Chapter 54 - A Tomorrow without Smoke

When the ship entered the gravitational circle of the flesh-and-pink planet, it did not accelerate to the surface as they had expected. Instead, it landed on the surface of the flesh-and-pink planet at its original speed, without any hindrance. The ship’s stairs descended with Jamie and Colin walking ahead, sweeping an area clean with flame.

Worm monsters would burn quickly when they encountered fire, and eventually turn into black powder, which dissipated as the wind blew, leaving no trace. The landing of the ship was unusually smooth, and the worm monsters were not difficult to deal with, but no one was happy.

This time, neither Lydney, Colin nor Corson had a helmet. The atmosphere of the pink planet was non-toxic, and its composition was similar to that of ancient earth. They could breathe directly. Auguste did not let Hai’an sit in the nest. Instead, he put him in the pocket on his chest. Hai’an held both hands beside the pocket and looked out.

The planet had too much vegetation, and it was daytime. If it weren’t for the flesh-and-pink worms that crawled on it, Hai’an would even think he’d just gone into a forest. The brilliant sunshine came down vertically from the sky and shone on Hai’an’s narrowed eyes. He had not seen the sun for a long time. Although there were YangYang flowers on the Vagrant to provide him with sunshine, artificial sunshine and natural sunshine could not be compared.

Colin was very careful when they attacked the worm monster with a flamethrower, because if it triggered a forest fire, the consequences would be very serious. The worm monsters burned quickly when exposed to flames, as if their bodies were filled with gasoline rather than strong acid liquids. They made a terrible cry, twisted their whole body as they burned to cinders and then disappeared slowly.

“Did you find anything strange?” Colin walked next to Corson and turned to ask him the question.

“What?”

“There seems to be no animal life on this planet. We’ve come so far and I haven’t even seen a rabbit.”

“What if there are no rabbits on this planet?” Corson thinks it’s possible, too.

“...”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Probably eaten by these insects.” Lydney suddenly said, “These insects are eating meat. I remember Siam Liang said they were eating meat on Pyramid.”

“Yes, yes, I remember.” Colin nodded suddenly and then looked frightened. “So the animals on this planet were eaten by them?”

Jamie followed them. “Maybe the animals in the water are still alive. After all, we haven’t seen any lakes or seas where they are.”

Hai’an nodded in agreement. He was not sure about in the lake, but certainly not in the sea, because these insects should melt when they come across salt, just like the carnivores in Nore.

They followed the route passed by the electronic dog and soon arrived at the abandoned spaceship. From the projection, they could see that the spaceship was getting closer, and when they really stood in front of the spaceship, it was clear how huge the spaceship was. It was like a giant, standing quietly on this planet, with vines and weeds almost crawling all over the hull, but all without losing its dignity. The three huge paw marks on the hatch were no longer symbols of their expeditionary forces, but the scars of a race.

“Carl, can you feel where your eggshell is?”

Carl looked up at the top of the ship and said, “In the back, we’re going to climb up.”

Auguste poked Hai’an’s head, put Hai’an in his pocket, and zipped it up. “JianJian, bear with it for a while. Carl, you carry Lydney.”

“Okay.” Carl squatted down in front of Lydney. “Come up, I’ll carry you.”

Lydney did not struggle. He climbed up Carl’s thick back and grabbed his neck tightly.

“Grasp it.”

“Hmm?”

They started climbing by grabbing the vines on the hull or just grabbing the prominent part of the hull. Hai’an couldn’t see outside, but he could feel Auguste climbing fast, like a trot on the ground, with a breeze. Lydney was shocked that the gap between the military and ordinary people, between evolutionary humans and ordinary humans, was now infinitely widened.

It was as if they were not climbing a vertical hull, but walking fast on flat land, like walking on flat ground. Finally, Auguste first climbed up to the top of the ship. Standing there, he could almost see the whole forest. Carl put Lydney down and Auguste opened the zipper on his chest.

