AWB Chapter 224 The Age of Science Fiction
Chapter 224 The Age of Science Fiction
Let's rewind 2 hours to around the world.
As the first explosion ignited, the entire RimWorld erupted in chaos, with explosions occurring continuously.
Within the communication channel, the piercing alarm, accompanied by crimson lights, filled the minds of every RimWorld staff member.
"Enemy attack! Level One Alert!"
The outer command center located in the orbit around the sun responded immediately, and the AI Chengxing's subprogram instantly constructed a three-dimensional model of the entire RimWorld attack section inside the powered armor helmets of all members.
It's fair to say that, apart from some residential areas, almost no part of the entire RimWorld is intact.
"They're planning to disable the energy drive module of the ring world. We have to stop them, or we might end up perishing along with the entire solar system."
Commander Oppenheimer immediately saw through the Trisolarans' purpose in attacking the Rimworld.
Now that the broadcasting era has arrived, if Luo Ji's Dark Forest Theory is entirely correct, then both the Trisolarans and Earth civilization will be caught in a race to the death.
The Trisolarans not only intend to escape, but also want to break the leg that allows human civilization to escape.
After all, the two civilizations have been fighting for over a century, and both sides are well aware of each other's existence. If human civilization successfully escapes the solar system, who knows what might happen in the future?
The best way to deal with unknown risks is to nip them in the bud.
Today, all of humanity is looking forward to the completion of RimWorld, but if RimWorld is destroyed, humanity will lose this last chance to escape.
At that time, the Dark Forest Strike, powerful enough to destroy two civilizations, will leave only Earth civilization as the unfortunate victim, reaping the consequences of its own actions.
Even if someone were lucky enough to escape the solar system and want to rebuild the glory of Earth's civilization, it would be a pipe dream.
"Assemble all troops and mobilize them all. We must suppress the rebels as quickly as possible. This is only the first wave of attacks. Judging from the Trisolarans' objectives, there will be a second and third wave of attacks."
Oppenheimer leaned back in his chair, looking at the holographic projection of the RimWorld in front of him. The red warning lines were increasing, almost enveloping the entire RimWorld in a crimson crisis.
"Commander, Professor Wang Miao is still traveling around the world. Should we move him to safety first?" the adjutant asked.
“I’m afraid that if we start fighting, I might endanger his safety.”
"Professor Wang Miao? This... is indeed a bit troublesome."
Although he said that, Auburn Mercer made his decision in less than three seconds.
"Continue the attack. Have the rapid response team near Professor Wang Miao notify him: save him if you can, otherwise forget it. What do you think we're doing right now? We're gambling with the lives of all humanity. If we lose, all of humanity will perish with us."
"Even if Professor Wang Miao were to suffer any serious injury or death because of this, he has no one to blame but himself for saying anything."
It must be said that Auburn Mercer's appointment as commander of the Halo Project's defense forces demonstrates a certain amount of courage.
Some other commanders might be at a loss in this situation.
In any case, Professor Wang Miao is one of the few people in human history who can live on in history textbooks. From the Crisis Era to the Broadcast Era, most people have experienced more than half a lifetime of things.
Moreover, his remarkable achievements are almost visible to the naked eye. Those space stations, and even the entire Halo Project, all had Wang Miao supporting them behind the scenes.
Such a great man, whose safety was sometimes more important than the entire planet’s inhabitants, still chose to abandon Wang Miao in order to save the Ringworld.
Making this decision required terrifying courage and came at a terrible price. If the ring world couldn't be protected, and Professor Wang Miao were to suffer any mishap because of this, Auburn Mercer would likely be forever branded with historical shame.
Choosing to protect Professor Wang Miao now means that even if we lose the world of the Ring World, at least our reputation will remain, and we won't be condemned by history.
However, he still made the decision that was most beneficial to the current situation. As for how future generations will evaluate him, that is for posterity to decide.
"Buzz!"
Another muffled explosion.
