Chapter 106 - 102 Delivery from Mecca_1

September 10, Astronaut Training Center.

Astronaut hero Deng Lei was having dinner with the space team in the cafeteria when he suddenly received a call.

"Hello? Mrs. Li, you’ve introduced a girl to me? What day? Next Thursday? I’m not free next Thursday, and Wednesday won’t work either.

Yeah, right, I have a flight mission on the 17th, taking five astronauts to the International Space Station, including an American, two Europeans, a Russian, and a Kazakh.

How about meeting on the 19th? Hmm, okay, okay, thanks, Mrs. Li."

After hanging up, Deng Lei saw that his teammates all had faces like they wanted to come up and beat him, so he quickly bowed his head and sped up his eating.

Sitting opposite him, the second-generation Li Sheng let out a long sigh:

"Oh, the great space hero Deng sure has it tough. Talking about flying to space like it’s just another cab ride, and even then with some reluctance."

As soon as he said this, many people with a hint of envy chimed in:

"Exactly, three trips to space in three months, I haven’t even flown on planes that often."

"Deng Lei, can your body handle such intense flying? If not, let me do it. I scored 90 on the H1 simulator ten times. Consider it me helping you out, without needing Factory Manager Lin’s flight allowance."

"With those results? I have 500 flight hours on the simulator, have I ever said anything? Better to ask me to go. I’ve flown the J-8II, I have plenty of supersonic flight experience."

Well, as a commercial astronaut, Deng Lei gets a 200,000 yuan flight allowance for each mission, separate from his salary.

However, Deng’s busy schedule won’t last too long, as the other four recruited professional pilots should be able to fly by November, and rumors have it that Lin Ju will dispatch engineers to double as astronauts once there’s sufficient staff at B-level Base.

But even knowing this, the astronaut team still envied Deng Lei for his frequent trips to space. Purely in terms of spaceflight experience, many astronauts older than him had to consider him a senior.

This situation was soon to change, though, because Tiangong’s first phase was preparing to send 6 astronauts before Chinese New Year, and they would definitely need to learn H1 piloting.

The astronaut squad has now added a new subject: Flying the H1 simulator. One needs 120 flight hours to be eligible to be selected as an H1 commander, although realistically, this number may be 300 or even higher.

There were also rumors within the squad that Captain Li might undertake another flight mission.

No one knew where this rumor came from, but Captain Li’s training regimen had evidently increased recently, leaving everyone both suspicious and speculative.

September 13, Sunday.

Members of the Abe Space Agency’s senior management, the entire embassy staff, astronauts from Abe undergoing training in China, Crown Prince Hamand, and some Abe celebrities gathered at the former C-level base of New Yuan.

While busy with their own manned mission crafting Unity and Progress, New Yuan produced many spare parts.

After the successful manned launch on July 21, the C-level base didn’t shut down, and with some spare parts and newly produced components, they built an H1 passenger version, which theoretically belonged to Abe as the "Mecca".

The factory specifically chose Sunday for the rollout, and with advance notice, people from all walks of Abe life had arrived here to jointly attend the ceremony.

Meanwhile, television stations from Abe flew in at the first opportunity, preparing to film with the most solemn arrangements.

At 10 a.m., in front of the sealed assembly hanger, a band from Abe started playing music, the sliding doors of the hangar moved to the sides, slowly revealing the Mecca decorated with red and hung with silk red floral fabrics at the center.

Although the appearance of H1 had long been widely known through the media, when the Abe people saw the festive Chinese-style Mecca spacecraft unveil its true appearance, they were as shaken as if it were their first time seeing it.

The Prince in charge of the Space Agency was enthralled by the portholes of the Mecca:

"Praise be to Allah, look at those blue portholes, they’re just like jewels."

He glanced at Lin Ju, who stood by with a professional smile, and with a serious expression, he removed the ring from his right finger, set with a sapphire the size of a quail egg, and unceremoniously stuffed it into Lin Ju’s hand amidst his confusion.

"Lin, you’re forever a friend of Abe, Chinese people are always the friendliest, only you are truly sincere in just wanting to make money," he said.

Lin Ju tried to let go, but the Prince was tall and strong, firmly pressing the huge gem into the palm of Lin Ju, who after several attempts to decline, could only accept reluctantly.

At this moment, the welcoming crowd on both sides erupted in cheers again—as it turned out, Crown Prince Hamand was sitting in the tow truck, slowly dragging the Mecca out of the hangar. People who were ready on both sides began to spread a large number of petals in the middle of the road, fervently welcoming the Mecca’s exit from the factory.

Then, on the red carpet outside, Lin Ju and Crown Prince Hamand held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Mecca, after which Lin Ju handed over a key placed in a transparent gift box to Crown Prince Hamand, symbolizing the transfer of ownership.

After that, the Mecca officially "belonged" to the Abe Space Agency, and the space shuttle’s hatch opened, allowing two people at a time to tour it with guidance.

As the manufacturer, Lin Ju was the first to take Crown Prince Hamand and the Prince inside.

Upon entering the cabin, Crown Prince Hamand instantly noticed a considerable amount of gold inside, which was obviously specially designed to make the interior look both luxurious and noble. He couldn’t help asking:

"Is this gold color actual gold? Why don’t Unity and Progress have it?"

It was in Chinese, which, after several months of training in China, Hamand was now able to converse fluently in.

Lin Ju, having interacted with Hamand quite a bit over a few months, immediately understood why he asked this question.

The people of Abe were very fond of using gold as a decoration, but due to their nouveau riche status, they were somewhat looked down upon, considered tacky for using gold so extensively.

Hamand, having studied abroad in the West, felt this more acutely than others at home. Although he liked it, he was also somewhat afraid of being called tacky. Lin Ju answered earnestly:

"With each batch of space shuttles, we make improvements. Gold foil can prevent cosmic rays, and we only added these gold foils to enhance radiation resistance."

This response made both the Prince and Crown Prince Hamand nod in satisfaction, touching various parts of the Mecca, with Hamand even taking photos in the cockpit to post on social media, saying to the Prince and Lin Ju:

"Before long, I’ll be able to pilot the Mecca into space, won’t I?"

Lin Ju: Smile.

Prince: Meaningful.

Old King: No, you don’t.

In the subsequent visits, other people from Abe even prayed towards the Mecca. Reportedly, Abe had also hired several charlatans who were bathing and fasting, and were soon to sprinkle holy water and consecrate the Mecca...

The impact of Mecca’s delivery was beyond Lin Ju’s imagination. Three days after the news reached Abe, countless devotees donated to Abe’s Space Agency, with the total amount exceeding four billion US dollars.

Old King Aleth was bold, directly announcing that an additional ten billion US dollars would be allocated to Abe’s Space Agency, to further expand their space program and invest more, sending astronauts from brother countries of the Central Asian World into space.

Ten billion US dollars.