24: Uninvited guests and track debris

The three-minute wait felt exceptionally long in the tense atmosphere.

Everyone at Forward Base Alpha was on high alert. The muzzles of the two machine gun bunkers were raised high, and the two newly arrived Rocket Troopers hovered in mid-air, their missile launchers firmly locked onto the approaching point of light. The remaining American Soldiers lay behind cover, their eyes fixed on the sky.

Operating remotely from the Command Center, Sun Zheng aimed the prism tank's turret toward the target. Various possibilities flashed through his mind: Was it a Scrin scout? A ship from an unknown alien civilization? Or... something human?

As the point of light drew closer, its silhouette gradually became clear—an irregular rectangular prism with a mottled surface covered in thick space dust. It had no obvious propulsion system or weapon ports, looking more like... a piece of out-of-control space junk?

"Lower the alert level, but remain vigilant. Rocket Troopers, move in to reconnoiter. Stay safe," Sun Zheng ordered. The other party didn't seem hostile.

The two Rocket Troopers cautiously approached the object, which had slowed down and was drifting toward the lunar surface. Close-up footage confirmed Sun Zheng's suspicion. It was indeed the wreckage of a man-made object, styled like early human spacecraft components from decades ago—possibly a defunct satellite or a rocket's upper stage.

"Reporting to Commander: no life signs detected, no energy signatures or weapon signals found. Determined to be non-threatening orbital debris."

A false alarm. Everyone at the base breathed a sigh of relief.

But Sun Zheng's brow furrowed. How could a common piece of space junk fly so precisely toward the newly activated light energy resonance array? Was it a coincidence? Or... was it attracted by the specific energy fluctuations emitted by the array?

"Engineer, check the wreckage. See if there's any salvage value, or... anything unusual," Sun Zheng instructed. He felt that this wasn't so simple.

The Engineer drove the multifunction infantry vehicle near the crash site. Most of the wreckage was buried in the lunar soil; the exposed part was rusty and riddled with craters from micrometeorite impacts. The Engineer used his tools for scanning and a preliminary inspection.

"Commander, the structure is fragile, and most systems are completely dead; there's no salvage value. However..." The Engineer's voice was tinged with confusion. "I've scanned an extremely weak, physically isolated backup power signal inside. It seems this power source is still supplying a... very small independent memory unit."

An independent memory unit? On a completely scrapped spacecraft, there was a memory unit that had been specifically protected?

"Try to extract it. Be careful not to damage it," Sun Zheng said, his interest piqued. This might not be a simple piece of junk.

The Engineer carefully used a laser to cut through the hull, avoiding the memory unit's location, and eventually pulled out a cigarette-box-sized metal container wrapped in special heat-insulating and radiation-proof material. On its surface was a blurred, nearly worn-away logo, faintly recognizable as the emblem of a long-disbanded Earth space agency.

"Bring the memory unit back to Forward Base Alpha and try to read the data. Ensure isolation to prevent any potential viruses or encryption locks," Sun Zheng ordered. He had a premonition that this unremarkable little box might hide unexpected information.

The memory unit was brought back to the makeshift lab at Forward Base Alpha and connected to an independent analysis terminal. After a series of complex decryptions and format conversions, a piece of data sealed for decades was finally retrieved.

It wasn't a flight log or scientific data, but a fragmented audio message in multiple mixed languages that sounded like it had been recorded in a rush, with intense explosions and alarms in the background:

"...This is... the 'deep space gate' project... Navigator codename 'Nightingale'... We are under attack... Not a meteorite... Repeat, not a meteorite..."

"...They appeared from the Jupiter shadow zone... too fast... our weapons... ineffective..."

"...Their target is... the 'key'... cannot let it fall into..."

"...I've backed up... the data here... hope those who follow... stay alert..."

"...They are here... For huma—"

The audio cut off abruptly there, drowned out by harsh static.

In the Command Center, there was dead silence.

Sun Zheng listened blankly to this desperate last message from decades ago, from the depths of the Solar System, as a chill ran down his spine.

The "deep space gate" project? Attacked? "They" came from Jupiter? The target is the "key"?

The content revealed by this message was even more shocking than the wreckage itself! It seemed to imply that as early as decades ago, humans had made contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, and the other party's target was something called the "key"!

Could this "key" be related to the "glimmer keystone"? What were those attackers? Did they have anything to do with the Scrin?

The Moon, Earth, the Solar System... they seemed to hide secrets deeper than they appeared on the surface.

Sun Zheng looked at the memory unit lying quietly on the analysis table on his screen, then at the warm keystone fragment in his homeworld space.

He had originally thought he was the only "Chosen One," but now it seemed he might just be one link in a massive mystery that had spanned decades, or perhaps even longer.