Chapter 32 Chapter 26 Night Watch

Only time is omnipresent; night and day are only eccentric properties of those planets that are affected by tidal forces and have not yet rotated.However, no matter how far people have traveled away from the earth, they cannot escape the daily rhythm, and the age also increases according to the day and night cycle. At 1:05 UTC, Deputy Commander Zhang was still alone on the bridge, and everyone on the ship was asleep.At this point he should be able to rest, since the Galaxy's electronic sensors would detect any malfunctions much more quickly than he could.But neuromechanics has shown that humans are still slightly better than machines at dealing with the unpredictable; and unpredictable things happen more or less often.

Where's my coffee?Zhang thought displeased.Rose is rarely late.He wondered if the flight attendants were also affected by the disaster that the scientists and space team members had experienced in the past 24 hours. After the second probe failed, an emergency meeting was called to decide the next course of action.There was only one probe left, and that was meant to be used in Callisto, but it can be used here as well. "Anyway," argued Dr. Anderson, "we landed on Callisto once, and there was nothing there but all kinds of crumbling ice." It passed without objection.After 12 hours of corrections and tests, Probe No. 3 shot towards the clouds of Europa along the invisible leading track.

This time, only a few bits of data (about half a millisecond of time) were picked up on the spacecraft's recorders.The accelerometer on the probe, which operates up to 20,000G, sends a brief pulse before exceeding this amount.Everything - will be destroyed in an instant. A second later, an atmosphere of frustration and sadness filled the boat.The Yinhe decided to report back to Earth before continuing on to Callisto to retrieve the other outer moons, and to remain in outer orbit on Europa awaiting further instructions. "I'm sorry I'm late, sir," said Rose McLean (whose name would never guess that she was darker than her coffee), "I must have set the alarm clock wrong."

"Lucky for us," chuckled the guard officer, "fortunately you didn't pilot the spacecraft." "I don't understand why anyone can drive it," Rose replied, "it looks so complicated." "Oh! It's not that bad," Zhang said. "Didn't you all take a training course in basic space principles?" "Looks like it is, but I've never really understood it all, the boring stuff like the tracks." Deputy Commander Zhang felt very boring, but out of goodwill, he felt that he should explain all this to Rose.Although Rose was not his type, she was still charming, and the small investment should be worth it. It didn't occur to him that Rose might have finished her work, and she might want to go back and rest.

Twenty minutes later, Deputy Commander Zhang waved his hand in front of the navigation console, and generously explained: "Look, it's almost fully automatic. You just need to key in a few numbers, and the spacecraft will do the rest." Rose seemed tired, and she kept looking at her watch. "I'm sorry," Zhang said suddenly uneasily, "I shouldn't have disturbed your rest." "Oh! No. It's interesting. Go ahead." "No. Maybe another day. Good night, Rose, and thanks for the coffee." "Good night, sir." Third-class flight attendant Rose Macklin slid toward the open door unskillfully. When she heard the sound of the door closing, Deputy Commander Zhang didn't look back.

So a few seconds later, when a completely unfamiliar female voice spoke to him, he froze completely. "Mr. Zhang, don't even think about pressing the alarm bell, it has been cut off. Here are the coordinates of the landing site, let the ship land." Slowly, Zhang turned his chair around and wondered if he was dozing off or having a nightmare. The person who had claimed to be Rose McLean was floating in the oval hatchway, steadying herself by holding the door handle.Everything about her seemed to change, and in a short time, their roles were reversed.The shy flight attendant, who had never looked directly at him before, now looked at him grimly, with a cruel stare that made him feel like a rabbit spooked by a snake.The small but lethal-looking pistol seemed an incongruous adornment in her hand; Zhang had no doubts that she could easily have killed him without it.

But, urged on by pride and a sense of honor, he cannot surrender without a struggle.At least, he should be able to delay for some time, "Rose," he said (his lips are now having trouble spelling the suddenly inappropriate name), "this is ridiculous. What I'm going to tell you now is that it can't be done, I don't It could be a one-man landing of the spacecraft. It takes hours to calculate the correct trajectory, and I need someone else to help me, at least a co-pilot." The gun did not move. "I'm not a fool, Mr. Zhang. This spaceship has no energy limit, unlike the old chemical rockets. Europa's exit speed is only three kilometers per second. Emergency landing when the main computer fails should also be part of your training. Now that you can actually practice, I will give you five minutes to let you enter the optimal landing window according to the coordinates I gave you."

"This method of decline," Zhang began to say with extreme anxiety, "is estimated to have a one-quarter failure rate," (the actual failure rate is one-tenth, but judging from the current situation, he thinks it is an exaggeration Reasonable), "Besides, I've been through this training for years." "So," replied Rose McLean, "I must kill you and ask the captain to send another qualified man. Are you upset? We'll miss this window and have to wait hours for it to come." Someone else will come. Only four minutes left." Deputy Commander Zhang knew he was going to be defeated, but at least he tried his best.

"Give me the coordinates!" he said.