wandering planet

Bering was stunned for a moment, then said sharply to Pierre, "Show me the three-dimensional star map of the Sirius belt!"

While operating quickly, Pierre asked in surprise: "Still, do you still want to return?"

Bering's eyes were extremely firm: "Of course."

There were not only more than 300 passengers on Faust, but also scientific research materials passed down by Copernicus.She had to take these things back, and she had to go to her mentor's grave to say a word instead of Sylvia.

The Sirius planetary belt is a relatively famous planetary belt on the 18th route. It is very wide and short in length compared with other planetary belts, and the planets are mature and relatively large in size.

The route through the Sirius planetary belt was opened up by the Maasai, and only that road can pass straight through, without being affected by other stars, and rarely encountering meteorites or comets.

Bering looked at it twice and immediately made a decision.

Song Junxing said loudly at the other end: "Are you going to the Black Sea? Not only is there no fuel here, but there is also no food and water to provide more than 300 people. My reserves are only enough for my own use. And there is no place for you to live, of course. It’s okay if you live on the ship all the time. But if you see such a black sea, look behind me——such a black sea, I can’t guarantee that your passengers will remain calm. Captain, please think about this possibility……"

"Song, thank you. We will return." She said to Song Junxing on the screen, "I will see you in Marseille when I have a chance in the future."

After finishing the call, Bering turned off the communication with Black Sea, and asked Pierre to notify Linney and Pimi to come to the cockpit immediately.

Listening to Pierre contacting those two people, Bering sat back in the captain's seat, took a deep breath, and turned on the ship's radio.

Both Jiang Che and Ovid were awakened by Bering's voice.

The alarm bells and broadcast sounds that sounded during sleep were as ominous as the ringing of the telephone in the middle of the night.

[... Attention all personnel, I am Captain Bering.After being confirmed by the Black Sea administrator, since the Black Sea transfer station does not have fuel reserves, Faust is refused to dock, and we must return to Marseille now...]

Jiang Che sat up from the bed at once, and pushed Ovid, who was lying beside the bed and rubbing his eyes, to the ground.

Ovid sat on the floor and yawned loudly: "What happened?"

Jiang Che's face was pale, and he listened carefully to the voice from the radio.

Bering's tone was calm and steady: "Repeat, because Faust's fuel is not enough to support it to reach the earth, and there are no other fuel replenishment points on the way, Faust now decides to return. All passengers should return to their respective rooms immediately, Immobilize yourself. Time is limited, all crew members will immediately start the ship-wide inspection procedure, and it will be completed within 10 minutes..."

Ovid and Jiang Che looked at each other, and both of them saw the horror in each other's eyes.

"No, not going to the Black Sea?" Ovid stammered, "Then, what about the bone snake? Can't eat it?"

Jiang Che jumped out of bed, his hands and feet were shaking due to excessive nervousness.

"I won't go back, I won't go back..." Jiang Che gritted his teeth, "I'm going to Earth, I won't go back to Marseille!"

He stood in the tool room, gasping for breath.

But just having a strong desire cannot bring him back to his hometown.He is on Faust, and Faust is going to return, so he must return with him.

"...There will be opportunities in the future." Ovid comforted him, "Let's fix ourselves first, and when we return to Marseilles, we can save money for the trip..."

"There is no chance! When I boarded the ship, I knew that Faust would only fly once. This route is not popular, and the travel agency will not open it again." Jiang Che sat down on the bed, hugging his head.

"There is a chance," said Ovid suddenly beside him.

Jiang Che stared at him in amazement, as if wondering if a food thief, a killer with no achievements, would have any connections.

"Do you still remember the lifeboat we threw away when we left the nuclear ball's gravitational circle?" Ovid was a little proud, "Since there are administrators in the Black Sea, there must be ships and fuel for administrators to use. Take Faust The lifeboat on board is going to the Black Sea, the transfer station just doesn’t have enough fuel to support a civilian ship like Faust, so it shouldn’t be a problem to provide fuel for a small lifeboat.”

"...Even if there is a lifeboat, it is impossible for us to drive the lifeboat to the earth. The fuel it carries cannot support such a long voyage."

"Well..." Ovid thought for a moment, and immediately proposed another plan, "Then we just need to go to the Black Sea in a lifeboat. After arriving in the Black Sea, I will help you snatch the administrator's ship, and you can continue to Earth."

Jiang Che thought for a moment to understand the meaning of his words: "You...you help me snatch the ship? You want to go with me?"

Ovid stretched out his fingers and scratched his eyebrows: "I'm helping you. Do you know how to drive a ship? I do."

