The New-Universe Project Star Map Draftsman II: Fate of the Galaxy

“Our lives are short, and we get at most five chances to change our fate.” The Chief Financial Officer had told Jonathan this when he was a boy. Back then, Jonathan hadn’t known that the man who would risk cutting off Dawn Lucius’s arm to get him the Star Source he wanted was his own father. And even now, he still didn’t have the courage to admit that the former Chief Financial Officer of the Moreth Federation was his father.

Now, standing before so many people, Jonathan had never doubted the words the Chief Financial Officer had once said to him. When he was little, whenever Jonathan was feeling low, the Chief Financial Officer would appear at his side. The Chief Financial Officer had always been strict with him, but one night he was especially kind, though he couldn’t explain why there were only five chances. “But,” the Chief Financial Officer said, crouching beside Jonathan and holding his hand, the first chance in life comes when you’re so young that it’s hard to recognize, and you rarely have the ability to catch it. The last chance comes when you’re usually so old that you no longer have the strength to catch it. And just like that, two of the important chances in a lifetime are lost. “What about the three in the middle?” Jonathan wanted badly to know when the chances would come. “I don’t know.” The Chief Financial Officer shook his head. He squeezed Jonathan’s hand tightly and told him that we don’t know what the remaining three chances will look like. You have to judge by instinct. If your instinct tells you a chance has come, then you throw everything you have into it. If you succeed, then a real chance had come. If you don’t, that’s fine—it just proves it wasn’t one of the three chances in your life, and you keep working to seize whatever chance comes next. But now Jonathan was afraid this really was the last chance of his life. If he still couldn’t achieve his goal of ruling the Galaxy, he feared he would never have the courage again. All his earlier attempts, made without holding anything back, had used up his strength. He felt exhausted now; even when he breathed, he could feel a faint, dull pain beneath his chest. He knew this would be his last chance.

“All right.” Jonathan came back to himself and shouted at the crowd below the steps. “Everyone has the right to live. The Shepherds know this. The Datheon know this. The Star Map Draftsmen know this too. So why have they abandoned us? In this universe bubble are our families, the people we have loved, the people we hate, the people we long for. They are all here. If this universe bubble goes dark, then everything we care about will die in terror in the darkness. At the very least, that’s not the outcome I want. I don’t accept this arrangement. Do you want this arrangement?” As Jonathan said this coldly, he swept his gaze over the people below. Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but lowered heads—no fighting spirit at all.

“You have no courage? That’s fine. What if I told you that you can live?” Jonathan asked, slapping the railing.

“Moreth Steader, don’t feed us big talk. The Shepherds have run off—what can we do?” someone in the crowd challenged loudly.

“I won’t waste any more words on you. There’s no time for that.” Jonathan gave a contemptuous, cold laugh. He raised his left hand and began gathering power. In an instant, a band of purple energy converged along his arm and burst out. Before the people below could react, the energy pushed them outward. They could feel its warmth brushing across their faces, mixed with fear of the unknown, and their feet stumbled backward against their will. They didn’t stop until Jonathan lowered his arm. Before anyone could make sense of what was happening, Jonathan, wrapped in energy, flew down from the staircase to the floor. He clenched his arm again and gathered power, and a surge of energy roared across the enormous space, straight toward the gate of the super Star Bridge the Shepherds had left behind. When the gate opened, the passage to hope appeared before everyone. Jonathan gave them no time to be amazed. He flew back up to the top of the steps, in front of the large amplifier.

“My God, is he a Star Map Draftsman too?” Carlson swallowed, staring in Jonathan’s direction.

“I don’t know either. Isn’t it supposed to be…” Dawn Lucius was too stunned to finish. Weren’t the Star Map Draftsmen of the Galaxy all appointed in advance? And Dawn Lucius was the last Star Map Draftsman.

“No.” Burt thought for a moment, then raised his hand and jabbed his finger hard in Jonathan’s direction. Shaking his head, he went on: “He definitely isn’t. But I have to admit, he has a Star Map Draftsman’s ability—controlling dark matter.”

“Then what is he going to do?” Carlson asked, edging a little closer to Burt.

“Hard to say.” Burt edged a little closer to Carlson too.

