A Deep Sea Adventure

Sunny Qiu

 

On 21st December, 2012, A Chinese girl Amber broke a world record! She was only 12 years old. She became the first person who went to the Mariana Trench of the world. She took a submarine to dive to the deepest sea of the world. It took her three months. She sailed more than 5000 miles.
Amber was born on 5th September, 1999, in China. She is interested in anything to do with water such as rowing. She also enjoys drawing and likes taking photos, too. So when she in a boat, she can take some photos or draw some pictures of the scene around her.
She was started sailing when she was six years old. She was taught to sail with her dad, but she didn't use a submarine. She only used a small boat. After two years, she could sail very well and she tried to sail in the sea. When she was eight years old, she wanted to use a submarine to dive to the Mariana Trench.  It sounded absurd, but it was an interesting dream of an eight-year-child.  She started to train for her deep sea adventure for over three years.
Also, Amber needed a good submarine for her long journey. She used a type of submarine called "Nautilus". It was a tiny submarine. Its length is four meters, but its velocity is very fast. It can sail 1000 kilometers per hour. Before her leave, she thought that life in this submarine is exiting and interesting.
The Mariana Trench or Marianas Trench is the deepest part of the world's oceans. It is located in the western Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands. The trench is about 2,550 kilometers long but has a mean width of only 69 kilometers.
She started her adventure in Shanghai-a big city in the east of China. After she departed Shanghai, she had no stopped on the way. Her trip was very smooth. She didn't meet any storm. The weather was sunny and warm.
Amber prepared a lot of things for the trip. There is no fresh water in sea. Amber had to make sure that she had enough water for whole trip. She took some food, too. The food she missed most was sandwiches. It could be very cold in the deep sea. So she should bring many warm clothes with her.
She had seen many types of fish. She had seen some sharks when she stood near the window. It was too dangerous if the window was broken. She had also seen a dolphin. The dolphin was beautiful. It jumped out of the water. It was amazing.
Life in a small submarine was uncomfortable but she thought that living in the submarine was interesting. Every night, she couldn't have a good sleep. She was too scared to sleep in the submarine. She always saw many fish swam across the sea and near her submarine. Sometimes when she opens her eyes, she saw two huge eyes glare to her. The whale was there, watching and waiting. She could listen to the music to make her fall asleep, but there was a big noise in the sea.
In the end, she dived to the Mariana Trench and came back to China. 3000 people welcomed her back.

 

A Wild Ride -- Ant's Adventure on the Island

Amber

 

