Both shuttles were suspended in the infinite cosmos, uncertain of whether to move forward or back.
"Something’s heading towards the Hope?"
That was the first question asked after Yao Yuan came over to the transport shuttle and had everyone gathered. Many were initially surprised by Yao Yuan’s sudden appearance, but the gravity of the situation immediately dawned with a look at Yao Yuan’s fretful mannerism.
A racket erupted the moment Yao Yuan shared his and Xiao Niao’s hypothesis.
The Hope’s first space troopers agreed to the mission with the understanding that they would probably not return.
The Hope was the entity that harbored their future. The spaceship had given them and their families a safe place to thrive after the nightmare on Earth. They were ready and willing to lay down their lives to protect humanity’s last bastion of hope.
The Hope was a self-contained environment. Cornered on all sides by the cosmos’ impenetrable darkness, humanity had no one but itself. Albeit initially meant to be temporary, the Hope had become a veritable symbol of home for its 120,000 citizens.
The Hope became the collective that the soldiers would voluntarily defend with their lives. The Hope was the final bulwark of humanity’s future, and hope was more important than their individual lives. This pseudo-nationalistic sentiment had been fostering among the space troopers during the 6-month-long training, so it was only natural that they would not let the Hope be harmed. Furthermore, practically speaking, the space troopers would only end up starving to their deaths if the Hope were to fall!
Therefore, many urged Yao Yuan to return the Hope. The troop was technically the Hope’s only legitimate force of defense, so they had to save the Hope from the alien monstrosity’s assault.
"We can’t go back!"
Before Yao Yuan could get a word in, Xiao Niao interjected, "We won’t be of any use even if we return. First, we’re not even sure such a threat exists, and even if it does, what can we do if we can’t even pinpoint its presence. The Hope had its radar aimed at the junkyard 24/7, but such a threat didn’t even once appear on our system!
"This elusive entity, if it does exist, is armed with a technology that evades our detection. We’ll be of no use to the Hope even if we choose to return!"
A soldier stood up to protest. "But we can’t possibly sit here and watch the Hope go up in flames! The least we can do is to inform the main ship to warp. We’ll be abandoned here, but at least the majority will be safe. Isn’t that the right thing to do?"
"What about the null zone?"
It was finally Yao Yuan’s turn to speak. "All our communicative and electrical signals are neutralized by the null zone… Even the multi-frequency communicator couldn’t hack through it! So should we try going back through it instead? Know that in the time we spent doing that, the enemy should have taken several laps in and out of the junkyard, that’s how fast they move, so tell me, are there any other bright ideas?!"
The cantankerous crowd was immediately silenced. They knew they couldn’t possibly outrun the invisible threat. The combination of the null zone and the floating debris populating the junkyard conspired to slow them down.
After further contemplation, Yao Yuan added, "There was no sign of tampering on the positioning of the debris and husks on the junkyard’s outer perimeter, so the enemy intended to lure us in with a false sense of security. They knew that we couldn’t possibly untangle ourselves from within the junkyard in a short amount of time!"
"Then what shall we do?"
A new Homo Evolutis broke down and cried, lamenting, "I still have a 1-year-old son on the Hope… I’d die before I would let anything happen to him and his mother!"
That outburst lowered everyone’s spirits. Helpless, they opted to shoot the messenger, whom in this case was Xiao Niao, because no one dared to train their ire at Yao Yuan. Yao Yuan also turned to Xiao Niao. "I too agree we shouldn’t return. Since the Hope is out of our reach, what should we do now?"
Xiao Niao once more submerged into his Thinker state. If one was to measure his temperature then, it would appear like he was suffering from high fever.
"We press on deeper into the junkyard!"
Xiao Niao replied, "As we can see from the pathway taken by the enemy, only this warship husk and a few other’s positions have shifted. This meant that there is a direct pathway going from here to the main battleship!"
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