“My guess is he wants to lead these people to conquer other star systems and fulfill his dream.” Dawn Lucius squeezed his arm.

“That would be just like him.” Burt gave the weapon in his hand a shake and patted Carlson on the shoulder. “Brother, we may have a hard fight ahead of us.”

Just as the three of them were about to say something, Jonathan slammed his hand on the railing, and the crowd below went instantly silent.

“I’ve said it already: to survive is our right. If you want to give up, if you’re willing to die in despair in the darkness with your families, then leave now. But I intend to fight for that right. Is anyone willing to take the gamble?”

“I am.” King Theobald answered loudly, took a step back, and bowed deeply to Jonathan.

“Me, me, me, me…” The answers rose and fell across the whole Centaly army, keeping time with the stamping of their feet. It sounded exactly like war drums.

Burt scanned the dense, dark mass of people and couldn’t help raising his weapon a little higher. He spat and said, “Is our fight about to start?”

Dawn Lucius quickly shielded Sandra behind him. He could feel Sandra pressed against his back, and the faint fragrance in her sweat.

The answers rose and fell all through the hall, and the pressure was like the shock that hits the reactor’s hearth when the compensating rods are pulled out of a nuclear reactor and the fissioning atoms start leaping and dancing. The pressure didn’t stop until everyone had bowed to Jonathan.

“Good. You all want to live, don’t you? I see that clearly now. Very good—you are all part of the plan. Go back, put your armies in order, bring your best weapons, and gather outside Kukra City. From now on, your lives are in your own hands. But don’t forget—they’re in your hands only for now.” Jonathan clapped, satisfied.

“Give us your orders, Moreth Steader!” the crowd shouted.

“Warriors of the Orion Arm, hear my command: prepare your arms. Starting now.” Jonathan yelled at the top of his voice and brought the seal of approval for mobilization down hard on top of the amplifier.

And so, in a short time, Kukra City returned to calm.

Dawn Lucius and his group left Kukra City mixed in with the crowd, everyone heavy with worry. When they parted from the two princes of the Strath Federation, the princes said they planned to go back and speed up the Great Migration. The plan was simple: gather all their people, seize Kukra City’s super Star Bridge—the only one that could reach the DeFi Passage accurately—and then leave this universe bubble as quickly as possible. Dawn Lucius endorsed their plan, because he also wanted the people of the Solar System to have a chance to hitch a ride. Sandra still couldn’t figure out how Jonathan was able to control dark matter. She paced around beside Dawn Lucius, arguing with herself. If the old Star Map Draftsman had given Jonathan his Star Source, that would make sense. But that didn’t make sense either: the number of Star Sources was fixed. The whole Galaxy had only eighty-eight Star Sources and eighty-eight Star Map Draftsmen. Besides, only after one Star Map Draftsman died would the Star Source randomly choose someone in the Galaxy to become the next Star Map Draftsman. No matter how she looked at it, it didn’t make sense. What Sandra didn’t know was that the device on Jonathan that had Star Source–like abilities had been built by Hamilton. And this Chief Scientist of the Ashton Federation was at that moment discussing their New-Universe Project with Minister Zhou Qing.

“The Defenders’ Alliance. Hmm, the Defenders’ Alliance.” Minister Zhou Qing was looking over the star map of the Defenders’ Alliance. Every star region that had joined the alliance was marked. But no matter how Minister Zhou Qing changed the color of the markers, there weren’t many of these stars in the whole Orion Arm. When he switched the star map to a view of the entire Galaxy, the Defenders’ Alliance was no more than a faint glimmer in the picture—or like a single hair someone had dropped on a hot-air balloon.

“Minister Zhou Qing.” Just as he was sighing, someone came striding in from outside in high spirits, interrupting his thoughts.

“Ah, Chairman Layte, you’re here! Why didn’t you let me know ahead of time? I would have come out to meet you.” Minister Zhou Qing hurried toward Chairman Layte, his face all smiles.

“No need for formalities, Minister Zhou Qing. You’ve worked hard, planning all this for so long.” When the two were close enough, Chairman Layte patted Minister Zhou Qing on the shoulder.

“Not hard at all, not hard at all. It’s all thanks to your far-reaching vision, Chairman Layte, that we’ve achieved what we have today.”

