At the Koro Island Airport, Jiang Chen met one of the greatest physicists in modern times, Professor Hawking in a wheelchair. <>
However, his appearance at this moment is different from the picture of "Hawking's Paralysis" widely circulated on the Internet. He is sitting in a wheelchair and being pushed by an assistant, and wearing a phantom helmet produced by Futureman Technology on his head.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Jiang Chen. I wonder if you can make a small slit in the helmet? Using the electronic sound synthesis tool while wearing the helmet made me feel a lot better. The doctor even said I could live two more years. years, but then I won’t be able to see anything.”
Hearing this, Jiang Chen was stunned for a moment, then laughed.
"I will let my technicians study this problem. It shouldn't be difficult."
"Thank you very much," the electronic voice replied.
Considering Hawking's influence in the scientific community, Jiang Chen did not refuse his request to visit the space launch center. In a sense, he is more representative of the world's academic community than researchers sent by NASA.
Of course, he still has a sense of what can be displayed and what cannot be displayed.
After taking a boat to the island where the shooting center was located, the bodyguard from Starring Trading took over the position of his assistant and walked beside Jiang Chen in a wheelchair.
"This is our launch range. Halo 4 launches from here, and that is used to launch other types of rockets. Our space activities have been quite frequent recently, and we basically have a launch mission every other week." Jiang Chen introduced him while leading him into the shooting center.
"An enviable budget." Hawking lamented.
"Because what I spend is not taxpayers' money, but my own money." Jiang Chen said with a smile.
After entering the shooting center, Kerwin greeted them and took the three of them to the ground command center in charge of the Guanghan City colony. There, more than fifty staff members are in front of computers, busy working on the work at hand.
Hawking asked the person pushing his wheelchair to take off his helmet. At this time, he didn't want to speak. He just wanted to see what this place looked like.
Kerwin came to a computer and pressed a few buttons on the touch screen. Soon, a holographic image was projected in front of everyone. The image transmitted through the holographic screen came from a thousand meters away. Guanghan City.
"This is Guanghan City Colony, what are your orders? Mr. Commander." An astronaut appeared in the camera and asked Kerwin.
"Report on the material status of the colony."
"OK, just a second… "
After listening to the astronauts' report on the colony's oxygen, drinking water, lunar soil collection and other supplies, with the help of the Star Ring Trade bodyguards, Hawking put on the Phantom helmet again and expressed his heartfelt emotions.
"I saw the future."
"I'm honored to receive this honor." Jiang Chen smiled.
After a pause, Hawking continued.
"Human beings cannot put all their eggs in one basket, so they cannot bet on one planet. I have said this a long time ago, but it is a pity that neither the British government nor the US government has ever put it into practice Seriously. It is always better to spend taxpayer money in Iraq than to throw it into space with no future, even if everyone knows that the future is there. History is always surprisingly similar, Columbus also lobbied Through the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Portugal. Surprisingly, the Icarus Paradox does not only apply to enterprises, but also applies to some super powers."
"But the person standing in front of you is a big entrepreneur." Jiang Chen said with a smile.
"But you are still very young, and youth is always good." Using the synthesized electrons, Hawking said something of unknown meaning.
Jiang Chen can't stay here forever. The group has a related meeting waiting for him to chair in the afternoon. After handing over the exchange visit to Kerwin, Jiang Chen was about to leave the Space Launch Center, but at this moment, his eyes suddenly fell on Hawking's wheelchair.
"Is there a problem?"
As if he noticed this, Hawking, who had already taken off his helmet, tapped his fingers on the keyboard on the armrest and asked Jiang Chen in an electronic voice.
"There's something wrong," Jiang Chen nodded and looked at the old man with a smile, "I have a proposal, are you interested?"
…
At this moment, far away in Washington, DC, a special hearing is being held in the Capitol Building.
"... We must restart the Apollo program immediately! The Halo trade has begun to colonize the moon. We have led the world in landing the moon for more than half a century, but now we are lagging behind them. For the American people, this is unacceptable !”
Standing in front of the hearing table, NASA Secretary Charles Bolden gave an impassioned speech to the lawmakers at the hearing, trying to persuade them to restart the Apollo program. However, the congressmen sitting in the hearing room showed little interest. Some were spinning their pens, others were looking at Bolden with raised eyebrows, and some had simply turned to the next page of the document.
Since 1972, NASA's budget has not increased. Instead, it has been cut by about 75% and has remained unchanged for more than 40 years. Different from the Kennedy period, when NASA wanted to apply for a budget, it didn't need to be so troublesome at all. It only needed to say - "The Soviets are doing it too!" and a large budget would be approved immediately.
Now, the president has given the nod to restart the Apollo program as long as Congress is willing to allocate a budget. However, what makes Bolden despair is that Congress is not interested in the unclaimed land kilometers away.
"Is this unacceptable to the American people? Why do I feel that there are so many American astronauts participating in the Star Ring trade?" a congressman asked with a smile.
"Do you think this is right?" Bolden asked.
"There is nothing right or wrong," the congressman sitting in the middle tapped the notebook with a pen. "I need you to tell me, apart from what visible benefits can the Apollo program bring us? Apart from boosting national confidence? "
Bolden couldn't help but be speechless, and it took him a while to squeeze out a sentence.
“… not all the benefits are visible.”
Several congressmen looked at each other and smiled, and the congressman sitting in the seat shrugged.
"But only visible benefits can convince taxpayers to pay."
After the hearing, Bolden returned to NASA's office and slammed the documents he had prepared onto the table.
"Congress is discussing the budget for researching new anti-missile systems and anti-EMP weapons. This is a more urgent issue. Our chance of convincing them is almost zero." The assistant walked in the door shortly after and took the bag with him. Men said.
"What does Hillary mean?" Bolden said angrily.
"She might just draw a pie for us." The assistant said with a wry smile.
But at this moment, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a NASA clerk walked in, placed a newspaper on the desk, and said excitedly.
"Look at this! And this!"
Bolden frowned and took the newspaper. When he saw the words circled in red, his eyes suddenly widened and almost bulged out.
They are!
etc!
At this moment, his eyes lit up, he put the newspaper away and immediately walked out the door.
"Where are you going?"
"The White House! Here's our chance!"
Leaving the two people confused, Bolden disappeared through the door. (.)