Rebirth 09: Synthetic Male God

Chapter 965 Silent Request for Help (Recommended BGM: Levels)

Hangzhou, Qianjiang Smart City.

AM10:30: The first phase of the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

Zhou Rui held the phone, somewhat confused.

Explosion above orbit? Satellites don’t have this function, right?
It can’t be their own “Nantianmen” or “Qian Xuesen Platform”, in which case Xiao Wan would probably say directly: Highest authority, your stuff exploded.

Unfortunately, security at the main venue was quite strict, so he didn’t bring in either a computer or a shower, and he only had a cell phone in his hand.

After thinking about it, he notified Xiao Wan by text message and asked it to notify the Space Administration at the same time. Then he contacted Che Qian who was far away in Wanhu Base and asked him to check what was going on and stand by at the command center.

After a series of instructions were issued, Taitian Factory began to operate gradually, but Zhou Rui was still not too anxious because it did not seem to be his own business.

After a while, Jia Xingjian ran in with a hunched back and handed Zhou Rui a Bluetooth headset, which Zhou Rui put on his ears.

When he was hesitating about what to do next, a staff member came over and drove Jia Xingjian away, and at the same time reminded Zhou Rui that leaders from various countries were about to come in, so he should pay attention to the ceremonial process.

After a while, voices from multiple countries rang out in the venue: "Please welcome the G20 leader R to the stage."

Everyone present stood up.

The leaders of each country came out one by one, gradually came to their seats amid applause, and would not take their seats until all the leaders had arrived.

Zhou Rui was close to him and observed that the famous Lone Island Cavalry, World Police Chief Omar, had a very dark expression on his face.
Well, the extra black kind.

On such important occasions, the leaders' words, actions and even smiles are sending signals to the outside world. Many people speculate whether China and the United States had some private meeting and the talks were not very ideal.

But Zhou Rui, who had just been to the West Lake State Guesthouse yesterday, knew that the two sides had not met in advance.

A guy who will leave office in a month is not worth negotiating anything with.

With his powerful analytical ability running, Zhou Rui pondered for a moment and finally placed his suspicion on
"International Space Station".

If Jia Xingjian could be present at the meeting, he would probably have made more discoveries, but in terms of "observing words and expressions", he still couldn't compare to him.

After everyone was seated, Zhou Rui also sat down. He placed his right hand on the table, pretending to record something, while his left hand was under the table, operating his cell phone.

A reply from a command center of the space agency came through the headset.

"Mr. Zhou, after investigation, the source of the explosion does not belong to any of our facilities. Everything is normal at the Qian Xuesen platform. I don't know what is at that location."

Zhou Rui whispered, "I understand. Then I feel relieved."

The waves detected from the explosion came from electromagnetic feedback, not direct visual capture, so it was impossible to confirm what happened. Moreover, the location was actually in the Western Hemisphere, probably over the Atlantic Ocean.

"It could be a missile-type weapon that was tested in a confrontation. This has happened before."

Zhou Rui whispered, "Can we contact the International Space Station? Is there a problem there?"

"Well, we have had no communication with the International Space Station for more than a decade."

Okay, it doesn't matter, as long as it's not our own problem.

Zhou Rui temporarily turned off his communications and focused on the meeting.

Although he didn't need to do anything, he just had to pretend to listen carefully and take notes seriously. He was familiar with this job, as he did so in high school.

------

Over the Atlantic Ocean, 404340 meters orbit.

AM10:35, wreckage of the International Space Station.

It's already a mess here. The huge size of the International Space Station has turned into tens of thousands of pieces of various sizes.

Under the influence of inertia, these fragments still barely maintain similar motion trajectories, but are gradually moving away and spreading.

Textbooks in many countries call it the greatest creation of mankind in history. However, now it has become a pile of dilapidated space junk with no hope of repair.

The most tragic damage came from the largest research module and the most important core module, which were completely disintegrated due to unknown explosions.

The research cabin is still inside the wreckage because it is connected to the main frame.

And the core module, due to the inertia caused by the explosion and bad luck, is moving further and further away into nothingness.

Inside, twelve astronauts from nine countries were in great fear.

In order to communicate with the ground, Makarov did not have time to stabilize himself and a cut was made on his forehead. Blood accumulated on his forehead, forming a blood clot.

"Report. Report the situation"

Everyone responded that all 12 people were safe and the only injured was Makarov himself.

Compared to an explosion that could disintegrate a space station, this level of physical injury could be considered mild, but true despair is often more silent.