“Ah, Minister Zhou Qing, it isn’t an achievement yet. We’ve only finally taken the first step toward our achievement. I’ve waited too long.” Chairman Layte’s smile faded from his face.

“Yes, yes. I can’t even remember how many generations have passed. Our families finally have a chance to flourish again.”

“Indeed, Minister Zhou Qing. Think of our ancestors back in the DwNaB4mHxit1DR7 universe bubble—they had already built things up so well. After the efforts of so many generations, just when we were about to rule that universe bubble, the Shepherds came, and we were forced to migrate to the present universe. If the spirit our ancestors handed down generation after generation weren’t still alive, I would have nearly forgotten our mission.”

“Yes. Strange, though—why does this universe bubble have to be migrated out of after such a short time?”

“I’m not sure. But it’s possible they want to build a bigger universe bubble, so they’re sending the small universe bubbles around it into decline ahead of time. The present universe bubble is one of the small ones.” Chairman Layte nodded as he spoke.

“Then our plan?” Minister Zhou Qing leaned a little closer to Chairman Layte and asked.

Chairman Layte didn’t rush to answer. After a pause, he shook his head and patted Minister Zhou Qing hard on the shoulder.

“All right, then I understand.” With that, Minister Zhou Qing opened another star map. When the virtual stars had spread out one after another above the sand table, he specially pulled up the ones marked in red. The two men went on discussing their plan, and in this plan, Jonathan was an indispensable link.

Dawn Lucius felt somewhat dejected. He had originally intended to stop Jonathan from wrecking the Great Migration, but he had arrived too late, and the Shepherds had given up on the people of the Orion Arm. He didn’t understand how a person could crave power to such an extent. By rights, the Orion Arm was now practically the Moreth Federation’s domain. The Strath Federation had never been much of a competitor, and the Ashton Federation had now been badly weakened. The Moreth Federation could take the Orion Arm without sending a single soldier. Couldn’t such a huge expanse of stars fill the bottomless pit of Jonathan’s heart? Dawn Lucius now understood a very important truth: don’t trust that others will change the way you expect them to. On his journey as a Star Map Draftsman, Jonathan seemed to be the calamity fate had prepared for him. No matter what Dawn Lucius did, Jonathan would always stir it up, and then drag him down with him into some baffling abyss. Even more infuriating, Jonathan had indirectly kidnapped his son. Now Jonathan could push the people of the Orion Arm to the edge of a cliff for his own sake—so what about next time? What even more terrible thing would he do? At this thought, Dawn Lucius clenched his fists.

The Sane ship’s return coordinates were Planet Gorov. When he had come back from meeting the Old Lady, Dawn Lucius had still felt confident that he could take over Kukra City and let everyone reach the DeFi Passage fairly. But now he didn’t have as much confidence. A sense of helplessness lingered in his lower belly, and a chill climbed up along his waist, crossed his shoulders, and poured down over his chest. Dawn Lucius pulled his clothes tighter. If everyone really was to get through the super Star Bridge safely, he still needed that mysterious Datheon emissary to give him the final infusion of energy so he could have the full abilities of a Star Map Draftsman. To be honest, when he saw Jonathan make dark matter flow through such a vast space, even striking a gate so far away, Dawn Lucius had for a moment felt that Jonathan was the real Star Map Draftsman. Before long, Dawn Lucius and Sandra arrived back on Planet Gorov. Duncan’s main army was still there, and Dawn Lucius needed to explain the current situation to him clearly. If there was a chance, he hoped to see Duncan lead his clan safely through Kukra City’s super Star Bridge. And if they had strength to spare, he also hoped Duncan could take the people of the Solar System along. Duncan didn’t answer Dawn Lucius right away. Only when he had finished taking stock of his army and was preparing to return to Planet Maoti did he find Dawn Lucius and agree to his request. However, Duncan’s clan was a mix of soldiers and civilians, and its population was already huge. He was afraid he couldn’t look after the people of the Solar System properly; they would have to solve their own problems of spacecraft and food, or else Duncan’s clan wouldn’t be able to help much. Dawn Lucius assured Duncan of this again and again—as long as he agreed to let the people of the Solar System travel with his clan, that was enough. At the very least, no one would dare to loot them in the chaos.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Sandra was watching Duncan urge his troops to board, her eyes full of reluctance. Dawn Lucius walked up beside her, put his arm around her shoulders, and asked.