The micro-friends went on a water adventure. They made a raft out of pencils and started a wild ride. The current was strong. Their raft hit a fence and broke. Max, Cat and Tiger jumped onto the shore in time but Ant landed in the middle of a pond.
Ant was afraid. He was on this island, and no one could help him. He saw the strange shadow in the water. It was just like a monster! Max said "Don't worry!" and Ant's friends went away. They disappeared in the grass. Ant shouted to his friends, but they didn't answer. Now Ant was alone. The only thing to do was to FIND A WAY OUT! Ant went into the forest. "Maybe I can find something to help me." He thought.
It was cold, wet and dark there. Ant thought he was in a jungle. Some small current was flowing under his trainers. The mud was slurping under his feet. The mini-beasts were excited after raining, and some strange sound frightened Ant. A big black bug was running quickly near him. Frogs were having a concert, but Ant thought their sound was horrible. Ant WISHED that someone could save him! Everything was bigger than ever! "I WAS like exploring in the wild world!"Ant thought."But now I may go to hate this kind of felling!"
After a long time of horrible walking in the grass, Ant suddenly saw light. He discovered that he was on the other side of the island, and he saw a small "boat" made from thick paper. It landed quietly on the bank.
Although it was difficult to walk in the sticky mud, Ant was walking faster. "It seems like waiting for me! How lucky I am!"Ant thought.
"Anybody here?" Ant shouted towards the boat. He forgot that he was smaller than ever. Of course, there was no answer.
Ant checked the boat. It was thick enough for ride on the water for a while. Ant tried to get on the boat. Now the rain had stopped, so the current wasn't too strong. Ant used a branch of a flower as a paddle and tried to go across the water.
When Ant was halfway across the water, Whoosh, something swam quickly to the boat. It hit the boat with a strong force. Ant nearly fell into the water. He saw that is a big fish. "It wants to eat me!" Ant cried. He was going faster and faster towards the bank. He suddenly knew WHO was attack him ---- the big shadow he saw when he got to this island! And it was a giant fish! It was waiting for him in the water!
The fish attacked him again. It was crazier than the first attack and the poor boat broke. Ant fell into the water. "I don't want to be eaten by an ugly fish!" Ant thought sadly. He swam as fast as he could. The fish was swimming after him. It got closer and closer, and......
Ant held on to a flower at the bank. One of his feet was in the fish's mouth. Ant felt nervous. What could he do? Died in the fish's smelly stomach?
Then he heard something.
"Hey Ant! Where are you?" "Here we come! You will be free soon!" They were his friends! "HEY! I'm here! I'm here!!" Ant shouted as loud as possible. Now he had hope. Then he saw his friends' faces. They were riding a toy boat. They had come and helped him to get away from the ugly fish. But one of Ant's trainers became the fish's lunch. The fish was very angry about it. "That's enough!" Tiger shouted to the fish.
The four friends were in their den again. Ant got a tower around him. He was shaking but he was safe.
"Tell us your adventure!" cried Cat."It must be very interesting......"
So Ant told them his adventure on the island. He told about the bug, the boat, and the horrible fish."It's better to be with friends," Ant said at last. "Then we won't be worried any more......Now I know, friendship is the most beautiful and the most important thing in the world......"
It was sunny outside. The four friends laughed happily and the birds were singing beautifully outside their snug den.
Friendship is the most beautiful and the most important thing in the world.

 

A Wild Ride

Nancy

 

The micro-friends went on a water adventure. They made a raft out of pencils and started a wild ride. The current was too strong that the raft lost control, so it hit a fence and broke. Max, Cat and Tiger jumped onto the shore in time but Ant landed in the middle of a pond.
Max, Cat and Tiger had to get Ant back, but how? They were thinking about how to rescue Ant. The pond looked as wide as the ocean. "Watches," Tiger called out loud. They turned the dials on their watches, but an unbelievable thing happened. Their watches didn't work. "Too bad," groaned Max.
Just then Cat saw a giant shadow move in the water. "Look! What is that giant shadow?" shouted Cat. They all stared at the shadow. Imagine their surprise when they saw a giant fish. It beady eye glared at the children. Then the fish swam straight towards the island. "Ant," shouted Tiger. Ant looked pale and everyone was frightened. The giant fish got closer and closer. Ant looked at the broken pencils. Then he picked up the pencils as quickly as possible and threw the pencils to the fish. Everyone was happy because the fish was dead and Ant was safe.
Suddenly Max saw a big box moved on the water. Seeing the box, Max had an idea. Max was very happy because they could rescue Ant with that box, but the problem was the box was far from them. Max looked around hoping to find some string. After a minute, Max saw something sparkled and run towards it. "It was a fishing rod," said Tiger. Max tried to hang on the box with the hook on the fishing rod, but it was not easy. It took him a long time to do this. Then Tiger and Max pulled the box and everyone got on to it.
The box whizzed on the water. The box went faster and faster. Before long they were all wet. Suddenly they landed with a huge SPLASH! "Oh! The current was too strong," yelled Tiger. Whoosh! The current was so strong that the box couldn't stop. "I don't feel very well," groaned Cat. "No!" screamed Max. "You have passed the island!" cried Ant. Then Ant saw the fishing rod was still hanging on the box. Ant tried to grab the rod. He did it bravely. As Ant grabbed the rod, the box flew over another step... SPLASH! "Aaagh!" cried Ant. He nearly fell into the water. "Phew! Fortunately Ant didn't fall into the water," said Cat. Ant grabbed the rod and pulled it back to the island. "Great, Ant! You did a good job!" Max, Cat and Tiger said happily. "What a thrilling adventure!" Ant shouted louder than ever.
Max, Cat, Tiger and Ant turned the dials on their watches, this time their watches worked. On the way back to their den, they were talking about the trip which they had today.
The micro-friends got together, so they could have more exciting adventures! They could explore more things!

