Chapter 29: The Captain’s Shadow

Jason threw himself back into the grind: attending high-level meetings, conducting site inspections, managing public morale, troubleshooting logistics, and, of course, cramming theoretical knowledge into his brain. He was working twenty-hour days, leaving a mere four hours for sleep.

For most people, such a schedule would be physically breaking, but Jason was relatively accustomed to it. His physical endurance far exceeded that of a normal human. However, his assistant couldn’t keep up.

Lily had become significantly thinner. Her face, originally soft and round, was now gaunt, her cheekbones sharp and defined. Her eyes seemed larger in her diminishing frame, and she looked so frail that a stiff breeze might blow her away.

Seeing her condition, a surge of guilt hit Jason. “Listen… why don’t you take a few days off?”

Lily shook her head immediately. The stubborn girl seemed to treat work as the only source of joy in her life. It explained how she had managed to earn her doctorate by the age of twenty; that kind of drive was rare.

Jason didn’t know what to say. In truth, he had considered replacing her. He had reviewed resumes from several professionals,,former government administrators and corporate executives who were arguably more qualified for administrative tasks. But after much thought, he realized Lily was still the most suitable choice.

Why? Because the others didn’t understand the science.

If they couldn’t read technical papers or understand the engineering constraints, they couldn’t truly help him. What good was a secretary who couldn’t tell a thruster from a reactor?

Being the Captain of the Noah wasn’t just a leadership role; it required a synthesis of politics, management, and hard science.

You needed to know the oxygen mixture ratios in the life support systems. You needed to understand the specific impulse and fuel coefficients of the thrusters. You even needed to calculate the metabolic input and waste output of the entire crew. Only by understanding these variables could a commander make informed logistical decisions. Without that data, he wouldn’t even know if the Noah had enough fuel to make the trip.

Because of this, he had to keep Lily. Of course, this led to whispers around the base that him using a high-level scientist as a personal secretary was a waste of talent.

There were other rumors, too. Lily was objectively attractive. She had large, expressive eyes, and though she was now too thin, she was naturally petite, standing just over 1.6 meters with a curvaceous figure.

Jason felt a bit uneasy about the rumors, afraid people would think he was abusing his power for personal gain. In reality, he had no such thoughts; he was so buried in work that his libido was effectively dormant.

But even if he didn’t think that way, others did. Marcus and Austin, his close friends, often poked fun at him with mischievous glints in their eyes. In their words, landing a brilliant, beautiful girl like that was the ultimate achievement.

Many ordinary people gossiped about it as well. There was no malice in it; it was just entertainment, a way to find some amusement during stressful times.

Jason usually just laughed off the rumors. He lacked the stiff, terrifying aura of a traditional dictator, so people felt comfortable projecting a more “human” image onto him.

As for what Lily thought? Jason didn’t have the energy to figure it out. If she decided to resign, he would cross that bridge when he came to it. Given her stoic personality, she probably didn’t pay attention to the gossip anyway.

“The Sector 18 Excavation Team sent a message; they are critically short on high-precision replacement parts,” Lily said, pulling up a display. “I’ve already replied on your behalf. The First Team has a surplus, so I authorized a temporary transfer.”

“There have also been resource supply bottlenecks at Factory Three. Personnel have been dispatched for emergency handling.”

“Furthermore, the excavation team is digging too aggressively. The structural integrity of the shaft is at risk of collapse. I suggest reinforcing the walls before proceeding.”

One document after another piled up, leaving Jason overwhelmed. He realized that replacing her temporarily was impossible; no one else was this efficient.

Dozens of factories were operating at full capacity around the clock. Some were small smelting operations, others were complex machinery manufacturing plants. Because the base needed to produce thousands of different components, production lines had to be constantly retooled. Although most processes were automated, errors still occurred, and these errors required manual override.

Minor errors didn’t reach Jason’s desk, but if a major error fell under his purview, it was usually a significant disaster.

A few days ago, a major short-circuit caused a blackout in half the base for three minutes. Jason had severely reprimanded the supervisor in charge and temporarily relieved him of duty.

In response, the administration had to draft emergency protocols, consult with electrical engineers, and restructure the grid…

“Captain,” Lily’s clear voice cut through his thoughts. “Here is the psychological report on Calvin.”

Jason was momentarily startled.

Calvin. The man was arguably the most controversial figure in the entire base.

On one hand, he had eliminated the previous corrupt leadership, cleared the obstacles to progress, and directly facilitated Jason’s rise to power. From a pragmatic perspective, his actions had saved the base. Jason no longer resisted the burden of leadership Calvin had forced upon him.

On the other hand, Calvin was a murderer who had caused significant turmoil. The logic of a “pre-emptive strike” was legally and ethically shaky. You cannot simply execute someone today because you predict they might do something bad tomorrow.

If that logic were accepted, society would descend into chaos, with everyone executing their neighbors based on suspicion.

So, Calvin remained in prison. Many scientists were fascinated by his alleged precognitive abilities and had studied him, but without conclusive results.

Some people strongly believed in Calvin’s prophetic ability because his predictions had a habit of coming true. At his trial, he had warned, “Humanity might be in danger.” Many now interpreted this as a prediction of the asteroid impacts or the potential lunar collision.

Some theorists believed that his cerebral cortex could perceive information from the future due to “Wheeler bubbles” in the quantum foam between parallel universes. In fact, many people have experienced a mild version of this: déjà vu. That sudden feeling of having seen a scene before, or knowing exactly what will happen in the next second.

The theory was that this wasn’t a memory error, but rather a momentary resonance between brainwaves in this universe and those of a “self” in a slightly advanced timeline. The brain received memory packets from another version of itself. Usually, this connection is unstable and lasts only an instant.

Of course, this speculation was mostly fringe science, bordering on nonsense, with no solid evidence to back it up.

There was also a psychological perspective: the “sixth sense.” Everyone has it to some degree; some are dull, others are highly sensitive. Battle-hardened soldiers often possess superhuman intuition, a prickling sensation when a gun is aimed at them, or a gut feeling that screams “ambush” before a shot is fired.

In fact, Jason possessed this sixth sense himself. Sometimes, he could sense danger or feel the tangible malice of enemies before they acted.

Psychologists believed that Calvin simply possessed an exceptionally powerful sixth sense that allowed him to extrapolate the future. But exactly how it worked, no one could say for sure. Humanity had not yet unlocked the secrets of the mind.

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