“Nothing. I just don’t know when things will finally be peaceful.” Sandra forced a smile.

“I don’t know, but I have a feeling it will be peaceful soon. We can go live on Planet Maoti together, and then build a super Star Bridge, so we can go back to the Solar System for dinner with Stacean Lucius whenever we want.” Dawn Lucius nuzzled Sandra’s hair with his nose.

“Really?” Sandra turned her head happily to look at Dawn Lucius.

“Yes.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Oh, right—there’s going to be a lot going on next. Why don’t you use this time to go back with your brother first, see your father while you’re at it, and then come back and meet up with me?”

“But I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of myself and wait for you to come back.”

“So what are you planning to do in the meantime?”

“Go back to the Solar System to see my son and have a talk with him.”

After a simple farewell, Sandra caught up with Duncan’s great army just before it took off. The fleet rose in orderly fashion and then lined up to leave through the Star Bridge near Planet Gorov. In the past, Star Bridges could never have been used to transport armies, but ever since the Moreth Federation’s Chief Financial Officer died, no one had bothered to follow that rule anymore. Most likely, the people who used to manage the Star Bridges for the Moreth Federation had long since lost any desire to sit at their desks. Perhaps they were hurrying to spend time with their families, or else they were anxiously asking everywhere how to reach the DeFi Passage. Across the whole Orion Arm, only two options were known so far. One was to set out from this super Star Bridge built by Sakya and Hamilton and arrive near the DeFi Passage—but no one knew how near. The other option was Kukra City. Jonathan was now broadcasting to the whole universe, telling everyone to bring their armies and join him, and he promised to give everyone a chance to live. As a result, the laboratory, which had few people left to begin with, now had even fewer. Scientists in white coats took off their lab coats, took jackets from the armory or stripped them from the mercenaries killed attacking the laboratory, picked up their weapons, and armed themselves as soldiers. They gathered in twos and threes, made up unit bugle calls on the spot, and flew off toward Kukra City. Planet Gorov was now almost a ghost town. Dawn Lucius went online and told Stacean Lucius everything he had seen and heard. Katherine comforted him, telling him not to worry: the Solar System was well prepared, and even if they left the several major planets they had transformed in the Solar System, humans could survive aboard their spaceships. Dawn Lucius brought up armament. The situation now was like surviving the end of the world—starving people abandon their moral bottom line—so they needed good weapons to protect themselves. Stacean Lucius walked Dawn Lucius through the whole deployment as well. It looked very thoroughly prepared, and Dawn Lucius felt a little more at ease.

“Dad, so what are you planning to do?” Stacean Lucius asked.

“I’ll stay here and wait for Mr. Sakya’s research. If Kukra City is too dangerous, then we can use the super Star Bridge here.” Dawn Lucius turned and glanced at the empty laboratory.

“All right. But what worries me is that if we go through Planet Gorov’s super Star Bridge and end up too far from the DeFi Passage, we can survive in space, but if the Shepherds close the passage before we reach the DeFi Passage, then we’ll be stuck in this dark universe bubble all the same.”

“Yes, I’ve thought about that too.” Dawn Lucius glanced at the back of his hand, clenched his fist, and said with forced ease, “We’ll find a way. You hurry up and finish checking the systems, especially the life-support systems.”

“Got it.” Stacean Lucius said with a smile.

“Commander Lucius.” Dawn Lucius had told Katherine that he wasn’t used to having a granddaughter who looked about his own age, and Katherine felt the same, so from the very beginning she had called him Commander Lucius. Katherine leaned a little closer to the communicator and said, “Don’t put pressure on yourself. We’ll always be together. Whether we go to the new universe bubble or stay in this one, our family will always be together.”

Dawn Lucius froze for a moment, then forced out an even bigger smile and said, “I know.”

