The Buran's huge hull slid silently into the sunlight, the white side was dyed a pale gold, and the striking blue letters "Пурга" on the skin were tinkered with, like a slogan on an old warehouse with mottled facades, the Buran was an old ship - it was once the main supply ship between Earth and Titan, going back and forth dozens of times, and for more than a decade, it took on almost all the tasks of transporting people together with another transport ship, Artemis.

Buran is the largest spacecraft ever made by humans, it was almost born specifically for the Titan mission, can support twenty people for half a year of space travel, in order to create artificial gravity, the personnel living module is designed as a huge spoke, the diameter of the hub is more than 60 meters, at a linear speed of 17 meters per second, the two long rod counterweights rotate in reverse to offset the torque, and the core service module is bound to the central spindle truss, the main shaft is more than 300 meters long, and the front end is topped with a huge radiation shielding umbrella, At just two millimeters thick but more than two hectares in size, the flexible umbrella serves as a shield for Buran to protect against the intense radiation released by Saturn, and at the end of the craft is a power module, two powerful fusion engines.

The fusion engine is the foundation of the Buran and the heaviest and most important of all the ship's modules, providing ample power during flight. The fusion engine on the Buran is not known for its high thrust, its peak thrust is actually far less than that of the top chemical rocket, but its most powerful is the endurance that no other engine can match, relying on the fusion machine Buran to continue to accelerate, shortening the five-year or six-year voyage to half a year.

"Enter the orbital front berth point, countdown three, two, one!"

"Enter the anchorage."

"Normal."

The attitude-controlled engine spewed a stream of dark blue plasma, and the Buran was slowly turning, like a crane's swing arm in Saturn's vast shadow.

At the same time, the four nozzles of the two fusion engines were lit up at the same time, and the thrust reverser was decelerating.

Buran does not enter Titan's orbit because it would require too much deceleration and a waste of propulsion fluid, so it only enters Saturn's orbit, synchronizes with Titan at a very close distance, and then releases the shuttle to land on Titan.

The shuttle is a landing vehicle for transporting people and goods, and the Buran carries two Aquarius shuttles at the same time as the mother aircraft, unlike the skeleton umbrella like the Buran, the Aquarius has a smooth fuselage line and aerodynamic shape, and can carry powered flight in the atmosphere, and an Aquarius can carry up to twelve people and thirty tons of cargo, and send them smoothly to the tarmac of Cassini Station.

"Aquarius separation."

"01 Separation."

"Roger, 01 detached."

The white shuttle disconnected from the Buran and began to lower altitude, the attitude engine on the belly of the fuselage flickering to adjust its attitude, and directly below it was the brown and yellow atmosphere of Titan, which looked like a pot of boiling muddy soup.

Normally, a crew member is three people, the chief and co-pilot and a safety officer, but this mission is special and urgent, Cassini Station and the earth side have been out of contact for seven days, so the crew has sent an additional safety officer to respond, and the deputy captain of the Buran himself serves as a countermeasure.

"Attention departments, decoupling, disconnecting."

"Decoupling."

"Disconnect."

The captain clicked on the screen in turn, the observation windows of the cockpit were all opened, the sunlight shone in, and the people in the cabin squinted their eyes at the same time, and from their point of view, Titan's huge edge arc was overhead, a hazy line where the earth and sky met, and the fuselage shook suddenly at the moment of disconnection, and somewhere there was a rumbling sound like an old tractor.

"This broken ship, three years of new and three years of old sewing and repairing, when will it be the end." The captain shook his head, pushed the electric door on the overhead control panel up, and then slowly pushed the lever, "01 Attention, left rudder 60." ”

The attitude of Aquarius controls the engine steering, and the shuttle gradually detaches from the Buran.

"How long have we been disconnected from Cassini Station?" The co-pilot tugged at his seat belt and looked at the Buran as it moved away from the porthole, "It's been almost seven days, right?" ”

"It's been seven days." The security officer sitting in the back said, "I don't know what happens to the six of them now." ”

"Communication tower failure." The captain replied, "It can only be this one reason, the Shangri-La Plain is not peaceful these days, we should have withdrawn them all earlier." ”

"So didn't we turn back temporarily?" The co-pilot shrugged, "I heard what they found." ”

"It's a ball." Said the security officer.

