Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 130
“Farewells are always sad, so let’s keep this one as brief as possible.”
After the pre-departure checks of the “Northern Cross” were completed, Leonard projected himself along with the ship’s various parameters onto the bridge. Alois, Joshua, and Casper stood in a row before the AI, like three students awaiting their teacher’s guidance.
“It’s hard to believe, Leo. Don’t most people feel a bit sentimental at times like this?” Alois remarked.
“You’re quite the comedian, but I’m not a person,” Leo replied, pushing a stream of data towards Alois.
Alois glanced at the floating green numbers and realized that the ship lacked a fully automated navigation system—meaning he’d have to manually correct the course every two hours. What a piece of junk!
“Although the navigation system leaves much to be desired,” Leo grinned like a merchant trying to sell overpriced goods, “the engine performance is excellent. Normally, a ship of this size wouldn’t have the engine and power capacity to get you all the way to ancient Earth, but I’ve modified the ‘Northern Cross’ to enable continuous jumps. This way, you only need to make three jumps, with two resupply stops in between.” With a wave, Leo brought up a star map. “I’ve already pinpointed your resupply locations.” On the star map, a space station and a colonial satellite were marked in green. “Your final jump will bring you to Charon Station, located at the outer edge of the solar system where Old Earth is. It was once an outpost for Earth’s early explorers. There’s still an old jump relay station there that will allow you to reach Earth’s moon directly. You’ll find suitable spacecraft in the abandoned lunar base. Park the ‘Northern Cross’ at the lunar base and then use a spacecraft to land on Earth.”
“Why go through all that trouble?” Alois asked, puzzled. “We could just jump straight into the solar system and land on Earth with the ‘Northern Cross’.”
Leo smirked. “Don’t forget, you’re not the only ones heading to Earth. The Duke’s forces are going there too. But they don’t know about Charon Station, nor do they have the password to enter the lunar base. They’ll land directly on Old Earth. They have advanced radar, maybe even weapons, and modern spacecraft won’t be able to hide from their radar. But the lunar base’s old spacecraft are different—they won’t be detected because they’re so ancient. It’s like trying to spot a caveman’s wooden club on radar.”
“What a shame,” Joshua said dryly. “I traveled to the colonies on a wooden club.”
“That’s not the same!” Leo exclaimed. “Yours was at least at the bronze age level!”
“It took me two thousand years to reach the colonies,” Joshua muttered, seemingly ignoring Leo’s words, “and now you’re telling me I can get back to Earth in two weeks…”
“Three weeks,” Leo corrected.
Joshua continued, “… I really feel defeated.”
Leo patted the assassin’s head with a sympathetic smile. “Although the glorious technology of Old Earth still hasn’t been fully recovered, the warp engine is truly a groundbreaking invention, surpassing even Old Earth. Back then, people still relied on animal power to pull carts. But look at us now.” He gestured into the distance. “Look ahead, Joshua. Technology is advancing. How can a great man remain stuck in the past?”
“…It’s not very convincing coming from you.”
Leo sullenly withdrew his hand. “Alright, that’s all I need to tell you. Onboard, Alois is in charge of piloting and course correction. Once you’re on Old Earth, follow Joshua’s lead. There’s a giant computer in Kester’s lab that can support my calculations. Did you bring the backup chip?” Alois nodded. “Once my backup is installed on the computer, I can assist you at any time—any other questions?”
“What do we do if we encounter other factions?” Joshua asked.
“Eliminate any obstacles. The mission is the top priority.” Leo made a throat-cutting gesture. “Any other questions?”
Alois and Joshua shook their heads in unison. Casper, meanwhile, was staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.
Leonard gave them an ancient salute. “Unlike humans, I have nearly infinite time, but I don’t want to spend it waiting and reminiscing. I wish you all a safe journey and good luck in battle.”
His image and the floating data vanished together.
The bridge fell into an uncomfortable silence. Alois quietly held Joshua’s hand. “Will we make it back?” he whispered.
“Even if it’s on a wooden club, we’ll come back,” the assassin replied, closing his eyes.
Casper suddenly moved, as if startled from a dream, and stared warily at Joshua.
“What was that about two thousand years?” he asked.
It took quite some time to explain Joshua’s identity to Casper. By the time he finally grasped it, the “Northern Cross” had already left the orbit of Sword Bow C and was heading out of the Sword Bow system, leaving the main fleet far behind.
Correcting the ship’s course wasn’t as troublesome as Alois had imagined. He only needed to adjust the navigation path according to the star map parameters. The rest of the time, however, seemed difficult to pass. If it had just been him and Joshua, they could have kept each other company all the way to Old Earth without getting bored. But the problem was, Casper was there. He acted like an eager schoolboy on his first trip to a nature class, constantly pestering “Professor” Joshua with questions, as if the word “encyclopedia” was written on Joshua’s face. Most of the time, Joshua could only offer brief explanations, and when he delved into more complex topics like Old Earth’s medical technology, Casper would listen intently, even if he didn’t understand a word. Alois couldn’t comprehend this fervent desire for knowledge.
When the Northern Cross was 1.7 light-years away from the Sword Bow system, it initiated its first warp. During the previous journey, Alois hadn’t had much rest due to the need to correct the course every two hours. Even when he managed to sleep, he’d be woken up to groggily head to the bridge and tap away at the keyboard (usually accompanied by the background music of Professor Joshua and student Casper’s cheerful academic exchanges). Now that they were in warp, he could finally get a good sleep, free from the endless course corrections and incomprehensible historical terms, enjoying the peace of his dreams.
Someone had to be on watch at the bridge to handle any unexpected situations. So, they took turns standing guard. Only when Casper was either stargazing alone on the bridge or had gone back to his room to sleep did Alois and Joshua have time to be close.
“I really want to kill that guy,” Joshua said darkly. “Just make it look like he died in the mission on Old Earth. Nobody would ever know…”From a rational standpoint, Alois managed to talk Joshua out of this brutal and cold-blooded plan, but emotionally, he had to agree with the assassin. Casper, my old classmate, my good friend, Alois thought as he tried to reason with Joshua, for the first time in my life, I wish I’d never met you, truly!
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