When Dawn Lucius walked out of the laboratory, it had actually started to rain on Planet Gorov. This transformed planet didn’t have a complete ecosystem; perhaps the plants growing wild had stirred up the flow of the atmosphere. Dawn Lucius found a ground craft by the roadside and flew toward the big forest in the distance. He stopped at the edge of the forest and wandered aimlessly through the wet shrubs. Raindrops the size of rice grains gathered into beads on the leaves until the leaves could no longer bear their weight; then the beads sped toward the ground, soaking the soil and nourishing every life here. Dawn Lucius walked for quite a while, until the rain blurred his vision, and only then, contented, did he go back to the craft. He first returned to the Sane ship to take a shower and change into clean clothes, then went to talk with Sakya about his ideas. Unfortunately, the conversation didn’t seem to go very smoothly. They appeared to be discussing the same thing, but their minds weren’t in the same place. In the end, Dawn Lucius hastily wrapped up the conversation with a “take care.”

“What are you planning to do?” Sakya asked from behind him as Dawn Lucius walked out of the laboratory.

“Go to Visadio Planet and see if anyone there is willing to help.” Dawn Lucius shrugged.

“Madam Winifred has already turned that place into her tomb. I’m afraid you’ll be making the trip for nothing.”

“I’ll give it a try. With an empire as big as the Ashton Federation, they must have left something behind.” With that, Dawn Lucius went back to the Sane ship and flew it toward Visadio Planet.

As for Kukra City, it briefly grew calm. After using the Star Source Hamilton had copied with such force for the first time, Jonathan had used up half his life. Only after everyone had left did he allow himself to collapse on the floor. King Theobald called for people to help carry Jonathan to a small room. He lay there with his whole body rigid, saying nothing, drenched in cold sweat. King Theobald had someone examine him, and they found no damage to Jonathan’s internal organs, and his brain was normal too. “He just overdrew his physical strength,” the examiner said, and then quietly left the room. King Theobald comforted him with a few words and then told him that from here on he would have to pull himself back up on his own. King Theobald now needed to send people to guard the super Star Bridge the Shepherds had left behind, so that no one else could seize it, and he also had to arrange places for the legions that would be arriving from all the different civilizations. If these people got into some conflict and everything was ruined like that before the goal of ruling the Galaxy was achieved, it would mean losing another chance. The core reason King Theobald was willing to follow Jonathan wasn’t only to repay a debt of gratitude. Above all, it was the despair the Centaly had felt when they were driven away. As the king of the Centaly, he wanted to win a larger star region for his people to live in—the kind no one could ever drive them out of. And Jonathan was the kind of man who would keep expanding the reach of his power until the day he died. If he succeeded, it would be enough to give the Centaly more room to live. King Theobald patted Jonathan’s arm, bowed slightly to him, then picked up his weapon and walked out of the room.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before Jonathan felt some strength return to his body. He tried several times to sit up but couldn’t. He called out toward the door a few times but got no reply. He pressed his head hard against the pillow and inched himself upward bit by bit until he was half sitting, and only then did he stop.

“Moreth Steader Jonathan, you’re awake.” After a while, Hamilton walked in. As he spoke, he hurried over to Jonathan and helped prop his pillow up a little higher.

“You’ve come, sir.” Jonathan tried his best to smile.

“Yes. I never imagined you could bring out so much of its power.” Hamilton pointed to the device on Jonathan’s left arm.

“Neither did I. But it really did drain all my strength.”

“Yes. To use it, a person needs a strong enough will to bear it. I expected that, most likely, only you, Moreth Steader Jonathan, would be able to use it.”

“Thank you, Mr. Hamilton. With it, I’m closer to my goal.” Jonathan narrowed his eyes and stared into the empty air.

“No need to thank me. Just as I told you at the very beginning, our goal in copying this device is very similar to yours. The way things look now gives us in the Defenders’ Alliance hope too.”

“Then let’s help each other succeed.” Jonathan turned his face to look at Hamilton.

“You could put it that way.”

“This New-Universe Project you mentioned—what exactly is it?”

