Cooper's doubts about his companion's delayed arrival persisted until the very last moment before boarding the rocket.
Jody hurried over and said to him:
"You should act alone for now. Your partner will teleport to your side via the Spacetime Tunnel after you enter the Endurance."
Upon hearing this, Cooper took a deep breath.
More than ten years ago, when he first went into space, he piloted the Ranger spacecraft alone, and an accident occurred that time. Now, is he going into space alone again?
To be honest, Cooper was a little nervous.
Jody noticed this and patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay, the technology is very mature this time, everything will go smoothly."
Cooper nodded and followed the instructions. When he came to his senses again, he was already inside the manned spaceship.
Now all he has to do is sit back and wait for his time to come.
The spaceship will automatically dock with the Endurance, and then he will go aboard to disable the ground control system. After that, the modification of the Endurance can officially begin.
Outside the rocket, many people's eyes were focused on the very top.
Although the Endurance was not under their control, no one was worried at all. Professor Brand even chatted and laughed with his daughter.
"..."
The countdown began.
Cooper sat in his seat, his hands clasped together, ready to withstand the onslaught from the south.
--
"Emission!"
The rocket shuddered as it lifted off. The manned spacecraft felt too empty, reminding Cooper of the time he'd made a mistake piloting the Ranger over a decade earlier...
But he didn't have time to think too much.
Commands from the ground came one after another. Although he didn't need to do anything, he still had to constantly monitor the spacecraft's data.
Across the ocean.
Since Professor Brand and Jody escaped, NASA base has been under martial law, and all work has come to a standstill.
Because most projects, once they pull up the list, discover that their project leader has already "betrayed" them.
Even without a top leader, things are already looking up. Some projects have even lost their top and deputy leaders. In this situation, each project is like a headless fly, completely clueless about what to do.
and
Even if they wanted to work, it wouldn't be that easy.
The people in charge of vetting them have arrived at the base. Now everyone is a suspect. Anyone who shows even a little bit of enthusiasm for their work might be suspected of being Brand's accomplice, trying to steal information from the inside.
Before the investigation ended, most people spent their days alone in a dark room.
The entire base operates at the bare minimum standards, meaning that only a few extremely important positions are staffed.
For example, monitoring by missile early warning satellites.
Missile early warning satellites can quickly detect danger and automatically issue warnings by utilizing the strong infrared response of missiles or rockets during launch.
Although there is no army now, these important departments have been retained.
Soon after the rocket carrying Cooper lifted off, it triggered an alarm on the missile early warning satellite. Electronic reports echoed in the control room, and various trajectory prediction data of the rocket appeared on the screen.
The two staff members in the duty room were taken aback at first, then quickly reported the matter.
In the past, this wouldn't have been necessary; they had better methods, such as fully automated operation. If the trajectory and impact point were determined to be within their own territory, it would automatically connect to the interceptor missile.
But things are different now.
It's a return to simplicity.
Although the base's emergency response system was under review, it was still operational, and people soon received their alerts.
"Is it a missile?" the boss asked on the phone.
The monitor glanced at the blurry satellite image on the screen, and at the size of the rocket detected. "No, this should be a launch vehicle, at least fifty meters long."
The boss on the other end breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
A missile that's fifty meters long is really an exaggeration. They don't have any troops deployed on Mars, so they don't need something that long to deal with them. Something shorter would be enough.
"Since it's a rocket, let's continue to figure out their launch purpose; we might need this data next."
As a responsible base leader, he has already set his sights on the future. The departure of Brand and many other experts is a major blow to Lazarus missions.
But this plan will eventually be restarted.
Putting aside other things
If they don't find a new home, where can they escape to?
Am I destined to die on Earth like everyone else?
They should take the " Population Bomb " and escape to New Star to establish new human colonies; that's the right thing to do.
This is precisely Professor Brand's Plan B, and it's the most suitable plan for them right now.
Therefore, gathering more space intelligence from the other side now might serve as a reference for them in the future...
The boss hung up the phone, pondering how to restart Plan B, but not long after, he received another internal call from the duty room.
The monitor on the other end said in a panicked tone:
"His... their spaceship... is now in low Earth orbit, at the same altitude and in the same direction as our Endurance!"
???
The boss holding the phone almost had several question marks popping into his head.
What's going on?
He instinctively sensed something was wrong.
Even if he were a complete novice in the field of aerospace, he would know that in space, each spacecraft occupies its own orbit. How could this be?
Aren't you afraid of a car accident?
unless!
A terrifying possibility crossed his mind. Ignoring the phone call, his superior abandoned him and rushed to the aerospace experts' quarters. He dragged out an expert who was still in solitary confinement awaiting investigation and explained everything that had just happened to him.
The aerospace expert's expression also changed drastically after hearing this.
"They're trying to force their way into the Endurance spaceship!"
We must stop them immediately!
From the moment Cooper's ship entered the same orbit as the Endurance, its intentions couldn't be clearer. Xxs-②
When news broke that the Endurance might be abducted, the long-silent base erupted in excitement.
The personnel in charge of the review had no choice but to concede and temporarily release staff from various departments in an attempt to prevent further coordination.
"We have remote control of the Endurance. As long as we program it to change its course, we can immediately thwart their plot!"
Experts directed operations on-site, while staff sat at their workstations, their faces etched with tension, cold sweat dripping down their backs.
Behind them stood a cold-faced inspector, wearing sunglasses and scanning everyone in the control room...