Two hours later, repairs were completed.
“Report to Captain, repair progress has reached approximately 95%! The remaining parts are either key components damaged or missing spare parts.”
“Can you contact the major satellites?”
“86% of meteorological satellites and 100% of the Beidou series satellites can be connected, but we still cannot contact the space station.”
“Hmm? Why?”
After all, there were still three people floating in space!
“Because the communication hub with the space station was destroyed by two zombies. Rebooting will take at least a year, and even with aerospace personnel, it would take about four months!”
Four months?
Is there enough food on the space station?
“I will report this news. Now, notify all units to enter their posts and prepare to execute the marking mission!”
“Yes!!!”
…
Space station.
Laboratory module.
“Experiment number 3653, experimental data is being packaged,” Zhong Shengli carefully handed three fragile test tubes to He Guosheng.
“Test tubes number one, two, and three have been packaged.”
“Phew… Today’s experiments are complete. It’s time to…”, I was thinking of happily reporting to the ground command center, only to suddenly realize that the ground command center was gone.
“It’s okay, Guosheng.” Zhong Shengli patted the shoulder of this 32-year-old genius pilot, his tone firm: “Humanity will not perish, and neither will Huaxia. Everything we do is meaningful! It is glorious!
Let’s pack these up and think about tomorrow’s breakfast, hahaha.”
“Mhm!!” He Guosheng nodded vigorously, quickly activated the drying function of the laboratory module’s dedicated helmet, and then cleaned up the mess on his face.
After tidying up, the two took off their helmets and floated towards the control module. Deng Yuqing was secured in her chair, constantly observing the radar screen and observation windows.
“How is it? Have you encountered any problems?”
Deng Yuqing didn’t turn her head. She had to dedicate most of her energy to potential dangers and observing orbital conditions. Fortunately, the return of the two relieved some of her pressure, and she could finally talk.
“No, some satellites have already begun to drift into space, likely belonging to the White Eagle Federation and the Lion Kingdom.”
“I also anticipated this situation. That’s why I came to help you, hahahaha. But why are most of our Huaxia’s satellites still running well in orbit?”
“This…”
Suddenly, she remembered what Gong Zicheng had said: “This is a very important facility, and the country will not abandon it.”
She said, “Could it be that the ground forces have already rebooted the ground command center?”
“This isn’t… this is very possible.” He Guosheng was about to say it couldn’t be that fast, but then he remembered the combat effectiveness of the PLA and quickly corrected himself.
“But why don’t they contact us?”
“The communication module has a problem, it’s normal.” Zhong Shengli didn’t seem overly happy. After all, with personnel losses, repairing communications would take a considerable amount of time.
From here, they could see the appearance of Earth. Even the high-definition cameras attached to the space station could clearly see the situation on Earth.
Everywhere there were people and zombies running, blood, and the ruins of explosions. In some foreign places, many chemical plants had exploded.
Huaxia was no exception, but with the rescue efforts of military helicopters and transport planes, fewer explosions occurred.
Even at this sight, the astronauts, who had experienced many storms, could not bear it.
They directly closed the cameras.
“Little Deng, you go rest first. Little He and I will keep watch. You can take over from us later.”
Now, the control module had to ensure that two people were on duty to deal with the increasingly erratic satellite debris. Read novels.
Fortunately, all three had taken their turns without encountering any danger, and they all felt relieved.
But the more they worried about something, the more it happened.
Just as those satellites were drifting further away, there were always a few that didn’t follow the crowd and insisted on having a race in orbit.
Here they came.
“Little He, steer towards… wait, what is that thing on our left?”
He Guosheng, who was checking the operation log, looked to the left porthole when he heard this. Read novels.
“It looks like… *damn it!* It’s a satellite! A satellite is rushing towards us, and its trajectory seems to be directly at us!”
“How much longer?!”
“When the space station makes its next orbital correction!”
“The next time?!”
That was less than 90 minutes away.
Zhong Shengli, sitting in the pilot’s seat, breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, there was still time.
“Wake Little Deng up in 10 minutes. This time we’ll need all three of us to resolve…”
“Beep beep beep beep beep beep!!!”
