novelnext Chapter 2: Intelligence
Chapter 2: Intelligence
chapter 2: intelligence
at that moment, jack sun finally understood. the "doors" on the ceiling and floor, and the metallic walls—none of it was what it seemed.
they weren’t doors at all—they were hatches of a space station. he realized with a jolt that he’d been walking sideways along the walls the entire time since waking up!
reeling from the revelation, jack pressed his face against the glass to get a better look. although the planet’s surface appeared gray, he could tell unmistakably that it was earth.
however, it looked different—completely encased in a gray shroud of metallic debris, as if the once-blue planet were wrapped in a blanket of dust.
the gray “veil” was composed of satellites—an endless swarm of satellite debris enveloping the planet. some of the larger pieces were so massive that jack could make out their shapes with his naked eye.
“what the hell? how are there so many satellites? what year is this?” jack muttered to himself, bewildered. he was certain that the technology of his time could never have accomplished this, not even with the five missing years of progress he couldn’t recall.
jack tore his gaze away from earth and turned to his left. what he saw froze him in place. a silver-gray planetary ring encircled the earth like a belt, but the moon was nowhere to be seen.
the ring was made up of rocks, as well as wreckage from spacecraft and space stations. jack realized with a chill that he was currently inside this ring, aboard one of the massive, semi-derelict space stations floating amidst the debris.
finally, jack solved the first mystery that had plagued him since waking up: his location. he was in a large space station, wrapped within the remnants of the moon, which had become a planetary ring.
but with this revelation came another urgent question: how was he supposed to get back to earth?
returning from a space station—especially one that appeared half-ruined—was a challenge far beyond his ability. yet, cruel reality soon rendered that problem moot.
the vibrations running through the station grew stronger, and the screen behind him began flickering erratically, even radiating heat to the touch. jack realized with a sinking heart that pressing that red button might have disrupted the long-standing equilibrium of the station’s delicate systems.
as he stood there, wide-eyed, he noticed the terrifying changes occurring outside the glass. the station beneath him, which had been spinning like a top, was now slowly pulling away from the planetary ring, tilting toward earth’s atmosphere.
a chill ran down jack’s spine, spreading all the way to his head. “what the hell?! it’s falling? straight back to earth?! i want to go back, but not like this!”
“do something! i have to do something!” jack shouted to himself as cold sweat dripped down his forehead. he darted toward the flickering screen, but no matter what he tried, it didn’t respond.
“hello, sun jack. ‘are you kidding me?! why is this so complicated?’ is ready to serve you,” the robot's monitor displayed two cheerful eye icons.
“do you know where we are? this place is about to collapse! do you know where an escape pod or ship is?” sun jack asked urgently.
to his surprise, the robot actually responded. “user level one red crisis detected. automatic alert, full recording activated. initiating emergency rescue... ding satellite positioning unavailable, network connection failed, insufficient data, rescue impossible.”
at that moment, a terrifying metallic screeching came from outside, as if the entire space station were being torn apart. the fear of death made sun jack's body tremble involuntarily.
just as he was about to give up on this utterly useless robot and look for another solution, the robot suddenly made a new sound.
“connecting to unknown subnet 12.128.c1... data collection complete. rescue planning failed. error reason: insufficient logical thinking capability, unable to process subnet data logic. user authorization for root permissions required. upon approval, ai logic system iteration will commence based on subnet data. prediction: rescue probability will increase by 32.3%.”
“approve! approve!” although sun jack didn’t fully understand what it was saying, he did grasp the part about increasing the chances of rescue.
“system iteration starting...” a progress bar appeared on the robot's monitor.
just then, the cabin suddenly split apart. a metal plate, sharp like a guillotine, came hurtling toward the robot’s head.
sun jack grabbed its metal arm and yanked it toward himself, but he forgot that he was in zero gravity. when he pulled the robot toward him, momentum sent him hurtling to the robot's previous position.
the metal plate whizzed toward his head, and in desperation, sun jack kicked the robot with all his might. the plate narrowly missed his face, leaving a cold gust of air in its wake.
the force of his kick sent him crashing into a wall, where he finally stopped. before he could catch his breath, a spinning nut shot toward his neck like a bullet.
just as the nut was about to pierce sun jack’s throat, an iron hand suddenly shot out from the side. with a loud clang, sparks flew as the nut was deflected far away.
sun jack looked along the metallic arm and saw that the robot he had just activated was shielding most of his left side with its metal body.
the robot slowly lifted its head, its metallic eyes meeting sun jack’s gaze.
“what the f*** kind of crappy name is this?” the robot suddenly spoke.