Mars’ orbit.
The cockpit was silent.
Liu Biao quietly waited for the other side of the communication channel to reply. He took a deep breath and suddenly spoke.
“Captain.”
Xu Zhenghong: “What?”
Liu Biao: “Are we doing the right thing?”
“What’s wrong with nations exchanging favors? They would do the same to us.” Xu Zhenghong looked at the red planet and said, “Not to mention we can’t just do favors for free.”
Liu Biao asked, “What if they don’t find what we want?”
Xu Zhenghong went silent for a second and replied, “Then it would be a loss for us.”
But they would still continue the rescue.
This was what Professor Lu told them to do…
…
On the surface of Mars.
The metal alloy doors of the life support system slowly opened. A red Mars rover drove out of the door and onto the billowing sand.
Johnson looked at the green dot on the radar. He was filled with a range of emotions.
Obviously, NASA wouldn’t issue them such a ridiculous task. The Chinese astronaut was obviously lying.
But if he wanted to go home, he had no other choice…
With the radar helping with navigation, Johnson quickly arrived at the destination.
The rover was parked near the impact zone. Johnson, who was already in his spacesuit, got out of the rover and walked toward the BFS with a toolbox in his hand.
“Sh*t… It’s completely destroyed.”
Johnson sampled the BFS spacecraft materials and stored them in a special sample box.
The closer he was to the impact center, the more debris there was.
He carefully stepped over the metal fragments. He took out a cutting gun from his toolbox and turned on the cutting gun. He soon cut a circular opening onto the spacecraft cabin.
Johnson sighed and put the cutting gun again.
“Sigh… Time to get to work.”
He grabbed the metal bars on the outside of the BFS spacecraft and slid into the cabin.
“Black box… Let me think… I think it’s under the pilot’s seat…”
Johnson turned on his spacesuit flashlight and wiped the sand and dust off his spacesuit helmet. He started walking toward the cockpit.
In fact, just like Lu Zhou had guessed, there was indeed a black box on the BFS spacecraft. The black box recorded a series of data such as the BFS spacecraft launch calculations, as well as communication records.
If the BFS spacecraft happened to crash on Mars, it was the colonists’ job to recover the black box.
However, it wasn’t the colonists’ job to hand over the black box to the Chinese…
Johnson found a green suitcase with a reflective strip under the pilot’s seat. He paused for a second, shook his head, and began to walk out of the cabin…
Thirty kilometers away, inside the life support system.
Julia and Travis were left behind in the experiment cabin. They anxiously waited for the news from their Captain Johnson.
Travis looked outside the porthole and didn’t see anything except yellow sand.
Suddenly, the experiment cabin door opened. Johnson, wearing a spacesuit, walked in. He was covered in sand.
He was holding a green box and a small suitcase.
Travis smiled and walked up to him, but Johnson ignored him. Johnson walked straight to the console and connected the data cable to the suitcase. He then pressed the communication button.
“We have what you want.”
Static noises were heard.
A clear voice came from the communication channel.
“Congratulations, you have earned your return ticket. Please enter the return capsule and begin ignition. We will be in New Virginia air space in five minutes.”
“Roger that.”
Johnson unplugged the cable and looked at his two teammates. He sighed in relief.
“We’re going home.”
…
The New Virginia escape capsule was located at the center of the life support system, directly above the methane generator.
During an emergency, the colonists would have to enter the escape capsule and begin the escape procedure. The oxygen and methane reserves in the life support system would be injected into the engine of the escape capsule. The escape capsule would then fly to the BFS spacecraft.
Of course, the BFS spacecraft was destroyed by NASA.
Even though Johnson had no evidence that NASA purposely destroyed the BFS spacecraft, Johnson knew NASA was behind all this.
He knew NASA purposely gave up on them.
This made him feel slightly better about helping China…
The silver-white escape capsule separated from the life support system, leaving dust and smoke behind.
This was the end of their failed colonization mission.
Of course, even though they failed, they gained experience and knowledge. This would pave the way for their successors…
The escape capsule headed toward the starry sky, gradually merging into orbit. After half an hour of floating, it was finally captured by the arms of Starlight.
The large and small spacecrafts slowly approached one another.
“New Virginia capsule is in orbit… Our oxygen levels are running low, we need help.”
“This is Starlight, we have received your request. Please wait patiently for rescue.”
The hatch slowly opened, and a thick and long mechanical arm extended out of the cabin and grabbed the escape capsule. The capsule was then slowly dragged into Starlight’s cargo area.
This system was originally intended to be used for recovering space trash and dead satellites, but it was also technically feasible for fetching escape capsules.
On the other hand, in Jin Ling City, the lunar orbit project committee held a press conference with regard to the rescue operation.
When the reporters at the conference heard that the BFS spacecraft had crashed onto Mars, the conference room went into chaos. Johnson’s wife, who came all the way to China, was in tears.
However, just a few hours later, everything changed.
News of the escape capsule entering orbit, Starlight arriving in their target airspace, and other news of the recovery operation slowly started to flow. Reporters, as well as members of the US embassy, at the scene held their breaths as they waited nervously for the result.
At last, when the news of the successful rescue reached Jinling’s ground command center, it was instantly spread to the press conference. The big screen at the conference read “all three astronauts were rescued”.
Everyone saw the words on the screen…
The press conference was filled with thunderous applause.
“Jesus Christ… Thank you! Thank you! I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say…”
A crying woman held Lu Zhou’s hand. Her legs felt weak. A staff member quickly supported her, and it almost seemed like she was going to faint.
Lu Zhou gave her a comforting look and told the staff member to take care of her.
Her husband was finally safe.
For the past month, her life had been nothing but torture.
Now that the knot in her heart was finally untied, she could finally get a good night’s rest.
Chen Yunhai, director of the Lunar Orbit Committee organization department, stood in front of the camera and solemnly announced the victory of the rescue operation. He also announced the return timeline of Starlight.
The US embassy members were standing at one side, and they wiped the tears off their faces and began applauding.
The Americans had lost the space race; there was no doubt about it.
But…
They couldn’t help but applaud…
