Chapter 676 - 657: Is That So?

"Now it’s... the 71st Lunar day, Xiang Jie, we’ve actually been here this long."

Deng Lei sat in the driver’s seat of the T7 Mobile Base, and it was only when he looked at his smartwatch that he realized they had been on the Moon for more than two months.

Since landing in January to start building the base, the four astronauts hadn’t seen any follow-up exploration teams and had almost completely adapted to life on the Moon.

The daily scientific tasks weren’t many; most of the time was spent collecting samples. Upon waking up and after February 26th, the unmanned vehicles collecting ice from the craters would bring a pure water supply every three days. Yushu No. 1 Base had achieved "freedom" of water use.

The living quarters’ bathroom and toilet could support daily use at the same frequency as on Earth, and one could carelessly take a comfortably hot shower. If one were to save up and wait three days, there was even a foldable bathtub for soaking.

Whether it was drinking or domestic water, after use, it was certainly processed through the recycler, but the recycled water was no longer for human use. Instead, it was saved for planting or other purposes.

The change in the water environment and the recycling water’s exit from daily life significantly improved the living experience. Along with the still plentiful supplies, Yushu No. 1 Base was definitely the most comfortable extraterrestrial dwelling aside from March.

In such an environment, the astronauts’ mental pressure was much lower, so much so that dozens of days would pass without much notice.

Right now, Deng Lei and Fu Xiangjie were preparing for a long-distance mission, driving the T7 Mobile Base along with two humanoid robots to a mine 300 kilometers away. They had to check the space cement and 3D printing experiment results and prepare for the hydrogen bomb test explosion.

The conditions inside the T7 Mobile Base were much harsher, but fortunately, it was nuclear-powered with AI and robots for fully automated driving. After a long sleep, Deng Lei arrived at the destination.

The two were now helping each other check and wear their spacesuits. For long-term missions, each had four sets, so they weren’t too worried about wear and tear.

"Captain, I’ve recorded the entire route along the way; there are no voids, and the Moon Soil is quite firm."

Unlike the resting Deng Lei, Fu Xiangjie woke up every now and then during the journey, never really able to sleep properly.

The route they took was essentially the approximate path of the lunar highway, which they drove once just to be reassured.

Normally, the robots would automatically carry out the exploration according to plan, but Fu Xiangjie was still somewhat uneasy, always keeping an eye on things, resulting in a slight fatigue now.

It took the two some time to get ready. Then the air in the cockpit was evacuated, and the front hatch unlocked and, under the action of an electric motor, slowly opened.

Deng Lei climbed down the hatch first, then caught Fu Xiangjie, and then they hopped around to loosen their somewhat stiff bodies.

The current lighting wasn’t intense; through the helmet visor, the world appeared somewhat yellowish, and the towering T7 Lunar Rover cast a long shadow in the slanted sunlight.

He first checked the wheels, which after driving more than 300 kilometers, were coated as expected with statically-charged moon dust, glittering with rich colors.

Fu Xiangjie instinctively wanted to touch it, but Deng Lei stopped him.

The T7 didn’t have an airlock, and if too much Moon Dust was brought in, leading to human exposure, they would be in for some trouble.

Inside the Mobile Base, there was only specially formulated gel, which, while effective, would invariably leave something behind.

After checking the T7’s condition, Deng Lei began making his way to the previous experiment sites for space cement and 3D Moon Soil printing, following the GPS instructions. He reached the spots by crossing his legs and hopping for a few minutes.

The Apollo program’s spacesuits were too bulky and had poor lower limb mobility, so astronauts mostly hopped with legs together. However, Pioneer I clearly had far fewer limitations, and after becoming proficient in the environment, running and hopping was the most energy-efficient way to move.

Seeing two pieces of experimental ground that were almost undistinguishable from several months before, Deng Lei pulled out an exquisite geological hammer from his tool bag and struck hard a few times on both the space cement-solidified ground and the 3D-printed low wall.

After removing the chipped off surface pieces, he reached out to Fu Xiangjie for the hardness tester and began to measure them.

The sampling needed to be done in six different places with data recorded. After completing the records and entering them into his wrist terminal, he immediately read out the average values:

Space cement average hardness 67, 3D-printed roadway 73.

