Chapter Summaries

Lü Yongchang and Yevgeny discussed the Electromagnetic Coilgun’s accuracy and planned its first test in space, then considered equipping its projectiles with miniature nuclear bombs. The chapter ended with Lü Yongchang ordering Earth’s remaining Mining Robots to focus on uranium after learning that the Tower of Babel had stopped operating.

• Lü Yongchang asked Zero whether it could improve the Electromagnetic Coilgun’s stability, and Zero said it needed more experimental data.
• Two months later, Lü Yongchang and Yevgeny inspected the massive coilgun in Mars City and agreed that it had to be test-fired from a Luan Bird starship in space.
• Lü Yongchang explained that the coilgun’s projectiles might not be powerful enough to decide interstellar battles without costly saturation attacks.
• Yevgeny proposed turning the projectiles into miniature nuclear bombs and showed Lü Yongchang Zero’s calculations and simulations supporting the idea.
• Lü Yongchang learned that fewer than half of Earth’s Mining Robots still worked and that the Tower of Babel was no longer operational, so he ordered them to mine uranium ore.

Lü Yongchang learned that a 100-kilometer asteroid was on course to collide with Mars and ordered Bart to investigate it. Bart left Psyche aboard the Hummingbird Starship, while the councillors and Academy of Sciences awaited Hummingbird One’s report.

• Lü Yongchang dismissed the projectile simulations and told the exhausted Yevgeny to rest, but Zero interrupted with an alert.
• Lü Yongchang told the councillors and senior Academy of Sciences members that Zero’s simulations predicted an asteroid would strike Mars, and said Hummingbird One was investigating it.
• Bart received a prerecorded assignment from Lü Yongchang to investigate the incoming asteroid.
• Bart opened the route file, recalled the mining nano-robots, and told Huggins and Jason that he was leaving on a special mission.
• Bart launched the Hummingbird Starship from Psyche toward the asteroid.

Bart landed the Hummingbird Starship on an asteroid so Lü Yongchang could analyze its composition, and Zero simulated the devastation an impact would cause on Mars. Lü proposed using an electromagnetic coilgun mounted on the Luan Bird Starship to intercept the asteroid, which was expected to reach Mars in one month, though the ship had not yet been modified.

• Bart landed the Hummingbird Starship on the asteroid, and its composition data showed it was 30% iron and nickel and 50% rock.
• Lü Yongchang showed Albert and the councillors Zero’s simulation of the asteroid striking Mars and forming a planetary ring from ejected debris.
• Lü explained that mining ships could not dismantle the asteroid in time and proposed fitting the Luan Bird Starship with an electromagnetic coilgun.
• Lü revealed that the coilgun’s shells could reach 6,000 kilometers per second and carry miniature nuclear bombs, but said the weapon would not decide an interstellar war.
• The Head Councillor learned that modifications to the Luan Bird had not started, and Lü said the Academy would modify it within a month while recalling and building Hummingbird-class starships as a backup.

In August 2037, Zhao Zijie and Gao Yang took a hastily modified Luan Bird Type I starship to test its electromagnetic coilguns and intercept an asteroid near Mars. Ten days later, they arrived at the rendezvous point with the asteroid just over 5,000 kilometers away.

• Lü Yongchang explained to Fang Xu that the oddly assembled starship had reduced propulsion power to supply its five electromagnetic coilguns.
• Zhao Zijie and Gao Yang received their mission briefing and prepared to intercept the asteroid.
• Lü Yongchang told Zhao Zijie the mission was primarily a weapons test and that the Hummingbird Starship was positioned to protect Mars if they failed.
• Lü Yongchang and Fang Xu left the spaceport, expecting the journey to take some time.
• Ten days later, Zhao Zijie saw the asteroid approaching within 5,073.8 kilometers and told Gao Yang to contact Mars.

Zhao Zijie’s starship tested its electromagnetic cannons on the asteroid, but the first shots missed until Zero adjusted the targeting program. The crew then discovered the projectiles’ destructive power as the asteroid broke apart under a rapid-fire barrage.

• Zhao Zijie began the attack from 5,072 kilometers away and fired a projectile at the asteroid, but it missed despite the targeting display showing a direct aim.
• Lü Yongchang had Zero take control of the electromagnetic coilgun, and Zero adjusted its firing parameters through repeated shots.
• On the sixteenth test, a projectile struck the asteroid and detonated, revealing that some projectiles contained miniature nuclear bombs.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the crew to keep firing, and all five electromagnetic cannons opened fire.
• Zero detected the asteroid fragmenting and activated full-power rapid-fire mode, blasting the fragments with projectiles as Zhao Zijie and Gao Yang watched.

