"… Jenny Karim, a former war correspondent for the New York Times, won the Pulitzer Prize for a report on Iraq's chemical weapons. She signed up to participate in NASA's astronaut training program in 2018. She was originally trained as a lunar astronaut, but later became a crew member of Ares due to the postponement of the moon landing plan. "
Sitting in the office of Future Building, Ayesha looked at the report in her hand.
Standing in front of her desk was Zhu Yu, the director of the Domestic Counterintelligence Office, who was reporting to her the results of the investigation of the leak.
"When she was a war correspondent in Iraq, she may have received training from the CIB. According to the intelligence gathered by Bernice in the UA, there is evidence that the CIB, FBA, and other intelligence departments have trained some war reporters and diplomats in counter-investigation to deal with a possible hostage crisis according to a special document issued by the Capitol. "
"Is she from the CIB?" Ayesha looked at Zhu Yu and asked.
"Not likely." Zhu Yu shook her head. "But we have reason to believe that the UA has received the signal she sent."
The number 071 alone could not reveal any valuable information. The only thing that worried Ayesha was that the UA may combine the news from some time ago and have some wild imagination.
Zhu Yu looked at Ayesha who was lost in thought and then continued.
"At present, we have sent an inquiry letter to the Celestial Trade Space Department. Based on Calvin's reply, they ordered the personnel involved to be controlled the moment they received the email … Do you want to punish the investigator responsible for supervising her? "
There were no Ghost Agents on the Mars colony. The investigator responsible for monitoring those UA was the Celestial Trade Army Intelligence Division. He was not a professional intelligence officer. He may know Morse code, but he didn't associate Morse code with the frequency of blinking, and it was even more impossible for him to think that the subject of surveillance would transmit sensitive information by blinking.
To be able to notice this detail on the scene of real-time communication, even if it wasn't Sherlock Holmes, it would be at least half the strength of the Grim Reaper. Zhu Yu asked herself that even if she stood in that position, she couldn't do better. Like the FBA, they also discovered the problem from countless replays.
However, discipline was discipline. Whoever made a mistake should be responsible for it. There was no excuse for this.
"The personnel involved will be dealt with by Celestial Trade according to military rules. We won't intervene." Her slender index finger gently tapped on the document. After a moment of silence, she said, "From next time on, stop providing real-time communication services to stranded UA astronauts, and change to delayed transmission of video."
"In addition, all videos, whether in or out of the colony, must be double-reviewed by the Ghost Agents and the Celestial Trade Army Intelligence Division. No matter which side finds a problem, the person involved will immediately be disqualified from contacting their family. I'd rather kill the wrong person than let him go. "
"Yes." Zhu Yu stood at attention.
"Finally," after a pause, Ayesha continued, "Send a truth-telling serum to the Mars colony. I'm very curious, where did she hear the three numbers 071? "
…
The apocalypse, inside the villa.
Sitting on the sofa in the living room, Lilith began to educate him about the history of Pan-Asia Cooperation's colonization of Mars.
"The Mars landing plan can be traced back to the middle of the 21st century. At that time, the Soviet Union, NATO, and Pan-Asia had successfully sent astronauts to the surface of Mars. However, the Pan-Asia Cooperation Mars Scientific Research Station was at the beginning of the 22nd century. At that time, NATO took the lead in announcing the launch of the Mars colonization plan and successfully hovered a 500,000-ton research ship in the orbit of Mars. The Pan-Asia Council immediately issued scientific research missions to more than 20 scientific research institutions including the Chinese Academy of Sciences to colonize Mars. Finally, the first Mars colony was built in 2110 … "
"Wait, I remember that the three major forces didn't establish a Mars colony?" Jiang Chen interrupted Lilith's words and frowned.
"Because of political reasons." Lilith shrugged. "Countries are condemning each other's colonial behavior and emphasizing that outer space resources are shared by all humans. Of course, they can't slap themselves in the face. All the official names of the colonies are called scientific research stations. According to the information recorded in my database, by 2120, in less than ten years, the Pan-Asia Cooperation has developed to more than 20 Mars' scientific research stations' with a population of more than 1,000. "
When Jiang Chen heard this number, he was speechless.
As the president of Celestial Trade, no one knew better than him how much money the Mars colony would burn. Even with his financial resources, the budget report sent from the Mars colony still made him feel the pinch.
To build more than 20 Mars colonies without achieving profits, the Pan-Asia Cooperation would lose a space elevator in a year.
However, although that was the case, Jiang Chen could understand their behavior.
To give a common example, it was like Taxi Hailing and Beep Beep Hailing competing for business. At first, everyone was operating at a loss and desperately lost money in order to gain market share. Perhaps the senior executives of the Pan-Asian Cooperation also knew that every Mars colony that was built would definitely lose money, but no one wanted to wait for the Mars colony to achieve "profitability" like the Moon colony, while their own companies lost at the starting line.
Regardless of whether it was useful or not, they had to send the people over and occupy the place first!
In contrast, Celestial Trade was simply lucky. Entering the era of Mars colonization a century in advance, the entire world couldn't find a decent competitor, and there was enough time and space to rationally develop the entire "market".
"In other words, the major forces didn't just build a research station on Mars? Dozens of them were built? And each scientific research station is actually a colony that sells dog meat? "Jiang Chen asked.
"Yes," Lilith nodded. "It has been like this since the early 22nd century."
"But why did all the colonies disappear?" Lin Lin, who was sitting next to Jiang Chen, frowned and muttered in confusion, "In my impression, there is no report about the colony at all."
"This is easy to explain. You were born in the 1950s, right?" Lilith asked.
"Yes." Lin Lin nodded.
"Then you should have heard of the economic crisis in 2150."
This time, even Jiang Chen nodded.
As early as the apocalypse, he learned about the economic crisis, which was widely considered to be the root cause of the outbreak of the world war in 2171. (Note: If you forget the plot, you can go back and read the second chapter.)
"In the history recorded in my database, as of 2149, the Pan-Asia Cooperation's Mars scientific research stations have reached 41, and the Soviet Union and NATO have about the same number. When the economic crisis broke out, countries were no longer able to continue to maintain these bottomless pits, so in 2150, they signed the "Houston Convention". In addition to delineating the territory of Mars, they also reduced their respective colonies … or scientific research stations to 15. "
"But, this doesn't explain why I haven't heard of those scientific research stations at all, right?" Lin Lin frowned.
"Of course it can explain," Lilith looked at Jiang Chen. Lilith looked at Jiang Chen. "Because this involves another issue, about the colony itself, and about the Gaia civilization you mentioned."
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