Chapter 320 - Enjoy The Victory (1/2)

Zhang Heng glanced at Armstrong and found him staring at the valley in front of him. It seemed he didn’t notice the voice coming from the communication channel. As for mission control in Houston, every line seemed secure, and there wasn’t any sign of interference there. Zhang Heng quickly came to realize that he was the only one that could hear the voice.

“You need to make a choice. You have only 19 seconds of fuel left,” the voice reminded him.

Zhang Heng looked down again and found that the location was too rough for landing. The valley on the opposite side seemed no less dangerous as well. He also was oblivious to what lay beyond the valley. The surface might be just as rough on the terrain he was flying above right now. If he knew the exact amount of remaining fuel, he was more inclined to bet on this spot, but now, with the hint from the mysterious voice, Zhang Heng finally made up his mind and pointed the spacecraft to the valley. “Very brave choice, you still have 13 seconds of fuel left, 640 feet above the ground.”

The voice in the communication channel continued, and it gave Zhang Heng the figures he needed the most. It allowed him to regain control of Eagle’s current status after losing the instruments. As the seconds passed, the lunar module got closer and closer to the valley. If the commander were to be someone else, he might question Zhang Heng’s decision at a time like this. Commander Armstrong, however, remained silent, deciding to trust Zhang Heng’s judgment.

The warning alarm beeped again, and a red light flashed. Since it was noisy and loud, Armstrong instantly disablem them to prevent Zhang Heng from being distracted. The Lunar Module gradually descended, and they were quickly soaring above the valley. Looking down from above, however, they only saw darkness – like a huge mouth, waiting to eat the spacecraft alive.

“…7 seconds of fuel remaining, 315 feet above ground.”

Because of the quickly depleting fuel, Zhang Heng decided to shut down the thrusters. He would only reignite them after gliding for some distance. The moon’s gravity was only a sixth of Earth’s, and even if fuel did run out, Eagle wouldn’t just fall to the surface immediately.

The valley beneath them was approaching fast. Fortunately, with the last 5 seconds of fuel left, Zhang Heng finally saw the other side of the valley. It was a very flat terrain, an excellent place to land the spacecraft. So the only question that remained was if they had enough fuel to get there.

After the initial observation, Zhang Heng estimated they still needed to travel for about 1.7 kilometers, and it would take a minute and a half to get there at their current speed. They were now less than 50 feet from the ground and almost touched the cliffs that lined the valley. Zhang Heng had to spend another two seconds of precious fuel to boost the altitude of the Lunar Module.

Now, he needed to adjust the Lunar Module’s position and decelerate it during his landing. In other words, he had to make good use of the remaining fuel on board.

Like a shadowy specter, the lunar module glided silently over the valley.

“32 feet…”