Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station

Chapter 15: Chapter 15 Location

After a quick wash, Chen Ming sat down on the chair in the captain’s room.

He looked at the planet named Rimu, not far from the spaceship.

It appeared overall in three colors: blue, green, and purple.

Although he had once worked on the Space Station that orbits the planet, he wasn’t sure what exactly was on it.

He only knew that the blue was the ocean, while the remaining green and purple represented land, with two somewhat similar yet different natural environments.

Oh yes, there was one species Chen Ming was already aware of.

It was a delicious local specialty in the planet’s oceans, a kind of blue lobster-like arthropod, which Chen Ming had the fortune of tasting after entering the Space Station.

Since it was scarce and hard to preserve, it didn’t really have export value and was often treated as a meal supplement for the Space Station’s staff.

Even though for Chen Ming it was just a memory, the identical face between Maintenance Master Chen Ming and Transmigrator Chen Ming, along with the similar life paths, often made him feel involved.

Chen Ming didn’t resist this situation or feeling because it helped him better integrate into this world.

Overall, although Chen Ming didn’t know much, it didn’t matter.

Both his and the doctor’s terminals contained several books with a brief introduction to this planet.

He could read them before landing to analyze what lies ahead with these bits of information.

But not immediately.

Because at this moment, the spaceship was about to enter a dense asteroids area, starting today’s mineral collection.

Chen Ming pulled his attention away from Rimu Star and began to control the machine guns to protect his spaceship.

As soon as he entered this area, Chen Ming noticed something was awry.

The density of asteroids here was somewhat too high.

After flying a little while, asteroids almost simultaneously came into dangerous proximity to the port and the lower hull.

If Chen Ming were to shatter an asteroid actively, then its fragments might likely trigger several other nearby asteroids that were unaffected by the spaceship.

This would lead the asteroids to continue impacting the surroundings, a chain reaction that left Chen Ming somewhat overwhelmed.

If not for Chen Ming’s ability to control the ship almost as if his brain were controlling his body, moving very smoothly.

Otherwise, Iron Ore No. might have dented itself several times already just after entering this area.

Under Chen Ming’s maneuver, most of the asteroids heading for the spaceship were dodged.

Those that couldn’t be avoided were mostly shattered, minimizing the damage to the spaceship.

But even so.

After ten hours had passed.

Iron Ore No. staggered out from the dense asteroid region full of dents and dings.

The durability of the entire ship’s armor decreased by 20% to 30%, turning the ship, which Chen Ming had meticulously repaired just the day before, back to its previous state, perhaps even worse.

But thankfully, it was all worth it.

With the modified Type II mining laser, Chen Ming successfully spent a day picking up enough materials to repair the ship’s landing gear, with plenty to spare, from the high-density asteroid field he had chosen.

However, Chen Ming did not rush to start the repairs.

He wanted to preserve his best state for the journey to Rimu Star, and repairing the spaceship was an activity that would clearly leave him subpar.

So even if he completed the repairs today, he wouldn’t rush down.

Better to rest early, repair before resting to ensure he has enough energy the next day to handle whatever might happen.

Moreover, there were other things he needed to do now.

Determine the landing site for the spaceship.

At this moment, both the spaceship and the Space Station were on the sunlit side of the planet, with most of the planet underneath illuminated by the star’s light, allowing the major terrain of the planet to be easily seen from space.

Chen Ming opened his personal terminal and brought up the relevant contents about Rimu Star.

At the same time, he recalled the knowledge he had learned in high school geography.

Though he had forgotten most of it, some common or important contents remained in Chen Ming’s memory.

For instance, the deflection angle of Rimu Star was similar to Earth’s, just slightly larger.

Locations near the equator were likely to resemble Earth, having tropical or subtropical climates.

This region was probably suitable for him to find the crops he needed.

And the area where crops were most likely to grow would naturally be the plains with rivers.

Just at this moment, Chen Ming glanced at the terminal, which displayed the overall topography map of the planet.

After a little thought and some data retrieval, he confirmed the subtle differences in climate and terrain between Rimu Star and Earth.

Chen Ming determined the preferred landing site.

Around thirty-plus degrees north latitude of the planet.

From space, the color of this area looked pleasingly green to Chen Ming.

The overall terrain was a coastal plain, surrounded by hill-covered inland regions, with a subtropical climate.

It’s simply the perfect spot for crop growth.

Moreover, the current time and place was precisely autumn on Rimu Star.

With fine weather, and numerous plants maturing, just waiting for Chen Ming to discover them.

Additionally, there was more good news for Chen Ming.

The orbital period of Rimu Star was much shorter than Earth’s, meaning its seasons changed quite quickly and each season lasted a very short time.

This led to a short growth cycle for many of the planet’s plants.

These were the kind of crops Chen Ming needed.

After confirming the landing location.

Chen Ming took another look at the book’s contents about other terrains and regions on the planet.

He spent some time picking a few alternative landing sites, in case of irresistible events forcing him to search for a suitable landing place again.

It’s better to be prepared now than to scramble later.

By the time Chen Ming confirmed a few alternative sites, it was already nearing rest time.

So Chen Ming lay down on the bed in the living quarters.

In his eyes appeared the scene of the engine room.

In the engine room, there was a narrow maintenance passage leading to the bottom of the spaceship.

Here were the circuits connecting the entire ship, heat-conducting pipes, and the landing module.

Even though Chen Ming really wanted to try it hands-on, until his personal safety was completely assured, it’s better to rely on the stable interface for repairs first.

Chen Ming continued connecting to the camera in the maintenance passage, opened the panel of the landing module.

Different metal liquids poured out from the storage chambers after the repair button was pressed.

They enveloped the inside and outside of the spaceship, filling the damaged landing module.

The most damaged buffer module in the entire landing system was the first to be repaired.

Then the positioning module, landing gear module, and finally the overall circuit connection.

After a rather uneventful period compared to intruding into the dense asteroid field earlier.

The landing module came back online.

The word ”damaged” on the panel turned to ”running”.

Satisfied, Chen Ming closed his eyes and fell into sleep.

In the early morning of the next day, at least according to Chen Ming’s timing.

Chen Ming was already sitting in the captain’s room.

His heartbeat unknowingly quickened as he looked out the porthole at the planet gradually filling the spaceship’s view.

This must be the result of fear and excitement intermingling in the face of the unknown.

As the spaceship finally locked onto the predetermined landing site from yesterday.

Chen Ming knew the time had come.

He took a deep breath and directed the spaceship toward the distant planet.