets in the galaxy, and this area will completely disappear in the universe. Even light can no longer detect its presence.
In 20073, the Astronautical Association issued a lifespan estimate for the Ares star. If it is converted into human lifespan, then its remaining life is just over a year.
But the lifespan of stars is too long. From the birth of human beings to the present, the 14,000-year civilization of the ancient earth period plus the civilization of the Light Era is only more than 30,000 years, 200 million years... Scientists do not even believe in the history of mankind can last so long.
"This is an escort mission." Opal said while setting the route: "You can look at the diary first."
Cullens opened the mercenary diary and sat on the sofa. Opal moved the pillow a little bit, which was used by Raymond before. Without a word, he picked up their common memorial and put it in the room. go.
However, when I entered the bedroom, facing the other bed, I thought that since Cullens is here, I will join the mercenary group temporarily. Although it is only a trial period, if they behave well, they will also be long-term partners. All received clean.
He took it out again and put it back in its place.
Cullens glanced up at him, didn't speak, and continued to read the diary.
"The Galactic Republic." Cullens said, "C-class mission."
Opal snorted, sat down on the carpet, and read the details of the mission. Before he took over the mission, he had already planned a little - the escort mission, which was not difficult.
Mission Class: C.
Mission content: Large Magellanic Cloud Sol star system, planets CT-U2, CT-U3, CT-U7 escort, assist the Youth Progressive Association with housewarming matters, the migration location is undecided, must complete the resettlement of all members (about 22,000 people) Only then can the assignment be terminated.
Meeting point: CT-U7.
Client: Joks, secretary general of the Youth Progress Association.
Mission reward: 180,000 Interstellar Credits, including room and board.
Remarks: There may be a small amount of battles on the destination planet, and Youth Progress will provide small imperial-made combat mechs.
"A relocation mission," Cullens said. "There may be a fight. It doesn't say what kind of fight it will be or what kind of enemy it will encounter."
Opal said indifferently: "This is the case with commissions. Employers always like to be vague and try to confuse certain concepts in order to save money. I guess the destination planet is a newly reclaimed wasteland, and there may be some wild beasts there. ."
Cullens nodded and said: "It is possible that I have never made this type of commission. Is this the habit of employers?"
Opal: "Forget it, nearly 70% of the commissions are a bit of a concealment, and you will gradually become familiar with them in the future."
Cullens looked at the task seriously and said, "If there is a concealment, what do you think it will be?"
Opal said: "In my experience, it should be in the battle."
Cullens nodded and said, "It would be nice if there was more complete information."
Opal: "You used to be a soldier of the Republic, have you been to the Sol galaxy?"
Cullens said with a smile: "Never, we are all closed training, and we are not allowed to go out to play casually. And I am not an exploration class, I belong to the ground guard army, and have no experience in galaxy exploration."
Opal got up to open the star map and said, "That's boring enough."
Cullens hummed and said, "So I yearn for the spirit of exploration and want to be a mercenary."
Opal Enter the position of Sol's star to view the notes.
Everything about the star map was recalled by him again - was this really the one used by Cororin
Opal's heart is very calm, if it is as he expected, what is this
His sadness for Raymond's departure has been gradually replaced by the obsession with revenge. The wrench said, "We will have revenge one day." And all the mercenaries understand that this bloody feud will never be resolved. After the assassination battle, the only meaning of life is revenge.
Raymond was just one of the many people killed by Cororin, and hundreds of millions of lives died under Corolin's hands. The King of the Meteor Stars didn't even know the identity of the deceased, his name—including Suiyan, including the regiment of Yinyao. Long, including the mercenaries who died in his two actions, each of them has his own name, but in Cororin's eyes, they are just a few small stones on the road to his great cause.
It's not even a small stone, it's just cosmic dust at best.
Opal looked forward to one day avenging Raymond and Azeroth with his own hands. At the moment when the long sword pierced Cororin's chest, he whispered to him that there was a cyborg who was not even a human, in order to stop him. Destroyed their homeland and sacrificed their lives.
However, there is still a long way to go before that.
He opens the notes.
[The name of Thor in ancient mythology: Thor. This was the place where the ancient Earth settlers were missing after exploring alien planets. The intersection of the magnetic fields of the four pulsar planets swept away. These magnetic fields caused the Sol star to generate lightning that reached tens of billions of kilometers. Every other pulse intersection cycle, Thor unleashes countless lightning bolts that bathe the surrounding planets in thunderstorms. ][The first layer of gravitational range of the star is directly covered by lightning. There is no complete planet in this area, only a halo-like powder meteorite belt exists] The panorama on the star map is an orange star, There is a square chart next to it, and Opal glanced at the lower left corner and said, "What does Herroto mean?"
Cullens got up and walked to the star map, his eyes full of surprise.