"It's said to be a ball." The captain interjected, "I haven't seen the original communication between the Cassini station and the Earth, but the captain said it was a ball, and the Earth side said it was a ball, and everyone said it was a ball, so it was a ball." ”

Everyone turned their heads to look at the box fixed to the floor, it was a heavy, sturdy safe, specially used to transport valuable cargo, the Buran came back for what it had stored, the box was fixed at the feet of the co-captain, who looked serious and did not say a word, closed his eyes and rested.

"I heard that Lao Wang has seen the original of their correspondence." The captain's eyes flickered, and his gaze fell on the co-captain, "Lao Wang, are you talking about it or not?" ”

Deputy Captain Lao Wang opened one eye, "I've seen it." ”

"What does the correspondence say?" The captain asked, "Is it really a ball?" What kind of ball is it? Is it really alien man-made? ”

Lao Wang frowned.

"I don't understand."

"Don't understand?" Everyone else was stunned.

"Yes, I didn't read their emails." Lao Wang nodded, "Who knows what's going on, those two correspondence emails between Cassini Station and Earth...... It's all gibberish. ”

·

·

·

"Gentlemen, please note that we are descending in altitude and entering the atmosphere in three minutes." The captain reminded, "Please fasten your seatbelts. ”

As soon as the words fell, the shuttle began to tremble violently.

Looking out of the porthole, the brownish-yellow fog has been pasted outside the glass window, the speed of the shuttle is getting faster and faster, the plasma shock wave generated by high-speed friction is spreading rapidly, Titan has an extremely thick atmosphere, Aquarius can control the attitude through the aerodynamic wing after entering the atmosphere, from now on Aquarius becomes a high-altitude glider, the captain and co-pilot are experienced pilots, they will fly the Aquarius for hundreds of kilometers to the tarmac of Cassini station.

"This is Aquarius, call Cassini Station." The co-pilot started calling, "Call Cassini Station." ”

"We haven't broken through the clouds yet." The captain reminded, "They can't hear the call now." ”

The shuttle plunged headlong into more than 10 kilometers thick clouds, lightning and thunder roared in the dark, the visual distance was almost zero, and the captain and co-pilot could only rely on navigation to find the target, which was more than a three-level blind landing.

Sure enough, there was a murmur of electricity in the channel, and no one responded.

"At an altitude of 63,247 meters, electromagnetic interference is very serious." The captain said, "We need to descend altitude." ”

The thick, charge-filled atmosphere on Titan interfered with communications, and the shuttle had to descend low enough to break through the clouds to make contact with Cassini Station, or someone's Iron Float.

"This is Aquarius, call Cassini Station." The co-pilot is still insisting on calling, "Hear please answer, hear please answer!" ”

The closer they got to Cassini Station, the more anxious several people became.

No one knew what was happening at Cassini Station, and anything could happen after seven days of losing contact.

"This is Aquarius, call Cassini Station." The captain also started calling.

"This is Aquarius, call Cassini Station!"

"This is Aquarius, can anyone hear us?"

The Aquarius continued to decline in altitude and had broken through the clouds, and several people in the cabin looked solemn, staring at the communication system.

Suddenly, there was a voice in the channel.

"Received ......"

Everyone's faces perked, and finally someone spoke, and the voice was a young woman.

"This is the Aquarius number, is it tacit? Is it you? The captain excitedly asked, "How is the Cassini station?" How's it going over there? Are you all safe? ”

"Yes...... I am Tacit Given. ”

The signal is still unstable and intermittent.

"Are you still safe?" The co-pilot asked, "Are you all safe?" What's going on at Cassini Station today? ”

Communication is interrupted.

"Tacit give? Acquiescence? ”

A few minutes later, there was another voice in the channel, and the woman's tone was extremely panicked under the noisy background sound.

"Heartbeat ......"

"And ...... Finger ......"

The captain and co-pilot safety officer looked at each other.

What is she talking about?

What does that mean?

Then the signal was abruptly restored, all the noise disappeared, and the woman's voice was calm and clear.

"I'm Moyu, Cassini Station is safe, I'm going to guide you to land hehe......he