Chereads / Deep Into Space / Chapter 12 - Food Crisis

Chapter 12 - Food Crisis

On the second day, a meeting of more than 300 people was held inside the base, including elites from the scientific community and representatives of skilled workers.

Jack sat at the forefront of the meeting, stroking the hair on his sideburns. He stayed up all night last night. After dismissing the fanatical crowd, he spent almost a whole entire base. There are joys and sorrows, the situation is slightly better than expected, but it is not necessarily too good.

The ruling team in the base was wiped out by them, and they could only drive ducks to the shelves, and temporarily set up a government organization.

First of all, the first point is that Calvin and others unexpectedly expressed their obedience to themselves. They were imprisoned for the crime of rebellion, and there was no resistance in the middle. Maybe he himself has been brainwashed by himself, but it's a good thing after all.

The second good thing is that after Calvin made such a fuss, more than 20,000 people believed that Jack was the legendary savior who could save them... and the remaining 30,000 people, more than 5,000 of them were killed by the mob. The attack happened to be rescued by Jack and his party, and these people also became his loyal supporters.

Most of the others are hiding in underground facilities. Although they were not at the scene, they have watched some videos and heard some rumors. They are currently in a state of half-belief...

In short, people's hearts are generally stable. Thinking of this, Jack felt a little headache again. In fact, he didn't have a particularly big ambition. Who wants to be the leader of the moon base? Isn't this forced...

As for the secrets of Perfection and the alien spacecraft, it seems that they have been completely exposed. But except for a small number of people who reacted, the rest of the people seemed to be numb and didn't feel much. After all, at the moment before the life and death of the entire race, who would consider such things as lifespan.

What's the point of living a hundred million years if you're going to die tomorrow.

The real trouble is... this is a really big problem!

Thinking of this, Jack no longer hesitated, and said in a deep voice, "Everyone! I called you here not for anything else, but for the survival of human beings!"

"Currently, all positions in our lunar base are in a state of passive absenteeism . On the one hand, the reason is that the original high-level executives were attacked and the base was left unattended. On the other hand, it is people's psychological factors."

"The earth is destroyed, and each of us is full of sadness and despair. We need rest, comfort, and countless emotions to vent..."

"I know that it is very against humanity to let everyone go to work at this time. But everyone here is an elite, and you should know one thing, that is - we can no longer get supplies from the earth! And our moon base, It is impossible to produce enough living materials for 50,000 people!"

"We are short of water, oxygen, food, almost everything!" Jack's voice became louder and louder, "Time is running out, those of us who survived will lose their chance of survival if we wait to die like this..."

At this time, Dr. Roman, who was sitting directly opposite him, spoke. He is the chief biologist at the base and someone Jack is familiar with, "Captain Jack, if you have anything to say, just say it. Although we have lived here for a long time, we each have our own differences." I don't know what's going on in the base."

After the voice fell, some people around nodded.

"Okay, then I'll get straight to the point." Jack said, "First of all, it's about food!"

"Assuming that a person needs to eat a catty of grain a day, our base has a population of 50,000, and the amount of grain consumed a day is - 25 tons! However, what we currently eat are high-energy compressed foods rich in sugar and fat, and this amount can be reduced Two-thirds, that is, about eight or nine tons of food is consumed a day."

The people around nodded, this calculation is quite accurate.

"Before the destruction of the earth, our Victory spacecraft transported exactly 400 tons of food, plus the base's original food, it was about 700 tons... That is, it can only last for more than 90 days, even if you save a little, One hundred days!"

"One hundred days, only one hundred days! After one hundred days, we will experience a food crisis! Without food, I don't need to explain the final outcome, right?"

One hundred days, that is, a little more than three months, everyone fell silent. This time is really too short! A burning feeling instantly appeared in my heart.

The people here are all elites, with smart brains and wide knowledge. If this continues... they seem to see themselves starving to death. When people are hungry, they can do anything, such as cannibalism, cannibalism, etc., then it will really be hell on earth.

"So, we must hurry up and do something!" Jack slammed his fist on the steel table, "We still have time, so there is still hope!"

Is there a food production base on the moon? have! But output is insignificant compared to demand.

The food base on the moon mainly produces agricultural products such as vegetables and fruits. Because the taste of those high-energy foods is really not very good, eating too much may make you sick, so people need vegetables and fruits to improve the taste, and supplement some cellulose necessary for the human body. .

But even so, the prices of these vegetables and fruits are astonishingly high, at least a hundred times higher than on Earth!

Of course, other grains are not produced on a large scale, not only because of technical reasons, but also because the production cost is too high, which is far less cheap than transporting it from the earth.

"Captain Jack, maybe we can grow rice on a large scale!" A middle-aged man in his thirties who spoke was the person in charge of the entire agricultural base and the one who knew it best.

"If the cost is not considered, we can cultivate rice on a large scale! The growth cycle of some rice is about three months. If it is cultivated properly, we can produce the first batch of food before the food crisis comes!"

Everyone was refreshed after hearing this. Soilless cultivation can be said to be a relatively mature technology on the moon. The yield of soilless rice is more than 1,000 catties per mu. The most important thing is that it saves space. Petri dishes can Stack up layer by layer. If one mu of land can grow up to ten layers, it can be said that the yield per mu is ten thousand catties!

According to this calculation, only 500 mu of land, which is equivalent to 330,000 square meters of land, can support 50,000 people.

But before the words finished, a voice forcibly broke this fantasy, it was the chief biologist Dr. Roman, he said unceremoniously, "Mr. Chelf, I have to remind you, your thinking is too simple! Our grain base is not so large. It is feasible to expand the scale, but a series of follow-up supplies need to keep up. We need facilities, petri dishes, culture conditioners, etc... all of these need Time."

"More importantly - carbon dioxide! This is not the earth, we lack carbon dioxide! Have you ever thought about how plants can grow without carbon dioxide?"

"Everyone knows that most of the oxygen we breathe is produced by industry, and photosynthesis only accounts for a small part. As for the carbon dioxide produced by breathing in recent years, because it has not been taken seriously, most of it is lost due to air leakage... Already!"

"I originally wanted to expand the grain base, but it was shelved for this reason."

After hearing this, the middle-aged man sat down with a livid face. He also realized the importance of carbon dioxide.

"To solve this problem, we must build a new ecosystem, a biosphere! This is no longer a simple problem of growing food, but a comprehensive and systemic problem!" Dr. Roman said loudly.