Chapter Sixty: The Spaceship "Energy"

“Come with me.”

Peng Dongli led Zhang Mingyang through a labyrinth of twists and turns until they stopped in front of a massive rectangular machine.

“Engineer Wan.”

A white-haired old man, called out by Peng Dongli, turned around.

“Ah, Xiao Peng?”

The old man hurried over, grasping Peng Dongli’s hand warmly.

“Engineer Wan, let me introduce someone.” Peng Dongli pulled Zhang Mingyang forward. “This is Zhang Mingyang, the energy engineer of our base.”

“Hello.”

Engineer Wan looked at the young man before him, surprise evident in his eyes. “Engineer Zhang, you can’t be more than twenty-five, can you?”

Zhang Mingyang smiled. “Engineer Wan, I just turned twenty this year.”

“Twenty?” Engineer Wan stared at him in disbelief. “To be an energy engineer at such a young age—your future is limitless. The country will truly depend on your generation.”

Embarrassed by the praise, Zhang Mingyang scratched his head. “You flatter me, Engineer Wan. We’re still young and have much to learn from you veterans. The wealth of your experience will sustain us juniors for a lifetime.”

Engineer Wan laughed heartily at Zhang Mingyang’s modesty. “We’re getting old, half in the grave already. The future belongs to you.”

Seeing the two men lost in mutual admiration, Peng Dongli decided to interject.

“Engineer Wan, let’s set that aside for now. Could you show us the materials first?”

“Of course, of course.” Engineer Wan led them to the rectangular machine, pointing as he explained, “Xiao Peng, this is our shell plate rolling machine. All the metal goes in here to be forged and shaped. This machine is like a mold from ancient times, except this one can change its form.”

“Our spaceship uses a modular design, assembled in segments. Once the data for each module is entered into the computer, the rolling machine adjusts itself accordingly. In just two days, we can complete a 25 by 25 shell segment.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the rolling machine completed a module. The machine split open horizontally, and the overhead crane lifted the upper half, revealing a finished module.

“Look, there’s the completed module. Once finished, the overhead crane transports it directly to Mornan No. 2 for assembly.”

Peng Dongli asked, “Engineer Wan, how’s the quality of construction?”

Engineer Wan brought them to a nearby computer and pointed to the data on the monitor. “Rest assured, during construction, the computer automatically inspects the modules being made. If there’s any quality or forging problem, the whole machine halts immediately and alerts our staff.”

Peng Dongli took out his own laptop and compared the spaceship’s shell design data with what was shown on the monitor. There were no discrepancies—if anything, the construction quality exceeded design specifications by ten percent.

“Excellent!” Peng Dongli couldn’t help praising, “Engineer Wan, how many such machines do we have at Mornan Base?”

“Five in total,” Engineer Wan replied. “But that’s not enough. The manufacturer, the Second Machinery Department, is rushing to build more rolling machines.”

Peng Dongli considered the situation. Five machines were indeed insufficient. The spaceship required 2,425 modules, and at the current pace, construction would lag far behind the delivery deadline.

“Engineer Wan, I’ll contact the base and see if we can get more manufacturers to collaborate on building these rolling machines. We must meet our delivery timeline.”

“That would be wonderful.”

Engineer Wan grasped Peng Dongli’s hand, his tone earnest. “This may be the last major national project I participate in during my lifetime. I can’t let my country down.”

Peng Dongli patted his hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry, Engineer Wan, there are still many key national projects waiting for your expertise!”

With that, Peng Dongli asked Engineer Wan to take them to the assembly factory.

The three of them arrived at the east gate, which connected to the Mornan No. 2 workshop. They walked along the corridor toward Workshop No. 1.

After covering nearly five hundred meters, they finally reached Workshop No. 2.

As soon as they entered, Engineer Wan gestured at the vast hall. “The layout here is entirely different from Workshop No. 1. At the center of Workshop No. 2 stands a ten-meter-high platform—the assembly site for the spaceship. Surrounding the platform are areas for module assembly. The modules built in Workshop No. 1 are stacked in order around the platform. Technicians then install equipment in each module. Once a module’s equipment is fully assembled, it’s hoisted by the overhead crane onto the platform for integration into the spaceship.”

The sheer scale of the factory left Zhang Mingyang in awe. Workshop No. 2 was nearly a hundred meters wider and fifty meters taller than Workshop No. 1. Based on its dimensions, the spaceship must be over eight hundred meters long, about eighty meters tall, and around two hundred meters wide. Such a massive vessel would weigh no less than two hundred thousand tons. No wonder they needed to use dark matter as the engine—if they relied on conventional nuclear power, who knew when they’d reach Beta Orionis.

Listening to Zhang Mingyang’s analysis, Engineer Wan nodded in satisfaction and added, “Your estimates are close. But despite its size, the spaceship can carry only thirty people.”

“Why?” Zhang Mingyang was baffled. How could such a huge vessel carry just thirty?

Engineer Wan explained, “The size of a spaceship isn’t just about how many crew it holds, but its level of technological advancement. This ship uses our nation’s most advanced electronic control systems—eighty percent of its equipment is operated by computer, greatly reducing crew requirements.”

“But because the ship’s power source is antimatter, and our knowledge of antimatter engines is virtually non-existent, we could only refer to the ‘Oceanic’ model for engine design. Yet this ship, the ‘Energy,’ is nearly ten times larger than the ‘Oceanic’—which meant the engine had to be scaled up accordingly. With our current limitations, we could only make the engine occupy sixty percent of the spaceship’s volume and eighty percent of its area.”

At this point, Engineer Wan’s voice grew somber. “If only Wang Huairen were here. He would surely design the perfect spaceship.”

Moved by his words, Zhang Mingyang asked, “Engineer Wan, is this spaceship called the ‘Energy’?”