Spark

The news about Musk's attack did cause a huge public reaction, and he was treated as a victim of some kind of large-scale conspiracy. But what is different from the past is that this time, no one suspected China.

The reason is obvious. China can indeed profit from it, but it is definitely not the party that benefits the most.

Rather than doubting China, it would be better to doubt SpaceX’s internal senior managers, or other American commercial rocket companies that have the opportunity to gain more market share and gain more benefits because of Musk’s death and the turmoil of SpaceX.

Not to mention, blue origin alone has had direct conflicts with SpaceX and even Musk recently.

After all, the two companies have also chosen the general direction of rocket recycling, and SpaceX is moving faster. At the same time, Elden, the president of blue origin, has repeatedly accused Elon Musk of "stealing" BO through public channels. rocket recovery technology, accusing him of being a market cancer with bad morals and relying on financial fraud and hostile takeovers.

Originally, this was nothing. After all, in shopping malls, especially in relatively "individualized" shopping malls like the United States, it is not a big deal at all if company managers attack each other.

But the bad thing is, after investigation by the FBI, it was found that what Elden said was true.

There was indeed a commercial espionage case between BO and SpaceX. The time was 5 years ago. This case had even been filed and submitted to the FBI for processing.

But in the end, the case was suppressed and the files were tampered with. Shortly after handling the case, the person in charge was quickly transferred to other departments and has now retired.

As for who, or which department is exerting pressure in the middle, the answer is self-evident.

However, no one cares about this anymore. For the detectives who are investigating the case, there is only one most important thing now, and that is: to find the murderer of Musk as quickly as possible and find out who is behind him organization, and wipe out this organization in one fell swoop.

It must be quick.

Otherwise, the problem will not be as simple as "the dignity of the law" and "the stability of the market."

After making this start, the already precarious business competition environment will quickly and unstoppably fall into the abyss.

Previously, Huang Shi and Tyson were just wandering on the edge of the law, attacking each other with a few licenses and permission documents. But if they can kill even Musk, then do they have any concerns about small characters like them going on a killing spree? ?

Based on this, the FBI, USSS, and even JSOC were involved and quickly found Elden.

Theoretically, it is impossible for the Joint Special Operations Command to participate in such a scene. After all, their scope of activities is mainly overseas.

But now that they have appeared, it means that the "characterization" of this incident has departed from the original scope of a "murder case" and has officially been transformed into a "kbzy operation that poses a major threat to the country."

Therefore, it was impossible for Elden not to cooperate - he did not dare.

So, in his office, an informal investigation was first launched.

"The first thing we can rule out is the time when you committed the crime. I have to say that the chain of evidence is very complete."

"But that's actually not the point. With a status like yours, it's impossible to kill someone yourself."

"The point is, we retrieved all your call records and found that you have had frequent contact with a personal defense company in Ukraine in recent times, and you have also signed a three-year security contract with them."

"This is very unusual. In a country where private armed forces are the most prosperous, you are going to seek help from Ukraine. Don't you think this is a bit too obvious?"

"Whether it is in terms of strength or difficulty in contract execution, they are not as good as the PMC in the United States."

"We have to doubt your motives."

The first person to speak was the FBI agent. The questions he asked were extremely sharp, but Elden was already prepared for this.

"This is not a question of strength."

Eldon replied.

"On the one hand, what I need is not PMC, not the so-called private armed force, but personal defense services that can protect me personally, so firepower and strength are not my criteria for judgment."

"I don't have many enemies, and I don't plan to take revenge on anyone, but I have to ensure that if one day I become the target of someone's revenge for some ridiculous reasons, I can survive their actions."

"So, to put it bluntly, what I need is someone who can take a bullet for me, without hesitation!"

"As for this company in Ukraine, they happen to have rich experience and successful cases that are enough to convince me."

"During the car ride, all 12 of their employees were killed in action to protect the important people, and they even gave up the opportunity to shoot back - this is the bodyguard I want."

"All of this is true, and the execution of the contract can be queried at any time. I don't think this is anything suspicious."

"If you want to doubt me, you'd better find a better entry point."

Hearing Elden's words, the FBI agent nodded slightly.

Then, JSOC on the side spoke first:

"Let me interrupt first. The action against Musk is a kbzy attack. Do you agree with this?"

JSOC's questioning method is very artistic. He does not expect to get any useful clues from Elden's mouth. He just wants to anchor the nature of the incident on Elden.

In this way, if it is later found that he is related to the attack, the official can use the most limited authority to deal with it.

However, Elden does have a clear conscience.

So he answered simply:

"This is definitely a kbzy attack. In fact, I never think this is an 'assassination' caused by commercial interests. The person who did it targeted the entire industry and the entire market."

"The impact of this incident on us is no less than that of 911."

"Look at the financial markets. We're already on the verge of collapse."

"It's understandable that you are investigating me, but what I want to say is that it is not necessary or possible for me to kill him. It is best to shift the focus to other directions, find the murderer as soon as possible, and solve this problem."

The informal inquiry against Elden ended quickly, and out the door, JSOC was the first to make a judgment.

"It definitely can't be him. He doesn't fit the behavior pattern of a kbfz at all."

"We also think it's not him. The investigation is just routine. Let's go back and continue the investigation. If there are clues, I hope we can communicate with each other."

"Understand, now is not the time to compete for credit."

Several people present rarely reached an agreement on the same front, and just when they were about to say goodbye and leave, their cell phones rang almost at the same time.

The information came from different channels, but they realized the seriousness of the problem just by looking at each other.

"Go quickly!!"

Meanwhile, at sea.

Nine minutes ago, Artemis 2 had completed its launch, and the Falcon 9 rocket had also entered the launch and recovery process.

