"Impressive, but not as impressive as a hub station."
Jiang Ye said to Xu Yan beside him, looking at the space station outside the car window.
"A hub station is a transportation hub. Even a small space station there has investments in the hundreds of billions. We can't compare for now," Xu Yan smiled.
The space station was located in the wilderness ten kilometers from the oil city. Ninety percent of its area was open space like an apron. Metal energy towers stood every few hundred meters, along with four waiting halls the size of sports fields. The streamlined buildings, with their metal and glass facades, gleamed like quartz in the sunlight.
The flying car landed in the parking lot in front of the waiting hall.
As Jiang Ye and Xu Yan got out of the car, several staff members immediately stepped forward to take Jiang Ye's suitcase.
Led by the staff, the two walked briskly forward towards the boarding gate.
"It's about ten minutes until we board," Xu Yan glanced at her watch. "The ticket I bought for you is for a small interstellar spaceship. For your safety, I booked a fully automated one. You'll be the only living person on the entire ship."
"Do I need to pilot it?" Jiang Ye asked in surprise.
"You do need to pilot it. Don't worry, you can operate it by voice. Once you're on board, just say 'Go to the hub station,' and you won't have to worry about anything else," Xu Yan patted his shoulder.
"Actually, I prefer those rockets that are like long-distance buses, where people live on the rocket, with all sorts of commercial and entertainment facilities. You don't have to worry about anything," Jiang Ye smiled.
"Those are too expensive, and slow. The ship you're taking has a warp drive. Under normal circumstances, it will take 24 hours to reach the hub station. I guess you want to see your girlfriend sooner, right?" Xu Yan tilted her head.
"You understand me!" Jiang Ye's eyes lit up.
He would see his girlfriend in a day! Just thinking about it made him excited!
Cen Yemeng would surely be overjoyed to see him suddenly!
As the saying goes, a brief separation is better than a new marriage. They hadn't seen each other for several months, and Jiang Ye's mood was now similar to that of a groom on his wedding eve.
A whistling sound suddenly came from the sky.
The spaceships he had seen before made a tremendous amount of noise. The sound of their landing could travel at least ten kilometers, and without covering your ears, your eardrums might bleed.
But the whistling sound this time was not loud, similar to a civilian airliner, giving the impression of a small craft arriving.
Jiang Ye looked up and quickly realized it was an illusion.
The small black dot in the sky grew larger and larger, eventually becoming a behemoth hundreds of meters in diameter, landing in the center of the vast space station.
The spaceship was a perfect sphere, looking like it was drawn with a compass from any angle. The entire hull was jet black, with the words "Xiangliu Interstellar Travel Company" and a large logo painted on it. Perhaps due to its high speed through the atmosphere, the entire hull was emitting wisps of steam, like a freshly steamed bun.
Xu Yan led Jiang Ye over, and a small door automatically opened at the bottom of the ship, revealing a staircase.
Taking his suitcase from the accompanying staff, Jiang Ye waved goodbye to Xu Yan. "See you!"
"See you!" Xu Yan waved back.
"Oh, right!" Jiang Ye remembered something. "At seven o'clock tonight, on the 33rd floor of the Macroeconomic Building, some handsome young men are waiting for you."
Xu Yan was stunned for a moment, then broke into a delighted smile. "Okay, okay! Thank you!"
Jiang Ye had promised to treat her to a blind date gathering for a long time but had been too busy to fulfill it. Now, he had finally kept his promise.
He went up the stairs, and the hatch closed slowly below him.
The interior of the spaceship was revealed to Jiang Ye.
From the outside, the ship's hull was metallic, but looking from the inside out, it was transparent, with a texture like dark glass, allowing a view in all directions.
All sorts of rooms were available: a control room, a bedroom, a bathroom, a dining room... it was like a spherical house.
Jiang Ye placed his suitcase by the bed in the bedroom and walked into the control room.
As soon as he entered, a mechanical voice sounded, "Identity confirmed, Jiang Ye. You may proceed with piloting."
"Go to the hub station," Jiang Ye said tentatively.
"Confirm command, proceeding to the hub station?"
"Confirm!"
"Destination confirmed, hub station orbit. Navigation mode: 10% anti-gravity propulsion, 90% warp propulsion. Estimated arrival in 22 hours!"
Jiang Ye immediately felt like he was in an elevator. The spaceship ascended silently, its speed increasing, the friction with the air creating a whistling sound. The space station below seemed to shrink as if falling away.
The distant oil city became visible, with its vast buildings and the cylindrical oil derricks in the oil fields, all lit up.
Soon, the oil city also shrunk to a small point of light on the vast land, and the entire continent and ocean could be seen.
The spaceship broke through the clouds. The clouds today covered the sky, appearing like a white plain under the sun. The clouds were puffy, like thousands of unshorn sheep.
Jiang Ye sat in the control room for a while. The main control screen displayed a dazzling array of data.
He felt... like he really didn't have anything to do?
Just giving a command was enough?
He left the control room and went to the kitchen.
It was also equipped with a food printer and a small refrigerator. Opening the refrigerator door, he found it filled with bottles of wine, both red and white, with two small labels on each bottle.
Jiang Ye picked up a bottle and looked at the tiny characters on the label.
[Château Nathaniel Simpson Cabernet Sauvignon]
[Complimentary]
Well, there was even complimentary wine.
Since he had paid for it, Jiang Ye didn't stand on ceremony. He grabbed a wine glass, opened the bottle, and poured himself a glass.
After a couple of sips, he had a sudden idea: was there internet in this spaceship? Could he go online and search for the price of this wine?
He took out his phone, and a network connection prompt immediately appeared: "Xiangliu Interstellar Travel Spaceship Dedicated Network."
He clicked on it, and indeed, he was connected!
Jiang Ye searched for the name of the red wine and quickly found the exact same bottle on a shopping website. The discounted price for the bottle in his hand was 28,800 yuan. Not bad, it turned out to be a good wine!
It instantly tasted better!
The internet on the spaceship was not the planetary network of Jiang Ye's planet.
So, could he contact other planets? Could he call Cen Yemeng?
Jiang Ye suddenly became excited. He still remembered Cen Yemeng's number and dialed it with trembling fingers.
It actually went through!
His blood surged, and the excitement felt like a volcanic eruption. He pressed the speakerphone button and waited in silence.
Finally, a female voice sounded.
But it was not Cen Yemeng's voice.
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is out of service area. Please try again later!"
"Reasons for being out of service area include: signal interference, war zone signal jamming, the dialed user is outside the network range, network failure..."
Jiang Ye sat on the chair and sighed deeply.
Oh well, he would just see her in person when he arrived and give her a surprise.
The spaceship's broadcast suddenly sounded overhead:
"Warp drive engagement commencing. Countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!"
The view outside the spaceship suddenly changed!