novelThe Prologue to the New Era
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At the beginning of May, there was a sudden spike in the number of journalists and passengers heading to Xin. To be precise, there was an increase in the number of people travelling to Celestial City.
As for the reason, it was because Celestial Trade made an announcement a few days ago-
[The million-ton Envoy-class Starship is officially launching as part of the Earth Defense Alliance on May 7th... ]
A million-ton starship!
Many people felt dizzy when they heard the news.
Especially those in the aerospace field.
The Ares VI engine that sent the Ares to the Mars orbit in a month's time already marked the peak of NASA's cutting-edge space technology. However, it didn't take long for Celestial Trade to launch a million-ton starship.
The gap was drastic.
Although Celestial Trade and the Earth Defense Alliance jointly announced the construction plan of a million-ton starship long ago, even the members in the Earth Defense Alliance were skeptical about if Future Heavy Industries could build such a ship.
After all, the heaviest aircraft carrier weighed around 100, 000 tons.
Take the Eisenhower nuclear-powered aircraft carrier as an example. Its stunning length was already seen as a feat. According to the data released by the UA military, in the event of a disaster, the deck space could accommodate up to 10, 000 people while maintaining combat effectiveness.
Ten Eisenhowers connected from end to end...
People expressed that they couldn't even imagine the size of this starship.
Since their imagination was not enough.
So they must go take a look.
Thanks to this, Celestial City's hotels were completely booked up, even for the cheapest inns. Even Xin, under the space elevator, welcomed a booming period for its tourism.
"We're currently at the original site of Celestial City's Zero Gravity Shipyard. Now this place has been transformed into four small shipyards by Future Heavy Industries used for the production of Stingray X-1. The production equipment for Seagull-class has been transferred to a free-standing shipyard outside the city."
Standing by the window of the shipyard corridor, a BBC reporter asked the cameraman to point the camera at the "H"-shaped shipyard space station outside the window, then the reporter continued to speak.
"... now the independent shipyard outside the city is completely closed. We have not yet obtained permission to enter the shipyard. This is probably the nearest place to Envoy-class in Celestial City, but it is not open to the public for the time being. If you are watching our program in Celestial City, you can head to the open sightseeing platform in the gravity-free section and use the telescope there to take a peek at the shipyard..."
At this moment, the reporter suddenly exclaimed and pointed to the direction of the shipyard.
"... look over there!"
From the distance, an eerie blue arc flashed, like a bright star in the dark and mysterious universe. On the sightseeing platform one kilometer away, the passengers standing under the transparent dome burst into exclamations and whistles.
The main engine was shut, and the two secondary engines on the bottom ejected two eerie blue rays backward.
With the two bursts of flames pushing it forward, the black dot representing Envoy-class slowly sailed through the distance of tens of kilometers, and displayed its mighty figure in front of the world!
From the faint light reflection from Earth, the black steel exuded a cold and fierce vibe.
The steep hull was like a dagger that pierced the darkness with its light and broke the silence of the universe.
Attempting to close his widened mouth and swallow down his shock along with his saliva, the reporter in front of the window, seemingly using all his energy, opened his trembling mouth once again. He explained to the audience waiting in front of TVs and computers.
"... unbelievable, unbelievable... I can't find another suitable word in my poor lexicons to describe the shock in me at this moment. I believe that even if you are separated from the scene by tens of thousands of kilometers, through the screen of only a few inches, it's not difficult for you to understand the shock at this moment, " He said emotionally as he looked at the gradually clear outline and the magnificent hull.
"Envoy-class starship, with a net weight of one million tons, built by Future Heavy Industries, will be delivered to the Earth Defense Alliance on May 7, 2020. As the first starship of the Earth Fleet, it will travel to and from Oort Cloud(1) and Celestial City for crew and officer training missions."
"From today, our history has once again opened a new page, "
Online.
Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, Wechat, and Future 1. 0...
All the contents on social media were about the same message.
"HOLY! Celestial Trade is really going to the next level!"
"Yes, they are already at the next level. They're about to venture out from the solar system!"
"Built by Future Heavy Industries! My god, honey, take a look at our robot, I think the Future Heavy Industries logo is on it!"
"Wait! The doll... no, the maid robot is made by the same company as the Envoy-class?!"
"What's the fuss? You can open any electronics and as long as it contains graphene, it is likely to be manufactured from the New Malaysia Special District."
Of course, in addition to the worship of Celestial Trade's technology, people felt aspired.
Although this million-ton starship was not directly related to people's lives, surprisingly, the launch of the Envoy-class ignited the enthusiasm of the people to immigrate to Xin, just like the magnetic leviathan technology and the city drone system.
"Is it too late to immigrate to Xin?"
"What's the point of being a marshal, I want to go become a soldier in space! It'd be so cool to serve on that starship."
"I don't know if the space volunteers are still recruiting? This is an urgent question!"
"Sigh, I knew I should have bought a house on Coro Island four years ago. I heard that now the price at the city center has skyrocketed, and the threshold of immigration is extremely high. The simplest is probably to go through the route of space volunteers. But at the same time, you must check the 'Subject to colonial immigration adjustment'..."
"What's so bad about now? If you go to Mars, you don't have to pay for food or rent. Maybe in a dozen years, you won't even be able to buy a shack on it."
"..."
At the same time that people around the world were paying tribute to the Enovy-class starship, the side of the harbor built at the gravity-free section of the city was now emptied for the arrival of this "envoy". Representatives from the member states of the Earth Defense Alliance, together with the crew members and officers of the Earth Fleet who were about to board the ship, all stood by the entrance of the dock boarding passage...
(1) Oort cloud: Sometimes called the Öpik-Oort cloud, first described in 1950 by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, is a theoretical cloud of predominantly icy planetesimals proposed to surround the Sun at distances ranging from 2, 000 to 200, 000 au.
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