A massive spaceship hovered in the middle of the port, and Hao Ren felt like he would never have to watch Hollywood ever again.
It was hard to tell how big the spaceship was with the naked eye. Its long axis looked like a mountain range hovering in the middle of the port to Hao Ren. The spaceship had a light blue paint job, and underneath the paint, there were light gray and silver alternating colors. It was hard to tell if it had been like this from the beginning, or if it had undergone some sort of modification. The spaceship was wedge-shaped, with one end larger than the other, but the size was very flat. Two vertically intersecting lines divided the spaceship into four completely symmetrical parts. Thinking of the catamarans built by the earthlings, Hao Ren felt that this could be called a "tetrahull". The wider side of the spaceship was facing the interior of the fourth connection port, while the narrower side was facing the opening of the spaceport, facing the bright stars in the distance. Complicated light signals were moving around the shell of the spaceship, giving off the feeling of fireflies.
Below the spaceship, there were four gigantic steel beams (the material was definitely not steel) at the fourth connection port. These four gigantic steel beams were filled with transparent crystals, and anyone who stood on them would have the illusion of losing their footing and floating into space. These four large beams emitted a constant glimmer. The light was not strong, but it seemed to have some kind of resonance with the lights on the shell of the spaceship hovering above.
"That's a force field restraint device." The guide lady had already noticed that it was Hao Ren's first time seeing such a scene, so she had been introducing everything to Hao Ren in a perfect professional manner. "The four main beams are used to maintain the position of the spaceship in the port, preventing it from drifting. It can also provide some older spaceships with acceleration or entry guidance. After all, there are still many less advanced civilizations in this universe."
Hao Ren nodded and looked at the opening of the port that faced the universe. He had just noticed that there were other huge objects floating slowly in the distance. The guide noticed his gaze and explained, "Those are other spaceships that are entering or leaving the port. This is a very large relay station. All the ports are controlled by efficient artificial intelligence, and the number of spaceships handled every day is in the triple digits."
Hao Ren clicked his tongue, but his eyes were still on the giant spaceship in front of him. "How big is this thing? What the hell … a Battlestar? "
"Actually, it's not that big," the guide said with a smile. "It's a passenger and cargo ship from a civilian company. It's a medium-sized model with a long axis of 3.2 kilometers. It comes with a basic space expansion container. To some basic civilizations, it's considered a big ship, but in your eyes … is this considered a big ship?"
Hao Ren was stunned for a moment, not understanding what "in your eyes" meant. After a few seconds, he suddenly remembered his identity: an employee of the Xiling Empire's Space Administration. Although he was only a temporary worker and was only an apprentice, this apprentice was a classification only existed within the empire. In the eyes of outsiders, there was no difference between an apprentice inspector and an official inspector. The guide in front of him treated Hao Ren as a "big shot in the system". At the thought of this, Hao Ren suddenly felt that it was a great responsibility to protect the dignity of the Empire. He nodded solemnly. "Well, of course I didn't compare it to the Empire's spaceship …"
The MDT muttered in Hao Ren's head. "Keep pretending. So far, have you seen any other flying objects made by the Empire other than me?"
"Yes, I have. Raven 12345's house. Not only can it fly, but it can also fly upside down."
The MDT was speechless.
At this time, the guide took out a small device and pressed a few buttons. It seemed that she was sending a signal to other staff in the port. Then, she led Hao Ren and his team forward. "My task is over after I bring you to the captain. Please follow me."
Hao Ren followed her. Just now, he saw a small group of people standing on an alloy platform under the spaceship. They seemed to be the staff. This group of people satisfied Hao Ren's fantasy of being a 'little green man'. Half of them were human beings similar to the people on Earth, but the other half were of all kinds of strange shapes. There were pudgy creatures with hairy faces, aquatic creatures wearing weird spherical glass helmets with liquid in them, and two skinny, dark-green dwarves. Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief when he saw these people. He felt that he had finally seen aliens in the real sense. The guide next to him was really kind. He really could not find the feeling of entering the sea of stars …
No matter how strange this group of people looked, they were wearing the same or at least similar grayish-white uniform. There was a light yellow triangular logo on their clothes, which matched the logo on the hull of the spaceship. They were obviously the staff of this flight. The guide led Hao Ren forward and greeted them. Finally, they stood in front of an unusually burly man with a mischievous smile on her face. "Mr. Captain, the VIPs are here. I'll leave the rest to you."