Since it was in space, and there was no air as a medium for sound propagation, the explosion was only transmitted through the vibration of the Ringworld's deck, so it didn't sound very intense.
But seeing the crimson light shooting into the sky through the viewing window, I realized just how terrifying the explosion had been.
"Antimatter bomb, damn it, how did they even bring this up here!"
Auburn Mercer's face was ashen. Less than three minutes had passed since the first explosion, which showed that the Trisolarans had planned this for a long time and the entire operation was very swift.
Even now, they don't even know the origin of the enemy. The reports from the front lines only say that the enemy is a group of architects controlled by the Trisolarans. As for what weapons they have or how many of them there are, their side has no idea.
"Has the president been notified?"
Auburn Mercer ultimately pinned his hopes on the Earth Alliance; the current situation was no longer something he, as a commander of the guard force, could decide.
"We were notified 20 minutes ago. The Earth Alliance's support forces are already on their way. The first landing fleet is expected to arrive at the outermost edge of the Ring of Sun Project in 13 minutes and begin deploying landing troops," the adjutant reported truthfully.
"Why did it take so long?"
Oppenheimer's expression turned cold. Although the location of the ring world was indeed far from the fleets orbiting Earth and Jupiter, with the current level of human technology, it shouldn't be that far behind, right?
At that speed, it could have drifted over even without a thruster.
The adjutant's expression was equally interesting upon hearing the commander's question.
"Commander, you might not believe it, but the reason the fleet is so slow is because the Earth Alliance previously deployed most of its fleet to keep an eye on the Gravity. So now, it will take some time for them to break free from the formation. At least at this distance, they can't accelerate at full power. So, just as you said, they drifted over."
Upon hearing this, Auburn Mercer felt as if he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
O Dilian, are you going to follow the same path as PDC?
How could there be such a foolish group of people commanding a fleet, using their own country's strongest weapons to target their own people?
Ever since Vader, as the Swordholder, hijacked the Gravitation, both sides have tacitly agreed to surround it without actually attacking.
Without the power to wield the sword, Vader was no longer seen as someone the Earth Alliance officials could kill at will.
However, considering the possibility of the enemy escaping, it is still necessary to mobilize troops to guard Vede.
There are opportunities to make money in this.
Since guarding Vader was actually considered a mission, it meant that all the guard fleets were carrying out missions.
The monthly salaries for fleets on non-missionary duty and those on mission duty are completely different, with huge fluctuations.
It's fair to say that, given everyone's knowledge that Vader couldn't cause any real trouble, taking on the task of guarding the gravitational field became a lucrative job with a hefty paycheck, and many captains wanted to get involved.
The military, which was in charge of coordination, was naturally the first target they wanted to corrupt and win over.
But what if you collect too much money and can't get things done?
Then they could only increase the number of guards little by little. In order to ensure the credibility of their words, many officials frantically increased the number of guards.
Now look what's happened! In the past, military corruption involved overreporting the number of personnel to receive salaries without actually working. Now, they're afraid of underreporting the actual number of personnel and not receiving their pay.
As time went on, the number of fleets guarding the Gravitational increased, resulting in most of humanity's main fleet being tied down by Vader alone.
If Wade were on the Trisolaran side, the Trisolarans would definitely have to give him an award.
Single-handedly, without firing a single shot, it tied down more than 50 percent of humanity's high-end combat power.
That's the most ironic thing.
Now, when humanity is truly facing a life-or-death crisis, it suddenly realizes how foolish it has been.
"It's a pity that Luo Ji stepped down too early. Otherwise, in the past, the president alone could have suppressed these petty villains."
Auburn Mercer couldn't help but sigh.
He was born in the 40s of the Deterrence Era, when Luo Congmin was at the peak of her power. If she hadn't never coveted power and called herself the emperor of all mankind, it would have been perfectly acceptable.
From top to bottom, no one in the local government dared to utter a single word of dissent.
However, since Luo Ji stepped down and the second-generation Swordholder, Wei De, took over, Luo Congmin's status began to decline.
