Chapter 1279 - Departure Day
Chapter 1279: Departure Day
Winter in the northern hemisphere this year came earlier than usual.
Before the winter solstice came, there were already chilly winds blowing in Jinling.
Sun Lieyang looked at his wife standing in front of him and the baby in her arms. His eyes flashed with reluctance. He took a deep breath of cold air and spoke.
“I’m going to leave.”
The woman stared into his eyes, and she seemed to have a lot to say, but in the end, she only spoke one sentence.
“Remember to miss me…”
“Don’t be so sad.”
Sun Lieyang gently pushed aside the bangs on her forehead that was messed up by the wind. He tried to engrave her face in his memory. He stared at his wife, smiled, and tried to sound brave.
“It’s not like I won’t be back. I think in at most ten years, going to the moon will be as simple as going back to my hometown on a high-speed train. Whether you come up to see me, or I come down to see you, it will be the same.”
Sun Lieyang looked at the baby in the woman’s arms. He stretched out his index finger to tease him and gave him a warm smile.
The baby was infected by the warm smile. He stopped crying, giggled, and stretched out his hand as he tried to grab his dad’s finger.
“Be good, kiddo, wait for me to come back.”
He gently held his child’s hand and said, “In the future, your father will be able to tell you a story that your classmates will be envious of.”
The woman bit her lip. Her eyes were filled with sadness.
“Jesus… Do you really have to go now?”
“I have to. Someone has to go.” Sun Lieyang looked at his wife and said with a smile, “My younger brother will get married next year, and I have a 25-year-old sister. If I don’t go, who will?”
Some jobs had to be done by someone.
There were only a few research institutes working on second-generation controllable fusion. Their research team was the backbone of the second-gen controllable fusion. Even though they had only completed some preliminary work, which was far from unlocking the energy treasure house on the moon, someone had to take the first step.
“I heard it’s cold there. Remember to wear a jacket.”
“Don’t worry, I will take care of myself.”
After kissing his wife and the child in her arms, Sun Lieyang put on his backpack, resisted the urge to look back, and walked toward the SUV parked outside the dorms.
The first group of Guanghan Special Economic Zone pioneers was only 50 people.
They would board a special spacecraft prepared for them at the No. 2 launch site, to the Magpie Bridge waiting in synchronous orbit.
Sun Lieyang was the last to get on the bus. Tao Muye looked at him.
“You have a kid?”
Sun Lieyang smiled and spoke.
“What? Surprised?”
“I am.”
“What about you, you don’t have a partner?”
“I’m going my own way.”
“That’s another word for involuntary celibate… But I’m curious, there should be no shortage of people in your research institute? Why send a young, unmarried man up there?”
It was reasonable to have such doubts.
Even though Archdruid no longer accepted doctoral students, there were still many people in his research institute. Agricultural research was not the same as controllable fusion. The latter was an emerging discipline, whereas the former had been developed for decades. There was no reason to send an only child, who was not married.
“I applied.”
Unlike Dr. Sun, he took a lot of effort to secure this spot.
“You applied yourself?” Sun Lieyang looked at him with a blank face and asked, “Why?”
“Didn’t Academician Lu say it?” Tao Muye smiled and glanced at the scenery outside the car window, where the autumn leaves were blowing in the wind. He said, “This expedition is a necessity.
“It’s for the future.
“Don’t you think this is a very romantic thing?”
…
The last car arrived at the second launch site.
The luggage and passengers were divided into two groups. Under the guidance of the on-site staff, they boarded the aerospaceplane, which was shaped like a giant bird.
In thirty minutes, they would head to the moon more than 300,000 kilometers away, where they would live a new life.
Even though the road ahead of them was full of uncertainty and confusion, none of them sitting in the life-support machines were scared.
Like the man said, this was a necessity.
Each of them sitting here now was embarking on a great and glorious mission.
They were not just going to the moon.
They were pushing the future of human civilization.
The engine ejected a blue arc. Driven by the high-speed plasma jet, the aerospaceplane spread out its wings slowly and headed toward the sky.
The relatives standing on the ground waved goodbye to those who were going far away until the dot gradually disappeared in the sky…
On the other hand, at the Star Sky Technology building less than 50 kilometers away from the No. 2 launch site, the general manager of the aerospace department sent a launch briefing from the command center to the CEO’s office and briefly reported the current launch situation.
“Chang’e has passed through the stratosphere smoothly and is switching to vertical flight mode to change its course. It is expected to arrive at the intended orbit in two hours.”
After receiving the report and glancing at it, Chen Yushan nodded.
“Just leave this report with me. You can leave.”
“Okay, CEO Chen.”
The man nodded, turned around, and left the office, closing the door behind him.
After carefully reading the report in her hand, Chen Yushan thought for a while. She then summarized the situation in a more concise report. After that, she sent it to Lu Zhou through the internal Star Sky Technology communication system.
Even though he was not in command, she knew how much Lu Zhou valued this launch.
She thought that he would be in a good mood after hearing the good news.
Her thoughts drifted to tens of thousands of kilometers away.
Chen Yushan stretched her arms. She had finished her work. She stood up from the office chair and walked to the window with her coffee cup.
As she looked at the sunset glow outside the window, she suddenly felt a little melancholic in her heart.
Even though it had only been a few days since she last saw him, it felt like a long time.
“If only he can come back sooner…”
Chen Yushan suddenly saw her face reflected in the windows.
She felt like her emotions were not consistent with her strong physical appearance.
“Looks like I have to be stronger…”