Azalena was deeply shocked by the endless stars in the vast space. Throughout the rest of the observation cabin, her eyes almost never left the vast starry sky outside the high-strength transparent polymer tube. Even though this was the first time she had seen the stars, she felt a sense of oppression that almost made her shudder. Even though she felt that she was about to "fall" out of the small orbital module into the endless darkness, she could not pull her eyes back.
The stars seemed to have a magical power that attracted every intelligent creature that saw them to focus their attention on them.
After a while, something else suddenly came into Azalena's sight. It was a metallic object floating in the distant space, shining like a shining gem under the starlight.
She saw a Voyager satellite that happened to be orbiting nearby. It floated in the dark background of the universe. Its metal shell was still shining, but some of the mottled scars left by small meteorites could be seen on its edge. The Dragonmark Witch, who had never experienced the Voyager era, did not recognize what it was, but she still thought of the Voyager immediately, and her eyes suddenly widened.
"Lady Kassandra!" She immediately turned to look at her temporary "traveling companion." "Look at that outside. That thing looks like … Lady Kassandra? What's wrong with you? "
Azalena looked at the siren next to her in astonishment. It was the first time she saw such a complicated expression on the face of this seemingly carefree and optimistic race. Kassandra grabbed the nearby handrail and stared at the shining satellite in space and some magnificent space facilities in the distance. But her eyes seemed to have fallen on something farther away, somewhere in the depths of the stars that Azalena could not understand. The siren's tail slowly curled up and then relaxed little by little. She finally opened her mouth and murmured, "Ah … they are still in the sky …"
"Are you okay?" Azalena was a little scared. "You look a little … Have you seen these things?"
Kassandra seemed to have finally remembered that she had a "traveling companion." She turned around and said, "Sorry, I just remembered something from the past."
"Something from the past?"
Kassandra twitched the corner of her mouth, revealing a somewhat complicated smile. "You know, we sirens are not actually a race born on this planet. Many, many years ago, we were forced to land here because of an accident."
"I have heard of this …" Azalena thought for a moment and nodded gently. "It is mentioned in the official Encyclopedia of the World Races published by Cecil. I have also heard the local Dragons mention this in Tarlonde."
"When I fell from space, I saw these things," Kassandra said softly, looking up at the starry sky outside the polymer tube. "That was the last time I looked at the sea of stars outside the atmosphere. I did not expect that the second time I saw such a scene would be in this situation."
Azalena opened her mouth, but she did not know what to say for a while. Then, she realized a shocking fact and looked down at her feet. "Wait a minute … We came from that tower … So, the tower standing on the sea actually … actually extends into space?! The Voyager can even build this kind of thing?! "
"If I am not wrong, this should be an orbital elevator." Kassandra smiled and explained to the Dragon-Seal Witch in front of her. Although the sirens were now trapped on the surface of the planet, they were a race that had once roamed the sea of stars. It was not difficult for them to imagine many things left behind by the Voyager. "There should be two such orbital elevators. The other one is also on the equator. It is the 'tower' that Gwen Cecil climbed."
"Orbital … elevator?" Azalena repeated this strange and awkward phrase. "I have heard the word 'elevator.' I heard from Byron that Emperor Gwen likes to use this word to call the magic elevators in large buildings. Where will this' elevator 'take us?"
"If my memory is correct, and my guess is correct … it should be something that will shock you more than the orbital elevator," Kassandra said thoughtfully. Then her eyes suddenly turned to the outside of the polymer pipe, and a slightly excited expression appeared on her face. "Ah, sure enough, we can see it from this angle. Ashalena, look over there!"
Azalena looked in the direction where Kassandra's tail was pointing. The next second, a great shock and a sense of oppression filled her body and mind. She saw an arc-shaped 'land' above the planet with an amazing momentum. The endless steel belt was covered with complex structures and huge cabins that she could not name and could not guess the purpose of. In the partially transparent structure of the belt, there were buildings shrouded in darkness and silence, and faint lights flashed and flowed between those buildings. It was as if she was looking at a mythical giant snake that was crawling over the planet. This giant snake was sleeping for a long time, and she was rushing toward the snake's belly at an amazing speed.
Only then did she realize that some of the hazy space structures she saw in the distance were only part of this belt, and this belt … was the 'top end' of the tower standing on the sea.
"How is this possible?" Amidst the huge shock, Asalena still maintained her normal ability to think. "Such a huge thing is circling above our planet. No matter how far away it is, it is impossible to miss it. But we have been looking up at the sky for thousands of years …"
"Optical cover. Everything is invisible. Perhaps it is to prevent affecting the normal development of the intelligent races on the surface of the planet." Kassandra shook her head. "Just like the 'authentication' we went through when we entered the 'tower,' everything left behind by the voyagers has very strict 'security measures.' They seem to be quite concerned about the 'normal development of civilization.' I think this may be almost engraved in their bones for them."
Ashalena blinked. Just as she was about to say something, the synthetic voice rang in her mind again. "The cabin is decelerating. Approaching the terminal station. The guidance process has been activated … Missing core process group. Entering default docking process …"
Following a series of unknown announcements, the two 'visitors' felt the ground beneath their feet vibrate again. The 'elevator car' that was moving rapidly in the transparent polymer tube rapidly slowed down. The next moment, a rapidly sinking metal structure appeared outside the tube, blocking their view of the starry sky. They had entered Firmament Station and were in the process of docking.
