Chapter 50 50. Docking

When the assembly work of the space orbital tower is at the stage of the easiest construction, the speed of the tower's advancement towards the earth is 30 kilometers per day.Now, while the hardest part of building it is being built in space orbit, the rate of descent has been slowed to two kilometers per day.In order to bridge the gap of the last 20 meters, this speed is completely sufficient - Morgan can have enough time to test the concentricity of the docking mechanism, and then silently rehearse the process from the completion of the docking to the release of the "spider" brake In an instant—the actions you should complete in these crucial seconds.If the "spider" stays in the braking state for too long, the space capsule will have to compete with the moving space orbit tower weighing billions of tons.

It was fifteen long, quiet minutes—a time Morgan hoped would quiet Cora.In the end, however, everything seemed to be moving very quickly, including time, and at the last moment when the heavy "roof" began to fall on the cabin roof, he felt as if he was about to be crushed by a powerful press. Crushed ants.A second earlier, the Spider was a few meters away from the base of the Space Orbital Tower; an instant later, Morgan felt the thud in the docking mechanism and heard the thud. Then, as if to send out a victory signal, the "docking complete" sign suddenly flashed on the indicator light panel.Counting from this moment, the lens barrel damping element still has ten seconds to absorb the impact energy of docking.Morgan waited halfway through this time before carefully releasing the brake.He was ready to reapply the brakes as soon as the Spider started to descend.However, the situation reflected by the indicator light is accurate: the space orbital tower and the space capsule have been reliably docked.As long as you climb a few more steps, the destination is reached.

After reporting the success of the docking to the jubilant audience at Earth and Central, Morgan sat down with a sigh of relief and recalled that he had been to this place once.That was twelve years ago, thirty-six thousand kilometers away from here.At the time, after what was, for lack of a better term, called a "groundbreaking ceremony," there was a small banquet at the Foundation station with lots of toasts of soft-wrapped champagne.Not only is the first section of the Space Tower built, but it is celebrated as the part of the Space Tower that will eventually reach Earth.Morgan recalls how it was at that dinner, when even his old nemesis, Senator Collins, wished him success in a slightly caustic, but largely benevolent speech.Now, of course, there is much more reason to celebrate.

Morgan could already hear the faint welcome tap on the other side of the airlock.He unbuckled his seat belt, climbed into the driver's seat, and started up the stairs.There was a slight resistance when the top hatch was opened, as if the forces that were against him everywhere were making a last attempt to stop him.Then, he heard a short whistling sound—this indicated that the pressure between the two butt joints had reached equilibrium.The circular cover was put down, and many anxious hands pulled him into the space orbital tower at once.He smelled the fetid air and couldn't help being amazed that the people there were still alive.The situation had really come to a close: if his expedition failed, by the time the second rescue team arrived, it would probably be too late.

Empty, dark rooms are illuminated by dim little lights powered by solar panels—photocells that have patiently caught sunlight for more than a decade in case something extraordinary happens, and it finally does.What Morgan was presented with was a scene from the war years in the past-homeless refugees who escaped from the destroyed city, hiding in the air-raid shelter in disarray, carrying only what they could salvage. That pitiful possessions.Of course, in those distant days, no one among the refugees would have had handbags marked "Moon Travel Agency," "Property of the Republic of Mars," and the ubiquitous "May/Do Not Store in Vacuum."Moreover, they may not be so happy all of a sudden: even those who were lying on the ground to save oxygen were smiling and waving at him.Before Morgan could answer their greetings, his legs felt weak and his eyes darkened.For the first time in his life, he fainted.When the cool stream of oxygen revived him, his first feeling was embarrassment.After struggling to open his eyes, he saw several masked figures leaning over him.At first he thought he was in a hospital, but then vision and brain coordinated with each other.Apparently, as he lay here, people had opened the precious items he had brought with him.

