Guard System

Luo Qi began the experiment that very afternoon. Tireless mining vehicles crossed the sandy ground, trailing plumes of sand, but the drifting dust soon settled again.

T1 robots formed an escort, and the unusual convoy left the gates of Factory No. 1, heading toward the open ground to the east.

Three mechanical vehicles did the heavy hauling. One carried a long-barreled device, another a bank of high-energy batteries, and the last a discharge unit.

Intrigued, Stendhal put down his astronomical telescope. Looking at Water Blue Star through it only turned a small point of light into a bigger one anyway.

An interplanetary journey of nearly a hundred million kilometers was not something Water Blue Star could currently undertake at a moment's notice.

He hurried after them, asking his panel as he went, "Dad, what's that?"

"An experimental project for constructing the base's intelligent defense system."

"Defense? Who do we need to defend against?" Stendhal grew wary, but kept it off his face.

Luo Qi replied, "The threat of meteoroids in orbit around Orange Star."

Yes, those meteors that looked so bright in the night sky.

One big enough might fail to burn up in the atmosphere and deliver another strike to the new base.

Luo Qi knew the odds were slim, and Stendhal relaxed at the explanation. For some reason, there were more meteoroids overhead now.

Stendhal remembered that there had not been so many swarms of meteoroids in Orange Star's orbit when they arrived. Something must have happened without his knowledge.

The engineering robots stopped and began setting up the equipment on the open ground.

A hollow launch barrel with an internal diameter of 40 mm, combined with all its associated equipment, looked just like a turret mounted on an infantry fighting vehicle.

Fully assembled, it stood taller than an adult man, its appearance bristling with menace.

Under Luo Qi's precise control, the robots assembled the experimental turret while Stendhal watched closely from the side.

A simple four-legged stand supported the square box with its long barrel, which measured a full 2.5 meters.

Numerous wires extended from the back of the box. The robots began fitting energy-release capacitor blocks along the straight barrel, making it look even more like something out of futuristic science fiction.

Stendhal asked, "Is this an electromagnetic cannon?"

Luo Qi replied, "Yes. This is the first firing test for the prototype electromagnetic cannon-an experimental model."

The robots quickly connected the power. Apart from one that stayed to operate it, they all withdrew.

Without waiting for Luo Qi to tell him, Stendhal hurried away too. Stable as these batteries were, under certain circumstances they could become bombs.

Under Luo Qi's control, the first test was ready to begin.

The robot activated the device's built-in long-focus camera, and the electromagnetic cannon began charging.

[Synchronized video transmission ongoing]

Luo Qi gained another visual feed from the electromagnetic cannon. He could use this long-focus camera to acquire targets and adjust the firing direction and angle.

The electromagnetic cannon, nearly 2.5 meters long overall and designed to fire 35 mm projectiles, was ready.

Controlling the robot, Luo Qi picked up a silver, pointed metal cylinder from the ground.

Stendhal looked bewildered. He had assumed the thing lying there was a metal component.

Only when he saw the robot pick it up and place it by hand inside the black box did Stendhal understand. Oh, so that was the shell.

The projectile measured 35 mm in diameter and 160 mm in length, and weighed a full 1.5 kilograms.

Once placed in its preliminary loading position, it hovered steadily there, with a 3 mm gap between it and the surrounding barrel walls.

The muzzle pointed toward a distant sand dune, and the robot aimed a small geological laser rangefinder at it.

Rangefinder: 3,421 meters

Luo Qi adjusted the long-focus camera to observe the target. After confirming the impact area, the robot slapped the red emergency button beside it.

"Whoosh-" The sound was very faint.

A white line lingered in the air, as though nothing had happened.

Watching the distance where the muzzle pointed, Stendhal realized that it had fired successfully.

Silently, a cloud of red smoke burst from the sand dune three kilometers away.

Analyzing the projectile's speed through the video, Luo Qi found that it had reached an astonishing 2,280 meters per second!

Orange Star's extremely thin atmosphere might have played a part, but overall, the first experiment was a considerable success.

The robots began collecting the equipment.

Luo Qi prepared to produce electromagnetic cannons firing 35 mm shells, and began related experiments on 220 mm and 75 mm electromagnetic cannons.

The metalworking factory rapidly produced 35 × 160 mm Electromagnetic Cannon Shells. The first 35 mm electromagnetic cannon would have seven barrels.

