Chapter 7: Return to Jupiter

When Xiao Yu approached the Sun, he finally understood how shallow his previous perception of it had been. No amount of reading could truly convey the sheer power of the Sun. At this moment, Xiao Yu was 60 million kilometers away from the Sun, still outside Mercury’s orbit. At such a distance, even Jupiter appeared as no more than a bright dot, with no discernible details. Yet here, the Sun loomed as large as a millstone. With no atmosphere to diffuse the light, the black void of space was punctuated by the presence of a massive, blazing sphere. It radiated boundless light and heat, filling the expanse. Xiao Yu measured the temperature of his heat shield—it was approximately 400 degrees Celsius. The powerful streams of high-energy charged particles emanating from the Sun swept through space, their intensity more than ten times stronger than what had been recorded on Earth. “This must be an effect of Jupiter,” Xiao Yu speculated. With this hypothesis in mind, he promptly abandoned the idea of approaching any closer. Instead, he adjusted his trajectory into an orbital path around the Sun. This was the closest Xiao Yu had ever been to the Sun, and likely the closest he would be in his lifetime. If not for the need to harness the Sun’s gravitational pull for acceleration, he would never have risked coming to such a perilous location. The Sun’s mass was not significantly different from that of Proxima Centauri, making it an excellent point of comparison. With some time to spare, Xiao Yu allocated portions of his CPU to begin analyzing the solar data he had collected. These data points would help Xiao Yu estimate the conditions of the Proxima Centauri stellar system, aiding in his planning for actions upon arrival. At the same time, Xiao Yu’s ionization project officially commenced. In his earlier stages of collection, Xiao Yu had amassed approximately 900 tons of water. Over the course of the four-month solar orbit, this water would be fully converted into hydrogen and oxygen to serve as his fuel. With 900 tons of fuel—exceeding even his highest previous reserves—Xiao Yu finally felt a taste of abundance. Emboldened by this surplus, he launched multiple projects simultaneously. All systems were running at full capacity: the central computer operated at peak load to process data collected from Jupiter, while the robot replication program was fully activated. Two robots were tasked with manufacturing the next generation, and one was assigned to perform detailed repairs on the spacecraft. Everything seemed to be progressing in a positive direction, allowing Xiao Yu to relax for the first time in a long while. Four months passed in the blink of an eye. Xiao Yu’s position shifted from one side of the Sun to the other. As the spaceship moved farther from the Sun, its velocity began to decrease under the influence of solar gravity. But since Xiao Yu intended to break free of the Sun’s pull, he had prepared in advance. In fact, Xiao Yu had started gradual acceleration about a month and a half earlier, increasing his relative speed from 20 kilometers per second to 40 kilometers per second, and he was still accelerating. By the time he crossed Mars’s orbit, his speed was projected to reach 60 kilometers per second, surpassing that of humanity’s fastest spacecraft, Voyager 1. Afterward, Xiao Yu would maintain this velocity until he reached a point 100 million kilometers from Saturn, where he would begin decelerating and ultimately land on Titan. Everything felt familiar, like a return journey. Once again, Xiao Yu passed within 30,000 kilometers of Mars. Gazing at the planet, which had endured great catastrophe yet provided him with vital shelter, he was filled with a deep sense of gratitude. “All right, it’s finally time to cross the asteroid belt and take the next step!” Xiao Yu thought with confidence. The last time he had planned to cross the asteroid belt, the catastrophic collision between Earth’s moon and Jupiter had forced him to alter his trajectory. Fortunately, Xiao Yu had avoided a fatal blow. Like an indomitable cockroach, he had regained his strength near Earth’s orbit, and now, like a certain resilient character, he had returned once more. This time, nothing and no one could stand in Xiao Yu’s way. The asteroid belt was indeed filled with countless asteroids, estimated to number over a million. However, given the vastness of the space they occupied, their density was a subject of much debate. In reality, unless you deliberately set a target, you wouldn’t even glimpse an asteroid while passing through the asteroid belt. It appeared just as vast and empty as the rest of space. So, unless struck by extraordinarily bad luck, there was generally no need to worry about being hit by asteroids here. Xiao Yu passed safely through the asteroid belt. Under Jupiter’s gravitational pull, his velocity increased to 65 kilometers per second as he sped toward his destination. At this point, he was approximately 300 million kilometers from the Sun, 480 million kilometers from Jupiter’s orbit, and around 1.1 billion kilometers from Saturn’s orbit. Fortunately, Jupiter, Saturn, and Xiao Yu were currently on the same side of the Sun. Without Jupiter’s gravitational assist, Xiao Yu would have had to spend additional time