The doors of the Space Station Docking Bay opened slowly, and a small spaceship flew in. Unlike the main cabin next door, this place didn't have any anxious employees eager to leave on the ship. In fact, there was nothing here at all, because this was a cargo bay originally intended for cargo. It was Nick who had activated remote access privileges, allowing the ship carrying Shiller to come here.
Ben Parker had to make a public appearance, but Shiller didn't necessarily have to. It was best to have one of them in the spotlight and the other in the shadows, because at this point, no one knew exactly what had happened with the Space Station's incident. If the behind-the-scenes manipulator hadn't left yet, there would be trouble.
The moment Ben Parker disembarked from the ship, he sprinted towards the main conference room. With a loud bang, he pushed open the door, and numerous eyes stared at him; even more people stood up.
"Good heavens, Ben?! Weren't you supposed to have gone back to get treated? What are you doing here?!" An old employee under Parker rushed up to him, and Ben Parker quickly embraced him.
"I've come back, my friends. I heard about the power system problem here, and that you were trapped, so I found an old friend at S.H.I.E.L.D. and came over on the evacuation plane."
"You're insane," another female scientist yelled. "We're trapped now, do you want to be the same?! You should not have come back!"
"I know, of course, I know that oxygen is limited..."
"That's not what I mean, this place is dangerous!"
When she seemed to be implying something, Ben Parker walked up to her and said, "Earth hasn't abandoned you; they've been actively working on a solution. Right now, they're mobilizing spaceships from the Solar System's Star Port to come and get you..."
"No, don't let them come," another Black man approached and said, "Something's not right here, I mean there might be someone lying in wait for a long time."
The female scientist took Ben Parker over to a table on the side, which was covered with a lot of research materials and scattered with many scribbles and drawings—the ink was still wet, clearly the result of recent discussions.
"This is Li, who is responsible for the safety system of the Photovoltaic Integrated System, this is Fandral, the Space Station's software coding engineer, and this is Mohammed, the structural engineer..."
After introducing them, the female scientist said, "We had nothing to do here, so we started discussing the cause of the accident. Initially, it was Li who pointed out that the Photovoltaic Integrated System isn't something that could be damaged by wrenches and hammers. Then Fandral also found that the damage to the software and hardware happened almost simultaneously, and that electrical engineer couldn't have the skills to hack the Space Station's power control program..."
The more Ben Parker listened, the more he furrowed his brow. He knew that his colleagues were the elites of humanity, or to put it another way, he was the one with the lowest education and class amongst them. The rest were all graduates from prestigious universities with an average of four or five PhDs each—they wouldn't talk nonsense.
"Having spaceships come now might be problematic," the Black man suggested a very terrifying possibility, "If someone has the ability to destroy the Photovoltaic Integrated System in such a way, and could make half the space station fall, they could definitely make all of it crash. But they haven't done that, they're probably waiting to take us as hostages."
"Their motive is worth considering," the female scientist said, arms crossed. "In fact, this Space Station has taken a new step in the field of human science, but not a big one. Most of the technology here is just an upgraded version of Earth's technology, not any new original technology. Even the materials are just borrowing the shine of metals from other planets."
"To put it exaggeratedly, even we are not the most cutting-edge scientists. The real national treasures are all back on Earth. Destroying us or the Space Station wouldn't be considered a heavy blow to humanity. If I were that person hostile to humans, I certainly wouldn't stop here."
Ben Parker felt increasingly that something was amiss and said, "You mean that the target might actually be the spaceship?"
After exchanging glances, the scientists said, "It's probably worse than that, their target is most likely Earth."
Seeing Ben Parker a bit lost, one of the physicists stood up and said, "The ships we've confiscated from the Kree and the small ships from Wakanda are not the same thing at all, they're incomparable. Their escort ships are true spaceships, not just interstellar vehicles."
"If I were to make an analogy, Wakanda's ships are probably akin to bicycles—they're easy to operate, don't take up much space, don't consume much energy, and more importantly, they're very safe with no component that, if blown up, could cause serious harm."
"The Kree's escort ship could be compared to a tank truck, whether you're driving it or not, just having it start up and parked there is a huge threat."
"Because of what?" Ben Parker asked.
"Gravity," the female scientist answered. "Kree ships have a very comprehensive gravity control apparatus, but Earth does not, which is like you're driving a newly-launched tank truck onto a bonfire— the former has protection, the latter does not."
Ben Parker thought for a moment, then said, "What kind of disaster would uncontrolled gravity cause?"
"Most Kree escort ships aren't big enough, and even with a sophisticated gravity control system, they're not likely to directly alter Earth's orbit. However, gravitational imbalance could potentially lead to uncontrolled tides, possibly triggering tsunamis on Earth, with land also at risk of being submerged by the ocean."
