Old Relic

The dull, monotonous life in space.

On an alien world's orbit 86.37 million kilometers away, only the blazing sun continuously radiated light and heat.

A Vanguard-class Spacecraft drifted slowly through the vast, empty vacuum.

Cheng Lin, who was controlling the Vanguard-class Spacecraft, was currently aboard Taibai Space Station, reviewing the monitoring data from the orbital detection satellites.

About 86 kilometers from the Vanguard-class Spacecraft was an abandoned orbiter.

As the spacecraft gradually approached, after ninety-five minutes, only about three kilometers remained between them. The spacecraft and the abandoned orbiter flew in parallel.

Using the monitoring equipment aboard the spacecraft, Cheng Lin examined the orbiter's appearance.

The Federation Ministry of Aerospace had long since acquired the databases of NASA and the Russia Space Agency. Before carrying out his mission, Cheng Lin had already studied the spacecraft previously abandoned in Venus's orbit.

The orbiter before him was Venus 9, launched by NASA in 1975. Venus 9 consisted of an orbiter and a lander, with a total mass of 4,396 kilograms.

The lander had touched down on Venus's surface decades ago. Now, only the orbiter remained, weighing approximately 2,836 kilograms.

Its originally designed service life had been only around two months.

Relatively intact abandoned spacecraft like this were easier to deal with.

Cheng Lin set the program, and the Vanguard-class Spacecraft automatically activated its space debris recovery protocol. The cargo bay beneath the spacecraft opened, and it slowly approached the Venus 9 orbiter.

Before long, the Vanguard spacecraft had brought the Venus 9 orbiter into its cargo bay, where mechanical arms firmly secured it.

To prevent parts from the abandoned orbiter from scattering inside the cargo bay during the Vanguard-class Spacecraft's flight, pre-prepared rigid foam agent was sprayed into the compartment.

This foam, lighter than air yet no less strong than steel, rapidly