Chapter 354 - 346 Meeting_1

While Boeing and Rockdain were entangled in their dilemma, the Isis No. 1 was making its steadfast way towards the Kuom Impact Crater.

The time it took for the Isis No. 1 to transform from a Mars probe into a Moon probe was short, and although the launch went smoothly, it still suffered from teething problems akin to adapting to new soil and water conditions.

The most troublesome issue was the temperature. Isis No. 1 wasn’t afraid of the cold—the low temperatures of both the Moon and Mars were well within its original endurance limits—, and it could just hibernate if it got too cold.

But the heat was problematic: a lunar day lasts 28 Earth days, half of which the surface is exposed to direct, unattenuated solar radiation, driving temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius.

Under such temperatures, the solar panels couldn’t operate normally. Hence, the probe’s suitable operating time was during the "dawn" and "dusk" periods of lunar day-night transitions when the temperatures were still bearable—too cold or too hot would both be no good.

The Explorer series relied on its flexible mobility and large battery storage to extend its lunar night operation time, but the Isis No. 1 couldn’t manage that.

The isotopic battery could only sustain electronic components, which meant any chance to utilize solar energy had to be cherished.

The JPL team carefully calculated the suitable operation windows. Fortunately, the Isis No. 1 was fast enough and was now less than five kilometers away from the Kuom Impact Crater.

Isis No. 1 had also carried out several sample drilling attempts. Although it didn’t reach any definitive ice layers, it did uncover scattered ice chunks beneath the moon soil. JPL speculated these might be remnants of icy meteorite impacts or perhaps the Moon’s ice even originated from a colossal icy meteorite during its formation?

The lunar geologists at NACA weren’t to be outdone. They didn’t insist on going to the Kuom Impact Crater and tussling over territory with CASA. They conjectured that a relatively shallow ice layer might exist in an area with less Explorer robot activity on the outer ring of the impact crater. They diverted slightly off the path to reach it.

When the time came, they’d have the Isis Rover "mark a spot" there. CASA wouldn’t let the Explorer drag the Isis No. 1 into a place devoid of sunlight to "freeze" it to death.

Since the work location had shifted from Mars to the Moon, Isis No. 1 could send back stable video instead of snapshots. Although there was a delay, it was still much more comfortable to control.

Scott was now the driver for both the Curious and the Isis No. 1, monitoring the probe’s movements. This was a tedious yet attention-demanding process. Isis No. 1 was at its maximum speed, and a fall into a pit would be troublesome, yet staring at the desolate lunar surface could be quite boring.

But the Isis No. 1 was about to lose its boredom quickly.

To its left-front, in the shadow of a crater rim, the Explorer No. 7 was speeding along at 30 kilometers per hour, driving the "De Lu 01."

Its high-speed processing chip deftly controlled the rover like an unbridled wild horse, rolling over the moon soil composed of granules, which the rubber wheels threw high backward into the low gravity, creating a rising white dust storm that appeared like a raging white tornado.

It wasn’t advancing aimlessly. Two resource exploration satellites named "Laurel" overhead were tracking the signal sent to the Isis No. 1 by LRO, providing navigational information to the Explorer No. 7 through simple radio triangulation to greet the visitor from afar.

The error in triangulation was significant, but the landing site of the Isis No. 1 was public knowledge. With a little calculation, it wasn’t hard to lock onto its moving direction and find it with ease.

Scott’s eyes glazed over as he stared at the screen, then snapped back to attention, realizing a blurry white shadow was rapidly approaching.

"Aliens!"

The nearby staff also noticed the anomaly and couldn’t help exclaiming, throwing JPL’s control center into disarray.

Scott also felt a chill run down his spine—the approaching object was shrouded by surging white "mist," rendering it completely indistinct and adding an air of mystery.

What to do—were these real aliens? Did NACA have a contingency plan for alien contact?

In the midst of the chaos, the "white shadow" gradually decelerated and changed course to move alongside the still-advancing Isis No. 1, and the screens began to make clear the "aliens’" slender limbs and the outline of the lunar rover.

...

The drizzling rain was wispy, with dense droplets striking the black jacket’s hydrophobic material and sliding down along creases.

Lin Ju held his hands tightly against his thighs as he bowed deeply and respectfully.

Comrade Lao Lin moved to a new place; his previous grave used to be a burial plot, and now his urn has been transferred to a public cemetery.

This place is much quieter, and the environment is quite good, no longer subject to disturbances from others.

Of course, another reason is that the cemetery forbids the burning of paper offerings, so Mr. Lin’s photo can now be spared from the calamity of flames...

"Mr. Lin, the rain’s getting heavier."

The mellifluous voice of the woman rose next to him, followed by the sound of high heels clicking against the ground as a black umbrella moved above Lin Ju’s head, shielding him from the intensifying raindrops.

Lin Ju nodded without changing his expression, while regretting why he didn’t bring along another assistant.

The assistant brought from the base was dealing with work handover at the Aerospace Development Committee, two guards stood at the crossroads of the cemetery, and only a "staff member" from the cemetery was by his side.

Such a beautiful and elegant cemetery "staff member"? And to add WeChat under the guise of cemetery maintenance?

Lin Ju shifted his gaze away from the curves of her body and walked briskly towards the direction of the guards; Capital was too dangerous.

Every time he came to Beijing, he would encounter all sorts of women, even passersby would often be strikingly beautiful; was this fortune with women a bit too good to be true?

Of course not, whenever Lin Ju had matters in Beijing, he would encounter young female interns who just happened to be at various research institutions or office spaces, women who met him unintentionally while visiting their fathers, assistants who frequently came to inquire about work due to a lack of familiarity with temporary transfers...

They weren’t the flaunting kind, who you could tell were trying to seduce someone at a glance; all had legitimate reasons and legitimate work, no intentional elements, at most it was just a series of man-made coincidences.

Many were nieces and nephews within the Aerospace Development Committee, and the arrangements were actually spontaneous acts from the older generation, but it still left Lin Ju somewhat overwhelmed.

There was no helping it; apart from Lin Ju, most of the base’s senior officials were "settled down," with only a few making progress, and no progress was seen for the most important one among them.

Two and a half years had passed in a blink of an eye, and now Lin Ju was already twenty-five...

In fact, he himself was not bent on staying single, but he never felt that spark; having reached such a status, it wouldn’t make sense to settle, would it?

Should he just go look for the girlfriend from his original timeline? They only met shortly before he transmigrated and had just started dating, and though they were together due to years of loneliness, he didn’t find it repulsive, right?

On further thought, she would... graduate from her final year of high school in two months?

Forget it, forget it, this kind of thing can’t be forced, and it wouldn’t necessarily lead to good results.

Sitting in the back seat, Lin Ju was lost in a whirlwind of wild thoughts when he suddenly asked Liu, who fortunately hadn’t been replaced by a female driver:

"Liu, what do you think of robot wives? If a robot could do your laundry, cook, and mop the floor, could you do without a girlfriend?"

Liu, in his forties, paused before replying:

"That would be great, not having to listen to your mother-in-law... cough, I often watch videos online, everyone’s saying that in the future, people won’t get married, they’ll just live with robots, which is worry-free and labor-saving, but it’s probably still a few decades away, right?

And then again, if no one gets married, who will have children?"

Lin Ju chose to ignore the last sentence and instead began to seriously consider his housekeeping robot plan... the second robot project.

What era is it now, still talking about traditional romance?