Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Tabby Cat

At dawn, a goshawk hovered alone over the swamp.A gust of wind from the ocean blew, and the eagle leaned over and flew north along the coast. Below the place where the goshawk flies, where the island, the river and the bay meet, in the distance, you can see the light brown and white sandy beach starting from here, curving and stretching, stretching to the far horizon, just like a white Shalian, floating quietly in the arms of the sea.Buildings of different styles are scattered on the grasslands and swamps.Roads spread out like ribbons, stringing those buildings together. Think back 75 years ago, Kennedy Spaceport was one of the six low-orbit space launch centers in the world.People get off high-speed trains and planes, board short-range space shuttles, and fly to low-orbit space stations.

However, "Unrest" changed all that, turning a busy spaceport into a haunted cultural relic.The long-abandoned spaceport's main entrance and hallways are overgrown with weeds, a haven for waterfowl, alligators and insects that are ubiquitous in Central Florida. In the 2160s, after more than two decades of severe decline, the space center began to resume operations.However, it was initially used only for air flights off the coast of Florida.In the mid-1970s, after space launches resumed, the old Kennedy launch pad was reopened.By December 2199, more than half of the space launch centers had been refurbished to meet the steadily increasing demand for transportation between Earth and space.

From the window of the temporary office, General Vanar Posov admired the majestic appearance of the goshawk in flight, and saw it slide gracefully back to its nest.The nest was built in a tall tree. He loves birds. He spent his childhood in China. Since then, he has been fascinated by these lovely animals.In the dream, Posov came to a strange planet many times.There, there are many strange creatures flying in the sky, and this dream keeps reappearing, lifelike and immersive. He remembers asking his father: Are there any flying animals in Rama?Naturally, his father's answer disappointed him greatly.

A loud roar came from the window. Posov looked from the west-facing window. On the other side of the road, in front of the inspection dock, people were rushing to conduct complex test runs on the ion power systems of the two "Newton" spacecraft. The huge platform moved along the track, and an ion engine was sent back to the subsystem inspection area for maintenance due to the failure of the ion controller.This afternoon, it will be loaded onto the spacecraft and sent to the assembly dock of the "LEO-2" space station to be mated with the hull.The overall assembly of the spacecraft must be completed before Christmas.

The tests of the two "Newton" spacecraft are in full swing on the "LEO-3" space station.Astronauts will conduct controlled simulation exercises with spare equipment on the "LEO-2" space station.They won't have the opportunity to actually board the spacecraft until a week before launch. On the south side of the building, an electric bus pulled up, and a few passengers got off, and one of them was a blond woman who caught the eye.Wearing a yellow long-sleeved shirt with black stripes and black silk trousers, she walked briskly and gracefully towards the entrance of the building.

Posov admired her from a distance.He remembered that Sabatini had been a famous model before he became a journalist.He wondered why she had come to see him in private before this morning's medical meeting. A minute later, she appeared at the door of Bosov's office. "Good morning, Mrs. Sabatini." Posov greeted. "Why are you still so serious, my general?" She laughed. "Aren't we the only ones here? In the team, only you and two Japanese don't call me Frances." She found that Bosov used a strange Staring at her, he couldn't help but lower his head to see if there was anything wrong with him.

"What's wrong?" She asked after hesitating. "It's your clothes." Bosov breathed a sigh of relief deliberately. "For a moment, I thought it was a colorful tiger about to pounce on the antelope. Maybe it's because I'm old and my eyesight is dim." He motioned for him to come in. "Some people say I'm like a cat, but no one ever says I'm like a tiger." Frances sat down in a chair by Posov's desk and meowed with a smile. "Meow, meow—I'm a harmless tabby. House cat." "I don't believe it at all." Posov smiled slightly. "There are many adjectives for you, Frances, but 'harmless' is not one of them."

He suddenly became serious: "What can I do for you? You said you have something important to see me, and you are still in such a hurry." Frances took out a piece of paper from her briefcase and handed it to Posov: "This is our news report plan for this operation. Yesterday, I studied it again with officials from the press office and World Television Network. Please note that The part about the individual reports of the astronauts was originally planned to be filmed this month. Currently, 5 people have been completed, and 4 people are left. However, because you extended the simulation exercise for 3 days, it took up the space allocated to Walker and Tuo. Geeva's time."

