One month had passed since that day.
Since the end of the last mission, Deng Yuanshu and a group of crew members on the Qinling had been placed on the Lagrange Space Base, and all vacations had been canceled.
Originally, he planned to wait for the end of this mission to take his family and find a pleasant island in the south for vacation, but it seemed that not only was his vacation plans ruined, but his family was also under protection.
The Qinling, which was under the focus of global attention, was also transferred to the highest security anchor point on the Lagrange Space Base. It was led by the elite of the aerospace forces—the Third Orbital Airborne Brigade, which would be responsible for guarding the Qinling.
As a special force where more than 50% of the members were “ancient warriors” from the last century, the soldiers of the Third Orbital Airborne Brigade were committed to their duties, morale, and combat effectiveness. They were incomparable to any marine unit in the First Fleet.
Ever since that experiment was over, Deng Yuanshu felt like he was under house arrest.
To be honest, he also understood why the government did this.
After all, the whole world now wanted to know what was the condition of the warp drive on the Qinling and what exactly was the hyperspace channel. In the eyes of outsiders, the hundreds of crew members on the Qinling were probably the ones closest to those secrets, except for Academician Lu himself…
After all, he was at a loss about what happened that day, and the shock from the moment he broke into the gap in the universe still remained in his heart.
If it was possible, he hoped someone could come and explain it to him.
What were the things he saw in the hyperspace tunnel…
“When will we be able to go on a vacation?”
The canteen of the space base.
Sitting opposite Deng Yuanshu, Liu Zhengyi, the adjutant on the Qinling, couldn’t help but ask.
Hearing the question from his subordinate, Deng Yuanshu dropped the chopsticks in his hand and shook his head.
“I don’t know… Are you in a hurry?”
“Not quite.” Liu Zheng said with a sigh, “I just don’t understand. If this were to be kept confidential, it would be fine, but obviously, that isn’t the case. When the experiment was conducted in the first place, we didn’t hide it from anyone, and we even held a press conference. What’s the point of keeping us here?”
“The higher-ups have their own considerations.” Deng Yuanshu looked at his subordinate and said, “Just stay here calmly. The holidays you are owed are still there. When this matter is over, they will naturally make up for it. And… I have a feeling…”
Upon hearing these words, Liu Zheng, who was sitting across from him at the dining table, suddenly became energetic and asked quickly, “What feeling?”
“Asking us to stay here is not necessarily for confidentiality.” Deng Yuanshu continued slowly after thinking for a moment, “After all, I haven’t received any official documents requesting that we keep things confidential. No one from the ministry came over to talk to me either.”
Liu Zhengyi: “Do you mean…”
“There should be a new mission to be carried out by us,” Deng Yuanshu continued. After placing the chopsticks back on the plate, he added, “Maybe this is the real reason why we are on standby in this space base. .”
After lunch, Deng Yuanshu was going to sit in his office for a while and finish the report. However, just after he returned to the office and before he could sit in his chair, a staff of the First Fleet found him and asked him to go to the visitor reception center.
With a confused expression, Deng Yuanshu briefly delegated the remaining work to his secretary and changed into formal clothes. After that, he went to the reception area of the space base station.
When he came to the visitor center, he went to a small meeting room under the guidance of the staff. He saw the person sitting in the meeting room and suddenly showed a surprised expression on his face.
“Academician Lu?”
“Long time no see.” After he put down the bottled coffee in his hand, Lu Zhou looked up at him, smiled, and said hello, “Sit down… Speaking of which, how are you doing during this period of time?”
“Not bad.” Deng Yuanshu pulled out the chair at the table and sat down. He looked at Lu Zhou, who was sitting opposite him. The expression on his face was a little weird. He hesitated for a while before he asked, “Why are you here?”
“I arrived about half an hour ago.” Lu Zhou glanced at the time on his watch. He then joked, “Speaking of which, the space fortress from the outside looks quite shocking.”
Although this sentence was said in a joking tone, his heart was full of emotion when he spoke.
He still remembered when he was in Beijing that year, the President asked him about the next space strategy after Guanghan City. At that time, he proposed to build a permanent space base at the Lagrange point and build a colony on Mars.
Although that was from a century ago, when he saw the seeds that he planted had now grown into towering trees, he couldn’t help but feel a little emotional.
“You came here to find me… Is there something you need?”
“Sort of.” Lu Zhou said with a smile while looking at Captain Deng Yuanshu, who was sitting across from him, “But before that, there are a few things I want to ask you.”
Deng Yuanshu: “Go ahead!”
“Don’t be so nervous, I’ll just ask casually.” Lu Zhou continued in a chatty tone while looking at Captain Deng, “How are you feeling these days? Are you and your crew healthy?”
“Healthy?” Deng Yuanshu was slightly stunned. Frowning, he replied, “We are… Is there any problem?”
“Nothing, just asking casually.” Lu Zhou continued to ask as he made a note in his notepad, “Psychologically? Has anyone suffered from mental illnesses like depression or claustrophobia? Similar symptoms?”
“So far I haven’t heard of any crew member seeking help from a psychiatrist,” said Deng Yuanshu as he shrugged.
“I hate to say this…” Lu Zhou smiled embarrassedly and continued, “I didn’t explain clearly, but it’s actually because I have some experimental things I’m afraid I have to trouble you again.”
Deng Yuanshu: “Isn’t the experiment finished?”
“That was only the Demo version. It needs some adjustments. In addition, some issues about adaptability and health require further observation. During this time, there should be doctors giving you regular inspections. This is also part of the experiment. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance.”
Deng Yuanshu: “It’s okay, I understand.”
“Thank you for your understanding! Also, thanks to your cooperation, we have achieved our current results.”
Lu Zhou’s index finger clicked on his left wrist and a series of holographic windows popped up. Lu Zhou stretched out his hand and swiped lightly on it, gently pushing one of the holographic screens in front of Deng Yuanshu.
“This is the next research plan. If you are interested, you can simply take a look.”
After receiving the documents transmitted by Lu Zhou, Deng Yuanshu stared at the line of small prints in the holographic window and looked at it seriously.
Although he didn’t understand those complicated theories very well, when he saw a certain line in the middle, his eyes were stuck there firmly, and he couldn’t look away anymore…
“1AU per second…”
There was a slight tremor in his voice. He then looked at Lu Zhou in disbelief.
He gulped, and it took a long time before he squeezed a sentence out of his mouth.
“Can this speed really be achieved?”
The farthest distance between Mars and the Earth was 400 million kilometers, and the distance of one astronomical unit was approximately equal to 149 million kilometers.
What did 1AU per second mean?
This meant that once this technology was implemented, even at the farthest distance, it would take less than three seconds to get from the Earth-Moon system to Mars!
“In theory, this can be done as long as we choose the right channel.” Lu Zhou stood up from his chair and said in a relaxed tone, “Okay, I think you now know what you need to know. If you are ready, come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“Of course to Qinling! Speaking of which, you haven’t seen it for a while, right?”
Captain Deng Yuanshu looked both surprised and astonished.
Lu Zhou smiled and continued in a joking tone, “I bet that when you see it again, your mouth will be wide open.”
