Chapter 99: Chapter 101 Postcard
As a member of the scientific expedition team, Zhang Yuan was among the first batch of people to land on Jupiter’s moon.
He carefully descended the Space Elevator, walking on the icy cap of Jupiter’s moon. In the dim sky, only a few lights flickered. These perpetual ice layers, not having melted since their formation, had a history of at least a billion years.
Simply lifting his head, he could see the vast expanse of Jupiter.
It truly covered the sky, its surface area about 23.5 times that of Earth when viewing the Moon, with wooden-like stripes visible to the naked eye across Jupiter’s surface.
Sometimes, he could also see the famous, dark red Great Red Spot, resembling a huge eye, quietly watching over them.
If it were someone who feared ghost stories, seeing this real ‘blood moon’ might literally scare them to death.
Zhang Yuan took several photos with interest.
They had chosen this tidally locked side for the base because it faced a smaller probability of meteorite impacts.
Jupiter, being a giant, had cleared countless meteorites for the inner planets of the Solar System. With Jupiter as a shield, Earth faced a much smaller probability of meteorite strikes, providing a more favorable environment for the formation of life.
However, Jupiter’s moon was not so lucky, with a significantly higher probability of meteorite hits for those living there.
Inside the entire base, the most powerful Helium-3 Nuclear Bomb was stocked to fend off any potential meteorite strikes. There was no choice, as Jupiter was the most crucial nuclear fuel storage.
“A warm welcome to Jupiter’s moon industrial base to all our friends who have traveled from afar. This is the furthest outpost of human space deployment,” a middle-aged man in a spacesuit said, smiling at everyone at the entrance to the base.
He then shook hands with the Captain.
Academician Ding turned around and said to Zhang Yuan, “Let’s go, this alien base might be similar to our future deployments… You should take a good look around.”
“I have a few old friends I’d like to visit here. Would you like to come with me, or do you prefer to go on your own?”
Zhang Yuan thought for a moment, “I have an elder I want to visit. I’ll go on my own for now!”
“Then see you this afternoon.”
The first thing Zhang Yuan did upon entering the base on Jupiter’s moon was to enjoy a delicious grilled steak meal!
The aroma of the grilled meat made his mouth water, and the anticipation of saliva secretion was almost akin to solving a math problem!
Even though it didn’t compare to the lavish meals on Earth, it was at least not synthetic meat.
The base on Jupiter’s moon, compared to a spaceship, was simply heaven!
“Not bad, really not bad! You solved the turbulence problem!” said the middle-aged man sitting opposite him, who was a former colleague of his father, giving a thumbs up and continually praising.
“Uncle Yuan, it was just luck. It was a numerical simulation method, and I haven’t completely solved it…” Zhang Yuan replied modestly, smiling.
“Luck? It depends on skill! You think I don’t understand this industry? Turbulence has many applications, from astronomy to geography. Look at Jupiter, that Great Red Spot, isn’t that formed by turbulence? By the way, what time does the meeting start later?”
“Around one in the afternoon,” Zhang Yuan replied.
“Then there’s still a bit of time to rest.”
They had been invited to Jupiter’s moon to attend an industrial academic conference.
This base housed many existing achievements, the crystallization of human intellect, worthy of reference.
The large structures inside the ice cap were very sophisticated, involving various cooling, support, and waste management structures, all needing coordinated planning. Especially, the emitted heat could not exceed the ice cap’s tolerance; otherwise, too much melting could lead to collapses, earthquakes, and other disastrous accidents.
Jupiter’s moon, as a relatively successful colonized planet, was definitely beneficial to learn something new from an on-site inspection.
“Uncle Yuan, when are you planning to return to Earth?” Zhang Yuan asked, patting his satisfied belly.
“In three more months, it will have been three years, and I won’t come back to this godforsaken place. No way to have real-time video calls, and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen my son and daughter. My muscles are starting to atrophy too. If I don’t return soon, I’ll have a meadow growing on my head.”
“Where would that be possible…” Zhang Yuan hastily gave a hollow laugh.
Jupiter’s moon produces one of the most important resources for civilization—energy. Thus, this place is equivalent to the Middle East region of the past, with inevitably top-level salaries.
The typical working period for common workers is about three years.
Even the lowest-level positions can earn millions.
However, due to its remoteness from the center of civilization, despite having money, one cannot enjoy it, much less take care of their families, so they must inevitably face certain risks… All sorts of mishaps, earnestly earning money to return home, only to discover stories involving betrayal are far too numerous.
“Anything else you want to bring back to Earth? I can play courier for you,” Uncle Yuan said with a smile.
“Um…” Zhang Yuan thought for a moment, “Do you have any postcards? I just want to send a few back.”
“Sure, I still have several left, I’ll give them all to you.”
After pondering for a while, Zhang Yuan wrote letters respectively to Wang Lili and Xu Yunjing, Professor Wang Zhong, his aunt’s family, and Han Ziyue.
They were very brief, describing his recent experiences and reflections.
When he got to the letter for Han Ziyue, Zhang Yuan paused, unsure of what to write.
“What’s wrong, is it a girl?”
“Ah, a quite lovely girl. I don’t know how she’s doing now.”
“I see…” Uncle Yuan chuckled, seemingly understanding.
Inspired, Zhang Yuan drew his own portrait on the postcard, with a planet floating in the sky, which was Jupiter.
His drawing skills were not very good, having only briefly learned from the artist Elwin. The whole portrait looked rather ugly, much uglier than he was in person.
However, because of its ugliness, it also had a certain comedic charm.
He signed his name at the bottom.
[Zhang Yuan, 2265.8.31]
I didn’t have the chance to accompany you on your journey, nor an excuse to talk with you all night, and even less of an opportunity to tell you about my current life. I can only send a postcard, telling you that I’m fine, remembering is better than meeting.
Take care of yourself.
Zhang Yuan sighed softly in his heart.
Lastly, he left one postcard for himself.
After deliberation, he wrote on it: [Today, we have arrived at Jupiter’s moon, Humanity’s outermost industrial base, where the Mother Ship will make its final resource replenishment. Jupiter’s moon is not comparable to Earth, but it feels much more solid than being on a spaceship because, after all, it is a planet.]
[From here, we will head towards the distant stars, not knowing when we might reach another planet.]
[The long night is ahead, and the road forward is unknown. I hope in the future, we can remember this beautiful, precious day.]
Done writing, he felt an inexplicable heaviness.
Zhang Yuan looked up and said, “I’ll keep this one for myself. The rest, after you return to Earth, just drop them in a mailbox for me.”
“Alright, this little matter. Don’t be a stranger!” Uncle Yuan carefully gathered the stack of postcards, nodding solemnly.
“Thank you! I’ll be going now.”