"The Hertzsprung-Russell spectral analysis map." Cullens explained: "It is used to represent the temperature and illumination of the star. Sol is a blue giant star, which means that it is very young, and the blue giant star is a high-quality main sequence. One of the stars."
Opal said: "But it's not blue."
Cullens said: "Well... I don't know why this is. Maybe the Big Astronautical Association has its own standards."
The star is surrounded by shining bands of light composed of meteorites, like a halo around the star, and the halo is empty, which is a very rare phenomenon.
There are thousands of planets on the periphery of the halo, revolving mightily around the star Sol.
[Four distant pulse planets released magnetic fields, which interfered with the rotation of the ancient Thor, causing these lightnings. The lightning released by Thor has been completely weakened after passing through the light belt. Lightning can span dozens of astronomical units. It is a miracle of the Creator. This star is very young, equivalent to a baby among the inhabitants of hundreds of billions of stars. Perhaps because of this, it is always moody and likes to thunder from time to time, smashing all the planets close to it. ] [Sixteen habitable planets are occasionally disturbed by electrical energy from the universe. Lightning passes through the atmosphere and ionizes nitrogen gas to form small amounts of nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ammonia. ] "These planets are almost all nitrogen-fixing plants," Cullens said. "And nitrogen-fixing bacteria ... it may rain nitric acid and ammonia. I've heard that the Sol galaxy is a good place to produce nitrogen energy equipment. "
Opal nodded slowly, and Cullens said again: "Nice star map, how much did you buy it for?"
Opal: "From a friend, I have another one from a pirate... Actually, I'd rather use this one."
He took away the star map that Lecter had given him, and inserted the star map that was robbed from the pirate ship in Jixing. This star map was produced by the Great Astronautics Company, with only coordinates and images, without any explanation.
"Forget it, let's use this." Opal exchanged the star map that Recht gave him, and sat down by the coffee table.
Cullens smiled and said nothing.
It takes three cosmic days to go from the star to the Sol galaxy. Opal is always silent, sitting in front of the console, staring at the starry sky outside the window.
Opal was so silent all day, and the next day he still sat without speaking.
Cullens said: "Let's chat, comrade-in-arms, what can you teach me? I think you are very powerful. I believe I am not with the wrong person."
Opal said: "No, I'm still a stunner. Don't put too much hope on me. In fact, I'm too weak to protect even my closest people."
Cullens smiled and said, "Your little robot is pretty good."
Opal said: "My mother gave it to me, it's very smart, E7."
E7 flashed and beeped a few times, and Cullens said, "Can I see you? E7?"
E7 took a photo of Cullens, Cullens said: "My home is in the silver-gray galaxy of the Republic."
"Sounds good," Opal said. "Who else is in the family? Why don't you stay in the Republic after you retire? As far as I know, the Republic treats veterans well."
Cullens said, "Well, but that's only for individuals and spouses... I have a mom and dad in my family... They're not actually my blood relatives, you know about the Battle of Kenjira?"
Opal shook his head, and Cullens said, "Ken'Qiraj is a small planet."
Opal: "What happened there?"
Cullens said: "When I served in the ground forces of the ground silver-gray galaxy, I took a boy with you, about the same age as you, and he was a very beautiful young man."
"I bet he died later," Opal said.
Cullens nodded with a smile and said, "That's true. He's one of my favorite students. He's very smart... just the right kind of smart, not arrogant and arrogant. He dared to resist the power in the army, But every time there is a way to get out, he taught me a lot, and I sincerely admire him."
Opal said: "Actually, Lie Xing's thinking is the same. The mercenaries believe that they are born equal. No one discriminates against the weak, and no one pretends to be a senior and uses rank to bully newcomers."
Cullens said: "Yes, he behaves like mercenaries, sticks to what he thinks is right, and is very brave. I think it is a waste of talent to keep him in the ground force, so I applied to send him to the exploration team. go in."
Opal could almost guess what happened, and sure enough, Cullens said: "He died on a mission, but he saved the entire team. I'm proud of him."
"For a lot of people, they're probably thinking 'if I don't send him to the expedition, he's not going to die' ... something like that," Opal said.
Cullens said: "But I don't think that everyone has their own pursuits in life. He really wants to explore this universe, not to live longer and safer, just stay in the ground forces for a lifetime. You know, the value of life is not the quantity of time, but the quality, so I never blame myself for his sacrifice."
Opal murmured, "You're right, my teacher once said that too."
Opal recalled what Recht had said about the life of the mayfly people. The absolute length of time is of little significance. The key is whether a person lives for himself and does what he wants to do.
"He burned his own life." Cullens said with a smile: "After compressing his soul, it burst into a bright light, which is more meaningful than many lives in this universe. One minute of his is equal to many people. a lifetime."
