Chapter 854: The Fascination of Human Space Endeavors (Part 1) (Patreon)

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"How come it's you again?" Stark leaned against the door frame, watching Polaris diligently filling out the materials. He said, "Are you here on Congress's behalf to slow down our progress?"

"Tony Stark!" Polaris slapped the wall with her palm, glaring at him. "You, the damned playboy with nothing to do, can you please keep your mouth shut? If you stay here like this, tomorrow I'll go tell Pepper that you'd rather stand at the door daydreaming than go on a date with her!"

Stark rolled his eyes and straightened up. "If it weren't for your genuinely useful abilities, I would never have allowed mutants to be involved in this project."

Before Polaris could reply, Stark extended his hand and said, "Don't accuse me of discriminating against mutants. Do you have any idea of the mess you guys caused? Have you filled in that huge pit under the Mercury Base?"

Polaris, somewhat annoyed, tossed aside the materials in her hand and said, "They are them, and I am me. Wasn't I doing transportation work just fine before? Instead of blabbering here, you better go fix your hair that looks like it's made of crumbled dirt, deep brown curls? My goodness, I thought I saw my grandfather for a moment!"

After saying that, Polaris picked up the materials, walked past Stark, and brushed past him. Stark turned his head to look at her, running his hand through his hair, and said, "Hey, this is authentic American retro. You, tasteless girl!"

Polaris couldn't be bothered to argue with him, so she left Stark Tower. After getting into her car, she finally began to look at the materials she had received. As she read through them, she couldn't help but let out a surprised exclamation.

"Solar System traffic management work? What is this job? Is there really a need for traffic management within the Solar System?" Polaris muttered, "Stark wouldn't be pulling my leg, would he?"

Finishing her sentence, she lowered her head and opened the set of specialized space work attire she had just received. Inside were a set of space work uniforms, an instruction manual, and an emergency communication device.

Feeling somewhat puzzled, Polaris skipped the instruction manual and began examining the work attire. She noticed that the work attire had an X engraved on the edge, clearly designed for mutants. The material was very soft, just like regular clothing, and it didn't seem like it could provide much protection. Only the helmet was rigid, somewhat resembling a space suit helmet.

Polaris couldn't help but make a slightly disdainful expression, but she still put on the outfit before heading into space. However, she soon realized that the outfit looked much uglier than she had imagined.

Compared to typical space work attire, it resembled more of a diving suit, particularly an outdated one that didn't conform to the body's curves. It failed to showcase the elegant lines Polaris had worked so hard to maintain. The helmet, in particular, was hideous, covering her trendy green hair and making her look like a light bulb.

Just as Polaris was standing in space, debating whether to go back and change into her own uniform, she suddenly felt a shockwave with a "bang."

Startled, Polaris looked around and realized that about 20 meters diagonally in front of her, two strange objects had collided.

She quickly flew over and discovered that it seemed to be two spacecraft that had collided.

Approaching the scene of the accident, Polaris picked up a piece of debris and carefully examined it. She found that one of them was Stark's transport unit, bearing Stark's surname, and the other appeared to be an experimental unit launched by some country, containing a tomato and two green beans.

Looking at the tomato and beans inside the experimental capsule, Polaris felt extremely confused. She wasn't well-versed in space experiments, so she decided to use the emergency communication device.

To her surprise, Stark himself answered the call. Though Polaris was somewhat irritated, she still told him, "Stark, one of your transport units collided with... a tomato and beans. Aren't you going to come and take a look?"

"Tomato and beans?!" Stark's voice sounded baffled. He continued, "Lorna Dane, I understand some people like to have a drink before work to get inspired. It works for them. But you can't have had that much to drink before going into space, right?"

"How could my aircraft collide with a tomato and beans?" Polaris was about to speak when, suddenly, another "bang" rang out behind her. This time, the impact was a bit farther, approximately 200 meters away. Polaris set down the tomato and beans she was holding and flew towards the new accident site.

There, she found something even stranger. One of the objects was another of Stark's units, resembling an antenna placed in orbit above a base. The other one bore the United Nations logo and contained a loudspeaker.

"What is this?" Polaris reached out and retrieved the loudspeaker from the wreckage. She pressed a button, and a somewhat familiar voice emanated from it.

"The following broadcast is about the Human Space Heritage Inheritance Act... Earth is a society governed by law, and we want to emphasize that there are comprehensive legal regulations governing human inheritance of space heritage. Our inheritance of all heritage is fair, legal, and compliant..."

"What's going on? Why is Nick's voice here?" Stark's voice on the other end of the line sounded puzzled. "Haven't you gone up yet? Are you with S.H.I.E.L.D.? Did Nick ask you to make up some nonsense again?"

