spaceflight manual

Chapter 26 Sinking in the Darkness
At the military police management station near the Yayuan Restaurant, the chief of the military police who arrested Wang Pingan and his party walked slowly around the three of them.

"It's ok, suddenly you won't cause trouble, and you've changed to be righteous and brave?" the boss said angrily.

Wang Pingan said with a smile: "Scholars will treat each other with admiration for three days. People will change. Now I am completely reborn. I even got a silver star, which will be sent to me tomorrow."

"Computer, what's the matter?"

Computer: "Lieutenant Wang's comprehensive diagnostic report has not been updated, and his so-called reborn body cannot be confirmed."

"I'm asking about the silver star, did he get the silver star? You wooden head."

Wang Pingan: "He is a silicon brain."

"you shut up!"

At this time, the computer spoke: "Confirmed. Lieutenant Wang's Silver Star Medal has been approved and should be awarded tomorrow. Second Lieutenant Angele de Leon's Silver Star Medal was also approved."

The head of the gendarmerie looked surprised: "Oh, this really happened, did you take the wrong medicine?"

Wang Pingan smiled and said: "That's right, my psychological diagnosis is popular, so the supercomputer prescribed a prescription for me, look, this is my antidote!"

Wang Ping'an made a "look here" gesture with both hands, pointing to Angeli.

The military police looked at An Geli again: "I don't believe it, if a woman can change you, you should have changed by now."

"Computers use big data to match, and there are a lot of psychological research as the basis behind it. You should believe in science."

Angeli opened her mouth to speak, but Lu Yingying snapped it up and said, "This doesn't mean they're a couple! There's no such thing! The computer just made them partner with each other, it didn't make them a couple!"

The military police looked at Lu Yingying: "You haven't been cheated enough by him yet. What's so attractive about this guy? Isn't he just good at playing the guitar?"

This is also one of the mainstream views on Wang Ping'an in the army. Some men can feel the idealism in Wang Ping'an, while others can't feel it at all. The former is generally concentrated among astronauts, while the latter is widely distributed among Military police, personnel agencies and other departments.

This gendarmerie captain is obviously the type of person who completely treats Wang Ping'an as a dead person.

Lu Yingying was immediately unconvinced and wanted to refute, but her stomach screamed angrily.

She blushed immediately: "This...after all, it's dinner time! It's not my fault!"

Gendarme: "Well, this time you are really brave. Your dictation has been recorded, just sign an electronic signature."

After speaking, a sergeant of the military police came forward with a machine for collecting hair. Now everyone's DNA is a signature, and every time a signature is signed, a hair is collected.

Of course, beards are also allowed, but soldiers have to shave according to regulations, otherwise they will be caught and deducted points.

Wang Ping'an and his party left their hair, and the captain of the gendarmerie said, "Okay, see you later."

After leaving the gendarmerie management station, Wang Pingan looked at the time on his phone and said, "It's too late to go back to that restaurant to eat Cantonese food, and we won't be able to catch up with the concert. Let's eat Shaxian on the side of the road."

Lu Yingying frowned immediately: "Sha County... Eating too much food from Sha County is bad for your throat."

"You can eat something light. What do you think, Angelie?"

Angeli spread her hands: "For me, it's something I've never eaten before. A few days ago, I was drinking bouillabaisse and eating Provence stew."

"Okay, then let's try it out." Wang Ping'an said, pushing Angeli's back with one hand, and pulling the reluctant Lu Yingying with the other, and went to the Shaxian snack bar with a signboard "A Song of Loyalty" hanging on the side of the road.

Just two steps away, a voice stopped the three of them.

"Wang Ping'an, and...uh, what are the names of the two girls?"

Wang Pingan turned around and found that it was Dr. Chen who he had saved. He didn't speak, but Angeli saluted first: "I'm Second Lieutenant Angele de Leon, Comrade Doctor."

"Lu Yingying, an art soldier of the cultural team." Lu Yingying glanced at Angri and added, "Comrade doctor."

"Hello, I'm Major Chen Yuanyuan from the Department of Mental Medicine, but I won't salute if I don't wear a military uniform. You have done me a big favor and let me end a hopeless relationship. I should treat you to a meal."

Lu Yingying immediately became vigilant, facing the cat that arched its back and raised its tail when it sensed the threat.

Angeli is very generous: "Of course, I think Sha County is just where we are going."

Dr. Chen was stunned: "Going to...Sha County? Uh..."

Wang Pingan was on the side as the commentator: "Angeli, if you usually treat guests to high-end food in order to thank others, please make people suspect that you are insulting others in Shaxian County, saying, 'Your kindness is worth a meal in Shaxian County'."

Angeli: "Huh? But I saw that the sign of the shop said 'A Praise of Loyalty', so it should be quite high-end."

"This is a slogan handed down from ancient times in Shaxian County, and it is the same as the Golden Arch's 'I like it'."