She breathed a sigh of relief and observed Posov. "We could shoot Takashi next Saturday and go to Boston on Christmas Eve to shoot General O'Toole; but Richard and Elena say they don't have time. And then there's the old problem that you and Nicole don't There is no shooting plan..." "You insist on discussing your so-called 'news plan' this morning?" Posov interrupted her.His voice hardened, and the importance of scheduling extended mock exercises was self-evident. "Also, among those who participated in this operation," she went on, ignoring Possov's attitude, "the polls show that the public has the most favorable opinion of you, me, Nicole de Jardin and David Brown. Interested. But until now, I haven't been able to convince you to fix a time to finish filming your show; Mrs. de Jardin is not going to cooperate at all. The world network people are not happy. My pre-launch coverage plan It's going to be a mess, and I need your help."

Frances looked directly at General Posov and said, "I hope you can cancel the increased simulation training and arrange a certain time to film your personal feature, and talk to Nicole at the same time." The General frowned, annoyed at Frances's rudeness.He wanted to tell her that the so-called "personal project" was not on the list of things he had to deal with, but a thought made him suddenly change his mind.Both his intuition and experience tell him to be cautious, things are not that simple.He changed the subject in order to find a compromise. "By the way, I want to tell you that I am apprehensive about the big New Year's party co-hosted by your Italian political and business friends. I know that we have agreed that everyone will participate in what Celebrity calls the 'Gala of the Century' ' social activities, which were scheduled at the beginning of the training. But what to do now? I am very worried, can you help me find a way to lower the tone of the propaganda?"

"The party is my problem too," replied Frances, avoiding his trap carefully. "I need your help in this matter too. Now four members of the team say they don't intend to go, and there are others Two or three people said they had other dates - although they had agreed to attend this evening in March. Takagishi and Hiroshi Yamanaka wanted to go back to Japan for a vacation with their families; Richard told me he had already booked in the Cayman Islands I got my scuba gear, and I’m going to go diving. What’s more, that French woman just said she’s not coming, without any explanation.” Posov couldn't help laughing: "Why, you still have such a difficult thing. I thought it would be easier for you women to discuss things than others." "She's told me several times that she's not interested in journalists. She's a cold, unsympathetic person." Frances shrugged. "But the public is fascinated by her. It's not just because she's a doctor, a A linguist, a former Olympic champion, and because she's the daughter of a famous novelist and an unwed mother of a fourteen-year-old daughter..." Posov looked at his watch and interrupted her: "Okay, tell me, what's the problem? We have to arrive at the meeting place in about ten minutes." He smiled at Frances again, "In addition, I To give you an idea, what the 'French woman' is dealing with today could be part of your personal feature shoot." Frances thought to herself: "Is this guy already prepared? Either way, he'll know soon." She took a square from her briefcase and handed it to Bosov. "One more thing," she said. Posov was a little puzzled.Frances said gravely; "It was sold to us by a freelance journalist, and we're sure there are no copies." She paused to watch Posov load the thing into his office computer.Posov's face turned pale when he saw the image on the screen. On the screen, his daughter Natasha was screaming and howling frantically. Posov turned off the video. "I try not to let the tabloid reporters get it," Frances said softly. "How long is this video?" General Posov looked sad. "For about half an hour," she replied, "I was the only one who saw the video." Posov sighed deeply.His wife, Peterna, had been dreading this event ever since he had been appointed commander of the Newton, but it finally happened.The director of the Sverdrovsk hospital had promised that no reporter would get close to her daughter, and here is a 30-minute video that would stun Peterna. He looked out the window, thinking that if the fact that his daughter suffered from severe schizophrenia was made public, it would be a terrible situation and make people lose face.However, this does not jeopardize the operation. Posov stared at Frances. He had always hated making a deal, and he wasn't sure if she had any part in this dirty business. . . Bosov calmed down, with a helpless smile on his face: "I think I can repay you, although it's not fair." After a pause, he added, "But I think someone is looking forward to my return." Thank you." great!thought Frances.But she knew that it was better not to say anything at this time. After a long silence, the commander said again: "Okay! I canceled the increased simulation exercise, and other people are also complaining about this arrangement. According to your request, Peterna and I will rush to Rome as soon as possible to shoot a personal feature; tomorrow, I will Remind all the astronauts to the New Year's Eve party and tell them it's a mission. But neither I nor anyone else can ask Nicole de Jardin to talk to you about personal matters outside of work." He stood up: "Okay, let's go, it's time for the meeting." Frances also stood up and kissed him on the cheek: "Thank you, Vanner."