To the Moon and Back

15. Last night at the station, flying back to Earth

Xie Lian then introduced them: He Xuan, pale with deep black eyes and black hair, who just nodded and didn't say a word. Shi Wudu, also not that friendly, said hi politely, while his younger brother Shi Qingxuan stepped forward, smiling and shaking his hand. They were tall, with light brown hair and green eyes, Shi Qingxuan slightly shorter and his hair blondish.

They left the cargo to be sorted out later, and He Xuan looked around, noting everything. "I hope you're leaving this station decent enough, it was a mess when I came up last time", he commented.

He was so rude, but Xie Lian just pffted a laugh, "I'm afraid the larder ISN'T in alphabetical order, and as for cleaning, well I've told you a million times we have very strong air filters. I still wiped all surfaces, San Lang here helped me with that".

"You won't have any complaints", Hua Cheng said, "Or at least any reasonable complaints". Besides being rude to Xie Lian, that guy sounded like a nightmare!

Shi Qingxuan intervened, "Xie Lian, you never met my brother last time you were at Wenchang", and turning to Hua Cheng, he explained, "It's our first time here, but we've been working on projects at The Moon Station for many years now".

He Xuan, not forgetting how Hua Cheng stood up for Xie Lian, pointed at him and said, "I heard it's your first time on the Moon too, and you trained in Jiuquan". His words had a 'what do you know' tone all over them.

Xie Lian replied, "Don't underestimate Jiuquan's training facilities! San Lang did a perfect manual landing on Tianhe, it was amazing!"

Now it was Shi Wudu's turn to be rude, and snorting, he commented, "Well all training centres have flight simulators don't they?"

"Still", Shi Qingxuan said, "It's tricky even on simulators, I'm not sure I could do it in real life..."

Shi Wudu looked at his younger brother with a frown. Hua Cheng stood there impatiently: he could put these guys in their places, easy, but he wasn't in the mood. He then understood why Xie Lian liked to be on the Moon so much: away from people babbling nonstop. He felt a headache coming.

Xie Lian said, "San Lang, why don't you show the guys the lab? It has an estate-of-the-art electron microscope!" He smiled, but was probably sighing inside as he'd have to give He Xuan a tour and listen to never ending crazy complaints.

Shi Wudu replied, "Well, what's the point of conducting experiments on the Moon with obsolete equipment?", but Shi Qingxuan said, "Ge, stop being grumpy. Let's go".

He showed the lab quickly – they must be able to find things themselves, or maybe ask that He Xuan guy since he knows everything. Then he went to bed – it was too much to be suddenly surrounded by people when he wanted to be left alone the most. And another thing: he didn't want to say goodnight to Xie Lian, then seeing him going to his own bedroom.

He laid down under his weighted blanket, feeling he didn't need it: he felt heavy enough.

They had to board Tianzhou two hours before lift-off – no 72h countdown like in the old days, as Wenchang performed tests remotely: cockpit switch configurations, checking for leaks, inertial measurement unit pre-flight alignments, transition backup flight system to launch configuration.

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng left the station – Xie Lian driving the rover with a trolley with the usual light cargo back to Earth. The air-to-ground voice checks and flight recorders were activated, so they couldn't talk freely. Just when they entered Tianzhou, Xie Lian held Hua Cheng's hand briefly, and gave it a squeeze.

Hua Cheng couldn't see his face clearly, only his big honey eyes. 'I shouldn't have told him it was anxiety, he must be thinking I'm going to have a panic attack', he thought. He didn't squeeze Xie Lian's hand back, just went to sit and buckle up, listening to Wenchang's Ling Wen conducting a final launch team briefing.

During all that technical lingo he didn't have to pay attention to, he kept going back and forth on his head. Close spacecraft cabin vent valves, start auxiliary power units, start spacecraft aerosurface profile test, followed by main engine gimbal profile test, retract gaseous oxygen vent arm...

That night when he confessed, Xie Lian never told him he liked him back. Even when Hua Cheng asked him to say something, he didn't deny he was checking Hua Cheng out, and after that they just got into physical stuff – never talking about feelings, let alone being together. What was he thinking, to get involved like that?

The final "go/no-go" launch polls were conducted by Wenchang's CEO Jun Wu, Mission Management Team and Launch Director Ling Wen, then ground launch sequencer was go for auto sequence start. The main engine system was activated, and the final countdown started.

Xie Lian, with all that 'I don't feel lonely' talk, was just showing he wasn't into, or ready to get emotionally tied to anyone – what was all that sexy fooling around, what did it mean really? A big red flag, Hua Cheng should have seen it coming.

The boosters ignited, released by the explosive bolts, and Tianzhou started moving – on the Moon, with barely an atmosphere, it could manage a horizontal lift-off in spite of its VTHL status. It vibrated like hell but it flew and reached deep space, going towards the Earth for a few more hours. Hua Cheng dozed off.

Just about entering the Earth's atmosphere, the vibrating worsened – even though Thianzhou had the pipelines of the rocket engine changed and their frequency adjusted, with a new design for the pressure accumulator. Hua Cheng had heard about Tianzhou, but he didn't care what'd happen.

Suddenly, Xie Lian kept making wild gestures, pointing at his helmet's visor, then opened it, shouting something. Why was he shouting? The radio was working fine. Puzzled, Hua Cheng opened his visor too, but couldn't hear anything. The noise was unbearable.

He felt a sharp pain in his ear – Tianzhou was of course pressurised, but he wasn't supposed to have his helmet open at this point. Xie Lian seemed to feel it too, and they both quickly closed their visors, hearing Wenchang's transmissions again, preparing for touchdown.

Hualian back on Earth! What do you think it'll happen? 😉

Let me know in the comments, and don't forget to vote!