When Hai’an saw the light coming in from overhead, he immediately stood up and drilled hard outside, picked up the pocket and looked at Auguste. Auguste raised his hand and touched the top of his head.

“The transmission slot should be right here,” Carl pulled his hair and looked around for a weak spot. There was nothing on the top of the ship except weeds and vines. The flesh-and-pink worms were not so well developed that they could not climb up. The reason why they disappeared here and appeared again on Pyramid was probably that they went into the transmission slot and were transferred over.

“Find your eggshell first.” Jamie took a few steps forward with his firearm on his shoulder. “Where are you going now?”

Carl shrugged and looked indifferent. “It’s the same even if I can’t find it, I can’t get it back. I just want to see why an expedition ship is parked here.”

Colin couldn’t help asking, “What about the star map?”

Corson quickly pulled on his brother, but Colin threw off his hand. Sooner or later, this matter would be put on the stage. Anyway, Auguste and Carl could not rely on this ship. “What if you find a map of the stars returning to the main star? Will you go back?”

Auguste was ahead, and he did not stop, “I’ll go back. That’s my home.”

Ayulon’s warships were very strong, and Auguste wanted to enter the ship, they had to attack from the outside, but this would destroy the forest, and maybe cause a fire.

As long as Carl found the hull with his eggshell, he could enter the ship directly.

“Right here.” Carl took them to the stern part of the spaceship, beside which were several transparent light windows. Through the transparent glass, they could see the inside of the spaceship, but there was no light in the spaceship, so they could only vaguely see some blurred instruments and equipment.

Colin stretched his neck and looked inside. “Dark, you can’t see anything.”

“You’ll be in soon,” Carl said, putting his hand over the window and they wondered what he was doing. Suddenly the surface of the hull where they stood disappeared, and all of them fell into the cabin.

The hull surface disappeared, and Hai’an flew out of Auguste’s pocket. Auguste saw him falling out. He reached out to hold Hai’an. Hai’an also reached out to grab Auguste’s finger, but he did not catch Auguste.

Hai’an quickly moved the elements of the wind, and then his descent slowed down. He heard only a few “tch” sounds, which were the sounds of other people hitting the floor. Hai’an slowly drifted down from the air and landed on Auguste’s head. He grabbed Auguste’s hair and pulled out the element of fire. He wanted to use them so that they could see in the dark space. Auguste’s head suddenly lit up.

Looking at it again, they found that it was JianJian who ran to Auguste’s head. There was a small fire in the palm of his right hand, and his green eyes were looking at them innocently.

“JianJian can make a fire!” Colin pointed to Auguste’s head and exclaimed in surprise, his slightly louder voice echoing in the empty cabin.

Auguste glanced at him, did not speak, reached out and touched the top of his head. Hai’an took Auguste’s finger and met Auguste’s eyes, then suddenly opened his mouth and smiled at Auguste.

“Hee ~” But Hai’an only had eight teeth, so Auguste was stunned when he saw Hai’an’s smile, and then he couldn’t help laughing. But Auguste quickly adjusted his facial expression. There were so many people around him that he wanted to be serious. So he put Hai’an back in his arms and did not keep Hai’an in his pocket.

Alia took out flashlights from her backpack and gave one to everyone. “Find out where the power switch of the spaceship is first.”

Chapter 55: To win, you have to bleed

“What about Lydney?” Carl looked around for Lydney at once. Ayulon’s had good eyesight. The darkness was nothing to him.

“I’m here,” Lydney’s voice came from deeper inside the cabin.

When Carl listened, he didn’t even grab the flashlight Alia handed him. He ran straight to Lydney. “How did you fall there? Did you get hurt?”

“No, but I seem to be stuck.”

“Don’t move! I’ll be right over.”

“I seem to be able to move.” Lydney struggled to get up there and did not know what to press. The cabin shook violently. In a moment, all the lights gradually turned on. One by one, they lit up every corner of the cabin. The blinding white light hurt Lydney’s eyes. He reached out and blocked them. Carl’s pupils shrank, but it was only a dragon’s automatic reaction from the strong light.

