Chapter 24 24. First landing
There was still at least twenty minutes of nothing to see, but those people who had no work at hand had already walked out of the tents equipped with a full set of equipment, looking up at the sky one by one.Even Morgan himself looked out the door from time to time.
Maxine Duvall's videographer was inseparable from Morgan, a tall, bulky young man in his thirties.On his two shoulders, he is conspicuously carrying a set of equipment commonly used in his profession - two video cameras.According to the custom, the positions of the two cameras are "the one on the right facing forward, and the one on the left facing backward", and above the camera is a small ball slightly larger than Xiang Rong.The antenna inside the ball is very dexterous, so no matter how hard its owner tries, its direction can always be aimed at the nearest communication satellite.At the other end of the line, Maxine Duval sat comfortably in the studio, her eyes fixed on her, her ears listening to him, while her lungs did not have to struggle to breathe the thin cold of the scene. Air.However, such comfortable working conditions are not what she often enjoys.
Morgan did not readily agree to Maxina's request.He knew that he was facing a "historic event" and sincerely believed in Maxina's assurance: "The lad will not get in the way."But he worries that some inevitable troubles will occur with this unprecedented new experiment, especially during the final 100 kilometers of flight into the atmosphere.On the other hand, he knew Maxine could be trusted: she would not use the event itself to create sensational headlines, whether it was a brilliant victory or a crushing defeat.
Like all famous journalists, Maxine Duval was not indifferent to the events she observed.She never distorted or omitted important facts, but she never tried to hide her personal feelings in every possible way.Her admiration for Morgan stemmed from her genuine admiration for people with genuine creative gifts.Ever since the Gibraltar Bridge was completed, she had been waiting for Morgan's next move; and on this point, Morgan hadn't let her down.However, he did not make her really have a good impression of him.His tenacity in his career and his disregard of personal fame and fortune earned Morgan a high reputation in society, but at the same time made him a little impersonal.It's hard not to draw comparisons between Morgan and his sidekick, Warren Kingsley.Yes, Warren was an affable and decent guy (Morgan once said, "He's better than me as an engineer, too." No joke).However, very few people in the outside world know about Warren; he is always just a satellite faithfully leaning on the side of the dazzling star, but it does not shine itself...
It was Warren who patiently and meticulously introduced the extremely complicated landing mechanism to Maxina.At first glance, nothing could be simpler than dropping something on the equator from a stationary satellite.However, astrodynamics is full of anomalies; if you try to apply braking, you end up accelerating motion.If you take a shortest route - you'll burn more fuel as a result.When you try to turn right - and end up flying left... thanks to gravity, of course.In the current situation, what needs to be done is to throw a probe hammer with a 40,000-kilometer-long tail behind it on the earth... Before entering the upper part of the atmosphere, everything is strictly in accordance with the predetermined procedures.In a few minutes, it will enter the final stage of descent, and it will be manned from Sri Konda Hill.It would not be surprising if Morgan's nerves would become tense at this point.
"Fan," Maxine said softly but unequivocally through the dedicated channel, "don't put your fingers in your mouth. You are already a grown-up."
Hearing this intimate but rather embarrassing lesson, Morgan's face first showed anger, and then showed surprise.Then he smiled shyly and said:
"Thank you. I don't like to make a fool of myself in front of people."
He glanced thoughtfully at his badly cut fingers.What a joke!He stopped others time and time again, but in the end he was cut by the same super fiber!To be honest, there was actually no pain, not even any special discomfort.Maybe sometime he needs to heal it, but there's no way he's going to sit next to a joint healer for a week just because of that hapless joint.
"The height is 25 holes," came a serene and quiet voice from the tent. "Hammer speed 1600 meters per second. Lead tension - 90 percent rated. Parachute opens in two minutes."
For a moment, Morgan felt drained, but now he was refreshed and focused. "It's like a boxer facing a strange and dangerous opponent." Such associations involuntarily emerged in Maxina's mind.
