Light Speed ​​War

Chapter 259: Shocking and Unconventional (1)

"Gentlemen, there are indications that the Eastern Turks seem to be deploying their various weapons, especially frequently in recent days. To be objective, in the past, their ballistic missiles would have been utterly incapable of hitting our destroyers, but the Eastern Turks have done it today. If it had only hit one destroyer, we could say it was a coincidence, but hitting two destroyers is no coincidence. This indicates that the Eastern Turks have made a leap forward in navigation and guidance technology. Of course, there is also the possibility that the Eastern Turks may have been hiding their technological strength all along. In any case, things have reached a point of no return, and war with the Eastern Turks must begin!"

President Thomas's words resonated powerfully and were met with thunderous applause.

People noticed the enormous curtain behind the stage slowly descending, while a television screen popped up on the stage table. The screen behind the stage displayed a blue Earth, a space station, and then a space capsule containing two men and two women floating and operating instruments. The audience was captivated by these images. As the video played, some technicians came to the stage to adjust the equipment for the guests. A short while later, these technicians left the stage.

On the screen, a man's face appears. "Hi, fellow countrymen, I am Jack, captain of the Vanguard One spaceship. By the time you see this video, we have already embarked on our journey to land on the Horizon Planet."

"Landing on the Horizon? My God?" Many audience members held their heads in disbelief. They had no idea about this plan to land on the Horizon. Perhaps the federal government wanted to give them a huge surprise? Then everyone smiled and applauded enthusiastically.

Thomas's voice rang out, "Everyone, it's 9:30 AM now. Jack and his crew are approaching Horizon. The Vanguard One spaceship is scheduled to land on Horizon at 10:00 AM."

Behind the stage, on the left side of the backdrop, half a blue planet appears. On the right, in a dark but dotted area, a bright spot is slowly approaching the blue planet. These are all simulated images.

"Jack, Jack." Thomas called out a few times, and after a hissing sound, a man's voice rang out, "Pioneer Base, this is Pioneer One, I am Captain Jack."

"Hello, Jack."

“Mr. President?” Jack seemed somewhat surprised, then came the sounds of others talking and applause.

The audience applauded enthusiastically, as this was a live broadcast of the landing on the horizon.

"Jack, how are you feeling now?"

"Thank you for your concern, Mr. President. We are in good condition and are looking forward to the most glorious moment."

"Jack, the whole nation is just as excited as you are."

On the screen, the spaceship grew larger and larger, and its speed increased.

The signal crackled intermittently. "Jack, Jack?" Thomas called out, but received no reply. Thomas turned to his left, looking at NASA Administrator Peake, who spoke into the microphone, "Jack, Jack, this is Peake, please respond." The microphone still crackled. The audience below was already whispering, uneasy about the communication failure. Peake leaned down and whispered a few words to Thomas.

Thomas turned to his right and whispered a few words to Dean Lofi.

Dean Lofe stood up. “Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize, our space station’s relay signal receiving equipment is being interfered with by the solar wind. We will restore communication with Jack and his team shortly. While we wait, I would like to introduce our distinguished guest, Mr. James, an outstanding young scientist from the country of Rissa. On this occasion, I solemnly announce that Mr. James is hereby appointed as an Academician of the National Academy of Sciences. Please welcome the President to present the appointment certificate. Mr. President, Academician James, please come forward.”

Zhou Yuan was stunned for a moment. He had no idea how he had become an academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Western Turks.

President Thomas left the room, and Zhou Yuan had no choice but to get up and leave. He went to the front of the stage, where a hostess came up and handed a huge certificate to Thomas. Thomas shook hands with Zhou Yuan first, then handed the certificate to him, and the two took a photo together.

Holding the certificate, Zhou Yuan bowed to the president, then to the podium, and finally turned and bowed to the more than 10,000 people below the stage. Zhou Yuan's humility and politeness drew another round of enthusiastic applause. Thomas and Zhou Yuan took their seats.

"Congratulations, Academician James. We have learned that you have profound knowledge in astronomy, physics, aerospace, communications and mathematics. If that is not surprising, what is amazing is that you are only 23 years old. You can be said to be a genius."

"Director, there has never been a shortage of geniuses throughout history, but even geniuses need discerning eyes and fertile ground."

Zhou Yuan's words were quite meaningful; they could be considered a fitting compliment. To the ten thousand people present, it was seen as humility, and the audience erupted in applause once more.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our youngest academician has calculated, without any instruments or equipment, that the five blue planets visible to the naked eye are arranged in an arc around the sun with absolutely equal spacing."

A gasp of amazement erupted from the audience.

"Dean, you're not entirely right."

Dean Lofe was taken aback. "Academician James, please just say it."

"Mr. President, Director, Dean, and everyone, besides the five blue planets we can see, there should be five other planets in this solar system that are similar to ours. In other words, our solar system has ten planets orbiting the sun, and their pace and spacing are remarkably consistent."

