Chapter 41 Important Dates
Wormhole space. A sixty-seven-meter-tall steel giant. The dark and cold mecha Dark Flame spread its six-winged light wings for absolute defense.
Waiting quietly in an absolute protective posture.
The core position of the mecha, the mental connection control cabin.
Su Xi blinked and woke up from a deep sleep. What came into view was the silvery-white metal ceiling.
She sat up suddenly, and her large coat slipped off her body.
She turned her head slightly and looked around. There was no extra furniture decoration here, only the chair under her and a display screen with flashing indicator lights.
An image on one of the monitors caught her attention.
The doors opened one by one. Through the transparent barrier, she saw the alpha standing in the decompression chamber, waiting for the air pressure inside and outside to balance. She didn't see the space suit, and a hint of surprise flashed through her mind.
In Naya's brief life memory and Xiguang's vast database, various man-made objects in this interstellar era have broken through the microscopic Level II limitations. Graphene, which is similar to a two-dimensional molecular structure, and biochemical molecular chain materials with nanostructures have been skillfully applied and widely popularized in civilian use.
Many of the myths about the ancient earth are just the differences in different states of matter in this era.
But it's a bit strange that there's not even light protective clothing.
Su Xi touched her chin with her slender white fingers, a trace of doubt flashed through her mind, could it be that she knew too little about the world's technology tree?
Fitzgerald, who had returned from the void and was still in a spiritual connection with Dark Flame, noticed her focused gaze the first time.
He looked up at her through the display screen. Slowly, a white mist filled the decompression chamber. This was composed of countless invisible nanosilver ion robots, used to detect residual radiation and vacuum germs during interstellar travel.
Hiss, hiss, hiss—the depressurization work is completed, and the first sealed door opens. The second door will open again after it is completely disinfected.
There was only a thin transparent observation door between her and him.
The diffuse nano-white mist slowly dissipated, revealing a red-haired alpha with a bare chest. He was slightly tilting his head back, combing his medium-long hair with his five fingers. His arms were strong and powerful, with stretched muscles. The male figure faintly visible in the dispersing white mist had smooth and powerful lines.
Su Xi turned her head away abruptly, her ears turned slightly red, and her heart beat faster for a few moments.
"Damn it! What the hell! You've forgotten the basic common sense of the interstellar world! It's not like you haven't read male model magazines on Earth! Su Xi, be more thoughtful and stop being so ignorant!"
Su Xi pretended to be calm with a straight face, but inwardly she was complaining about herself in order to distract herself from the embarrassment and shame she was feeling.
As for the weird things like 'technology tree' and 'lack of basic protective clothing' that I was thinking about before, they were thrown into outer space with a sound of biu~ by the sudden attack of male beauty.
He casually took the clothes handed to him by the mechanical arm. His brows were still deep and his expression was stern. However, while putting on the clothes, he looked at the omega through the small window of the transparent shielding cabin, with a focused look and a gentle smile.
Of course he was happy that she kept staring at him like that, but it was also nice to see her blushing in embarrassment.
When the last door opened and he entered the inner cabin, he was already neatly dressed, but there was still a slight smile in his eyes.
"You're awake."
He approached her, dressed simply in black and white, his white shirt buttoned to the last button below his Adam's apple, and his black trousers wrapped tightly around his sturdy thighs, leaving no trace of the pattern.
The pheromones were restrained and perfectly contained, slightly gentle, for fear of disturbing the omega who had just exhausted himself from the 'first match'.
Her fragile, immature glands could not withstand another attack.
He thought with pity and a little regret.
"I gave you some mental counseling while you were asleep. Apart from exhaustion, did you feel any discomfort?"
The warm hands slowly rubbed her hair and examined it carefully.
The red color on the tip of Su Xi's ear slowly spread to the earlobe.
"No, no!" Su Xi lowered her head and looked at her toes in a bit of a daze. Although the Alph's scent that was vaguely shrouding her no longer had the intention of deliberately seducing her, the warm and orchid-like scent still enveloped her intimately.
"Thank you." She raised her head and said seriously, feeling a little annoyed inside. It felt terrible that she couldn't do anything except express her gratitude verbally.
Fitzgerald was silent. His fingers, which were rubbing and checking the acupuncture points on his brow bones, paused for a moment and said in a dull voice, "Don't be so polite to me."