Ben Parker was startled, and the Chinese scientist turned to grab some documents and showed them to Ben Parker, saying, "The Space Station is still orbiting Earth on its predetermined trajectory, and assuming the spaceship to pick us up arrives in two hours, the Space Station will be right above the North American continent. If we want to complete the evacuation in half an hour, the Guard Escort Ship cannot stray too far from the Space Station."
"Such proximity is already enough to trigger tidal fluctuations," the female scientist said, pointing to the diagram above them, "Just a tiny problem with the ship's gravity control systems, and North America could face a terrible tsunami, which would then spread around the globe. The worst-case scenario is that a vast amount of Earth's seawater completely submerges civilization."
Ben Parker felt his head buzzing. He said, "But the spaceship has been modified by many scientists; it shouldn't have any problems, right?"
"In theory, of course not, but don't forget, in theory, the Space Station shouldn't have any problems either."
Ben Parker realized that if no one interfered with the rescue, it might proceed smoothly, but that wasn't a sure thing before figuring out what had gone wrong with the Space Station. No one could guarantee that someone wouldn't have the means to tamper with the spaceship.
Ben Parker looked outside; most of the staff were now gathered in this area. However, there were very few large rooms on the Stella Core Space Station, so most were divided into different small groups, staying in different rooms by department.
It was said to be an idea of the head of the research department, that being with familiar people could reduce panic, and not having large groups together would also prevent the spread of panic. In a small group, just having one clear-headed person could be the mainstay for four or five others, but having more would be unmanageable.
Ben Parker was now very grateful for this decision. The majority of the staff were ordinary technicians, who thought it was just an accidental incident caused by an operator's mistake, not realizing it could be a man-made disaster.
Once they discovered that people on Earth were being saved, they might have reservations, and it would be hard to control the panic.
Ben Parker knew what he needed to do most at the moment. He slipped through each room at the fastest speed, passing the word that he had come back from Earth and that he brought good news, the United Nations had basically decided on a rescue plan, and there was every confidence that everyone could be rescued before the oxygen ran out.
His reassurance was effective because, in people's eyes, a hero choosing to swim against the current at such a time wouldn't lie to them.
Ben Parker had a good reputation, and everyone knew his nephew was a pivotal researcher, who also had a significant relationship with Stark. Even if just to save Ben Parker, they would surely be rescued with every effort; they wouldn't be left here to die.
But returning to the original room, Ben Parker's brows were furrowed with worry. He looked at the few scientists and said, "Do you have any way of figuring out exactly what happened here?"
"Actually, there is a way," the Chinese scientist began, "So far, no one other than that technician on the guide rails has seen exactly how the Photovoltaic Integrated Device was sabotaged."
"Aren't there any cameras around?" Ben Parker asked.
"Actually, there are, but the program was also damaged, which is the key issue." A few scientists gathered around the table and one sketched a simple diagram, saying, "The sabotaged Photovoltaic Integrated Device was the largest in the entire Space Station, and there are a total of 18 cameras that could capture its exterior. About 6 of them could capture the full view."
He marked the approximate positions of the 6 cameras on the diagram, evidently having inspected the site when the Space Station was first constructed and remembered it.
"These 6 cameras were not physically damaged, but as the hardware of the Photovoltaic Integrated Device was sabotaged, the software was also invaded and deleted, wiping the storage of surveillance imagery from the cameras. This is the biggest evidence that the disaster was man-made, because a technician wouldn't have the skills to do all this, unless he had an accomplice who was a computer expert."
"Still, even though the footage was deleted, the cameras themselves were not damaged. If we can get the cameras up and running again, we could capture the damaged state of the Photovoltaic Integrated Device. I'm very familiar with these devices; just one look and I could probably figure out what the perpetrator did."
"What are we waiting for then?" Ben Parker asked.
But quickly, the black scientist shook his head and said, "That's why I'm saying someone is behind this sabotage. The central control room that can access the cameras around the Photovoltaic Integrated Device is on the other side of the Space Station. We just tried to message acquaintances over there, but not one has responded. They might have already..."
The atmosphere in the room became solemn, but Ben Parker countered, "No, they're not dead. Before I came here, I heard that the other half of the Space Station fell, but it's now hovering above the sea to the south of Australia. The people inside are just unconscious."
"Oh, I get it, from the rapid descent, right?" sighed the white-haired scientist among them, "They sure are lucky. If it were me, I'd have died the moment I dropped."
"This person even sabotaged the Photovoltaic Integrated Device from the outside of the Space Station, which shows he must have fully equipped himself, we can't possibly beat him with what we have."
"But we must secretly investigate his identity, as this is also key to whether the Guard Escort Ships can come to save us and how they'll save us."
"Indeed." The female scientist pushed up her glasses and said, "To find this out, we must send someone to the other half of the Space Station... Ben, how did you get here?"