wandering planet

Dropouts from the Marseille Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics were put in place.

Bering looked at Ovid with great interest, and glanced at the roots of his hair, which had revealed its original color: "Where's your badge?"

An orange-red college graduation badge was pinned to her shirt, and the protruding Phoenix reflected the light from the screen, forming a bright arc.

Ovid replied stammeringly: "I don't have the money to go on, I didn't graduate."

Bering: "Have you ever piloted a ship?"

Ovid: "I used it on the simulator."

Bering: "Score?"

Ovid: "The simulator has been manipulated 23 times, all 5."

"The grades are very good." Bering pointed to his badge and said to Ovid, "Listen, you have to keep your spirits up. Whether we can all leave depends on this time. If we return to the When I get to Marseille, I will give you this badge."

Ovid froze for a moment, then nodded nervously and earnestly.

Linney explained to everyone the key to this breakaway operation.

The Copernicus, which was approaching Faust at full speed, would fire a rocket towards Faust at the appropriate distance and angle.

During the flight, the rocket cannot maintain a straight line due to the gravitational force of the nuclear ball, and its trajectory will be an arc with a small angle, and this arc will touch a tower on the outer layer of Faust.

The moment the rocket hits the tower, the tower will break away from Faust to reduce the impact of the rocket impact on Faust.

And when the rocket is launched, Faust will also accelerate synchronously.After the rocket hits the tower, Faust, who keeps accelerating, will use this part of the impact force to change his orbit, get rid of the gravitational circle of the nuclear ball at the highest speed, and leave here.

It's like playing pool: Copernicus is the player and the rocket is the white ball.The white ball hits the target ball with a certain angle and strength, and pushes the target ball to a predetermined direction.

Jiang Che sat on the edge of the cockpit and listened to Lin Ni's words.

His heart was pounding: it was an extremely risky move.

In the whole process, the timing of the rocket launch and the timing of the tower separation are extremely important.

If the tower is detached too early, the impact force brought by the rocket cannot be properly transmitted to Faust, and Faust will be pushed away; if the tower is detached too late, Faust will have to withstand too strong impact, or the ship will Destroyed, or pushed farther and farther into the galaxy, never to return.

"I saw this method when I was using a simulator." Linney asked Ovid if he knew this method of propulsion, and Ovid immediately replied, "It is a classic case."

"That's right, you learned well." Captain Sylvia, who had been listening to Faust's conversation, said with a smile, "This is what happened in the 'Great Retreat' more than 500 years ago. This approach pushed the derailed Phoenix back on its correct course."

As she spoke, she raised her hand and turned on the Copernicus's full-ship radio.

Bering did the same with her.Their voices echoed on each other's ships, reaching the ears of every crew member or passenger.

"You seem to have been prepared for a long time." Bering asked, "Is this the self-rescue method of the science ship?"

"No." Captain Sylvia sat on the captain's chair and turned half a circle very easily, "After we found ourselves captured by the gravity of the nuclear ball, we immediately thought of many escape plans. This method of propulsion It was meant to be used on us, but in the 48 hours we were trapped, we didn't encounter any of the Marseille science ships."

This is a wonderful coincidence: in order to ask for help, Bering, who did not know the communication frequency of the scientific ship, turned on the full-channel transmitter.In order to discover his companions, Copernicus also turned on the all-channel receiving device.

It has been more than 100 years since Copernicus disappeared. During the 100 years, the communication frequency of the scientific ship has been changed, and the channel familiar to the Copernicus crew is no longer in use.No one heard their cry for help, but in this coincidence, I received the voice from the younger generation.

Behind Captain Silvia, the cockpit was full of people.Some people cried just now, but now they have cheered up and returned to their posts.The rest stayed quietly in the cockpit, watching Bering and others on the big screen.

"Let's talk while the data is still being transmitted." Sylvia whispered, "How is Marseille?"

Compared with 100 years ago, Marseille has added more than 2000 ships, and there are more than 200 space ports on the entire planet. Every day, countless ships and Masai people shuttle between the stars and their hometown.The science ship started the 124th exploration of the nuclear sphere, and the return route to the earth was also developed. Administrators were dispatched to the transfer station, and everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

Someone is born, someone dies.Some stars collapsed and formed black holes; some stars were born, and the corners of the universe became brighter again.

Everyone on the Copernicus quietly listened to Lin Ni's voice.

Their occasional questions and exclamations were also transmitted to every corner of Faust through the ship-wide broadcast.

That person was more than 100 years ago, but with a sincere heart, there is no difference.

Jiang Che tied himself to the chair with a seat belt.No one cared about him in the cockpit, and Ovid asked him to accompany him, "otherwise I would not be able to observe Faust's angle and the timing of the tower's departure due to excessive tension and fear", and Bering agreed.

