Xisha Aerospace City

Zhang Yuan hurried to the train station without stopping.

A message appeared on his phone: "[Dahua Transport] Dear passenger Zhang Yuan, your ticket payment was successful at 10:03. July 14, 2264, train G888, second-class seat, Donghua (10:30)–Xisha (11:45), ticket number 781234..."

It was almost time. Zhang Yuan boarded the train and found his seat.

A gentle electronic voice sounded through the carriage: "This train is bound for Xisha. The journey will take one hour and fifteen minutes..."

A gray-black sea bridge stretched across the water like a giant dragon. Modern carbon nanotube materials could even make a 36,000-kilometer space elevator possible, so a small bridge across the sea was nothing by comparison.

These bridges could easily withstand a Category 16 typhoon.

Traditional transportation like airplanes was being phased out instead. Fuel wasn't much of a problem; hydrogen could replace conventional fossil fuels. But planes couldn't compete with maglev trains in either capacity or operating costs.

On top of that, maglev trains were almost as fast as planes, with cheaper tickets and a more comfortable ride. They didn't cause the ear-popping discomfort brought on by changes in air pressure, either. As a result, planes were gradually losing their competitive edge and nearing obsolescence.

An hour later, several blurry shapes finally appeared on the azure horizon: the fusion power plants.

The fusion power plants at sea stood a full three hundred meters tall. Their enormous heat output meant the white mist around them was all steam. The distilled water would be collected and supplied to the city.

Xisha Aerospace City lay in the southernmost waters of the Xia Kingdom. A few centuries ago, it had been embroiled in territorial disputes with neighboring small countries. Fishing boats were often detained, and armed clashes broke out from time to time.

But times had changed and society had progressed. After the Xia Kingdom's rise, all those pointless disputes had become things of the past.

"Controlled nuclear fusion is amazing. Electricity costs three cents per kilowatt-hour. How much does that cut industrial production costs? What chance do other countries even have?"

Fusion power plants had one less-than-ideal feature: the larger the reactor, the more stably it ran and the lower its power-generation costs. And because human technology couldn't yet miniaturize fusion devices, each fusion power plant was as big as a small mountain.

Fusion power and the space economy had made the Xia Kingdom the first country to reap the rewards, and it had made a fortune. So letting its smaller neighbors have a taste of the benefits was hardly unreasonable. The territorial disputes had long since disappeared. Those who followed the right path had many allies; those who did not had few. Interests were the closest ties between nations.

The train sped past the power plant.

"Look, look! It's the space elevator!"

"Where?"

"That one... the one as thin as a strand of hair."

Squinting, they could just make out a long, slender column towering into the clouds, like a kite string.

Under the sunlight, it looked dazzling and unreal.

So tall.

It was incredibly tall...

Many people seeing the space elevator for the first time couldn't help pressing themselves against the windows to take pictures.

The legendary "Tower of Babel," a wonder of history, had seventeen counterparts on this planet. In the next thirty years, that number was expected to rise to more than thirty.

Xisha Aerospace City was home to the first space elevator in human history, Tengyun. It stood roughly three hundred kilometers from the equator. Keeping the elevator at a slight incline allowed it to make the greatest use of Earth's rotation, giving it a greater carrying capacity.

After nearly a century of development, Xisha had become an international metropolis.

"Won't it collapse?"

"How could it? The principle is different. A space elevator relies mainly on tension, not compression. You know how a rope works, right?"

"Could terrorists attack the tower?" one curious passenger wondered aloud, letting his imagination run wild.

"...I've heard attacking a space elevator is considered equivalent to starting a nuclear war, and the attacker would face retaliation in kind. Security in Xisha City is pretty strict. There are troops stationed nearby, and planes aren't allowed to fly over..."

"Bro, are you in Xisha City already? I just saw your post on Moments~~~"

Just then, Ye Qingqing, his aunt's daughter, called him. "Are you going to space? I'd love to take a trip there sometime, but my parents want me to work and study to earn money. At this rate, how long will it take me to save up thirty thousand yuan for a trip?"

She was practically green with envy.

"Space tourism? Honestly, it's not that great," Zhang Yuan said with a laugh. "Just keep working and studying for now. You can't even get a tourist visa if you're under eighteen."

Getting a visa was one thing; securing a spot on a tourist trip was another.

The space elevator had a limited daily cargo capacity, so there weren't many spots for tourists. It cost a lot of money, and you might even need to pull some strings. Personal connections never went out of style, no matter the era.

As they chatted, the train gradually slowed to a stop.

"Dear passengers, we have arrived at the terminal station, Xisha. Please take your belongings and prepare to disembark..."

When the train arrived, the tourists gazed excitedly at the space elevator in the distance. No matter where you were in the city, you could always look up and see that enormous pillar reaching into the sky.

This power, born of technology and industry, filled the people of the Xia Kingdom with national pride. Nearly every space elevator in the world involved Xia Kingdom technology and investment.

Having seen it so many times, Zhang Yuan wasn't particularly impressed. He simply rented an unmanned motorboat.

"Whoosh!"

The motorboat raced through Xisha City, sending splashes of water all over him.

It was summer all year round in Xisha City, but even in July, temperatures stayed below thirty degrees. It was far more comfortable than Donghua City.

The city was made up almost entirely of artificial islands, connected to one another by bridges. Beneath them ran a network of waterways, where you could sometimes spot tropical fish.

Once, a leader had impulsively proposed filling in the waterways and replacing them with roads to improve traffic efficiency. The public had unanimously opposed the idea, because... they thought motorboats were more fun and would attract tourists.

As it turned out, the public had been right for once. The all-purpose elevated rail system solved the traffic problem, while water transport really did help promote tourism.

"Beep... Service fee: 16 yuan."

Zhang Yuan stepped off the motorboat and reached his destination.

"I'm an astronaut with the Earth Era. Can I check in now?"

A staff member from the Deep Space Planning Bureau scanned his ID and smiled politely. "Mr. Zhang Yuan, you still have nineteen days of leave left. You're too early. Your launch batch hasn't come up yet."

"No... I just wanted to ask if there's somewhere I can stay."

The staff member smiled. "I'm sorry. If you'd arrived three days early, we could have arranged accommodation for you. But there doesn't seem to be anything available now."

"You could try asking the university next door if they have an empty dorm room. I can issue you proof of your status as an astronaut."

Zhang Yuan frowned. He'd arrived too early and was being turned away. It was understandable; the staff member was just following the rules.

"Then, all right. Thank you."

"You're welcome!"

There were many aviation universities in the area, some of them international schools that admitted students from all over the world. But it was summer break, so most of the students had gone home and the campuses were quiet.

Before long, Zhang Yuan spotted the four gilded characters for "Xisha University." He looked young enough to be a student, so no one stopped him as he walked in.

After asking several people, he finally reached an office building. A sign outside read: "[Deep Space Foundation, Xisha University Branch]"

"Hello, I'd like to see Professor Wang Zhong."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"...No, I don't."

"I'm sorry. Professor Wang is very busy and can't see you without an appointment."

With no other choice, Zhang Yuan brought out his trump cards: his astronaut's certificate and his father's ID.

It was embarrassing to rely on his dad, of course.

"I'm Zhang Qiming's son. Could you tell Professor Wang Zhong I'd like to pay him a visit?"