reaching his destination. In the blink of an eye, nearly three months passed. Xiao Yu’s distance from Jupiter shrank to less than 30 million kilometers. As Jupiter loomed closer, Xiao Yu began contemplating a crucial decision. Should he approach Jupiter to take a closer look? Xiao Yu had already completed calculations on the data collected from Jupiter, but his theories were now at the stage where experimental verification was necessary. Without new experimental data, further progress on his nuclear fusion research was impossible. While Xiao Yu was 90% confident that his final answer lay within his hypotheses, there was always a chance of unforeseen variables. What if he could gather more data through a close-up observation of Jupiter? Wouldn’t his chances of success improve? After all, reaching Jupiter from Saturn later would not be a simple matter. But the dangers were obvious. Although a year had passed since the Earth’s moon collided with Jupiter, a year was but an instant on the cosmic scale. The impact’s effects would not have subsided so quickly. The debris from the collision might still be hurtling through Jupiter’s orbit, and Jupiter’s magnetic field might have undergone changes that could interfere with his spacecraft’s instruments. Gritting his teeth, Xiao Yu weighed his options, frowning deeply, and ultimately decided that he had to take the risk. Curiosity and a thirst for knowledge are fundamental traits of a scientist. As one of the most exceptional scientists, Xiao Yu’s curiosity was so intense it could rival the curiosity that proverbially killed 500 cats. There were two reasons driving him to Jupiter: first, close-up observation would genuinely help his nuclear fusion research, and second, he was deeply curious and eager to see what Jupiter looked like now. “Even so, safety must come first. Hmm... there are about five days left before I reach Jupiter. I’ll use this time to reinforce the spacecraft’s radiation shielding. And I’ll make sure to keep a distance of at least 200,000 kilometers from Jupiter—no closer. Absolutely not closer!” Xiao Yu murmured to himself as he began issuing commands. He directed his eight robots—five of which had been newly built during the journey—to thicken and reinforce the radiation shielding of his spacecraft. At the same time, he activated systems including the Geiger counter, magnetometer, radar collision-avoidance system, and optical detection system, all at maximum power. He even retrieved his only laser cannon, ready to destroy any unavoidable debris. Once all preparations were complete, Xiao Yu silently watched as Jupiter grew larger and larger in his view. His emotions were a mix of nervousness and anticipation. Jupiter’s iconic stripes were now completely gone. Xiao Yu knew this was due to the disruption caused by the collision with the Earth’s moon. Even the Great Red Spot, Jupiter’s most famous feature, had fallen victim to the impact and disappeared without a trace. Closer... even closer... Xiao Yu’s distance from Jupiter shrank to just 2 million kilometers. By now, this was remarkably close, but he pressed on. In about eight hours, he would reach his closest distance—200,000 kilometers—before moving away from Jupiter. The best observation window would last only 16 hours. Xiao Yu’s instruments were operating at full capacity, gathering as much data as possible from Jupiter. Even with all these instruments running, they occupied less than 30% of his central computer’s processing power. This left Xiao Yu plenty of mental bandwidth to simply stare at Jupiter, indulging his curiosity. “It’s... truly spectacular,” Xiao Yu murmured to himself. Behind him was the breathtaking expanse of Jupiter’s rings, with faint glimpses of Europa and Callisto in the distance. Ahead of him loomed the massive form of Jupiter itself. Jupiter now appeared as a chaotic yellowish-brown. Enormous cyclones, visible even to the naked eye, swirled violently across its surface. Xiao Yu had no doubt about their destructive power—if his spacecraft were to enter one, it would be torn apart in less than 0.1 seconds. At the poles, countless brilliant auroras danced in the skies, far more vast and magnificent than those on Earth. With the immense Jupiter as a backdrop, Xiao Yu’s spacecraft resembled a mere mosquito. Eight hours passed, and Xiao Yu’s distance from Jupiter was now 400,000 kilometers. The closest approach—200,000 kilometers—was imminent. Jupiter now filled Xiao Yu’s entire field of view. He could almost see the violent thunderstorms and lightning tearing across Jupiter’s atmosphere. Each bolt of lightning on Jupiter was hundreds of times more powerful than the strongest lightning on Earth. The long arcs of lightning streaked through Jupiter’s clouds, slicing through the sky and unleashing unmatched energy. The sight alone was enough to make Xiao Yu’s blood boil with excitement. 200,000 kilometers. A strange sense of unease crept into Xiao Yu’s mind. Jolted out of his awe, he snapped back to focus. Immediately, a flood of alarming data hit him like a tidal wave. “Why has the radiation intensity suddenly increased so much? Why has the external temperature risen to 200 degrees Celsius? Why are the instruments suddenly malfunctioning?” Xiao Yu shouted angrily as he scrambled to investigate the situation.