Chapter 1702 The Chosen Captain

Dinner was delivered to the tent that day by the maid, but Captain Miller had no appetite for food.

The dinner was quite sumptuous. The emperor, who was in another tent, seemed to attach great importance to the health of his guest. Even if he was in the wilderness, he did not need to survive in the wilderness. He could also enjoy extremely nutritious field military rations and Captain Miller had never The meat he had enjoyed was already very satisfying - it is said that the Guards killed a lion when they were out scouting for intelligence - he had no psychological barriers to eating protected animals, what really made him lose his appetite was him Information received from the Emperor.

There was a long rough table made of logs in the center of the huge tent. The tall man in armor was sitting behind the long table, his face was exactly the same as what he had seen in his dream. The first time he saw the emperor, he felt his strong presence. Even though the tent was not crowded at all and could even be called empty, he was still a little out of breath. Even so, Captain Miller still felt a strong sense of oppression, as if the air around him was telling him that the emperor's power could even deprive him of his breathing and heartbeat. Different from the gentle conversation in the dream, he felt intense fear.

It's not like he hasn't seen politicians before.

Before becoming a space agency astronaut, he was a test pilot for Lockheed Martin. He had to face auditors sent by Congress and the Pentagon more than once, and when necessary, he also needed to face questions from members of Congress. Some people may feel nervous when facing powerful people, but he hates those cunning and greedy politicians. They always have one eye on their own pockets and the other on looking to fill their pockets with more money. things, and also use it as a standard to measure everything in the world. It seems that everything has a price, the only difference is whether it can be paid.

This time was an exception. Captain Miller could feel that the man in front of him could decide his life or death. The ruler's eyes were looking at him, and the emperor judged whether he was worth his time. Just like what was taught in middle school, centralized rulers must be cruel. He knew that he had no decision-making power under that gaze. , only the one sitting behind the long table. Captain Miller believed that he was not stupid. He had long recognized the identity of the emperor. Even if the guards protecting this tent and the armor on the emperor were wearing it, he could recognize the emperor because he was the focus of the world.

No matter how reluctant the White House and the Pentagon were, the conflict that took place at the United Nations Security Council attracted worldwide attention. The air defense facilities deployed by the U.S. Air Force Command on the east coast became a joke around the world. This was the first time that all Americans truly felt , even in North America is not safe. This is a fear that North American countries have never experienced. No matter how politicians promote it, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq do not have the ability to attack North America. Only the emperor has this ability.

Just as Americans feared Soviet paratroopers falling from the sky during the Cold War, the media gave Him one fearful or admirable title after another, boasted about His abilities and wealth, and compiled slanders and myths that never existed. After that, despair and patriotic feelings spread wildly. Ultra-nationalism and extreme liberalism became the trend again like they did during the Vietnam War, and even began to affect the presidential election. Captain Miller scoffed at the lies of the media.

He never trusted the media because they only spoke on behalf of their sponsors. Now he begins to believe some of it - although he doesn't believe the nonsense taught in schools and the media that totalitarians are synonymous with evil, nor does he get excited when hearing "freedom" and "911" like stupid people. However, he knew the truth of the war - he believed that the Emperor had powers beyond the reach of Superman. He has no doubt that such a person is very charming. The world's mainstream media are speculating on why he was able to form such an army composed of farmers and workers, occupying the entire Balkan Peninsula except Greece, defeating NATO's joint military operations, and threatening The entire Mediterranean countries, including Spain and Egypt, threaten the national defense and economic security of the entire Europe. Some people speculate that the emperor wants to re-establish a country like the Roman Empire that treats the Mediterranean as an inland sea.

He still didn't know why the emperor could talk to him in his dreams, but he was sure that the emperor had some kind of power that he couldn't understand. He did not dare to deny those supernatural events, but after experiencing such a tragedy, he was wary of these supernatural events and people with supernatural powers, and the emperor who saved him was no exception. A gentle man like Dr. Weir has turned mad. Who knows if other people with supernatural powers might be as crazy as Dr. Weir?

He also didn't believe that the emperor would save him without any reason, and his life must be weighed.

