Dead on Mars

Tang Yue stared at the comet on the monitor.

It was a tiny point of light, dim and distant. The picture was almost still, making it difficult to imagine that it was a colossal object weighing 102 trillion tonnes that was hurtling through space at 70 km/s, carrying with it a staggering amount of energy equivalent to more than 5.2 trillion nuclear bombs.

Just looking at it like that, Tang Yue didn’t even believe that it could destroy him.

It didn’t even seem bigger than his fingernail, with it being just a tiny piece of dust in the starry cosmos.

Tomcat had its two paws stretched out as it sat on a chair, crossing its other two legs. Its eyelids were drooped; its thoughts a mystery. In front of it were a keyboard and a stack of paper.

“The United Space Station won’t avoid the impact, and the chance of survival is too low. We have to prepare to bring Mai Dong down here.” Tang Yue moved his gaze away from the monitor. “There are still about forty sols left. We should make every second count.”

“Yeah.”

Tomcat answered indifferently.

“The only thing that can be used is the Eagle. We have no other options apart from that.”

“Yeah.”

“The heat-resistant tiles should be able to resist the heat in theory, but the stability of its attitude is a big problem. Without a propellant or an engine, the Eagle will not be able to maintain the correct attitude during the atmospheric entry. It will definitely crash.”

“Yeah.”

“Apart from saying ‘yeah,’ can you say something else?”

“Then stop bothering me. I’m contemplating some problems.” Tomcat got up and left its chair, walking to the Hab’s wall and facing it. It then leaned its head on the wall.

“Tang Yue, Mr. Cat, this is the part for the history of Western philosophy. I’ve finished organizing it. It goes all the way to Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Marx, and Engels, There’s also a portion of positivism, structuralism, and existentialism… Eh? Where’s Mr. Cat?”

Mai Dong sent over a document.

Even though the United Space Station and Kunlun Station were about to face destruction, the recording work didn’t end.

Of course, this mission was mainly left to Mai Dong. As for the plans to rescue themselves, they were left to Tang Yue and Tomcat.

Since Mai Dong couldn’t provide any help, she might as well continue recording and organizing the history of Earth. How much got written was up to fate.

“Your Mr. Cat is a Wallfacer now. Are you its

Wallbreaker

?”

Tang Yue turned the camera over and made Mai Dong see Tomcat. The latter’s forehead was against the wall with its paws behind its back, motionless.

“Mr. Cat? Mr. Cat? I’ve sent the documents.”

“Alright, I got it, but The Lord doesn’t

care

.”

Tomcat replied indifferently without turning its head or opening its eyes.

“Mai Dong, when can you head out again?” Tang Yue turned the camera back.

“Head out?”

“Yes, we need you to inspect the Eagle’s heat-resistant tiles,” Tang Yue explained. “We will be bringing you down.”

…

Mai Dong became alarmed and she fell into a long daze.

She bit her lip as her gaze darted around before moving back to the communications system. She twirled her hair a little.

“But… But the Eagle has already been condemned. Doesn’t it lack the ability to enter the atmosphere again? Will there be any problems riding in it?”

“Yes, it has been condemned.”

“Yet it still can be used?” Mai Dong was somewhat puzzled.

“We discovered that its safety redundancy allows it to do one more atmospheric entry. This is the only chance.”

“That… Does that engine still have fuel? We don’t have a parachute either. How do we decelerate when the time comes…”

“Leave all the problems to Tomcat and me,” Tang Yue interrupted her. “You are only responsible for the execution. Can you do it?”

Mai Dong was still a little hesitant, but she was moved by Tang Yue’s firm gaze. This young man was wrapped in a wrinkled blanket with his face thin filled with stubble. He looked like a malnourished tramp.

However, deep in his eyes were the glow and look of confidence—just looking at those eyes made you reach out to grab his hand despite knowing that the chances were slim.

Ever since Earth disappeared, Mai Dong had thought that she could never head down again.

The Eagle was only a one-time use spacecraft. From its designer to its maker, and to its user, no one had thought of using it for another atmospheric entry.

This was because it was suicidal.

Taking a step forward would mean plummeting down into a hundred-thousand-feet deep abyss, and the man below was shouting: Jump down. I’ll catch you!

Would you close your eyes and do the leap of faith?

Mai Dong stared into Tang Yue’s eyes as she suddenly felt that she had never seen cowardice or fear in them. No matter if Earth disappeared or the tomatoes died, Tang Yue would end up disappointed and desperate due to all the difficulties, but he had never felt cowardice or fear… What kind of person was he?

He had arduously traversed the dark hurricane, holding up a communications antenna roaring. He sat in the cold Hab, hugging the dead sprouts in his arms with great sorrow. Now, faced with the most terrifying calamity from the skies, he still struggled to get onto his feet to find that last chance of survival. What exactly prompted him to continue this far?

Don’t you know fatigue?

“Mai Dong, you have to trust us.”

“I obviously trust both of you.” Mai Dong leaned against the wall as she slammed into Ah Q’s stomach and sighed. “I also really, really wish to head down. You have no idea what it is like to spend so many days in the space station.”

The girl scrunched her nose, thought for a moment, and added, “It’s like hell. I really wish to leave this place of misery as quickly as possible.”

Including the time she had worked on the space station before Earth vanished, Mai Dong had already spent more than a year there. She had tried her best to modify the space station to make it conducive for living. She had covered the sleeping quarters and core module with all kinds of brightly colored paper and hung furry toys and all kinds of trinkets. She kept playing relaxing piano pieces and light music to reduce the ice-cold industrial and machinery feelings the space station gave her.

Unfortunately, how could a group of tunnels, which had been put together, change the reality that it was a cramped and stifling space? The music couldn’t drown out the constant humming noise either. The space station was ultimately not a conducive place for long-term habitation.

At times, while floating inside the core module, Mai Dong would look at the walls and the dense array of buttons on the control panel, feeling as though she was lying inside a coffin.

But to run freely on an open plain to see the endless skies was something only possible in a dream.

“Listen up lass. We will formulate the plans,” Tang Yue said. “Arrange your schedule. We need you to head out once to check the Eagle’s heat-resistant tiles. It’s our only hope.”

“Alright!” Mai Dong nodded. “I’ll head out again.”

…

To examine the Eagle’s situation, Mai Dong needed to head out on an EVA trip.

After the last resupply mission, the Eagle’s Ascent Vehicle was connected to the Silent multipurpose module. It was where the Orion was docked and was the farthest away from the Crystal core module. To make it easier for Mai Dong, Tang Yue and Tomcat needed to first move the Eagle.

They planned on undocking the Eagle from the Silent module before redocking onto the Hope experiment module.

“Tomcat! Tomcat, come control the arm. Hear that? Stop being a Wallfacer! Wallfacer Tomcat, I am your Wallbreaker!”

“I know, but The Lord doesn’t care.”

Wallfacers and Wallbreakers are a homage to The Dark Forest of The Three-Body Problem trilogy

Another reference to The Dark Forest of The Three-Body Problem trilogy in which a Wallbreaker tells his Wallfacer.