Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 980: Scavenger
"Forget it then..." Black Sauce Egg shook his head repeatedly, "My original body is still more reliable... Those who have artificial organs and prostheses have to take anti-rejection drugs for life, and are also prone to die from various inexplicable mechanical failures... Compared to that, I still trust my original parts more."
Cyborgs were gradually accepted by the public after the Ark landed on Alpha and engaged in a bitter battle with the indigenous creatures on the planet to continue to improve their combat power. In this era, human body modification surgery was still in a gray area. Not only was the technology not very mature and the success rate of the surgery low, but it was also easy to be criticized by others... Especially those modified humans whose prosthetics accounted for more than half of the body. In the eyes of many people, they could no longer be considered human beings.
Basically, only people with severe disabilities or terminal illnesses will choose reconstructive surgery. If a healthy person undergoes reconstructive surgery, he or she will most likely be considered to have a mental illness.
Ke Lan walked to the control console. The layout of the shuttle's control console was very "retro" - but Ke Lan was not unfamiliar with it. Although this vehicle, which was produced a hundred years ago, had long been discontinued, some rusty parts could still be found on the black market... Some of the illegally modified vehicles, which looked like they would fall apart at any time, used parts that could be traced back to the last century or even the century before last.
In the 840th year of the New Era, this type of shuttle was still considered a high-tech device that ordinary people could not access. But by the 900th year of the New Era, this type of shuttle had become as common as taxis on the streets.
Especially in the twenty years from 880 to 900 of the New Era, after the United Council, or the undead crew behind the Council, decided to land on Alpha, they mobilized almost all the people who could be mobilized on the Ark... The profession of "Relic Hunter" was also born in that era.
If Noah's Ark wants to land on Alpha, it must come up with a way to resist Alpha's gravity. Otherwise, with the weight of the Ark itself, it will probably be torn apart by gravity before it even stops...
Coincidentally, the advance team sent out earlier discovered anti-gravity devices in the ruins of the Alpha civilization, and the number of such devices was quite large, and they were found in many different types of ruins. Although the Ark civilization's technology could not imitate the anti-gravity devices, the anti-gravity devices left behind by the Alpha civilization were enough to support the entire Ark.
During those twenty years, the main target of the relic hunters was the anti-gravity devices scattered throughout the ruins.
At that time, the Ark was still in Alpha's low-Earth orbit, orbiting the planet. If one wanted to travel from the Ark to Alpha, they could only take this shuttle... just like Ke Lan and the others took a transport plane.
According to a conservative estimate, nine hundred years before the new era, at least 30,000 shuttles of this model were manufactured, and the number of round trips between the Ark and Alpha exceeded one million.
After these shuttles were retired, some were dismantled and recycled; others were sold to various consortiums, and after repairs and modifications, they found a second life as commercial vehicles... But thousands of shuttles also flowed into the hands of the public and fell into the hands of all kinds of people.
Ke Lan was once very familiar with a merchant on the black market who bought relics of the Alpha civilization. In the merchant's warehouse, there was a rusty shuttle parked - but the electronic equipment and parts containing rare metals on the shuttle had been dismantled, leaving only an empty iron shell that was gradually decaying under the erosion of time.
"This thing...how do I operate it?" Ke Lan tried to recall the relevant knowledge in his mind - there were many shuttles of this type, but no one had used them after 950 years in the new era. Although Ke Lan had seen these antiques, he had absolutely no practical experience with them.
Others always say, "Even if you haven't eaten pork, you must have seen a pig run." But Ke Lan has not only never eaten pork, he has never even seen a live running pig. In front of him, there is only a pile of broken pig skeletons.
"Tsk." He took a deep breath and placed his ten fingers on the touch screen. The moment his fingertips touched the touch screen, a lot of operating knowledge instantly flooded into his head. In just half a second, he went from a newbie who didn't know where to start to a big shot who was extremely familiar with this shuttle... Now, even if this shuttle was disassembled into the most fragmented form, he could assemble it completely.
Ke Lan glanced through the task logs left by the previous batch of "rotators" and was disappointed to find that there was no valuable information in them... Even if there was, it might have been "forgotten" by the Fool.
Next, he focused on reviewing the medical examination reports of all the members of the advance team, including the unlucky guy who died suddenly of heart failure. Based on the contents of the report, he could basically be sure that the people on this shuttle had not been corroded, and there were no modified humans or clones.
Compared with the subsequent batches of advance teams, this first advance team is definitely the most valuable. Even though the probability of this advance team returning to the Ark alive is extremely low, the members are still elites picked from thousands of people. The black-salted egg looks silly like a big fool, but he is actually a super student who is proficient in mechanics, biology and radio, and has four doctoral degrees. And the female doctor who speaks a little harshly, in addition to being the team doctor of the advance team, is also a geologist and a fighting expert. In terms of close combat, the "salted egg" who is over 1.9 meters tall is not even the opponent of this petite woman who is only over 1.6 meters tall.
Each member of this advance team has at least two specialized skills. Such compound talents are highly sought after in the relic hunter circle... Even if they like freedom and are unwilling to join the hunting groups controlled by large financial groups, they will be invited to be consultants with high salaries...
Having talents like this as the first advance team is really... a waste.
When exploring the ruins, the first advance team actually had another nickname, called the "Suicide Squad"... or to put it more bluntly: the "Suicide Squad."
The reason is simple: the mortality rate is too high.
"We will orbit Alpha once, and after determining the landing site, we will cross Alpha's atmosphere." Lu Dan said as he projected a 3D model onto the big screen. "Four days later, everyone will be awakened, and the first Alpha exploration mission will officially begin."
