Genius Club

“AH!”

Yellow Finch had just stepped out of the passenger cabin into the equipment compartment when Chu An Qing, who had been hiding behind the door, jumped like a startled rabbit.

“….”

“….”

The two women locked eyes, Yellow Finch turned away, striding purposefully towards the cockpit through the equipment compartment.

Phew…

Chu An Qing, caught eavesdropping, sighed in relief. She lifted her mask and cautiously stepped into the passenger cabin, looking at Lin Xian, who had just had a tense exchange with Yellow Finch.

“Lin Xian… Senior Lin Xian, please don’t argue…” She spoke softly, walking over to Lin Xian and taking his hand. “I know the situation is dangerous, and everyone is really tense. I might not understand everything… but I trust Coach Wei Cheng and Sister Yellow Finch to make the right decisions. They are professional astronauts and have more experience in space than we do.”

“Coach Wei Cheng also mentioned that during their training, they simulated manual piloting. Even though we’ve lost guidance, navigation, and communication from the ground center, all the systems on the spacecraft are still working fine—like the gyroscope, altimeter, and direction indicator. Coach Wei Cheng believes he can complete the piloting task.”

“Senior Lin Xian, let’s trust Coach Wei Cheng and Sister Yellow Finch. Even without ground communication, as long as Liu Feng can track the time-space particle and Senior Gao Yang can operate the robotic arm, we won’t miss capturing the particle.”

“Although I don’t know how I can help, I’ll do my best! I’ll definitely help everyone, help you and Liu Feng capture that time-space particle!”

Lin Xian looked down at Chu An Qing, who forced a smile. She had seen it clearly… When the explosions sounded and the smell of burnt wires filled the air, Chu An Qing had turned pale with fear. A 19-year-old girl, in space. How could she have such composure and resilience? Her smile now was just a facade, lacking the usual crescent-shaped eyes, the dimples, and the heartwarming, spring-like feeling.

“Don’t worry.” Lin Xian smiled. “We weren’t arguing, just having a bit of a heated discussion. It’s nothing serious.”

Chu An Qing looked at Lin Xian and nodded silently. She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop… she had just noticed the two missing from the equipment compartment and heard some arguing, so she thought to intervene. But after listening for a bit, she realized both were calm, so she stayed outside.

“Hehe, as long as it’s okay.” Chu An Qing giggled. “As long as it’s okay…”

….

On the ground, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center’s main control room, chaos reigned. People were running around, papers scattered everywhere, alarm lights flashing, and voices shouting from all channels:

“Still no contact? Is there any signal from the relay satellite? BeiDou! Capture the spacecraft signal from the BeiDou satellite!”

“Calling! Calling! Pilot Wei Cheng! Chief Yellow Finch! Please respond if you hear this!”

“No use… completely disconnected. It’s like they’ve disappeared. None of the methods are working.”

“It’s not just the contact. We can’t get even the basic signal, feedback, or response! It’s too strange… The spacecraft has multiple communication systems, even the backup ones. How could all of them fail?”

“Yes, and all communication channels failing at the same time is impossible. Even if something went wrong, we should be able to contact the debris with the equipment… all systems failing is too strange!”

The ground commander wiped the sweat off his forehead. This situation had never occurred in the history of the space program. All backup plans had been tried but none succeeded. From the signals sent by the observation satellites, the spacecraft seemed to be navigating normally, without any malfunctions, explosions, or collisions. So there was only one possibility left—The spacecraft had chosen to cut off all signal networks and communication channels.

But this didn’t make sense either. Because the highest control over the spacecraft’s communication channels was on the ground. Even if the spacecraft closed them, the ground control could reopen them. Strange. Too strange!

“Report! An anomaly has been detected in outer space orbit!”

Suddenly, another anxious report came.

A staff member approached the chief commander. “Sir, based on our observations, over 20,000 Starlink satellites are simultaneously decelerating and lowering their orbital altitude rapidly!”

“What!?”

The commander widened his eyes, thinking he misheard.

“Over 20,000!? All the Starlink satellites? They’re all malfunctioning?”

“No, it doesn’t seem like a malfunction.” The reporting technician shook his head nervously. “If it were a malfunction, they couldn’t all decelerate uniformly. Their trajectory seems targeted… targeted over the Atlantic Ocean!”

The Atlantic Ocean. International waters. The chief commander was puzzled. What was the purpose? A mass failure of Starlink satellites? Could this have anything to do with the low orbit mission simulation of this spacecraft?

He didn’t know. The mission was highly classified. He only knew it involved simulating low-orbit satellite interception, but the specifics… were beyond his clearance. The higher-ups had only instructed them to fully cooperate with Yellow Finch.

“Report! SpaceX, the company behind the Starlink satellites, has issued an official statement! They claim all 22,467 satellites in Earth orbit have been hacked! They have completely lost control and are urging countries to adjust spacecraft trajectories to avoid collisions!”

The chief commander’s eyebrow twitched. He rushed over to look at the statement from SpaceX, founded by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. He read it carefully. Indeed… The Starlink satellite system had been hacked, and control was completely lost and locked. Even SpaceX was helpless!

