At 0900 Earth Standard Time, Wang Ping'an wore a spacesuit and sat in the commander's seat.
Just like driving a ship on Earth, the process of entering and exiting a port is the most dangerous part of space flight, and accidents occur frequently.
Therefore, the crew members on this part of the ship need to wear spacesuits and stand by.
Angele also climbed onto the chair next to her and fixed herself to the chair with a safety belt.
Wang Ping'an glanced at the fluorescent light on Angeli's spacesuit. After confirming that the light was on, he ordered the computer to evacuate the air on the bridge.
In fact, the warehouse is already evacuated at this time, and this measure is to reduce the risk of loss of pressure.
However, this is the disadvantage of transporting living animals. There must always be air in the container, otherwise the transported items will be suffocated.
Wang Ping'an: "You know, if we have an accident and the containers in the warehouse have holes and the automatic sealing fails, those warehouses will turn into big trucks and race in our warehouse."
Angele: "Don't scare me."
"...I see that you don't look very scared. Are you really scared?"
"You can't see that through the mask of the spacesuit."
Wang Ping'an shrugged, then pushed the button on the operation panel and turned on the spacecraft's communicator.
A conversation between you and me was immediately heard from the spacesuit’s earphones: “PQ11 approach, visual navigation signal.”
Wang Ping'an pulled the handbrake next to him, and all the Zhoutian displays were activated. He and Angeli seemed to be sitting directly in the universe.
Angele said "Oh" and praised: "Our flight school training ship does not have this thing, we can only experience it in virtual reality."
Wang Ping'an: "In fact, our school's training ship does not have this thing. The old ship we sail should be the first generation to be equipped with this spaceship. In other words, the school's spaceship is older than this ship.
"By the way, you should be familiar with tritium reflection engine troubleshooting, right?"
Through Angele's helmet, you can see his mouth wide open in surprise: "You...is this a callback?"
"No, I'm asking you very seriously. The engine of this spaceship is very old. We might have to drill various pipes to repair it."
At this time, a ship entering the harbor sent out a light signal.
Wang Ping'an glanced at it and responded by sending a signal on the operating panel.
Angele: "It's not about using a computer to type..."
"Computer typing will leave records, but directly controlling the lights on the housing will not."
Angele: "Who is it?"
"Someone I know, ask how Qin Qiong is doing. Damn it, you're almost entering Hong Kong and you're going to go see him yourself."
Angele: "You usually... just chat in this way without occupying the communication frequency?"
Wang Ping'an patted the headphone position of the helmet: "Of course, listen to what is said inside."
At this time, the headset said: "4617 approaches, I can't see the navigation lights clearly, it's over."
"4617 Please wait, there is a small problem. Over."
Wang Ping'an: "Interrupting these conversations may lead to accidents, so we..."
"You don't need to chat." Angeli said quickly.
Wang Ping'an: "Why do you talk like an instructor?"
At this time, someone was calling in the communication: "pq51, how are you doing? It's over."
"PQ51 is ready to sail..."
As soon as Wang Ping'an finished speaking, a light on the console flashed.
Angele: "The container is open?"
Wang Ping'an: "Didn't you hear the sound of the big truck running rampant in the warehouse?"
At this time the flashing light went off. Everything on the console looked normal.
Just as Wang Ping'an was about to speak, the tower's voice came from the earphones again: "Pq51, what happened? It's over."
Wang Ping'an was interrupted by the flashing light just in the middle of his report. At this time, he quickly continued to report: "The warning light of the container that was not tightly sealed just flashed, but it flashed a few times and went out. It's over."
Tower: "It should be due to poor contact. Your ship is an old ship. Get ready to leave the port, pq51. Completed."
Wang Ping'an: "Get ready to leave Hong Kong, pq51 understands. Over."
At this time, the light indicator on the dock in front of the spacecraft has switched from red to green, indicating that it can leave the port.
Wang Ping'an repeated while operating: "Cut off the fuel line."
The so-called fuel line is actually used to fill the water tank. In the past, the engine had to use delicate and unstable liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which was very troublesome, but now it is simple.
Angeli performed the duties of co-pilot and monitored various data of the spacecraft.
Angele: "The warehouse detected a slight pressure change."
"Don't give an estimate, just tell us how much it has changed."
"The computer treated it as an instrument error and eliminated it."
Wang Ping'an: "That should be an instrument error. This ship is broken. Could it be that someone in the warehouse opened the container and caused the air in the box to leak out?"
Angele also laughed: "That's right."
