Sail the Endurance away...
That's not impossible, but the Endurance is ultimately the other side's property. Wouldn't it be a bit unethical to not inform them beforehand?
Everyone was thinking roughly the same thing at that moment.
Seeing the hesitation among the crowd, Jody quickly stepped forward and said, "Actually, NASA has lost the ability to utilize the Endurance. If we don't take it with us, it will just keep orbiting the Earth in low Earth orbit until one day it is pulled back to Earth by gravity."
Jody spread his hands and explained the situation at NASA to everyone.
To put it simply, NASA existed primarily for Lazarus missions. After the elites in charge of Lazarus missions "betrayed" the country, NASA naturally lost the ability to continue executing Lazarus missions.
Their base still has one last rocket, and on that rocket are the last components of the space station.
A Ranger spaceship.
But this is all NASA has left.
The most important astronauts on the rocket are all with the Mutual Aid Society now.
The experts at the base also mostly came with Professor Brand.
"To be honest, I think the best they can do right now is to continue receiving information from the other side of the wormhole."
Jody shook her head, a look of regret on her face.
As a former NASA administrator and an aerospace expert, no one knows NASA's current situation better than him, and no one understands better what NASA will become without them.
Well...
No one expected that NASA in this era would be in such dire straits that it would be on the verge of collapse after losing a number of employees.
"In that case, it is indeed a waste."
"Should we give them some money, as if we're buying it?"
"Where can we find money now? I've heard there's no international trade anymore."
Zhang Tianyuan coughed twice:
"That's settled for now. We'll take the Endurance as a temporary base; consider it a lease. We'll return it later."
As for the rent...
Zhang Tianyuan glanced at the people around him; everyone looked reluctant. It wasn't that they didn't want to pay the rent, but rather that they didn't want to hand it over to the criminals across the street.
The Endurance was not directly mentioned.
Taking it is considered a sign of high Tao Te standards on their part.
Do we still need to charge rent to those criminals?
Even Amelia frowned and raised her hand in protest.
Zhang Tianyuan pressed her hand back and said directly, "We'll do our best to save as many starving people as possible; consider it rent payment for them."
???
After realizing what had happened, Amelia couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh.
Saving more starving people just adds more trouble for those criminals, doesn't it?
However, this "rent" is indeed good.
Even Professor Brand came over with a smile and gave Zhang Tianyuan a hug, thanking him for the rent.
Moreover, Zhang Tianyuan wasn't just talking the talk.
After leaving the scene, he arranged the relevant actions.
"The other side will probably target the starving people soon. We've seized six million tons of their grain; they won't just sit idly by and wait to die."
"The best approach is to target the starving people in the desert who have virtually no ability to resist."
Zhang Tianyuan stroked his chin, holding a newly submitted project proposal in his hand, which described this possibility.
It's not just the criminals on the other side who are clever; there are also clever people in the Mutual Aid Society. If you put yourself in their shoes, you can basically guess their choices.
You should definitely pick the softest persimmons.
After all, given the current era and circumstances, they don't have many options left.
This is exactly what Zhang Tianyuan is guarding against.
Currently, all large and medium-sized famine relief sites are being monitored in real time by satellites and drones, and many of the Mutual Aid Society ' rescue teams are also operating throughout North America.
If an unusual convoy is spotted in any desert, simply dispatch a nearby rescue team to intercept it.
The desert is such a small area, it's not surprising that two convoys collide, right?
If the other side becomes enraged after the collision and wants to engage in a firefight, then the rescue team will have no choice but to retaliate in self-defense.
Of course, the more likely scenario is that the opposing convoy will be instantly annihilated by the armed heavy truck convoy from the Wandering Spacetime...
While arranging this matter, Cooper, in another time and space, received a message from Professor Brand through a time-space connection.
"Are we going to start preparing for the operation now?" Cooper was very excited; he thought he was...
I was supposed to train here for a year or two; I never imagined the opportunity would come so quickly.
He's only been training for a month!
However, Professor Brand immediately poured cold water on his enthusiasm. " Cooper, the operation won't start so soon. We just need to do some preliminary work now."
"Oh, what kind of job is that?"
"We're going to take the Endurance away and send it near the wormhole via Spacetime Tunnel; that's what we told you about before, Plan C."
Professor Brand briefly recounted the situation.
"We need your engineering and modification capabilities. You know, although we can operate the Endurance, NASA on the Endurance also has remote control capabilities, so we must make appropriate modifications to prevent it from being affected by NASA in the future."
Cooper immediately understood. "So when do we leave?"
"The rocket is ready soon; all that's needed is to modify the docking module's interface standards, and the mission can begin."
Professor Brand allowed Cooper to apply to return.
Of the three astronauts currently undergoing Wandering Spacetime training, he is the only engineer, so only Cooper is capable of undertaking this mission.
"In addition, we've prepared a partner for you; he'll work with you to modify the Endurance."
"Who is it?" Cooper asked.
"I don't know, but I've heard that even though he's also a space station engineer, his skills might be more advanced than yours?"
Cooper exclaimed, "That really solved a huge problem for me!"
Although he was an engineer by training, and his skills are widely recognized as top-notch, he didn't work on space stations when he was an engineer.
So Cooper was actually a little unsure and worried that he might not be able to handle the task.
Now that he has a professional space station engineer to help, he can assist him from the sidelines.
After finishing his call with Professor Brand, Cooper quickly submitted his application and also informed his two fellow trainees of his mission.
Amidst the envy of his companions, Cooper walked through the communication Spacetime Tunnel and returned to the space station.
After spending two days at the base, the rocket and docking module to send him aboard the Endurance were ready.
The only thing that puzzled Cooper was that his engineer colleague hadn't shown up yet...