Angeli let out an "oh", and then said to Dr. Chen: "But tonight we are going to watch a concert, and I am looking forward to it very much. Tonight should not be possible."

Lu Yingying: "That's right, it won't work tonight!"

Dr. Chen: "Well, then let's go to Shaxian County to have a meal together. I will find time to thank you tomorrow. I heard that you will receive the Silver Star Medal tomorrow? Then it's just a celebration."

Lu Yingying had a bitter face.Seeing this, Dr. Chen immediately said, "I invited the three of you, so you should come too."

Lu Yingying's expression immediately relaxed a lot: "Then...then there is no way..."

She looked at Wang Ping'an.

Wang Pingan: "Then it's better to be respectful than obedient, let's go to Sha County tonight."

**
After eating in Sha County, Wang Ping'an and his party said goodbye to Dr. Chen, and drove to the Soldiers' Home by car.

On the way, Lu Yingying murmured: "That Dr. Chen must have taken a fancy to the scourge. An old cow eats tender grass. It's disgusting."

Wang Pingan: "Don't be like this, I'm not so attractive."

Angeli: "Studies have shown that if the girls around a boy are of high quality, it will affect other girls' impression of him."

Wang Pingan: "Isn't this the research result you just made up?"

Lu Yingying immediately said: "Hmph, what do you say about my sister! Don't think everyone is like you."

"However, she is my partner matched by the supercomputer. Maybe we have some commonalities in these aspects."

Angeli: "Shall I find you the papers on the Lancet?"

"Uh, no, it's not necessary. I trust you, after all, you are my partner!" Wang Pingan patted his chest, "You must have unwavering trust in your partner."

Angeli smiled, but Lu Yingying decided to persevere in tearing things down: "Then what if you are full of lies? I don't believe you don't fool Angeli at all!"

Wang Ping'an: "I will definitely not lie about the important content. Other content will be played by ear."

Lu Yingying: "You actually admitted directly that you have flexible standards. Forget it, let's not talk about it. Today is the first time I saw a person with a mental breakdown. You won't become like this, will you?"

"Maybe it will," Wang Pingan sneered, "so don't get too close to me, maybe one day I will shout 'there are roses' and grab your neck!"

Lu Yingying snorted, and then asked curiously: "Is it really so scary to run a long voyage?"

"How should I put it, I'm relatively slow." Wang Ping'an looked at the road ahead. At this time, the holographic projection of the space station had switched to night scene mode, and the colorful neon lights outside looked like a metropolis on the ground.

Looking at such a scene, he continued: "On the long-distance spacecraft, I spent most of my time watching past movies and novels, and playing games. I didn't feel particularly lonely. But people are different , Some people will gradually become irritable even if they walk around on the spaceship every day."

Angeli added: "Everyone is different. Among private enterprises and mercenaries, there are also people who have flown in space for 20 years and have not returned to the ground, but there are no psychological problems."

Wang Ping'an seemed to suddenly recall something: "By the way, on the way back to Mars for the first time, there was a wrong ship."

"Wrong ship?" Lu Yingying asked curiously, "What the hell?"

Wang Pingan: "Different spacecraft have different propulsion power, so the orbits are also very different. Even if they are also launched from the Sun-Earth L2 to Mars in the same window, the cargo ships of the space army and civilian cargo ships may take different orbits and arrive at different times. .

"In addition, civilian spacecraft do not have a fixed launch window like ours. After all, they are not directly managed by the Space Management Committee and do not need the approval of the flight plan by the Space Management Committee. Sometimes they will launch from Earth's low-earth orbit to the circle of Deimos. track.

"So although such situations are relatively rare, in the vast space between Earth and Mars, it is possible for two ships to sail side by side for a short time.

"Of course, sometimes the intersection of the orbits is just a moment, but we will deliberately match the relative speed of the two parties and perform some courtesy activities. For example, throwing some small gifts to each other when the ship is wrong. Rarely, the two spaceships The relative speed is almost zero, and docking will take place at this time.

"On my way back from Mars for the first time, we docked a very old-fashioned spacecraft. The spacecraft actually used lithium as a propellant. The jet ejected from the back of the spacecraft was viewed with a spectroscope, and it was in the red zone. There are two very distinct lines..."

Lu Yingying: "Wait a minute, I can't understand! Is using lithium as a propellant powerful or not?"

Wang Pingan said succinctly: "Lithium is a metal, the lightest metal in the periodic table of elements. The spacecraft let lithium vapor pass through the core of the reactor, fully accelerated and ejected.

"After seeing that ship, Xiao Fang became very excited, because she thought it was too romantic, and our tritium reflection engine is not romantic at all."

Lu Yingying: "Who is Xiao Fang?"

"You want to chase me and you don't know who Xiao Fang is?" Wang Ping'an was shocked.