At this moment, Morgan suddenly asked the space station: "Is it windy?"
There was an answering voice, but now it is not as peaceful and calm as before:
"Unbelievable! The monsoon forecast station just issued a hurricane warning."
Now is not the time to joke around. said Morgan anxiously.
"They are not kidding, I have confirmed it." The voice from the space station replied.
"But they guaranteed that the wind speed would not exceed thirty kilometers per hour, didn't they?!" Morgan still had a glimmer of hope in the face of the unexpected danger.
"The forecast station has just raised the maximum wind speed limit to sixty kilometers—the correction can reach eighty. It seems that something is wrong somewhere? …"
"That's not it!" Duvall said in a low voice, who heard all this over the line.Then, she turned to her clairvoyance and ears: "Slip away quietly, you are redundant to them right now, but don't miss any situation."
After arranging for the cameraman to carry out these contradictory instructions, Maxina switched the line to her excellent messaging service.It took less than half a minute to know which weather station is responsible for the weather in the Taborobani area.The lack of response from the weather station, of course, disappointed Duvall, but it didn't surprise her.
After handing over the task of figuring out the situation to experienced assistants, Maxina "returned" to Sri Konda.In such a short period of time, the situation at the test site has deteriorated considerably.
The sky was getting darker and darker, and the pickup picked up the roar of the ship's wind, which was still weak for a while, but was getting closer and closer.Maxina is no stranger to this sudden change in weather, having benefited from it more than once in a yacht race at sea.But that's in the ocean!How could she not feel sorry for Morgan in such a dire situation? —this utterly unexpected and impossible hurricane was threatening to destroy his ideals and hopes.
"The height is two holes, the speed of the hammer is 115 meters per second, and the tension is 95% of the rated value." The space station continued to report data.
The full meaning of these words indicates that the tension is constantly increasing.Experimentation cannot be stopped.There was only one option for Morgan - to keep going and hope things got better.Maxina wanted to have a few words with Morgan, but it was best not to disturb him at such an emergency.
"Height 19 holes. Velocity 10-10 holes. Tension 105 percent. The first parachute is opening...opened!"
In short, things are irreparable.The hammer has become a captive of the Earth's atmosphere.What little fuel is left will be used to steer the hammer so that it falls into a net set on the hillside.Under the action of the wind pressure, the cables tethering the net already made a humming sound.
Morgan stepped out of the tent and looked up at the sky, then turned to the lens of the TV camera.
"Whatever the final outcome, Maxine," he said slowly, picking out his words, "the experiment has been ninety-five per cent successful. No, it should have been ninety-nine per cent. We've passed it." Thirty-six thousand kilometers, and there are less than 200 kilometers left."
Duvall didn't answer.She knew that Morgan's words were not addressed to her, but to the man in the easy chair next to the tent.The easy chair betrays its owner: only guests from other planets need this equipment.Today's doctors have long been able to cure all muscle diseases, but physicists have not yet learned to "cure" the "illness" caused by gravity.
How many forces and characters have assembled on this mountain!The power of nature itself...the great economic power of the Mars of the People...Vannerva-Morgan (which itself is an important phenomenon in nature)...and the uncompromising monks who live on the top of the wind-surging mountains .
Maxine Duvall murmurs an order, and the camera pans upwards.What you see now is the white wall of the temple.At this moment, along the parapet, there are orange-yellow togas rustling in the wind.As expected, the monks were watching the experiment.
In order to be able to recognize people's faces, she magnified the image many times at once.Although she hadn't had the chance to meet Mahanayagai-Tello (requests for an interview were politely declined), she was fairly sure to recognize him from the others.However, no elders were seen anywhere.Probably, he is sitting in meditation in the most sacred and inviolable place in the temple, engrossed in implementing his boundless Dharma...
Maxina Duvall, however, does not believe that Morgan's arch-nemesis is now engaging in such naive activities as prayer.If he had really prayed for this supernatural storm, his plea was granted.The gods on the mountain awoke from their sleep.
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