readytorunbook Chapter 36: Landing at the Divine Palace
Chapter 36: Landing at the Divine Palace
The thrusters of "Bai Shen 1" activated and began its descent. The five Gesang astronauts from the five major nations began to look out the window. Good heavens, what a massive and magnificent structure and intricate network! The five men divided their tasks clearly: two took photos, two recorded videos, one of which was broadcasting live. The enormous, towering structure on Gess Star filled the Gesangs with a mixture of awe and fear. The live camera quickly focused here—the north window of "Bai Shen 1." Look, what's that? Good heavens, a gigantic aerial fortress, a huge spherical building suspended in the air, estimated to be 120 kilometers in diameter!
Could this be the residence of God?
Oh no, we chose the wrong landing spot! This giant spherical building is floating in the air! All the Gesang people cried out in their hearts.
The five Gesang astronauts panicked. What to do? If they landed on the ground, would they just stand there looking up at this huge aerial fortress? That wasn't the original plan. The original plan was for the five of them to drive a small car to the observation point after "Bai Shen 1" landed!
It's worth noting that people on Earth were also watching the live broadcast, and seeing the five Gesang astronauts in such a panicked state, many people couldn't remain calm either.
To the surprise of Earthlings, the five astronauts controlled the landing module, slowly descending along a diagonal path northward, gradually approaching the giant spherical structure. Everyone remained silent, waiting patiently.
Look, there's a fairly large entrance ahead. Let's go in! The five astronauts were overjoyed. The five astronauts controlled the landing module to slowly cut diagonally into the entrance; this required the concerted efforts of all five to complete.
Finally, the Gesang aliens heard an astronaut's voice: "Shenzhou Base, this is 'Bai Shen 1'. We just 'worshipped the gods'! 'Bai Shen 1' stumbled a bit during landing, but all instruments and equipment are normal. 'Bai Shen 1' has landed successfully!" A burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted from the Shenzhou Base flight control center, as all the Gesang people shouted and cheered, venting their emotions.
At the center of this spherical building suspended in the air, our supreme administrator of the planet Gess (referred to as the planetary commander), Wendas, clapped his hands forcefully, lay back in his chair, and let out a long sigh.
Five astronauts descended the landing module's gangway one after another. "God, we've arrived! This is one small step for mankind, one giant leap for mankind!" Of course, they didn't plant the flags of the five countries; it seemed impossible to plant them there—the ground was too hard.
Just as the five astronauts were looking around in bewilderment, a bright light flashed in front of them, and a group of people appeared out of thin air in front of them. Not to mention the five astronauts, all the Gesang people watching the live broadcast were stunned.
They were stunned that these people had appeared out of nowhere, and what surprised them even more was how much the gods resembled them. All the Gesang people murmured to themselves. Had the gods created us? It was quite possible! Many Gesang people couldn't help but think this, and many knelt down in worship.
"Welcome to Planet Gus. I am the planet's commander, Wendas," one of the people in the group, who seemed to be the leader, said to the five astronauts.
"God!" The captain of the five astronauts was interrupted by the planet's leader as soon as he started to speak. "Mr. Niugus, please don't call me God. We are human beings just like you, only our technology is more advanced."
"Well, Captain, we..." Niugs stammered, unsure of what to say.
"You've all worked hard. Let's go to the reception room first," the ball captain said, breaking the awkwardness that Gesangren had shown.
Suddenly, the masks on the heads and the spacesuits on the bodies of the five people automatically detached, as if some force was forcibly removing them from their bodies. The five people were so frightened that they dared not move. The five masks and spacesuits rose and then drifted eastward. As the masks and spacesuits detached and rose, one of the astronauts instinctively reached out and grabbed them.
A moment later, the five astronauts felt slightly dizzy and seemed to see a beam of light. Before they could recover from their daze, they found themselves in a luxurious reception room.
"Please have a seat, everyone."
The five people suddenly took a few steps back, as if they had seen a ghost. They couldn't believe that five chairs had suddenly appeared from the ground, as if they had simply passed through it. As soon as the five people sat down, five cups appeared on each of their tables, filled with some kind of blackish liquid.
"Have some drinks, they're chilled, I think you'll like them." The captain looked at them with a smile.
The five of them chuckled, looking a little silly and embarrassed. However, they still picked up their glasses and drank. Wow, so refreshing! Delicious!
"Captain, could you give us another drink?" Niu Gusi, being the captain, was more knowledgeable and bolder.
"No problem, please drink as much as you like, but since you've just landed, it's not advisable for you to drink too much."
