Chapter 452 - 443: The Fifth Person on the Moon_1

How could the astronaut trapped in the deep pit be rescued?

Actually, the solution was quite simple, a rope would suffice.

Zhang Zhiguang and Fang Lin, who had been prepared for some time, had been alternating rest every half hour to ensure their strength; all the tools they might need were placed on the lunar rover, fully charged, and they were ready to depart just 10 minutes after receiving the order.

On Dawn III, there was a 15-meter EVA safety tether, which could be used to pull up the two astronauts without a problem. The trouble was in rescuing Victor from beneath the rubble.

In the end, the task was assigned to Explorer 9. Zhang Zhiguang decided to first let it go down to clear away the rubble, and if that didn’t work, he would go down himself.

The direct distance from the landing site of Dawn III to the crash site of "Blue Moon" was only 7 kilometers, but the traveled route was about 15 kilometers; it would take the lunar rover only half an hour to get there.

However, due to night-time driving, Zhang Zhiguang still controlled the speed, and 20 minutes later they met up with 14 at the edge of the hills.

The two lunar rovers, one after the other, traveled along the previously scouted safe route and quickly arrived at the site.

Zhang Zhiguang saw the dreadful traces left by "Blue Moon’s" forced landing, especially the breached lava tube that was at least a dozen meters in diameter, resembling the ruins of an ancient tunnel.

Fang Lin, clutching a super-bright flashlight modified from the lander’s searchlight, carefully walked to the elevation at the edge of the hole and turned on the light, illuminating the space below as bright as day.

Koch and Victor, who were reassuringly regaining their strength and coordinating with the rescue, were startled, but immediately realized help had truly arrived.

"America astronauts, are you okay?"

A very clichéd "how are you" was uttered, and Victor was nearly moved to tears.

"Thank you, I am okay."

"...thank you, you’re welcome."

Zhang Zhiguang, with the aid of the light, carefully observed the environment below and found the ground that had been broken through must have been relatively weak to begin with; where he was standing still seemed very solid and unlikely to collapse again.

The ground control, who had been watching their real-time video feed, finally acquired a completely clear picture of the accident site, which was then partially relayed to the Contact Commander.

Claire finally got a full view of the two astronauts; Victor, trapped under the rubble with only his head showing, still managed to stretch out his finger in an OK sign.

He immediately requested to speak with the two astronauts, and Academician She agreed to this proposal, considering that a survey and preparations for the rescue were still underway.

The radio communication channel of Dawn III was briefly connected to the Contact Commander network.

"Victor, Christina, this is Claire Borden, how are you guys doing?"

Koch: "I’m still okay now, just a bit drained, but Victor..."

"Director Excellency, the first thing I hope to do when I come back is kick Jeff Bezos’s ass."

"..."

Victor expressed his grievances in a unique way, but then the astronaut’s professionalism prevailed, and he immediately began to briefly describe their current situation and the forced landing experience.

When Claire heard that Victor had decisively chosen to jettison most of the fuel and make a forced landing after the engines stopped, she was relieved. If he had not done so and had tried to re-enter orbit with the lander in its condition, it likely would have exploded on the spot. Victor had made the correct decision at the most critical moment.

And the various malfunctions that appeared on the lander were even more frightening. Claire didn’t dare to consider why there could be so many issues; just one of them picked at random was a life-threatening hazard.

After finishing with the technical issues, John, who had been impatiently waiting, connected with the two astronauts and promised over the phone to bring them safely home, insisting that they had completed their Moon mission and were heroes of all America, deserving special commendation.

While they were eagerly engaging in phone exchanges, Zhang Zhiguang had already found a place to secure the safety rope, tying the other end to Explorer 9.

After confirming the rope knot was tied very securely, 14 moved out of the camera’s blind spot and grabbed the safety rope.

Zhang Zhiguang and Fang Lin found a safe place to stand; with a robot available, there was no need for humans to take risks. 14 took on most of the danger for them.

With the one-sixth gravity, Explorer 9 only had to handle a mass of 80 kilograms, which was completely manageable for 14.

So, in Koch’s view, a gigantic mechanical spider, dangling a white safety rope, slowly descended along the walls like a true spider, then gently hooked onto the wreckage of "Blue Moon."

"Miss Koch, can you untie the safety belt from below and let the robot see if it can pry open the rocks?"

"I’ll go right away!"

Their conversation with Houston was temporarily paused as Koch carefully climbed up and spent a few minutes untying the safety rope. With its freedom regained, Explorer 9 quickly and agilely moved to the spot where Victor was buried, spryly beginning its assessment.

This was still 14 remote-controlling, of course; it soon found the most crucial piece of rock pinning Victor down. Removing it would allow Victor to crawl out by himself.

It sent the analysis of the rock’s leverage point as determined automatically back to Earth, where it was reviewed by engineers from the base’s robotic development team. They found no issues and decided to trust the AI’s judgment.

Once Koch was asked to stand back, Explorer 9 easily lifted the rock – twice its own weight – with its hind legs. The trapped Victor decisively crawled forward; the remaining rubble was no longer an issue for him, and he emerged in moments.

The Contact Commander center erupted in cheers; the two astronauts were now just one step away from safety.

