Chapter 686 - 667: Magic Box

"Meng, I never thought I would experience something like this on the Moon."

Thomas stood in the washroom at the center of Habitat 1, turned on the faucet above the basin, and immediately, clear and pure water flowed out smoothly.

The two habitats could store up to 3000 liters of water in total, and every week, purified water from the Kuom Impact Crater would be delivered, sufficient to support "splurging."

Given the normal demands for drinking and washing, sustaining six astronauts was completely feasible, with oxygen and other consumables being provided through electrolysis.

What was initially just a proof-of-concept for the lunar ice mining convoy had now become fully capable of bearing the consumption needs of the early phase of development.

Thomas, who had previously spent nearly 11 months on the International Space Station, was so excited about enjoying such water treatment outside of Earth that he immediately caught some water and began to wash his face.

Meng Senlin was also quite astonished; although he had heard about the "luxury" of Yushu Base, he still found it hard to believe that the best living conditions were available in the most distant place from Earth.

"That’s only because the two habitats have landed. Before, including now, Deng Lei and the others were all crammed in Chapter 9, with conditions actually not much better than the Full Moon Lander, even almost running out of waste bags at one point."

The other two foreigners were exploring the habitat under Fu Xiangjie’s guidance, while Li Wei was discussing affairs of the Moon Base with Meng Senlin.

Li Wei was particularly enthusiastic as he hadn’t seen any newcomers for three months.

"...Meng, you don’t know, when we installed this module, we nearly connected the power supply incorrectly. For three months, we lived within this 150 square meter space. Tiangong is so much better than here.

Even though we could go out for walks at any time, we always had to stay inside the spacesuits, and being too far from Earth, often all we could see was the dark starry sky..."

Meng Senlin listened attentively to every word he said, imagining how over the past three months, they were like members of an Antarctic research station, stationed in the most vast wilderness in history, working hard for humanity’s noblest ideals.

"Instructor, when do you plan to swap back?"

"Go back?"

Li Wei thought for a moment, then gently shook his head:

"That depends on the mission, but probably not until the second half of the year. If things go well, we might stay until next year as we need to continue building the base.

However, by the end of this year, the permanent staff here should expand to over 12 people, which will make things a lot easier."

"A year, huh."

Meng Senlin felt this must be what all astronauts dreamed of; what could be more meaningful than pioneering on the Moon?

He now eagerly wanted to break free from the Dawn project; if only he too had been selected as part of the Skylight project.

It seemed as if Li had read his thoughts, and patting his shoulder with his robust voice, assured him:

"Those on the Skylight mission are the finest elite astronauts; we need the presence of veterans like us, but it’s the younger generation that’s the main force. The space agency won’t let you waste your time."

No sooner had he spoken than he saw Meng Senlin’s gaze suddenly shift to the window, and he couldn’t help but look out as well.

In the now darkened starry sky, there was a blue orb rapidly ascending; Li immediately recognized it.

"That’s Chapter 9; it’s returning to orbit now. Ah, you’ll probably get to wait until it brings down those weird things."

"What... What?"

"The hydrogen bomb, as well as the test equipment and instruments, are a pity. The T7 Lunar Rover was sent to the mining camp for their use; otherwise, we could have checked out the hydrogen bomb in person."

...

Two hours later, at the Black Rabbit Space Station.

Apart from the newly-docked Chapter 9, the space station has also been home to the Dawn Number One Spaceship that arrived a day earlier, bringing the second group of five experts.

The Dawn Two cargo spaceship had also arrived but had some other tasks before docking.

The Dawn Two was now slowly approaching the "Peregrine Falcon" probe circling around the Moon, preparing to remove the hydrogen bomb mounted on it.

The process was fully automated by AI but was still under supervision from both the ground and the space station.

Deng Lei, who had just arrived at the space station, quickly located the second batch of five experts, led by the UK, who were observing the operation of Dawn Two.

In the transmitted footage, the "Peregrine Falcon" probe was clearly visible, with its cylindrical object at the tail being particularly noticeable.

Dawn Two cautiously approached using the RCS, with expert Jamie Stevenson from the Royal Air Force intently monitoring the radiation levels.

Thankfully, there were numbers, but no alarms went off, indicating that the hydrogen bomb was not causing any issues.

Dawn Two stopped about 10 meters away from the "Peregrine Falcon" and then deployed its external robotic arm, inching closer to the probe.

Meanwhile, the European Space Agency sent out a command, and the "Peregrine Falcon" began detachment from the hydrogen bomb. Under the impact of the explosive bolts, the cylindrical object gently popped out to one side and was then securely captured by the agile mechanical arm.

The screen shook slightly for about fifteen seconds. Once the arm had a firm grip, the docking hatch on the top of Dawn Two swung open, and the mechanical arm carefully adjusted the orientation of the cylinder before slowly pushing it into the spaceship’s cargo hold.

Inside the cargo hold, an additional fixing mechanism was ready to automatically secure it, after which the Dawn Two would need about four hours to dock with the Black Rabbit Space Station.

The entire capture process took a little over an hour, each step had to be incredibly cautious.

However, the hydrogen bomb wasn’t nearly as delicate as everyone was treating it; it was just that because this was the first operation of its kind, everyone was being exceptionally cautious.

Deng Lei and the others, who were supposed to be resting, insisted on waiting until Dawn Two arrived at the space station and then eagerly opened the hatch.

Twelve pairs of eyes from all directions (literally) watched the object behind the docking port:

It was an elliptical object fixed in a hexagonal prism frame. The Royal Air Force had removed it from the warhead and repackaged it, adding a frame on the outside for ease of fixing and a modified fuze.

Aside from the nuclear experts, who had dealt with such things for nearly half their lives, it was the first time the astronauts like Deng Lei saw the real ultimate weapon. Although it looked unassuming, he could feel his heart pounding and his body covered in goosebumps.

If the device were to explode now, the Black Rabbit Space Station would indeed be left without a trace.

While Deng was lost in thought, Stevenson had already crawled inside and swiftly pressed on the control panel outside the nuclear bomb, scrolling through the current status codes and checking if the fuze was operating as normal. After confirming everything was correct, Stevenson finally crawled out, took one deep look and then said:

"Everyone, go back and get some rest. Tomorrow we’ll need to move them into ’Chapter 9.’ Their current configuration won’t do."

Deng Lei nodded slowly, his eyes still on the nuclear bomb and not moving away, as if trying to permanently fix its image in his mind.

"This is practically Pandora’s box."

Behind him, hanging upside down from the ceiling with his arms crossed, Tomarsov murmured in a voice only he could hear.