From Xiaguang to Queqiao, the group that went to the Moon Palace stayed for 24 hours.

With the completion of the replenishment loading, they will take the Queqiao, which has a stronger acceleration ability and is more suitable for carrying a large number of passengers and supplies, to Mars, and land on the surface of Mars through the Xufu spacecraft, which is floating in Martian orbit as a temporary space station.

At this moment, fifteen days have passed since the departure from the Moon Palace.

Since Mars and Earth are moving relatively far apart, they will spend two to three days longer on Mars than the first colonists.

However, even so, their current position is quite close to Mars.

If you happen to have the right angle, you can even find the bright red speck hidden in the vast sea of stars on the porthole......

"For A, I'm on my last card."

threw out two poker cards on the table, shook the last card in his hand, and leaned back on the chair for a long time. Sitting across from him were Joel Aubrey, a professor of astrophysics at Stanford University in the United States, and Kubo Lomonov, an aerospace engineer from Moscow University.

At this moment, the two people who were staring at the cards in their hands with sad faces were covered with fluttering sticky notes.

As for Wang Peng, who served as Lu Zhou's bodyguard, as well as Schultz and Professor Vernal, they stood behind the three of them, watching the game with great interest.

Eventually, Professor Aubrey and Professor Lomonov looked at each other and gave up desperately giving up the struggle.

"I can't afford ......"

Lu Zhou smiled faintly, and unsurprisingly threw out the last card in his hand.

"Looks like I won."

A half-month voyage is quite boring.

There are only three types of chess that can pass the time: poker, chess and chess. At first, the nine people (including the two main and co-pilots) passed the time by playing chess, until Lu Zhou was idle and bored to build a model of two sets of chess boards using algebraic geometry methods, and solved a "solution" with an almost 100% first-hand win rate, and no one wanted to play this game.

In contrast, poker with a greater element of luck is more likely to win over Lu Zhou.

However, this is only theoretical.

In reality, except for Schultz, who can occasionally win a few land boats, the archaeologist Vernal, who is standing behind Lu Zhou at this time to observe and study, is even more pitiful that he has not won once.

"Damn...... It was a bad decision to fight the landlord with you. ”

With a note almost covered in his face, Joel Aubrey cursed and threw the cards on the table, and reluctantly ripped off a sticky note and carefully glued it to his forehead.

In fact, as a punishment game, the most troublesome thing about sticker notes is not that sticking notes will block the view or anything, but in a gravity-free environment, if the note accidentally falls and flies away, then you have to run after the note all over the cabin.

Joel Aubrey had done this kind of thing once, and he didn't want to do it a second time.

Patting Aubrey on the shoulder, Vernal said comfortingly. "Give up, my friend, you can't think much of playing this numbers game with a mathematician."

Aubrey said unwillingly.

"I know...... I just want to win. ”

Professor Vernal said with a smile and teasing.

"I've seen too many people like you in Las Vegas, and you'd better stay away from the casinos in your life."

"It doesn't exist, I go once a year...... Occasionally, you can win some money. ”

Listening to the conversation between the two, Lu Zhou shook his head, put away the poker on the table, and threw down a sentence.

"There's no place on your face to stick a note to, unless you want to stuff it in your nostrils, so that's it for today."

Hearing this, Lomonov, who was not good at talking, breathed a sigh of relief, pulled out his chair and stood up, but Aubrey said with a dissatisfied face.

"Hey, how long do I need to stay like this?"

"Ten hours."

As soon as he heard that ten hours, Aubrey suddenly frowned.

"Can't you be graceful?"

Lu Zhou smiled slightly and said, "Of course you can, but the premise is that you are willing to take the initiative to give up the opportunity to go to the underground ruins and stay in the base on the day you set off on the expedition." ”

"I'm sorry, brother, I won't agree to this," Aubrey said in anticipation, pushing his chair away and standing up, "those notes are not to be feared, let the punishment be more violent!" ”

Looking at Professor Aubrey, who was standing there alone and stupid, Lu Zhou shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm just kidding."

"But remember, you are willing to gamble and lose, and don't think about cheating."

Although for a moment, Lu Zhou, who said those words, was sure that he was not joking, but really had similar thoughts.

But think about it, how could you possibly agree to such a thing.

It seems that the only way to do this is to wait underground and find a way to get rid of the people who get in the way and act alone.

Gently stroking the wrist-mounted computer on his right arm, Lu Zhou thought in his heart.

……

The eighteenth day of departure from the Moon Palace.

The fiery red planet was finally revealed in front of everyone in full form.

"We're here!"

"Oooo

Excited cheers resounded throughout the cabin, standing by the porthole looking at the fiery red dome, even though he had overlooked the planet through satellites and telescopes countless times, at the moment when he was really in orbit and captured by the gravitational pull of Mars, his heart was not only ignited with excitement and longing.

It's like Columbus, who discovered the New World from a mast.

“…… Call the ground command center, this is the 'migratory bird', we have been successfully captured by the Martian gravitational system, and we are switching to the Mars synchronous orbit. ”

“…… The track switch is complete, and the track height is being lowered. ”

"This is the 'migratory bird', call headquarters, we have reached the edge of the Martian atmosphere! It is 1.27Km away from Xufu in a straight line, and it is approaching! ”

At the same time, the alloy door of the cockpit opened, and the co-pilot, wearing the spacesuit in the cabin, walked in front of Lu Zhou and his party, gave them a military salute, and then spoke.

"We've arrived at the station, you follow me to board the Xu Fu first, and I'll tell you how to do it."

"Wait a minute, why did you go to the Xu Fu first? Isn't that possible here? Vernal raised his hand and asked nervously, "Also, how do we go down?" ”

Hearing this somewhat idiotic question, Lu Zhou smiled and said.

"Do you need to ask? Of course it's the same as bungee jumping, so why not here, because there's no rope to tie here. ”

Hearing this, Vernal's face turned green, Schultz and Aubrey's faces were also a little pale, and only Lomonov, who is an aerospace engineer himself, pouted at this and did not believe Lu Zhou's joke.

Jumping like a bungee jump?

Think about it with your brain, is this possible?

After 12 minutes of careful orbiting, the Queqiao, codenamed "Migratory Bird", finally set up a silver-white corridor between the Xufu spacecraft in the Martian orbit and completed the docking work.

Although the thought of backing down at the last minute came to him, Vernal finally gritted his teeth with determination and bravely followed the group through the silver-white corridor.

Standing in the spacious belly compartment, the driver stopped and looked back at the group that was about to go to the ground.

"Alright friends, we're here...... At this moment beneath your feet is our outpost in the New World, where the dream of ruins begins, and you will land in a landing module along with supplies and new functions, and there will be someone there to pick you up. ”

"You should have learned how to use the landing capsule during your training, and I'll send you here."

"So now, connect the interface on your spacesuit in the cabin to the life protection system of the landing module, and then check whether every button and seat belt is secure, and think about if there is anything I haven't had time to say that I need to help bring back to Earth."

"If everything is ok, then raise your hand and let me know."

Looking at the raised hands, the co-pilot nodded in satisfaction.

"Good."

"Now that you're ready, let's go!"

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(Pay attention to the "Morning Star LL" public account, you can see the small story behind Xueba (??????)?? ）