The emperor ignored him and continued his work.

He was facing a portable computer and a portable printer. The armored maid was sitting next to the printer binding the printed dossier in brown paper. Captain Miller came closer and saw that there were long swords and large-caliber pistols that he had never seen before on the table. He could smell the faint smell of propellant from the muzzles of the guns. He had never seen this type of weapon, and he had never seen any country's ruler actually use weapons to kill.

In his impression, people who hold power most often collect craft-decorated weapons with beautiful patterns, or they just engage in aristocratic sports like shooting Frisbees and wild ducks with double-barreled shotguns. He really couldn't imagine those congressmen going to the battlefield with guns. The pens used to sign were far more lethal than pistols. There was no need for a real ruler to become a warrior himself, although he knew that such a ruler would be extremely dangerous. He has a charming personality, and it is completely impossible for a totalitarian who killed tens of thousands of people to be born under a democratically elected system.

"Captain Miller." The emperor moved his eyes away from the computer screen and began to pay attention to the only guest in the tent. "I'm glad you're back to health. Your crew has been rescued and there's no need to worry about their health, including Justin."

"I'm very grateful for your help, your Majesty. This title is rare nowadays." Captain Miller sat across the long table under the guidance of the maid. "Although I don't pay much attention to current affairs, I don't think I Wouldn’t you know some impressive ruler.”

The emperor heard the sarcasm in his tone.

He laughed, motioned to the maid to bring him and Captain Miller a glass of strong wine, and then took a sip in front of Captain Miller as a sign of friendship.

"I miss you so much, Tennessee Whiskey." Captain Miller licked his lips. Every gram of weight in a spacecraft needs to be accounted for. During a space mission, it is almost impossible for astronauts other than Russian cosmonauts to come into contact with any alcoholic beverages, let alone spirits. "I haven't drunk wine like this for a long time. I'm curious, as an emperor, how could you drink such low-quality wine from common people?"

"This bottle of wine is placed at the bottom of the supply box. Dinah believes that this wine is not noble enough and can only be used to bribe primitive people. However, all the brandy and vodka have been drunk, and this bottle of whiskey seems quite precious. Part 1 The grain found after a time jump is not suitable for wine making, and my appreciation of wine only stops at whether it suits my appetite. In comparison, I prefer this wine."

"How long have I been unconscious?" Captain Miller asked.

"According to the timetable on the assault boat, it's about a year. But you also know that time has no meaning in the wormhole."

Both sides were silent for a while, only the printer continued to spit out paper tirelessly. After a few minutes, Captain Miller couldn't help but asked a lot of questions. "If I'm not mistaken, we did a time travel. Where exactly are we?"

"I don't mind answering your questions slowly, Captain Miller. Just treat it as a rest." The emperor picked up the cup and pushed a volume of files on the table in front of Captain Miller. "I have to ask you Admit it, there are still many things in this world that are difficult for humans to explain, which are only limited by the level of human knowledge of the times and cannot be understood. Just like Asgard - I believe you must know this - the so-called Asa The Gods are just a group of aliens whose technological level far exceeds that of humans, nothing more.”

"The thing that controls Dr. Will is not some technology that humans don't understand yet." Captain Miller responded angrily, "I thought you were willing to tell me the truth, at least that's what your Praetorian Guards said."

"I am willing to tell you, but I don't know if you want to know." The emperor sighed, "The more you know, the more despair you will feel. At least most people will lose their courage because of too much knowledge."

"I would like to know."

Captain Miller was even more unhappy when he got the answer.

In short, they had time traveled again while he was in a coma, and they were lucky enough to be back on Earth now. The so-called time is a parameter that describes the motion of an object. If they blindly carry out hyperspace navigation, the next landing point will most likely be in space or inside a certain planet. The emperor showed him the data in the files, including the temperature difference between day and night. , air oxygen content, planetary rotation period, plant species, etc., and use these data to infer the time and planet they are in.