The whole ship's broadcast stopped, and both of them heard that the crew members who had been resting in the dormitory were dispatched to carry out the inspection procedures.

Jiang Che didn't hesitate anymore, he grabbed Ovid's hand: "Okay, let's go together."

Ovid smiled, and was about to speak, but Jiang Che quickly let go, grabbed his clothes and put them on his body: "I'll pack something."

He gave up the huge suitcase he took with Faust, and only carried a small bag containing a few pieces of clothing and daily necessities.Jiang Che also put away the posters on the wall, folded them and put them close to his body. Looking back, he found that Ovid was empty-handed, and only picked up a box of white-cut pork knuckles on the table.

The box contains the famous Marseille black pork. This cold dish is a little troublesome to handle, but it is very popular with guests because of its refreshing and appetizing taste. The chefs in the kitchen make it almost every day.

This is what Ovid dropped in from the kitchen two days ago, and he fell in love with it immediately after eating in the kitchen.There is not much meat in Jiang Che's side. Although he can give him a lot of uneaten desserts, meat is always the focus of Ovid's food thief's diet.

After the pork knuckle is cleaned, it is first deboned, and then boiled in plain water without adding anything.It cannot be eaten after cooling, so it must be refrigerated in the freezer for a few hours.

Since nothing is added to the water, the original flavor of the pork can be preserved to the greatest extent.This kind of black pork is famous for its fragrance and toughness. The pork knuckle boiled in white water adds a bit of crispness and toughness of the pork skin. The taste is refreshing and clean, without oil and sauce.When eating, besides slicing the pork knuckle into thin slices, the more important thing is to pay attention to the ingredients added.

The characteristic of white-cut pork knuckle is the original taste of pork, so the taste of ingredients should not be too strong, nor can it cover up the special fragrance of raw materials.The cook on Faust has a special sour ginger, which is chopped and stirred with the ground pepper, buckwheat and lemon, and sprinkled directly on the sliced ​​pork.Some people like to eat coriander, and they will add all the minced coriander on top; some people like to eat something with a stronger soy sauce, then add a small dish of refined soy sauce, with pork slices dipped in various ingredients in the soy sauce When you dip it inside and out, you will have a rich sauce aroma, and the meaty aroma is more intense because of the sour and spicy ingredients.

Ovid didn't add coriander or dip it in soy sauce, just took it piece by piece.He likes the taste of sour ginger and lemon, and learned a word from the chef and Jiang Che to accurately describe this taste: appetizing.

"Don't take anything else?" Jiang Che was surprised.

Ovid quickly ate two slices first: "I don't have any luggage. Let's go, hurry up."

The two of them ran past the storage compartment and up the stairs, one behind the other.

"Only the captain can open the rescue capsule. Although I have contacted it last time, I guess the secret order has been changed." Ovid said behind Jiang Che, "So let's go to Bering first."

"There are still 25 minutes before entering the Sirius planetary belt." Bering said to Linni and Pimi in front of him, "What I say next is very important, please remember it firmly."

Pimi didn't drink any alcohol today, and there was no smell of alcohol on his face. He and Lin Ni exchanged glances, both of them felt that Bering's idea was incredible.

"According to Faust's current forward speed, if you want to turn back, you have to turn 180°, which is impossible. Before Faust turned successfully, he had already crashed into the Sirius planet belt..."

Bering interrupted Pimi: "It's not a 180° turn, but a 36.7° left turn."

Pierre and the deputy captain who just came in with Leather Rice are adjusting the angle of Faust: "Captain, there are still 3 minutes until the angle adjustment is successful."

Lin Ni's face darkened: "Bering, what are you going to do?"

"Let Faust borrow the gravity of the planet and bounce back." Bering opened the three-dimensional star map of the Sirius planetary belt.

On the star map suspended in front of the three of them, several huge planets were moving slowly.

These are the planets at the front end of the Sirius belt, and they are also the planets closest to Faust.They were not on the same plane, there were one or two planets and shiny dust lanes and small moons, all moving at a very slow speed before the eyes of Linney and Pimmie.

Bering's method was quite risky: she wanted Faust to use the gravity of these planets to keep ejecting until it returned to the correct orbit.

Lin Ni fell into deep thought, and it was Leather Mi who spoke first: "This is a gravitational slingshot...but it's just a model theory, and it hasn't been verified at all."

Gravitational slingshot is a vivid statement.When a ship is unable to change its direction but must change its direction at the same time, the gravitational force from the planet is an external force that makes it change its direction, just like a person pushing a toy car driving at a constant speed on the ground from the side. The direction of the car is bound to change.

