Chapter 456: The Most Expensive Screw In History
The Odyssey spaceship command module is currently located in trans-lunar injection orbit.
Commander Carl Jansen turned off communications with Houston and cast his gaze toward the two team members sitting in front of the main console, astronaut and biologist Sarah and astronaut and propulsion engineer Lena.
The entire space was unusually quiet, so quiet that the faint hum of the life support system was exceptionally clear in their ears.
The red warning lights flashed on and off, as if mocking their 50 billion US dollar moon landing dream.
Sarah, the biologist who was always calm and composed in the past, was now hugging her knees with both hands, her body trembling slightly.
Her gaze was blankly fixed on the boundless black space outside the side porthole.
In the direction she was looking, the moon’s glow was gradually growing larger.
“The moon is right there, so close, just three meters away.
But we’ll never get there.
We can’t even decelerate, can’t be captured.
We’re flying toward it at escape velocity, and then we’ll be flung away by it, thrown into the cold deep space.
Is there a worse way to die than this?”
Sarah thought to herself, her brain still echoing with the hoarse voice of ground engineer Patel: “Fuel valve self-locks. Redundancy sensor failure.”
As a scientist who had received professional training, she knew better than anyone what this meant.
This was the judgment of the laws of physics, an irreversible desperate situation.
As for rescue.
On the moon, who could come save them?
Who would dare come save them?
This isn’t a joke.
Sarah let out a light laugh: “Heh, liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen fuel ratio cannot be confirmed, self-locked.
This is the deadliest single point of failure in the Lockheed proposal.
We don’t even have a chance for ignition correction.
We’ve become a message in a bottle drifting in deep space.”
Her voice grew smaller and smaller, eventually turning into a sob.
She didn’t cry, but her mental defenses were collapsing.
Lena was a black woman, and also the propulsion system engineer; her reaction was more intense, filled with anger and unwillingness.
Because before becoming an astronaut, she had been a senior advisor on Boeing’s lunar module project.
This failure was a double blow to her: technical failure and a reenactment of past history.
She yanked off her headphones and slammed them hard onto the console.
Lena shouted sharply at the console: “Damn it! It’s just a fuel mixture ratio sensor! A little thing less than ten centimeters! I told you long ago not to cooperate with Indians, Boeing got burned before, and now you’re doing it again!
These damn Indians, this is criminal, they do things without ever considering the consequences, only caring about muddling through the immediate predicament, never thinking about what might happen tomorrow after muddling through today.
They canceled its redundancy! Canceled it! This is simply a crime!
The funniest part is, Boeing’s mistakes, we’re repeating them again, and this time the situation is even worse than last time.
Boeing’s problem, SpaceX could save with the Dragon spaceship, but our problem is already unsolvable! We’re being abandoned.”
Her words were transmitted back to the control center, where no one dared to speak.
Such politically incorrect racial discrimination remarks, even in this situation, only a black person would dare say.
Jansen’s mind conjured up a hell joke; fortunately, both were black women this time, so their facial expressions couldn’t be seen.
If there were a white person or Asian, wouldn’t they be pale as a ghost?
She thrust her hands into her hair, growling in pain: “Carl! You know we have attitude control thrusters, they can provide acceleration! But we don’t have enough heat protection! We can’t reenter the atmosphere at such high speed, we’ll burn up!”
Her professional knowledge made her even more despairing.
The escape pod’s design was only for short-distance movement in lunar orbit.
The heat shield tiles it carried were far from sufficient to withstand the high temperatures generated when returning to Earth at high speed from trans-lunar injection orbit.
Lena said helplessly: “Not only are we drifting, we don’t even qualify to go home and take a look!”
Carl Jansen, this experienced commander, knew now was not the time for blame and collapse.
He calmly looked at the two female astronauts who were nearly in despair.
He walked to Lena’s side, gently picked up the headphones she had thrown on the ground, and handed them back to her.
Carl Jansen pointed to the moon outside the porthole: “Lena, calm down.
Look there, China’s moon base is there, they have rescue capability.
Our heat protection is insufficient.
