Chapter Ninety-Five: The Quarrel

Zhang Mingyang stared at Pollux before him, truly unable to imagine: if human beings ever encountered an alien civilization, what would they do?

“Oh, right, Professor—you still haven’t said why they’re all out in the square.”

Lin Guangming replied, “The leadership is in a meeting discussing it. They’re all in the square waiting for word.”

“In a meeting? About Pollux?”

Lin Guangming nodded. “As soon as this happened, the superiors asked our base to discuss it and come up with a plan to see whether the project needs to be changed.”

As he spoke, Lin Guangming’s communicator rang.

“Hello, who is this?”

“Mm, all right… all right… all right, I’ll send them over right away.”

After hanging up, Lin Guangming told Zhang Mingyang to take Peng Dongli and hurry to the large conference room on North Mountain. The leaders wanted a report on their mission.

“All right!”

Zhang Mingyang quickly called Peng Dongli and asked him to gather at the foot of North Mountain.

“Professor, I’m going now. We can talk when I get back.”

“Very well.”

Leaving the dormitory, Zhang Mingyang hurried toward North Mountain. Along the way, people kept pointing and whispering at him, but he kept his face turned away and tried his best not to tangle with them.

When he reached the foot of North Mountain, he saw that his senior brother had already arrived.

“Senior brother, hurry up. The leaders are waiting for us in the conference room above.”

“Wait a second.”

Peng Dongli caught him by the arm. “What’s going on? Why are they holding a meeting so late at night?”

Zhang Mingyang repeated what the professor had said.

“What?”

Peng Dongli wore a look of alarm. “So what you saw on the moon last time was real!”

Zhang Mingyang nodded. “I had a feeling Pollux’s brightness was off then. I never expected there really to be a problem.”

Peng Dongli stroked his chin in thought. “Junior brother, this might be an opportunity.”

“What opportunity? Why does everyone think this is an opportunity?”

“No, no, no.” Peng Dongli explained, “Junior brother, your professor is right. If we handle this well, humanity may enter the galactic era centuries ahead of schedule.”

“I think you’ve all lost your minds.”

“Enough talk. Let’s go up.” The two of them took the elevator to the summit.

As soon as they stepped out, a soldier with the rank of lieutenant colonel stopped them. He asked very seriously, “Are you Peng Dongli and Zhang Mingyang?”

The two nodded.

“Come with me.”

The lieutenant colonel led them along the corridor toward the conference room. On both sides stood soldiers in uniform; the lowest rank among them was major, and the highest was the major general standing outside the conference room door.

When they reached the door, the lieutenant colonel saluted the major general. “Minister, they’re here.”

The lieutenant colonel left. The major general looked at them expressionlessly, making Zhang Mingyang extremely nervous. “When you go in, walk along the wall. There are two empty seats there.”

The two of them nodded woodenly.

The major general opened the door, and they went inside.

The moment they entered, the clamor of voices and the sound of arguing struck their ears. Looking around the conference room, they saw that the oval table was packed with people. They found two empty seats along the wall and sat down.

“You two came as well?”

Zhang Mingyang turned and saw it was Tian Wenyuan.

In a low voice, Zhang Mingyang asked, “Senior Tian, you’re here too?”

Tian Wenyuan replied, “Our minister pulled me over. He said I was to report on the situation at the electronics institute. So what are you two here for?”

Peng Dongli slapped Tian Wenyuan on the head. “Just because you can come doesn’t mean we can’t. We were summoned to report on the lunar base too.”

“Oh!”

Seeing the crowd on both sides arguing fiercely, Zhang Mingyang asked Tian Wenyuan, “Senior Tian, what’s going on? Why are they arguing?”

“Shh. Keep your voice down.”

Tian Wenyuan explained, “See the old man in the very center on the right?”

Zhang Mingyang leaned to look. “Yes. Director Wang from our base is beside him.”

Tian Wenyuan looked at the old man and said, “That’s the minister of the Space Ministry. Everyone around him is from the Space Ministry.”

“What about the people on the left?”

“The ones on the left are even more interesting. They’re from the Ministry of Science and Technology. The old lady leading the group in the center is their minister, and the people beside her are all from that ministry too.”

“The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Space Ministry? Then why are there soldiers outside the door?”

Tian Wenyuan glanced toward the entrance. “To keep them from fighting.”

“Fighting? Why?”

“What else could it be?” Tian Wenyuan pointed up at the ceiling.

Zhang Mingyang looked at the ceiling and thought for a moment. “Senior brother, you mean because of Pollux?”

“That’s right.”

Tian Wenyuan asked, “Do you know about the mutation in Pollux?”

Zhang Mingyang nodded. “As soon as I got back, the professor told me.”

“That’s good. Saves me the trouble of explaining. Put simply, the people from the Space Ministry want to put the ‘Energy One’ project on hold for now and see what movements there are behind that mysterious triangle before deciding what to do.”

“Whereas the Ministry of Science and Technology thinks construction of ‘Energy One’ should be accelerated, and that we should seize the information about the mysterious triangle at the earliest possible moment—最好 to bring something back.”

“Just over that issue, those two sides have been arguing all day.”

Listening to Tian Wenyuan’s explanation, Zhang Mingyang remembered what the professor had said. Could the professor also be from the Ministry of Science and Technology?

Hearing Old Tian’s words, Peng Dongli asked, “If they’re the ones arguing, why did they call us here?”

“How should I know?”

“Senior brother, don’t interrupt yet.” Zhang Mingyang cut Peng Dongli off. “Senior Tian, do you think our project should still continue?”

Tian Wenyuan replied, “What I think isn’t important. The power to decide is in their hands.”

“Damn it!”

Peng Dongli’s outburst nearly startled everyone in the room.

“Old Peng, keep your voice down!”

Tian Wenyuan glared at him through clenched teeth, wishing he could sew his mouth shut.

“Our company’s big boss is here too.”

“Who?”

Peng Dongli pointed to the man beside Wang Bowen. “That’s the chairman of our Northern Group, Nie Zihao.”

Zhang Mingyang looked in the direction his senior brother had indicated. There sat a middle-aged man in black-rimmed glasses, his face drawn with worry and his frame thin and lean.

“Senior brother, that’s your company’s chairman?”

Peng Dongli nodded in surprise. “No, that’s not right. Why would he be here?”

Tian Wenyuan said, “Isn’t your company the major builder for the ‘Energy One’ project? Of course he’d be here in a situation like this.”

“I’m not talking about that. You don’t know our boss never holds any meetings and never attends any talks.”

“My word, there’s such a thing?” Tian Wenyuan did not believe it. If a company’s boss never held meetings or attended negotiations, how could he manage the company?

Peng Dongli replied, “That’s exactly what makes our boss so formidable. As long as there’s a technical disagreement or a difference of opinion about the company’s direction, he only has to make a phone call and every problem gets solved—and every time, he proves he was right.”

“That incredible?”

Zhang Mingyang looked astonished at the middle-aged man in the chair, never having imagined he could be so formidable.