Hamilton moved his stool closer to Jonathan, his knees almost pressing against the edge of the bed. He tried to lean in closer to Jonathan’s ear, but that felt somewhat inappropriate. After a moment’s attempt, he simply got up and went to close the door. Once he sat back down, Hamilton laid out the Defenders’ Alliance’s plan in every detail, stopping along the way to answer Jonathan’s questions. Jonathan focused his questions on Hamilton’s relationship with the Defenders’ Alliance. The answer was that Hamilton wanted to create things that would benefit the development of civilizations in the universe, not, like Madam Winifred, create things to control civilizations. As for the relationship between Chairman Layte and Minister Zhou Qing, it was very simple. In the original universe bubble, Chairman Layte’s family had been the rulers of science, technology, and trade for the entire universe, and Minister Zhou Qing’s family had belonged to the brain trust. That was how they had always worked together. After the Shepherds came, they were forced to migrate to the present universe bubble. They had hoped to build themselves up again here, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time—they never expected the Shepherds to open a new universe bubble so soon. This was an outcome Chairman Layte didn’t want. In fact, it was also an outcome the Defenders’ Alliance didn’t want.

“I see. The New-Universe Project isn’t actually new,” Jonathan summed up vaguely.

“Well, you could put it that way. But for us, it’s a completely new beginning,” Hamilton said firmly.

“My original idea was somewhat like your plan—about half alike, I suppose. I intended to gather every force in the Galaxy that could be gathered and take them all through the DeFi Passage together. In the new universe bubble, I would make White Crystal again, and after taking it to extend our lives, I would lead them to rule a galaxy as big as this Galaxy all over again. No, that’s not right. Your plan is completely different from mine.”

“Yes, Moreth Steader Jonathan. But the second stage of the DeFi Passage is quite long. All the life taking part in the Great Migration must stay inside the DeFi Passage—being born, growing old, falling ill, and dying—until the planets of the new universe bubble are lit, and only then can life go and live in the new universe bubble. Even if you enter the DeFi Passage, you can’t take White Crystal inside it. All you can do is have descendants and give them the chance to survive in the new universe bubble. That’s all. I must warn you: anyone who has ever taken White Crystal will be smelted down by the DeFi Passage, and their dark matter transferred to the new universe bubble. You won’t get the chance to lead everyone into the new universe bubble.”

Hearing Hamilton say this, Jonathan grew dejected. He stared at Hamilton in disbelief, opening his mouth slightly several times without being able to say a word.

“Moreth Steader?” Hamilton touched Jonathan’s hand.

“Yes, sir.” The look in Jonathan’s eyes as he turned to Hamilton was somewhat dejected.

“You understand the overall situation now. Let me explain the New-Universe Project to you again a little more clearly. Listen carefully, because this is our last chance.” Hamilton lowered his voice and squeezed Jonathan’s arm hard, making sure he was listening.

The Defenders’ Alliance’s plan was very simple: keep the present universe bubble from being drained, so that they could go on building up their power here. And the only way to do it was to blow up the DeFi Passage and persuade the other core civilizations that intended to migrate to stay behind—there was no need to waste the lives of countless generations in an empty void. Hamilton explained the workings of the whole cosmic system. Of course, all of this was their own deduction. No one knew how big the universe really was. Judging by how the Shepherds had launched Great Migrations in the past, the universe was very big—or rather, there were a great many universe bubbles. Each universe bubble was like a single grape in one bunch of grapes in an immeasurably vast vineyard. The number of Shepherds was limited; they only cared whether the vineyard as a whole was still there and whether new grapes were still growing. So if some of the grapes had problems, they couldn’t manage them all. That was why the Datheon existed. The Datheon and the Star Map Draftsmen were very much like immune cells carried by the grapes themselves—limited in number, but able to make sure the grapes could grow normally up to a certain stage. Their present universe bubble was just like that. Hamilton also cleared up Jonathan’s questions. The first was what they would use to blow up the DeFi Passage. Hamilton had an answer for this: they planned to take the White Crystal the Defenders’ Alliance had stockpiled over the years, mix it with explosives, and throw it all into the DeFi Passage at the same moment. The White Crystal would be smelted into dark matter, and if the DeFi Passage were flooded with dark matter in an instant, it would surely collapse and finally close. The second question was how they would persuade the civilizations already near the DeFi Passage. Moreover, among those civilizations there were surely some even more powerful than the civilizations of the Orion Arm; if they turned against them, they could raze the Galaxy to the ground. On this point, Hamilton had already worked out a countermeasure. They had made up the story long ago, and someone was already prepared.

“Who do you mean?”

“Lord Winifred.” Hamilton nodded as he answered.