Capítulo 1272: Chapter 863: Splendid Stars (Part 8)_1
In the vast cosmos, boundless darkness predominates, yet in the distance, celestial bodies shimmer faintly under the illumination of distant stars.
A colossal battleship, akin to a huge beast, sails past a giant gas planet, leaving a trail of light across the cosmos.
A faint cool light trail lights up as the cruiser returns to its mothership. Accompanied by a metallic hum, the massive doors open.
The people stepping out from inside are not like those from sci-fi movies, dressed in futuristic uniforms and armed with various weapons. On the contrary, the leader is wearing a robe and even holding a longsword.
Crossing through the large corridor, waiting for the hatch to open, and just entering the control room, another similarly dressed person comes over and says, "Princess Sif, our cruise is nearing its end. Do you see anything that we have missed?"
Sif, leading the group, caresses the hilt of her sword and says, "I remember there were some peripheral areas we haven't been to yet. How has Midgard been lately?"
"All is well, your highness." The second-in-command of the Asgard Cruise Ship leads Sif to the ship's control panel.
He points to the information on it and says, "We have completed the patrol routes of all nine kingdoms, but on the way back, we should pass by Midgard. Would you like to have a look?"
Sif frowns, looking somewhat worried. She remarks, "His Majesty the God King specifically asked me to keep an eye on the human race. They are the fastest developing race among the Nine Kingdoms and also the one with the most potential."
"Our livespan is different from theirs, as is our concept of time. It is very likely that in what for us was only a century, they may have ventured beyond the Milky Way."
The first mate nods his head in agreement, "Indeed, there has been explosive growth in their technology in recent years. We should keep a close watch on them to prevent any trouble."
"Alright, let's visit on our way back, but we won't directly barge in. The humans value this area highly. If our ship passes directly, they'll panic."
After some thought, Sif says, "First, let's contact the human official organization and tell them that we are just passing by. Our ship won't enter the Solar System and won't disturb their normal activities. The earth does not have equipment that could detect our ship, so they don't need to worry."
The first mate nodded and went to make arrangements immediately. But soon he returned, looking somewhat troubled and said, "According to the information we have, Earth does not have a central governing authority. If we contact one of their so-called 'nation-states,' won't that stir up their internal conflicts?"
Sif nodded approvingly at him and replied, "Queen Frigga was right about you being a seasoned captain. The composition of human governments is indeed complex. While they don't have a central authority, we can contact organizations that stand above worldly politics, such as S.H.I.E.L.D."
The first mate nodded, then went to contact S.H.I.E.L.D. After a while, he came back to say, "The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D agrees with our passing by for patrol, as long as the humans don't see our ship."
Sif shrugged slightly saying, "Surprisingly, didn't Fury take this opportunity to negotiate some conditions? When I was on Earth, he came off as a money-grubbing bastard. It's good that he sees the big picture."
"No, he made no requests. However, I heard some commotion in the background of the call. It seemed like he was arguing with someone."
"Arguing?" Sif squinted her eyes and said, "People on Earth quarrel every day. But, those who could argue with Nick Fury...never mind, let's go ahead."
The colossal ship of Asgard quietly floated in the vacuum of space. As it accelerated, the trail of light from its travels remained in place, unable to disperse for a long time.
Not long after, the voice of the first mate echoed in the main control room: "We are approaching Midgard, stabilizing dimensions..."
"Environment stable, mothership warp commencing..."
"Warp complete, heading to the Solar System... We've arrived at our destination. Princess Sif, how should we proceed?" the first mate asked.
"It seems pretty calm around here..." Sif stood near the control room window, looking outside. She said, "Alright then, let's...wait, what is that?!"
Sif furrowed her brows, looking at a mysterious sphere that had appeared outside the window.
She squinted for a closer look and noticed it looked like many strange metals squashed together under extreme pressure to form a sphere; even the center had collapsed.
Sif showed an extremely puzzled expression; then furrowed her brows in disgust as she identified human lettering on the metal components. Judging by the sphere's structure, it seemed to be garbage discarded by humans.
"By the Father of All Gods, how far away can the humans throw their space garbage?!" The first mate's astonished voice came from behind Sif. He exclaimed, "As I recall, just a few days ago, they could only discard trash in the vicinity of Earth, right??"
Sif sighed and said, "They really are a handful. But it's understandable. After all, they are a junior space civilization with no means of handling space garbage and can only throw it into the distance. However, this is very dangerous."
"When they developed primitive space ships, they still needed to rely on chemical fuels. They weren't so smart about planning paths, and their radius of exploration wasn't wide enough. If garbage crosses their flight path and they collide with it, it would be catastrophic."
