pjbooks Chapter 288 Ignition
Chapter 288 Ignition
The countdown has entered its final ten minutes.
More than 500 million people worldwide are online simultaneously. All 37 screens at the Hangzhou Deep Space Tracking and Control Center are lit up. The central screen is focused on the tail section of the Pioneer spacecraft, and the preheating indicator lights for all four plasma engines have turned blue.
Ignition ready.
Countdown: 9 minutes and 59 seconds.
Zuo Cheng sat in front of the control console. His left hand held the launch program table, and his right a walkie-talkie. In his breast pocket was a notepad Yu Ying had given him, folded into thirds.
Seven minutes to go.
Shen Yiming's voice echoed back from orbit 400 kilometers above the ground, as calm as if he were reporting data in an office: "Commander-in-Chief, the entire system has completed its self-check, and all indicators are green."
"Ground confirmed."
Ji Beihang's breathing came through the walkie-talkie. Steady, slow, fifty-five breaths per minute.
Five minutes left in the countdown.
The control room was so quiet that only the sound of the electronic timer could be heard.
Han Lu crouched down next to Zuo Cheng. Her voice was so low that it couldn't be heard by the three rows of control consoles around them.
"She's started having contractions."
Zuo Cheng's finger paused on the program table for a fraction of a second.
Yu Ying's voice came directly from the consciousness channel of the Weaving Net. She was a little out of breath, but she tried her best to keep each word steady.
"Brother, keep an eye on those four engines for me. I'll keep an eye on you for you."
Zuo Cheng replied with a single word in the consciousness channel: "Okay."
He brought the walkie-talkie an inch closer to his mouth. He put his finger back on the program schedule. The timer continued to tick down.
Sixty seconds left in the countdown.
All channels went silent. The real-time data for the six crew members lit up sequentially on the main screen. Shen Yiming's heart rate was 62. Ji Beihang's was 55. Tan Yue's was 61. Wen Ya's was 58. Huo Zheng's was 59. Lu Yunfei's was 60.
All images at the monitoring and control center were simultaneously paused.
Thirty seconds left in the countdown.
On the secondary screen, Han Lu switched to a different view. In the recovery room, three obstetric monitors were simultaneously displaying their readings. The fetal heart rate was 145. Contractions were occurring every four minutes.
The obstetrician turned around and said two words: "Soon."
Ten seconds left in the countdown.
Zuo Cheng held the walkie-talkie to his mouth. Four hundred kilometers above the ground, the spaceship awaited a voice. Yu Ying said life imprisonment. Ten years ago, they worked on a project together in the library. The Sahara night, the light beneath the European ice. The web had waited for four billion years. A note in his pocket. Take her to see the door you pushed open.
Shen Yiming took a breath in the channel.
Zuo Cheng placed the outline of that character on the tip of his tongue.
"Walk."
All four plasma engines ignited simultaneously. On the main screen, the Pioneer's tail section suddenly spewed out four blue plasma plumes, tracing an arc in near-Earth orbit. It accelerated and stabilized at 0.3 times Earth's gravity. On the monitoring screen, all six crew members' seat sensors were green.
Ji Beihang's voice came back first: "Thrust normal. Acceleration curve at 99.7%."
"Commander-in-Chief reporting." Shen Yiming's voice was slightly muffled by the acceleration, but each word was still as clear as meeting minutes: "Pioneer has entered its preset trajectory and is departing its initial orbit."
Someone in the corner stood up and applauded. The second one. Chen Hao slammed the backup program sheet on the table and shouted, "Let's go!" The entire control center erupted in applause and shouts. Some people were crying, and some were taking off their glasses to wipe them.
Zuo Cheng did not stand up.
He stared at the continuously moving dot of light on the main screen. The plasma engine would continue accelerating for ten minutes, then shut down for the first time, entering Earth's escape trajectory. He needed to wait until that shutdown.
