From Sunset to Magpie Bridge, the group of people stayed on the Moon Palace for 24 hours.
After the supply loading was completed, they would board the Magpie Bridge, which had a stronger acceleration ability and was more suitable for carrying a large number of passengers and supplies. They would then land on the surface of Mars via the Xu Fu, which floated in Mars orbit as a temporary space station.
It had been 15 days since they set off from the Moon Palace.
Because Mars and Earth were moving away from each other, it would take them two to three days longer to go to Mars than the first group of colonists.
However, even so, their current position was quite close to Mars.
If the angle was right, they could even find the bright red spot hidden in the vast sea of stars on the porthole …
"A pair of aces, my last card."
Lu Zhou threw two poker cards on the table and shook the last card in his hand. He leaned back in his chair. Sitting across from him was Joel Aubrey, an astrophysics professor from Stanford University, and Kubo Lomonov, an aerospace engineer from Moscow University.
At this moment, the two of them were staring at the cards in their hands with frowns on their faces. Their faces were covered with sticky notes.
As for Wang Peng, who served as Lu Zhou's bodyguard, Professor Schulz, and Professor Vernal, they stood behind the three of them, watching the game with interest.
In the end, Professor Aubrey and Professor Lomonov looked at each other and gave up in despair.
"I can't afford it …"
Lu Zhou smiled faintly and threw out his last card.
"Looks like I won."
The half-month-long voyage was quite boring.
The only things that could pass the time were poker, chess, and checkers. In the beginning, the nine people (including the two main and co-pilots) passed the time by playing chess. It wasn't until Lu Zhou was bored that he used algebraic geometry to build a model of two sets of chess boards and solved a "solution" that had a 100% win rate. After that, no one was willing to play this game anymore.
In contrast, poker, which had a greater element of luck, was more likely to win against Lu Zhou.
However, this was only in theory.
In reality, other than Schulz who could occasionally win a few rounds against Lu Zhou, Vernal, who was standing behind Lu Zhou and watching, didn't win even once.
"Damn it … Playing Landlord with you was the wrong decision."
Joel Aubrey's face was almost covered with paper. He threw the cards in his hand on the table while cursing. He tore off a piece of paper and carefully glued it to his forehead.
In fact, as a punishment game, the most troublesome thing about putting up a note wasn't that it would block one's vision, but that in a gravity-free environment, if the note were to accidentally drop and fly away, one would have to chase after it all over the ship.
Joel Aubrey had done it once, and he didn't want to do it again.
Vernal patted Aubrey on the shoulder and comforted him. "Give up, my friend. How stupid are you to play this kind of numbers game with a mathematician?"
Aubrey said unwillingly.
"I know … I just want to win."
Professor Vernal smiled and said, "I know … I just want to win."
"I've seen too many people like you in Las Vegas. You'd better stay away from casinos for the rest of your life."
"No way, I go once a year … Occasionally, I can win some money."
Lu Zhou listened to the conversation between the two and shook his head. He put away the poker cards on the table and said, "Don't worry.
"There's no place to put a note on your face, unless you want to stuff it in your nostrils. That's it for today."
Lomonov, who was not talkative, breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled out his chair and stood up. However, Aubrey spoke with a dissatisfied expression.
"Hey, how long do I need to stay like this?"
"Ten hours."
Upon hearing ten hours, Aubrey immediately frowned miserably.
"Can't you give me some time?"
Lu Zhou smiled slightly and said, "Of course you can, but the premise is that you are willing to give up the opportunity to go to the underground ruins and stay at the base on the day of the expedition."
"Sorry, brother, there's no room for negotiation, I won't agree." Aubrey pushed the chair away and stood up. He said tragically, "Those notes are nothing to be afraid of. Let the punishment be more severe!"
Lu Zhou looked at Professor Aubrey, who was standing there alone in a daze. He shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm just kidding."
"But remember, you have to pay the price. Don't try to cheat."
However, for a moment, Lu Zhou was sure that he wasn't joking. He really did have similar thoughts.
But thinking about it, how could he agree to this kind of thing?
It seems that I have to wait until I get underground and find a way to get rid of these people and act alone.
Lu Zhou thought as he gently stroked the wrist-mounted computer on his right arm.
…
On the eighteenth day of departure from the Moon Palace.
The fiery red planet was finally revealed to everyone in its complete form.
"We're here!"
"Oh, oh, oh, oh!"
Excited cheers resounded throughout the cabin. Standing next to the porthole and looking at the fiery red giant egg, even though he had looked down at this planet through satellites and telescopes countless times, the moment he entered orbit and was captured by Mars' gravity, his heart couldn't help but ignite excitement and desire.
It was like Columbus discovering the New World from the mast.
"Calling the ground command center, this is' Migratory Bird '. We have been successfully captured by the Mars gravity system and are switching to the Mars synchronous orbit."
"… Orbit switching completed, lowering the orbit altitude."
"This is' Migratory Bird '. Calling headquarters, we have reached the edge of the Martian atmosphere! The straight-line distance from Xu Fu is 1.27 kilometers, approaching! "
At the same time, the alloy door of the cockpit opened, and the co-pilot wearing a spacesuit walked in front of Lu Zhou and the others. He saluted them and spoke.
"We have arrived at the station. You follow me to board Xu Fu first, I will tell you what to do."
"Wait a minute, why do we have to go to Xu Fu first? Can't we do it here? "Vernal raised his hand and asked nervously," Also, how do we get down? "
When Lu Zhou heard this stupid question, he smiled and spoke.
"Do you even need to ask? Of course, we have to jump down like bungee jumping. Why not here? There is no rope here. "
Vernal's face turned green. Schulz and Aubrey's faces were also a little pale. Only Lomonov, who was an aerospace engineer, curled his lips. He did not believe Lu Zhou's joke.
Jump down like bungee jumping?
Think about it, is this even possible?
After twelve minutes of careful merging, the Magpie Bridge, codenamed "Migratory Bird", finally set up a silver corridor between it and Xu Fu, which stayed in Mars orbit.
Although Vernal had the thought of retreating at the last moment, he finally made up his mind, gritted his teeth, and bravely followed the group through the silver corridor.
Standing in the spacious cabin, the pilot stopped and looked back at the group of people who were about to go to the ground.
"Okay, friends, we have arrived … At this moment, under your feet is our outpost on the New World, the place where the dream of the ruins begins. You will land in the landing capsule, living supplies, and the newly added functional cabin. Someone will pick you up.
"You should have learned how to use the landing capsule during training, so I will send you here.
"So now, first connect the interface on your spacesuit in the cabin with the life support system of the landing capsule, then check whether every button and every seat belt is secure, and think about whether there is anything you haven't said yet that you need my help to bring back to Earth.
"If everything is OK, then raise your hand and let me know."
The co-pilot looked at the raised hands and nodded with satisfaction.
"Very good.
"Since you are all ready, let's go!"
(Follow the official account of "Chen Xing LL" to read the short story behind the top student. (????)??)
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