Chapter 20 Chapter 19 Driving the "Windmill"

When the Discovery's navigation lights and interior lights shone from head to stern, it was as bright as a Christmas tree in a fairy tale, and across the vacuum between the two ships, the cheers from the Leonov could almost be heard.When the lights went out quickly again, there was another groan that made people laugh. There was no other movement for half an hour, and the emergency lights glowed a soft, dark red in the observation window of the Discovery's bridge.After a few minutes, Kono and Brerowski could be seen moving inside the ship, their outlines somewhat blurred through the thin sulfur dust outside.

"Hey, Max—Walter—can you hear us?" Tanya Oleva called.The two vague silhouettes immediately waved back, but made no other reply, obviously too busy to care about daily small talk.Spectators aboard the Leonov had to wait patiently, watching the lights go on and off, the door of one of the split bays slowly open and close quickly, and the main antenna swivel ten degrees. "Hello, Leonov," Kono finally replied, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting, but we are really busy. "Here's a quick assessment, from what we've seen so far. The ship is much better than I thought it would be. Hull intact, no leaks - eighty-five percent of standard air pressure. Fully breathable, but We need to clean the air a lot, it stinks in here.

"The best part is that the powertrain is fully functional. The main reactor is stable, the batteries are in good condition, and almost all of the line switches are left open—they tripped themselves, or did it before Bowman left—so everything is critical. Important equipment is safe. However, there is a lot of work to be done checking all equipment on board before we hit full steam again." "How long would that take?—At least the basic systems should be checked: life support and propulsion." "Hard to say, Captain. How long until crash?" "At least ten days are now estimated. But you know that ten days will be longer—or shorter."

"Well, if we don't get into some serious trouble, we'll be able to tow Discovery up and into a stable orbit away from this hell—er, I mean within a week." "What else do you need?" "No - Max and I did a good job. Now we're going to get into the turntable and check the bearings. I want to get it up and running as soon as possible." "Forgive me, Walter—but is that important? Gravity may be convenient, but our time may not allow too much waste." "I'm not trying to create gravity, although a little gravity on the ship would be useful. If we could get the turntables to spin again, it would rub against the ship, affecting its rotation—stopping the ship from rolling. Then we could join together through the transition chamber, No more extravehicular operations. It's a hundred times easier to do that."

"Great idea, Walter—but you don't mean to tie our spaceship to that... windmill. Suppose, what if a bearing failed, or the turntable got stuck? That would tear us apart." section." "Agreed. We will build inter-ship access when required. I will report back as soon as possible." For the next two days, no one had much rest.By the end, Konow and Brerowski were practically asleep in their spacesuits, but they had completed their inspection of Discovery and found no unpleasant surprises.Those at NASA and the State Department were greatly relieved by the initial report; they were justified in claiming that Discovery was not an abandon ship, but a "temporary American spacecraft."Now the task of restoring Discovery is about to begin.

Once power was restored, the next problem was air handling, and even the most thorough cleaning operation failed to get rid of the stench.Kono was correct, identifying the smell as food spoilage after the freezer had shut down.At the same time, he declared, half-truthfully and gravely, that the smell was quite romantic. "I just close my eyes," he declared, "and I feel like I'm back on an old whaling ship, you can imagine' The smell on the Pequod' (name of the whaling ship in the famous novel.—Revisor's Note)?" After visiting Discovery, everyone agreed that the less imagination the better.The problem was finally solved—or at least reduced to something manageable—to clear the air from the ship.Fortunately, there is still enough air in the storage tank for replacement.

There is also very encouraging news that 90% of the propellant used for the return journey of the spacecraft is still effective, and the choice of ammonia instead of hydrogen as the propellant fluid for the plasma engine has been a great success.Although the storage tanks are insulated and sealed, and the outside world is extremely cold, the more efficient liquid hydrogen would have evaporated in space years ago.Nearly all of the ammonia remains in a safe liquid state, enough to return the spacecraft to a safe orbit around Earth, or at least to the moon. Dealing with Discovery's spiraling rotation was perhaps the most critical step in keeping the spacecraft under control.Sasha Kovalev compares Kono and Bryrovski to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza ), and hope they are dealing with the "Giant Windmill" (the most famous chapter in "Don Quixote", Don Quixote fights the "Giant Windmill", but unfortunately falls and breaks his own leg. - re-reader's note) There could be a better ending.

Working cautiously, pausing frequently for further inspection, power finally entered the turntable engine, and the gigantic drum came up to speed to regain control of the spin it had given the ship so long ago.Discovery was in a complex combination of motion until eventually it all but stopped rolling.The last vestige of this deleterious flip was also overcome by the attitude control thrusters, and the two ships were now floating alongside each other at a standstill, the stocky Leonov dwarfed by the slender Discovery. Passage between the two ships was now safe and easy, but Captain Oleva still refused to establish a link between the two ships.Everyone agrees with this decision, because Io is approaching step by step, and they may have to abandon the spacecraft that they worked so hard to save.

Although they now understood the cause of Discovery's mysterious orbital decay, it was of no avail.Every time the spacecraft passes between Jupiter and Io, it cuts into the magnetic current tube that invisibly connects the two bodies—the rushing river of electricity between the two worlds.The current vortex caused by the spacecraft's disturbance will continuously slow it down, making it a little slower each time it goes around. It is impossible to predict the last moment of the crash, and the amount of current in the magnetic current tube changes rapidly, and it only obeys the mysterious change law of Jupiter itself.Sometimes a huge electric current surges and rushes, accompanied by spectacular lightning and wonderful glows falling around Io like a storm.Then the spacecraft would fall for kilometers, and it would be uncomfortably hot inside the spacecraft until the thermal control system could be readjusted.

Everyone was terrified by the accident before recognizing the obvious reason.Any form of braking would generate heat somewhere in the ship, and the powerful currents disturbed by Leonov and Discovery turned both ships into inefficient electric furnaces for a while.So it's no surprise that, after several years of constant exposure to heat and cold, the food reserves on board Discovery were unpalatable. When Kono ventured to start the main engine, the pustular moon Io—which now looked more like a medical textbook illustration than ever—was only five hundred kilometers away, and the Leon Lev was far away. stay in its place.There was nothing visible—no pyrotechnics from the old chemical rockets—but the two ships slowly pulled apart as Discovery accelerated.After several hours of careful maneuvering, both ships had gained a thousand kilometers; now they could breathe a sigh of relief and start making plans for the next mission.

"Nice job, Walter," said Medical Commander Rudenko, wrapping her broad arms around an exhausted Curnow's shoulders. "We're all so proud of you." She casually opened a capsule under his nose.Twenty-four hours later, when he woke up, he was annoyed and hungry.