Chapter 11: Treasure Hunt

Joseph shouted, "Oh, Cosmic God, have you abandoned me?" as the Firebird fell quickly toward the planet.

"Idiot! Put on your spacesuit!" Peng Yu yelled. "The cabin is losing pressure fast!"

Then, a lightning bolt hit the Firebird. The ship, once smooth and white, now had black scorch marks all over.

"Warning!" the ship’s AI said coldly. "Hull damage is 78%. Power system offline. Communication system offline. The ship will crash in one minute. Passengers must leave the ship. Escape pods will be ejected in 30 seconds."

"Firebird, switch to manual control. Stop the ejection!" Peng Yu shouted. If the ejection happened, they would lose everything. His eyes were wide with fear.

"Firebird refuses to follow the order," the AI replied. "Protecting intelligent beings is Firebird’s top priority."

"FUCK! Damn AI!" Joseph muttered angrily.

Thunder rumbled outside. Heavy rain began to pour. The rain hit the ship’s hull with loud, crackling sounds.

The Firebird fell rapidly toward the ground. The heat from the ship’s descent vaporized the rain around it.

From a distance, the ship looked like a white mist, trailing behind it like a long tail. It was falling fast toward a rocky cliff.

"100 meters, 50 meters, 10 meters, 5 meters," the ship’s AI warned. It seemed the ship was about to crash.

Just before hitting the cliff, the ship stopped in midair. It hovered, as though something invisible had caught it.

"Haha, Peng! We survived!" Joseph yelled, his voice full of relief. He had almost forgotten that their mission on Ravon B might fail, leaving them stranded with nothing.

"Yes, Joseph," Peng Yu replied, his voice tired. "At least we didn’t waste the 5 million Ter we spent on the gravity generator."

The gravity generator was a one-time device. It cancelled out gravity, making objects float with little force. It was powered by a rare mineral called Fluorite. Fluorite was expensive and hard to find. Most people could not afford it.

Peng Yu and Joseph bought the gravity generator for the Tian Gong ship. They planned to use it to escape dangerous areas, like black holes or neutron stars.

Due to the dangerous weather on Ravon B, they decided to use the smaller Firebird to explore the planet, instead of the larger Tian Gong.

Their 100 employees refused to fly the Firebird. They feared that the lightning on Ravon B would destroy the ship’s shields, and landing would mean certain death.

In the end, Peng Yu and Joseph decided to go themselves. They secretly moved the gravity generator from the Tian Gong to the Firebird. They figured that if they failed, they would not leave the generator behind.

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But soon, the generator ran out of power as the Firebird made its final descent onto the cliff.

"Joseph, go start the backup power," Peng Yu ordered. Earlier, he had used a laser gun to cut the power lines and stop the AI from ejecting them. Without this action, they would have been stranded on Ravon B.

Joseph, wearing a bulky spacesuit, trudged to the back of the ship. The rain was coming in through the damaged walls, soaking everything inside.

Peng Yu worked to fix the broken power lines.

"Ding!" The cockpit lights turned on again. The AI’s voice returned.

"Power system is 100% damaged. It cannot be repaired. Physical structure is 80% damaged. Some parts can be fixed. Communication system is 100% damaged. Some parts can be repaired. Life support system is 100% damaged. Some parts can be restored," the AI reported.

Luckily, some equipment was still working. The hovercraft, environmental sensors, fusion generators, engineering robots, food supplies, and map-making robots were still usable.

Peng Yu and Joseph had taken off their spacesuits. They sat in the cockpit, planning their next steps. Nearby, the engineering robots worked to repair the ship’s structure. They were using materials from other parts of the ship to make the cockpit a sealed area.

The environmental sensors showed that Ravon B had 2 standard atmospheres of pressure. The air contained 11.5% oxygen, 82.3% nitrogen, and other gases. The temperature was 7.5°C. There was very little plant life. They decided to use the cockpit as a temporary shelter.

Peng Yu stood by the holographic control panel. The map-making robots had sent back data. He was happy with the results. The map showed that Ravon B was mostly mountainous. There were few plains. More than 80% of the surface was covered by lakes and oceans. The map-making robots were now checking key areas again.

"Have we contacted the Tian Gong yet?" Peng Yu asked Joseph.

"Peng, do you think those idiots think we’re dead and left us behind?" Joseph asked with worry. The lightning had blocked communication with the Tian Gong.

Peng Yu wasn’t sure if the crew would leave. He didn’t want to upset Joseph, so he said, "Don’t worry. They’ll wait for us. According to United Federation law, if explorers are missing, and there’s no proof of their death, the crew must wait at least 60 days."

"Let’s hope so. God help us," Joseph said, sounding more religious than usual.

Peng Yu shrugged. He didn’t believe in the “Origin God” religion, but he smiled faintly.

The AI suddenly spoke. "The environmental sensors have updated data. The atmospheric model predicts that the lightning will weaken by 100,000 times in 30 minutes. It will get stronger again in 2 hours."

Peng Yu and Joseph were relieved. If the lightning weakened, it would only be 100 million volts. The Tian Gong’s shields could handle that. They could force the ship to land.

"Joseph, send this information to the Tian Gong. Tell them that if they land here, their pay will be ten times higher. Also, once the signal is connected, use our highest clearance to let the main computer take control of the Tian Gong and land it here to join us," Peng Yu ordered.

"But... the law..." Joseph hesitated.

"Joseph, forget about the law. We have only 25 days of supplies left. The food machine is on the Tian Gong. The Firebird can’t leave Ravon B. Our employees won’t help us. We need to bring the Tian Gong down and use its equipment to explore Ravon B more deeply. The map-making robots have scanned the surface and found no human traces. This means the Pan-Hua Empire’s artifacts are underground," Peng Yu said sharply.

Half an hour later, the lightning on Ravon B weakened. Joseph successfully re-established communication with the Tian Gong. Despite complaints from some crew members, he ordered the ship to break through the lightning.

A massive, 30-kilometer-long gray-black ship appeared in the sky. The sight was terrifying. Many animals on Ravon B scattered in panic.

The Tian Gong landed on a plain. Steam hissed as the doors opened, and advanced machines rolled out.

Peng Yu and Joseph climbed into the Firebird’s hovercraft. They flew toward the Tian Gong. Moments later, the Firebird’s base exploded, completing its mission.

With the advanced technology aboard the Tian Gong, the search became more efficient.

Peng Yu and Joseph divided Ravon B into 360 zones. Each zone was scanned by machines and manually checked to a depth of 100 kilometers.