196: Chapter 196 The Eve of Deep Space Voyage Departure: The Commander's Plea to Stay!
Alien civilization voyage timer, day 132.
Pangu Laboratory, B2 Level.
Su Che popped the last segment of tangerine into his mouth and casually set the peel down next to the keyboard.
Lin Waner picked up the pile of peels and threw them into the trash can.
She didn't speak, just reached out to straighten the mineral water bottle he had left haphazardly on the desk, her movements very slow.
"How long will you be gone?"
"It's hard to say." Su Che took one last look at the luan bird's departure coordinates on the main screen. "If it's fast, ten days; if it's slow, maybe three weeks."
Lin Waner sat down on the folding chair next to him, her hands resting on her knees.
"Twenty-three million kilometers." She read out the number. "I checked; Earth to the Moon is only three hundred and eighty thousand. The place you're going to is sixty times farther than the Moon."
Su Che didn't respond.
"How much signal latency will there be when you get to that area?"
"We're using Quantum Communication with encryption; the latency is extremely low, less than a second, so it can basically be considered real-time."
"That's better."
Lin Waner looked down at her hands.
"Su Che," she paused, "if something happens, can you handle it on your own?"
"The deep space technical staff will also be going, the main god ai will be with us, the luan bird system will monitor everything throughout the flight, and fifty-six academicians will be watching the data on the ground."
Su Che turned to look at her. "Do you think I'm going out for a solo wilderness survival trip?"
"Everything you mentioned is a machine."
"Machines are more reliable than people; they won't have shaky hands at critical moments."
Lin Waner looked up.
"You are not allowed to have shaky hands."
"..."
"You are not allowed to have anything happen to you." She tried to keep her voice level. "Did you hear me?"
Su Che didn't say anything, but pushed the milk tea machine on the corner of the desk toward Lin Waner.
The green light lit up, and the milk tea was dispensed.
"Take it and drink."
Lin Waner stared at the cup of milk tea, took it, poked the lid with a straw, but didn't drink.
"Is this how you're brushing me off?"
"It's not brushing you off." Su Che turned back to the main screen. "It's just that every time I want to say something decent, I don't know how to say it."
"Then what do you want to say now?"
"...Return safely."
"No kidding, of course I have to return safely."
Lin Waner gripped the milk tea in her hands. "If you don't come back, I'll go into space and find you."
Zhao Mingyuan made a typo on his keyboard and didn't fix it.
...
When Jiang Yingxue returned, she hadn't finished her thermos, and she hesitated at the doorway.
Qin Lan met her in the corridor and guided her in, casually returning her handheld device to its place.
Lin Waner poured her a cup of hot water.
"Chief Engineer Su, the rollout of the AR glasses is proceeding steadily overall. The production line for the third batch of one billion is currently unfolding in an orderly manner. I don't have much to do here for the moment."
Jiang Yingxue paused after speaking. "If Chief Engineer Su has new arrangements here, you can assign them at any time."
Su Che turned from the main screen to look at her.
"You want to continue your advanced studies?"
"Following the team for the third batch rollout is enough. I've been following it for a while, and they can handle the remaining processes." She spoke very directly. "My abilities are still lacking; I can't be Chief Engineer Su's best assistant yet, so I want to brush up."
Su Che twisted his neck.
"Qin Lan, go coordinate the advanced study procedures at Jinghua University for both of them, get it done before tomorrow."
Qin Lan, listening from the side, nodded without wasting words, pulled out her handheld device, and sent the request immediately.
Lin Waner turned over with her water cup and looked at Su Che with some surprise.
Su Che didn't give her any expression.
"Waner, if you want the syllabus for auditing courses, have Qin Lan get it for you too."
"...You said you would arrange for formal advanced studies." Lin Waner set the water cup down on the table. "Not auditing."
"Right, formal advanced studies."
Lin Waner was stunned for a moment.
Jiang Yingxue lowered her head at the right moment, focusing on her handheld device screen.
...
The handheld device vibrated on the table.
It was a secure line from General General Shen Wangchuan.
Su Che picked it up and connected.
"Chief Engineer Su."
General General Shen Wangchuan's voice was, as always, brief.
"The Chief personally reviewed the luan bird departure plan. Due to safety considerations, it is proposed to adjust this deep space mission to an unmanned verification mode, and Chief Engineer Su is to postpone his personal participation."
The usual sounds in the B2 level vanished.
Zhao Mingyuan's keyboard stopped, and Wen Bo put down his enamel cup.
"I heard you." Su Che stood up, walked to the corner, and turned his back to the hall. "But I want to go."
"Chief Engineer Su, this mission's risks..."
"I know the risks."
Su Che interrupted him. "I want to see the L2 coordinates my grandfather left in his letter with my own eyes."
"The main god ai can run remotely, but there are some things that are different when you're looking at data here versus being on-site. I can guarantee you that."
There was a pause of a few seconds on General General Shen Wangchuan's end. "I will request instructions from the Chief."
He hung up.
No one spoke on the B2 level.
Lin Waner placed the milk tea on the table.
Ten minutes later, the handheld device vibrated again.
Su Che glanced at the caller ID and stood a little straighter when he answered.