"Oh, I see." The man who was addressed as the captain was burly and strong. His square face made him look rather mighty, and his strong muscles almost burst open his grayish-white uniform. He seemed to be very familiar with the guide here. He smiled and waved at the guide, "Go back and tell that old fart, Laval, that I'll bring some good wine the next time I come. Ask him to prepare his wallet!"
The guide nodded and bowed with a smile. Then, with a distorted light curtain, she disappeared in front of everyone.
"The three of you are the VIPs?" The 'captain' turned to look at Hao Ren and the others. "Err … Which one of you is Mr. Inspector?"
It was the first time in his life that someone called Hao Ren 'Sir'. He was flattered and quickly nodded. "Me, I am. Then … are there any boarding procedures? "
"You're on official business. After your identity is verified, you'll be exempted from all formalities and security checks." The 'captain' waved to the crew beside him to let them board the spaceship. He took out a rectangular device shining with blue light. "To verify your identity, you'll need to swipe —"
Before his voice trailed off, the MDT jumped out of Hao Ren's pocket. "I'm here. Come, scan it."
Hao Ren watched in amazement as the MDT floated over and rubbed itself against the 'captain's' scanning device. He heard a beep and the device indicated that he had passed the verification …
It was the first time in his life that he saw a ticket that could check itself!
"In that case, Mr. Inspector and your two assistants, please board the spaceship." The captain pointed to a metal platform floating in the air and grinned. "Interstellar Express Company's transport ship No. 883 wishes you a pleasant journey."
Nangong Wuyue was the first to hop on. "Come on, come on!"
Hao Ren completed the boarding process in a daze. He stood on the floating platform and floated into a small hatch under the belly of the huge spaceship. After entering, he floated around in a mess of corridors and warehouses before finally arriving at a clean and spacious place. The unbelievably strong captain shouted into the communication device on the floating platform. "Alright, send a signal to the command tower. Get ready to set sail!"
"How long will it take for us to get there?" Hao Ren suddenly remembered that he had never asked about the itinerary because he had no idea what '800 light years' meant before this. Now, after staring blankly at a bunch of futuristic images for a long time, he suddenly realized that he had to go faster than light for once. "I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, but this is my first time taking a spaceship …"
"It's okay, it's okay. My superiors have told me everything." The captain stretched out his hand and shook Hao Ren's hand hard. Hao Ren's knuckles were cracking. "We'll be there in a day. Just stay in the cabin and take a nap. We'll arrive at our destination. I'm the star spaceship on this route. I've been the first for seven consecutive years. Oh right, you can call me 883 … "
Hao Ren was stunned. "… 883? Isn't that the name of your spaceship? "
"I named her after myself!" The captain who called himself 883 laughed. "This is the rule where we come from. A man should have a ship with his surname. We make a living with ships. The ship is a man's second wife!"
Hao Ren was speechless.
He felt that the captain in front of him had subtly misunderstood something. However, it seemed that there were indeed cultural differences between different races. It was better not to dwell on this issue.
Hao Ren was led by another crew member to the cabin that was arranged for him. He was surprised to find that it was actually a luxury suite with four bedrooms. Although the interior furnishings were strange, he could tell what it was for. He asked subconsciously, "Is this room specially modified for the three of us?"
"No, this is standard first-class cabin." The crew member who led the way was a dark-skinned, short young man. When he smiled, he was a little reserved. "This spaceship is used for both passengers and cargo. The D6 to D17 cabins on the flank are dedicated passenger areas. We have luxurious and thoughtful passenger service. More than half of the rooms are specially tailored for the first type of carbon-based passengers … Although because the captain chose the wrong license plate, we have not had any passengers so far, and there is no room service on board, please believe me, at least the equipment in the room is professional."
Hao Ren was speechless.
He inexplicably felt as if he had been tricked by someone again!
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