Read Novel Full Chapter 696: An Interesting Conversation
Chapter 696: An Interesting Conversation
The silence stretched between them across the rust-red canyon, thin Martian dust drifting lazily against their boots before Harper finally broke it. He had taken the quiet moment to process Stacy’s points, recognizing the weight of what he had originally proposed.
"You’re right, Stacy. It really isn’t a good idea to do a stream like that," Harper said, his voice quiet over the comms channel.
"What made you change your mind?" Kristopher asked, turning his helmet toward him.
"Well, Stacy hit the nail on the head," Harper explained, letting out a soft sigh. "Think about it. Liam didn’t build these exosuits and give us access to his tech so we could flex on world powers or play media games. He drew a line around us during that fifty-one-minute stream specifically to keep the political circus away from our lives. If we broadcast ourselves live from Mars without talking to him first, we aren’t standing beside him—we’re stepping outside the shield he built for us on purpose."
He looked back toward the Titanium Eagle, its polished composite hull reflecting the pink Martian sky.
"If we drop a stream like that out of nowhere, media pundits and intelligence agencies are going to spin it like we’re some kind of independent military faction or political proxy," Harper continued. "That forces Liam to waste energy managing the fallout or maybe even answering questions about what we’re doing out here. He’s already carrying the weight of the cosmos on his shoulders. The last thing he needs is us adding unnecessary political noise."
"I’m glad you saw the point I was trying to pass," Stacy smiled. "We will definitely do the livestream in the future and it will be with Liam. And trust me, the reaction to it will be way more dramatic compared to when we do it without him."
Matt nodded in complete agreement, clapping a gloved hand onto Harper’s shoulder. "Then the decision is made. We enjoy our time out here, then take our short trip through the solar system."
"Besides," Alex added with a grin, breaking the heavy mood, "we’ve got an eighty-meter luxury space yacht parked right behind us, a synthesizer downstairs capable of making any meal on Earth, and an entire solar system to explore whenever we want. I think we’re doing just fine."
A warm wave of chuckle rippled through the group’s headsets, clearing away the lingering tension. They spent another hour taking in the sweeping expanse of Valles Marineris, leaping across the low-gravity terrain.
Hours later, they all, including Yanxia, climbed back onto the Titanium Eagle’s boarding lift.
With a soft hum of its sub-light impulse drive, the luxury vessel lifted gracefully off the Martian soil, banked into a sweeping arc, and folded space—vanishing back toward the asteroid belt in an instantaneous flash of light.
They spent the remainder of the Earth day exploring the vast, quiet expanse of the asteroid belt—floating through the debris fields, reaching out to touch ancient space rocks, and pocketing fist-sized metallic souvenirs, despite having done the exact same thing during their previous trip.
Matt and Alex even attempted to shave off a small sample from 16 Psyche, desperately trying not to leave a noticeable mark on the heavy densely mineral rich asteroid, but they were completely unsuccessful.
The scene brought a round of warm laughter from the rest of the group, serving as a humorous demonstration of unyielding human greed.
Leaving the asteroid belt behind, they engaged the sub-light drive and warped out to Jupiter, bringing the Titanium Eagle into a high orbit to observe the monstrous, yet breathtaking gas giant.
"I still can’t believe Liam actually descended straight into the Red Spot in a space shuttle," Lana muttered softly, staring out the panoramic viewport at the swirling, centuries-old hurricane raging beneath them.
"I guess it just goes to show how amazing he is, and how terrifyingly capable Lucy’s engineering is," Alex said, shaking his head. "The two of them complement each other to a level that creates events the rest of the world can barely fathom."
"Exactly," Matt agreed, looking at the Great Red Spot with deep respect. "Liam’s courage to dive into a monster like that, combined with the engineering required to withstand an anticyclonic storm moving at over four hundred miles per hour... people on Earth don’t talk about that enough. It takes more than just raw confidence. It takes trust. Absolute, unyielding trust."
"True," Kristopher chuckled, leaning back against the bridge console. "Flying an exosuit out into open space is already nerve-wracking enough. If I were in his shoes diving into Jupiter, I probably would’ve shit myself."
A ripple of warm smiles spread through the group, each of them holding slightly different yet fundamentally identical thoughts about the friend currently sitting in silent meditation out between the stars.
They spent over half an hour taking in the quiet majesty of the Jovian system before deciding to call it a day and return home.
As Matt had noted earlier, the Titanium Eagle possessed the fuel, life support, and atomic synthesizers to take them on an extended voyage across the entire solar system without a single issue. But today had been an unplanned joyride—a chance to test out Matt’s new shuttle. Taking a multi-week deep space expedition could wait for another time.
***
The Titanium Eagle touched down on the private tarmac of Liam’s tropical island with absolute, frictionless grace. A few seconds later, the circular boarding platform descended smoothly from the underbelly, bringing the group back onto the warm pavement.
They stepped off with satisfied, relaxed expressions, though Matt easily wore the widest grin of them all.
"So, have you decided where you’re actually going to park it?" Elise asked, shielding her eyes against the afternoon sun as she looked up at the eighty-meter iridescent hull. "Or hangar it? I don’t even know what the proper term is for a personal space shuttle."
"I really don’t have a choice but to leave it parked right here on Liam’s tarmac," Matt replied with a chuckle. "I definitely don’t have space in my driveway for something that’s longer than the largest Boeing 777 variant. And it’s not like I can just roll up to a commercial airport and explain the situation to air traffic control."
He paused, a smirk spreading across his face. "They’d immediately escort me to a black site military base, and we all know how that story plays out. They wouldn’t just ground it and inspect it like they tried to do with Liam’s A380—they’d slap a classified ’National Security’ stamp on the hull and try to confiscate it on the spot."
"Oh, absolutely," Harper burst out laughing as they began walking toward their parked private A380. "Can you imagine the air traffic control logs? ’Tower, this is private luxury space shuttle requesting clearance to park next to Gate 4B.’ They’d think it was a terrorist threat or an alien invasion!"
"And the moment you stepped out in your carbon-nanotube vacuum suit," Alex added, clutching his stomach as he walked up the jetway ramp, "the military would have twenty attack helicopters surrounding you while some general screamed through a megaphone, demanding you hand over the keys to the alien technology!"
"And Matt would just be sitting there like, ’Guys, please, I just want to go home and sleep!’" Stacy chimed in, eliciting another roar of laughter from the entire cabin as they stepped into the luxurious interior of the A380.
"Hey, if the government ever tried to impound my ship," Matt declared, settling into one of the plush leather armchairs with a proud grin, "I’d just tell the AI to engage active cloaking and hover ten feet above their heads while I waved down at them."
"Don’t give them any ideas," Kristy smiled, handing out chilled glasses of water as the plane’s automated system prepared for taxi. "Though seeing a military tribunal realize their handcuffs don’t work on an advanced space shuttle would be worth the headline."
The warm banter continued to flow freely as the A380 taxied down the runway, lifted off into the tropical sky, and set a course back toward their hometown. The thrill of flying through the solar system at FTL speeds was still buzzing in their veins, but beneath the jokes, a quiet sense of comfort settled over them.
They had tasted the stars, seen the true scale of the universe, and returned to the quiet reality of Earth.