These masks have molecular filters: they keep carbon dioxide out of the mask but let oxygen in.These filters are easy to use, but technically complex.Wearing such a mask, humans would be able to live in an atmosphere that would otherwise be instantly suffocating.Of course, breathing through this filter takes a little more effort than usual.However, nature never gives anything in vain, and such a price should not be considered high at all. Although Morgan's legs were still a little unsteady, he refused to be helped by others to stand up. After a while, he realized that he, the rescuer, had become the rescued.The thing that worries him the most right now is, has Cora ever said something that she would say?He really didn't want to bring up this issue, but he couldn't let it go...

"On behalf of all of you here," Professor Sai Suyi said very sincerely, but he was obviously embarrassed because he was never particular about politeness: "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you have done for us. You saved us life." On such occasions, any logical reply will inevitably have a taste of politeness, so Morgan simply pretended to be unable to fasten his mask, and said something that no one understood. .He was eager to ask if everything was unloaded, but at this moment, Professor Sai Suyi said worriedly: "I'm so sorry. There's not even a chair for you to sit on. It's the best seat we've got." He pointed to a pair of empty boxes. "You really shouldn't Anxious."

It was the same empty pretty words—which meant that Cora had said something anyway.Then there was an unnatural pause--a fact that Morgan had secretly noticed; it was self-evident that the rest of the group understood that he knew it, and he certainly knew it. He took a few deep breaths—accustomed to the mask surprisingly quickly—and sat down on the box that was brought to him. "No matter what, I can't let myself faint again," he said to himself with a kind of melancholy resolution. "I should do what I have to do and get out of here as fast as I can. Try to get out of here before Cora." before issuing new warnings."

"This is sealant," he said, pointing to the smallest of the containers he had brought. "It's for plugging leaks. Please spray it around the airlock seal, and it will clear up in a few seconds." Congealed. Oxygen is used only when necessary - you'll need it while you're sleeping. These filtering masks have a few spares in addition to one per person. Plus, food and water are enough for three days - that's It is quite sufficient. Tomorrow, the transport plane of the '10-K' space station will arrive here. As for the medicine, I hope you will not use it."

Morgan paused to catch his breath—it wasn't very comfortable talking through a filtering mask, and besides, he felt more and more the need to conserve his energy.These people in Saisuyi will not be unable to survive now, there is only one thing left for him to complete - and the sooner the better. He turned around and said to the driver: "Please help me put on the space suit. I want to check the condition of the conduction band." "Don't forget, according to the design regulations, the independent activity time of your cosmic sealing suit is only half an hour in total!"

"I only need ten minutes—fifteen minutes at the most." "But, Dr. Morgan! No one is allowed to enter the universe without backup personnel. Of course, there are exceptions for emergencies." Qiangger reminded him. Morgan smiled wearily.Strong is right, the immediate danger has been eliminated.However, it is the chief engineer's prerogative to determine what constitutes an emergency. "I'll have to look at the damage to the orbital tower, and check the conduction zone. It's going to be a headache if the '10-K' crew can't get to us because of some unexpected obstacle. " Although Qiang was not willing to let Morgan take risks (it's interesting, what did this gossiping Cora talk about?), but he couldn't argue, so he had to follow Morgan to the air lock to the north. Before lowering the lookout glass on his helmet, Morgan asked: "Did the professor cause you a lot of trouble?" Qiang shook his head and said: "The carbon dioxide quieted him down, I think. If he did what he did again--all six of us would be against him. I'm not very sure about his students, though. A few of them also A bit insane like him. Look at that girl sitting in the corner writing! She believes some sun is going out and exploding. And she swears to warn humanity before she dies. I don't know What's the use. Personally, I'd rather know nothing." Morgan couldn't help smiling.He clearly knew that among Sai Suyi's students there were no insane people.They may be a little eccentric, but they are undoubtedly very talented, otherwise, they would not have been given the opportunity to work with the professor.In the future, he must find time to get acquainted with them, but in order to do this, he must first let them "part ways"-all return to the earth. "I'm going to do a quick walk around the orbital tower," Morgan said to Jang. "Find out all the damage and report to Central. It won't take more than ten minutes." The pilot forcefully closed the inner cover of the air brake silently.