“Kevin Walker…” The chief commander gritted his teeth, staring at the name at the bottom of the statement.

SpaceX emphasized their company has identified the culprit behind the hijacking of 22,467 Starlink satellites as the genius hacker known as Kevin Walker!

Bang!

The chief commander slammed his fist on the table.

“That kid again! Is Elon Musk’s satellite system any good? Constantly being hacked! If it can’t be controlled, it shouldn’t be up there causing trouble!” Previously, these satellites frequently posed collision risks to weather satellites and space stations. Various countries, including X Country, often had to activate space station propulsion systems to avoid collisions, wasting fuel. Except for the US, almost every country criticized Elon Musk’s Starlink project, deeming it more of a nuisance than an advanced technology, occupying a lot of near-Earth orbit, essentially becoming space junk!

“The Atlantic Ocean…”

The chief commander looked up at the trajectory prediction map on the wall screen. When contact was lost, the spacecraft was 240 kilometers high, passing over the US East Coast. Beyond the East Coast lay the Atlantic Ocean!

“We must find a way to notify the spacecraft and Yellow Finch to abort the mission!”

“We’ve tried! Still no response!”

“What about Elon Musk? Can’t they regain control of their satellites? They’re their satellites! How can they not control their own satellites?” the chief commander shouted.

“No, SpaceX has said it’s impossible.” The reporting personnel were drenched in sweat. “And… and at the same time as the SpaceX statement, the US government issued a global warrant! For Kevin Walker! The highest-level warrant, dead or alive, even incomplete… with a reward of 1 billion dollars!”

“Report, international organizations have also issued statements! Condemning Kevin Walker’s hacking and declaring his actions as crimes against humanity, issuing a warrant for him too!”

“Damn!” The chief commander scratched his head in frustration. “Warrants! Warrants! It’s too late for warrants! If they could catch Kevin Walker, someone would’ve done it already! Many countries have issued warrants for him!”

“The important thing is how can we contact Yellow Finch and the others to avoid risk! Now… with all communication systems and network signals down, the spacecraft’s radar and detection equipment must also be down! Unless the satellites fall on them, the spacecraft is like a blind person, seeing nothing, hearing nothing! By the time they get hit, it’ll be too late!”

“Quick! Think of another way!”

….

USA, Texas, SpaceX Launch Facility. Observation Tower.

The secretary adjusted her slipping red-rimmed glasses, pocketing the phone Elon Musk handed her, and asked curiously, “What did you just do?”

“Virus.” Elon Musk said calmly. “I planted a virus targeting super artificial intelligence into the global internet. This virus is highly advanced, beyond our understanding… to be honest, I don’t fully understand it, but I trust its effect.”

The secretary blinked. “You… want to destroy all artificial intelligence?”

“Only super artificial intelligence.” Elon Musk emphasized. “As you said earlier, current artificial intelligence is essentially just big data, puzzle-solving, and searching. Fundamentally, it’s not much different from previous smart home systems. It’s just that technology has advanced, computing power has increased, leading to qualitative changes.”

“But… super artificial intelligence is different. It’s troublesome and hard to control. In our modern cities, the presence of a super AI is concerning. So, this virus only targets super AI. For the next few hundred years, it will remain undetected, won’t disappear, and can’t be removed. It will lie dormant in the cyber world… hunting any super AI that exceeds the baseline test.”

“I don’t reject simple, thoughtless, obedient AI that improves people’s lives, but super AI… no thanks, it’s too disruptive.”

He smiled slightly, raising his hands, puffing out his chest, gazing at the grand and majestic rocket launch center.

“From today onward, for hundreds of years, there will be no super AI in the world! This virus has locked that possibility!”

“Wonderful, hahaha, wonderful.” Elon Musk smacked his lips, shaking his head. “As I said earlier… I don’t like AI.”

….

The secretary listened with her mouth half open to her boss’s bizarre speech. But she was used to it. If this tall, strong man before her wasn’t the world’s richest person, he’d likely be deemed a madman, a liar, or a lunatic and thrown into a hospital for treatment. Elon Musk leaned back against the observation tower’s iron railing, pressing his weight on it, staring at the rocket restrained in the launch tower.

“Now, go find Director Mike.”

“Mike?” The secretary looked up, her red-rimmed glasses slipping again. Director Mike was the highest manager of the entire launch center, responsible for rocket launches and satellite missions.

“What should I tell him?” she asked.

Elon Musk pointed to the rocket in the launch tower, ready to launch.

“Tell Mike to launch the rocket!”

“What?” The secretary’s glasses slipped further. “But… this rocket is scheduled for testing in two weeks! We haven’t even started preparations!”

“Just add fuel, and it can fly. Rockets aren’t that complicated.”

“But!” The secretary finally pushed up her glasses. “But! The rocket is empty! What are we launching? Where are we sending it? You can’t be so impulsive!”

Elon Musk shook his head. “You just need to tell Director Mike. He knows where to launch it. A few days ago, I already explained everything to him from this tower.”

With that, he looked up at the blazing sun and then towards the east… The distant US East Coast.

“Trapped, with no escape, no help from the sky. Lin Xian…”

He chuckled, squinting his eyes. “See you in the sky!”

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