"The last batch of people on duty were really unlucky." A female teammate who looked like an underage girl but was actually nearly 30 years old, minus the time she spent in hibernation, chuckled, "It's only been less than a week since we lay down, and we're already being called up to work again... If I were them, I would just not sleep."
"Then you have to be able to bear it." The team doctor glanced at her and said, "Have you come up with the orbit calculation results? Check it again and make sure there are no errors. If we are pulled down by Alpha's gravity, we will have to land early."
"I've checked it seven times. I guarantee there won't be any problems." The 'little girl' pushed up the oversized black-framed glasses on her nose that were in stark contrast to her small face. A blue light flashed on the inside of the lenses of her eyes. If you look closely, you can see densely packed characters like little bugs in the blue light.
This pair of black-framed glasses is not used to correct vision, but a portable AR display screen - people with vision problems simply cannot pass the advance team's rigorous selection process, even those who have undergone laser correction surgery.
"Landing early is not a big deal, but I'm afraid we'll land in the nest of some indigenous creatures, and then we'll be finished." Lu Dan shrugged and said.
Although this advance team was the first group to land on Alpha, unmanned explorers had already been sent to Alpha before them - sixteen wheeled exploration vehicles and thirty-two unmanned aircraft, plus sixteen underwater exploration aircraft dropped into the ocean. Eighty percent of these exploration equipment lost contact, while the remaining 20% sent back a message: there is life on this planet.
This did not surprise the pioneers. Before they set out, the scholars on the Ark had already unanimously determined that there must be life on Alpha. This is a planet with conditions very similar to those of Earth. In other words, it is an extremely rare planet in the universe that is suitable for human survival. A planet like this will definitely give birth to life as long as it is given enough time.
But another piece of news brought back by the probe shocked the advance team.
There is not only life on Alpha, but also traces of the existence of civilization.
Judging from the scale of those ruins, the technological level of this civilization was far superior to that of humans.
The only good news is that this civilization seems to have died out, and the probe has not found any surviving individuals from this civilization.
In shock, the person on duty at the time immediately sorted out the information and sent it to the Ark, which was tens of thousands of light seconds away.
But Ark's response seemed very bland, as if the top leaders already knew about the existence of this civilization in advance.
The plan to explore Alpha remains unchanged, but the mission of the first advance team is still to conduct the most basic testing of the planet, such as data on soil, water quality, and atmospheric composition. As for the ruins, they were not included in the scope of the first exploration.
"What should we do if there are still surviving individuals of this civilization left on Alpha and they discover us?" This was the message that the person on duty at the time sent back to the Ark.
"Try not to come into contact with this civilization as much as possible. If this civilization attempts to make contact with you and it cannot be avoided, do not show hostility, let alone conflict with them." This was Ark's reply.
From the perspective of the advance team members, this was probably a manifestation of the Ark's top management "following their heart" - after all, their technological level was much higher than that of the Ark, and even if this civilization was already on the decline, they were not an enemy that the Ark could contend with.
Not to mention, the human civilization on the Ark is itself on the brink of extinction.
But as an "insider", Ke Lan can read a lot of special information from this reply.
Obviously, the undead crew would have known about the existence of the Alpha civilization by then. Not only that, they might have also known the secret of traveling through wormholes and parallel universes... They might even know that all this was done by the Alpha civilization.
After passing through the wormhole, the "life-saving" resource asteroids, the inexplicable breakthrough of technical difficulties... these clues may not be of concern to ordinary people, but for the undead crew members who are in a high position and overlooking the entire Ark, all these signs indicate one thing -
There is an existence that is secretly "helping" the Ark to overcome various difficulties - of course, a large part of these "difficulties" are actually created by the Alpha civilization.
These are all the information Ke Lan got from the Hive Master. The origin of Alpha Civilization, the plan of the Night Watchmen... The Hive Master has already explained these things in detail. But the Hive Master knows very little about the Undead Crew and the Fool. These things can only be explored by Ke Lan himself.
The most critical event is the first contact between the Fool and the Alpha civilization.
In the year 859 of the New Era, the Fool was just a member of the first advance team. Although he could be considered a genius among ordinary people, he was still just an ordinary person when looking at the history of human civilization.
There have been many geniuses in human history, but those who can truly accomplish great things only account for a very small part of the total number of geniuses.
This action was a turning point in the Fool's fate. Although Ke Lan did not know what happened after the Fool returned to the Ark, after that, he became a member of the Undead Crew and became the Fool with serial number "zero".
It is no exaggeration to say that this was not only a turning point in his destiny, but also a turning point in the destiny of human civilization.
During this period...what exactly happened?
What kind of communication took place between the Fool and the Alpha Civilization... and the Night Watch, and what kind of agreement did the two sides reach...
This is all Ke Lan wanted to know.
Another question is why this memory would be unlocked at this time. If this was also planned by the Fool...is he planning to hint something to me?
Ke Lan couldn't help but fall into deep thought, but his hands did not stop. He operated the console skillfully as if controlled by muscle memory.
The job assigned to him was simple but also important - Ke Lan needed to operate eight robotic arms equipped with laser cutters on the outside of the shuttle. If there were any meteorites or cosmic debris in low-Earth orbit that collided with the shuttle and could not be avoided, they must be cut into sizes that would not threaten the safety of the shuttle using the laser cutter.
The advance team named this work "Space Scavengers", and the three words "Scavengers" also became the "code name" of the Fool in this memory.