Although she still wields considerable influence within the Earth Alliance, she has completely reverted to the demeanor expected of a president.
The glory days of absolute authority are over.
This is also something that Oppenheimer finds tragic.
Everyone knows that as long as Luo Congmin continues to be given absolute power, coupled with the toughness of the second-generation Swordholder Wade, even if the Trisolarans had ten times the courage, they wouldn't dare to act recklessly.
But politics is not child's play. Since becoming president, Luo Congmin has devoted more than 90% of his energy to dealing with internal human conflicts.
"People say that the two international eras controlled by Lin Xuan were the most sci-fi eras for mankind. The reason for this is not because the technological level of that era developed so rapidly, nor because of the ingenuity of Lin Xuan's counterattacks against the Trisolarans, but because in that era, all mankind was the only one to truly unite."
This statement comes from a philosopher's evaluation of Lin Xuan.
Human civilization has never truly achieved unity. Even in the early stages of the most desperate Trisolaran crisis, the PDC seven nations were secretly fighting each other to the death due to power struggles.
So much so that when people look back at this history a century later, they find that the actions of human governments at that time were quite perplexing.
During their deepest period, they still spent 30% of their annual military expenditure on building up ground forces. Please, these ground forces were definitely not meant to fight the Trisolarans, but rather to solidify the G7's position.
This is absolutely outrageous!
At least to people in the early days of the Deterrence Era, this was quite incredible.
They're on the verge of extinction, yet they're still fighting amongst themselves, battling to the death over some laughable power.
Therefore, this event is also attributed in history textbooks as one of the reasons why PDC was destined to decline.
But now, the local network is also showing signs of decline, and everything has come back to normal.
History seems poised to repeat itself a century from now!
This is what made Auburn Mercer feel a deep-seated sorrow.
"Forget it, there's no use thinking about it so much. Let's deal with the immediate problem first. Everyone, grab your weapons and get ready to come with me to support the front lines."
Upon hearing this, everyone in the command post fell silent.
The adjutant standing beside him stared wide-eyed, almost dropping his jaw in astonishment.
"Commander... Commander, you are the commander! How can a commander personally go into battle to kill the enemy!"
Auburn Mercer ignored him and put on his power armor.
"What's all this talk about command? Look at the chaos on the battlefield, how can we possibly command anything? Let the AI take over. I'm powerless to do anything about it. The only thing I can do right now is to be a good soldier."
As he spoke, he secured the helmet to the armor, then with a burst of strength, lifted the rifle, which weighed as much as a dozen men, and headed out the door.
Watching Auburn Mercer's departing figure, everyone in the command room exchanged bewildered glances.
No... what will we do if you leave?
It should be noted that most of the staff in the command post were civil officials who could only advise, and very few could fight on the front lines. Some of them didn't even know how to use a gun.
The era of deterrence has been peaceful for nearly a century, and many military personnel have never participated in any formal wars, let alone these staff officers who are originally from civilian backgrounds.
But now that the commander has taken the lead, they are completely dumbfounded.
Should we follow along or not?
If they were to go, they might not be able to help at all; if they were to stay, none of them would dare to give the order without a commander's permission, for fear of taking responsibility.
This shows just how amazing Auburn Mercer was; while others were still afraid to take responsibility, he had already dared to order the abandonment of the rescue of Wang Miao.
Such boldness is rare even among current military commanders.
In the end, the adjutants and staff gritted their teeth and put on power armor to chase after them.
There's no other way. If they follow now, there's no guarantee that something will go wrong. But if they stay here and give orders recklessly, causing chaos, then even after this battle is over, they will become the scapegoats and be held accountable.
Rather than that, it would be better to die on the battlefield, at least leaving behind a good reputation after death.
Once they understood this, everyone got up and set off.
As for the command center, with AI taking over, its efficiency is far superior to theirs. If it weren't for the need for someone to take the blame, there probably wouldn't be a single human in this enormous command center.