Zhou Yuan's words stunned everyone; they were even more shocking than the news of the Western Kingdom's landing on the Horizon Planet. Quiet murmurs began to ripple through the audience again.

“Academician James, our space agency’s various equipment observations have not detected any other Earth-like planets.”

"Director, that's because these five Earth-like planets are behind the Sun."

Behind the sun? Pick thought for a moment, if it really was behind the sun, it really wouldn't be able to be observed.

"Then how do we verify your claim?" President Thomas was also interested; after all, if this solar system consisted of ten Earths, that would be fantastic.

“Mr. President, if Jack and his team land on the western horizon, they will also see five planets. From their perspective, the planet appearing on the eastern horizon is our Earth, and the planet on the western horizon is the planet in the western sky. The planet in the western sky that they see is a planet behind the sun that we cannot see.”

"So, once Jack and his crew land on the western planet Horizon, we'll be able to confirm it?"

"Yes, Mr. President."

The people on the stage remained silent. If what Academician James said was true, then they could only pray that Jack and his team could land safely on the planet Earth.

“Academician James,” a loud voice rang out, and an elderly man with slightly gray hair in the front row of the audience stood up. A staff member ran over and handed him a wireless microphone. “Academician James, you just said that this ten-star system orbits the sun, with ten planets at equal intervals and rotating around the sun at the same speed, right?”

"Yes, that's right."

"If what you say is true, then shouldn't we rewrite our textbooks? Because this situation couldn't have happened naturally!"

Many people had thought of this, but they trusted textbooks and authority, and dared not bring it up in public. This old man, perhaps because of his age, seemed to have no qualms about saying it?

“Yes, our textbooks are absolutely wrong.” Zhou Yuan’s affirmation caused a huge stir, and the audience below the stage began to discuss it again.

"Since you also believe it was not caused by nature, then it must be man-made. Who could it be? Could it be aliens? Why can't we see them?" The old man fired off a barrage of questions.

"Sorry, sir, but based on my knowledge, I can't imagine who did it. Maybe it was an advanced alien civilization."

The old man seemed dissatisfied with Zhou Yuan's answer and sat down sullenly.

Just as the old man sat down, Zhou Yuan's voice rang out again, "Everyone, the question that uncle asked earlier was indeed difficult to answer. I could ask many similar questions, such as, how was our universe born, where did we humans come from, and what is our consciousness?"

“Academician James, these are indeed important questions and serious topics. We can have a dedicated academic discussion later,” Dean Luo Fei said, taking over from Zhou Yuan and preparing to steer the conversation away from there.

"Dean Luo Fei, please allow me to say one last thing, which can be considered as an answer to all of this uncle's questions."

Everyone fell silent after hearing what Zhou Yuan said.

Zhou Yuan noticed that everyone had quieted down, including President Thomas, who also glanced at him sideways.

"Mr. President, Director, Dean, gentlemen, in fact, the answers to all these questions can be roughly deduced from the following statement I'm about to make. My last statement is: We, including the universe as we know it, are actually inside a black hole!"

Zhou Yuan's words were like a bolt from the blue, stunning everyone. The atmosphere was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

If an ordinary person had said Zhou Yuan's last sentence, others would have thought he was crazy. But everyone knows that these words came from the mouth of the youngest academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Western Tu Kingdom. His words were truly astonishing.

On what basis does this young and handsome Academician James claim that we live in a black hole?

Just as everyone was confused and questioning, President Thomas called out, "Jack, Jack, Jack." The microphone buzzed, and a few seconds later, Jack's voice came through, "Pioneer Base, Pioneer Base, Pioneer One calling Pioneer Base."

"Jack, this is the Vanguard Base."

"Oh, thank God. Mr. President, what just happened?"

"Jack, the solar wind was affecting the relay station's communication signal, but it's fine now."

"Mr. President, it is so good to hear your voice again."

Everyone understood what Jack meant. Four lonely astronauts would definitely be shocked and frightened if they could no longer hear the voices of the humans on their home planet. That sense of helplessness is something you can't understand unless you experience it for yourself.

"Mr. President, we are approaching the atmosphere of the horizon. The signal may be disrupted soon. We will contact you again after we land. Vanguard Base, await our good news."

"Okay, good luck to you."

"Everyone, prepare for landing impact!" Jack said this clearly to his comrades.

The microphone buzzed again, and everyone waited anxiously.

Behind the stage, the screen played a perfectly timed image of a spaceship rapidly scraping against Earth's atmosphere, catching fire. The crowd imagined Jack and his companions inside the spaceship, hoping to hear Jack's voice again. Many stood up, silently praying.

After a while, everyone on the platform stood up and joined the more than 10,000 audience members in a silent prayer.