"If they don't properly manage their garbage in the early stages of development, they will have to pay a tenfold or hundredfold price later to clean up this mess."
Sif shook her head, her expression somewhat complicated. "I don't know whether to call them audacious or genius. They can't get their spaceships out of the solar system, but they sure can throw their trash beyond it."
"I bet it was Stark's doing. Only he could toss trash that far ..."
"Should we... Lady Sif, should we help them clean up? After all, His Majesty the God King reminded us that they are an important part of the Nine Major Kingdoms. Moreover, His Majesty the God King sees great potential in them. He often says that if Asgard can lend a hand without disrupting their normal duties, we should help them..."
Sif nodded in agreement. "Indeed, moreover, this isn't a big problem. Many novice space civilizations commit this mistake... All right, activate the two cannons on the spaceship to get rid of the trash."
The first officer saluted and immediately implemented the action. Outside the porthole, a flash of light, and the ball of trash disappeared.
Sif looked at the clean starry sky with satisfaction and said, "Unlike those male gods, I cannot stand it when my house is full of trash. Trash must be cleaned up promptly to avoid a messy and dirty environment."
The first mate laughed, "Your Highness, you've been like this since you were a little girl, which is why His Majesty the God King sent you on patrol..."
Sif snorted, "The reason he sent me on patrol is indeed because I like cleanliness. But, it is to keep me from nagging him about the mess he makes in the Fairy Palace's living quarters."
The first officer and a few other crew members chuckled. As they were chatting, a crew member suddenly reported, "Lady Sif, we've found another space trash similar to the previous one, but this time it's larger and much closer to the solar system..."
Sif immediately furrowed her brows and walked over. Looking through the porthole, she saw that the crew member was right: another, larger trash ball had appeared in the empty cosmos.
Even more outrageous was that the trash ball was not only larger but more densely packed, even beginning to generate its own gravitational field.
Many of Asgard's detectors were designed to detect enemy weapons and traps on the battlefield, so they are very sensitive to gravity. Gravity traps are the most common kind of trap. Even civilizations just starting out with space colonization can adeptly use this kind of trap, necessitating vigilance from Asgard.
Thus, this trash ball with its special gravitational field, stood out like a flare in Asgard's detection system.
Sif furrowed her brows even further, "Really now, they've barely built a few spaceships, but the trash is already littering everywhere... Forget it, open the cannons and help them clean it up."
Several light beams shot out again, causing the trash ball to disappear instantly. Yet, before the spaceship had traveled much further, another trash ball showed up.
Sif put her hands on her hips, visibly annoyed, "It's bad enough that they're discarding trash, but why do they have to ball up all the trash so tightly? Don't they know this is like making a bomb?"
"And not just any bomb, a sizeable one at that. In the end, who's going to get blown up? Isn't it still going to be them in the future?... Humans are always like this, fine, open the cannons, any similar trash balls we see, we clean up."
"Once we're back, I'm going to lodge a complaint with Thor. He really should do something about the humans. The Nine Major Kingdoms belong to every living being here. Their environmental pollution will eventually create trouble for the Fairy Palace!"
"Report! Lady Sif, we've found over a dozen similar objects in the vicinity, should we clean them all up?!"
Sif looked at the control panel, indeed there were more than a dozen red dots scattered around. She held her forehead and said, "Clean them up first, then speed towards the solar system. We need to have a talk with Nick Fury. We can't let them continue like this."
Following the space trash balls, clearing one after another, they soon approached the solar system. Then Sif said, "Hold on. Don't bring the mothership any closer as it might scare them; have two escort ships come instead, equipped with additional cloaking modules. First officer, stay with the mothership, form a small team to accompany me into the solar system."
"Oh right, before we go in, give Nick Fury a call." Sif waved her hand, the first officer again followed her order. However, he came back after a while and said, "Director Fury's phone is unreachable. Seems like he's busy..."
"Then call Stark." Sif said again. The first officer dialed once more, but he came back shortly and said: "Seems like Stark is also busy. His AI Butler answered the call..."
"Forget it, report this to His Majesty the God King and let him communicate with the Earthlings. We're going in for now."
Frowning, Sif said, "This close to the solar system, these piles of garbage can only mean the situation within the solar system is worse. If we don't hurry up and deal with it, humans are going to blow themselves up."
After speaking, she sighed, "Just what is wrong with this race? Why are they so obsessed with making bombs? Do they want to blow themselves up?"
As she lamented, Sif went down to the lower deck and onto the ramp of the escort ship, with the other crew members following behind.
The commander of the escort ship saluted her. The two escort ships, one leading the other, entered the Solar System at tremendous speed.
Then, the sight before Sif left her astounded.
The space from Earth to the sun was densely packed with trash.
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