Su Xi blinked and looked at him with a hint of doubt. Then she belatedly remembered——
Damn 'AO matching'! Different from the normal steps of a normal relationship between men and women on Earth, 'dating -> holding hands -> first base to third base', in the ABO society, the matching activities between pheromones are the real ones after third base!
In Naya's etiquette knowledge, if an omega does not send out a firm message of rejection after receiving the estrus information from the alpha hormone, it means "agree to mate" = "agree to date" = "formally establish a matching relationship"!
Su Xi immediately reviewed her slightly vague memories from before. Did she release the pheromone of "firm rejection"?
It seems not! At that time, she vaguely felt that the other person smelled "good" and "charming". Different from that domineering and cold image, this completely gentle and reasonable man was her ideal type. She couldn't resist it at all!
Su Xi suddenly felt terrified. Should she be thankful that the other party had strong self-control and did not bite her again? After all, this time was completely different from their first encounter on the UFO planet.
So - can a relationship like this that didn't go through to the end be disregarded?
If you want to refuse directly, how can you say it more tactfully?
At this moment, Su Xi, who was clear-headed, fell into deep thought and immediately felt embarrassed.
She subconsciously felt that the status and various conditions of both parties were too mismatched. The attraction of pheromones was simply not in line with her inner nature or the love view of an Earth girl. Moreover, through comparing with Naya's social common sense, the ABO relationship in this interstellar era was mainly aimed at pursuing genetic optimization and mate matching.
Falling in love, a spiritual activity, is not the mainstream of AO relationships at all.
She doesn't need such a relationship, she thought with a hint of annoyance.
But he had no idea what she was thinking.
How to explain!
This is not just a generation gap in thought that spans across several galaxies and tens of thousands of light years, this generation gap spans across the dimensional wall of the universe!
These disturbing thoughts only lasted for a few moments in the mind of the honey-brown short-haired omega. But Fitzgerald, who had been paying attention to her various subtle expressions and was a hundred times more sensitive to the emotions expressed by pheromones, almost immediately understood the omega's reluctance.
His expression gradually turned cold. The eyes that were gentle and smiling a second ago were instantly covered with the coldness of the polar night.
As proud as he was, he had never received such a clear rejection.
Even if the other party has not yet spoken the language of rejection.
The atmosphere froze for a moment.
Beep-beep--just at this moment, the request sound of quantum communication rang, breaking the awkward silence between the two.
*
First Fortress. Quantum communication conference in the wormhole.
The long-awaited communication request was finally connected.
Due to the special situation of the "Universe's End", the wormhole environment where Fitzgerald is located causes a large amount of attenuation of the transmitted quantum entanglement. In order to maintain the fidelity of the signal, the people who are connected can only communicate through audio and file transmission.
Therefore, they did not know that in such a top-secret military meeting concerning the fate of the entire empire, there was a civilian omega who quietly listened in on the entire process.
And if it weren't for such an extremely special situation, Fitzgerald would never let an omega whom he wanted to completely protect under his wing get involved in such dangerous and complicated political relations.
When Fitz connected the quantum audio, Su Xi sat far away in the corner.
He glanced at her, and although his expression was still solemn, he seemed to have figured something out, and the coldness in his eyes faded a little. But the unhappy pheromones still warned her from a distance.
Su Xi wrapped the coat he gave her tightly around her, covering most of her face, leaving only a pair of amber eyes and a few naughty, slightly curly short hair exposed.
Her beautiful eyes drifted around for a moment, indicating that she didn't smell, feel, or have any effect on the pheromones that were warning him!
Fitzgerald looked away.
After a brief greeting, Albert's report quickly got to the point.
He first briefly described Sir Cotello's deduction and discovery, and then talked about the most important issue of rendezvous: "The model of the material ejection of the sub-type III wormhole has been completed. The safest landing point is located in the most desolate 'Great Wild Star Region' in the 'Universe Desolate Region'. Now we are calculating the most suitable rendezvous points based on the positioning signal you sent back."
"Although we cannot obtain a panoramic scan of the 'Universe Desolate Domain', we can be sure that there are a large amount of antimatter energy radiation fluctuations left around the 'Great Wilderness Star Domain'. The data has been shared with An Yan's intelligent computer system. Please switch to human-machine mode to keep the mecha's response as sensitive as possible."
The artificial antimatter energy fluctuations in the "Great Wilderness Star Region" mentioned by Albert are the remnants of the final battle in which humans drove away the Zerg thousands of years ago.