Now it is certain that they are still on the earth. The time they are in can only be determined based on the geographical environment and astronomical events. The only good thing is that the Royal Guards did not find dinosaurs or other prehistoric animals. The emperor expressed regret for this. He joked that he wanted to keep a trilobite as a pet, but the oxygen content of the earth at that time might cause oxygen poisoning to ordinary people like Captain Miller.

At the same time, the Emperor admitted to him that there was something in this world that many humans considered supernatural. It’s just that the emperor claimed that it was because science and technology were not advanced enough that many superstitions were born. The emperor used Asgard as an example. The so-called superstitions, gods, and magic were just things that humans at that time were limited by the experience and dogma of the time and could not be explained. Another Dimensions can still be explained by science, but the level of human knowledge has not yet reached that level - the murderers of the two spaceship crews, Dr. Will and his wife Claire, were predators from another dimension. The Emperor called it an extradimensional entity, but Captain Miller thought he was more comfortable calling it a demon. He didn't think it was something that could be understood by a rational human being, but he didn't refute it.

He always felt that the emperor was hiding something, but he couldn't understand what the emperor was hiding from him.

"How do we return to 2016?" Captain Miller asked the question he wanted to know most.

"There are many questions about time travel, but I think we may still follow Novikov's self-consistency principle, that is, the ring world line. What we do will only lead to an increase in entropy of isolated systems, and non-isolated systems may Entropy minus balances out the excess entropy.”

After answering the questions, the emperor also made his own request.

This made Captain Miller relieved. He finally waited for the request to measure his life. He had long known that people like the Emperor would not save him for no reason - the Emperor declared that he had a space fleet that needed a captain. That fleet was far larger than the one that sailed to the edge of the solar system to rescue him, so it also needed many qualified crew members. Although he did not see the so-called space fleet, Captain Miller believed it without hesitation - even when he saw the information about the ships in the file, many space battleships were more than ten kilometers in size.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I need you to command that fleet. When we return to our original point in time, we will face an extremely serious space naval battle. I need qualified captains and officers." The emperor said, "I need you to be the captain, Training the crew. I need your help, Captain Miller. Without you, Earth cannot defeat the invaders."

"Alien invasion? Or demons?"

"I prefer to call it an extradimensional entity. Please remember this name. Superlight navigation cannot leave the outer dimension for the time being. Most people don't know what is in the outer dimension, and I don't want them to know. This will make They lose the courage to explore outside. If humans lose their courage, they will always be babies. Babies cannot face this dangerous universe."

The emperor drank the wine in his hand, and even Captain Miller could detect his dissatisfaction.

"Fortunately, the only aliens we will face for the time being are aliens. I have issued warnings to governments of various countries, telling them that an alien fleet is approaching the earth, and the target is the earth. As you can guess, after a sufficiently advanced Before the advent of observational methods, such warnings were often viewed as madness rather than rationality.”

"So, where is the crew?"

"When the Imperial Guard ends their investigation, we will go to the local indigenous groups to select suitable teenagers. As long as they have enough education and knowledge, I believe they can complete the task."

"I can't live this long," Captain Miller gasped, feeling fooled.

"You can, Captain Miller. You have been in a coma for a year, but do you feel that your muscles have atrophied now?" Upon hearing this, Captain Miller couldn't help but shrink his arms. Apart from the pain when he first woke up, he didn't feel weak. This was another question, so he put it to the emperor, who also answered it. "Your time has been artificially stopped. You cannot wake up until I confirm that you are not contaminated by extra dimensions."

Although it sounds incredible, Captain Miller also believes that it is true. The world knows that the Emperor possesses extremely advanced technology, so perhaps it's no surprise that artificial stasis time exists. Captain Miller felt that he could not understand the world more and more. "You mean, I was able to survive because you allowed it?" Captain Miller was a little unconvinced. He glanced at the pistol on the table, then at the giant sword on the table, and finally thought that the emperor was telling the truth, "Why me?"

"If you die, I can only find suitable candidates among educated indigenous young children. Now that you are alive, an astronaut with rich experience is very suitable for the position I have prepared for you. In addition, I admire you very much. The courage you showed, I wish every human being could have your courage when faced with extradimensional entities."