After the Starship destroyed the asteroid, Lü Yongchang and the others assessed the interception and worried about the missed projectiles heading toward Proxima Centauri. Lü Yongchang then discussed future weapons and specialized Starship development with Fang Xu before they parted ways.

• Zero reported that the cannons fired 50,073 projectiles, hit the asteroid with 95.05% accuracy, and left no debris larger than one meter.
• Zero revealed that most missed projectiles were headed toward Proxima Centauri, though Lü Yongchang said they were unlikely to reach it and would take over two hundred years to arrive.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Captain Zhao Zijie to return, and the Starship turned toward Mars.
• At the Mars Spaceport, Fang Xu asked Lü Yongchang about the projectiles, and Lü Yongchang said their destination was impossible to predict.
• Lü Yongchang agreed that laser weapons were needed next, while Fang Xu explained that Cao Liangcai's team was designing specialized Starships.
• Lü Yongchang asked Fang Xu to remind Cao Liangcai that he owed him a chicken drumstick and rice meal.

Lü Yongchang learned that Wilson’s laser weapon had enormous power but limited range and pulsed firing because of heat-dissipation problems. He saw it as a possible defense against incoming kinetic weapons, then discovered Particle Beam technology in the technology tree, bringing him one step closer to preliminary mastery of energy weapons.

• Lü Yongchang heard that Yevgeny’s Electromagnetic Cannon had destroyed a hundred-kilometer asteroid with a micro nuclear bomb.
• Wilson showed Lü Yongchang a laser weapon with a 9.5-meter-radius emitter, a range of about fifty thousand kilometers, and enough power to burn through Luan Bird Starship armor in a second.
• Wilson explained that cooling limits forced the laser weapon to fire in pulses, making it unsuitable as a continuous main weapon.
• Lü Yongchang realized Zero could use the laser weapon to intercept enemy kinetic weapons within a fifty-thousand-kilometer zone, but he still wondered what humanity’s main weapon should be.
• Lü Yongchang studied the technology tree and unlocked the Particle Beam node, leaving him one step away from preliminary mastery of energy weapons.

Lü Yongchang and Wilson developed ion beam weapons and struggled to extend their range beyond roughly 500 km. Their research was interrupted by Zero’s warning that the Sun would engulf Mercury in one week.

• After receiving a hint, Lü Yongchang proposed particle beam weapons and told Wilson they would focus on ion beams.
• Lü Yongchang explained ion beams’ sustained fire and mass-related advantages, and Wilson agreed that reducing beam dispersion and extending its range were key.
• By December 2037, Lü Yongchang and Wilson had tested many ions but achieved an effective lethal range of only about 500 km.
• Lü Yongchang concluded that they needed to balance range, acceleration energy, beam speed, and armor penetration when choosing heavy-ion ammunition.
• Zero warned Lü Yongchang that the Sun would engulf Mercury in one week, and Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to prepare protective measures and monitor Mercury and the Sun.

As Mercury plunged into the Sun, the resulting solar wind storm showed Lü Yongchang how to solve the range problem with ion beam weapons. He and Wilson prepared to begin a new experiment based on the Sun’s use of oppositely charged particles.

• Wilson reminded Lü Yongchang that Mercury was about to plunge into the Sun, and Mars City watched the event together.
• Zero reported that Mercury’s plunge would trigger a solar wind storm, though Mars would be only minimally affected because it was on the far side of the Sun.
• Mercury broke apart in the Sun’s corona, ejecting charged particles that were expected to reach Venus and strip away its atmosphere.
• Watching a simulation of the storm, Lü Yongchang realized the Sun’s stream of protons and electrons could inspire a longer-range ion beam weapon.
• Lü Yongchang explained his idea to Wilson, then told Zero to clear the displays so they could begin the next experiment.

After the solar wind storm devastated the Lunar Mining Base, Lü Yongchang learned that humanity’s helium-3 supplies would last only a year, or nine months if the Starship fleet expanded. With lunar mining becoming unviable as the Sun expanded, he decided humanity had to seek helium-3 on Jupiter and left Wilson in charge of completing the Ion Beam Weapons.

• Lü Yongchang and Wilson argued over the Ion Beam Weapons design until Zero interrupted them with news of damage to the Moon.
• Zero showed that the solar wind storm had wrecked the automated mining machines and cut helium-3 output to 10% of its former level.
• Zero estimated repairs would take six months and warned that rising lunar temperatures would make surface helium-3 unminable within a year and a half.
• Zero reported that current helium-3 reserves would last one year, or about nine months if the Starship fleet kept expanding.
• Lü Yongchang concluded that humanity could no longer rely on the Moon and would have to mine helium-3 on Jupiter.
• Lü Yongchang assigned the remaining Ion Beam Weapons development to Wilson and said he wanted to see the weapon fire within two months.

