"What's wrong?!"
Donald's usually calm granddaughter suddenly screamed, and he quickly put down what he was doing and rushed upstairs from the kitchen.
Even Tom, who was studying a farm machinery manual at the front door, hurried into the house, took a gun from the armory on the first floor, and followed his grandfather with a series of thumping steps.
" Murphy, what happened?" Donald stepped out of the doorway, quickly glanced around the room, and found his granddaughter sitting peacefully in a chair, with no one else in the room acting strangely.
Donald finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He waved to his eldest grandson behind him, signaling him to lower the gun in his hand to avoid accidental injury.
Murphy's joy was practically overflowing in his voice. "Listen!"
She pointed at the radio, her face beaming with excitement.
Donald and Tom entered the room, about to frown, when they heard the radio start playing again after a brief pause and some static.
The content was exactly the same as what Murphy had just heard.
Then the old man and the young man were stunned.
A new planet?
"Yes! A new, and habitable planet!"
Murphy looked at her grandfather expectantly.
Donald suddenly understood the meaning in her eyes; his granddaughter had remembered what he had said on his way back.
With habitable planets available for migration, they wouldn't need to stay on Earth. They could go to other planets to farm, and with crops came food, thus freeing up productivity once again...
Donald nodded slowly.
He looked at Murphy: "Indeed, we may have found a way out."
"Does this have anything to do with Dad?"
"Isn't he an astronaut over there now?"
"Maybe?" Donald smiled, not overly pleased, but simply patted Murphy's head and glanced at the bewildered Tom.
He had a lot to say but didn't say it.
For example, once a new habitable planet is found, the next issue to consider is migration. But what kind of technology could relocate billions of people?
If tickets to the New Star are limited, how can they be obtained?
even...
This news will reignite the turmoil in a society that had become as calm as stagnant water in the face of despair.
That sounds like a good thing.
But in a turbulent society, families like theirs, with modest wealth, are like sheep being fattened in a pen...
These worries swirled in Donald's mind, but he ultimately swallowed them down and didn't voice them.
Let's keep Murphy's hope alive.
Moreover, Cooper has already betrayed... cough cough, sided with that side. Maybe he can help secure a ticket for the future?
"Let's go eat first," Donald, putting aside his own thoughts and beckoning the two children to come downstairs.
Thanks to that broadcast, Murphy showed no signs of being upset about being suspended from school; instead, he ate two extra bowls of mashed potatoes.
This relieved Donald, who was worried about her nutrition.
The content of the broadcast brought the Cooper family an overall feeling of joy.
And this is also good news for other countries in the world that are still functioning.
Many countries had already established contact with Yuan Heguang and could communicate simply via radio or satellite.
After receiving the broadcast, they immediately obtained more detailed information through these channels, and even got the data on the New Star released by Yuan Heguang.
The environment represented by these data is surprisingly habitable; it's practically another Earth, with gravity and ecology very similar to our own.
However, it is closer to an earlier version of Earth.
But that's enough for modern humans to live a normal life.
In particular, Yuan Heguang generously invited them to travel to the New Star together, so that they could work together to develop it...
A surge of hope rose in the hearts of everyone around the world who received the broadcast, as inspiring as the blazing sun.
But for some people in North America, this news doesn't represent hope.
A new habitable planet?
"Is that really what they said on the radio?"
"I absolutely did not mishear!" Faced with the questioning, the secretary quickly produced a radio that had been explicitly banned from use by the public.
After tuning to the specific channel, that distinctive broadcast voice quickly filled the conference room:
"With joyful hearts, we solemnly announce to the people of the world..."
The broadcast kept looping, and in just half an hour, it had already been played thirty times.
The people in the conference room also listened to three
Ten times.
Finally, someone spoke up:
"This can't be real, right?"
"We've been searching for decades without any results, how could they have succeeded so quickly?"
One person turned their attention to the scientific advisors around them.
The science advisor was rapidly calculating in his notebook when he came to a conclusion. "Time is running out. Based on the data left by Professor Brand, even six months isn't enough for their spaceship to reach Saturn."
"I told you so, they're cheating!"
"We should take immediate action and blow up their radio station!"
The expressions on everyone's faces gradually relaxed, and the atmosphere became much more relaxed.
Only the few people at the head of the meeting remained somber, their faces like pools of dark, sinister water.
One of the people waved, signaling the unrelated individuals to leave, leaving only those with seats in the hall.
"I think you're being too optimistic," the person at the head of the table said, their tone sharp and harsh.
The crowd below fell silent and all looked over.
The man continued, reminding them, "Don't forget, those people come from a parallel universe; they possess the technology to open miniature wormholes in our land..."
That's all I have to say.
If they still didn't understand, these people wouldn't be gathered here for a meeting.
But some people still refuse to believe it.
"This might not prove that those people could open a miniature wormhole on Saturn, right?"
The man at the head of the table took out a cigar, an extremely rare item for this era, lit it, took a puff, and then said, "Are we to pin our hopes on a stroke of luck?"
A moment of silence...
The words, tinged with the smell of cigars, were like a hammer, shattering the turtle shell that had closed themselves off inside.
It's like being stripped naked and left on the street in broad daylight; it fills everyone with unease.
"So what else can we do next?"
"They will absolutely not let us go!"
The person at the head of the table exhaled another puff of smoke, his gaze fixed on the burning ember, before finally speaking, "We now have only one way out, and that is to carry out the new Lazarus Plan."
"But before that, we must get the data on the New Star from those people!"