Early the next morning, Stendhal scrambled out of bed, put on his protective suit, and hurried out of his room.

The distant factory buildings were still under construction, and the mining vehicles were still kicking up dust across the surface.

These mechanical monsters that never slept or rested were truly terrifying.

His gaze fell on a new piece of equipment more than a hundred meters west of Factory No. 1.

T1 robots were inspecting it. It was a gray cylinder with a hemispherical top and protruding objects that resembled gun barrels.

Dad had produced it in just one night!

With its protective base housing and associated equipment installed, this cylindrical, multibarreled 35 mm electromagnetic cannon had a protective housing that reached two meters high and 2.6 meters in diameter.

That did not even include the container beside it.

With a shell constructed from silicides, the container ammunition magazine stood three meters high, seven meters long, and four meters wide!

It could store more than ten thousand rounds!

Stendhal ran closer for a look, only to discover that there was no radar on top of the device.

Instead, it had a single high-definition, long-range camera installed!

"This..." Stendhal was at a loss for words.

So you're still acquiring targets visually. You can only hit what you can see.

He lost interest, found somewhere to sit, and simply stared blankly at the busy robots.

The firing test began, and a robot loaded one hundred rounds into the electromagnetic cannon.

They would shoot at stationary targets first, so the robots made two piles of sand.

[Wired connection established]

[Live image transmission]

[Acquiring turret control]

[35 mm electromagnetic cannon ready]

[Locking onto target]

Under Luo Qi's control, the device swiveled and tilted.

The bullet-style camera at the very top transmitted live footage to Luo Qi, allowing him to map the targets.

Under Luo Qi's control, it finally began firing toward the distant open ground.

A "hiss, hiss, hiss" sounded.

It was faint and brief.

The two small sand piles four hundred meters away burst apart in an instant!

The turret then pointed skyward and stopped operating.

Luo Qi had fired four Electromagnetic Cannon Shells, and their visible destructive power was considerable.

There were no moving targets available for now.

Luo Qi believed he had enough "eyes" to acquire and strike moving targets accurately as well, relying entirely on real-time calculations from mathematical models.

The successful test firing of the multibarreled 35 mm electromagnetic cannon marked the official deployment of Orange Star Base's defense network.

Next, Luo Qi would deploy 75 mm and 220 mm electromagnetic cannons to build a basic base defense system.

Its short name: the Guard Defense System.

Day 50-

Luo Qi now successfully possessed:

Five 220-volt Power Storage Stations, each capable of storing 100,000 kWh

One photovoltaic power station rated at 50,000 kWh

Small iron and steel smelting plants ×2

Small parts manufacturing plant ×1

Small assembly plant ×1

Small integrated electronics production plant ×1

Small chemical plant ×1

Integrated factory ×1 (converted from Factory No. 1)

Electromagnetic Force Research Center ×1 (in-depth electromagnetic research begun)

Small mining vehicles ×220 (increasing)

Daily steel output: 400 tonnes (increasing)

Population ×1

One complete Guard System!

It included two 220 mm electromagnetic cannons, four 75 mm electromagnetic cannons, and six 35 mm electromagnetic cannons.

Other items, machinery, and supplies were not counted.

This already amounted to what a fully equipped military industrial enterprise on Earth possessed, integrating resource extraction, research and development, and manufacturing.

After another tour of the base, Stendhal returned to his room and began planning that evening's dinner.

He now needed to prepare four meals a day. He also exercised more in his spare time, and his remaining food supplies were sufficient.

He had no idea whether anyone from Water Blue Star would come to rescue him.

He sat at a small table in his spacious, brightly lit hemispherical room.

With long hair draped over his shoulders and a thick beard hanging from his face, if not for all the modern objects around him-

He could have passed for a wild man.

He emptied vacuum-packed cooked rice onto a plate, then added a 100-gram vacuum pack of cooked meat and a 300-gram vacuum pack of chilled cooked vegetables.

Then he put it in the microwave for five minutes. "Ding!" Just like that, a fragrant dinner was ready!

Carrying the steaming plate, he sat down at his desk.

Amid the fragrant steam, Stendhal opened his tablet and switched on its recording function.

"Dad doesn't need to rest at all. The emergence of those factories has created an explosion in productivity. I thought humanity was already the fastest at building infrastructure... but there's something even better than humans..."

"They have only one mission. Build, build..."