"It's muddy ice."

The rover stopped on a small hill, a location marked by the robot, and Fang Lin tore open a thin layer of lunar soil and dug up a block of ice the size of half a human body.

It's not pure at all, and it's mixed with quite a bit of impurities so much that it looks more of an opaque off-white.

Fang Lin took out the geological hammer he carried with him, knocked off a corner with a few clicks, and took it in his hand to look at it carefully: the sun is also faint now, it is about to enter the moonlit night here, and it is almost time to return.

Zhang Zhiguang shoveled hard a few times with a shovel, and then buried a radio beacon in it.

According to the rough mapping of the robot, there should be a lot of shallow ice here, which should be used in the future.

This is already the third beacon to be planted, and it is almost enough for the Dawning Project.

"Cave Cave, you should be returning soon."

The voice of Ding Jihua came over the radio, who had completed the survey and returned to the vicinity of the lander, ready to let go of the control of 14, he still had some work before resting.

"Understood, we'll be back in three minutes."

Under the lander, 14 regained control of his own body.

[Commander, I still have a lot of power left, I want to bring back some samples of the Dawning 2 lunar rover that you have applied for the right to use the Lu-2 lunar rover]

"Ah, I just forgot to let Lao Ding do it, remember to choose according to the list;

Stay safe and go back quickly. ”

[Confirm the order, thank you for your concern.] 】

14 Sitting on the lunar rover in a handsome posture, stepping on the accelerator and rushing out, no one is more familiar with lunar surface driving than it.

Dawn-2 is only about 900 meters away, but the terrain is closer to the crater and higher, so it used to be a little detour.

The moon was half powered, and it soon climbed to the highest point.

“…… Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep...... Beep ......"

Radio channel 14 covers all communication bands, and it hears very abrupt regular radio waves.

The signal was faint and could be heard with interruptions from time to time, but it could also be because it was too far away, as he was now standing on a high ground to receive it.

14Stop the rover and patiently listen to the information on the airwaves.

The radio wave was simple, and after about ten seconds it pieced together from the staccato message what the source wanted to emit was:

"Beep, beep——,beep"

Three short, three long, three short, international distress signal. Standard Morse code format for S.

14 took 0.01 seconds to think, and then took the initiative to make his own voice over the radio:

[It was found that the radio signal was not recorded, and the emission source was suspected to be emitting. S rescue request, encrypted by Morse password;

The azimuth is unknown, the signal source is unknown, it meets the AAAAA execution standard, the frequency band has been recorded, and the indication is requested;

Repeat, discover ......]

The robot's voice sounded successively in the astronauts and the ground command center, which directly startled everyone.

Immediately after that, the ground began to receive 14 packets sent back, as well as the shared current field of view, which is the response written in its AI: Tell the parents immediately.

Lin Ju, who had already waited for Artemis II to get a little impatient and was about to go back to sleep, suddenly got up and immediately gave instructions to the base to manipulate 14 for more information.

Zhang Zhiguang, who was returning to the lander with some samples, also widened his eyes, and immediately asked 14 on the radio, and learned that the signal was too weak to have effective information, and the signal seemed to be still decaying.

"Command center, can you determine if the signal is coming from the ground or from space?"

"Wait a minute, Dongyi, you will return to the landing module now and wait for the next instructions, we have just received the data, and we are urgently confirming it."

"Brother Zhang, isn't it them!"

Fang Lin was a little excited, the radio distress signal recorded by 14 had a probability of coming from aliens, and there was also a probability of coming from the "Blue Moon", but it seemed that the latter was more likely.

Zhang Zhiguang knew that the ground must still be discussing, but if it was a signal from the lunar surface, then they might have to work!

After a moment of rapid thought in his head, he made a decision:

"Let's go back first, recharge and rest the spacesuit and the rover first, and get ready!

14？ Go to the highest point near you now for more information and timely reporting! ”

[Confirm the order, I will go to the B04 heights.] 】

……

Ground command center.

The control center of No. 14, like the explorer and Yutu, is that the capital and Xinyuan bases have control rooms for remote monitoring, but now part of the data has been transferred to the launch command center in Qiongzhou.

Academician She was still sitting here, and immediately organized a judgment on the radio signals received by 14.

The first is the source of the launch: to rule out aliens, to exclude the lunar unmanned probe to pump out, then only the spacecraft that could come from NACA.

The satellites and space stations and spacecraft that they launched into orbit are also excluded, and the signals in the sky should not be interfered with by the terrain near the landing site.

In the end, it is almost certain that it is the "Blue Moon".

Carefully comparing the received signal fluctuations, there is 70% certainty that the emission source is fixed.

"We are now 80% sure that the Blue Moon has landed, and it was they who sent a distress signal on the lunar surface."

Academician She's expression was unprecedentedly serious, this was definitely an extremely dangerous situation.

Lin Ju also nodded, he has always been engaged in aerospace, and he is now an expert, at least the basic components and security measures are understood.

"There are at least two or three sets of communication facilities on the lander, and even if they fail to have a high-power communication device on the spacesuit, trained astronauts can definitely use it to communicate with space, and they are all guaranteed calls or network transmission.

And that's not even counting other portable communication devices, as well as TV broadcast transmitters?

To be able to force an astronaut to send a distress signal with the simplest Morse code would mean that so many redundant measures have failed, and it is simply impossible to imagine how an astronaut could survive in such a situation.

Elder She, I'm afraid we have to start searching for them with all our might right away, and those two astronauts should have reached a rather dangerous point now. ”

……

"Rest assured, we've only had a minor problem, and soon they'll be safe, I promise."

Inside the presidential palace, the widows of the four astronauts and their families looked at John with teary eyes, and the latter's scalp tingled at the sight.

Jeremy's mom was a black man weighing over 200 pounds, so thick that she could barely get through the door, and she was the most crying of all, literally turning the place into a pig killing scene.

“…… My dear little darling, he has been an obedient child since he was a child, I ......"

The black aunt with pear blossom and rain suddenly hugged John, and the thick breath made John subconsciously hold his breath, and at the same time tried his best to break free from the aunt.

In the end, it was the four spies who rushed up to make the aunt reluctantly let go and wipe her tears.

"Mrs. Jenny, don't worry, it's just that the loss of contact has not been confirmed now, NACA is doing its best, we will definitely bring your child back."

(End of chapter)