Hai’an was also punctured by the light, the corners of his eyes immediately provoked some physiological tears. Auguste saw Hai’an raise his hand to cover his eyes, and immediately put his hand in front of Hai’an, covering his face.

All the lights on the control desk in the spaceship were on.

“Hello, welcome to Expeditionary Ship 9.” The spacecraft’s intelligent system sent out a deep bass greeting.

When Alia went to the console and pressed a few buttons, the door of their subcompartment opened. “All the information is in the main control room. We’re going to the main control room.”

Along the way, only the white lights were on overhead, the whole ship was silent, the cabin was covered with a layer of grey, and, in some places, the wall lights were flashing and smoking. Jamie was walking carefully ahead with a heavy machine gun.

“Why are you so careful? There’s not even a body here.” Colin walked behind carelessly and said something casually.

Corson thought his brother’s mouth was too cheap. “Why are you so annoying?”

“I’m telling the truth. Isn’t it good to have nobody?”

As Auguste walked, he suddenly squatted down because there was a dried-up bloodstain under his feet. Carl went to him and looked around. There was a door next to them. Carl opened the door and found it was a kitchen.

“The blood of an Ayulon.” Carl sniffed at a knife on a cutting board.

Colin was shocked, “What? Someone ate an Ayulon?”

Carl did not answer him, but frowned tightly.

“The main control room is coming. Let’s go and see the ship’s records first.” Alia stood at the door and said to them.

Once each spaceship started to operate, there would be a ship’s diary, following the spaceship into space, recording everything that happened on the spaceship, as long as the ship’s diary was found, everything will be easy to do.

“Yes.” Auguste agreed, but did not move.

Hai’an looked up at Auguste. He was looking down at the ground, not knowing what he was thinking.

Auguste, this is... Are you afraid?

Colin looked at Auguste and Carl, sighed and took the lead. But when they opened the door of the main control room, they were disgusted.

In front of the main control room was a transparent floor window, which was similar to the design of the Vagrant. They could clearly see all the scenes outside from the inside. But now the transparent glass was full of flesh-pink worm monsters. Their fine and dense feet twisted and wriggle on the glass.

This visual effect was really not beautiful.

Colin, the first to step into the main control room, couldn’t do it. “Fuck, I’m going to throw up.” He leaned against the door frame and squatted down. “It’s disgusting.”

Alia went up to the main console and pressed the light shield, which covered the slender legs of the worm monsters outside, but she tried to search the ship’s travel records and found that they had to have crew qualification certificates to check the diaries.

“We have no credentials.” Alia put down her hand. “And I can’t decipher this defense system.” But then she waved to Lydney, “Lydney, you try it.”

“Ah? Okay.” Lydney was called by name, a little stunned, but immediately agreed. “I’ll try.”

Lydney’s slender fingers were tapping fast on the keyboard, and the screen kept popping out some code, reflecting on his pale brown eyes and printing out a ray of light.

The waiting time was long, and Auguste took Hai’an out.

“Auguste, where are you going?” Carl shouted behind him.

“I’ll check out the crew’s dormitory.” Auguste’s low voice came from afar.

Colin stood up from the ground as soon as he heard it. He wanted to go to the crew’s dormitory to see what he might find. “I’m going too.”

“Then you all go. I’ll stay with Lydney.” Carl moved a chair and sat next to Lydney.

“Okay,” Jamie stood up and put the heavy machine gun on the table in the main control room. “Let Carl and Lydney stay here. Let’s go to the crew’s dormitory and have a look.”

“All right.” Alia also put down her backpack. There should be no danger on the ship. Besides, Lydney would be safe with Carl’s protection.

Auguste, holding Hai’an in his arms, entered the crew member’s bedroom. There used to be two people living there. The towels and toothbrushes in the bathroom were in pairs, and there were two pillows on the bed. Hai’an also saw a picture frame on the bedside table. Auguste also sees it. He walks over with Hai’an and picks up the picture frame.

