Building the Homeward Bound

The group left the constant-pressure chamber and stood at the center of a T-junction.

The spacious corridor was a full three meters wide and felt anything but cramped. A brightly lit passage stretched ahead to a door at its end, while corridors branched off to either side.

"The Living Area is 76 meters long and 21 meters wide, with a total floor area of about 1,596 square meters. All the walls are bonded together from solid blocks of a special silicon-based material."

Stendhal took off his helmet as he spoke and drew a deep breath of fresh air.

The others followed his lead and opened their helmets.

"This place connects to the greenhouses. The air is fresh, and the oxygen is entirely natural. There aren't any flying insects or spiders on Orange Star, either."

Lin He opened his helmet's faceplate. Sure enough, the indoor air had the freshness of the air after rain. It felt as though he were standing in a rainforest, all his physical and mental fatigue washed away.

The others breathed it in with equally blissful expressions. It was good to be alive.

"The air is so fresh! It feels like it just rained!"

"This is incredible! Mr. Stendhal, did you design this?"

"I never imagined we'd get to enjoy anything like this on Orange Star!"

Stendhal said, "Dad designed and built all of this."

At that, everyone abruptly fell silent and exchanged glances again.

Stendhal led them into the corridor on the left. A continuous row of windows lined its left side, offering a view of the greenhouses outside.

The rooms' walls ran along the right side. One-liter silver gas cylinders hung on them at two-meter intervals, each printed with the red words [Emergency respirator].

[Seed storage room]

The label appeared on the door in large, bold black letters.

[Embryo storage room]

They passed another door.

Every door had a facial recognition scanner and no buttons at all. They were clearly controlled by the base's system.

"These are important sample storage rooms. You'll need Dad's authorization."

"I'm not a biological researcher, so I rarely have any use for them. The greenhouses don't count."

Stendhal continued on until he reached the third door.

"The storeroom is for food. There's food left over from the original base, along with the first crop of Orange Star potatoes. You need authorization to enter."

They passed the fourth door.

"This is the women's dormitory. For now, the accommodations aren't as good as those on Water Blue Star, but you can tell Dad if you need anything. Dad will do everything possible to meet your needs."

The words "Women's dormitory" were printed on the door.

Curious, Wang Xiaofei leaned her face toward the scanner.

"Temporary authorized personnel."

With a click, the dormitory door slid open to either side.

Stendhal continued onward, and the men followed him.

The remaining women went through the doorway. The first room was brightly lit, with a clean, tidy floor. This was the protective suit storage room.

Another passage extended inward through the middle of the storage room. The layout was like two squares placed side by side, with a passage left between them.

Through the passage, they could see a long desk and six stools in the living quarters, with six white ceramic cups on the desk.

The women took off their protective suits in the storage room. Each of them also had her own long, waist-high storage cabinet.

"I can finally get out of this bulky thing!" Wang Xiaofei put her helmet on her cabinet. "Huang Qi, Sister He, come help me!"

"Give me a moment," Huang Qi said.

They helped one another out of their protective suits, and an indescribable smell began to fill the air.

To enter the dormitory proper, they had to walk through a short, two-meter passage. After a few steps, the space opened up before them. The whole room was spotless and white, leaving nothing to complain about.

There were two white bunk beds on the left and one on the right. In the empty space beside the bed on the right stood a long dressing table with four chairs, but the wall was plain white, without a mirror.

Perhaps there were hidden compartments or something similar, with mirrors tucked inside.

The beds were one and a half meters wide, already made up with white sheets and quilts. White clothing wrapped in plastic bags also lay on them.

On the wall directly opposite the passage was a drinking-water tap with three options: cold, warm, and boiling. Everything here seemed to be white, and the room was both long and wide.

Once they approached the table and looked back, they realized that the narrow passage had actually been formed by two washrooms.

"It feels a little like being back at school!"

"We've finally escaped the clutches of the hibernation pods. We can sleep in beds now..."

"My name is even engraved on my bed. It feels like everything was prepared in advance..."

Stendhal led the men into their dormitory and said, "Get yourselves settled. I'll have Dad notify you directly when it's time to eat."

Stendhal turned and left to check on the kitchen. Honestly, leading these people around was rather tiring. It was nothing like the freedom of being alone and doing whatever he wanted.

Stendhal took the central passage by the entrance, passed the recreation area, and turned right into the dining room.

Four white dining tables stood in two rows in the spacious room. It had originally been planned to seat sixteen people.

Behind the counter, three silver robots were deftly preparing ingredients. Refrigerators, cabinets, ovens, and various other appliances stood behind them.

Some had been salvaged from the old base, while others had been produced in Dad's laboratory.

The chemical plant supplied seasonings and edible mineral powders, giving the food on Orange Star plenty of flavor, too.

Stendhal looked at the long food-preparation counter and immediately recognized today's main dishes: mashed potatoes and dough-drop soup.

On the counter sat a white box containing 2.5 kilograms of flour, along with large potatoes grown on Orange Star.

As for something as extravagant as stir-fried potatoes with soft flatbread, they had better save the oil.

The white flour box was specially made and could fold down to take up less space. As the flour was used, the box could be compressed by the corresponding amount.

This improved space efficiency, and the box itself was made from moisture-resistant, waterproof material.

"I remember we still have some orange juice powder. Take some out and mix up a few drinks! One cup per person."

It pained him a little to say it, but when he remembered that he would be leaving in a month, an innocent smile returned to Stendhal's face.

"Certainly, Mr. Stendhal."

When the robot opened the box of orange juice powder, Stendhal chose to leave after all.

Back in his room, Stendhal picked up his tablet and sat on his single bed. When he turned it on, a photograph of his wife and daughter appeared on the screen.

He stroked it with his fingers and said, "Dad, check the Homeward Bound's construction progress."

The image on the screen changed to a brightly lit factory building. It looked like a hangar for building enormous aircraft, filled with gantry cranes, robotic arms, and robots.

The most conspicuous thing was the dark-gold framework in the center of the building. It was over a hundred meters long, with half of a fishbone-like spaceship frame assembled around it.

An overhead crane lifted a massive, forty-meter-long metal frame into place, where a powerful electrical resonance field generator welded it using molecular interpenetration technology.

This allowed the pieces to join seamlessly, preserving the metal's integrity as much as possible.

The large clamp at the end of a robotic arm closed around the joint and instantly released tremendous energy. Countless invisible magnetic field lines penetrated between the metal molecules, and the energy-charged air began to distort the light.

In less than three minutes, one section of the frame was welded in place, its molecules tightly bonded together.

The rescue craft's one-piece hull had been made using this same molecular interpenetration technology.

Once the lower framework was finished, the upper equipment could be installed. Urgency flickered in Stendhal's eyes.

"Soon. Very soon..."

The surveillance camera on the snow-white ceiling was like a black hole, drawing Qi Siyu's gaze almost involuntarily as he sat on a lower bunk.

On the neighboring bed, Lin He slumped lazily against a bundle of bedding, the exhaustion on his face refusing to fade.

The aftereffects of prolonged hibernation included muscle atrophy and reduced strength. For now, they could not carry heavy objects and would need time to recover through exercise.

Lin He glanced at the stiff-looking Qi Siyu, then craned his neck to look at the surveillance camera.

"What's wrong?" Lin He asked. "It's just a camera, isn't it?"

Qi Siyu drew back against the wall and raised his wrist, revealing the thin wristband beneath his long sleeve.

The information flashed rapidly through his mind: the wristband provided location tracking and vital-sign monitoring, and it could only be removed with specialized equipment.

Qi Siyu shook his head, his face expressionless. "I don't know. I just feel uneasy."