War of Intelligent Machines

Chapter 5: Humanity's First Time

Chapter 5: Humanity's First Time

Reluctantly, everyone had to accept the reality. Jiang Hui herself remained more composed than anyone else, casually saying that if it didn’t work, they’d just give birth at the base. She even joked that they might set a new record for humanity.

Wasn’t that true? Previously, only pregnant women had given birth in space stations, and that was done as part of a scientific experiment with volunteers. No one had ever given birth on the moon.

When everyone saw that Jiang Hui wasn’t too bothered, they decided to leave things to fate.

Though giving birth on the moon was risky, it was still less dangerous than giving birth on a spacecraft.

Li Chunzhi had moved almost every piece of medical equipment and supplies available at the base into Jiang Hui’s room, planning to personally assist with the delivery.

On May 25, 2063, Jiang Hui successfully gave birth to a healthy baby girl weighing 7.2 pounds. The entire base felt like they had won a great victory, and they even celebrated. The baby girl was named Jiang Yu.

Jiang Hui didn’t want the child to have her surname "Jiang" because she thought the character was too complicated and hard to write. Instead, she chose the homophone "Jiang" for the surname, thinking it sounded better and more feminine. Since the baby was born at the moon base, she thought of Chang’e and her pet Jade Rabbit, and decided to name her daughter Jiang Yu. Her nickname was Xiao Yu.

The newborn Jiang Yu appeared very healthy—nursing and sleeping normally. This eased everyone’s concerns, especially the father, who had been hiding his identity. When he saw that both mother and daughter were safe, his nearly breaking heart finally calmed.

Jiang Hui was supposed to take Jiang Yu back to Earth on the August spacecraft, but unfortunately, there was a large shipment of minerals that had to be urgently sent back, and this particular flight couldn’t accommodate them.

Jiang Hui was a carefree woman, and even being rejected by the spacecraft for the second time didn’t faze her. She had been fully immersed in the joy of motherhood for the past few months. Plus, starting in June, she began receiving maternity subsidies from the social security fund, more than 50,000 yuan a month, which would continue until her child turned eighteen. As a single mother, even without working, she could live very comfortably on this allowance.

Finally, December arrived, and the spacecraft had no issues. She and her daughter were able to return to Earth at last.

Li Chunzhi personally sent them from the underground base to the surface exit, then drove them to the spacecraft launch site in a lunar rover.

The takeoff and acceleration process went smoothly. The spacecraft orbited the moon twice before stabilizing its trajectory and heading toward Earth.

Jiang Hui looked out the window at the slowly receding moon and silently thanked, "Thank you, Moon Grandpa, for giving me Xiao Yu." Tears welled up in her eyes as she said this.

The journey from the moon to Earth was long, but for the experienced Jiang Hui, it wasn’t much of a challenge.

The spacecraft didn’t go directly to Earth. Instead, it dropped Jiang Hui and her daughter off at a transfer space station orbiting Earth.

This transfer station was also managed by the Yadong Space Corporation and was primarily used for spacecraft transfers and space tourism. It was about 500 meters long, with a ring-shaped gravity simulation chamber over 200 meters in diameter at the head, designed to provide gravity for guests who couldn’t adapt to weightlessness. All passengers transiting here had to wait in the gravity simulation chamber.

Jiang Yu adapted well to both the acceleration and weightlessness of space travel. She didn’t cry or make a fuss.

The docking between the spacecraft and the space station went smoothly. Jiang Hui, holding Jiang Yu, disembarked the spacecraft and climbed onto the transfer station platform.

As an experienced astronaut, Jiang Hui was very familiar with weightlessness. She held Jiang Yu in one arm and pushed herself along the handrails with the other hand, quickly making her way to the elevator that led to the gravity simulation chamber. But as they entered the elevator, an unexpected event occurred!

Jiang Yu suddenly burst into heart-wrenching screams, her face contorted with pain.

Jiang Hui, while trying to comfort her, staggered out of the elevator. She herself was struggling to adapt to the sudden gravity, feeling a splitting headache and an increased heartbeat.

When she finally steadied herself and looked down at the child in her arms, she was horrified. Blood was bubbling out of Jiang Yu’s nose, and she was crying while spitting up blood.

"What’s going on?!"

In a panic, Jiang Hui quickly scanned the area, hoping to find something that could help her child.

"Is it the gravity?"

It suddenly dawned on her that Jiang Yu might not be able to adjust to the sudden gravity. She hurriedly turned around and rushed back to the elevator.

Soon, they were back at the spacecraft dock, which was in a weightless environment. It didn’t take long before Jiang Yu stopped crying.

Jiang Hui quickly secured Jiang Yu to the handrail with the edge of her blanket and opened her bag to pull out tissues, gently wiping the blood off her face. As she did so, tears streamed down her face, her heart aching terribly.

She began to realize that she and her daughter might never make it back to Earth.

After quickly cleaning up the blood, Jiang Hui, in a disheveled state, found the space station manager and tearfully explained her and her child’s situation.

The manager, a middle-aged man, expressed sympathy and provided Jiang Hui with access to the internet.

Jiang Hui immediately called Li Chunzhi and described the situation in detail.

Li Chunzhi was also horrified upon hearing this. She knew that if the child couldn’t return to Earth this time, it might mean she could never return. In other words, the child would have to live at the base for the rest of her life.

But this was a huge decision, and she couldn’t make it herself. She needed to report to the leadership of the corporation.

She asked Jiang Hui to stay with the child at the space station and wait for her to report the situation.

Two days later, the result came.

Given the special circumstances of Jiang Hui and her daughter, the corporation had decided to cancel their repatriation order. However, they hoped that Jiang Hui would acknowledge her mistakes and repay the organization’s kindness with diligent work.

After staying at the transfer station for half a month, Jiang Hui and Jiang Yu boarded a Russian spacecraft headed back to the moon and returned to the Qianxuesen Research Base.

The incident where Jiang Yu had vomited blood at the transfer station had been a huge shock to Jiang Hui. With her experience, she judged that the child had been delayed on the moon for too long. If they had gone to Earth immediately after the birth, nothing would have happened.

Now, it seemed like the child would likely spend her entire life at the base. What was the difference between that and life imprisonment? Jiang Hui regretted that she had sought temporary happiness at the cost of her child’s entire life.