The hardness difference was almost negligible. As long as it was adequate for the future mining vehicles, it did not matter much if it was slightly higher or lower—too high or too low was not ideal.

Next was to knock off several pieces of appropriately sized samples, first test them back at the base, and ultimately bring them back to the surface for more comprehensive analysis.

But from Deng Lei’s visual inspection, they appeared nearly identical, at least with no signs of cracking or powdering, which meant they were adequate.

"14, come here!"

The robot number 14, who had been silently following alongside, immediately stepped forward. Although it was also wearing a spacesuit, its appearance was vastly different from that of human astronauts.

After a long period of work, the originally grey-white spacesuit looked as if it had been discarded, and because it had once approached an unmanned engineering vehicle that was electrolyzing ice, the surface material was oxidized in multiple places due to the burst of oxygen, taking on a scorched yellow color.

Moreover, with wrinkles showing where it was not inflated, 14 looked more like a storied mummy, and the green light from its photoelectric detector made it appear even more eerie.

However, the four astronauts had long since grown accustomed to these sights; they really liked this hardworking and never-complaining teammate. Strictly speaking, 14 was even their predecessor.

"Stand on it and jump hard a few times, then use the spade to start digging, and after that, check for damage."

Deng Lei pulled Fu Xiangjie to move further away, then directed 14 to begin the attempt to destroy two test sites.

There was no need to worry about damaging the test results, as in just over a month, this test site would be utterly unrecognizable.

The hydrogen bomb test was to be centered less than 1 kilometer from here, and it would ruthlessly destroy everything.

obediently began to follow the instructions, kicking up dust in front of them for a time.

They quickly moved even further away to avoid the moon dust, and as they waited, Deng Lei looked up to see a sizable portion of Earth.

Now Earth was their "moon," and looking up in contemplation of home was probably the truest reflection of the Canopy Number Three Vanguard Team.

Deng Lei was still unaware of the changes on Saturn and Mars and was still looking forward to boarding the March and heading to Mars.

"Captain, do you think the Moon could possibly be an alien spaceship?"

Fu Xiangjie’s voice came through the radio; he too was looking at Earth above them.

There was a lot of spare time on the Moon, and he had just finished watching a foreign documentary about many of the "unsolved mysteries" of the Moon, which couldn’t help but make him start to wonder.

As he asked, he felt a bit of regret; given the rigor of seasoned astronauts, they would undoubtedly deny it without hesitation.

"Of course, it’s possible. After all, we haven’t drilled down to the core to check things out, so anything could happen.

But if there really were aliens, they’d be long dead; if they could still move, humans would have certainly discovered them by now. Plus, if you were an alien, wouldn’t it be more comfortable on Earth, Venus, or Mars?"

Deng Lei’s somewhat serious tone touched Fu Xiangjie’s emotions, and he added:

"There is that possibility. The environments of Jupiter II and Titan are also quite suitable for life, and like the other two Earth-like planets, they are the most likely places to have traces of life.

NACA plans to land there in the next ten years, but we might be the ones to get there first."

"Ha, your guess is very accurate..."

Deng Lei brought his gaze back to the endless wasteland, and he couldn’t help but think of the sight of the nuclear bomb exploding again.

Perhaps because he often watched American sci-fi movies, he somehow felt that human acts of violent destruction of nature could lead to bad consequences.

This ridiculous notion quickly dissolved; in fact, every step taken by United Mining was a source of human pride. There was no such thing as an often-troublesome yet lucky protagonist with the windfall of fate in reality.

However, as soon as he thought about the fact that he was already in an "abnormal" situation, his mood became somewhat delicate.

"Xiang Jie, I want to ask you a question."

"...Ah, go ahead, Captain."

"Do you think our future will continue to go as imagined? Or let me put it another way. What do you think about the future?"

"Of course, I think it’s great. Every day we get one step closer to the universe. Just like our footsteps on the Moon, when the nuclear bomb explodes and lifts off the surface, we’ll be able to see what’s inside. Technology allows us to understand our surroundings more clearly."

"Is that so?"