It was a newspaper with a blue Earth on the cover.
Below the Earth was a hand reaching out from the darkness, and at this moment, this hand was holding the entire Earth steadily.
Through the layer of darkness, a face could be faintly seen.
The face was very young, and there were no other characteristics. However, even the most face-blind person in the world would not be unfamiliar with this person after seeing this face … as long as he was not out of touch with the times.
The title of the news below the picture used a very ambiguous question —
[Who will dominate the next hundred years?]
And now, this newspaper was lying with many similar newspapers on the table of the White House President's Office.
"What do you think?" Hill swept the newspaper on the table aside, rubbed her sore eyebrows, and looked at her chief of staff. "That Envoy-class starship."
"…"
The chief of staff did not speak. Instead, together with Secretary of Defense Carter, they silently looked at Bolden standing next to them.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Bolden took a deep breath and braced himself to speak.
"Our scientists have solved the problems in the design of the large space station counterhammer. Now the only problem is the material aspect."
"How long will it take?" Hill looked at Bolden and asked.
"A conservative estimate is 20 years, but it may be a little longer …" Bolden said awkwardly.
"This is different from what you said last time." Carter looked at Bolden, and his tone was a little aggressive. "At the meeting half a month ago, you said that the space elevator problem could be solved by 2040 at the latest, and at least one elevator to the geosynchronous orbit could be built for the UA."
"This is not entirely our fault," Bolden argued. "If it weren't for Obayashi Construction Company canceling the joint research and development agreement with us, this time could be reduced by at least half."
"Obayashi Construction Company?" Hill frowned slightly and looked at Secretary of State Kerry, who had not spoken. "I seem to have heard of this name somewhere."
"A company controlled by the Sumitomo Foundation in Nippon. In 2014, it claimed that the space elevator would be completed by 2050. There is reliable information that they have been engaged in related technology research since 2010." Kerry paused for a moment and looked at Bolden with a puzzled look. He frowned slightly and said, "I remember that the Sumitomo Foundation has always been very active in our International Space Station program and has been working closely with NASA and SpaceX for a long time. Why …"
"It's Celestial Trade," Bolden said. "They convinced them to voluntarily give up the space elevator plan. There was an eighty percent chance that it was some sort of promise? As you know, Dalin Group's main business is in the construction field. Perhaps Celestial Trade contracted projects on Mars or the Moon to them? Anyway, they have already taken the initiative to pay the penalty. "
"These damn ingrates …" Carter cursed in a low voice.
"They have always been ingrates, we should have been mentally prepared." Chris sighed.
Seeing that no one spoke, Bolden coughed lightly and added.
"… Fortunately, we found our next target. Now, we are working with Thoth Technologies in Ontario, Canada. The pressurized tower design they researched could reach 20 kilometers three years ago. As long as we make a breakthrough in high-strength graphene materials, we still have a great chance."
However, the troublesome part was the high-strength graphene material.
As everyone knew, there were many types of graphene materials. And this stuff was similar to steel. Although it was also called steel, steel produced by different materials, different forging processes, and different temperatures had vastly different properties.
The same was true for graphene.
Although Celestial Trade had registered nearly one hundred patents for nearly ten types of graphene materials such as semiconductors in the world, graphene materials involved in aerospace and military fields were tightly guarded. Not to mention registered patents, even finished products were rarely exported. They were basically self-produced and sold.
The atmosphere in the office fell into silence.
Graphene.
The damn graphene again.
No one thought that something that could be made with two pieces of transparent glue would stumble a superpower.
"Is there no good news?" Carter asked with difficulty.
If the completion of the Envoy-class starship put the most pressure on him, it would undoubtedly be the Minister of Defense.
He really couldn't imagine what could pose a threat to such a behemoth.
Missiles? Battleship cannons?
Stop joking.
Throwing missiles into the geosynchronous orbit to hit satellites and battleships were the same thing?
At this moment, Bolden spoke again.
"Actually … it's not that there is no good news."
Everyone once again turned their attention to Bolden.
"What good news?" Hill asked immediately.
"Google-X Laboratory is ready to join our plan."
"Google-X?" Kerry frowned slightly. "Didn't they abandon the space elevator project six years ago?"
As early as 2014, the head of Google-X Laboratory, Astro Taylor, announced the termination of the space elevator project at the Venture Technology Conference (TCD). At the same time, portable jet engines, hoverboards, and other projects that usually appeared in science fiction were terminated.
"They did announce the termination …" After a moment of silence, Bolden said, "But they promised to help us on the high-strength graphene project and break through the technology blockade of Celestial Trade."
Although it was something to be happy about.
However, everyone had a bitter smile of self-mockery on their faces at the same time.
Technology blockade?
Why does this word sound so familiar …
…
In the conference room at the headquarters of the Earth Defense Alliance in Celestial City, the members of the member states sat around the conference table and just finished discussing the next step of the Earth Fleet.
The conference table was filled with a relaxed atmosphere. Even the most serious members relaxed because of the success of SS Origin.
"… I know you must be very excited, but please remain calm before the excitement. From the standpoint of the CEO of the Alliance Committee, I have to pour a glass of cold water on your head. It's too early to open the champagne. Our opponents are very strong." At the final summary of the meeting, Jiang Chen stood up, looked around at everyone present, and used this sentence to end his speech.
Although he said this sentence in a joking tone, there was no hint of a joke in his words.
Confidence was good.
When the outbreak of the mother nest incident in Finland was equated with extraterrestrial civilization, the entire world was filled with panic, and even the global economy was affected by it. Doomsday Church, Noah's Ark Foundation, and all sorts of evil people appeared.
With the extraterrestrial civilization already at their doorstep, it seemed that except for Jiang Chen, who first received the news, no one was optimistic that human civilization could survive the invasion of extraterrestrial civilization.
After all, it was only a nest at the time, and it was in the tundra with little life. Even the powerful Celestial Trade Orbital Airborne Brigade took a lot of effort to clean up the mutants in the nest. Until now, that area was still a military restricted area, jointly controlled by the Finnish military and Celestial Trade.
But now, when they saw the battleship that could conquer the universe, no one would doubt the victory of the Earth Fleet.
To be honest, Jiang Chen didn't doubt this.
But he wouldn't take it lightly because of this.
Although the development of civilization couldn't be simply measured by time, at least from the perspective of world history, ancient civilizations may not necessarily defeat young civilizations, even if the former often had a great advantage in the early stages … But Jiang Chen couldn't be sure that a million-ton starship was the standard for Celestial Trade to enter the "late stage".
Confidence was good.
But conceit was a cup of poison.
At least before the two technologies of warp drive and antimatter made breakthroughs, he would not be overly optimistic about victory.
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