Earth.

White House conference room, United States.

Moulton stood there blankly, obviously not recovered from the "shocking" news just now.

"Something happened to the return capsule?"

His expression was a little distorted, he grabbed the collar of the staff member in front of him and yelled: "What on earth happened?!"

Facing the ferocious-looking Moulton, the staff began to explain hesitantly.

"Mo... Director Moulton, I heard from Houston that it seems that the hydraulic system of the engine exceeded the preset limit during ignition, and the main control computer of the Mars module automatically cut off the operation of the engine according to the preset program.

.”

Moulton's expression suddenly suffocated.

this……

Even if he knew nothing about the Mars return capsule, he knew that this thing was not easy to solve.

"Can it be solved?" Moulton took a few deep breaths to calm down.

The staff member was silent for a moment and slowly shook his head.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Houston said there is basically no possibility of remote repair."

As if afraid that Moulton would not believe it, the staff member added again: "These are Professor Chris's original words."

Moulton stared blankly at the staff in front of him.

a long time.

He gently let go of his hands, turned around and returned to his seat in despair.

The atmosphere in the conference room became increasingly dull.

After dozens of seconds of silence, Albert, who was sitting in the main seat, coughed slightly, breaking the dead silence in the conference room.

"Everyone, we need to change the topic of discussion now."

"The United States, do you want to carry out a rescue mission for the three astronauts?"

The moment the words fell, the breathing of everyone present suddenly became faster.

Everyone participating in the meeting looked at each other eagerly, hoping that someone would take the lead and say something.

Albert, who had not received a response for a long time, frowned slightly and directly called Moulton's name. www.bǐqυgetν.℃ǒm

"Moulton, as the director of NASA, these three astronauts are your subordinates. Can you tell us, should we save them?"

Morton's pupils shrank slightly.

This is not an easy question to answer.

Rescue means a lot of material and manpower.

No matter which item it is, it is somewhat difficult for the United States to afford it today.

No help?

That’s three lives!

Not to mention the long-term impact, the most basic thing is, will NASA astronauts still dare to carry out missions in the future?

A trace of confusion flashed in Moulton's eyes: "Your Excellency, President."

He slowly lowered his head and whispered: "I think the United States needs to carry out rescue operations."

"They are the heroes of the United States, and we cannot break their hearts!"

"Since the founding of the United States, we have never given up on our citizens!"

After the words fell, the conference room fell into silence again.

"Da... da... da..."

Albert's slightly thick fingers gently tapped the conference table in front of him.

Moulton subconsciously raised his head and glanced at Albert's face.

Seeing Albert's frown, Moulton's heart trembled!

broken.

As expected.

The next second, Albert sighed deeply, with a look of helplessness on his face: "Molton, I know what you mean."

"However, currently it will take at least more than a year for us to build a spacecraft that can go to Mars to carry out rescue plans."

"Those three astronauts can't hold us up for rescue, so..."

"Your Excellency, President!" Moulton interrupted Albert's words directly, "We can ask Xia Guo for help!"

"Currently, Xuan Nu No. 2 of Xia Kingdom is one thousand meters away from them. As long as we..."

There was a hint of anger in Albert's eyes.

He snapped: "Molton!"

"The United States will never ask Xia Country for help!"

"Unless I step down, there is no need to discuss this matter!"

…

The meeting broke up unhappily.

The final result was, of course, to abandon the rescue plan.

In other words, those three astronauts became real abandoned children.

As for domestic public opinion, Abbott has issued an order to block all channels for the spread of this news.

Moulton was walking on the way to the office, a trace of unbearability flashed in his eyes.

He still remembered what Andrew said when he came to NASA for training.

"Andrew, why did you join the Pathfinder program? Is it because of the money?"

"That's right, sir, you may not know the lives of us people." Andrew's bitter expression when he said this was deeply engraved in his heart, "This reward of half a million US dollars can allow my children and

The wife gets a safe and stable living environment."

"Then have you ever thought you wouldn't be able to come back?"

"..." Andrew was silent for a while, and the smile on his face became more and more bitter, "If you don't come back, you won't come back, but...sir, can the pension be more?"

Not only Andrew, but also Bruno and Joey also expressed similar meanings.

Scenes flashed through Moulton's mind.

He bit his back molars hard, and a flash of madness flashed in his eyes!

…

Houston Ground Command Center.

A burst of cell phone ringing woke up Professor Chris.

Because of the incident with the Pathfinder, he didn't get a sound sleep the whole night.

He rubbed his slightly swollen eyes and took out his mobile phone from his pocket.

Moulton?

Seeing the name displayed on the screen of the mobile phone, Professor Chris's spirits suddenly lifted.

He quickly pressed the answer button: "Director, rescue plan..."

Moulton's gritted voice came from the other end of the phone: "Professor, they gave up!"

Professor Chris's breath suddenly suffocated, and he subconsciously asked: "Give up? Give up for what?"

"President, gave up the rescue plan!" Moulton said word by word, "and prohibited us from asking Xia Guo for help!"

The moment he heard Moulton's words, Chris felt dizzy.

He sat back in his chair and muttered to himself.

"How...how could this happen..."

"This, this is murder!"

Professor Chris' sharp voice reached Moulton's ears through the mobile phone: "I want to expose it to the media!"

"...Professor, the president has ordered that all information dissemination channels be blocked. Do you know what this means?"

Chris's face turned pale.

He stretched out his hands to cover his eyes, and said with a slight sigh: "But, but they are still waiting for me to provide them with a plan..."

"I'm sorry, I can't do it, I can't tell them the news..."

A line of hot tears slowly slid down his cheek.

There was silence in the microphone, leaving only a little rustling background noise.

"professor."

Moulton took a deep breath and said, "I need your help."
Chapter completed!