I almost touched the moon

In the evening, Wen Song leaned against the hot spring pool, his whole body immersed in the hot spring water, half-closed his eyes, quietly looking at the scenery in front of him, listening to the wind blowing through the cherry trees, blowing away the fallen petals.

The weather was very good that day. Lake Ashi in the sunset reflected golden clouds. The red torii gate on the other side of the lake was clearly visible. Mount Fuji was hidden between the lake and the mountains, and only the snow-covered top of the mountain could be seen. The breeze blew away the reflections on the lake, and golden ripples appeared on the water. Occasionally, a few egrets flew by, adding a touch of vitality to the calm lakeshore.

The water temperature was a little high, and Wen Song felt sleepy. He turned over and lay in Cheng Che's arms, put his arms around his waist, stroked his abdominal muscles out of habit, and yawned.

"I love Hakone so much. I love Hakone the most."

Cheng Che took the oolong tea from the side and handed it to her, then gently wiped the sweat off her forehead and said softly, "If you like us, then stay with us for a while longer. Stay as long as you want."

Wen Song stretched, leaned on Cheng Che's shoulder, and said with some regret: "At most one week, I have to go back. Priscilla and the others sent me a lot of emails, asking me when my vacation will end and want to discuss the project progress with me. Even Andrew and Lukas asked me if I can go back to class next week because they want to take a vacation. I feel that if I don't go back, they will come to Japan to take me back."

"Prof. Iseylia..." Cheng Che touched Wen Song's head, put his arm around her waist and held her in his arms. His lips touched her eyes and he said with a smile, "Then let's go back on Sunday. I'm afraid that if you don't go back, your LMU Physics Department will explode. Alas...but I can't bear to let you go. After you go back, Astrid will pester you and call you mama mama again, and your sister won't belong to me alone."

"Nonsense." Wen Song rubbed Cheng Che's head, raised his head and kissed him lightly on the corner of his lips, "She's obviously pestering you to call her papa every day. Be good, let's go see the comet after we go back. Do you remember that on January 1th two years ago, researchers at the Tegelberg Observatory discovered a new long-period comet numbered C/4. It is expected to pass the perihelion in mid-May this year. We can take Astrid to see it."

"Of course I remember." Cheng Che lowered his head and rubbed Wen Song's cheek, "You also calculated that the orbital period of this comet is about 2476 years. Song Song, have you named the comet? If not, can I buy the naming rights and name it after Astrid? When we took her to see Rosey before, she was very sad. She said that the comet has the name of Papa Mama, but not her."

"No." Wen Song shook his head and said, "Ache, I am very opposed to treating the naming rights of small celestial bodies as commodities. Discovering a small celestial body is a very long process, and the time and energy invested cannot be measured in money. If Astrid wants a comet to be named after her, there are only two possibilities for me. Either she discovers a comet herself, or she makes a great contribution to astrophysics or astronomy."

Cheng Che nodded and said, "I understand, my wife. I will explain it to her. She is grown up now and will not be sad about such things anymore."

After that, he picked up Wen Song again, kissed her lips and lingered with her, smiling brightly, "Sister really still loves me the most. You are willing to name the comet you discovered after me. You will only do this for me, right?"

"Yes." Wen Song also kissed him, and his voice became a little unclear as his lips and tongues entangled. "I love you the most, so why should I be jealous of Astrid? You are really weird!"

After taking a hot spring bath, Wen Song checked his phone and found several calls from Felix and Dr. Harmon, the ESA project manager in charge of the space station construction.

She felt a little confused. Felix knew she was on vacation and Dr. Harmon rarely contacted her except by email. She thought maybe there was some big problem with the space station or the probe, so she called Felix back immediately.

"Hallo Felix, Ich bin noch im Urlaub, was ist da los?"

(Hi Felix, I'm on vacation, what's going on?)

Felix answered her call and said with relief: "Professor, I'm glad to hear your voice. Can I get an email from you?"

(Professor, I finally got in touch with you. Did you really not read the email at all?)

"Ja, naturlich." Wen Song also smiled, "Wissen Sie, ich wurde im Urlaub nie in mein E-Mail-Postfach schauen oder mein Telefon fur die Arbeit einschalten. Was ist also los?"

(Yeah, of course. You know I never check my email or my work phone on vacation. So what happened?)

Felix also laughed helplessly and said to Wen Song: "Entspannen Sie sich, Professor, es gibt keine schlechten Nachrichten. Ich glaube, es wird eine gute Nachricht fur Sie sein, also freuen Sie sich nicht zu sehr."

(Relax, professor, it's not bad news. I think this should be good news for you, so don't get too excited.)

After hearing what Felix said, Wen Song remained silent... She was of course happy in her heart, but not completely happy. In fact, she had no choice but to agree to Felix immediately.

After thinking for a moment, she said to Felix: "Ja, das ist definitiv eine gute Nachricht. Aber ich brauche noch etwas Zeit, um daruber nachzudenken. Dankesch?n."

(Yes, that's certainly good news. But I still need some time to think about it, thank you.)

After hanging up the phone, Wen Song immediately checked her email. The project introduction and invitation sent to her by ESA headquarters three weeks ago were exactly the same as what Felix said, except that the deadline for the confirmation letter was 11:59 p.m. Central European Time this Friday. No wonder Felix called her.

She called Dr. Harmon back and received almost the same message and words.

But Dr. Harmon also mentioned, "This project has a certain degree of risk, so actually, we preferred aerospace engineers or astronauts with relevant experience. But since you regrettably missed the opportunity to the ISS 8 years ago, we invited you as priority this time. This project will also carry out experiments related to detection of dark matters, which is also the direction of your research, professor, so we need your participation."

(This project has certain risks, so we actually prefer aerospace engineers or astronauts with relevant experience, but because you unfortunately missed the opportunity to go to the International Space Station eight years ago, we gave you priority this time. This project will conduct experiments related to dark matter detection, which is also your research direction, so we really need your participation)

Wen Song hung up the phone and looked at the confirmation form on the phone screen. The project content had already been filled in. She only needed to fill in her personal information and sign.

However, perhaps because the life Cheng Che and Astrid had created for her over the years was too good, she became a little indecisive. When she saw the possible risks, she was unable to make a decisive decision for the first time and fell into hesitation.