Chapter 59 Chapter 49 Holy Land

As they unloaded the Billy's gear and set it up on level ground, little Chris found it hard not to look at the mountain looming indistinctly before him.In front of me is a diamond, a diamond bigger than the Eternal Star?God!The diamond fragments scattered around the space shuttle are worth at least billions, not millions: On the other hand, they may not even be as good as a piece of broken glass, because the value of diamonds is controlled by dealers and manufacturers. If this mountain of gemstones suddenly appeared on the market, it would definitely cause the price of gemstones to plummet.Chris Jr. is now beginning to understand why so many interest groups are focusing on Europa, and he also understands that the political and economic differences are never-ending.

Van den Berg had at least confirmed his theory, and he was once again a dedicated and sincere scientist who only wished to complete his experiments without being interrupted by any chores.With the help of Little Chris (because it was really difficult to unload large pieces of equipment from the small cabin of the Billy), they first used a portable drilling machine to drill a one-meter-long core, and carefully Bring it back to the space shuttle. Chris Jr.'s priorities weren't like that, but he understood that it made sense to do the harder parts first.So they installed a series of seismographs and set up a panoramic TV camera on a short and stable tripod.It was only then that Vandenberg stooped to collect the untold riches that surrounded them.

"At least," he said, picking out the less injurious fragments carefully, "they're good souvenirs." "Hope it doesn't remind us. Rose's friends are going to murder us to get them." Vandenberg looked at his companion grimly. He wondered how much little Chris really knew?How much is guesswork? "Now that the secret has been given out, the news will be of no value in a moment. In about an hour, the computers in the stock market will go berserk." "You bastard!" said little Chris, but it was admiration rather than resentment. "That's what you sent the message for."

"I don't think there's any law that says scientists can't reap some benefits! But I leave the dirty details to my friends on Earth. To be honest, I'm more interested in what we're doing here, Please give me that screwdriver..." Three times they were almost knocked out of their feet by earthquakes before completing construction of the Zeus space station.At first, they only felt that their feet were shaking, then everything began to shake, and finally there was a terrible and shrill sound, which seemed to come from all directions.The strangest thing for little Chris was that there seemed to be air in the sound transmission. He still couldn't fully accept the fact that there was enough air there to allow them to talk short distances without the need for radio.

Van den Berg had repeatedly assured him the danger of an earthquake was too great, but Chris Jr. had learned early on not to trust the experts too much.In fact, the geologist had just proved him right, and Chris Jr., watching the Billy's shock absorbers rock like a storm-lifted ship, hoped that Vandenberg's good fortune would at least hold up. Continue for a few more minutes. The scientist finally said: "It seems that this is the only earthquake." Little Chris felt relieved, "Gurnymede can get good data from various channels, the battery can last for several years, and the solar panels are still there. The battery can be recharged."

"I'd be very surprised if this morning shelter lasted another week from now. I swear the mountain has been moving since we landed, let's get out of here before it collapses on top of us .” "I'm more worried that your jet gas will ruin all our efforts," Vandenberg said with a laugh. "That wouldn't be a problem, we've already unloaded a lot of stuff, and because we've unloaded so much waste, we can take off on half the energy. Unless you want to bring billions more, or even It's a few megabytes aboard." 'Let's not get too greedy, anyway, don't know how much these things will be worth when we get them back to Earth.Of course, the museum will loot most of the stuff, but who knows what happens next? "

When little Chris's fingers quickly traveled on the control panel to exchange messages with the galaxy guide. "The first phase of the mission has been completed, and the Billy is ready to take off. We will fly according to the approved plan." They were not particularly surprised when Captain Laplace answered. 'Are you sure you want to move on?Don't forget, you have the final say and I will support you no matter what. " "Yes, Nagamiya, we are all very happy. We understand the feelings of everyone on board. The scientific contribution of this matter is very large. Both of us are very excited."

