Chapter 622 - 609: Lighthouse

The second Moon landing mission was allotted 48 months, while the Saturn mission, which was an order of magnitude more difficult, astonishingly had only twice as much time.

During this period, they still had to find time to land on Mars and reveal the true face of Zero Plain, making the schedule instantly tight.

Was there any connection between Mars and Titan, and did the non-natural features of both places come from the same origin?

A flood of information poured in, throwing Lin Ju’s mind into chaos. As for things like the material for the Red Crest Space Elevator, they seemed trivial, hardly as important as aliens.

"Knock knock"

The sudden knocking awoke Lin Ju abruptly, and only then did he realize his whole body was sticky. Cold sweat had soaked through his undershirt.

He took deep breaths, like someone who had just been saved from drowning, eagerly savoring the long-missed air.

"Come in."

The person entering was Xiao Wang, who had just escorted him over. Xiao Wang immediately noticed the sweat beads on the back of Lin Ju’s neck and his damp hair and was taken aback.

This wasn’t mere discomfort. Lin Ju was clearly breaking out in a cold sweat, perhaps even in the midst of a fever.

Without hesitation, he hoisted Lin Ju onto his back and ran towards the infirmary, not hearing a word from the man on his back, but rushing to get him to the doctor as quickly as possible.

A few minutes later, standing up to stretch, Zhong Cheng was planning to take a break and check on Lin Ju, only to see Xiao Wang running over without any regard for his ragged breathing. He spoke in gasps:

"Lin... Commissioner Lin has fainted, I request a helicopter, to send, send..."

"Lead the way fast!"

Zhong Cheng turned pale at the first few words and, pushing Xiao Wang, they ran out together, leaving behind more than a hundred perplexed staff members in the control center.

...

"Shit, this is the true romance of a man!"

Victor kicked the flagpole’s anchor point hard, making sure it was secure, before he couldn’t wait to run over to the lander, joining Wiseman in starting to dismantle the Moon rover secured in the exterior cargo hold.

This time, "Origin" carried two Moon rovers, one was an upgraded version of the Apollo-era rover with hardly any difference in appearance, while the other was visibly smaller—a two-wheeled motorcycle.

The debate over which vehicles astronauts should use on the Moon began during the Apollo program, and included many proposals such as:

Four-wheeled rovers, electric motorcycles, four-wheeled bicycles, two-wheeled bicycles, scooters (with handlebars), two-wheeled hand carts (?), and all sorts of wild ideas.

Among them, motorcycles, bicycles, and hand carts were a few proposals that received resources for formal research and were physically tested.

The motorcycle proposal was eventually discarded due to its small size causing heat dissipation issues and the poor performance resulting from battery technology at the time, leading to the safer choice of a four-wheeled Moon rover.

But the motorcycle had its advantages: lightweight, simple, strong cross-terrain capabilities, and it could be used as a bicycle.

The last point was crucial, as the Moon’s low-gravity environment would make pedaling far easier, allowing for lengthy rides powered by human strength even if the battery died, unlike the four-wheeled rover which would be abandoned once out of power.

Perhaps to expand the range of exploration or merely as an experiment, NACA sent a motorcycle to the Moon on this mission.

However, it was more appropriately called an electric bike, as it wasn’t only electric but also used a traditional bicycle frame design for easier pedaling, resembling the "heavy-duty king" style of old electric bikes that were popular in early China. The only difference was a longer suspension.

Victor found this woeful design quite endearing and affectionately named it "Black Mamba," after his favorite icon.

Victor effortlessly assembled the "Black Mamba," and with a twist of the throttle, he zoomed around the flagpole and the lander, letting out a rugged holler over the radio.

The first two hours were broadcast live on TV, and they had to complete the flag-planting task and coordinate with John’s speech, but now they could finally let loose.

Wiseman watched Victor, clad in his bulky spacesuit, riding the motorcycle like a circus bear performing on a bicycle, amusingly absurd.

"Victor, save some battery, will you? And come help me drag out the lunar rover."

"Oh... No problem, the battery’s fine, you’ll see I can go even faster when I pedal!"

Victor pedaled hard, only to realize that NACA had deliberately designed the pedals with very small gears, so no matter how hard he pedaled, he couldn’t go faster than twenty or thirty, then he made a face and got off the motorcycle to help Wiseman continue installing and adjusting equipment.

By the time everything was sorted, more than three hours had passed since they exited the craft, leaving only 30 minutes of the anticipated four hours of EVA time.

The mission on their first day was simple, mainly because NACA took into account that they were planning to stay on the Moon for seven days and needed ample rest.

But at the moment, Victor was brimming with energy, occasionally glancing in one direction.

He finally couldn’t help but say to Wiseman:

"Hey, do you think we should go check it out? They should have landed by now, right?

Has Chapter 9 landed? Are they still at the Shuguang 3 site?"

The latter part he addressed to Houston, and after speaking, he waited about a minute to hear the voice from Earth.

"This is Keynes, according to the information we have, Chapter 9 successfully landed at Cinnamon Base over an hour ago. All four of the advance team members are on board, and no further information has been released at this time.

Victor, your EVA time is nearly up. There are arrangements by NACA for a meeting... please, do not act on your own, repeat, do not act on your own."

"Alright, alright, I knew it."

Victor muttered, clearly disappointed, which gave the vigilant Keynes a sigh of relief, thinking at least the astronaut had a sound obedience quality.

But before he could speak again, he heard Victor’s surprised scream:

"Holy shit! What the hell is that!"

A few seconds later, Wiseman’s voice also came through:

"Houston, we see an unknown light, a white light, very bright! Really very bright! And it’s flashing!

Houston, please give us the precise direction of the Chinese camp, we need to confirm!"

...

"Ha, now we can work for the capitalists at night too."

Deng Lei stepped on the moon soil added near the thick metal rod, looking up he could see the dazzling white incandescence above, showering down on a vast area, providing illumination comparable to lunar daylight even at moon night.

It was a streetlamp, or rather a beacon, towering over 80 meters tall, with LED light arrays totaling over 10 kilowatts installed at the top. With the help of the reflector, the brightness was astounding, and without the visor’s filter, gazing directly at it would surely cause temporary blindness.

This beacon also served as a wayfinder, and although its range was limited by the Moon’s curvature, it still functioned well within ten or twenty kilometers.

Its top reflector could also be adjusted to focus the beam, giving it the functionality of a searchlight as well, making it quite versatile.

"Turn off the light quickly, the heat sink hasn’t fully deployed!"

Liu Ming suddenly shouted over the radio; just ten seconds after the light was turned on, the controller beeped with high-temperature warnings, likely due to the ground-based heat sink not being properly installed.