In another 5 minutes, it will land on this sea landing platform transformed from a large barge, located near the LZ-4 landing area, on the sea west of Vandenberg Air Force Base.

This is a bold attempt. Although this is only the second recovery test of Falcon-9, it extremely radically chose "sea recovery" rather than land recovery.

You must know that compared with land recycling, offshore recycling faces much higher risks than land recycling due to wind waves, meteorological conditions, platform stability and other factors, and the difficulty is doubled.

But SpaceX has to do this.

Because according to their previous budget, if land recovery is to be carried out, they must choose the flip recovery method, and control the flipping of the bottom first-stage rocket before returning to the atmosphere, so that it can change direction when re-entering the atmosphere to reduce speed and Steady decline.

This direction consumes a lot of fuel. In order to achieve stable recovery, the booster must also use three Merlin 1D engines for an ignition operation of about 40 seconds, which requires at least an additional consumption of 25-35 tons of propellant.

Generally speaking, the cost of land recycling is nearly twice that of offshore recycling.

Moreover, in terms of the flexibility of landing point selection, it is far from meeting the standards of ocean recycling.

SpaceX's situation is already extremely difficult. Even if it is not to realize Musk's "last wish", they must take this risk.

"Will this recycling be successful?"

On a monitoring ship not far from the recovery platform, a middle-aged man wearing a raincoat asked.

“There were no major problems, the wind and waves were very light, there was almost no impact on the barge, and the weather conditions were almost perfect.”

"The data parameters are all normal, and the descent trajectory is normal. Although it is only recovered at sea, we have still performed a first-stage rocket flip, and the Falcon's speed has been greatly reduced."

"Normally speaking, this recovery will not be any different from the last land recovery at Vandenberg Base, except that the landing area is smaller."

"But it's completely within our control. In fact, given the width of the barge, we even have a margin to spare."

He was answered by a man wearing sunglasses. His eyes were always staring at the empty sky. In fact, this was the reason why he never took off his sunglasses.

Hearing his words, the man in the raincoat nodded silently.

"It sounds reasonable, but... I always have an ominous feeling."

"A foreboding feeling? Yes, I feel that way too."

The man in sunglasses sighed.

"I actually felt this way before Musk was attacked."

"I think things are developing in a direction that is completely beyond our control. Yes, SpaceX is developing very fast and cooperates closely with NASA and the military."

"But in fact, we are not really favored by the military because of the so-called 'technical advantages', but because we are their best choice."

"The best cannon fodder."

The man in the raincoat corrected.

"Yes, it's cannon fodder."

"If it succeeds, it's all NASA's credit, but if we fail, they will quickly cut us off and find a new agent immediately."

"Such an attitude is dangerous. If anyone detects that NASA has such an attitude, there is no doubt that we will become the most vulnerable target."

The man in sunglasses finally lowered his head. He reached out and took off his sunglasses, revealing a thin face and sunken eye sockets.

"You mean BO?"

the man in the raincoat asked.

"No, it is impossible for BO to do such a thing, and even our enemies cannot be in the commercial rocket industry. What they want is to attack the cooperative relationship between commercial companies and the federal government, and make it even more powerful? "

"That's probably how it's described. In short, they want to kill a group of people, replace a group of people, and then let new people control the federation."

"I understand what you mean."

Hearing what the man in sunglasses said, the man in the raincoat nodded silently.

"We are a flag destined to be cut down. So, even if Elon dies, it is not enough."

"Our recovery project will definitely fail. The Falcon-9 will definitely be destroyed."

"It doesn't matter this time or the next time, right?"

"right."

The man in sunglasses gave a very brief answer, and then he continued:

"So, to be safe, we should stay away from this barge - further away."

"Go back one nautical mile. This distance should be enough."

"Back one mile!"

The man in the raincoat immediately picked up the walkie-talkie. He was the on-site commander, but in reality, the real decision-maker was the man in sunglasses.

The observation ship quickly turned around and retreated, away from the direction of the barge. At the same time, a dazzling star appeared in the sky.

The star kept falling, and the man in sunglasses could already see the shape of the star.

Falcon 9 begins landing.

The first-stage propulsion engine continuously adjusts the attitude of the rocket so that it can maintain the best descent trajectory in the air and reach the predetermined landing range.

As the rocket got closer and closer to the barge, the attitude of the rocket gradually changed from flying flat at a small angle to landing at a large angle.

This is like a semicircular arc, and the end of the arc will be exactly tangent to the vertical line of the barge landing platform.

Everything went smoothly and orderly, and even the man in sunglasses who had been extremely pessimistic just now breathed a sigh of relief.

"Everything is normal. It seems that we won't be cut down this time."

"Yes, it will land soon."

Two nautical miles away, the rocket had reached the top of the barge.

The engine ignited again, and the rocket's descent speed suddenly slowed down.

In the final 20 meters, the rocket landed smoothly on the barge.

No surprises.

"Soft landing!"

The man in sunglasses said happily.

"The first soft landing on the sea is a landmark event. Even if we fail again, we will not be so passive."

"etc!"

The man in the raincoat shouted anxiously, interrupting the man in sunglasses.

"The locking device is not activated!!"

"What?!"

The man in sunglasses was shocked.

"What are you talking about?? We just completed the self-examination!"

"Yes, but the locking device just didn't activate. It was too late. The secondary locking failed and the locking system failed - no, the power system was damaged!"

Falcon 9 stood quietly on the barge.

Then, it tipped over quietly.

Fire shot into the sky, and after a full ten seconds, there was finally sound in the ears of the two of them.

"It's over."

The man in sunglasses was shaking all over.

"They took action and this flag is going to fall."