The astronaut from Brazil pointed out the window in horror. From his position he could just see the disintegrating space station.

"Oh my god, is this the end of the world?"

The most terrifying thing is that they are spinning away.

The astronauts from Japan looked desperate: "It's over. We will all become corpses floating in space."

With no one to look after him, Makarov could only take out the first aid kit from the cabin wall and put a space-specific Band-Aid on his head. However, there were still tiny drops of blood floating in the air. However, he could not care less at this time.

He forced himself to calm down, and immediately floated to the communication station, trying to get in touch with the ground.

All of this is bad news, except for one good news: thanks to its modular design, the core module, as the earliest and most important part of the International Space Station, has many functions.

However, there is even worse news. Both the life-sustaining redundancy and the energy and electricity are extremely tight after being separated from the main body. Their lives have entered a countdown.

There was a sound of snowflakes coming from the communication station, and after a while they miraculously contacted the ground control center.

"This is Houston! Please answer when you hear me! This is Houston! Please answer when you hear me!"

"Hoohoo. This is the International Space Station. We have encountered an extremely serious orbital disaster. The gas discharge avoidance caused us to collide with another group of space junk."

"Please report the extent of the damage! We just observed an explosion!"

"The extent of the damage. The space station has completely disintegrated. The core module we are in is spinning away. If you really want me to give you a number, 90%."

On the communication platform, the command center on the ground fell silent.

"Is Major Chris here? I need to verify the mental state of the station chief on duty."

The astronaut from the US Air Force responded absentmindedly: "He is right, the space station has disintegrated."

This time the silence was longer.

Until Makarov urged: "Command Center, I need new instructions. We can't know the situation outside the core module from inside. More exploration systems and sensors are in the original scientific research module. Can you provide any useful information?"

"What's more important is how we can save ourselves. Houston Command Center, please respond if you hear me."

The ground personnel's voice lowered a little: "Keep communicating, I need to report to the higher-ups."

Communications were temporarily interrupted.

Not far away, a female astronaut from Belgium covered her face and cried: "We are all going to die. We are all going to die here."

The tears were suppressed in the palms, floating in the air and mixing with the blood.

Suni, who had been very emotional before, calmed down instead. Her eyes were bloodshot, but her tone was unusually firm.

"Everyone, the communication station is still usable. We need to make this public and let as many people in various countries know as possible!"

Air Force astronaut Chris subconsciously stopped him and said, "We need to seek Houston's consent first."

Suni grabbed the other person by the collar and shouted angrily: "Fuck Houston! If we don't announce it, they won't even come to rescue us! The space station is gone! Who needs astronauts!"

Chris tried to cover her mouth and Sunny began to struggle wildly.

"No one can stop me. I want to go back to Earth, even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance!"

The Air Force astronaut suddenly made a hand gesture. A "hush" gesture.

Then he pointed to the microphone on the bulkhead nearby.

Sunny's eyes widened.

The other party wrote on a piece of paper: "Be careful, Houston is listening."

----

The International Space Station usually undertakes some popular science functions.

For example, demonstrating some unique physical phenomena in space, or conducting radio communications with space enthusiasts on the ground.

There's even a radio station of its own.

Since member states are spread all over the world, each country has a corresponding "communication point", some of which are within the space agency, some are liaison offices, and some are even directly radio stations and television stations.

Suni did not miss any possibility because she didn't know where she would be intercepted.

She recorded a video, announcing the miserable state of the space station at the moment and the desperate situation they were facing, and then sent them all out one by one according to the table, and used the international emergency communication channel to broadcast electromagnetically to the ground continuously.

This kind of broadcast, similar to the "Dongfanghong-1", is a bit old-fashioned but not useless.

The broadcasts are aimless and divergent. Although they have separated from the main body, they are still orbiting the earth instead of being fixed in space.

This results in an extremely wide range of received signals.

The first people to react were the bored ships on the sea or the radio enthusiasts in the mountains.

Of course, most people were skeptical. Although the signal came from the international emergency frequency band, the content was too bizarre.

But as the scope grew, the news began to spread on the Internet.

The first mainstream media to react and publish the news came from France.

The French media is happy to seize big news and hot topics. As a member of the Western camp and a rebel who likes to sing a different tune, there is no reason for them to miss this opportunity.

As a result, the despair of the 12 astronauts in space appeared on many people's TV screens, which in turn triggered more hot spots and spread.

"I'm Sunny Brightman, astronaut number 91726 on the International Space Station. We have just experienced the worst space disaster in human history. The International Space Station has completely disintegrated."

