Far out in the orbit between Mars and Jupiter lay thousands upon thousands of asteroids of varying sizes and shapes.
One asteroid drifted along its trajectory of billions of years. It was long and cylindrical, its surface covered in densely packed pits, making it look like an enormous, irregular ear of corn made of rice grains. With a diameter of roughly two kilometers, it counted among the smallest class of asteroids.
On the asteroid, a tracking probe clung to the rock, its indicator lights flickering in the ancient darkness of space. The probe bore the clear logos of the Ant Army Group and Flying Ant Aerospace.
It was the tracker Chen Mo had launched there years ago to confirm the asteroid's location.
Standing on the asteroid, one could see a tiny blue point in the distance rapidly approaching. About ten minutes later, densely packed blue points appeared not far from the asteroid: the mechanical pillars Chen Mo had launched.
"Corn has been located at its designated position. Target asteroid locked. Optimus Prime requests authorization to execute the plan autonomously." The mechanical pillars closely followed behind the asteroid as the Artificial Intelligence they carried transmitted the request to Earth.
Optimus Prime was the name Chen Mo had given these mechanical pillar thrusters. It was quite fitting.
An hour later, the Artificial Intelligence of the mechanical pillars received an execution order from Earth. "Request approved."
"Confirming the Igniter's position."
After receiving the authorization, the mechanical pillars did not immediately approach the asteroid. Instead, they received the location data from another tracker.
Some unknown distance away from the Corn asteroid in the Asteroid Belt, a colossal asteroid dozens of times larger than Corn had floated unchanged since time immemorial. No one knew how long it had been drifting there.
This potato-shaped asteroid was