Azalena nervously gripped the handrail, fearing that the ancient alien equipment would malfunction. But in the end, everything ended smoothly. The elevator car stopped, and the transparent protective wall around the car returned to its silver-white metallic texture. A few seconds later, a slight buzzing sound came from not far away. An open 'door' appeared on the silver-white metal wall as before.
Outside was a strange and open space. The dim light and dusty space station corridor invited the two explorers to step into it.
"… Well, fortunately, I asked my two sisters to wait below," Kassandra sighed and muttered as she walked out. "No matter how powerful the magic network terminal is, it's impossible to contact this place …"
"You can still contact the two Sea Monsters down there?" Azalena looked at Kassandra in astonishment. "You sirens can still communicate spiritually from so far away?"
"It's not a spiritual connection, it's psionic resonance, a racial talent," Kassandra corrected her seriously. "The spirit of the sirens is' unified 'at a higher level, just like the lower elements in the elemental plane are, in a sense, the' extension structure 'of the elemental plane itself. On the same planet, all sirens can sense each other. Of course, distance still affects the effect of our perception. Just like here, I can't communicate directly with my sisters on the surface, but at least we can sense each other's presence and confirm that we are safe."
"… What an enviable talent," Azalena could not help but say. "We Dragonmark Witches also have a similar 'resonance' skill, but we can't sense each other from such a long distance."
While muttering, she stepped forward and followed Kassandra's "footsteps". While maintaining a high degree of vigilance, she really stepped into this ancient alien facility that had been closed to the outside world for 1.8 million years.
The first thing that came into her sight was a very wide hall, so wide that it reminded her of the astonishing size of the North Port. A very dim light shrouded everything in sight, allowing her to barely see the large silent equipment and the dark passageways at the edge of the hall. There seemed to be many corridors connected to this hall, but they were all shrouded in darkness.
Considering that this was the "terminal" of the orbital elevator, this "hall" should have been a busy transportation hub. But now, millions of years had passed, and there was only emptiness and silence left.
"… It's completely different from the surface," Azalena could not help but say. "It's still brightly lit down there."
"Perhaps the facilities in space are more prone to damage and aging in the harsh environment. The condition of this place is obviously not good," Kassandra analyzed. "In theory, a place like this should have an automatic greeting mechanism, especially when it is designed to be open to the 'indigenous races.' But we have all come up, and I don't see anything activated. It's probably broken."
"As long as the orbital elevator is not broken," Azalena could not help but look back in the direction where she came from. She saw the silver-white metal column standing in the middle of the hall, and the cabin door for passengers was still open as if waiting for visitors to return at any time. "If this thing is broken, we can't go back …" "I'm fine.
I can die and go back. At this distance, I can be reborn in the sea on the surface of the planet. But you'll have a hard time. Jumping from this height to the atmosphere, not to mention the vacuum and radiation in the middle, the high temperature of entering the atmosphere is very high. I'm afraid the Giant Dragon will die halfway. "Kassandra listened to her companion's words and seriously analyzed what others thought was quite crazy." But if it comes to that, I can try to turn myself into a giant pufferfish. You can go into my stomach, and we both jump to the surface together. I'll fight until I reach the magic turbulence layer before I die, and you can find a way to decelerate yourself after I die. Of course, the premise is that we have to find the airlock that leads to the outside and open it. "
The more Azalena listened, the more horrified she became. At last, she stared at the siren with a serious face. "Is this how you sirens usually think?"
"What's wrong with that?" Kassandra looked puzzled. "Does it not make sense to you?"
"It makes sense," Azalena said with a sincere look on her face. "When it comes to courting death, you sirens are more hardcore."
She suddenly felt that compared to these Sirens who were so desperate to die, even the naughty Dragonkin children who jumped off Dragon Leaping Cliff every day were as gentle and harmless as children before they were three years old …
"Most of the things here seem to have stopped working." Kassandra did not care what Azalena was thinking. She had begun to explore this ridiculously large place and came to a device that looked like a terminal. "Our arrival did not cause any reaction."
"Which direction should we explore next?" Azalena followed Kassandra and asked her siren, who looked unreliable but was more or less an "advanced member of the civilization." "Do you want to find a corridor and go in?"
"It's better not to go so far," Kassandra said seriously. "The scale of an orbital space station is beyond your imagination. With the efficiency of the two of us, it is meaningless to explore a large area for the entire space station. Instead, we may get lost in the intricate corridors that have stopped functioning. I suggest that we explore this hall first. The gravity here is normal, and the air is still circulating, which means that at least the life-support system in this area is still functioning. It is relatively safe. "
It was strange to hear the word "safe" from a siren who had just seriously analyzed the cause of death. But Kassandra had to admit that what the siren said made sense. Although she did not know much about space facilities and space flight, she knew how dangerous it would be if some sections of this huge "space station" were completely out of control. Energy lines leaked, toxic gases overflowed, air circulation failed, or even a hole was broken. In this place, far away from the shelter of the planet, the powerful Giant Dragon was no different from a weak rabbit.
At the same time, Kassandra had circled the device that looked like a control terminal twice. After thinking for a while, she retreated a distance away, stuck her tail out, and carefully poked what looked like an operation panel with the tip of her tail at an extreme position.
Asharena saw it happen before any thought could form in her mind.
The next second, she saw the surface of the terminal, which seemed to have stopped working for many years, suddenly light up.
Ms. Kassandra's penetrating voice came into her ears.
"Deep sea, this thing is glowing! Ahhhh!!!!"
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