There are two very handsome men in the picture. A weaker looking man hangs around the neck of a strong man and laughs very happily. The strong man has his hands around his waist tightly as if he were afraid of falling down. He also has a gentle smile on his face.

Under the frame was a row of small letters, which Hai’an could not understand, but Auguste could, “Jerry and Bolink.”

This was a couple.

Auguste lowered the frame and picked up a book near the frame, which seemed to be a diary.

[Ephemeris 3499, June 22. Bolink and I have been trapped on this planet for nearly five months. Everyone has died, and it is not known whether Karan has brought the seeds back to the main star. The food is almost finished. I don’t know how long Bolink and I can last. ]

[Ephemeris 3499, August 25. I’m pregnant, but I dare not tell Bolink that the rescue team is not here at all, and we’re going to die.]

[Ephemeris 3499, October 8. Bolink is cutting his flesh. We can’t find any other food. What should I do? ]

...

A few pages were scribbled at the back, and Auguste could not see clearly what the owner of the diary had written. After turning back several pages, only one page could be clearly written.

[Ephemeris 3500, January 1. Today is the first day of the New Year. Last night I killed Bolink. I don’t want him to suffer any more. Before Colonel left, he said to us that we will win in the new year. If we want to win, we must bleed. War is the only way for us to usher in peace. But I don’t know when a tomorrow without smoke will appear, because neither I nor Bolink will have a tomorrow. I love you, Bolink. I love you forever. ]

The diary ends there, with a blank space behind it. This should have been written by Jerry. In this small book, there were heavy words.

Auguste held his diary and remained silent for a while. The diary was written in Ayulon’s language. Hai’an could not understand anything, but now the air seemed to be filled with an indescribable heavy sorrow.

“Auguste, Lydney has deciphered the ship’s record.” Carl rushed in from the outside, only to find Auguste in a daze with a book in his hand.

Carl was stunned for a moment, came up and grabbed the diary, and quickly turned it over.

After a long silence, Carl took a deep breath and patted Auguste on the shoulder. “From the day you joined the army, you should know that sacrifice is indispensable. Don’t be too pessimistic. He didn’t write about their children, in case they survived.” Hai’an never imagined that Carl, who had always been like a child, would one day come back to comfort Auguste by saying, “Let’s go and see the ship’s record.”

“Carl.” Auguste later called Carl’s name, “Thank you.”

Carl walked ahead without turning back. He put his hand behind him and made a “v” gesture.

“Can these records be translated into Star Common Language? I can’t understand it at all.” Colin stared at the dense Ayulon text on the screen and said with a painful face.

“I’ll try.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to go directly to Carl or Auguste for the translation?” Jamie stood silent and said.

“No,” Colin first objected. “Didn’t Auguste and Carl leave Ayulon’s star when they were very young? What if they can’t read?”

Jamie: “...” He didn’t know how to refute.

“Yes!” Lydney folded his hands and gave a crisp applause. “It’s been converted into Star Common Language. Fortunately, there’s a Star Common Language package on this ship, otherwise Carl would really be invited to translate it.”

“Let me see!” Colin stretched his neck and put his face in front of the screen. “Lydney, you’re terrific. I feel like there’s almost nothing you can’t do.”

Lydney gave a shy smile and did not answer. Colin was so close to Lydney that Carl, who had just come inside with Auguste, was unhappy to see the scene. He stepped in and separated Lydney from Colin.

“Why are you and Lydney so close?” Carl’s tone was so bad that he could almost smell the strong vinegar in the air.

Even Hai’an found something wrong between Lydney and Carl. Carl was too possessive of Lydney. Just like Auguste to him, Hai’an blushed a little at the thought.

If he thought about it carefully, Carl monopolized Lydney all day. If someone got close to Lydney, Carl would be unhappy. Was this not love?