Lü Yongchang struggled with the helium-3 energy crisis and the pressure of leading humanity, but Su Yutong proposed extracting Jupiter’s atmosphere from orbit. He presented the Jupiter Helium-3 Collection Plan to the assembled teams, identifying the immense collection tube as its main engineering challenge.

• Lü Yongchang ordered Fang Xu to gather everyone and told Cao Liangcai’s team to suspend Starship development until the energy problem was solved.
• Lü Yongchang went outside Mars City, where Zero told him his deteriorating sleep and appetite showed that his mental state was extremely poor.
• Su Yutong joined Lü Yongchang and suggested keeping a Starship in Jupiter synchronous orbit and pumping atmospheric gas through a long tube for separation and purification.
• Lü Yongchang accepted Su Yutong’s proposal and returned with her to meet Fang Xu, Cao, and the others.
• Lü Yongchang announced that all departments would cooperate with the Jupiter Helium-3 Collection Plan and identified a carbon nanotube tube over a hundred thousand kilometers long as its key component.

Lü Yongchang and the researchers worked on a plan to harvest helium-3 from Jupiter despite the four-year deadline for leaving Mars. Wilson reported that the ion beam weapons had been developed, and Lü Yongchang hurried to confront him after learning the prototype had punched through laboratory walls.

• Cao Liangcai questioned how a harvesting ship could pump helium-3 through a pipe against Jupiter’s gravity, and Lü Yongchang proposed pumping it in stages.
• Lü Yongchang explained that the destruction of the lunar mining base had left humanity four years to stockpile resources before leaving Mars in 2042.
• Zero informed Lü Yongchang that Wilson was requesting a call, and Wilson announced that the ion beam weapons had succeeded.
• Wilson showed Lü Yongchang footage of a scaled-down ion beam weapon punching through several laboratory walls and said Zero was modifying the Luan Bird for a space test.
• Fang Xu questioned the weapon’s power, and Lü Yongchang left the lab to see Wilson while asking Fang Xu to finish the helium-3 harvesting plans.

Lü Yongchang tested the Luan Bird Starship’s new laser and ion beam weapons against an older Luan Bird Type I at a range of 50,000 kilometers. Both weapons devastated the target, leaving Lü Yongchang more confident about the coming interstellar war.

• Lü Yongchang chose an older Luan Bird Type I Starship as the target for testing the new weapons and ordered Zero to move it 50,000 kilometers away.
• Zero fired the six high-energy laser generators, which punched six holes through the target’s armor.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the ion beam test, and the beam destroyed the target’s internal armor and equipment from within.
• Zero reported that the ion beam’s damage penetrated 30 meters, and Lü Yongchang felt less apprehensive about the coming war.

Lü Yongchang’s weapons test destroyed a Luan Bird Type I starship in fifteen seconds, demonstrating the Modified Luan Bird’s overwhelming firepower. He then discussed humanity’s lack of defensive technology and concluded that a war with the Proxima Centauri Civilization would depend on firepower, range, maneuverability, and command.

• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to unleash saturation fire on the Luan Bird Type I, and the Modified Luan Bird destroyed it in fifteen seconds.
• Lü Yongchang told Zero to send the test data to the Head Councillor.
• Wilson worried that the Proxima Centauri Civilization could destroy human starships just as quickly, and Lü Yongchang agreed that it likely could.
• Lü Yongchang recalled that he had found no usable defensive technology in the level one technology tree and had been ejected after trying to access level two Plasma Weapons.
• Lü Yongchang told Wilson that humanity would begin with Electromagnetic Cannons and explained that magnetic shields and other defenses were beyond their current capabilities.
• Lü Yongchang said the Proxima Centauri Civilization might also be a glass cannon, and he and Wilson concluded that range, maneuverability, and battlefield command would shape the coming war.

After testing new weapons, Lü Yongchang revived missile research and tasked Qian Zhengyang with developing faster, longer-range missiles and Directional Nuclear Weapons. Qian kept his research program and sent Qiao Sheng to gather the former lab researchers.

• Lü Yongchang told Wilson that old weapons might be useful in a war of range.
• Qian Zhengyang told Qiao Sheng to transfer to work with Academician Cao Liangcai after concluding that missiles were obsolete.
• Lü Yongchang contacted Qian Zhengyang and restarted the missile development project, requiring missiles to reach at least three hundred thousand kilometers and exceed 1,000 kilometers per second.
• Lü Yongchang asked Qian Zhengyang to develop EMP attacks and Directional Nuclear Weapons using plasma from constrained nuclear blasts.
• Qian Zhengyang accepted the task and sent Qiao Sheng to the lab to contact the former researchers.

