Chapter 467 A Glimpse into Space

"Control center, I have something here—three kilometers away, with a relative speed of two hundred meters per second. It's about half a meter in size and made of metal."

Tan Wei's voice came through the quantum communication, his speech a beat faster than usual. He paused for a moment.

"It's moving. It's coming towards us."

In the control center, the telemetry operator's fingers hovered above the keyboard, not pressing any keys. He Yuzhu walked behind him, staring at the screen. On the star map, a red dot had just emerged from the edge, trailing a thin line.

"What material is it made of?" He Yuzhu asked.

The controller retrieved the data. "Metal. Judging from the orbital parameters, it's likely debris from that abandoned Soviet satellite that disintegrated in 1973. That thing has been drifting ever since it broke apart."

He paused. "It's not slowing down."

Lin Jianguo ran up from the back row, holding a sheet of calculation paper with curled edges. "The trajectory is calculated. The relative speed is 210 meters per second, and the closest distance—"

He glanced at the numbers and hesitated for a moment.

"Eight hundred meters."

He Yuzhu remained silent. Eight hundred meters, at an altitude of four hundred kilometers, wasn't close, nor was it far. But the red dot was approaching. Someone in the control center stood up. Qin Huairu, who had been sitting in the audience, also stood up.

Tan Wei is waiting.

"Kunlun, attitude control engines ready," He Yuzhu said, then added, "But fasten your seatbelts."

"Kunlun received." Tan Wei's voice returned to the steady channel.

On the large screen, the distance between the blue and red dots is decreasing. Two thousand meters, one thousand five hundred, one thousand two hundred.

The telemetry controller's voice grew increasingly urgent as he read out the numbers. "One thousand meters. Nine hundred meters. Eight hundred and fifty meters."

"Eight hundred and twenty meters."

"Seven hundred and ninety meters."

The red dot slid past the blue dot. The controller didn't report the distance, but the number on the screen jumped—closest point, 790 meters.

Tan Wei's voice came through. "It's approved."

In the control center, someone put down their pen. The sound of the pen hitting the table echoed loudly in the hall.

He Yuzhu released his hand from the control panel.

In the audience, Qin Huairu sat back down. Her legs felt weak as she sat down, and the chair wobbled. He Yushui was holding Chen Xinghai; the child didn't know what had just happened, but He Yushui's arms were too tight, and the child grunted.

Chen Zhihong put the small red flag down and rested the flagpole on his knees.

Yang Xiaobing stood in the last row, arms crossed, the scars on his face glowing a dark red under the lights. He stared at the receding red dot on the big screen, saying nothing.

The large screen switched images. The images transmitted from the porthole of the Kunlun filled the entire wall.

The darkness faded. Blue.

That blue wasn't the blue from a paint bucket; it was alive. The clouds were swirling, the ocean was reflecting light, and the atmosphere was as thin as an eggshell, edged with an orange-red line.

No one applauded. No one spoke.

Tan Wei's voice came through the loudspeaker, this time calm and unhurried. "Control Center, Earth is beautiful."

He aimed the camera at the porthole and slowly panned across the landscape. At the edge of the African continent, there was no transition between the golden desert and the deep blue ocean. In the Andes Mountains of South America, the white peaks gleamed like knife edges. A typhoon raged over the Pacific Ocean, its swirling clouds rolling inwards like a slowly closing eye.

He Yuzhu stood motionless in front of the command platform. Qin Huairu walked out of the audience seats and into the control center. The guard tried to stop him, but Old Sun glanced at him and waved his hand. Qin Huairu walked through rows of control panels and stood beside He Yuzhu.

She reached out and took his hand. His hand was cold. Her hand was cold too.

The two did not look at each other, both staring at the blue planet on the big screen.

He Nianhua pressed his face against the glass door, his nose flattened. He saw He Yuzhu and Qin Huairu standing side by side, their hands clasped together, hanging between their bodies. He watched for a moment, then took a step back and lowered his head.

He Yushui carried Chen Xinghai over and patted him on the shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

He didn't answer. After several seconds, he said, "Auntie, I want to go too when I grow up."

He Yushui didn't speak. Chen Xinghai made a sound in her arms, as if in response.

On the large screen, a bright light appeared at the edge of the Earth. The sun was rising from behind the atmosphere, its orange-red light spreading out at the edge of the atmosphere like a thin layer of flame.

Tan Wei's voice came again. "Control center, about to enter Chinese airspace. Visible in ten seconds."

He Yuzhu picked up the microphone, but didn't speak; he just held it up.

The image on the screen began to change. The dark outline of the continent gradually lit up, and he recognized the shape of the coastline—the Liaodong Peninsula, the Shandong Peninsula, and the mouth of the Yangtze River.

"I see it." Tan Wei's voice was a little lower than usual. "The Yellow River estuary, the yellow of the silt is visible from space. The Yangtze River Delta, the city lights."

Qin Huairu's hand tightened slightly.

The scene continues to move. The snow-capped peaks of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau gleam white in the morning light, like rows of sharp teeth. The desert of the Tarim Basin remains shrouded in shadow, a pitch-black expanse.

"Control Center, the Kunlun is about to cross the border and enter the Central Asian section."

He Yuzhu put down the microphone.

Qin Huairu released his hand and took a step back. She didn't look at him; she looked at the Earth on the big screen.

"I'm going back."

The voice wasn't loud, but He Yuzhu heard it. He turned around and looked at her.

"Huai Ru".

She stopped and turned her back to him.

"I'll be home for dinner tonight."

Qin Huairu's shoulder twitched. Several seconds passed before she spoke, her voice muffled.

"Aren't you at the launch site? Do you think you can make the decisions?"

"The launch site isn't a prison. I'll go back tonight."

Qin Huairu didn't turn around. She left. When she reached the door, she paused and said something. Her voice was too soft for anyone to hear. He Nianhua, standing by the door, didn't hear her either.

Lin Jianguo stood up from his seat and walked to He Yuzhu's side. He opened his mouth slightly, but didn't say anything. He opened it again. His fingers were gripping the notebook tightly, the edges of the pages curled up.

"Dean He."

"Um."

Lin Jianguo turned the page over. On the back were a few lines of text, which he had revised until 2 a.m. the night before. He looked at those lines and hesitated for a moment.

"Warp drive...can be tested now."

He Yuzhu didn't answer immediately. He looked at the large screen. On the screen, the Kunlun was flying over the Indian Ocean.

"the day after tomorrow."

Lin Jianguo closed his notebook. "I told them to get ready."