In the process of this change, the ship must complete the two behaviors of entering the gravitational circle and leaving the gravitational circle.When leaving the gravitational circle, the speed of the ship itself plus the speed of the planets makes its departure process like being ejected by a powerful slingshot.

The gravitational slingshot allows the ship to accelerate towards the next target. It is like a natural and difficult to control booster in space, allowing the ship to save fuel and time.

"The gravitational slingshot can make the ship speed up or slow down. What we need now is to make Faust speed up and change direction, so these two planets are the most suitable." Bering pointed to the two brown-gray stars with different distances. The star is covered with a large amount of dust, showing a very dark color, "Griya B and Rust 031."

If the current position of Faust is regarded as point A, and Graia B and Rust 031 are points B and C respectively, then these three points are equal to a triangle formed on a plane.

Faust needs to start from point A, break free after entering point B—the gravitational field of Graia B, and use the moving direction of Greia B to change his direction when breaking free, and fly to point C - Rust 031.After entering the gravitational field of rust 031, Faust broke free again, and used the moving direction of rust 031 to change the flight position again, and flew back to point A.

That is to say, Faust will complete a triangular track movement around the three points A, B, and C. When it returns to point A, its direction has turned 180°, and it returns to the 18 route again, and We can move on to Marseilles.

This is an extremely risky approach.But this is the only way for now.

If he continues to move forward, Faust will go deep into the Sirius planetary belt and will not be able to leave.

"Are you sure?" Linney asked Bering, "This is just a theory. What you are talking about is an extremely simple model. In practice, there will be many, many problems, such as the size of the gravitational circle of Graia B." We don't know, if we get too close..."

"I'm sure." Bering said sure enough, "The Sirius planetary belt is where Samuel used to patrol. He and I have used the stars in the planetary belt on the simulator to test the ejection method of the gravitational slingshot many times. .”

In the brief silence, the vice-captain approached Pierre and asked, "Samuel... is the captain's husband?"

Pierre looked very excited: "Yes! It's Captain Samuel! I followed Captain Samuel during my internship! Samuel is indeed the husband of Captain Bering, and he is also an excellent... ..."

"Ex-husband!" Bering sternly strangled Pierre's gossip.

Pierre stopped talking immediately, glanced at the screen, and reminded Bering again: "Captain, the angle adjustment has been completed."

Bering looked at Lin Ni and Pi Mi.

Faust's nominal captain is still Pimi, and if something goes wrong, he needs to take responsibility.

Linney is the son of General Lee Swright, the son of the head of the Marseilles fleet. If Faust can return safely, he can provide powerful support for this extremely risky operation that violates the navigation code of civilian ships at almost every step. support.

"I agree." Linney said, "Time is limited, we can't delay, turn right away."

Leather Mi sighed and straightened his back: "I agree too."

"Thank you." Bering said, "We may all die in the gravitational circle of Graia B. Thank you for supporting me."

Pimi raised his hand, clenched his fist, and pressed it against his left chest.There are no badges there.

Although there was no badge, he still whispered something.

"I swear, I will always be faithful."

He walked up to Pierre and turned on the ship-wide radio.

"I am the captain of Faust, Pimi. From now on, I will take over all matters of Faust. After the inspection procedures are completed, the personnel of each unit will immediately return to the corresponding position and stand by..."

Bering walked to the other side of the console.Faust is turning.Its old captain is working hard to take all possible disasters on himself.

Vice-captain: "Faust started to turn, aiming at Greia B. It will enter the gravitational circle of Greia B in 10 minutes."

Pierre: "Bai, Captain Bering! Marseille... We have received a reply from Marseille!"

There was a small storm in the control room at the surface port of Marseilles.

"Faust???" The voice of the young man in charge of monitoring the terrestrial broadcast changed, "My God——Faust! It's Faust!!!"

"Are you sure!" Another young man pressed his shoulder, "But I didn't find this code in the system..."

"I'm sure! I'm sure!" the listener yelled, clutching the headset tightly, "my grandfather, he's on Faust! I won't forget this code! It's Faust!"

After 30 years of disappearance, the broadcast signal of the civilian ship Faust has arrived at the ground port again.

The news spread quickly, and everyone stood up.

Some people cried bitterly, some looked around blankly, a white-haired cleaner stood outside the control room, grabbed people and asked loudly: "Is it Copernicus? Did you find Copernicus? Miller is still alive Is it? He's the navigator, he's my uncle..."

No one paid him any attention.People came in and out, clutching papers, shouting indiscriminately with communicators.The news that Faust still exists, and that the passengers on Faust are still alive, has begun to spread in every direction on the land of Marseilles through various means of communication.

