While the Lunar Orbit Construction Committee was in full swing preparing to advance the construction site from the lunar orbit to the lunar surface, a month had passed since the Glowing left the orbit around Mars and embarked on the road back.

With the completion of the last stage of orbit change, the Xiaguang, which has little working fluid remaining, has turned off the electric propulsion system and continues to move towards the Earth-Moon system according to inertia.

For Tevi, after a month of getting along, he has basically adapted to life here.

There are clean bedding, plenty of oxygen, and warm and delicious food.

For more than a month in the enclosed, cramped and unprivate colony experimental area of the New Virginia, everything here was simply heaven.

In particular, Chinese people have more fun than NASA when it comes to bathing. The entire bathroom is a cylinder about one person tall and two steps wide, which mimics the gravitational environment on Earth by centrifugal acceleration provided by high-speed rotation around a fixed axis.

If it is not combined with the drawings, it will be difficult to describe the entire structure and the principles in detail in it. But to put it simply, after starting the device, lying in it is like lying in the bathtub of your own bathroom, and the water droplets that should be floating around are also "sticking" to the bulkhead, and they can't fly everywhere.

Since there is no external reference, staying in this completely enclosed bathroom, after scrubbing the body, the air outlet on the outside of the bulkhead will use strong wind to pump not a drop of water from the cylinder, and the cylinder will slow down and stop when the humidity in the unit drops to a normal value.

When you look at it that way, it looks like a big centrifuge.

Such a luxurious way of bathing is unimaginable for a BFS spaceship.

Of course, this may also have something to do with the fact that electricity is something that Chinese people don't need money for, and from the moment they set off until they are finally rescued, energy is something that must be used carefully......

If there's one thing in the entire ship that makes Tevi a little unhappy, it's probably that there's no freedom.

The small room had only a shoulder-width bed and no furniture other than a table under the bed. He can't even leave his room except for bathing and eating, and most of the time he can only pass the time by sleeping.

The slightly oppressive atmosphere makes it impossible to produce a sense of comfort, and the round porthole above the head of the bed is pitch black, and it is easy to have a symptom similar to deep-sea phobia after looking at it for a long time, so that he never opened the porthole.

Compared to the luxurious hardware and entertainment equipment on the Golden Heart spacecraft, the cabin of the Xiaguang is like a cargo cabin that pulls cargo.

What do you say?

The experience is like being in jail.

Standing behind the isolation door, Tevi put his hands on the edge of the door, looked at Johnson in the opposite room and asked, "How long do we have to be on Earth?" ”

Johnson, who was sitting on the bed flipping through a book, did not look up, and replied casually.

"Maybe a month and a half, maybe two months...... Or longer. ”

Seeing that the captain didn't seem to be very interested in taking care of himself, Tai Wei shrugged his shoulders and wanted to close his mouth and lie back, but he couldn't help but ask, "Why do you say those Chinese people don't let us go out and walk around?" Are they still afraid of us—"

"Because we're not sure if you're carrying bacteria or viruses on Mars, we can't do a full range of tests on your side."

interrupted him from the side, and Liu Biao, who was wearing a spacesuit in the cabin, walked over with a lunch box.

Placing the lunch box on the table next to the door, he said with a smile, "The conditions are more difficult, you can be patient a little." After all, this cabin was originally converted from the cargo hold, and it was only sailing within the Earth-Moon system, so we never thought that we would fly so far. ”

Looking at the Huaguo astronaut who was about to leave after delivering the meal, Tai Wei craned his neck and shouted behind him, "Hey, man, could you consider putting a game console in the cabin?" Not everyone likes to pass the time by reading a book! ”

Liu Biao smiled and said, "I will reflect your opinion to the ground staff, if you have the chance, you should be able to see a game console next time." ”

"Next time? I don't want to sit a second time! ”

Ignoring the shouting behind him, Liu Biao disappeared at the door of the cabin.

Glancing at the locked cabin door and the countdown to unlock the guest room door, Tai Wei muttered in a voice that everyone could hear, "This feels like going to jail." ”

Johnson said expressionlessly: "That's how it is under the fence...... Anyway, they brought us back, so let's just bear with it. ”

If you think about it, it seems that this is indeed the case.

At this moment, Tai Wei suddenly recalled what the Chinese astronaut had said earlier, and realized a terrible detail.

Swallowing his saliva, he spoke in a trembling tone.

"Boss ......"

Johnson: "What's wrong......"

Tevi: "If there are microbes or bacteria on Mars that are not on Earth, doesn't that mean we are ......?"

"Don't overthink it," Johnson pursed as if he had heard a not-so-funny joke, and said casually in a non-fluctuating tone, "Thinking too much will only make you trouble." Not to mention the fact that it is only possible, not certain. ”

In anger, Tevi slammed his fists into the heavy door

"Shet! Those brutes in the White House, what did they think of us? Lab mice? ”

In the other room, Jones, who was listening to the conversation between the two, sat on the bed with his knees crossed, staring out the porthole in a quiet daze.

During this time, she has been reflecting on her life, on her choices, and on Project Ares itself.

At first, she still couldn't understand why the final result was still like this, even though everyone had done their best.

But now she finally understands that the final outcome of Ares' plan may not be an accident.

From the start, this hasty trip to Mars was an unwise decision......

……

The day of the embrace of the earth came a little earlier than expected.

About 50 days after the return of the Glowing from the orbit of Mars, a gray planet, with the blue behind it, gradually appeared outside the porthole of the Glow.

“…… This is the glow, which is entering orbit on the space station and requesting navigation support. ”

“…… This is the Moon Palace, which is navigating for you. ”

"Roger, thanks."

After a short communication response, the Xiaguang, which had completed active deceleration through the back-jet of the wing engine, slowly merged into the orbit where the Moon Palace was running.

As time passed, in the deep darkness of the deep sky, a silver-white light gradually rose, and the morning glow from the skyline was reflected on the cold porthole.

Looking at the approaching Moon Palace, Johnson, who was sitting on the bed board, closed the book in his hand, and his blue pupils gradually dilated.

"God...... This, is this the space station of the Chinese people? ”

The moment he actually saw it, he couldn't even believe it.

Because everything in front of him was far more shocking than the one he had seen in the concept art.

The ship approached.

The space station in the distance is getting closer.

What was originally a silver white the size of a grain of rice turned into a giant dragon with wings spreading.

Thousands of square meters of solar panels are like open dragon wings, and the rows of heat sinks are like upside-down dragon scales. The cylindrical space pods stretched outward from the midline constituted its sturdy skeleton and unbreakable steel body.

It's like a fortress.

and, a work of art......

At the same time, sitting in the cockpit of the Xiaguang, the captain Xu Zhenghong, who was a little tired on his face, finally hooked a smile at the corner of his mouth, stretched out his right fist and touched Liu Biao who was sitting next to him, and then pressed his index finger on the side of the helmet and said in a clear voice.

"This is the Xiaguang, we have successfully entered orbit, request docking!"

Wait no more than two seconds.

The sound of the answer came from the communication channel.

“…… This is the Tsukinomiya. ”

"Welcome home, our heroes!"