We know the RCS fuel is only enough for a one-time emergency separation ignition.
But Chinese people can come save us.”
He turned to Sarah and helped her up from her curled-up position.
Carl Jansen: “Sarah, you’re right, we’re being judged, but what we have now is time, we have 72 hours of life support, and one chance to correct our orbit.
We still have a chance!”
He placed his hand on the console, pointing to the orbital parabola on the screen.
Carl Jansen: “Houston ground won’t abandon us, our mission isn’t to fly home ourselves, but to stay alive, enter an orbit where Chinese people can capture us.”
Lena looked at Jansen with a speechless expression: “No, Carl, are you kidding me?
I admit Chinese people might have the ability to save us, but why?
Why should Chinese people come save us?
Out of the spirit of the grand human alliance?
Out of international humanitarian spirit?
This is reality, not a Hollywood movie.”
Black people aren’t that easy to fool.
In America’s not-so-long history, black people have been fooled too many times; as soon as Jansen spoke, Lena’s PTSD was immediately triggered.
Deep space rescue? Can you stop comforting?
Jansen continued: “A roadside rescue costs thousands of US dollars, a space rescue, still in deep space over 300,000 kilometers from Earth, the rescue cost will be in billions of US dollars, but I believe in Mr. Bezos.”
Lena said speechlessly: “Billions as the unit? Won’t Chinese people seize this opportunity to demand an astronomical figure?
They’ll only quote a number even Bezos can’t accept, like 20 billion US dollars, 50 billion US dollars.
Carl, do you think if it’s 50 billion US dollars, Mr. Bezos will still insist on saving us?
It’s not even buying a 100% rescue, just buying a possibility, a vague and illusory possibility.”
Lena’s tone by the end was as light as a feather.
She was already close to despair.
After hearing this, Carl Jansen knew his rebuttal was feeble and powerless.
Fortunately, it didn’t last long.
A voice from Earth control center came: “Shiva’s Wing, prepare for orbit change preparation.”
“Received.” Carl Jansen said.
“.Commanded personally by Mr. Randolph Lin, who will launch a spaceship from Apollo Technology on the moon to bring you home.”
After the latest news from ground control center arrived, Jansen immediately told his two companions.
The three looked at each other, and in an instant, the atmosphere of frustration and despair in the entire sealed space was swept away.
A person’s name is like the shadow of a tree.
Even in this spacetime without Professor Divine Power, the name Randolph Lin still carried weight.
In the aerospace field, this name was an indisputable golden signboard, symbolizing an omnipotent legend.
One year to moon landing, five years to moon base construction, and now there’s even a lunar electromagnetic rail.
Even the two black women who had fallen into despair now rekindled their hope of survival.
Carl Jansen said firmly, issuing orders: “Lena, you’re responsible for checking the final pressure readings and ignition sequence of the escape pod RCS thrusters.
You know the position of that screw better than anyone, and you know better than anyone where that 15 meters per second can push us.
We need to provide Mr. Lin’s command with as complete data as possible.”
Carl Jansen continued instructing: “Sarah, you’re responsible for life support and thermal management.
We need to minimize electricity consumption and maximize the extension of our survival time.
We need to let the ground know we’re still conscious, still fighting.”
T+5 hours 45 minutes after launch
At this moment, 45 minutes had passed since the accident occurred.
The atmosphere in the secret meeting room was frozen, the air as if drained dry.
Jeff Bezos pushed open the meeting room door, his expression calm; he didn’t look at the orbital diagram on the table but went straight to Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the helmsman of Tata Group.
Natarajan was equally calm, not taking this accident seriously at all.
He was waiting for a result.
Regardless of whether negotiations with China succeeded, there had to be an explanation.
“Mr. Bezos, how did the negotiations go? Did the Chinese side agree to the rescue?” Natarajan asked.
Seeing the other’s nonchalant attitude, Bezos felt anger rising uncontrollably.
If you weren’t so incompetent, would I have to bow to Randolph?
Bezos didn’t answer; he walked to the window, his back to Chandrasekaran, like a silent statue.