Jiang Che didn't dare to speak, for fear of breaking this weird tacit understanding.Linney spoke quickly and steadily, as if he wanted to tell the people on Copernicus everything that happened in the past 100 years.

"You may be a little dizzy later." Ovid moved the chair and leaned into his ear and said, "It's more dizzy than jumping, I hope you won't vomit. If you want to ask Captain Sylvia about something, I will help you?"

Jiang Che nodded, and asked in a low voice: "Don't ask... Ovid, was this case a success during the retreat?"

"Success," said Ovid. "The Phoenix is ​​back on track."

He paused for a moment, seeming a little hard to speak: "But the Homer disappeared."

Jiang Che was taken aback: "What do you mean?"

Ovid made a shooting gesture to him: "Just as there is recoil when firing a gun, there is also recoil when launching a rocket. When Homer pushed the Phoenix back, because of the impact of the reaction force, he fell into the into the planetary belt. It was the same with Copernicus."

Jiang Che looked up at the screen in disbelief.

In the far distance of the universe, those young people who listened carefully to Lin Ni seemed to have accepted this ending with joy.They were calm and earnest, showing no trace of pathos.

"Copernicus was equipped with the most advanced anti-gravitational field equipment at that time. This equipment can ensure that the scientific ship will not be captured by the gravitational field of the nuclear ball. But when returning to the voyage, the anti-gravitational field equipment failed. Because of the quality of Copernicus itself It is very large, so the gravitational force it receives is also very strong, and it is almost impossible to escape. After launching the rocket, due to the influence of the reaction force, it will be pushed back into the deeper gravitational circle of the nuclear ball in an instant." Ovid's voice was in It sounded in his ears, "It will be completely captured by the gravity of the galaxy's nuclear bulb, and there will never be a chance to break free."

As soon as the words fell, Pierre on the other side spoke.

"We can see Copernicus."

Everyone looked up at the screen in front of the navigator.In the dark image, there is a cloud of stardust rolling silently.

Behind Faust, a ship with flashing silver light was slowly drilling out through the cloudy dark gray stardust.

When the transmission of all scientific research information on Copernicus was completed, Sylvia and Bering turned off the whole ship radio at the same time, and only kept the instant communication between the two cockpits.

"Everything is ready." The voice of the crew came, "The rocket is ready and the launch angle is being adjusted. There are still three minutes and ten seconds before the rocket launch."

In the cockpit of the Copernicus, the crowd gradually dispersed.The few crew members who remained in the cockpit also secured themselves.

Sylvia stared at the angle, distance and time displayed on the screen.

"Pilot." She said suddenly, "What's your name?"

"Miller." The dark-haired young man raised his hand.

"First Mate." Sylvia continued to ask, "What's your name?"

"Elizabeth."

……

Sylvia's voice echoed in the cockpit.The crew reported their names one by one, firm and powerful.

Bering, Linney and Pierre all stood up.They clenched their fists with their right hands, pressed them on the badge on their left chest, and stared at Sylvia.Ovid didn't have a badge, he and Jiang Che both clenched their fists and looked at their seniors.

[Countdown 30 seconds——] A tune-shifted mechanical sound came out.

The seat belt jumped out of the captain's chair, fastening Sylvia in place.

"As we go deeper, we will continue to do research." Sylvia said, "The closer we get to the nuclear bulge, the more things we can discover. Copernicus is a scientific ship of Marseilles, and the entire crew of Copernicus They all keep their mission and responsibilities in mind.”

She put her hand on her left chest, where an identical orange-red badge was also pinned.

"I swear, I will always be loyal." Sylvia whispered a word, then smiled and waved to Bering, "Goodbye."

The image vibrated, and the screen turned dark.

A rocket spun out of Copernicus' weapons hatch and headed straight for Faust.

At the same time, Linney, Pierre and Ovid returned to their positions at the same time.

[There are still 40 seconds until contact—the countdown starts now: 38, 37, 36...]

"Ask for speed," Linney said.

He adjusted Faust's speed and angle.

"There is no obstacle ahead." Pierre said in a deep voice, "Everything is normal."

"The tower separation procedure is about to start." Ovid whispered, "I'll count, 20, 19, 18..."

Bering sat back in his seat and fixed himself on the chair.

"Full speed ahead!"

Jiang Che stared blankly at Pierre's screen.

Everyone is calm, including himself.Grief seemed out of place and out of place.Sylvia and everyone on Copernicus were too calm and calm, as if this was just a small accident, an insignificant sacrifice, not worth mentioning.

The moment the rocket came out, Copernicus fell into the stardust again.Due to the strong impact, at the position of Copernicus, the stardust seems to have cracked a hole, revealing the deep darkness behind it.

The flashing silver ship rolled and fell into darkness.

The stardust closed again, and in the silent scene, Copernicus lost his trace forever.