Seven minutes later, Han Lu squatted down again. The contractions were three minutes apart. Yu Ying asked her to relay a message: When should the engine be turned off?
Zuo Cheng said it would be soon.
Three minutes later, Shen Yiming's voice came again.
"Commander reports: escape trajectory accurate. First engine shutdown. Pioneer is leaving home."
Zuo Cheng pressed the intercom: "Ground received."
He stood up. He placed the program sheet on the table. He handed the walkie-talkie to Chen Hao. Then he started running.
He ran across half a corridor from the control center to the temporary delivery room. He was faster than ever before. People on both sides of the corridor stepped back against the walls to make way for him.
Pushing open the door to the makeshift delivery room, I saw Yu Ying lying on the delivery bed. The obstetrician said her cervix was dilated to eight centimeters. Han Lu stood beside her, her hands white from being pinched by Yu Ying.
Zuo Cheng grasped Yu Ying's other hand. Her forehead was covered in sweat, and her hair clung to her face. She opened her eyes between contractions.
"Is the engine off?"
"It's off. The spaceship is heading out of the moon."
Which six people?
"Shen Yiming's heart rate is 62. Ji Beihang's is 55. All are normal."
"Okay."
She closed her eyes, focusing on the next contraction.
The morning light outside the window changed from pale white to pale gold. Inside the delivery room, only Yu Ying's breathing, the ticking of the contraction monitor, and the calm instructions of the obstetrician remained.
She pinched Zuo Cheng's hand, leaving four marks.
Then, a cry.
The obstetrician wiped the wet little thing clean and placed it on Yu Ying's chest. The baby stopped crying, squinted, and clenched its fists tightly.
Zuo Cheng stood to the side, holding the control center's walkie-talkie in his right hand. Suddenly, Shen Yiming's voice came through the walkie-talkie.
"Commander-in-Chief reports. Pioneer has departed the Earth-Moon system. All crew members are in good condition. Commander-in-Chief requests that congratulatory messages be sent to the new crew."
Zuo Cheng held the walkie-talkie to the baby's ear.
Shen Yiming's voice came from 400,000 kilometers away. Steady and clear.
"The entire crew of the Pioneer salutes the Forward. Welcome to this universe, little one."
The baby opened its eyes. The pupils were light gray, like two nodes in a web that hadn't yet been put into use.
Yu Ying looked down at her and placed her fingers in her palm. The baby reflexively grasped it. The strength was so great that Yu Ying gasped.
Han Lu was at the door. She sent the message to the control center's large screen. Thirty-seven data screens simultaneously switched to one image. On the left was the blue tail flame of the Deep Space Pioneer gradually receding into the distance, and on the right was a baby sleeping peacefully in the delivery room.
I don't know who was the first to type the following sentence.
This morning, a human spaceship departed Earth. This morning, a human baby opened its eyes for the first time. The journey there and the journey back occurred simultaneously on this planet. This is civilization.
It was forwarded millions of times in seconds.
It was late at night. The delivery room was quiet. Yu Ying was asleep, her breathing steady. The baby lay in the crib, eyes closed, fists still clenched. Outside the window, the Pioneer had already flown to a distance beyond the naked eye's sight.
Zuo Cheng sat by the window. A small dot on the system panel kept moving. It was the Pioneer's trajectory marked by the Webnet, a blue line extending from Earth, crossing the lunar orbit, and entering interplanetary space. The Webnet had automatically assigned it a temporary number.
177-1-Mobile-01.
If the Pioneer successfully reaches Triton and activates the seventh node, the temporary number will be upgraded to a permanent number.
Zuo Cheng added a note next to the track. Eight characters.
This was the first time humans left their homes.
On the small bed, the daughter loosened her fist in her sleep, her five fingers slowly opening. Then she clenched it again.
I grasped a handful of air.
Zuo Cheng looked at the small fist. It was only half the size of his thumb. But he felt that the force with which she gripped it was enough to crush a star.