Age of Cosmic Exploration

"... Regarding this problem, I admit my culpability."

In the emergency meeting, a tired-looking Saburo spoke first. Then he offered a 90 degree bow that was culturally-unique to the Japanese.

Yao Yuan sighed. Saburo was a good man, and Yao Yuan believed kindness should be repaid with kindness, so even before this, he didn’t pick on Saburo because of his nationality. Yes, the Chinese and Japanese had a long history of animosity, but after a prolonged period of interaction, it had all dispersed. This was because Saburo exemplified an honorable man.

Yao Yuan shook his head at Saburo. "No, this is no one’s fault. Before I gave the order for the Black Star Troopers to venture into the forest to clear out the beast, both you and Ivan, alongside many other professors, reminded me that infection goes both ways. I knew of the danger beforehand, but the new capital had to be built. Furthermore, none of us could have foreseen the Ultimate Vaccine for the public would take this long to complete. No one is at fault; the only thing we can learn from this is to not overestimate our own technology next time."

Saburo’s expression eased for a bit, but he still looked as exhausted as ever. For the past few months, he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep that lasted for more than five hours. It seriously affected his health.

Yao Yuan asked, "So how goes the progress for the mass-use Ultimate Vaccine? Is it possible for us to introduce immunity to the native life forms on this planet so that they won’t be harmed by the virus, microbes, and bacteria we carry?"

Saburo answered, after a brief consideration, "Theoretically, it should be possible. The vaccine is not a pure anti-biotic; it works by evolving the organism’s innate immune system. Therefore, if we allow the base for the vaccine to interact with Earth’s unique strain of virus, it should theoretically be able to produce a vaccine that enables immunity for this planet’s native organisms. Of course, it needs time."

Ivan, who stood beside him, added, "Captain, we’re not technically on a time crunch, so don’t worry too much. This new planet is wildly different from Earth. No matter how fatal the virus is, as long as it is not airborne, no, even if it is airborne, we have more than enough time on our hands."

Yao Yuan was shocked. "How so? Currently we have more than 100 cases of native animals being infected by Earth’s viruses. And we haven’t even started on the plants yet. But with the migration of our people and pollination of Earth’s plant lives, like paddy, wheat, vegetables, and maize, wouldn’t the plants on this planet succumb to mass infection?"

Ivan shook his head. "Captain, you missed out on one important detail, and that is the speed of contamination. The threat of bioterrorism back on Earth was so huge was because of mankind’s mobility. If not quarantined, a virus originating in a small country could spread across the entire Earth in just one day. However, on this new planet, none of the animals we noticed have the capability of rounding the planet in 24 hours. Furthermore, due to its unique gravitational pull of having binary moons, the animals on this planet do not perform migration. In other words, if we humans don’t purposely wonder beyond the confines of the capital, the range of contamination will be limited to the area around the capital."

Yao Yuan relaxed considerably after hearing Ivan’s explanation. As long as the entire planet’s ecosystem was completely destroyed, the sacrifice of an isolated area was acceptable. Nature had its way of recovering itself; as long as the ecosystem at large was still intact, the relatively small scar would be healed over time.

"If that’s the case, we better rush the progress for the Ultimate Vaccine. We need two versions, one for Earth-dwellers, and another for the organisms native to this planet..."

Yao Yuan petered off to silence. The scientists were used to this quirk of his. There were three people on the Hope that acted this way. Ren Tao, Xiao Niao, and Yao Yuan, and all three had access to the Thinker power. They tended to escape into their thoughts in the middle of things, so the surrounding people had learned to let them be whenever these happened.

After a long silence, Yao Yuan suddenly addressed the meeting room. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have a question: is it possible for us to evolve the entire planet’s virus environment? With our technology, is it possible for us to do that?"

That sent the room in a chaos. Researchers from multiple fields started plying their own point of view. They were all discussing the possibility of redressing the microbial ecosystem of an entire planet with 4th revolution technology.

After a long time, the scientist finally reached a relatively agreed upon consensus. It was doable, but the actual plan needed a lot of ironing out. The one thing they had to be careful with was the planet’s native biodiversity. Compared to the planet’s natural environment, the plants brought from Earth were unvaried and monotonous. The plan had to ensure that the planet’s biodiversity was preserved, or else the ecosystem would implode upon itself due to a limited gene pool.

Therefore, the best way to go about this was to mix the new planet and Earth’s viruses, microbes, and bacteria. Simultaneously, every life form that originated from Earth would be given a shot of the Ultimate Vaccine. The vaccine would also be sprayed across the new planet. This way, both parties would acclimate to the same environment, striking the perfect balance.

The scale of this project would be enormous. According to calculations, under the condition of not harming the new planet’s native biodiversity, the plan would take 50 to 100 years to complete.

Of course, this was all a draft. With an increased discovery of the new planet, the plan would need to receive editing and modifications. This was a plan that would last for centuries, so there was no need to rush. The most important thing now was to create a version of the Ultimate Vaccine that could be used by the general public. And that still needed time...

After the draft of the New Planet Transformation Project: Old and New Unified System was set into motion, Yao Yuan set a limit for Black Star Troopers’ radius of activity. With the new capital as its center, they were not allowed out of a 300 kilometers radius. Of course, they were free to do anything within it.

The day after the meeting, Yao Yuan grabbed his space armor, weapons, and a bunch of antibiotics from Earth to the spot where the two super species would appear every day. Understanding the super species’ intelligence, Yao Yuan didn’t allow anyone to accompany him. Even the troopers who were on surveillance duty were ordered away.

Yao Yuan waned to conduct a test. The test would not only save the two super species, since Yao Yuan feel for their desire to protect their child, but also this one interaction would decide how humanity would handle these super species. They were too powerful for Yao Yuan to leave them be. So if they were still hostile against mankind, Yao Yuan would have no choice but to run them into extinction.

Of course, Yao Yuan was hoping that they could exist in peace, or maybe in cooperation, like the prehistoric men and wolves.

Suddenly, Yao Yuan felt two sources of malice coming his way. However, when they were about 1,000 meters from where he was, they stopped. Yao Yuan could feel them retreating.

Yao Yuan stood up and he could feel the two sources immediately take another 50 meters retreat. What Yao Yuan did next was interesting. He tossed all his weapons to the side and pushed his arms up in surrender.

Almost immediately, he felt hesitation in the two super species. Their intelligence quickly picked up the meaning of his action. Yao Yuan didn’t mean them harm. However, they recognized Yao Yuan’s red armor and knew that it was him who once hurt them, so they were being extra cautious.

Yao Yuan pushed a button on his space armor and a squealing sound was broadcasted. It was a recording of the baby super species.

The super species were greatly affected. They stopped hesitating and rushed to the edge of the forest. However, their actions remained watchful. The smaller of the two hid itself in the shadows, while the bigger male stepped out into the open.

The wound on its leg had started decaying, and the beast seemed to be swaying in the wind. Its eyes were bloodshot; it was severely infected.

At that moment, the male super species and Yao Yuan’s eyes met.