Age of Cosmic Exploration

"The shuttle in front has to move faster! This batch of building supplies has to reach the 11th building of Area B or none of us are getting off work today!"

Zhang San frowned while listening to the voice drifting through his spacesuit. It was a man’s voice filled with desperation and urgency. In reality, everyone was rushing, but the speed of the hovercraft was only so fast. Even though the lane was already divided into top, middle, and bottom, for the workers on the Light Moon, the traffic was still incredibly crowded.

It had been 3 months since the Hope landed on the Light Moon. In these 3 months, with a speed that surprised even humanity itself, a large, super-modern industrial base was constructed on the moon. It combined the function of a smelting, manufacturing, and production factory. It had taken over those responsibilities from the Hope. This base on the Light Moon could process up to 5,000,000 tons of materials, 200 hovercrafts, 600,000 tons of building materials, and120 Space Combat Jets daily. On top of that, it could churn out 100 battleship ships every five days, a guardian ship every 20 days, and a mothership every 60 days.

At the same time, a residential area had started being built next to the industrial base. The place would be able to support 500,000 people with schools, parks, and recreations. It would be called the City of the Light Moon, but the project was huge. The projected time of completion for the main parts of the city was 3 years, and 5 years for full completion. Of course, the amount of supplies needed for it would be gigantic as well.

"So far, the the Light Moon industrial base has built 8,000 plus hovercrafts, 1,000 plus transport shuttles, 1,700 plus tons of building materials, 10 battleships, 2 guardian spaceships, and they’ll need another 20 days to finish building a mothership of the same level as the Hope. After that will be the expansion project of the residential area..."

In the captain’s room, Barbie explained to Yao Yuan the plans in place for humanity for the next three months. Yao Yuan smiled and said, "Thank you, Barbie, for your hard work... by the way, your request for in-vitro pregnancy has been rejected. You have to understand that single mothers are unable to get that according to the law, as it is not good for the child’s growth. But why would you want that procedure? I hear you have many pursuers. One of them is a representative from the House of Representatives. I’ve looked through his files, he’s handsome, rich, and kind. Apparently, he has been pursuing you for eight years already. You still don’t planned to get married?"

Barbie in her professional suit, a nude silk stocking, and a pair of black high heels was a real beauty. Her face was still the picture of youth, she had kept a constant check on her weight, and with her identity as the personal secretary to the Hope’s captain, she was undeniably a diamond-class beauty. The man who pursued her could really fill up three streets, but for some reason, even though they had left Earth for 20 years, she had remained single. It wasn’t until she submitted a request for in-vitro pregnancy recently that Yao Yuan realized that she wanted a child. However, that request was promptly rejected.

Barbie pouted but didn’t explain herself. She cleared the document and stood to the side, waiting for the next order from Yao Yuan. Her heart itched with annoyance.

Actually, Barbie herself couldn’t explain what she was feeling. The longer she stayed beside Yao Yuan, the stronger the sense of reliance she had on him. Fine, perhaps it was not as unexplainable as she thought. However, since there was such a wonderful man beside her, Barbie felt like her standard had gotten much higher as well. She saw herself as a modern woman, one who could survive just fine without the company of a man. Since she couldn’t find anyone that could win her over, then she would just live her life on her own. It was a recently that she felt like she wanted a child. The fact that it was rejected by her boss, which in a way was the cause for the state she was in, made her burn with annoyance.

Yao Yuan didn’t continue this topic but stood up to stand beside the window. Looking at the silvery base and the rows of hovercrafts that crowded the streets, the sense of busy activity gave him joy.

Humanity had survived for about 2 decades in space. They had been through a lot and had sacrificed a lot. The emotions, sadness, joy, and relief that accompanied them throughout these years were something that couldn’t be put into words. However, finally, they had found solace. Humankind had finally found a place where they could flap their wings and fly. Its great potential as a level 2 space civilization could finally be unleashed.

"Such greatness, this is the vibrancy of human life! We might seem weak now, but give us some time and in another 20 years, humanity will finally walk the cosmos with ease and ignore all the civilizations under level 3!"