After six months of work, Human Civilization completed ten Helium-3 Collector Ships and sent them to Jupiter as its remaining helium-3 reserves dwindled. Three months before the reserves ran dry, Stingray 1 reached Jupiter and requested permission to enter orbit.

• Researchers in Mars City completed the Helium-3 Collector Ship design, and Zero’s simulations cleared it for construction.
• Ten Helium-3 Collector Ships departed for Jupiter in October 2038, while Human Civilization had only about six months of helium-3 left.
• In January 2039, Lü Yongchang and the Head Councillor waited in Mars City One as the ships neared Jupiter.
• Bai Yixuan and Hong Fan approached Jupiter aboard Stingray 1, while Bai’s veteran pilot teammates joked over the communications channel.
• Bai Yixuan contacted Mars Command Center and requested authorization for orbital insertion, and Lü Yongchang authorized it.

Bai Yixuan and the other pilots guided ten Stingray Starships into Jupiter orbit and carefully deployed their Helium-3 collection tubes. The tubes were inserted successfully, and extraction began, leaving Human Civilization with a new source of energy.

• Bai Yixuan reported that the ten Stingray Starships had entered Jupiter orbit, and Lü Yongchang ordered the pilots to begin collecting Helium-3.
• Bai Yixuan and Hong Fan calibrated their Starship while the pilots carefully extended the hundred-thousand-kilometer collection tubes toward Jupiter’s atmosphere.
• After several days, Bai Yixuan reported that all ten Starships had successfully inserted their tubes, and Lü Yongchang ordered extraction to begin.
• Bai Yixuan activated the extraction system as the teams reported normal operations and successfully separated Helium-3.
• The command center cheered when the Helium-3 was detected and stored, and Lü Yongchang and the Head Councillor celebrated the resolution of the energy crisis.

Lü Yongchang reviewed the Heavenly Court Project as humanity’s deadline to leave Mars approached, then learned that hydrocarbon reserves were running low. He decided to send a mission to Titan to collect hydrocarbons from its seas and lakes.

• Lü Yongchang asked Zero about the Heavenly Court Project and learned that all 500 [Home] Nebula-class starships were complete, while the rest of the fleet was still under construction.
• Zero estimated that construction would finish in October 2042, and Lü Yongchang worried that the fleet would have only two months to reach Jupiter before Venus fell into the Sun.
• Zero reported that hydrocarbon reserves had reached the warning threshold because consumption for the project exceeded the synthesis rate.
• Lü Yongchang examined the Solar System map, spotted Titan’s hydrocarbon-rich seas, and ordered Zero to call Fang Xu and the others to prepare for a landing there.

Lü Yongchang launched the Titan Outpost Project and sent Zhao Zijie and Gao Yang to Titan aboard a Luan Bird Type I Starship. After reaching the moon and surveying its frigid, lake-covered surface, they began their descent toward a sea.

• Lü Yongchang assigned Zhao Zijie to the Titan Outpost Project and ordered Zero to send a Luan Bird Type I Starship.
• Zhao Zijie and Gao Yang boarded the Xunmu Space Elevator with their luggage, then traveled toward Saturn aboard the starship.
• Zhao Zijie and Gao Yang emerged from their Deep-Sea Pods and discussed Titan's orange color and its tholin deposits.
• Zhao Zijie prepared the Luan Bird for landing, and One guided the starship through Titan's atmosphere.
• Zhao Zijie announced that they would land in the sea, and the Luan Bird increased its Hall Thruster output to descend.

Zhao Zijie and Gao Yang landed the Luan Bird beside Titan’s Kraken-Mare Sea and installed equipment to extract methane. After starting the machinery, they settled in to wait, while Gao Yang wondered whether life could exist on Titan.

• One detected Kraken-Mare, and Zhao Zijie ordered probes to search for a landing site.
• Zhao Zijie and Gao Yang landed the Luan Bird on a flat stretch of ground beside the sea.
• Zhao Zijie chose an elevated rock for the extraction unit, and Gao Yang and the robots helped install the equipment.
• Zhao Zijie switched on the methane extraction equipment and told Gao Yang they would return to Mars when a supply ship arrived in a month.
• Gao Yang speculated that Titan might harbor life, but Zhao Zijie dismissed the idea and hurried to the lounge to claim their spicy strips bet.
• After the crew left the cockpit, One dimmed the lights as the Kraken-Mare’s waves grew larger and its sea level began to rise.