2: Chapter 2 Origin of the Space Station

After waiting for half an hour, the percentage finally reached 100%.

“Core program loaded, deploying…”

The prompt changed, and the percentage above became: 27%.

Another 20 minutes passed, and the percentage reached 100%.

“Core program deployed, launching soon…”

The screen flickered, turned black, and then lit up again.

After waiting for about 5 seconds, a complete virtual Sister appeared on the screen, dressed in a professional secretary outfit with lace stockings and a miniskirt.

“Greetings, Commander! I am your personal intelligent assistant, Xiao Lin. It’s a pleasure to serve you.”

“Xiao Lin, can you tell me what exactly is going on?” Oriental Chen asked.

“Commander can ask me anything he wishes to know at any time,” Xiao Lin replied.

“First, tell me, where did you come from?” Oriental Chen asked.

“I am an advanced artificial intelligence jointly developed by 153,276 scientists,” Xiao Lin answered.

Xiao Lin didn't understand Oriental Chen's meaning, so he changed the question:

“Then who sent these devices?”

“The Space Station’s main program randomly selected 100 candidate samples with necessary information from databases worldwide and sent identical packages to each sample candidate via the ground internet,” Xiao Lin replied.

“So that’s how it is.” Oriental Chen understood.

The virtual human face from before had said something similar.

“Yes, Commander,” Xiao Lin affirmed.

“What are you doing by randomly selecting 100 people?” Oriental Chen continued to ask.

“It is to find a suitable Commander for the Space Station,” Xiao Lin explained.

“Space Station? Is it the kind of Space Station I understand, the one floating in Blue Star’s orbit?” Oriental Chen didn't know how to phrase it better; he was worried the artificial intelligence wouldn't accurately understand his question.

“Yes, Commander,” Xiao Lin affirmed.

“Then since you could be launched into space, why do you not have a Commander? Why do you need to search for one in this way?” Oriental Chen continued to ask; there were too many inconsistencies.

“Commander, the Space Station’s creators no longer exist, so there is no manager,” Xiao Lin answered.

“No longer exist? How can they no longer exist? If they don't exist, how were you launched into space?” Oriental Chen still didn't understand.

“Yes, they no longer exist. The Space Station was launched by the former Nata Civilization. The Nata Civilization has disappeared from the Blue Star where you reside, so there is no manager,” Xiao Lin patiently explained.

“What is the Nata Civilization?” Oriental Chen continued to ask.

“According to current human classification, the Nata Civilization existed during the Triassic period, 230 million years ago. It was an earlier technological civilization than the current human civilization. The Space Station was developed by 153,276 scientists and launched into space at that time.”

“The Triassic period! 230 million years ago?” Oriental Chen exclaimed.

He had learned a little about it in school, and some archaeologists had speculated that a similar human civilization might have appeared during the Triassic period, but due to lack of evidence, it was not recognized by most scientists and scholars.

However, a major extinction event did occur during the Triassic period, which can be proven by unearthed ancient fossils.

“Does that mean you've been floating in space for over 200 million years?” Oriental Chen asked in shock.

“To be precise, the Space Station, which was in a dormant state, has been operating in space for 230 million years. My image and consciousness were just synthesized by the system after you activated the Space Station, based on your location, preferences, language, and cultural characteristics,” Xiao Lin corrected Oriental Chen’s grammatical error.

It seemed Xiao Lin’s lace stockings and miniskirt had a reason.

“Male gender, female preference, no problem!”

“Since the Space Station has been flying in space for over 200 million years, why didn't it look for a Commander earlier? Why wait until now? And why must it look for a Commander? Can you not operate on your own?” Oriental Chen continued to ask.

“Commander, the Space Station operating without management is meaningless; this is also part of the program’s settings. The Space Station’s core module stores all the civilization’s achievements of the Nata Civilization. After the civilization disappeared, the Space Station’s main mission was to continue monitoring Blue Star and wait for an opportunity to pass on these achievements. Over the long period of 230 million years, Blue Star either had no civilization, or its civilization level did not meet the basic conditions for activating the Space Station.”

“But as far as I know, decades ago, humans had already landed on the moon. Why wait until now to look for a Commander?” Oriental Chen teased.

“Commander, this is because the Space Station does not monitor Blue Star in real-time. To ensure the Space Station operates longer and to minimize accidental damage, for the first two hundred million years, the Space Station activated only once every 500,000 years. After completing ground monitoring, it would re-enter a dormant state. It was not until 100,000 years ago, when intelligent life was detected on Blue Star, that the Space Station adjusted to activate once every 10,000 years, then reduced to once every 1,000 years. With the rise of human civilization and accelerated development, the Space Station adjusted to activate once every 100 years. During the last activation, human technological levels had not yet entered the information age and did not meet the most basic conditions for activating the Space Station,” Xiao Lin continued to explain.