A moment of silence made anxiety emerge in Natarajan’s heart; no way, based on my understanding of Chinese people, they wouldn’t miss such an excellent opportunity to show off their muscles globally.
Bezos slowly turned around, his gaze sharp, piercing straight at Chandrasekaran.
Bezos said softly: “They agreed.
The rescue operation is about to launch, China’s moon spaceship is undergoing preliminary preparations.
Our astronauts are saved.”
Natarajan’s suspended heart settled; I knew it, in this era when even America doesn’t believe in internationalism, Chinese people are the easiest to fool.
He pretended to breathe a sigh of relief, clasped his hands together, and thanked softly.
“Great! So, their conditions? According to our initial estimate, it should only need tens of millions in fuel and cost fees, 1 billion US dollars should be enough.”
Bezos walked back to the conference table and pushed a note with numbers written on it toward Chandrasekaran.
It only had a string of numbers: $10,000,000,000.
Bezos said: “Their asking price is 10 billion US dollars.”
Natarajan’s breathing suddenly stopped; he felt like his heart was gripped by Chinese people.
He looked at that astronomical figure, his body involuntarily leaning back, reclining in the chair.
This isn’t the Chinese people I know.
Aren’t they all about good quality and low price?
Natarajan’s voice trembled: “Ten billion? Mr. Bezos, do you know what this money means? It’s equivalent to twice our entire lunar module R&D budget!”
Bezos nodded: “Of course, I know exactly what it means, so this money will be fully borne by Tata Group.”
Natarajan raised his voice: “No, why should we bear it fully?
No matter from what perspective, it can’t be Tata bearing it fully.”
Bezos’s tone was filled with overwhelming pressure; he was now standing in front of Natarajan.
If Lin Ran were on site, he would have a strong sense of déjà vu; Bezos this guy had unconsciously delivered Johnson treatment.
“Proportion? You’re talking proportion? Chandrasekaran, you’d better figure it out, now there’s no cooperation, only losers and saviors!”
He suddenly raised his voice, pointing at the table:
“This problem, Tata Group needs to take full responsibility for this fatal quality accident.
Your low-cost ‘Shiva’s Wing’ is now a floating object in deep space.
Its failure wasn’t due to cosmic radiation, but a substandard screw!
Tata Group must take full responsibility for this!”
Bezos placed both hands on the tabletop, looking down at Vadera.
Bezos said: “I won’t pay a dime for your fatal quality management loophole and arrogance toward life! That 10 billion US dollars isn’t ransom, but the fine you pay for your quality control failure and nearly causing the death of three astronauts!”
Bezos threatened: “You now have only two choices: first, immediately prepare the funds, pay the full 10 billion US dollars, and I will announce externally that this is an international humanitarian rescue fund.
Tata Group can retain its remaining prestige, your stocks can avoid plummeting to the bottom.
Second, refuse payment.
I will push all responsibility, from media to politics, onto Tata’s quality fraud and that unqualified screw.
The details of your lunar module failure will become a disgrace in global aerospace history.
At that time, what you’ll lose isn’t 10 billion US dollars, but the future and reputation of the entire group!
More importantly, you’ll completely lose the chance to play with America’s aerospace community.
Blue Origin’s listing won’t have you, our future moon landings won’t have you, I will sign a ten-year, 2 billion US dollars per year procurement agreement with Apollo Technology, which also won’t have you.”
This was Bezos’s skill.
Turning the long-term bill with Apollo Technology into what seemed like a strategic cooperation, like a benefit.
And Natarajan fell for it.
His eyes lit up: “Long-term cooperation agreement? 2 billion US dollars procurement per year?”
Bezos nodded: “Correct.”
He knew Natarajan was moved.
He continued: “You can go prepare the funds now; Chinese people’s spaceship won’t wait for your internal meeting to end.”
Natarajan nodded: “Okay, but regarding the news of Blue Origin and Apollo Technology reaching a cooperation, when you release it at the right time, I must get a share in the capital operations at that point, otherwise the 10 billion price is too high.”
“Okay.”