But Wang Ping'an suddenly frowned. While he continued to carry out the departure procedure, he called the control tower: "Control control tower, there is a slight reading abnormality in the instrument here. I suspect it is a stowaway. A ship will come and scan my warehouse. Over."
"Understood, contact the cruiser on duty immediately. Over."
Angele: "What does this mean?"
"Be careful with the Wannian ship. If there are really stowaways, they might have weapons. We won't find out until we set sail. We will have to use the weapons on the ship to fight them inside the ship."
As he spoke, Wang Pingan pointed to the eye-catching red weapons cabinet behind him.
At this time, a cruiser adjusted its attitude and controlled the engine and appeared next to pq51.
The cruiser's main engine did not ignite and relied entirely on attitude control to move the engine, but this was enough for the Torch Cruiser.
The cruiser's scanning antenna was fully deployed and aimed at the pq51's cargo bay.
The voice of the cruiser's communications officer came over the radio: "You are pulling a boatload of live animals. There are too many scanned signals, so we can only hand them over to the computer for analysis. We have to identify you one by one and don't leave the port."
complete."
A moment later the cruiser reported: "No adult targets found, and no suspected weapons detected. That's what the computer said. Over."
Wang Ping'an: "Did the computer find humans in the cargo hold? Over."
"Wait a moment, the condition is that humans... input. No. But you have transported a lot of monkeys, over."
Wang Ping'an: "Transportation to the zoo on Mars. Completed."
"Maybe it was a monkey just now..."
"No chatting! This is the control tower, pq51 continues to leave the port. Over."
Wang Ping'an: "pq51 understands. It's over."
Then he started the final step of the departure procedure and loosened the rigid connection between the spacecraft and the dock.
Now the pq51 transport ship is completely floating parallel to the space station dock.
The cruiser's attitude control engine briefly puffed, allowing the cruiser to leave the PQ51.
Wang Ping'an first used attitude control to control the engine to keep the spacecraft away from the dock. After reaching a safe position, he pressed the main engine ignition button.
The two people on the bridge leaned back in their chairs at the same time.
However, because the spacecraft is loaded with more than 20,000 tons of containers, the engine can only provide an acceleration of several tens of milligals, so the back thrust is actually not too strong.
Angele: "Can this ship run like this?"
"Of course it's more than that. If it's in a hurry, it can run for a mile. But that's too wasteful. When a ship like ours goes to Mars, it just goes slowly, rocking and rocking to Grandma's Bridge..."
At this time, the control tower said: "pq51, have a nice trip, it's over."
"pq51, I wish you a good mood today, tower, over."
After ending the call with the tower, Wang Pingan switched to the public address broadcast.
So soothing music flowed into his ears through the headphones.
It's "Night at the Military Port".
Angeli listened for a few seconds and suddenly said: "Is this Lu Yingying?"
"Yes, I recognize her singing ability." Wang Ping'an said softly.
Amidst the singing, the spacecraft gradually accelerated along the route planned by the computer.
Wang Ping'an looked at the precision mechanical clock on the operating table and said: "We just set off at the launch window. I feel that this journey will be very smooth. Smooth but boring."
Angele: "Why a mechanical clock?"
"Because even if there is no air and is thrown into space, a special mechanical clock can still run for a period of time. But at that time, a clock will not help. It is more like... a talisman? It's like
In the past, it was like boatmen eating fish and not turning them over."
“Do materialists believe this too?”
"Materialists think that this kind of thing can bring them some inner comfort and have positive meaning. Even without this thing, we would be nothing."
While the two were talking, Angele's eyes were suddenly attracted to the window—to be precise, the scene outside the window displayed on the monitor.
A comet was surrounded by several battleships and slowly flew towards this side.
The sun's rays came from behind Wang Ping'an and the others, shining on the comet, and the light pressure pressed out a long comet tail.
The engine jets installed on the comet are mixed in the comet's tail, seemingly adding a "backbone" to the comet's tail.
In this way, the comet's tail looks like a feather in space.
Angele was stunned.
Wang Ping'an suddenly said: "Computer, start the spectroscope mode."
The computer immediately cut the spherical display into a spectroscopic state, and the comet tail was coated with a layer of colorful light.
Angeli praised: "It's so beautiful."
"Yes." Wang Ping'an echoed softly.
The small fleet that captured the comet seemed to be passing by pq51. The leading cruiser sent out a light signal: "Have a safe voyage."
Angele: "They capture the comet... to get the ice on it, right?"
"There are also liquid alkanes. Once the comets are finished catching, I'm afraid the L2 water will have to be replenished by water launched from the earth."