當時那場犧牲幾乎一比一的慘烈決戰之中，人類自殺式的采用了大規模的反物質武器。雖然以微弱的優勢獲得了最後的勝利，但是不可逆轉的造成了‘大荒星域’附近一大片的反物質污染。
從此‘大荒星域’成了真正的死亡地帶。把‘宇宙絕域’真正隔絕出人類探索的視線之外。
‘宇宙絕域’成了被人類徹底放棄的地方，反物質武器留下的時空扭曲效應，也有效成了大規模防禦蟲族的第一道屏障。
被迫在一旁默默聽着整個過程的蘇熙，突然想到了廣島原子彈，只不過反物質武器的能量污染的後果，可比原子彈可怕多了。
而作為這個宇宙極為特殊存在的‘蟲族’，在數千年的繁衍中，也進化出了‘時空躍遷蟲’這種王将級的高等級蟲族，得以拖拽同族穿越危險的反物質能量湮滅的區域。
人類該慶幸的是，‘宇宙絕域’過于稀少的生存資源，從根本上限制了這種高等級蟲族的孵化。
第一要塞的‘蟲族防禦工事’便成了保護人類的最後一道安全鎖。
但現在，從報告上來看，情況顯然有了另一個變化。
蘇熙細白的手指翻閱着機械臂遞過來的光板，上面有幾個現編的小游戲，她擡頭看了一眼那個alpha的背對她的身影。
心裏暗暗一笑。好貼心呢，怕她聽着無聊麽？
可她聽得很有興趣，好意不可辭，蘇熙接過光板，随意點開了一個游戲玩！
一個很簡單的立體數獨游戲，配合三維投影的‘戳泡泡掉寶藏’的動态效果。滿屏的粉紅泡泡從平面的光板中游蕩而出，快樂親昵的圍繞着她轉圈圈。
就算她停下來不玩，也有好些泡泡虛影親吻到她臉上，然後——嘭的破滅，掉出一堆寶藏逗開心。
簡直——是給智障兒童逗開心的游戲！
蘇熙心裏嘀咕，而且那樣冷硬壞脾氣的男人，從外表完全看不出來會編寫這麽粉紅少女心的游戲程序，簡直人不可貌相！
實在忍不住想吐槽他，蘇熙又擡眼朝那個紅發alpha看過去，但只看得見他冷峻而專注的側臉。查收文件的三維光幕投影在他面前，有微微的光勾勒出完美冷肅的臉部線條。
他幾乎同時就感應到了她的注目，微微側臉看她，然後豎起食指點了點唇，做了一個噤聲的手勢。
蘇熙皺了皺小巧的鼻子，表示知道了。
然後她一邊心不在焉的玩着游戲，一邊斷斷續續的聽着他們講話。
好奇心充沛的蘇熙在聽不明白的地方，還會下意識搜索起會議中涉及到的一些名詞的解釋。
會議室的艾伯特停頓了一下，看着三維沙盤上模拟出來的影像，亞III型蟲洞仿佛一條‘活着’的頸部細長的葫蘆蟲，正在空間曲面上無規則的翻滾着，朝着‘宇宙絕域’最深處蟲巢的方向前進，而影像上測定出來表示可安全接應的綠色錨點，随着這條‘葫蘆蟲’的移動和扭轉閃爍不定，仿佛圍繞飛舞的綠色螢火蟲。
這樣的狀态下，确實無法有一個固定的接應點。
就比如在太空中，運行軌道都是不規則形狀的兩個衛星，要在有限的軌道相交點上，找到相交和停留時間最長的那個位置。
而對于被接應的人來說，如果錯過最合适的測算點，在自身的時間軸上，也許需要等待上百年才能等到下一個适合的點。
對于菲茨傑拉德來說或許不算什麽，但對于精神等級低、肉身脆弱的蘇熙來說，一旦錯過就有可能有生之年都不可能回到原來的時空點上。
艾伯特調整了參數，最後确定道：“蟲洞出口定位坐标已生成最合适的、時間最近的三個測算點，吞日號改裝飛梭随時可前往接應。”
“資料已傳送，請查收！”
“由于‘宇宙絕域’的數據尚不完全，”看見背景模型大面積的黃色未知區域，艾伯特皺眉叮囑：“請您務必小心！”
“克裏斯，你有什麽問題嗎？”量子通訊的音頻器裏傳來淡淡的詢問。
“指揮官，雖然在這個會議上詢問這個問題并不是很恰當，但我還是向問一下，那位娜亞小姐進入蟲洞後是否無恙？”
克裏斯想起了還在基因修複中的蕾拉阿薩伊，硬着頭皮插嘴問了一句。
“她跟我在一起。”語音通訊那邊傳來淡淡的一句回複。
“好的，我沒問題了。”
*
就在會議要結束的時候，量子通訊的音頻會議裏突然想起了一個蒼老而激動的聲音。
“殿下，除此之外，我還有一份重要推演報告，跟‘宇宙絕域’有關，請允許再延長五分鐘！”