Only then did Zhang Zhiguang and Fang Lin take the rope from 14’s hands and walk to the edge of the pit, while the latter quickly slipped behind the hillside to let the human supervisors take the credit.

"Victor, are you still okay strength-wise? We are ready to pull you up."

"Of course, I’m still a stubborn ox, and ladies first," he said.

Victor wanted to pat his chest, but considering his spacesuit had already malfunctioned once, he decided against it.

Knowing that every second was a risk, he immediately secured Koch with a safety rope and was about to pull her up when he saw that Explorer had already lifted Koch in a princess carry.

"Hey, should we take this little guy with us next time? He’s my lifesaver."

"No, let it stay here. It’s too heavy and could pose another risk. We have plenty of Explorers; it can continue to explore this cave, that’s its new mission."

Victor looked disappointedly at Explorer 9, wanting to touch its photoelectric sensor eyes, but the robot deftly avoided his hand.

"..."

Koch was quickly pulled to the mouth of the cave by two astronauts. When Fang Lin grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the ground, the first female astronaut to walk on the Moon almost cried out in excitement.

Her request to continue participating in the rescue was denied by Zhang Zhiguang; he started lowering the rope again, and it took a few more minutes to pull Victor up as well.

In the light of the searchlights, both astronauts from America were filthy with Moon dust, and Victor’s life support backpack was visibly deformed, obviously, they were both in bad shape.

Without much in the way of thanksgiving, their best choice was to get back to the lander as quickly as possible; Zhang Zhiguang tidied up quickly and prepared to head out.

He and Koch in one lunar vehicle, Fang Lin and Victor in another.

While Victor was chatting with Fang Lin, Koch suddenly raised a question:

"Was Fang the first one to find us? Why do I feel his voice changed so much, and the one I saw seemed thinner."

Zhang Zhiguang: "Ah? Really? Maybe it’s because you two were trapped for too long and your memories are a bit confused."

Koch: "No, no, no, that’s not it. His face-shield style also changed, and the searchlight on his chest was gone."

Zhang Zhiguang: "That was the one I brought with me to find you guys. I split up with him to search, and he found you first."

Fang Lin: "Are you talking about me? Miss Koch, you shone your light on me at that time; you almost blinded me."

Koch: "But at that time, your arm and torso seemed much thinner than now."

Fang Lin: "That’s because of the lighting, and you were too exhausted and needed rest. No need for idle chatter while driving, as they say, ’Unsafe driving leads to family members crying tears of sorrow.’"

"..."

Koch had no choice but to temporarily set aside her doubts, partly because she was still very nervous and a little scared.

But in her memory, although Fang Lin’s voice was also young, the accent really didn’t match. Could it really be her memories were confused? It’s not impossible.

Maybe she really did need rest. Koch indeed felt an overwhelming wave of tiredness approaching and looked back at the crash site one last time.

Then her eyes met with those of 14, who was standing up behind a hill, preparing to drag a large spider up.

The extremely sensitive 14 immediately rolled backward to hide, but Koch saw the familiar green glow. The active infrared headlight was now off.

Koch was almost certain that it was "him," and she wouldn’t mistake the slender white silhouette that the green light faintly illuminated.

However, "he" disappeared in a flash. Both Chinese astronauts were on a vehicle, one in front and one in back. It couldn’t be Dawn III sneaking three people onto the Moon, so who was the fifth "person" on the Moon?

Why did Fang Lin admit he was someone else, why did "he" want to save her, and why didn’t anyone notice the discrepancy?

She suddenly recalled the Apollo 11 mission; in fact, Buzz Aldrin was originally meant to be the first to exit the craft.

In that era, the Apollo program had another important mission to verify to the Congress and the Holy See whether God truly existed. Aldrin had prepared communion (a ritual) in the lunar module and planned to read the Bible to the whole world. Later, the silver chalice used for the communion became a prized possession of the Congress.

Could it be...

Koch refused to believe that what she had seen was an illusion. Dawn III had only two astronauts, and the possible conclusions were chilling.

Thinking about it carefully, there were so many doubts at that time. The "person" was wearing a traditional spacesuit of Dawn III, so why weren’t his limbs swollen due to air pressure but instead appeared wrinkled? That made no sense at all.

Why were they found in an extremely concealed and severely communication-disrupted cave? And at night, no less, which would be troublesome even back on Earth.

The way "he" spoke was also quite distant and seemingly unwilling to communicate, but Fang Lin didn’t seem like that kind of person either.

And ... Once doubts arose, Koch immediately thought of countless discrepancies, and she grew more and more afraid.

There were only two possible answers: theology and aliens.

But to control the thoughts of astronauts and even Earth personnel, altering memories collectively...

Right now, Koch was desperate to flee the Moon, even developing a fear of the Moon itself.

Even the ancient internet rumor that the Third Reich had fled to the lunar surface to establish a secret base began to ferment in her mind—she was certain she had encountered a supernatural phenomenon.

Zhang Zhiguang was completely unaware of the terrifying thoughts Koch was having on his right and had no idea that an excellent astronaut was hesitating between conversion to theism or to the theory of alien monitoring.