diskusbooks Chapter 155 Outside Our Cradle
Chapter 155 Outside Our Cradle
"The road to the sky is long and fascinating, isn't it?"
Alice gazed at the sky, where the twinkling stars seemed like Morse code. Emerald, rising from the ruins, was now like an awakened child, possessing the first glimmer of consciousness, curiously looking out of the cradle.
The name Amelanxi Star sometimes stirred Alice's heart like the most fervent call, but even a child's curious glance and turning of the body required a great deal of effort.
Fortunately, Ameliad has no shortage of lunatics and freaks. Turning around, most of a teaching building at Ameliad Trian Institute of Technology was blackened to gray. Police tape had been put up, but thankfully the fire was extinguished, and there weren't many people in the building when the fire broke out.
The culprits were four students. Alice looked at them. At the time, she happened to be at the school attending an annual report. When Alice was still a princess, she almost never missed a conference of research and academic institutions, and she would often donate her own savings to her team.
The principal stood aside, not daring to speak. The four students hung their heads, carrying a pile of things: notebooks, books, and some bottles and jars. Alice took a cylindrical object from one of the elf students' hands.
"Are you building rockets?"
"Yes... Ah... Princess Alice... As you know, our team needs data to support our thesis."
Alice examined the object in the elven student's hand closely. It was a simple rocket, welded from steel plates, with guide vanes and a conical integrated shield.
It was so rudimentary, like a child's toy. Alice looked at the four dusty-faced students, who were young and all engineering students at the Amerlane National Union University.
"The rocket is well made, but the fuel stability needs improvement. You see, the school's housing is very expensive and can't withstand any damage."
Alice nodded and raised her hand to signal the principal to shut up.
“We’ll arrange a place for you. See that over there? That wide valley shouldn’t burn anyone else’s hair. Next time, we’ll take you there, Principal?”
The four students stared at the princess in disbelief. They had been prepared to be expelled, after all, they couldn't afford to pay for half the building.
Under the night sky, a legend began. Four students formed an experimental team in the valley. During the Amerlane Wars, they continuously studied aerodynamics, mechanics, and chemistry. As their papers were published, more and more people joined their small laboratory, and the small building in the valley grew bigger and bigger.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was established a year earlier, and two years later, in early 656, during a snowy season, JPL's efforts paid off.
"America National Space Agency? Sen! Look at this!"
The elf known as the Forest Spirit took the letter from her classmate; it was an invitation from Alice, who was now known as the President.
A proposal from NASA Director General Sainz proposed establishing an agency outside the Imellane National Academy of Sciences dedicated to space exploration.
Although Amelansi is not yet qualified to explore outer space with its current level of technology, it does not mean that the people of Amelansi are interested in that distant and mysterious dimension.
What lies beyond the distant sea? What's in the sky? And what's above the sky?
In civilization, there will always be people who cast a curious glance at that mysterious distance, and are determined to challenge the unknown even at a heavy price.
The unknown in the sky gave rise to this government agency, the Amellane National Space Agency (NASA), which was established in Trian. However, Trian is not actually a suitable place to carry out space missions. Therefore, in addition to its headquarters in Trian, Amellane National Space Agency plans to establish a space center in the North and Ovisita regions.
But it's unclear when that happened; at present, the entire space agency is just a building and a huge factory in Trian.
The JPL members were invited to the Trian Space Agency headquarters, which features a futuristic structure. The building's exterior was designed by the country's most famous architects. The entire building is cylindrical, narrow at the bottom and wide at the top, with an elevator shaft on one side decorated with a metal frame facade, resembling a mechanical structure.
The building is not a standalone structure. At the bottom, the building twists and turns to form a hollow circle on the ground. From above, the entire building looks like a small figure eight.
On one side of the building is the vast Trian Spacecraft Research and Development Center, with the NASA building forming an interconnected space.
Although the equipment had to be manufactured in-house, the framework had already been built, and the National Construction Group, which had completed the Trian City construction project, easily completed the NASA building.
"Alice?"
"Ok?"
"Why are you so obsessed with space? You described the sky to me several years ago."
Alicia made a rare appearance, sitting among the crowd with Alice and watching all of this—perhaps in the future, they will be able to see all living beings fly into the vast space.
"Why are we so obsessed with space, Mother? Yes, we haven't explored the entirety of the earth yet, we haven't connected our country properly, and we're not ready to defeat powerful enemies."
"But... what exactly are we? The information Olina Christopher gave me suggests that we may not have been born here. We may very well be the offspring of another civilization. Why have we become who we are today? And what dangers lie beyond us?"
“Our distant ancestors may not be on this land. If we want to trace our past, we humans, demons, elves, vampires, orcs, dwarves... we may very well share the same ancestor.”
"Only the distant stars can give us the answer. Why are we so obsessed with space? Sigh..."
Alice looked up at the sky, and there it was, the twin moons of the sky, eternally existing. They were deities in writers' verses, leaping spirits in composers' music, and guests that painters never missed in their night paintings.
They were there, the sky was there, and when humans first stepped out of their caves, when humans first crossed rivers and roads, the benefits were far greater than not crossing them. And when the ancients traversed long journeys and reached their desired destination, a civilization completed its transformation.
The exploration of the sky is not only to satisfy curiosity, but also to achieve a series of results in the path of space exploration. It is these results that have ushered a civilization into a new era.
At this moment, the Amelansi civilization is just a child sleeping peacefully in its cradle, slightly opening its eyes, wanting to see what lies beyond the cradle.