"Uh, did either of you see my gloves?" Collins emerged from Zhang Heng's side like a ghost with a bowl of pork and baked potatoes that hadn't melted yet.
"I don't know, but I think it flew over my head a quarter of an hour ago," Zhang Heng said.
"Did you just watch it fly away?"
"It seems that way."
"Okay."
"You can check the lunar module. It should have drifted in that direction."
"Collins, did you take the wrong toothbrush?" Armstrong asked sternly as he poked his head over.
"Did I? I clearly put my name on it. "
"Yes, and you put it on my toothbrush." Armstrong paused. "Also, remember to clean the fuel cell. Whose turn is it?"
Zhang Heng raised his hand. "My turn."
"Let me do it," Collins said. "You have something important to do today, don't you?" He patted Zhang Heng on the shoulder again. "You must come back safely."
"Don't worry about me. Neil will come back safely," Zhang Heng said.
Collins frowned. He did not understand what Zhang Heng meant by that.
Suddenly, the voice of ground control came through the radio communication system. "Apollo 11, this is Houston. You will enter lunar orbit in a quarter of an hour. Over."
"Roger that, Houston. We will be ready. Over." Armstrong then turned to Zhang Heng. "You haven't had breakfast yet, right? Eat more. We have a lot of work to do when we land on the moon. Time will be tight."
Zhang Heng nodded, but he knew very well that he wouldn't be staying on the moon for too long. Zhang Heng looked down at the watch in his hand again. There was only one minute left to 5: 55. According to the time flow in the real world and in the quest, he only had four hours left in this world.
This was why he told Collins that Neil would come back safely. As for himself, once he left, he would never step into the command/service module again.
Twenty minutes later, all three of them stopped what they were doing and came to the porthole. The view outside the porthole was relatively clear, and they could see the surface of the moon. Apollo 11 was now only about a hundred kilometers away from the moon's surface.
The moon itself does not emit light, but it can reflect about 7% of visible light.
Through the porthole, the three of them could see the undulations and ravines on the surface of the moon, just like the surface of a beehive. Zhang Heng knew that it was anorthosite, a type of volcanic rock formed by the cooling of magma. It formed the lunar crust, while the lunar mantle was made of stronger basalt, containing more iron than the mantle. As for the innermost lunar core, it was molten iron with a small amount of sulfur and nickel.
"Well, this seems to be our destination," Collins said. "We'll be parting soon. I hope you won't miss me too much."
"Thanks, Michael. You can eat all the chicken salad when I'm not around," Zhang Heng replied.
"I won't take this as a joke." Collins pretended to think seriously for two seconds. "Take care, both of you. I'll wait for you here. Let's go back to Earth together."
Armstrong remained expressionless as usual. He only nodded in response.
Zhang Heng used the last bit of time he had to make preparations before the moon. He gave up on his daily necessities and only brought his game items with him. After putting on his spacesuit, he and Armstrong entered the lunar module, the Eagle, and Armstrong closed the hatch.
"Houston, this is the Eagle. David and I have entered the lunar module, and the load-bearing legs are deployed. We are in good condition. Over."
"Eagle, this is Houston. Please confirm that your spacecraft is powered by ethylene glycerin line 1."
"This is the Eagle. We are on line 1. Over." Zhang Heng said.
At this time, Collins' voice came from the communicator. "This is the command/service module, Columbia. All 12 pairs of bolts are sealed. I will start manual mode next. The Eagle is expected to separate in 20 minutes."
"Roger that."
"Good luck."
To reduce the weight as much as possible, there were no seats in the lunar module. Zhang Heng and Armstrong stood in front of the control panel. As the lunar module's pilot, Zhang Heng would be responsible for the main piloting task. He needed to land the Eagle smoothly.
This would be a challenge for him, but it was at times like this that Zhang Heng's heart was calm.
Armstrong was a little worried that Zhang Heng's training time was too short, but when he saw the latter's eyes, he knew that Zhang Heng was ready.
"Okay, we're going to start." After a countdown, Collins pulled the lever and separated the command/service module from the lunar module.
"This is Houston. Please maintain flight status. Eagle, pay attention to your fuel. You can only ignite for a maximum of 910 seconds."
"Roger that, Houston." Zhang Heng carefully controlled the lunar module to land on the moon's surface.
Not long after, however, they ran into trouble. The alarm on the dashboard suddenly flashed.
"Computer overloaded. We lost radar." Zhang Heng looked at the indicator light.
"Roger that, Eagle. Please choose your own landing location."
"Roger that, Houston," Armstrong replied.
However, before the two of them could catch their breath, the alarm on the dashboard lit up again.
"Program alert," Zhang Heng frowned. "Error code 1202. What is this, Houston?"
"1202, roger that. We're checking, Eagle."
Zhang Heng manually turned off the alarm, but less than half a minute later, the program alert sounded again. At the same time, the altimeter stopped at 4,000 feet and stopped working. This meant that Zhang Heng could only land with his naked eyes.
The situation didn't look good at first, but the two had no other choice. When they landed at about 2,500 feet, Zhang Heng and Armstrong realized that they had deviated from their target location.
But what really killed them was the fuel meter's failure.
The last time Zhang Heng checked, the propulsion system's remaining fuel could still be ignited for about thirty seconds. And in front of the Eagle was a huge valley. With the radar disabled, Zhang Heng didn't know how wide the valley was, nor did he know how deep it was.
He needed to make a decision in the shortest time possible. Should he risk accelerating and crash landing in front of the valley or find a way to fly across it?
At this critical juncture, the AirPods wireless Bluetooth headset that Zhang Heng placed with the game items suddenly activated on its own.
A familiar voice came from the communication channel. "Friendly reminder, you still have 23 seconds of fuel left."
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