Chapter 435 - 426 Activation_1

"Colonel Liu, how’s the food? If there’s anything specific you want to eat, you can tell the cafeteria," Li Sheng said as he collected the plates, noticing that Liu Zesen and Jian Yushan had just started eating, so he went over to see how they were doing.

"Ah, no need to go to such trouble. Our military... I mean, the food here is great, and I especially love the braised noodles. My grandpa used to make them quite often; he even planned to teach me, saying that if I didn’t amount to much else, I could open a braised noodle shop," Liu Zesen replied.

Unlike Jian Yushan, Liu Zesen’s grandfather had also moved from the Central Plain and wasn’t a local.

"As long as you’re accustomed to it. You don’t have to train too hard either. I often see you on the horizontal bar," Li Sheng said.

After a brief conversation, Li Sheng was ready to leave, but Liu Zesen suddenly pulled him aside and quietly asked:

"That is... when can we go up? Wasn’t it said that the training..."

"This..." As a seasoned astronaut and deputy captain, Li Sheng of course knew what Liu Zesen wanted to ask.

He didn’t dodge the question and seriously replied:

"You know this isn’t so much related to the space system; it also depends on when the negotiations are successful. But if there is a second and third batch after you all, it definitely shouldn’t be a problem within two years. We’ll need to resolve external interferences first, and as for the rest, I don’t know and shouldn’t speculate."

"Okay, okay, thank you, Captain Li," Liu Zesen said.

He sat back down and noticeably sped up his eating.

"Yushan, eat faster, the broadcast starts at two in the afternoon. We can’t miss it."

...

"Don’t eat the zongzi; they’re not easy to digest,"

Hearing Zhang Zhiguang’s words, Fang Lin obediently put down the vacuum-packed vegetarian zongzi, which Ding Jihua cheerfully took from him.

"I’ll keep it here for you. There are some vegetables left on board; once you guys go down, I’ll make a feast to welcome and cleanse you from the journey," Ding Jihua said.

Zhang Zhiguang replied, "There’s no rush to eat. I think we can wait until after docking with ’U-Tu.’ The first batch of vegetables should be ripe by then; it’s better to eat fresh vegetables. But you, Old Ding, you won’t take a break when you’re told. When we go down later, take a good rest and don’t rush to think about 14."

Ding Jihua laughed instead of replying. He was a bit older, and though he wasn’t going to land on the Moon this mission, his workload was still not small, as he had taken over most of the preparations and was also responsible for providing support from space.

The world’s first astronaut to stay in lunar orbit was Michael Collins from Apollo 11. While Armstrong and Aldrin were landing on the Moon, he stayed alone in the spacecraft, becoming the most distant human from Earth and was dubbed "the loneliest man in history" by the media.

Now, Ding Jihua was about to become the loneliest Chinese person.

It was 11 a.m. now, three hours away from the broadcast. Dawn III’s crew had spent the morning taking inventory of supplies and checking the electrical system of the lander and were now hastily having lunch.

Fang Lin and Zhang Zhiguang both ate easily digestible food in small amounts to ensure their bodies would stay trouble-free for at least the next six or seven hours.

The final confirmation of the landing site before the official Moon landing was probably the most relaxed of all the Moon landings in history. They had help from satellites and space station telemetry, and a fair number of detectors on the lunar surface provided guidance. As long as they followed the plan, there wasn’t a need for days of ongoing observation and confirmation.

They finished their lunch in less than ten minutes and donned their helmets.

Zhang Zhiguang did a check-up and prepared for the lander’s redocking.

The lander was currently attached at the bottom in front of the command module. It would first have to detach and fly out for a bit, execute a turn, and then use the ascent stage to redock with the command module, allowing two astronauts to transfer in before separating again for the landing.

This was made possible thanks to the increased lifting capability of the CZ-10. Earlier, when the Union had planned to use the N1 for the Moon mission restricted by the smaller rocket capacity, the spacecraft had to shed weight. The crew was reduced to two people, the lander could only accommodate one, and to save weight, the lander even lacked a docking hatch, requiring astronauts to climb in from the outside...

However, the redocking of the Apollo spacecraft’s lander at that time was also risky. The technology was still immature and automation was undeveloped, making the redocking plan a concern.

But for ’Full Moon,’ this wasn’t a problem. The computer could handle such minor tasks on its own, and the astronauts just needed to supervise.

What took two hours for redocking on Apollo 11, now only took 25 minutes.

Because Zhang Zhiguang had the lander perform an internal pressure check in advance, they didn’t need to wait for the pressure to equalize on both sides; after docking, the indicator showed equal pressure at both ends of the docking interface, allowing them to open the hatch.

Fang Lin pressed the button, and the docking hatch made a slight hissing sound as if leaking air, then silently folded inward, revealing the round interface.

Through the interface, they saw the "astronaut" lying on the floor of the ascent stage—that was 14, securely fastened by straps and buckles.

He and Ding Jihua entered the interior of the ascent stage and quickly dismantled the apparatus securing the number 14 robot.

After flipping the robot, Ding Jihua took a data cable from the smart terminal on his wrist, connected it to the robot’s wrist, and entered the activation command.

Unlike the standard models on Earth, the "Warrior II-M" currently had a large photoelectric detector installed on its head, so it didn’t show a human face, just lenses of various sizes and colors.

As the activation command was given, lights on number 14’s chest began to glow, followed by red light shimmering under the face shield.

[Command activated, cabin mode, connected to local network: Dawn III, SN code 03EB5#22; "Full Moon" command module, SN code 03DB5#21]

Number 14 emitted the sound through both radio and a speaker—it was a classic electronic voice.

They didn’t use a biometric voice pack indistinguishable from a real person because the base thought doing so might impose more stress on the astronauts; on the Moon, it needed to seem more like a machine rather than a human.

Ding Jihua pulled out the data cable, knowing that number 14’s AI had high intelligence and, once activated, could respond to voice commands.

"14, can you see us?" he asked.

[Of course, Captain Zhang Zhiguang. You are the supreme commander of this mission, and I am your deputy commander and engineer. You may give me any command,] replied 14.

"Can you maintain and control the lander?" Zhang asked.

[I have already wirelessly connected to the lander and performed a comprehensive self-check. No abnormalities found; ready to execute the landing mission. The log can be retrieved backstage, and you can also request to review it now,] replied 14.

Ding Jihua was somewhat incredulous at what he was seeing, knowing that 14’s AI ran offline without network support, yet its responses were fluent, far too advanced for the artificial intelligence understanding of 2017.