The homeless man

Where had he gone?

He had gone to explore the moon, ascend to the heavens, and roam the cosmos.

Of course, he could not say that. But Counselor Wang's anger genuinely frightened Gao Jian, so he could only apologize repeatedly and offer an explanation he had prepared well in advance.

"Counselor Wang, please don't be angry. You know Elon Musk, right? We hit it off right away. We were sitting together in the viewing stands, and after the rocket launch, he invited me to tour SpaceX headquarters..."

Counselor Wang fell silent for a moment. "And then?"

Gao Jian chose his words carefully, making sure there were no holes in his explanation.

"I wasn't going to go at first, but then it occurred to me that SpaceX's rockets might be useful to us. They might have something worth learning from, so I accepted."

Counselor Wang gave a snort on the other end of the line, betraying no discernible emotion.

Gao Jian elaborated further. The gist was that, as an aerospace engineer, he was very interested in SpaceX's reusable Starship. No Chinese aerospace engineer had ever toured SpaceX before, either, so he had seized the opportunity and spent a full day and night looking around.

It was a convincing story, defensible on both professional and personal grounds.

At the end of the day, you're just a minor diplomat, Counselor Wang. What are you going to do, check with Elon Musk?

Counselor Wang's cold voice came over the phone. "And then?"

Gao Jian continued fleshing out his story. "As you know, all of that involves SpaceX's trade secrets, so they confiscated my phone. After spending the whole day touring the place, I was going to come back, but Elon Musk invited me to a dinner celebrating the successful launch of the SLS rocket."

At this point, Gao Jian paused, then said with heartfelt sincerity:

"...I sincerely admit my mistake to the organization. I failed to resist capitalism's sugar-coated bullets and ended up attending the dinner without thinking."

A cold laugh came from the other end of the line.

What's so funny?

Gao Jian could not quite gauge Counselor Wang's attitude. All he could do was keep talking.

"I wanted to come back the next day, but guess what? SpaceX headquarters actually had this incredibly advanced deep-space radiation early-warning system. I couldn't resist taking another look, and we happened to detect an anomaly in deep-space radiation. You know what happened after that-the geomagnetic storm hit."

The other end went completely silent.

Gao Jian asked quietly, "Counselor Wang?"

"I'm listening!"

What the hell? Why are you still angry?

Gao Jian could not make sense of it, but continued explaining:

"All the electronic equipment burned out. The whole Starlink network was wrecked. You have no idea how grim Elon Musk looked. I got my phone back and wanted to call you, but there was no signal. After the geomagnetic storm ended, there was that intercontinental missile incident. I only just found the time to call you..."

As Gao Jian spoke, his eyes reddened. Every word rang with sincerity; he wished he could pull out his heart for Counselor Wang to inspect.

"Are you finished?"

Counselor Wang's icy voice came over the phone.

"Yes," Gao Jian replied, feeling a little guilty.

"Elon Musk is standing right beside me," Counselor Wang said flatly.

Gao Jian went rigid.

Holy shit. How is that possible?

Counselor Wang sneered. "He heard everything you just said. He's very curious about when you toured SpaceX headquarters. You certainly made it sound convincing."

Gao Jian still found it hard to believe at first, but then that rich man's distinctive, resonant laugh came over the phone, with a hint of friendliness in it.

"Haha, Observer Gao. Long time no see. How have you been?"

I'm screwed.

You bastard, you're the richest man in the world! Why aren't you dealing with the geomagnetic storm's effects on Starlink instead of visiting the consulate in Houston? If you want to defect to the Communists, at least pick a better day!

Did it have to be now?

Gao Jian took a deep breath and closed his eyes, ready to submit to whatever came.

Counselor Wang gripped the phone, seething with anger. But with an outsider present, an outburst would be inappropriate, so he merely asked in a low voice, "Where exactly are you now?"

Gao Jian looked around and answered helplessly, "I'm near a phone booth on a street in St. Leon. It's still fifty or sixty kilometers from downtown Houston."

St. Leon was also in Texas, on the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, facing Galveston Bay. Its proximity to the space center made it a residential hub for aerospace workers, so Gao Jian getting separated from the others amid the chaos of the failed launch and ending up in this small town was entirely plausible.

Counselor Wang strongly suspected that Gao Jian had come all this way specifically to make the call and shore up his lie. But this was not the time to pursue that. First, they needed to find him.

After all, Gao Jian was still flagged "yellow" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). With relations between the two countries particularly sensitive at the moment, they had to get him back to the consulate general first.

If the FBI intercepted him on the way, they would be in real trouble.

"All right. Don't wander off. Find somewhere out of sight and stay away from the police or any other law enforcement officers. I'll send Old Chen to pick you up. It might take a while. Traffic lights across the entire planet have lost their network coordination, and there are traffic jams everywhere. As for CNSA, you'll have to figure out how to explain yourself when you get home."

With a bitter smile, Gao Jian repeatedly agreed.

Other voices came over the phone. Counselor Wang seemed to have picked up another phone to inform CNSA that Gao Jian was safe. Gao Jian could not hear clearly, but he could certainly tell that plenty of people were concerned about him.

Apparently, Counselor Wang had shouldered quite a lot of pressure on his behalf. With Gao Jian missing, he was the one held primarily responsible.

This trip to the moon really had been poorly thought out.

As for Elon Musk...

Gao Jian frowned slightly.

He could more or less guess the reason. During the SLS rocket launch, he had left in a hurry, leaving behind an External Incarnation to fool Elon Musk while he slipped away. After seeing him turn into a paper figure and spontaneously combust, Elon Musk would surely have taken it as some sort of supernatural phenomenon.

He had been too hasty, violating his usual principle of keeping himself hidden.

I'll have to find a way to fool Elon Musk with an explanation involving sleight of hand or stage magic.

If I really can't hide it, he can't blame me for feeding him a Dust-Settling Pill.

After hanging up, Gao Jian crouched beneath the phone booth and spent quite some time considering his options. Only when he came back to his senses did he notice a skeletal homeless man beside him who had been staring at him all along.

Gao Jian turned to meet his gaze.

A moment later.

"So, brother, where do you make your living?" Gao Jian asked first.

He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his Storage Bag and offered it to him.

The homeless man did not quite understand what he meant by "make your living," but pointed at the phone booth anyway. Only then did Gao Jian realize that the dilapidated booth was his home.

The homeless man shook his head at the cigarettes Gao Jian offered.

He refused them.

Homeless people traded among themselves, too, and cigarettes were undoubtedly hard currency. Exchanging them for something to eat would be no problem. If he would not even take those...

Gao Jian narrowed his eyes at him.

Even at a cursory glance, he could tell that the homeless man was in terrible physical condition. Calling him at death's door would be no exaggeration. There were no signs of drug abuse or alcoholism on him, though-just prolonged malnutrition.