Lu Hai stood on the roof of the Aerospace Building, staring at the fast-moving Chinese sun in the sky. Under its light, the tall buildings in the capital cast countless fast-moving shadows, making Beijing seem like a big face rotating with the Chinese sun. .
This is the last time that the Chinese sun orbits the earth. It has reached the second cosmic speed and will fly out of the earth's gravitational field and enter an orbit around the sun. There are twenty people on board this first manned interstellar spacecraft. Except for Shui Wa, the others were selected from millions of volunteers, including three "mirror farmers" who have worked with Shui Wa for many years. . The Chinese Sun has achieved its goal before it even started: human society's enthusiasm for space exploration outside the solar system has reappeared.
Lu Hai's thoughts went back to that sultry summer night twenty-three years ago. In that northwest city, he and a rural boy from an arid land boarded the night train bound for Beijing.
As a farewell, the Chinese sun casts its light spots on major cities in turn, allowing people to see its light for the last time. Finally, the Chinese sun's light spot casts toward the northwest, and the small village where Shui Wa was born is in the light spot.
Beside the small road beside the village, Shui Wa's parents and other villagers watched the Chinese sun flying towards the east.
Shui Wa's father shouted: "Baby, do you want to go somewhere far away?"
Shui Wa answered from space: "Yes, Dad, I'm afraid I won't be able to return home."
Shui Waniang asked: "Is that place far away?"
Shui Wa replied: "It's very far, mother."
Shui Wa's father asked: "Is it further than the moon?"
Shui Wa was silent for a few seconds and said in a much lower voice than before: "Yes, Dad, it is farther than the moon."
Shui Baby's parents didn't feel particularly uncomfortable. The baby was doing great things in a place further than the moon! Besides, this is an amazing year. Even people far away from the world can talk to him at any time and see him on the small TV. It is no different from face to face. But they would not have thought that as time goes by, the son on the small screen will become more and more dull, and it will take him a long time to answer the concerned questions of his parents. The time he spent thinking was only a few seconds at first, and then it became longer and longer. A year later, every time his parents asked a question, his son would think blankly for more than an hour before he could answer. In the end, the son will disappear, and they will be told that Shui Wa has slept for more than forty years. After that, Shui Wa's parents will spend the rest of their lives taking care of the once barren and now fertile land, and live a life full of hardships but satisfaction. Their last wish will be: in the distant future One day, the son finally came home to see a better home.
The Chinese sun is flying away from the orbit of the earth. It is gradually dimming in the eastern sky, and the blue sky around it is slowly shrinking to a point. Finally, it will become a star and merge into the stars, but long before that, The dawn of the stellar sun would completely overwhelm it.
The dawn also illuminates the path in front of the village. Now it has been planted with two rows of poplars on both sides, and there is a small river parallel to it not far away. On that day twenty-four years ago, at this early morning, under the same dawn, a child from a northwest farm family gradually drifted away on this small road with vague hope.
It was already bright in Beijing at this time, and Lu Hai was still standing on the roof of the Aerospace Building, looking at the position where the Chinese sun finally disappeared. It had embarked on a long road of no return. The Chinese Sun will first enter the orbit of Venus and get as close to the Sun as possible to obtain greater acceleration light pressure and a longer acceleration distance. This will be achieved through a series of complex orbit changes, and its driving method is very similar to that of Venus. A sailing ship sailing against the wind in the Age of Sail. Seventy days later, it will pass the orbit of Mars; one hundred and sixty days later, it will pass by Jupiter; two years later, it will fly out of the orbit of Pluto and become an interstellar spacecraft, and everyone on board will enter hibernation; forty Five years later it will pass by the constellation Centauri, and the astronauts will wake up briefly. It will be a century since the Chinese Sun set off before the Earth can receive their detection information about Centauri; at this time, the Chinese Sun is on its way to Sirius. , due to the acceleration of the three stars in Centauri, its speed will reach 15% of the speed of light. It will reach Sirius sixty years later, that is, a century after setting off from the earth. When the Chinese sun passes by Sirius A and B After forming a binary star system, its speed will increase to two-tenths of the speed of light and fly deeper into the starry sky. According to the time limit that the life hibernation system on the spacecraft can be maintained, the Chinese sun may reach Epsilon Eridanus, and may even (although this possibility is very small) finally reach 79 Cetus. These stars are considered to have planets. exist.
No one knows how far the Chinese sun will fly, and what kind of magical world Shui Wa and the others will see. Maybe one day they will send a call to the earth, and it will take thousands of years to get a response. But Shui Wa will always remember a country called China on his mother planet, a small village on a dry land in the west of that country, and the path in front of the village, which is where he started.