“可。”他簡要回答。
科洛特爵士不顧其他人驚訝的目光，點擊傳送了一份加密文件，然後一邊展示一邊講解：
“做為對宇宙能量最為敏感的種族，蟲族是高維度生物被降維分解後遺留在當前宇宙的産物，這個觀點雖然至今仍有反對的聲音，但是只有這樣才能解釋為什麽這一千年以來宇宙背景輻射的廣譜監測出現極其劇烈的峰值變化！”
“而埋在‘宇宙絕域’的蟲族監測器，也忠實的記錄了這近千年以來蟲族‘群體性的恐慌’的發生規律！”
“而一旦對比這幾組數據進行推演——”
“這就能很好的解釋和佐證我這個‘宇宙演變進入衰竭期’的波動模型！”
刷的一聲！他示意助手拉開膠質幕布，跟與會的衆人展示他在邊陲星球将近六十年閉門研究的結果。
“從宇宙背景輻射的廣譜監測來看，這種‘宇宙演變衰竭’即将進入密集期。”
他敲了敲被重點圈出來的密密麻麻的波形圖，那是三百年後的時間段，老科學家的話越說越壓抑沉凝。
“三百年後，将由最高的峰值進入最低峰值！到時候宇宙将發生大規模的坍縮！”
“當前宇宙大爆炸以來的253億光年的歷史數據中，有過數次局部坍縮，‘宇宙絕域’就是120億年前上次局部坍縮的殘留區域！”
“如果我這個模型的預測成真！”科特洛年老的手不禁有些顫抖，“那麽當前人類在宇宙中的所積攢有一切将會被毀于一旦！”
艾伯特：“就是說，有可能三百年後，宇宙再次調整進行‘大荒蕪’時代，現存的文明，也就是我們的文明，将被全面洗牌？”
“怎麽可能？”
“太不可思議了！”
“從未聽聞！”
與會的其它人員紛紛低語。
“會議紀律！”量子音頻通訊器中傳來了菲茨傑拉德淡然的聲音，會議室立刻恢複了平靜。
“請科特洛爵士繼續。”
而一旁一直坐着沒出聲的霍德曼眯眼向這個‘科特洛爵士’看過去，想起了有關他的資料。
這個被媒體貼上‘一生桀骜不遜’美譽标簽的科學家，年少時曾傾盡整個沒落家族貢獻點，才換取了基因溶液和‘全面基因修複’的名額。
從一個天賦點在智能潛力上的普通Beta強行提升到A+alpha的等級。但這種強行提升上來的alpha等級，是不可能再具備持續進化的資質了。
啧！看看，僅僅不到一百五十年就呈現出如此年老衰竭之态，基因端粒失去活性，壽終已是最好的結局。
但是，望着這個科特洛展示出來的結果，這個算得上是皇室最頂級的秘密之一，只有成功經歷了宙墓考驗的alpha強者才能在宇宙法則之下隐約體驗到的未來。
但顯然，皇室的決意是并不打算公布于衆，甚至連隐約知道的人都不會多于八個。
他眯了眯眼，有必要讓他活到壽終嗎？
來自死亡的冰冷威脅襲上了科特洛的後背，正在講解的他恍惚了一下，仔細分辯卻又分辯不出是誰的信息素。
這個脊背硬朗的老科學家心裏哂笑一聲，自從在上次蟲核暴動的事件前後默默旁觀了菲茨傑拉德，這個帝國王儲第一繼承人的所有言行，他對于人類帝國在下一個五百年的發展稍微有了點信心，這才徹底放棄了隐居邊陲星球的晚年生活，再次踏入了中央星系的權力漩渦。
死亡什麽的，反正他的基因活性也不足支撐到五十年後了，默默研究的東西就早點拿出來吧。
不然死也不瞑目。
“殿下！”科洛特鄭重發出了他的請求，“雖然有些推演還不完善，如果能取回樣本，這個設想就能被完全驗證！”
就能完全驗證他苦心九十年的研究心血，就不再是紙上談兵的理論！而是佐證！
“為了帝國，我請求您此行返回之前，前往蟲巢更換監視器，并取得樣本！”
霍德曼突然嚴肅的說到：“菲茨，你要考慮清楚。從來沒有人這樣做過模型推演，你完全不用浪費時間在這上面！”
霍德曼雖然沒有任何正式的職務，但他地位極其特殊。
He usually smiles, but once he clearly expresses his opposition to something, the current Emperor Anthony will give in.