Polaris didn't know how to explain the situation, so she flew back to the first accident scene, opened the camera on her uniform, and extended her arm towards Stark. "Look, this is the tomato and beans I just mentioned..."

Her words were interrupted as another spacecraft floated past her, looking damaged on one side, now drifting aimlessly in space like space debris.

Polaris intercepted the spacecraft and discovered that this one was likely from the same country as the previous one with tomatoes and beans, even the design of the experiment capsule was identical.

She opened the experimental capsule again, and this time, she was even more baffled. Inside, there were potatoes, soybeans, wheat seeds, Chinese cabbage, carrots, broccoli, an unfamiliar soil with a slight odor, and even a bundle of hay.

Stark also saw all of this simultaneously. Polaris shook her head and said, "It seems like these spacecraft are from the same country, but I don't know which one."

"China!!!!" Stark's roar echoed through space. "JARVIS, get me connected to SPEAR immediately! Tell them to stop launching vegetables, fruits, seeds, soil, and fertilizers into space! Space is not for farming! It's not!"

"What? How many billions? No amount is acceptable! There's no space for farming at Mercury Base! Venus? Absolutely not! Mars?... Yes, I know Mars has a suitable climate, but still, it's not... Fine."

"Listen, you can't just launch spacecraft randomly like this. It might damage my transport spaceship... No, my transport spaceship also has no room for these vegetables and fruits... Seeds? Hey, buddy, you need to understand that my transport spaceship is specifically for high-science and technology materials..."

"You have high-science and technology seeds? But... how do I make you understand? No, I won't go. I don't have the time... A video meeting? Are you going to teach me how to farm? Alright, alright, I'll be there..."

Then, Polaris heard Stark's voice through the phone again. He said, "Tidy up the scene."

"How should I tidy it up?" Polaris asked.

"Use your magnetic force to drag them into the Sun, or make them disappear. Don't let these things obstruct the road. After all, there will be more spaceships transporting resources along this route," Stark instructed.

Polaris was about to act when Stark's voice suddenly grew quieter, indicating he was talking to someone else. He said, "...Really? Send the tomatoes, beans, potatoes, soybeans, wheat, Chinese cabbage, carrots, broccoli, soil, and hay back to them? Do you know how precious my time is? What? How many billions? Saudi Arabia? What's the connection with Saudi Arabia? Are you saying this experiment is for cultivation in arid conditions? And Dubai?"

"Alright, wait... Hey, Schiller, what are you saying? Wait, my psychologist has some objections... You say no broccoli? Why not broccoli? One of your personalities hates broccoli that much? But they're offering a high price!"

"Okay, no broccoli, Lorna, no broccoli. Don't bring back the broccoli, or my psychologist will go crazy!"

Polaris, who had been listening in space for a while, rolled her eyes and sighed, holding her arms. She said to Stark, "So, you want me to carry all these... well, vegetables, seeds, fertilizers, and even a bundle of hay back? Stark, I work for you, but I'm not your slave. Slaves at least had carts and donkeys. You want me to carry these things back?"

"Suppose I agree, can I even carry them back? Where do I put them?"

Before Stark could respond, Polaris felt another vibration, and as she turned, she saw two more objects colliding. No, this time, it wasn't just two; the accident site was closer to the second one, and it started with a transport unit with two wings colliding with the previous two damaged machines, causing a chain reaction.

Polaris flew over, but the more she flew, the more uneasy she felt because she kept seeing strange things floating by. First, there were two packages of U.K. red tea, then a Mexican banana, two Cuban cigars, three large lemons from Sicily, two German sausages, a Russian loaf of bread...

Stark's furious voice reverberated in space, "JARVIS! Connect me to the United Nations! Why are they sending all this miscellaneous stuff into space?"

Polaris, in the middle of space, looked at these items and felt extremely perplexed.

After a while, Stark's voice, now filled with resignation, came through, "Take a sample of one item and bring it back to them. As for the transportation method, I'll send a transport ship up later. You load everything into it."

"Oh my god! I thought they would use the high-science and technology I provided to start an arms race, manufacturing various space weapons at the very least. Or they could improve transportation efficiency and start transporting various resources to space. But what are they doing? A space agricultural expo?!"

"Does space radiation benefit crops? I don't know," Polaris wiped her mouth and said, "But it definitely doesn't help sausages, and it's rock hard, I can attest to that."

"You actually tried them? How do they taste?"

"Not great. Burp."

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 855: The Fascinating Moment of Human Space Travel (Part 2)