Opal nodded slowly, and Cullens said: "But his family can't understand that a considerable part of the Republic still respects the idea of the ancient earth... They think that people are social people, parents have the responsibility of parents, and children have children. Responsibility, everyone does not live for themselves, from the moment they are born, they need to face their responsibilities and dedicate their lives to their relatives, friends, and the country."
Opal said, "I can't say it's right."
"Well..." Cullens said, "In the final analysis, it is still a balance between giving and receiving, or a balance between the rights and obligations of autonomy in life."
"Some people think that the soul is their own, while others think that people who purely pursue their own life are selfish. In this society, parents live for their children, and children do their best to meet the expectations of parents and others, and even the cultivation of the country. One's own responsibility, so one needs to make parents, friends and relatives feel at ease, happy and proud when living in the world."
"This kind of thinking is still in the mainstream in many stars of the Republic, and the interstellar community is divided because of this difference in thinking."
"So after I retired, I started taking care of his family, hoping that they would understand that his life was worth living. His brother was also in the military and had no time to take care of his family. His father broke with his brother, and his My brother is deeply ashamed of having such a father, because his father was an alcoholic. His father needed a lot of money, so I had to come out and become a mercenary, by the way, to walk around and increase my knowledge.”
Opal asked: "I don't know who my father is, and my mother has passed away. I think if I want to be a mercenary, she should also support me, but I can understand what you are saying. Is he a lover?"
"There was a time when he was, but his brother was repulsive, or hated me," Cullens said.
Opal asked again, "What about your own parents?"
"I haven't been in touch since I was born, the Republic needs newborns, so parents I've never met donated sperm and eggs, matched in stock, and I was born in a culture pod, raised by the government," Cullens said. When he was seven years old, he entered the Tifeng Military Academy to join the army, and when he retired, he was a major."
Opal looked at Cullens. He was about the same height as himself, with deep eyes, thin and capable, and full of explosive power like a cheetah.
He is not handsome, but has a different kind of demeanor, self-discipline, determination, courage and perseverance - that is a soldier's characteristic, loyal and decisive character, and it is rare that he is neither humble nor arrogant, he regards Opal as a The head of the regiment is also a partner, not arrogant because of his former rank of major, nor does he particularly cater to Opal because of his C-rank mercenary status.
Opal said: "I think you are very good, very rational, and it is an honor to fight with you, comrade-in-arms."
Cullens smiled and said, "Tell me about you."
Opal recalled for a moment and said: "My hometown is a mineral planet, but I'm sorry, there are some things I can't say too clearly..."
He picked out some of his experiences and told Cullens briefly, Cullens didn't get to the bottom of it, and after listening, he said, "It's very interesting, I'm starting to yearn for the life of a mercenary."
"I was like this at the very beginning." Opal said: "Full of longing and yearning, until the day when my comrade-in-arms sacrificed. In fact, before I met you, I originally planned to do it alone. I have been thinking about it very clearly. Why are there many people in Lie Xing who like to place orders, advance and retreat with their comrades, and complete commissions together, isn't it a very happy thing?"
Opal: "After Raymond left me, I realized the feelings of many people. It's not that they don't like to cooperate with others, but they can't afford to lose or lose. Just think about it. It felt like a piece of your soul was forcibly cut away and never came back."
"You'll come out, trust me," Cullens said.
Opal glanced at him and said, "But what if you encounter the same situation again? For example, I fought bloody battle with you, and one day in the future, you will also die."
Cullens laughed, and Opal said, "So I'm alone again, and have to endure this pain again."
Cullens said, "I'm not the same as your former friend."
Opal said: "It's really not equivalent, because he is my lover and you are a comrade-in-arms, but the process of losing a friend is never easy..."
Cullens said: "Thank you for accepting me. I believe you are serious about accepting me as your combat partner. Do you listen to Ledgerson's songs?"
Opal said: "Occasionally listen, why?"
Cullens said: "He sang a song to the effect that life itself is a cycle of gain, loss, experience, forgetting."
Opal's pupils reflected the magnificent starry sky outside the porthole.
Cullens added: "Everything will leave you one day, only your heart is true. Those who have a family will lose their family, and those who have love will also lose their love. What do you have? We will finally face the day when we lose it. Losing and gaining are always like shadows. People will never have anything but themselves... Everything else is a landscape.”
Opal nodded, and Cullens said, "You'll come out slowly, and you've got more important things to do."
"What's the matter." Opal said.
Cullens: "I don't know what you can do, you have to decide for yourself, burn your life, whether you can do it or not, live it, wait until life goes to its natural end, and one day you will meet your lover ."
They didn't talk any more that day, and Opal fell into a long meditation, and finally he found what he wanted to do - one day, he would get rid of Coroline.
Whether it's done by himself, or by contributing his own strength in resolving the impact of the Meteor Legion, he shoulders this responsibility.