Chapter 103: Modified Gauss Rifle

An image played on the large screen at the front of the room. It showed a saucer-shaped UFO. At its widest point, it spanned about 5,000 meters, with a vertical height of roughly 2,000 meters.

On the underside of the craft gaped a massive hole, over 600 meters in diameter! The surrounding metal was violently caved in, fractured like shattered glass.

Inside the captain’s quarters, the experts were buzzing with discussion. One weapons specialist excitedly pointed at the screen. “It was hit by a heavy weapon, and the entire engine system was completely destroyed. Look here, these metal edges are relatively smooth because they were vaporized instantly by a high-energy blast. This breach is very likely the main reason the UFO crashed!”

“Fortunately, the engine didn’t detonate after taking that hit!”

“And… these long, spiraling pipes could be ion cannons or laser weapons! Our robots tried to detach them, but the disassembly process is proving incredibly difficult.”

“Forcing it might damage the weapon, but there have to be other ways…”

They debated loudly about using robots to salvage more technology. It was hard to fathom just how many generations ahead of humanity this ship was. They wanted those weapons desperately. Having seen a glimmer of hope, they were unwilling to give up.

“See that?” another expert pointed. “This giant cylindrical tube, hundreds of meters across, is very likely the ship’s main cannon! I wonder what kind of firepower it packs. It’s a shame… the interior is totally wrecked, so we can’t restore it.”

“Exactly! The inner ring of the UFO is completely sealed off, and our robots can’t get inside yet. But we could use this breach. There might be a path leading into the core from there!” an expert shouted, struck by a sudden flash of inspiration.

He had a point.

Jason’s heart stirred. They had been searching for so long and found plenty of useful scrap, but everyone was holding out for the pristine inner ring.

So far, they hadn’t found a way in; a series of heavy blast doors blocked every corridor. If this massive hole could be cleared, they might just find a way to slip inside!

The team continued strategizing until noon before reluctantly taking a break. After lunch, Jason headed straight for Lily’s laboratory.

Lily hadn’t joined the Wolfpack Design Bureau or the Tesla Division; instead, she had teamed up with her father at the Superhuman Lab.

Although the Superhuman Lab focused primarily on biology, they also tackled physics and chemistry, making it a highly versatile research hub. With her skills, she easily secured a respected position there.

“How’s it going? Is everything ready?” Having worked together for so long, they were comfortable with one another. Skipping the formalities, Jason sat down across from Lily and casually picked up a few blueprints to review.

Lily glanced at him, her fingers still flying across her keyboard, and replied distractedly, “It’s mostly ready. I’ve prepared professional climbing gear and high-strength, ultra-light carbon fiber ropes. The grappling hooks are calibrated for a maximum range of over 400 meters under Mars’ gravity.”

Jason picked up a coil of the specially fabricated rope and gave it a hard tug. It was highly flexible and incredibly tough.

“What about the new spacesuits?” he asked. “Any issues? We need them finished as soon as possible; we only have a few days left.”

Lily nodded, stood up, and retrieved a lightweight suit from a nearby cabinet, handing it to Jason.

“No major issues. This suit is much lighter than the older models and offers excellent radiation shielding. However, we can’t mass-produce the nanomaterials inside yet, so the manufacturing cost is astronomical. Based on my calculations, each suit costs at least sixty million dollars to make!”

Sixty million dollars? You could buy a private jet for that!

Jason didn’t care about the price tag. He pulled on the suit and locked the glass helmet into place. It felt incredibly light.

Once pressurized, the suit puffed up slightly in sections, feeling much like a thick winter coat. It was a massive upgrade from the old, bulky suits that weighed tens of kilograms.

Lily looked him over. “There isn’t much oxygen stored inside the suit itself. You’ll need to attach an oxygen tank to the back for extended use.”

She pulled out a 1-kilogram metal cylinder and locked it onto Jason’s back. “One of these tanks lasts about 6 to 8 hours, so you’d better carry spares. If the suit gets punctured, the air will vent quickly, leading to rapid decompression and a real risk of suffocation. I’ve packed emergency repair patches and sealant in this thigh compartment, just in case.”

“And this port here is for medical injections.”

The entire suit weighed roughly 6 kilograms, not heavy at all. In Mars’ gravity, that weight would feel like a fraction of that, making it no different from wearing normal clothes.

Jason rolled his shoulders and hopped on his toes a few times. He felt a slight stiffness, but nothing restrictive. He was thoroughly impressed with the peak of human engineering.

After testing his mobility, he took the suit off and laid it on the table.

“Thanks for the hard work. I owe you a burger and fries for this,” Jason called out, already heading toward the door.

Lily sat at her desk, lost in thought for a moment, before suddenly remembering something. “…Wait!”

“Did you need something else?” Jason paused and turned back.

Instead of answering, she walked over to a secure combination locker. After punching in the code, the heavy door clicked open, revealing a sealed metal case. She lifted it with visible effort and handed it to Jason.

“Take a look,” she said flatly.

Jason didn’t hesitate and grabbed the handle. His arm jerked down, and he nearly dropped it, barely catching his balance in time.

So heavy, he thought. Judging by the pull on his arm, the case weighed a solid 30 kilograms!

What could be this heavy? Jason wondered.

He hoisted the case onto the table and popped the latches. Inside lay a strangely shaped rifle. The barrel was long about a meter and encased in transparent glass. Intricate, spiraling conduits twisted through the interior, giving it a bizarre, futuristic beauty.

“What is this?”

“It’s a Gauss Rifle. A particle beam weapon,” Lily explained calmly. “We salvaged the parts from some destroyed robots, reassembled them, and modified the design. This rifle can easily punch right through heavy armor.”

She paused, crossing her arms. “Because of the limited scrap we recovered, we could only build two of these. Calculations show the battery only holds enough charge for six or seven shots. We can’t reverse-engineer the power source yet, so the ammunition is strictly non-replenishable.”

Hearing this, Jason’s eyes lit up. He traced his fingers over the glass barrel, a look of pure fascination on his face. This was a genuine alien weapon!

Even if it only had a few shots, he was thrilled. This was an incredible, unexpected advantage.

The Gauss Rifle, a type of particle accelerator was exactly the kind of futuristic weapon human scientists had only theorized about. The concept was simple: use a powerful electromagnetic field to accelerate charged particles to extreme velocities, then fire them out of the barrel.

While standard firearms are also kinetic weapons, a Gauss Rifle operates on a completely different level. A typical handgun fires a bullet at roughly 300 m/s. Even at that speed, it easily tears through human tissue.

Modern assault rifles fire much faster, hitting 700 to 900 m/s.

Heavy sniper rifles push projectile velocities up to 800 to 1,000 m/s, packing enough kinetic energy to pierce light vehicle armor.

But a Gauss Rifle is in a league of its own.

Lily offered a rare, slight smile. “It fires a concentrated stream of charged protons. Each proton travels at near light-speed… about 0.9 times the speed of light. Because the power cell is capped, we can only fire it six times before it’s dead.”

“Even though it only fires a tiny burst of protons, their extreme velocity easily overcomes natural atomic repulsion, forcing them to strike the target’s nucleus directly. When a proton slams into an atomic nucleus like that, it triggers miniature nuclear fusion.”

“A single burst of these high-energy protons hits with the explosive force of 20 to 30 kilograms of TNT!”

Jason’s jaw dropped. What a terrifyingly powerful weapon.

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