Compared with the excitement at the Marseille surface port, Bering was extremely calm.

"Can you be quiet for a while!" she yelled into the microphone, "Listen to me! It's urgent!"

Ten minutes of extremely precious time passed. Since the communication equipment at the ground port was different from that at the transfer station, the communication between them and Faust was only delayed by more than ten seconds, without much delay.

Bering succinctly reported what happened after Faust set sail, including straying into the 118 route, breaking away from the galactic nucleus and encountering Copernicus.After hearing the name of Copernicus, there was another commotion over there.

"We are about to enter the Sirius planetary belt..." Bering told the ground port that Faust will use the gravitational slingshot to return to the correct route in order to return.

Surface Harbor finally calmed down.They began to measure the probability of success of this approach.

After a while, there was a reply from the ground port.

"This method is theoretically feasible. However, although using the gravitational slingshot can save some fuel, the length of Faust's voyage will also increase. With the current fuel reserves of Faust, it is impossible to return to Marseilles, and even a 24-hour flight The duration may not be guaranteed.”

Bering: "You can return, but you may not be able to reach Marseilles?"

Surface Port: "Yes."

Bering: "It's very simple, just ask someone to pick us up. We will adjust the speed and report again after we return to the correct route. The ground port will dispatch a ship that can carry Faust. After we dock, this problem will be solved. solved."

Jiang Che and Ovid arrived at the sixth floor, and Qi Qi looked back at the people following him.

"What are you following us for?" Jiang Che had a terrible headache, "Can you go back and lie down? Didn't you hear the broadcast? We're going back!"

"Then why don't you lie down?" Tang Mo ate a lollipop, looked at the box of white-cut pork knuckle in Ovid's hand, and then at Jiang Che, "What are you doing on the sixth floor?"

The two were discovered by Tang Mo when they passed the fourth floor.At that time, Tang Mo came out of the store with a dozen lollipops, threw a few coins into the coin box, and turned around to see Jiang Che and Ovid running in front of him.

The stairs that Faust went up did not lead directly to the sixth floor, and the location was not the same. Jiang Che and Ovid ran for a long time, and noticed that when Tang Mo followed closely, the little girl was already curious and said nothing. refused to go back.

"It's time to return, and Faust is going back to Marseille." Ovid pushed her shoulder and said, "Jiang Che and I will not go back, we will use the lifeboat to go to the Black Sea. Don't follow, go back, and lie down quickly. "

Tang Mo crushed the lollipop with a click.

"So good?" She said excitedly, "I'm not going back either, let me go with you."

Jiang Che: "... What did you say?"

"I'm going to the Black Sea too." Tang Mo said seriously, "Although I don't know how to drive a ship, I can sing to cheer you up."

Jiang Che walked to the cockpit at the end of the corridor, raised his hand and chased people away: "Go back, Ovid and I are homeless people, different from you. Don't you have family in Marseille?"

"They're all dead." Tang Mo followed closely behind Jiang Che, "And I'm a Faust on a loan shark. I planned to make a fortune here before going back, but now I'm about to return. I don't even have the money from the loan shark. They didn't earn enough."

Jiang Che: "..."

Ovid: "..."

Tang Mo: "It's miserable, isn't it?"

Ovid yelled: "Don't you watch TV! Usury eats people!"

Tang Mo licked the candy off the stick, decided to bypass the eccentric handsome guy who had no decision-making power, and concentrate on attacking the expressionless cook: "I'll go with you, okay?"

While the three were talking, Jiang Che suddenly noticed that the light outside the ship was slowly changing.

The shadow under his feet grew longer and longer.

Jiang Che stopped in his tracks.He stared out the window for a moment and was surprised to see that Faust was turning.

"A lifeboat can hold many people, and I can be your navigator." Tang Mo still did not give up, "Take me away, please?"

Ovid glanced at Jiang Che, and found that he was staring at the scenery outside the window, and did not respond to Tang Mo's words.

"No." He decided to express Jiang Che's position, "No way."

"No way." The voice on the radio was slightly distorted due to the long-distance transmission, "Now all the ships that are relatively close to Faust are military ships. The ground port has no right to mobilize military ships. General Lee Swright's warrant is required." .”

Bering was shaking with anger.

Faust is heading towards Greia B at high speed, and is about to start the first acceleration using the gravitational slingshot, but the message returned from the ground port is——There is no ship to respond.

What's the point of returning?

"Then go and apply for a warrant!" Bering yelled, "You don't have power, you don't have power, so go find someone with power!"