While Wang Ping'an was talking, Angeli turned off the spectroscope mode.
So he asked doubtfully: "Why, don't you want to read it?"
"My eyes are a little blurry, I need to take care of my short-sightedness! But you are quite good at romance. I thought you were going to do something weird when you wanted to switch."
"How is that possible?" Wang Ping'an replied, "I am a master at pleasing girls!"
"Hey, is that so?"
Just as Wang Ping'an was about to answer, he saw the comet that was about to pass by the spacecraft break apart.
Wang Ping'an opened his mouth in an O shape and exclaimed: "Damn it, the idiot who installed the engine measured the wrong data on the comet nucleus!"
Half of the split comet nucleus rushed towards Wang Ping'an's spacecraft!
Wang Ping'an: "Sit tight!"
Then he directly increased the engine power to the highest level.
1.2Ga's acceleration pushed him and Angele onto the backrest.
Wang Ping'an didn't do any other operations and just pushed the engine valve tightly.
The computer activated the disintegration warning light, and at the same time, the computer's alarm sound also sounded in the headphones.
The acceleration of the 1.2G has exceeded the designed maximum speed of the cargo ship. In addition, the cargo ship itself is fully loaded, so it may disintegrate at any time!
Suddenly, the flash of a disintegration warning was mixed with the flash of a loose container in the warehouse, indicating that at least one container had been displaced——
Originally, all containers should be fixed on the shelves.
Angele: "It's going to disintegrate!"
The moment she shouted, Wang Ping'an let go of the gate.
The acceleration suddenly disappeared.
Wang Pingan turned around and saw that half of the comet was not far away from him, and a cruiser was chasing it.
At this time, the tower asked: "Pq51, how are you doing?"
"We have nothing serious to do. The comet...well, I don't know..." Wang Ping'an had time to check the computer's flight records at this time, and then he saw the comet's orbit passing behind the flight path of his spacecraft.
As long as you accelerate a little slower, or hesitate a little bit when accelerating, or release the valve a little too early, you'll hit it.
Wang Ping'an: "I'm sorry."
Tower: "Report the situation, pq51, do you still have enough Delta to go to Mars?"
Wang Ping'an looked at the spacecraft's route plan and replied: "There is still enough Delta, and there is even a little surplus. But... I only have fifty tons of redundant water, and the route has deviated a lot. I need to repair the route."
I still need water when I come back..."
"Conclusion, pq51, can you still complete the voyage? It's over." The tower interrupted Wang Ping'an's words.
Wang Ping'an: "It's a bit uncertain. There are too few Deltas left, and we will not be able to cope with emergencies."
Tower: "This is the most urgent situation you can handle. The Air Traffic Control Commission has already adjusted the sailing plan for you. Continue to implement it."
Wang Ping'an: "I protest! This is no child's play!"
"Lieutenant Wang Pingan, think about your evaluation."
Wang Pingan shut up.
But he didn't answer "Okay" and just stayed in a stalemate.
Someone else spoke at the control tower: "I am Colonel Yang on duty today. The computer of the Air Traffic Control Commission has judged that the voyage is very safe. We will arrange a water refill for you in Mars orbit so that you will have enough delta when entering the port.
avoid."
Wang Ping'an sighed: "Okay, I understand. I promise to complete the task. It's over."
Then Wang Pingan directly cut off the communication.
Angele: "Why don't you rehydrate us here?"
"Didn't you see the comet just now? Because there was an error in capturing it, we only have fifty tons of redundancy. Looking at the state of the comet, do you think L2 can evenly release water for us immediately?"
Angeli was speechless: "Is there often a lack of water and oxygen in space?"
"No, there is actually no shortage of domestic water, because the space station circulates internally. All it consumes is water used as propellant." Wang Ping'an said as he set the orbit parameters and handed over the control of the spacecraft to the computer.
"Computer, pressurize the cabin of the spacecraft."
As soon as he finished speaking, the air circulation system buzzed.
Wang Ping'an: "Okay, the most dangerous part of leaving the port is completed."
"It's indeed quite dangerous. I've seen it in action." Angeli nodded.
Wang Ping'an: "I'm going to the warehouse to see which container just slipped."
"Do we need to compensate for this kind of loss during transportation?"
"Of course not, the insurance company will pay for it." Wang Ping'an said while checking the indoor pressure gauge. After seeing that the pressure was normal, he took off his helmet.
"I'll go take a look at the back, will you come with me?"
"Let's go, I have nothing to do anyway, it's just an internship."