Chapter 7 — Cosmic Contract: Alpha Bride

What I need is a place where I can run wild... and make sure you don't find me. 17 The Expeditionary Battleship dispatched a light landing craft, carrying the four of us into the dangerous asteroid belt. The atmosphere in the compartment was extremely tense. Even Hac Tieu - the noisiest person - also became serious, intently controlling the spacecraft through the dense floating meteorite fragments. "Detected a weak distress signal - coordinates 734, but due to too strong interference, it was impossible to locate accurately." Tham Thanh Huyen looked intently at the sensor screen, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Come closer and check." Zhou Yu Shen gave the order. The landing ship carefully approached the signal area. Here, the density of meteorites is much denser, asteroids of different sizes slowly rotate, huge shadows fall as if hiding countless dangers lurking. "Let me go out and take a look." Hac Tieu stood up, preparing to put on a spacesuit. In this type of environment, sensors cannot be as reliable as the human eye. "I'll go too." Chu Du Tham also stood up, his eyes looking towards me. "Lang Da, you stay on the ship, monitor the situation with Thanh Huyen."Opportunity. I immediately shook my head and stood up, my voice carrying a bit of stubbornness and worry: "No, I'll go too. One more person is more strength... plus I want to go with you." I said the last sentence in a low voice, with just the right amount of weakness. Sure enough, Zhou Yushen hesitated. Tham Thanh Huyen spoke up: "The situation outside is complicated, acting together will be safer. I will also go out, the ship will be set to autopilot and alert mode." Finally, all four of us dressed in heavy spacesuits, entered through the air door, into that deadly and dangerous space. Relying on the spacesuit's thrusters, we landed on a relatively large asteroid. Surrounded by endless darkness and giant floating rocks, the light from distant stars became weak and cold. The distress signal in this area seems a bit clearer, but is still heavily disturbed. We spread out to a safe distance and began a meticulous search. 18 My heart was beating faster and faster — right now. I silently adjusted the communication frequency in my spacesuit, keeping only the public channel, then deliberately moved towards an area with a particularly dense concentration of meteorites. "Lang Da, don't go too far." Chu Du Tham's voice rang out through the public channel, carrying worry. "I know, I'll just take a look here." I replied, keeping my tone calm. Behind a giant, misshapen asteroid, I found what I needed. A narrow crack covered in darkness, just big enough for a person to squeeze in, almost impossible to detect from the outside. I took a deep breath, turned my head to look at the three distant figures still searching. Goodbye, you bastards. I immediately turned off all external broadcast signals of the spacesuit, keeping only the lowest level to maintain life. Then, using the thruster, I quietly slid deep inside the crack. The inside was deeper than I thought, and more confusing — like a miniature maze. I turned left and right many times, finally found a fairly discreet recess, turned off the thruster, completely hiding myself in absolute darkness and suffocating silence. The public channel quickly heard Chu Du Tham's voice, somewhat hastily: "Lang Da? If you hear it, answer immediately." Next was Hac Tieu's voice: "Hey! Lang Da! Where have you gone?!" Tham Thanh Huyen's voice was colder and deeper: "The positioning signal has been lost. Last location: area D7."I can imagine the chaos outside. They must be going crazy trying to find me. But I hide very well. Stone in the area

This area has a special composition, causing strong interference to the sensor. Time passes little by little. The amount of oxygen in the life support system is slowly decreasing. Communications from outside began to be chaotic, mixed with noise, but I could still clearly hear the anxiety and anger losing control. “Can't find it…” “The signal is completely jammed…” “Spread out and search! We must find him!” 19 Not knowing how much time had passed, suddenly the entire asteroid belt shook violently. Not an ordinary meteorite impact — but a giant energy shock! The place where I was hiding also began to shake violently, and rubble fell. What's going on? Could it be… an enemy attack?! The public communication channel was immediately drowned out by deafening noise and chaotic screams!