On the screen, Suni looked pale in front of the screen.

She didn't speak, but held up a piece of paper with words written in English, Russian and German.

The content is too outrageous, but the space station background behind it is so real and cannot be deceived.

Especially the solemn atmosphere, with more than a dozen equally desperate astronauts appearing on camera together, which cannot be faked.

The French TV station even specially marked that the people in the picture have been verified to be the astronauts from various countries in this period. These faces can be easily confirmed if one is careful to check.

"And now, 12 astronauts from nine countries are trapped in the 'core cabin' that has been separated from the main body, drifting in the universe. We have no power, and may only have a dozen hours of life support. The main pressure is the lack of oxygen."

"Yes, if nothing miraculous happens, we will all die here."

"The only, only hope is China, or Taitian Gong Houston, but we are not allowed to ask for help."

"This has nothing to do with 'politics'. I ask all countries to put aside their prejudices and ask China for help for the lives of the twelve astronauts, for someone's husband, wife, or mother, who we cannot contact directly, who have been excluded from the International Space Station but are the only ones who can save us."

"Please, we just want to return to Earth alive, instead of dying alone in space..."

Silent video, silent tears.
Silent despair.

AM12:00, Hangzhou.

Qianjiang Smart City, the end of the first phase of the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

Following the host's instructions, the leaders of various countries stood up and prepared to go to the side hall for a simple buffet.

Zhou Rui was also among them. From his point of view, the content of the first phase of the meeting was rather vague and there were almost no substantive decisions.

But this is normal. Countries come here mainly to demonstrate their attitudes and maintain the dialogue mechanism. If they really have any useful information, it will not be put on the table.

Zhou Rui and he came to the buffet venue, or it would be more appropriate to call it a buffet, but it was of a higher standard. Leaders, officials, and representatives of top companies from various countries were all in this space, and communication was still the main theme.

There are no cameras here, so it's not private, but it's not open to the public.

Several heads of state tried to find Zhou Rui, but before they could take a step, Zhou Rui slid smoothly behind a certain team and pretended to take food with a tray.

The Sinopec boss in front was very tactful and smiled as he stepped aside.

Leave this good position to Zhou Rui.

"I just heard the news. There has been a huge response from the outside world, but no one has spoken up yet. The Space Agency said it is very difficult for them. Xiao Zhou, is it difficult for Taiyi Tiangong?"

A magnetic voice came from the side slowly, but Zhou Rui did not turn his head. He still stared at the shrimp dumplings on the table, his mouth moving slightly:

“There is too little information to make a judgement.”

A hand reached out, picked up a shrimp dumpling and placed it on Zhou Rui's plate.

"Let's investigate first, and then talk about other things. We also need to prevent ourselves from being smeared."

Zhou Rui nodded slightly: "Then I won't attend the meeting this afternoon. I'll go deal with it."

"No, it would be more appropriate for you to sit at the meeting."

Zhou Rui pondered for a while and understood what the other party meant.

"Then I need to bring some equipment into the venue."

The owner of the hand smiled, and understood everything at once. Excellent:

“I will ask someone to let you go.”

----

PM12:15, Jiangsu Province.

Taicang, Wanhu base.

"I have received the boss' order. Immediately prepare for the launch of Xingtian."

"What emergency? Is it related to the International Space Station?"

"We'll talk about it after we send it out. The boss didn't explain so much and the control will be taken over by the boss."

"Unit 3 is the most complete, get ready immediately"

Inside the huge Factory No. 5, countless engineers were at work.

Because of its special technical route, the Xingtian No. 3 unit, which is in "ready to launch at any time" state most of the time, was responsible for this mission.

Thanks to the fully intelligent design, the inspection work of machine No. 20 was completed extremely quickly. In less than minutes, the door of factory No. was opened.

Under the scorching sun, a tractor came onto the runway, dragging a steel tower.

It was the "torture rack" jointly created by Shan Chunyuan and Ma Weiming's team.

There are several huge thigh-thick cables connected to the back of the rack, which, together with the integrated brushless motor on the rack, provide strong power for the electromagnetic vertical ejection.

A moment later, with the huge hum of the motor, Xingtian Unit 3 turned into a shadow and was flung away.

After ejection, the Xingtian No. 3 machine slightly adjusted its posture in the air, and then the "subsonic/scramsonic dual-mode engine" at the bottom started instantly.

The trajectory changed, and it flew straight into the sky with unparalleled power and disappeared into the horizon.

"Other fighters are also ready! We may launch again at any time!"

(End of this chapter)