Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 544 - 541 The Greatest Career

The counselor spoke hoarsely, "Students, at present our planet is approximately 2.0221 million kilometers from that Big Ice Ball behind us, which is about 1.3% off from our initial projections. Every decade, the distance shortens by roughly 10,000 kilometers..."

The two planets are not revolving around each other, but are arranged one behind the other, nearly on the same orbit.

That is to say, both sides are circling around the center of mass of two neutron stars, moving in an elliptical orbit.

However, the gravitational force between planets is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. The closer the two planets get, the stronger the gravitational pull becomes, speeding up their approach towards each other.

Now, the distance shortens by roughly 10,000 kilometers every decade, but in the subsequent decade, it might shorten by 11,000 kilometers, and so on, getting faster and faster until they collide.

"...So, we must maintain a stable construction pace and increase the thrust of the Planet Engines to avoid a collision between the planets."

At this point, the special vehicle for this large-scale social studies class finally arrived at the summit of the mountain, and people saw numerous excavators mining in a large basin, with trains transporting the ore away and crushing it.

The mined ores are mostly common silicates with little smelting value. They will become the working substance, transforming into fierce plasma to be ejected.

And for Wang Haifeng and his peers in the vehicle, their future work was essentially in this area; the project seemed simple, but in reality, it was extremely complex, starting from mining, then to transport, then to crushing, and finally turning into fuel.

A large construction site required a workforce of over 100,000 people, with the number of robots and various machines being at least 10 million.

Although most of the work was automated, there were still some mechanical failures and maintenance to be done.

Aging parts is an inevitable problem in the Universe, even maintenance robots that care for machinery will age, complex production lines will produce various bugs – these all need Humans to handle.

So after graduation, Wang Haifeng would join Excavation Work Group 009873, becoming a very precise cog in the machine, devoting his entire life.

Their futures had all been planned out.

Everyone’s gaze was slightly vacant, as if frozen in place, as they looked at the bustling scenes within this vast industrial base.

"Everyone, after this class, you will graduate... Are there any questions you would like to ask?" the university’s counselor asked again.

She was a white-haired old woman, still laboring at her job post.

Once, four hundred years ago, the population of the New Human Civilization had ballooned to one billion.

This massive population brought an abundance of labor, so much so that in eight hundred years, Humans had already completed over 80% of the Planet Engines! Only 20% remained to be finished in the next six hundred years.

However, as time went by, the vast number of machines originally purchased from the interstellar trading market began to depreciate, a dilemma that was insurmountable, causing the construction rate of the Planet Engines to gradually slow down.

Furthermore, according to the agreement made with the interstellar trading market, the future Curvature Spaceships could at most carry a population of forty million.

Therefore, the government planned to slowly reduce the population from the current seventy-eight million to below forty million in the six hundred years to come.

As a consequence, changes in the population structure made aging inevitable.

"Teacher, is it possible to get a different job, something a bit more interesting?" suddenly, a male student next to Wang Haifeng spoke up. After he finished speaking, many students’ bodies jerked.

Although this construction site was impressive, are they really to stay here for a lifetime?

"Of course, you can, if you have enough professional knowledge. You could work on manufacturing engineering machines; we will have many machines phased out in the future, or you could go to..."

"I mean, a more interesting job."

"Interesting, what is an interesting job?"

"Take singing, drawing comics, or programming games, for example... you can choose your own work."

The counselor furrowed his brow, then smiled and said, "Before the entire plan was put into action, there indeed were many interesting labs where you could engage in your preferred work. However, now, all those labs have been banned unless your grades are outstanding to a different level, which would allow you to work on some research projects, or you can spend your free time doing things you enjoy."

"After all, we ordinary people are all striving for the greatest cause in the world."

All the classmates fell silent.

Suddenly, the young man spoke again, "The greatest cause in the world is to use hundreds of thousands of excavators to dig this basin even bigger? To scrape off several hundred meters from the surface of the entire planet?"

The young man’s tone was strange, seemingly sarcastic yet tinged with a hint of helplessness.

"Ah, yes. That is the greatest cause. My teacher taught me the same. She devoted her life to this, as did I, and now, it’s your turn."

Unexpectedly, the counselor did not rebut.

Perhaps she too had thought this way when she was young, but now she was old, about to retire, and no longer bothered with such complex thoughts.

A lifetime had come to pass like this; what was there left to think about?

The classmates remained silent, saying nothing.

The next stop was the "Planet Fortress," followed by a massive Big Ice Ball, to which everyone boarded a spaceship and headed for the Big Ice Ball with the code "JS144," located two hundred thousand kilometers away.

The temperature on this ice ball was even lower, below minus two hundred and fifty degrees Celsius. The thick ice layer was harder than steel, and at such temperatures, all gases had solidified into thick blocks of ice.

Above the ice ball, there were also some industrial bases, mining hydrogen fuel, oxygen, methane, and various other chemicals. Robots only needed to cut out the ice blocks and perform simple refinement to obtain these substances.

Looking up, Wang Haifeng saw a terrifying flame slice through the darkness of space, as if it could leap onto their faces.

The planet ahead, bursting with multicolored light, was the Planet Fortress they had been working so hard to develop.

The violent plasma glow differed with the atomic nuclei, with copper ion emitting blue, iron ion displaying yellow, and manganese ion showing pink. These re-cooled and condensed here, forming a vast black haze.

This planetary chase would last at least another four hundred years, leaving only two outcomes: either Humanity would triumph completely, or the two planets would collide, ending in total failure.

"Do you want to succeed, or fail?"

Seeing this scene, everyone fell silent, including the man who had earlier been full of indignation. Now, looking at the planet filled with vibrant colors, he was lost for words.

Some thought of escaping halfway, leaving this place, abandoning the entire plan.

But they didn’t dare voice it. Those bright ion flames seemed poised to ignite the whole civilization. Whoever dared to speak of escape would be the criminal of history, the criminal of civilization.

The greatest cause?

Who knows...

Who can define the so-called greatness?

Is completing one’s own work throughout a lifetime, being a screw in the fabric of society, truly great?

No one could answer.

...