Yao Yuan’s tone was level, but Barbie could see his whole body shaking when he said that. She heard the pride, honor, and melancholy mixed within the words. Indeed, humanity had sacrificed a lot before it could reach this step. Humanity had given up too much for the sake of survival... but this view before him, it confirmed for him that all the sacrifices... had been worth it!

If everyone who had laid their lives down for humanity had something akin to a soul, they would say proudly that their sacrifices had been worth it... because it was necessary for the continuation of humanity!

Yao Yuan stood beside the window for a long time before he retracted his gaze. Barbie saw the glisten in his eyes, but when she checked next, it was already gone. After a long time, Yao Yuan asked, "It seems like there is another pregnancy fever within these three months."

Barbie quickly pulled out a document and said, "Yes, from the report given by the statistics department, the pregnancy fever this time is even more pronounced than the one on the new planet. Until today, the number of pregnant mothers who came to the hospital to register is around 43,000. It is almost twice the number of pregnancies this time last year. The health department has sent over the updated benefits list for the expectant mothers. Due to the great amount of new mothers, the people from health department hope that they can have more members in the baby and toddlers education sector and wish that the government can improve the benefits offered to expectant mothers..."

Yao Yuan nodded and mumbled, "It is time to improve the benefits for pregnant mothers. It is another story if we’re in space and trying to survive, but now that we’re in the New Solar System, we have enough to do more... Leave the document behind, I’ll read it over and think about it. Also, print another few more copies and send them to the related departments. I want them to write a report and proposal about this, make sure this is more than just a publicity move, we have to really take care of these pregnant mothers. About the supplies... Have they finished the construction for Area A on the City of the Light Moon?"

Barbie flipped through the stack of documents and pulled out another. "Yes, the construction of Area A will be finished in another 6 days. After all, the place will be delineated into blocks to fit 100,000 people..."

Yao Yuan waved his hands and said, "Why do we need so many residential areas? The Hope is still hospitable, right? Furthermore, moving will exhaust plenty of resources. How about this, clear out 10,000 houses for the workers working on the base and the remaining resources can be used in further expansion... But we will have to change the direction, starting with public goods. I hear that the prices of pork, mutton, and beef have started to rise and that the prices of related luxury items and necessities have followed suit. The price hike is especially obvious for rice, sugar, and salt, right?"

Barbie searched through the stack once more and continued as she pulled another document out, "This is something I wanted to report. Due to the wildfire expansion we’re having, the Hope’s resources started to deplete at a rapid rate. According to the report handed over by the public consumption department, if this is allowed to continue, we will reach the yellow emergency line in the next month, and within 6 months, the Hope will experience an unmitigated famine...

"Related is this report from the Hope’s central bank. The current purchasing power of H-coins is too high, so much so that we do not have enough resources to support it anymore. If this is allowed to continue, we might reach a stage where the citizens have too much money but nothing to buy. When that happens, the public’s trust in the human government will be greatly affected. Regarding that, the central bank proposed that we adjust the value of H-coins. In the next 3 to 6 months, we can lower the value of H-coins to combat the rising purchasing power."

Yao Yuan started thinking. Barbie was right, these two reports were related. Due to the expansion, there was an explosion of job vacancies, and the salaries of certain jobs had become proportional to the jobs’ scope. For example, a street clearer had a salary that was only slightly higher than government stipend, but driving the transport shuttle to and from the City of the Light Moon paid much greater than that. Therefore, there was an influx of H-coins in the market. To combat that situation, Yao Yuan had to increase the market supply of resources. Thankfully, it was still in a manageable situation. However, as the price of the items continued to increase, it was already devaluing the H-coins.

"We cannot devalue the H-coins!" Yao Yuan confirmed. "Go inform the people from the supply center to come up with a price survey and set the highest price for each market item. The price cannot go higher than that and continue to supply the market. H-coins are greatly related to the strength of the human economy and government, so at least at this crucial moment, we cannot allow it to weaken... Like I said before, use the space saved at Area A and cultivate all of them into bio-plantations and farms. I want to see a new batch of market produce in 3 months!"