Chapter 9: Absolutely Impossible

Time was tight, and the task was heavy.

The biggest problem now was that he still didn’t know the flow of time in 1960. In other words, while twenty-four hours had passed for him in 2020, he had no idea how much time had elapsed in 1960.

Twelve hours had already gone by, and in Lin Ran’s mind, he needed to quickly get hold of the Fabian Society badge and then return to 1960.

In 2020, he was just an inconspicuous nobody; no one would notice if he disappeared for a long time. But in 1960, he was surrounded by people like Haines, a NASA engineer who had some renown within the agency.

After returning to 2020 and reviewing NASA’s official public records, Lin Ran learned that Haines was actually a core member of NASA’s aerospace projects in the 1960s.

If time allowed, forging a Fabian Society badge might be a viable plan. But the biggest problem was that time simply didn’t permit it.

There was another issue: he only knew what the badge looked like but didn’t know if it had any anti-counterfeiting features. If there were such features and someone detected the badge was fake, it would cause new trouble.

Therefore, by any measure, obtaining the family heirloom Fabian Society badge from Li Xiaoman was the best option.

“Xiaoman, I have a way to make a lot of dollars in a short time, but this plan needs your cooperation.”

The previous night, the two of them had driven through the night for four hours to return to America. They had only arrived back at their place at four in the morning, and barely an hour and a half had passed. Li Xiaoman had just fallen asleep when Lin Ran knocked on her door, calling her to the third-floor common area.

Li Xiaoman’s anger was about to reach its peak. Unlike Lin Ran, who had just been modified and could stay sharp through three days and nights without sleep, she was not so resilient.

No matter how calm she usually was, and despite their ambiguous relationship, she simply couldn’t withstand such torment.

“Rudolph, what exactly do you want? No matter how big your money-making plan is, all I want right now is sleep.”

Lin Ran said, “Once this plan is completed, it could earn a hundred million dollars or even more.”

Li Xiaoman immediately perked up. Money was the most direct stimulant for the brain.

Especially a hundred million dollars—that was no small sum.

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Li Xiaoman’s family had a solid scholarly background, but she truly had no money.

After her parents died, she lived with her uncle’s family in the ancestral estate left by her grandfather. She occupied the third floor, while her uncle and aunt lived elsewhere.

She had no idea how much inheritance her parents had left her—her uncle and aunt probably wouldn’t share anything with her anyway.

Legally, she was supposed to own half the property, but in reality, her uncle and aunt had no intention of giving her any ownership.

Furthermore, unlike a PhD in science or engineering that might come with scholarships, she was a law doctoral student. Forget scholarships—the tuition was terrifyingly high, tens of thousands of dollars per year.

This was at a public university; if she were at Columbia University, the cost would be three times that.

Otherwise, given her family background, she would have to study for her doctorate at Columbia University, the gathering place of the Frankfurt School.

Besides working part-time jobs and taking loans, she also rented out her apartment to barely make ends meet.

Later, to become a lawyer and intern at a top law firm, she might even have to pay out of pocket.

So, the lure of money was undeniably enormous.

Li Xiaoman first asked, “You’re not joking, are you?”

Lin Ran shook his head. “I never joke about this kind of thing. Besides, even if I did, I wouldn’t do it at six in the morning, especially after you worked so hard to get me back.”

Li Xiaoman said, “Give me two minutes. We’ll talk in your room later.” She didn’t want her uncle and aunt to overhear this big deal.

Two minutes later, Lin Ran saw Li Xiaoman in his room, her face still damp from washing. She had evidently refreshed herself and was now fully alert, radiating the image of a sharp professional.

“Look, last March, at the fifth meeting of the National Space Council, the White House announced that America planned to return to the moon by 2024, four years earlier than NASA’s original schedule.

This document is NASA’s full-year 2020 budget, passed on April 2nd, which includes rockets, the Orion spacecraft, the lunar gateway, and commercial lunar landers.

Among these, the commercial lunar lander will begin risk verification this year, and the subsequent bidding will use a multi-phase contracting method.

Multi-phase contracting: the NextSTEP model, where NASA provides technical guidance, but the actual commercial development is carried out by the companies.

At first, NASA used this model to support two commercial space companies, one of which was SpaceX.”

Li Xiaoman already regretted it, looking at Lin Ran as if he were crazy.

“You don’t mean to tell me you want to participate in NASA’s multi-phase contracting? Just the two of us?

I know your college graduation project was about the Apollo moon landing, but you really think you actually took part in Apollo?”

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Li Xiaoman found this even more absurd than teasing her. It was utterly farfetched, more so than any Hollywood blockbuster she had ever seen.

Lin Ran explained, “The details differ from what you think, but what we have to do might be even more outrageous.

NASA’s commercial moon landing bidding will almost certainly be won by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

But clearly, whether from public information or from the terrible personal relationship between Bezos and Musk, Blue Origin also wants a slice of the pie.

If I can help Blue Origin win this project, how much money would they pay me?”

Li Xiaoman was speechless. “Your premise is based entirely on impossibilities.

The question is, how can you help Blue Origin get a NASA contract? Are you NASA’s director or the head of the White House National Space Council?”

Lin Ran thought, if I had saved Kennedy in 1963, maybe I could have become NASA’s director.

He said, “What if I can help Blue Origin beat everyone to return to the moon?”

Li Xiaoman stood up, ready to leave. “Rudolph, you really are sick. What you need is rest. Today, I heard a joke more ridiculous than any joke.”

Li Xiaoman usually insisted on speaking Chinese with Lin Ran to improve her language skills. One called her Xiaoman, the other called him Rudolph. Even the Chinese students at the State University of New York found it odd when they heard them at gatherings.

Lin Ran quickly took her hand. “Xiaoman, I know you find this unbelievable.

But this is exactly what I’m going to do next.

America successfully landed on the moon in 1969 and completed six moon landings in total.

Now, though, we cannot return to the moon. The historical technical materials still exist. During my trip to Cherry Springs to stargaze, I realized the core technical challenge.

Once this challenge is solved, and with the historical data, it is entirely possible to complete a moon landing using Apollo-era technology.

What we need to do is convince Blue Origin that we can do it, use Bezos’s resources to accomplish this plan, and get funding from Blue Origin.”