Before he could finish, the piercing alarm sounded.
“Old Zhong! Incoming object! Dodge!!”
Zhong Shengli and He Guosheng simultaneously pressed the manual control buttons, tilting the space station at three angles.
They narrowly avoided this sudden debris.
The alarm continued, but this time it warned of damage to the right solar panel.
“Alarm… Bang!” He Guosheng, having turned off the siren, lay on the chair, unwilling to move.
“Close, it almost hit the fuel tank.”
“Fortunately, fortunately, I’ll go wake up Little Deng.”
“Go ahead, I need to recover.” Zhong Shengli only had the strength left to press the drying button on his spacesuit.
Twenty minutes later, the three gathered to discuss a plan.
Just correcting the orbit alone took fifteen minutes.
Now they could finally take the time to think of a solution.
“Little He, can we just accelerate and rush past it, so that the satellite can’t touch us?”
He Guosheng thought for a moment, then shook his head: “The risk is too great, and accelerating to change orbit will make us more passive.”
“Alas, if only we could grab this thing and throw it out. In this situation, we might not be able to resolve this crisis without losing one or two modules,” Deng Yuqing was yawning as she spoke. She was very tired, but she had to stay alert.
After saying this, He Guosheng also yawned, but Zhong Shengli’s eyes lit up.
He clapped his hands, “Yes! Why can’t we grab it and throw it out?!”
Looking at the radiant Zhong Shengli, He Guosheng and Deng Yuqing exchanged glances.
They both thought:
It’s over, Old Zhong has lost it.
“No, I mean, don’t we have two robotic arms? Since we have to sacrifice something anyway, why not sacrifice one robotic arm? It can even punch the satellite when it’s damaged!”
“You mean, we control the robotic arm to give the satellite a big slap?”
“Yes, and we must disengage the robotic arm the moment we make contact, to prevent this satellite from dragging the entire space station off course. Do you have confidence?!”
Hearing this, Deng Yuqing and He Guosheng’s eyes also lit up.
“That’s right! This maneuver is much harder than docking! It’s challenging!”
No difficulty can stop the great Chinese people!
Nor can it stop the aerospace workers who bravely face challenges!
Therefore, they now felt that this was full of challenges, not a certain death situation.
“Robotic arm mechanical performance check, status is good.”
“Robotic arm program function check, no problems!”
“Robotic arm impact resistance check, no problems!”
“Okay, proceed to the second stage of inspection, and use the computer to simulate the robotic arm’s strike direction and position!”
“Understood!”
Time, like light captured by a black hole, vanished rapidly.
The space station was getting closer and closer to the collision point with the satellite debris.
The satellite debris’s trajectory also showed no deviation, determined to test its mettle against the space station.
“Robotic arm number one, robotic arm number two, ready.”
“Little Deng, Little He, you two don’t have to wait for my command later, just act!”
Zhong Shengli had absolute faith in his team, just like when they fought side-by-side on the ground.
“Yes!”
“Collision countdown…”
“10”
“9”
“8”
“7”
“6”
“5”
“Warning… collision imminent.”
“……”
“3”
“2”
“1!!!”
When paths cross, the brave one wins!
The space station raised its fist, drawing its sword!!!
A large burst of sparks suddenly erupted in the silent expanse of space.
The flames exploded for only two seconds before extinguishing. A cylindrical cabin shot out from the flames, carrying some satellite fragments and continuing to orbit.
These fragments of various sizes grazed the outer hull of the space station.
The rest fell towards Earth, forming a not-so-conspicuous meteor shower.
“Warning, module damage 2%…”
“3%…”
The alarm stopped when the damage reached 13.6%.
“Robotic arm lost, the second solar panel on the lower left is completely destroyed. All modules are intact! Although it was a bit brutal, other satellites are moving further and further away from Earth, and we can last for three more months!”
“Phew! Finally, I can get a good night’s sleep!”
“System, set to automatic cruise. Time, three months later!”
“System command has been generated.”
…
Three months later.
Gobi Desert.
“This is the Tianshan Search and Rescue team. We have located three astronauts.”
“Bring them home!”