Great Power Technology

Ye Zhou walked towards the main control compartment of the propulsion engine. The pre-start status of all engines was displayed on the screen. After checking them one by one, he pressed the unlock button of the working medium compartment.

The command has been transmitted to the central command system. After the captain confirms it, the working fluid tank will inject the stored working fluid water into the exhaust header, and then spray out after being heated by superheated plasma, providing a large amount of thrust.

Everything was ready. The big screen on the left displayed the real-time picture of the cockpit of the spacecraft, and continuous instructions came from Ye Zhou's ears.

"Carme has been visually inspected, the orbit calculation has been completed, the optimal entry path has been calculated, and the flight companion orbit has begun."

"Washington and Dante are ready, and Dangyang, Changping, and Humen are entering the accompanying orbit."

"After receiving the Humen coordination order, the entry path has changed and is being adjusted in real time."

"After the adjustment is completed, start to slow down and lower the orbit. The orbit will drop by 4 kilometers."

"The descent is complete. Pay attention to the position of Terxinoe on the outer edge of the Carme constellation. It is now only 6 kilometers away from us and there is a risk of collision."

"Understood, the avoidance orbit calculation has been carried out."

Ye Zhou switched to the exterior view of the spacecraft. At this time, the Weiqing had merged into the retrograde orbit of the Carme star cluster, but was still wandering around the periphery of the star cluster. Only when the final push operation was carried out, would it further rise in altitude and move Adjust yourself to the same plane as Carme, which is Callisto.

On the left side of the direction of the spacecraft's forward direction, the three Chinese spacecraft Dangyang, Changping, and Humen are also adjusting their accompanying orbits, while the Washington and Dante belonging to the U.S. and Europe have completed all operations. In the rear, it is responsible for orbital warning tasks.

According to the plan, they will not participate in this push operation, but will serve as a backup to supplement the four Chinese spacecraft when something unexpected happens.

This requires them to remain on alert at all times. Objectively speaking, compared to China's four spacecraft, the risks they face in the early stages of the push are much higher, because they need to carry out uninterrupted short-range maneuvers to avoid All satellites of the Carme constellation.

But equally, they do not need to approach Io directly, there is no risk of falling into Io, nor do they need to enter Jupiter's low-Earth orbit, and the probability of successful evacuation is much higher.

In fact, in the early stages of formulating the plan, representatives of the three parties had many discussions on the division of labor, and the final plan fully took into account the opinions of all countries, including astronauts. But even so, the people on the other side still had concerns about this plan. Plans expressed strong dissatisfaction.

They don't care what the Chinese people have to face. They only know that their heroic astronauts' lives will be in danger.

But fortunately, most of those who can go into space are the best and most loyal people in mankind. After throwing away the shackles between countries, even Westerners can become trustworthy partners. .

"The calculation of Terxinoe's orbital motion laws has been completed, Wei Qing, and the data has been transferred to the central processor. This is the Washington, we are behind you."

Ye Zhou turned around subconsciously, and the screen display immediately moved to the wall behind him. There, Ye Zhou saw a small bright spot. In the light blue flash, Washington, a full two thousand kilometers away from the Wei Qing, was The latest detection signal was sent to them.

"Weiqing received it and began to fly with it according to the predetermined orbit."

"The Zhenghe has completed its slingshot flight and arrived at the scheduled assembly point in 4 hours."

"Understood, the position of the Zheng He has been obtained and the data has been transmitted."

"According to the current rotation of Io, Zheng He needs to correct its course by two degrees. Please use the Tewasta volcano group as the course coordinate adjustment."

"Received, heading coordinates, North Pole of Io, Tewashta volcano group, coordinates obtained."

After a series of orbit changes, the six spacecrafts finally entered their respective positions. From Ye Zhou's perspective, all the spacecrafts were in a relatively stationary state - or in other words, even Carme's Jupiter in the distance. , also began to stop.

But on the contrary, in the orbit around the spacecraft, countless satellites and small dust clusters are flashing past at extremely fast speeds. At certain specific angles, they will occasionally reflect sunlight from far away, just like It seems to appear suddenly and disappear again.

This scene was so beautiful that Ye Zhou couldn't help but think of fireflies on a summer night, and even had the illusion of cicadas chirping in his ears.

But soon, he realized the horror of those "fireflies".

Because one of the fireflies was gradually getting larger in the spacecraft's field of vision until it filled the entire porthole.

That was Europa of the Yarnan Nemesis Group. Its diameter was only 5 kilometers, but when it passed by at a distance of 20 kilometers, the instant impact was like that of a high-speed train 10 kilometers away. passing by at a distance of centimeters.

Ye Zhou looked at the direction in which Europa 24 disappeared with lingering fear. A report indicating the completion of the engine test popped up on the screen. All data were normal, the divertor was in good condition, and the first wall temperature and radiation loss were so low that they could be ignored.

Everything he could do at this moment has been done.

"The push engine inspection is completed and it is ready to ignite."

The so-called "ignition" is actually not a rigorous term. It refers to bringing the thrust engine into a saturated working state and starting to output thrust to the spacecraft.

"Received, ignition preparations are completed, and the working fluid compartment has been unlocked."

"The working medium compartment unlocking signal has been received. Zhenghe, please start your thrust engines and prepare to enter Callisto's low-Earth orbit."

Ye Zhou issued an order to the Zheng He, and a moment later, along with a brief reply, he saw the Zheng He's thrust engine igniting on the display screen.

The working fluid pours into the fusion engine header. Under the heating of the plasma, the liquid instantly vaporizes and expands, and then is ejected from the rear of the engine.

Bright blue flames lit up the night sky of the boundless universe. In just one minute, the acceleration generated by the Zheng He reached 30G. Under such an acceleration that lasted for more than 5 minutes, no human body could maintain its original position. Some structures without damage.

But there is no need to worry about this problem on the Zheng He, because there are no living people on that spacecraft.

In other words, there is no living person in any carbon-based form.

All crew members who entered the Zheng He have undergone comprehensive transformations. Their bodies have all been replaced by mechanical structures, and their brains are protected in specially designed metal skulls. This protection is enough to allow them to withstand close to 50G under extreme conditions. of overload.

"The acceleration has been completed and it is expected to pass over the North Pole in two hours and 40 minutes."

"The channel enrichment is normal, and they're right at our tail."

"The power of the beacon device has reached its maximum. The adjacent dimensional channels are currently open normally and the energy dissipation rate is normal."

"You can start pouring."

The reply message from the Zheng He was transmitted to all six spacecraft on standby. After a brief pause, the pilot of the Wei Qing switched the communication channel to global sharing mode.

From this moment on, he was officially promoted from the captain of the Wei Qing to the commander-in-chief of the entire fleet.

All seven spaceships must obey his orders.

Ye Zhou watched the screen nervously, which showed the navigator's stern profile.

After a moment, he heard the navigator's voice:

"start to act!"