"Wait! We've been waiting for your report on Mount Zeus!" Chris Jr. looked at Vandenberg, who shrugged and picked up the microphone. "Captain, if we tell you now, you'll think we're crazy, or trying to drag you down. Please wait a few hours until we come back with evidence." "Well! I won't make things difficult for you, will I? Anyway, good luck to you. Besides, the owner of the fleet thinks it's a great idea to use the Billy." "I know Sir Lawrence will agree," Little Chris added to his companion, "Besides, the Galaxy has been fully reimbursed, and the Billy is nothing, is it?"

Vandenberg was able to understand his perspective, although he did not fully understand it.He had already established a good name in the scientific community, and he looked forward to enjoying the fruits of it. "Ouch! And," said little Chris, "who is Lucy, and does she have any special meaning?" "As far as I know, there is no special meaning. I found her in the computer search, and I thought it was a good password. Anyone would think that the password must have something to do with the magic star, so it can just mislead people's thinking .” "I've never heard of that, but a hundred years ago there was a choir with a very strange name - The Beatles, it's spelled BEATLES, don't ask me why. They wrote a A song with a weird name (Lucy in the Air with Diamonds), incredible, isn't it? Like they already knew this..."

According to the radar on the Gurneymede, the crash site of Qian's spacecraft is 300 kilometers west of Mount Zeus, very close to the so-called twilight zone, that is, beyond the cold zone, where it is always cold, but not dark. Half the time it is very brightly lit by the distant sun.However, even at the edge of the long sunlit region of Europa, temperatures here remain well below freezing.Since liquid water can only exist on the surface of the hemisphere facing the magic star, there are continuous storms in the middle zone, mixed with heavy rain and hail, snow rain and snowflakes, full of competition for hegemony.

In the half a century since the accident with the Chan spaceship, the ship has moved nearly a thousand kilometers, and it must have drifted through the newly formed Sea of ​​Galilee like the Yinhe until it drifted to the present This desolate barren seashore where we dock. Little Chris received a radar return immediately after Pitty passed safely through Europa's atmosphere for the second time.With such a large object in the way, the radar return signal becomes very weak.After they broke through the clouds, they knew why. The crashed Tsien spacecraft was the first manned spacecraft to land on a Jupiter moon. It was located in the middle of a small, round lake. This lake was obviously man-made. The oceans are connected by a canal.The frame of the spaceship was left, not even a complete frame, the wreckage had been looted clean. Ransacked by what?There was no sign of life here, Vandenberg asked himself. The place looked abandoned for a long time.It hadn't occurred to him that "something" had ripped apart and ransacked the wreckage, and in a surgically delicate way. "Obviously it's suitable for landing," said Chris Jr., and waited for Vandenberg's almost absent-minded nod of agreement.The geologist has captured everything on camera. The Billy stopped easily on one side of the lake, and they looked at the cold, dark lake in front of them, a relic of human exploration.There didn't seem to be any shortcuts to the wreckage, but that didn't matter. When they were all set, they took the wreath to the water's edge, held it solemnly in front of the cameras, and dropped this gift made by the Galaxy crew.This wreath is beautifully made, and even though it's made of raw metal foil, paper, and plastic, the flowers and trees look real.The wreaths were covered with notes and inscriptions, many of which were written in ancient script, the current official script, rather than in the Roman alphabet. As they walked back to the Billy, Chris Jr. said thoughtfully: 'Did you notice there wasn't any metal residue there, just glass, plastic and some composites. " "What about the frame and support beams?" "They're mostly two elements, carbon and boron. There's something in here that really needs metal, and you know it's metal just by looking at them, so interesting..." Vandenberg thinks so.In a world without fire, metals and alloys would be impossible to manufacture, and so would be as precious as diamonds. When Chris Jr. reported to the base and received some messages of blessing from Deputy Commander Zhang and his colleagues, he raised the Billy by 1,000 meters and continued heading west. "The last valley," he said, "is no point higher than the rest, and we can get there in ten minutes, but I won't land; and if the Wall is what we think it is, I'd rather not go. We Will return immediately after a quick flight to inspect. Get all cameras ready, this place may be more important than Mount Zeus." He told himself at the same time; "Soon, not too far from here, I can understand how my grandfather felt fifty years ago. If everything goes well, we will meet in less than a week, and then there will be Lots of things to talk about."