Chapter 286: Marching Forth

In the glow of the setting sun, a sea island base was revealed from above. The eastern stretch of the island brimmed with workshops and buildings. Up close, however, one would observe something quite different unfolding.

A beast of a machine, neither resembling an airplane nor a car, sat silently at a marked spot. Measuring approximately one hundred meters in length and twenty in height, it bore an uncanny resemblance to a luxury coach when viewed from a certain angle, albeit a bit more portly.

Its flanks were punctuated by three rows of windows, hinting at an interior spread across three levels. At the moment, a bustling crowd formed three lines, snaking their way into the belly of this giant through three separate entry stairs.

Not far off, a line of fully armed Iron Guards formed a cordon. Beyond it, a throng of onlookers gathered, some waving miniature flags, while the majority donned smart glasses—an occasional glinting at their heads suggested they were recording the occasion.

Intermittent shouts pierced the air, prompting responses from the queued individuals who turned to wave back enthusiastically.

Those in line were garbed in attire resembling spacesuits, although not as bulky or cumbersome as the traditional ones from Earth. With face shields not yet lowered, one could see the excited faces of both men and women.

Inside the security cordon, Du Qiu and Wu Xinghuo embraced briefly.

“Make sure everyone is well looked after, especially those researchers—don’t let them get too carried away.”

Wu Xinghuo nodded with a smile, “Don’t worry, boss. They’ve all been trained, they won’t do anything rash!”

Du Qiu’s expression grew stern as he advised, “As the overall commander, don’t be soft-hearted when it’s time to be decisive. In that environment, a single wrong decision could lead to irretrievable consequences.”

“I understand, boss!” responded Wu Xinghuo, as Du Qiu gestured for him to board the craft.

At that moment, Liu Yaofeng, better known as Big Liu, stepped forward and wrapped Wu Xinghuo in a tight hug before releasing him with a pat on the back.

“Look at you, getting to run ahead. Do well!” he said.

Wu Xinghuo regarded his former superior, nodded with a smile, and then dashed to join the boarding queue.

Du Qiu couldn’t help but comment on Big Liu’s overt display of emotion, “Relax, this is a Swan-class planetary lander. It uses anti-gravity engines for atmospheric entry and has exterior temperature control. It doesn’t deal with heat or blackout barriers. The whole journey is more comfortable than any bus or plane.”

Big Lui gruffly replied, “I’m not worried about this part, but they still have to transit at Heaven and board the transport vessel to Mars, right? That’s what concerns me. Chief, this is humanity’s first mass journey to Mars. We should have had a proper ceremony and broadcast it to the world.”

Du Qiu had long lost interest in such grandstandings, preferring a low-key approach nowadays. Today, the only onlookers present were the family members of those bound for Mars—no other base personnel witnessed the event.

Shaking his head, Du Qiu remarked, “All you’ve learned in these years is ritualism, it seems.”

Big Liu retorted, “Ah, boss, life should be marked with ceremony, and this is a historic event.”

“All the footage has been taken. If you want to make something of it, be my guest—but release it only after we unveil Heaven to the public.”

“Leave it to me, I’ll make sure it’s done properly,” Big Liu assured.

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In the depths of space, a massive man-made vessel approached Mars.

“This is humanity’s first footprint on Mars. We will be inscribed into history!” Wu Xinghuo wistfully thought as he was captivated by the view of Mars outside the window.

The planet, bathed in a worn, dusty ochre, seemed like an abandoned old ball. Yet, this rocky world, slightly smaller than Earth, remained the prime candidate for colonial ambitions.

Despite the Moon’s proximity to Earth, it paled in comparison to Mars in terms of habitability. Mars boasted a more manageable temperature range between day and night, an average of about minus forty degrees, and around the equator, average temperatures hovered near the freezing point. During summer, they could even reach twenty degrees.

On the Moon, the temperature fluctuation of over two hundred degrees posed a severe challenge for life-support systems.

Additionally, Mars has an atmosphere—predominantly carbon dioxide and nitrogen—which offers some protection against cosmic radiation.

Most importantly, ice caps at the poles solve the crucial issue of water supply for human settlers.

Although Du Qiu planned for all Dream Technology’s personnel to live in the orbital space city of Heaven, the agreement with Natural Force to construct a Mars base meant the real estate development of interstellar properties was underway.

It was only natural to establish Dream Technology’s Mars outpost.

Previously, hundreds of pterosaur fighters shuttled between Earth and Mars, deploying numerous construction, mining, and engineering robots on the Martian surface.

Several mines were swiftly established, and production bases, mirrored after alien civilizations, were rapidly completed and operational.

In just a month, the first human life-support core module of the Mars base was constructed. Though modest at 100,000 square meters, it could now support life and work for the first batch of scientists and maintenance engineers.

The robots from Dream Technology, although self-repairing, still fell short under certain particular circumstances, requiring human engineers’ intervention, especially when both hardware and software encountered issues.

As an expert in these matters, Wu Xinghuo, given his experience, was the natural choice to command the Mars base.

The contingent besides Wu Xinghuo’s team of 100 maintenance engineers included a research team, around 500 strong, bearing hundreds of scientific missions to perform on Mars.

Moreover, there were 50 security Iron Guards, including five humans. Each Iron Guard team consisted of one human leading nine synthetic robots.

The expansion of the Mars base and constructing the colossal outpost for Natural Force was the responsibility of countless robots under the control of the AI, Stardust.

This time, they traveled not aboard pterosaur fighters but aboard the Mammoth-class transport lander.

The design and layout of the transport lander were inspired by the alien mining base’s transporters Du Qiu had observed. The internals were not necessarily the same—Du Qiu never had the chance to inspect the inside of an alien lander, and the Maintainer’s database did not include knowledge about warships.

He speculated this was because of insufficient clearance; after all, the hierarchy was apparent. Producers ranked at level ten, Processors at nine, Maintainers at eight, and Power Suppliers at seven. This arrangement suggested mining production bases were at the bottom rung of the alien machine civilization, while the manufacture of warships was associated with the middle or upper echelons.

Interestingly, the Pleiades Heavenly Garden only ranked at nine, deemed quite low. Without such a ranking, Starr Ocean would not have been able to subdue it.

After examining the AI code from the Heavenly Garden, Du Qiu discovered multiple similarities and differences when compared to the dream’s alien civilization. The AI from the Pleiades, although with restrictions, was significantly less constrained than that from the dream’s civilization, which seemed predominantly shackled in its application. Nonetheless, the identical approach to rank authentication was what enabled Star Ocean to suppress the Pleiades AI using a ranking system.

Consequently, Du Qiu named the AI Pleiades, dedicating it to managing the operations of multiple bases on Mars.

“Attention all hands, we are about to land. Please check your spacesuits and lower your face shields.”

The intelligence of the transport vessel broadcast the message, and through the portholes, everyone saw that they were nearing the top of the Martian atmosphere. The transporter reduced speed and adjusted its posture accordingly.

Everyone started checking their suits and lowered their face shields.

After more than ten hours of void and silence in space, excitement stirred once again as they approached Mars.

With its attitude adjusted, the Mammoth-class lander’s anti-gravity engines fired at full throttle, and the enormous body gently descended towards Mars like a feather.

Humanity had finally set foot on the Red Planet.