"General Lee Swright is holding a top-secret meeting, and we can't get in touch." The people at the surface port were also very nervous, "We are already going through the procedure! Soon, very soon..."

"how long?"

"Within twenty-four hours it will—"

"Fart!" Bering roared angrily, "Faust's fuel can't support a 24-hour long-distance flight after returning to the route, so we must find a corresponding ship within 24 hours, did you just say that? !"

The people at the surface port didn't respond, and after a while, they whispered: "Sorry, Captain Bering, we also..."

Bering wanted to tap the communication button angrily, but Lin Ni grabbed his wrist tightly.

"Senior Sister." Lin Ni whispered, "Let me do it."

But the people at Surface Port didn't let up.

"I know you, General Lee Swright Jr."

This title made Bering, who was furious, couldn't help laughing.

"We really don't have the ability to mobilize military ships. Even if the ground port makes a request, the military ships will ignore it." The man said, "Even if you need help, we have to wait for General Lee Swright's order before we can pass it on to the military." Captain of the ship."

"...How far is the range of the nearest military ship to us?" Linney asked.

"5 hours."

Lin Ni stood up straight, and pulled Bering and Pimi to the side.

"Five hours, which means that the military ship is very close to us." His eyes were calm, "Bering, let's skip the ground port and contact the military ship directly, asking them to pick up Faust."

Bering sighed: "You child... have you forgotten? The communication frequency of military ships changes every five years, and the frequency used by military ships now is different from what we know."

Lin Ni froze for a moment and pursed his lips.

Bering couldn't help but raised his hand and stroked his hair.It was strange that she could not feel Linney's sadness when she was so close to him.He was so calm, as if the imminent death was to him nothing but a preordained outcome that he had no intention of avoiding.

Faust is still moving forward at a high speed, getting closer and closer to Greia B.

After the return flight, if there is no support, the return flight is meaningless.Faust is still unable to return to Marseille, and can only become a wandering ship in the universe after the fuel is exhausted, and turns into space garbage over the years, waiting for others to pick it up.

There was a long silence in the cockpit.

Every moment, the numbers on the screen are changing.Every time they got closer to Greia, they felt more hopeless.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door outside the cockpit.

Linney turned to open the door, only to find two acquaintances and a stranger standing outside the door.

"If you don't go back and lie down, are you courting death?" He said fiercely.

Jiang Che looked into his eyes: "Lin Ni, I'm not going back to Marseille. Passengers on Faust should have the freedom to accept the decision to return."

"Everyone has to return, and you don't want to go back. Could it be that Faust will change this decision for you alone—the three of you?" Linney sneered.

"We just need a lifeboat, a lifeboat with fuel." Jiang Che quickly replied, "Those who don't want to go back to Marseilles can go on in a lifeboat. We will reach the Black Sea first, and then we will make further plans."

Linney froze.

Jiang Che thought his proposal was too absurd, and was about to add, but he saw a strange excitement slowly showing in Lin Ni's eyes.

"Bering!" Linney turned to call Bering, only to find that Bering had returned to the console at some point.

Standing beside Pierre, she raised her hand and pressed the four number keys on the console.

1026.

Pierre looked at her in bewilderment.

"Use this frequency to send a distress message." Bering whispered, "Quick."

Pierre was full of doubts, but he still started to operate immediately.

1026, the four-digit communication frequency is for military ships, which is different from the three-digit frequency for civilian ships.He didn't know where Bering got the frequency, and he didn't know which military ship would receive it, but he still faithfully sent the message.

"Which ship is this?" Linney also came over.

Bering held his forehead for a moment, then waved his hand angrily: "Don't send it! I'm sure you won't receive it, so don't send it!"

Pierre: "...I've already sent it."

Bering leaned against the wall, pushed all his long hair back, as if letting out a breath of anger: "Anyway, I can't receive it, it's been so long...Give up, no one will come to pick up Faust. "

She turned her head and gave an order to the deputy captain: "Let everyone prepare to write a suicide note."

Jiang Che and Ovid walked up to Bering, wanting to explain their thoughts to her again.

Both Linney and Pierre were curious about the frequency of 1026: "Since we are going to die, please tell us which ship's frequency this is?"

Tang Mo took out a lollipop and handed it to Bering: "Citrus flavored, do you want to eat it? Eat something sweet and you won't be so irritable."

Pi Mi entered his name into the record on the side: "It's okay, it's all my responsibility for the accident, don't be afraid..."

Amidst the chaos of voices, a clear notification sounded suddenly.

The green light indicating successful reception is blinking.

"Captain...!" Pierre screamed, "Captain! Answered!"

On frequency 1026, someone responded to Faust's call for help extremely quickly.