"Comrade Su Che." The voice on the other end was very calm, but carried different weight. "Old Shen told me you want to go in person."
"Yes, I want to go."
"Tell me your reasons."
Su Che explained the matter of the L2 coordinates and the on-site survey logic for the deep space in-situ resource supply system.
Finally, he said, "The deep space isolated mine we are going to this time has several core materials needed for the next R&D stage that must be obtained from there. I built the luan bird, and I am the one most familiar with its performance boundaries. If I don't go on this trip, we will owe a debt later."
The tone on the other end of the phone grew heavier.
"Do you know how long it takes for the luan bird to reach that coordinate?"
"About a day and a half, at a normal cruising speed of 180 kilometers per second."
"Do you know how much the communication latency is?"
"Quantum Communication transmits in real-time, with almost no latency."
"Even with real-time command from the ground, the deep space environment is complex, and in many situations, you will still have to rely on your own judgment."
"Chief, I have no problem! Besides, the deep space technical team is going with me."
The silence lasted for nearly twenty seconds.
"The Dragon Country can temporarily do without the luan bird, and can postpone deep space operations, but the progress of the Nantianmen Project cannot be stalled because you are missing."
He paused. "If anything goes wrong with you on this trip, it will be an incalculable loss for the Dragon Country. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
"Then go, but there is one condition: be extremely careful, and bring yourself back."
"Yes."
The call ended.
On the B2 level, Zhao Mingyuan leaned back in his chair.
"The Chief personally called to say that the Dragon Country cannot do without you," Zhao Mingyuan said, resting his hand on his forehead. "Su Che, you're still called 'Handicraft Geng', but that name doesn't fit anymore."
Su Che put the handheld device into his pocket.
Lin Waner stood next to the folding table, her hands clutching the unfinished cup of milk tea.
She didn't say anything, twisted the lid off the milk tea cup, and took a big gulp.
It was cold.
...
Alien civilization voyage timer, day 133.
5:30 AM.
A courtyard house on the Third Ring Road of the capital.
Su Che carried out his luggage bag; only the bedside lamp was on in the bedroom.
Lin Waner was sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands on her knees, not sleeping. She didn't know how long she had been awake.
He put the bag by the door and came back to sit next to her.
"Take less luggage; the ship has everything."
Lin Waner zipped it up for him. "I packed two bags of buckwheat tea for you. Don't just drink milk tea in space. The luan bird has an Anti-gravity environment consistent with the ground; it should be fine to bring normal food, right?"
"Mm."
"And a bag of ginger candy. It's said to be easy to get cold in space stations."
"That's space stations; the luan bird is temperature-controlled."
"Take it anyway."
Su Che picked up the bag.
Lin Waner stood up and saw him to the door.
In the corridor, Qin Lan and Gao Jian were already there, and the escort vehicle was parked downstairs.
"Consultant Su Che, it's time to go." Qin Lan spoke up.
Su Che walked toward the stairs. After three steps, Lin Waner called him from the doorway.
"Su Che."
He turned around.
She didn't say anything, just looked at him.
"Come back." She said these two words.
Su Che responded and turned to walk into the morning heat.
...
The military plane landed at Jiuquan Launch Base, and it was already morning.
Su Che changed into his aerospace work uniform and stepped into the hatch of the luan bird verification ship.
Equipped with an Anti-gravity device, there was no sense of weightlessness in the cabin, making it no different from sitting in a cabin on the ground.
Only the sky outside the window grew darker and darker; blue turned to indigo, indigo turned to pure black, and the stars became denser.
They arrived at the Low Earth Orbit Space Base.
The chief instructor of the space base was a man who looked to be in his early fifties, surnamed Han, whose posture didn't look like someone who could sit down.
"Chief Engineer Su, three days of special training, according to the plan." Instructor Han pushed the lesson plan over. "This morning, we'll start with an adaptability assessment, and this afternoon, you'll enter the high-G centrifuge."
Su Che took the lesson plan and scanned it.
"Finish the assessment in the morning and go in directly in the afternoon?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
The assessment results came out quickly.
His basic physical fitness was above the standard line, but Instructor Han drew a circle next to one column of data and handed it to Su Che to see.
"Vestibular adaptation threshold, thirteen units lower than standard pilots."
Instructor Han pointed to the number. "It means you are prone to losing your sense of space during high-speed rotation. In deep space, this gap must be filled during training."
Su Che flipped the assessment form back.
"What time in the afternoon do I enter the centrifuge?"
"Two o'clock."
At 2:00 PM, the hatch of the high-G centrifuge closed.
The trainer outside the cabin gave the first-level instruction, and the equipment began to accelerate.
The G-force generated by the rotation pressed down on every part of his body. Su Che rested his head on the support, and following the method Instructor Han taught him, he pulled in his stomach, tightened his neck, and stabilized his breathing rhythm.
At the third level, gray edges appeared in his field of vision.
At the fourth level, the gray edges expanded.
The trainer called out the numbers in his headset.
Su Che clenched his teeth and held on.
Instructor Han stared at the monitor screen outside the cabin and wrote the first line of text in his notebook.
After finishing the line, he stopped his pen.
He added two words in the space: "Can hold."