 

A Wild Ride

Connie

 

Max, Cat, Ant and Tiger made a micro-raft. They went on a wild ride in the park. Then they saw the metal bars. Max, Cat, and Tiger jumped from the raft just in time. The raft broke but Ant held on the last few pencils. He landed on the small island in the middle of the pond. Now Max, Cat and Tiger have to get him back....
Just then the giant shadow in the pond swam to Tiger and Max. "What's that?" asked Max, "Is it a fish?" and Cat answered, "I think maybe you are right." The horrible big fish jumped out of the water and swam towards them. "Run!" shouted everyone. They ran as fast as they could along the grassland but the fish swam after them. They were very frightened. "Let's turn our dials on our watches and we can change normal." yelled Max. But their watches were full of water, so the watches couldn't change them big. "Oh no!" cried Cat. "We're really doomed and nobody can help us." The fish pulled Ant into the water. "HELP!" screamed Ant with a big SPLASH! He swam faster and faster. "We must rescue Ant," said Max. Tiger saw a half plastic bottle which is big enough to hold them. "Swim into it, Ant," said Tiger. "Let's swim into it, too." They swam into it but the fish couldn't. "Phew! Just in time," said Cat. But the fish still swam around the bottle, watching and thinking. The fish which had big eyes, a big mouth with lots of sharp teeth looked very terrifying and it glared at the children angrily. "What can we do? How can we go out?" asked Cat. Ant had a good idea. He threw his life jacket out of the bottle to scary the fish away but the fish thought that was some meat, so it started to pursue it and went away. "You are so clever, Ant," said Max. "Thank you so much and you saved us." "Now all we have to do is to make our watches dry." said Tiger. They got out of the bottle and stood on the grassland in a great shock. Max pulled out some grass and put their watches on the grass. Five minutes later, their watches worked. "Wow, that was fantastic, Max." said everyone. Then they turned the dials on their watches and changed normal and the fish which was too terrifying for them became small. "Don't play a wild ride again and don't make raft with pencils. It was too dangerous." said Cat.
Oh! What a thrilling adventure. Fortunately they were safe!

Fred's Trip to Proxima Centauri

Scott

 