As soon as Wendas finished speaking, the same liquid began to rise from their empty glasses, almost reaching the rim, and then stopped rising. It was as if someone without a shadow was pouring you a drink.
The five people, having seen many such things before, were no longer as astonished as they had been initially. After all, they were gods; what was so strange about that? Although they claimed not to be gods, to us, what else could this be but a miracle?
"Chief, all of us Gesang people have a few questions that are very important to us, so we hope you can help us answer them." Niugushi first calmed himself down before making his request.
"Okay, go ahead, but you can only ask me four questions."
"Did you create us?"
"No. But we do have that capability."
"Thank you. My second question is, just how big is the universe?"
"We don't know either, but I can tell you that this Milky Way galaxy, which is the galaxy we are currently in, has a diameter of 3.38 million light-years (calculated at the speed of light c0)."
"My God, it's so big."
"The third question..." The five people looked at each other, then huddled together and whispered among themselves, since they could only ask four questions.
"The third question is, at our planet's current rate of development, how long would it take us to reach your current level of technology?"
Wendas smiled. "That's a good question. Let me think about it." Then he said with a serious expression, "I can tell you that without the influence of foreign civilizations, at your rate of development, it would take at least 4600 years."
The five people simultaneously uttered an "Oh," and on their faces, one could see a mixture of disappointment and hope.
"Everyone, just a reminder, there's one last question."
"Captain, we haven't thought about this question yet. Could we ask it again later? Of course, it won't be for very long." Niugs emphasized the second half of the sentence, seemingly to comfort Windas.
The planetary leader of Windas seemed stunned for a moment, while the humans watching the live broadcast on TV burst into laughter. What was going on? It was clearly a child cheating!
But you can't blame them, since the captain of the Windas team didn't limit the time they could ask questions.
"Okay." For the glory of humanity on Earth, the planetary leader of Windas was ready to answer the last question. Being the planetary leader wasn't easy, Windas thought with some emotion.
"Everyone, we have a major event in 26 days. If the leaders of the five nations of your Gesang planet permit, this live broadcast can also be broadcast to all of you Gesang people."
"Captain, we need to go back and report first, and then get back to you whether it's okay."
"Okay, I'll wait for your reply."
Wendas chatted with the five people for a few minutes. The five people originally wanted to suggest taking a look around this aerial fortress, but they were worried that there might be some secrets in this place, so they didn't want to bring it up directly. Judging from Captain Wendas, he didn't seem to want them to stay.
The five made an excuse to leave and then said goodbye to each other.
Five people were teleported to the vicinity of the landing module. They boarded the module, carefully piloted it out, and then quickly ascended to the command module above Gess Star to dock. The six people then spent 16 days returning to Gesang Star.
The six men were treated like heroes, their names chanted by all the Gesang people, and their portraits and banners were everywhere. Many people couldn't help but shed tears.
At the banquet welcoming the heroes home, the leaders of the five countries each delivered a speech.
Captain Niuges delivered a speech that profoundly influenced generations of Gesang people.
After expressing his gratitude to all the Gesang people, the country, his family, his team, related scientists, and businesses, Niuges said, "This landing symbolizes humanity's thirst for knowledge and exploration of the unknown world. Through contact with God, we realize how insignificant we truly are; even the all-powerful God doesn't know the true size of this vast universe. Gesang nurtured us, and time has witnessed our strength. The boundless galaxy beckons us; we humans have no reason to remain confined to this Gesang planet. Boundless time will witness that one day we will stand shoulder to shoulder with God, traversing this universe together! Although we are not gods, and we are not yet very powerful, I believe that as long as we are united, we, the Gesang people, will become incredibly powerful. At least now, we can do this: give technology time, not time technology; give laws the universe, not the universe laws."
This is truly inspiring; the Gesang people's current goal is to stand shoulder to shoulder with the gods.
The power of role models is boundless, and all Gesang people have been swept up in a wave of enthusiasm for learning and applying science!
Niugs' famous quote, "Give science time, not time technology; give laws the universe, not the universe laws," is engraved on the "Heavenly Ladder"! The "Heavenly Ladder" has thus become a sacred place, and every year a steady stream of Gesang people spontaneously come to worship and ponder philosophical questions such as the meaning of life.
The day after the welcome banquet for the heroes' return, the leaders and high-ranking officials of the five nations held an emergency meeting to discuss whether to broadcast the god's important event live on Gesang Star. After three days of discussion, the people of Gesang agreed to the live television broadcast of the god's event. Niuges was then entrusted with contacting, communicating with, and confirming the event with the god.
The Gesang people eagerly awaited the live television broadcast of God's important event, for it was indeed a momentous occasion for God.