On the other side of the conference line, Fitzgerald said, "Holdeman, you are not qualified to interfere in this matter anymore."
Everyone was silent, but unexpectedly, the bad-tempered Holderman did not get angry as they expected, but sighed instead.
"I've lost my qualifications a long time ago," said Holdman, who had just rejected Klotte and now seemed to have aged a few hundred years. His voice became several degrees hoarse and deep. "Okay! You decide for yourselves."
"Oh! Forget it! I don't care about your affairs!"
"It's so boring, let's leave!"
Holdeman swaggered out of the conference room and out of everyone's sight.
Fitzgerald ignored it and allowed the meeting to continue.
"Chris, calculate the time difference between the Great Wilderness Star Region and the First Fortress, and come up with a detailed response plan."
"Among the three rendezvous points identified by Albert, place the coordinates at the location closest to the worm nest at time point A. I will sense the coordinates through the Dark Flame and drop the material through the wormhole to land at location A."
Fitzgerald turned around and lowered his head. Su Xi, who had already been attracted by the content of the meeting, walked up to him and looked up at him.
"After landing, I will immediately go to the hive, take samples and replace the monitors," Fitzgerald looked into the amber eyes filled with trust and slowly stated his next decision. "Chris will personally lead the team to Point B to pick up an Imperial citizen and arrange for the Sun Swallow to stay at Point B until I gather."
"Mission level S5," he paused, his fingers moved slightly, and his voice became hoarse: "I will abandon her at the time closest to the coordinates of point B."
Once again thrown away.
He pursed his lips, and the illusion in his dream passed before his eyes again.
A slender white finger gently hooked his clothes.
No matter how dull Su Xi's pheromone glands were, she could not ignore the extremely bad aura that was suppressed by this alpha.
To Fitzgerald it looked like a timid little beast approaching him.
It looked at him with a pair of warm, comforting eyes, slightly worried.
"Your Highness?" Chris was puzzled by the rare hesitation on the other end of the communicator and asked.
Under the indescribable gaze of this red-haired alpha, Su Xi's heart suddenly became extremely soft. She moved her feet and got closer to him.
Put your hand in his.
Fitzgerald clenched his hands, interlacing his fingers.
The two hands, one big and one small, were in sharp contrast. This time Su Xi did not blush. She lowered her head and used her other hand to touch the joints of his fingers, counting them one by one for fun.
Fitzgerald quickly made the remaining arrangements and concluded: "Chris will be in charge of the entire operation, and Albert will be responsible for logistics and finishing. The content of today's meeting will be filed as top secret."
"Also," he paused and looked down at his intertwined hands, "prepare to clear all the 'old nails' in the First Fortress."
"Yes!" Chris said in a low voice, "We will clear them all before you return!"
“It is resolved.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Fitzgerald hung up the call neatly.
The atmosphere in Dark Flame's mecha control cabin was calm.
"Do what you want," Su Xi said to him seriously, looking up, "I am not important here."
"No." He lowered his eyes and carefully caressed her face with his gaze, his expression calm but focused: "You are important."
"You are very important to me."
As the quantum clock ticked softly, they held each other's fingers, waiting for the moment to say goodbye.
Su Xi looked at the clock display. The time flow rate ratio between the First Fortress and the wormhole was nearly 1:15. In the non-quantum state, Chris would need about five minutes to complete the plan, and they still had 75 minutes together.
"Ah!" Su Xi suddenly seemed to remember something, and she said with a smile, "Since we still have so much time, why don't you teach me something else?"
"Although I'm still weak now!"
"But don't underestimate me!"
With a brilliant smile on her exquisite and beautiful face, the whole person exudes a dazzling light that is difficult to look directly at.
Makes you want to swallow it in one bite!
He did the same, and with a slight twist of his clasped hands, he held her in his arms again.
"Yeah! Very impressive." The man buried in her shoulder let out a deep breath and whispered, "I won't underestimate you."