On October 23, 2043, the United Nations Space Army battleship "Yangtze", under the command of Rear Admiral Fred S. Qiu, arrived at the nearest star system from our Solar system, Proxima Centauri, which is four light years from the Earth and commenced its exploration. Fred S. Qiu became the first man who traveled to another star system outside our solar system. This trip proved that long-range interstellar travel is doable.
Fred is the commander of the Pluto Fleet of United Nations' Space Army. He is a very kind and calm guy who was interested in weaponry and technology when he was still a kid. After he graduated from the high school he entered the military academy and was a space warfare command major there and graduated with excellent achievements. Then he served on the United Nations Space Army frigate "Tibet" of the Pluto fleet and soon became the captain. His outstanding performance in protecting colonists in Mars from the rebels made him the sub commander of the Pluto fleet. Later he became the youngest Rear Admiral who had ever commanded a whole fleet and then he wanted to realize his dream--he wanted to explore other worlds and stars in the galaxy.
He did a lot of preparation for the trip. He submitted a proposal about discovering the outer space to the government and the president was convinced by his advice. The government earmarked billions of dollars in order to start the research project to build a hyper-drive engine to support interstellar travel. Finally, in 2042, it was completed and the battleship "Yangtze" had been installed world's first hyper-drive engine.    
"Yangtze" is a famous spaceship in the fleet. It is a large and mighty spaceship. Ten meters of titanium armor covered its hull. It was equipped with six magnetic powered gauss guns, twenty anti-ship heavy missile launchers and a dozen of laser guns in order to take down enemy strike crafts and incoming missiles. This horrible ship defeated the rebellion forces with its first mission in 2039, when it took down two rebel destroyers, killed 3000 rebels with just one shot from its guns. It is the pride of the whole fleet and it is Fred Qiu's flagship.
Fred's dream will be realized. After two months' preparation, the ship set off.
The spaceship had to move to the edge of the solar system by its normal nuclear fusion engine to start hyper-drive engine because starting it inside the star system will cost a lot of energy. After six days' long trip, Yangtze finally arrived in the orbit of Pluto on October, 2nd, 2043. The crew gathered all supplies they needed in there, such as hydrogen and helium fuel for the reactor and tinned liquid food. Fred also had to report to the local government. After they have gone back to the orbit, they flew out of the gravity well of Pluto, shut down the fusion engine and charged the hyper-drive engine. Finally the charging was completed. Fred pushed the start button. The ship shook and the entire star out of the porthole changed their color. They were on their way!
The trip was a kind of boring. The crew had nothing to do in the long trip and they felt boring. Every day they could only eat tinned food, had no entertainment. The passion for working of the people onboard is waning. They had also gotten home sick. Some soldiers asked for going back to solar system. But he commanders were deaf to their requests. Soon they got angry and stirred the crew to mutiny. Fred promised they will soon arrive in the Proxima Centauri but the angry soldiers didn't listen. Unfortunately, the ship entered a dust cloud.
The dust cloud was dangerous because the attack of the asteroids and micro-meteors in it. A hit of a small rock would destroy the whole spaceship while flying faster than light. Soon Yangtze has been serious damaged while it was passing through the dust cloud. The crew of Yangtze must unite to overcome this crisis. The mutiny stopped and the discontented crew went back to work and saved the ship. The crew fought for more than two months, successfully repaired broken hull hit by asteroids, and protected storages and hyper-drive engines, especially the reactor. If it had been hit, the ship would annihilate in nuclear blast. Their working ensured the safety of the whole ship. Soon the firing commander of the ship had an idea to avoid getting hit from the meteors: Use the laser defense weapon on the ship to destroy every asteroid which was big enough to damage the ship. Several bright red beams sliced through the space and dozens of asteroids and meteors flew toward the ship had been taken down. This way prevented the ship not to be destroyed.
The ship arrived in their destination successfully. After one month Yangtze finally arrived in the Proxima Centauri. There were three stars instead of one star in the space. There was only one planet in the system. Fred and the crew decided to send probes to the other places on the planet. The probes showed that there were lakes and rivers in the other places on the planet and the temperature on it is was slightly hotter than that of the earth, which could support humans to live. Perhaps there were plants on the planet. The probes took photos and videos and prepared to go back.
 Yangtze finally came back. After a month Yangtze finally arrived in solar system and docked into the space station on the orbit of the Earth. Several small spacecrafts pulled Yangtze into the space station. All of the crews went out of the ship and escaped the journalists and excited peoples. They got on the orbital elevator and went down to the Earth. Fred and the commanders on the ship joined a special meeting at the central government headquarters and the President attended. They reported their exploration in the Proxima Centauri system. The President said that he planned to send colonists to that planet and Fred would be appointed governor of the colony. But Fred and other commanders did not care about that because they all wanted to have a rest on a soft bed! The trip was so tiring!
Actually, Fred and his crew were heroes. They overcame all of the dangers and accidents in the trip. Space travelling was not only exciting and challenging, but also dangerous. But Fred and his crew didn't give up. Fred's trip represented a great landmark in the history. What he had done would be remembered forever.
After Fred's trip to Proxima Centauri, several colonies were built in the outer space planets. These colonists in the colony were the forerunners of the space exploitation.