Lu Yingying: "You never told me!"

"This is something you should investigate, otherwise how can you see your sincerity?"

"Oh, this needs to be investigated. Okay, I'll look into it. You can continue."

Seeing Lu Yingying's naive look, Angeli couldn't help laughing.

"Xiao Fang was very excited, she always felt that the machines of the old era had a shocking aesthetic feeling, so when the computer calculated that we could parallel this ship for a short time, she immediately decided to issue a docking application for this ship.

"At first they didn't agree, but I said 'we have the latest coffee and cigarettes' and they agreed.

"The docking went very smoothly. When we got to the other party's ship, we immediately understood why they couldn't resist coffee and cigarettes. There was a very strong sour smell in the cabin of that ship. It was obvious that the spaceship hadn't docked for a long time and had complete air. Refresh the facility's space station again.

"And the people on board also have a very strong smell, which is the smell of people who have lived on the space station and spacecraft with insufficient supplies for a long time. The life of the Space Force is now better, and everyone will be able to take a bath. The spaceship has been replaced.

"When using old-fashioned spaceships, because there is not so much payload to ensure a shower, the soldiers of the Space Force also smell of sweat. And these people have always lived on dilapidated old spaceships.

"In addition, there are quite a lot of people on that ship. A spaceship of tens of thousands of tons in the Space Force can be driven by two people. Computer-controlled robots and drones will handle most of the problems. But there is not so much money to buy an automated system on the ship. Will bring more people.

"Anyway, the automated system can't completely replace manpower. It's better to use all manpower. It's a spaceship configured based on this idea."

Angeli immediately raised a question: "This is unreasonable. It costs more to raise a person in space than to raise an automatic machine."

Wang Pingan: "That is when human rights are guaranteed. As long as human rights are ignored, people can still be very cheap. In addition, many foreign space development companies will use financial tools to turn people into debtors, so that they can be used like slaves. They don't need to pay at all, just divide the bread into pieces.

"Anyway, this is the ship we boarded, and the people who lived the shortest time in space have been working for five years. All the muscles are atrophied, and the skin is wrinkled. Everyone is a little neurotic. I saw it with my own eyes. Saw how their repairman repaired the main reactor: he actually put a shrine next to it, do you understand the shrine!

"And the captain of that ship, the Commander, has been in space for 20 years, and he looks like a Himalayan snowman.

"Xiao Fang was very curious, so he asked the captain if he had any abnormalities. The captain laughed, patted his chest and said: 'The so-called soul bound by gravity is a lie made up by the space army to ensure the earth's control over space colonies .'

"Sounds very convincing, doesn't it? Then the clock rang, and Xiao Fang and I were startled. We didn't know what happened. Xiao Fang even assumed a weightless fighting posture.

"Then the captain, under the watchful eyes of all of us, led the crew to pray to the 'darkness that rules everything'. The prayers were all patchwork, and I could only hear the sentences from the Book of Revelation. Stitching together sentences from Pulp Fiction..."

Lu Yingying: "What and what? Apocalypse? Pulp fiction?"

Angelie: "I only know that the Book of Revelation is part of the Bible, but I haven't read it. My dad won't let me read it, saying that the Space Force is all atheists and doesn't accept Christians."

Wang Pingan: "It's just a mess anyway. Xiao Fang and I were frightened by the scene, left coffee and cigarettes and fled back to our spaceship. After undocking, we gave the computer an order to disinfect the entire ship. At the same time, the engine was injected with full force, and it ran at an acceleration of [-] gam, consuming a lot of redundant water.

"We just dropped that ship.

"Since seeing that ship, Xiao Fang and I have never doubted the necessity of regular vacations on the ground.

"As a species born on the ground, human beings can feel scary even at night on the earth. We can only get some comfort at night by relying on light sources such as torches.

"We are used to the light formed by the diffuse reflection of the atmosphere around us, and we are used to the sunlight during the day. In space, even if there is sunlight, there is no air for diffuse reflection. Even if there is starlight, it will not help.

"Humans who were born and raised on the earth will definitely go crazy after staying in this environment for a long time. Those who have been in space for 20 years, it seems that they are not crazy, but they did not take actions that would threaten others. In fact, they have already gone crazy. up.

"Only the second generation of cosmonauts whose parents were born and raised in space and who themselves were born and raised in space can overcome these problems."

After Wang Pingan finished speaking, Lu Yingying and Angeli were silent.

Suddenly, Angeli said: "In other words, if you stay in space for a long time, it is possible to become the same as the person you knocked down?"

"I don't know." Wang Pingan shook his head, "Although I believe I won't, who can be sure?"

At this time, the computer stopped the car and announced at the same time: "The Soldiers' Home is here."

Looking out of the car window, a large number of people watching the show have gathered and are waiting for the ticket check.

(End of this chapter)