CHAPTER 146: RIVER IN THE STARS

At this moment, Tom’s method of transporting water into space was roughly the same as for other goods: semi-circular cable cars ascending on one side of the space elevator and descending on the other.

As for where the water came from, that was also simple.

Many space elevators were built on islands, directly connected to the sea, allowing a continuous flow of seawater.

Those not near the sea were built close to rivers, making water extraction convenient.

Thus, under the power supply of 1,000 corresponding large-capacity nuclear power plants, the first batch of cable cars, totaling 1,000, were simultaneously filled with water.

The total internal volume of these cable cars was approximately 2,400 cubic meters. Therefore, one cable car could transport 2,400 tons of water per trip.

After technical optimization, Tom could now achieve a departure every minute. Thus, an hour meant 60 trips, capable of transporting 144,000 tons of water!

At this moment, a total of 1,000 cable cars were distributed at the bottom of 1,000 space elevators, ready for departure.

Launch!

In an instant, amidst the dull, high-frequency noise, the heavy cable cars, laden with seawater or river and lake water, surged out from the ground base with a powerful acceleration of dozens of meters per square second.

In just a few seconds, they unleashed a massive sonic boom, their speed directly breaking the sound barrier.

But this was just a starting point. Simply reaching the speed of sound was still not fast enough.

Because the total length of this space elevator was about 50,000 kilometers. Even at the speed of sound, it would take approximately 41 hours to travel from one end to the other.

Too slow.

Their speed would reach approximately six times the speed of sound, or two kilometers per second. This way, including acceleration and deceleration time, they would only need about seven hours to reach the end of the space elevator.

One minute later, these 1,000 cable cars had already traveled 100 kilometers, reaching roughly the Kármán line.

The Kármán line is traditionally considered the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.

Crossing this line, these cable cars were considered to have entered space.

At this moment, the second batch of 1,000 cable cars departed simultaneously.

After another minute of flight, they crossed the Kármán line, continuing into deeper space, followed by the third batch, the fourth batch...

The 1,000 space elevators built on Earth’s equator were like 1,000 colossal pillars reaching for the sky.

Every minute, 1,000 sonic booms would erupt across various parts of the Earth, like rolling thunder.

Vast amounts of water surged in and surged out. Amidst this colossal commotion, like the world being turned upside down, countless animals and plants were affected and died.

But Tom couldn’t spare them for now.

He had already collected the genes and embryos of all animals anyway, so even if they went extinct now, he could simply cultivate them again after restoring Earth’s environment in the future.

Everything was prioritized for the current war. If he lost the war, everything he possessed would be lost.

If he won the war, what he lost would return!

At the end of the space elevator, after several hours of waiting, the first batch of cable cars finally arrived.

In the distant space, stars twinkled, and myriad celestial bodies shone. Tom didn’t know which of these were true stars and which were Bluetoth spy satellites, nor did he care to.

Since they couldn’t be completely cleared and secrecy was impossible, he simply let them watch.

Just as the Bluetoth didn’t bother with the spy satellites he had deployed around Venus.

The first batch of cable cars arrived at the terminal processing workshop.

The linear velocity at the end of the space elevator had already exceeded Earth’s orbital velocity at that position, so centrifugal force was dominant here.

It created a gravity-like effect, only in the opposite direction to Earth’s.

Under the influence of this gravity, the water from the first cable car gushed out through an opening into a huge spherical plastic container.

This was specially manufactured by Tom to contain this water in space, preventing it from dispersing due to the vacuum environment and incurring unnecessary losses.

A plastic container filled with water had a radius of approximately 8.3 meters, perfectly accommodating about 2,400 cubic meters of water from one cable car.

Once filled, the plastic container was sealed, and the cable car immediately returned to the surface via the downward channel.

Then came the second cable car, the third, the fourth...

These enormous water spheres were not immediately launched but were temporarily transferred to a large movable cargo hold, awaiting the opportune moment.

The Earth rotates once every 24 hours, and the end of this space elevator also rotates once every 24 hours.

When the end rotated to its closest point to the Venus transfer orbit, the massive cargo hold, laden with huge water spheres, would be directly flung into the closest orbit to Venus without any further acceleration, beginning to fly at a speed of approximately 12 kilometers per second.

These cargo holds were not proper spacecraft at all.

Besides a massive cargo hold, they only had some thrusters, making them very rudimentary.

But even these few thrusters were enough to correct the cargo hold’s orbit, allowing it to truly fly toward Venus.

Of course, the cargo hold would not actually fly all the way to Venus.

After completing the orbital correction, the cargo hold’s hatch would open, and it would begin to decelerate. Then, those enormous water spheres, like cargo being dumped from a dump truck, would tumble out on their own, rolling and flying toward Venus.

The cargo hold spacecraft would then return, awaiting the next batch of water spheres.

The 1,000 space elevators repeated this process.

In just one day, the orbit from Earth to Venus gained 1.44 million water spheres, each with a radius of 8.3 meters and a mass of 2,400 tons.

Their containers were transparent. Thus, the heat from the sun instantly began to heat the water inside, generating a large amount of water vapor, which immediately swelled these containers.

With sufficient internal pressure, this water remained in a liquid state and did not directly disperse into a molecular cloud.

On the second day, the water spheres flying in space increased to 2.88 million, and then more and more.

Countless water spheres were like brilliant pearls.

They were roughly evenly distributed along this pathway, like a brilliant road paved with pearls, or like a true heavenly river, stretching from Earth toward Venus.

Depending on the relative positions of Venus and Earth, they would need to fly for a minimum of 37 days and a maximum of 200 days to reach Venus, then merge with Venus, bringing ample moisture to Venus’s extremely dry atmosphere.

Not long after the delivery began, Tom saw the Bluetoth react.

Under the barrage of countless electromagnetic cannon projectiles and laser beams, one massive pearl after another shattered, and the water inside immediately flowed out.

The Bluetoth’s interception had arrived.