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#602 - Chapter 39 Space Travel

In the year 2011, deep in the vast expanse of space, a uniquely shaped shuttle, its color a muted gray, was steadily approaching the far side of the moon. This shuttle moved like a ghost in the cosmos, silently traversing the endless darkness, its presence barely causing a ripple.

For a long time, many people have held a deeply rooted misconception about the moon, believing that its far side is forever shrouded in darkness. However, this is not the case. In reality, due to tidal locking, only one side of the moon always faces Earth; this side is called the near side, while the side difficult to observe directly with the naked eye is defined as the far side. It's important to clarify that the moon has its own rotation, and the far side actually receives slightly more sunlight than the near side, specifically about 16 minutes more.

Just as Earth has its South and North Poles, the moon also has corresponding regions located at its southernmost and northernmost points. The moon's axis of rotation intersects the lunar surface at two specific points, one of which is the lunar North Pole, situated at the northern end of the moon; the other is the lunar South Pole, firmly located at the southern end. Notably, the terrain in the moon's South and North Pole regions is incredibly complex. The South Pole region is characterized by numerous low-lying impact crater bottoms, resembling giant 'scars' on the lunar surface; in stark contrast, the North Pole region features towering, precipitous peaks. The complexity of this terrain is unimaginable, with undulating mountains and crisscrossing ravines forming a unique and mysterious landscape.

At this moment, the space shuttle was gradually approaching a massive crater on the far side of the moon. This place, located in the South Pole region, is named the Aitken Basin by Earth scientists. As the distance between the shuttle and its destination continued to shorten, a remarkably conspicuous metallic structure could be clearly seen on this barren land. From a distance, it appeared to be a crashed spaceship. The ship's hull was covered in mottled marks, as if it had endured countless violent impacts.

Its four plasma thrusters emitted a ghostly blue flame to slow the shuttle's descent. Finally, after some tense maneuvering, the shuttle successfully began to land slowly.

Once the shuttle had come to a steady stop near the wreckage of the spaceship, the hatch slowly opened. First to appear was a cylindrical robot, which awkwardly moved towards the doorway. However, before it could fully step out of the hatch, a foot suddenly kicked it, sending it flying far away. Immediately after, an astronaut wearing a silver spacesuit strode out of the shuttle. At the same time, an impatient voice came through the communicator: 'Get out of the way, don't block the path!' With that, the astronaut unhesitatingly walked down the spiral staircase and onto the lunar surface. Because the moon's gravity is only one-sixth of Earth's, each step he took seemed somewhat weightless.

This person was Liu Yuan. Before this, he had never personally ventured into space. To achieve this space journey, he had acquired a small shuttle from the Decepticons.

Don't underestimate the Transformers' shuttle. Although it is small, its speed is not slow. Its maximum speed can reach 0.5% of the speed of light, making it one of the main means for Transformers to conduct solo interstellar travel. By the way, Optimus Prime and the others came to Earth using this type of shuttle.

However, a great deal of work was needed to make it a reliable tool capable of carrying him through space. Liu Yuan spent more than a year comprehensively modifying it.

As everyone knows, the universe is filled with dangerous and unknown special environments. It is in a state of high vacuum with extremely low pressure, making it impossible for the human body to breathe freely and smoothly as it does on Earth, and making it difficult to maintain normal blood circulation and metabolism. Being in such an extreme low-pressure environment can cause a series of extremely serious consequences, such as bodily fluids boiling, which can be life-threatening. Moreover, the temperature in space is constantly changing, sometimes reaching thousands of degrees, and sometimes plummeting to absolute zero. At the same time, there are numerous cosmic radiation rays that are fatal even to mechanical life forms like Transformers.

Liu Yuan had done a simple test and found that although his body had not completely left the realm of humans, it had a certain degree of ability to be directly exposed to space. However, even so, to survive in space, he still needed to continuously consume a large amount of mana. Moreover, considering that he would be traveling to distant Saturn in the future, Liu Yuan knew that his current conditions were far from sufficient.

Therefore, he was determined to deeply modify the Decepticon shuttle to better adapt to the space environment, adding many devices, such as air circulation systems and temperature control systems, all of which he 'borrowed' from NASA. After a careful modification, this brand-new shuttle was finally completed, and Liu Yuan did not hesitate to start this lunar journey.

Just as Liu Yuan's figure stepped out of the hatch, a tall, blonde woman appeared behind him. She was not wearing any protective gear; she was the female Decepticon, Alice. Now, she had become Liu Yuan's full-time secretary and one of the pilots of this shuttle.

Liu Yuan walked step by step towards the metal structure in front of him. When he took a closer look, he found that its outer shell was covered with Cybertronian symbols. He muttered to himself, 'The Ark? This is the Autobots' interstellar spaceship.'

At this moment, Frenzy, still in its R2-D2 form, rushed over and said loudly, 'Master, please wait a moment! Let me check the database...' It extended a display screen, on which symbols flickered faintly: 'This spaceship is a Starlight-class standard multi-functional exploration ship that was finalized during the Golden Age of Cybertron, nine million Earth years ago. After comparison, it belongs to the Autobot faction, number ##*—ξ3074. After the all-out war, it was modified as one of the Autobot command ships, named the Ark. According to the database, the Ark was destroyed by Starscream's Outer Rim Legion one hundred thousand Earth years ago, and there has been no news of it since.'

Frenzy was recounting the origin of the Ark when the instrument it was carrying suddenly emitted a strong signal fluctuation: 'Master, the detector shows that there is a weak spark reaction inside the ship.'

'Open the door!' Liu Yuan knew that it was referring to Sentinel Prime, the double agent who colluded with Megatron.