Die on Mars

Tang Yue opened the door of the garage. Since the Martian stray dog ​​had been driven away by the old cat, the garage was now empty and could be used as a workshop. Tang Yue put the sink in his arms on the floor, then turned back and put the RTG in. He also hugged me.

The conditions in Kunlun Station were very limited, and Tang Yue could only use what he had. He sat on the floor with an isotope thermoelectric generator in front of him, and then covered himself with a large thermal blanket, forming a ceiling with himself as the fulcrum. The purpose of this simple tent is to keep warm. The heat generated by the RTG is concentrated in the small space under the blanket and is not easily lost.

The sink, compressed biscuits, plates, cups, measuring cylinders, pestles, and gauze were all placed on the floor in front of Tang Yue. Because the light in the garage was poor, Tang Yue also turned on the Mingguang Kai headlight.

Tang Yue brought six compressed biscuits. Under ideal conditions, these biscuits could provide him with 180 mg of vitamin C. Because the number of cold-processed biscuits in the station was not enough to support the tomatoes, Tang Yue had to do it. It’s a good plan to properly allocate your vitamin C intake over the next two months.

Tang Yue plans to take a daily supplement of 200 mg of vitamin C in the next week. This will consume about 47 biscuits, accounting for half of the total. However, this is a helpless move. Tang Yue's physical condition is not optimistic. He has begun to have serious mouth ulcers. If he doesn't take vitamin supplements quickly, he won't even be able to eat.

Tang Yue unpacked the compressed biscuits - it took him a lot of effort. It was inconvenient to do delicate work wearing Mingguang armored gloves.

"That damn cat, where did it go?" Tang Yue threw the hard biscuits into the empty sink, "Where did you go... Why didn't you come back?"

Tang Yue recalled that in the Tang Dynasty, the King of Wuyue sent a letter to his wife who went home to visit relatives. The letter said, "The flowers are blooming on the street, and you can return home slowly." Later generations commented that he could only say a few words, but his appearance was infinite. Although the literati wrote , can't be surpassed. If Tang Yue could write a letter to Lao Mao, he would definitely be full of affection, just like Wu Wang Qian Liu, with a few words that are touching.

He wants to write: "***! Old cat ***!"

Although there are only six asterisks, the strong emotions contained in it are ready to come out and rush to your face.

"Tang Yue, I have seen a total of five thousand satellite photos."

"What a great breakthrough. Congratulations on completing one-twentieth of the total. Have you discovered anything?" Tang Yue asked.

"uh-huh."

Tang Yue stacked six compressed biscuits in the sink. Next, he would crush the biscuits and soak them in water. To be honest, this was a waste of food. These biscuits were already shockingly unpalatable when they were originally packed. If they were twisted again, Twist it and soak it, the taste and texture are simply unimaginable.

"Isn't the air pressure in the garage very low? Tang Yue, you have to pay attention to sealing the water and use a container with a lid." Maidong reminded.

"The air pressure is low and the temperature is low. At the current temperature in the garage, the water will not boil quickly." Tang Yue said, "And all my containers have lids...except the sink."

Tang Yue broke the biscuits with force, then crushed them bit by bit, catching the broken pieces on a plate.

He broke all six compressed biscuits into pieces, then used a pestle to grind them into powder as much as possible, and carefully poured them into a large cylinder... Tang Yue could only pour a part of the compressed biscuits into the measuring cylinder, because the volume of the measuring cylinder was limited. There was enough space to add fresh water, so Tang Yue decided to extract vitamin C in several batches.

"Tang Yue, is there any connection between the disappearance of Mr. Cat and the disappearance of the earth?"

"What's the meaning?"

"Think about it, the earth disappeared overnight, and Mr. Cat also disappeared overnight. Could they have disappeared for the same reason?" Maidong said.

"I discussed with the old cat a long time ago the reasons for the disappearance of the earth, but in the end we couldn't come to any conclusion." Tang Yue shook his head and lightly mashed the biscuits. "It told me that so far, within the scope of human knowledge, Nothing can make the earth disappear without a trace, and in the end we have to blame it on some unknown natural phenomenon, or an advanced alien civilization... You mean the old cat fell into a wormhole , or was it captured by aliens?"

Maidong pondered. It was obvious that both of these speculations were unreliable. They were completely based on fantasy and had no reference value.

"Don't think too much. That damn cat probably overturned in a gutter." Tang Yue picked up the measuring cylinder, shook it vigorously, and examined it carefully with eyes wide open to confirm that there were no impurities in it, and then closed the lid. Put on the lid.

Tang Yue's actions were quite cautious. He cleaned the garage to prevent any foreign objects from falling into the measuring cylinder or water cup. Anything put into the mouth at Kunlun Station needs to be strictly disinfected. Tang Yue does not have this condition now. , we can only try to keep it as clean as possible.

Tang Yue took out the syringe, put the needle through the lid of the water cup, sucked the water out and poured it into the measuring cylinder.

With the sound of water dripping, the biscuit powder and fresh water mix into an earthy yellow paste, which looks a bit like mud. The starch in the compressed biscuits gradually dissolves in the water, and some water-insoluble impurity particles float up and down in the solution. Tang Yue gently shook the measuring cylinder to mix the solid and liquid evenly, and foam appeared on the liquid surface.

He wants to extract the vitamin C from the biscuits. The only solvent that can be used is water. As long as the biscuits are fully soaked in water, the vitamin C contained in them will dissolve in the water. Finally, after filtering, the vitamin C will be mixed with the solvent. Cookies separated.

If this method were implemented on Earth, vitamin C would be oxidized by the air during the dissolution and stirring stage, making it impossible to successfully extract it. However, there is no such concern on Mars. The Martian atmosphere is thin and does not contain oxygen, so vitamin C can be extracted intact. Keep it.

"To be honest, I've really thought about aliens before."

"I've thought about it too, but there are so many things I've thought about. I've also thought about getting admitted to Tsinghua University to become a school belle. Most of them are just wishful thinking." Tang Yue shook his head, "If it's true that aliens captured the old cat, Then we don’t need to search anymore, the old cat may have flown out of the solar system by this time.”

"Are aliens considered wishful thinking?" Maidong asked.

"When you failed in school when you were a child, would you pray for aliens to help you tamper with your scores?"

"I've never failed a test."

Tang Yue choked, "Okay, when you broke up with your ex-boyfriend, did you hope that aliens would come and shoot that scumbag in the head?"

"I've never had a boyfriend either."

Tang Yue choked again, "Then if you encounter any bad luck, for example, if your kittens and puppies are lost, will you think that aliens have abducted them?"

"Won't."

"That's it." Tang Yue spread his hands, "Since you don't think aliens will take away your dog, then why do you think aliens will take away our cat? What's more, this is just a cat. A talkative cat who is extremely mean-spirited, the kind who gives you free money and no one wants it... Could it be that just because you are on Mars, you are more likely to encounter alien creatures? If I were an alien, I would definitely More interested in the earth.”

"So the earth disappeared?" Maidong asked abruptly.

Tang Yue was startled, and the girl's question shocked him.

"Enough chatting. I'm going to filter the vitamin solution next. Don't interfere with my work."

He placed the measuring cylinder on the floor and let it stand. The turbid suspension began to separate, and the water-insoluble solids slowly precipitated. The separation between the upper clear night and the sediment was obvious.

He carefully tilted the measuring cylinder, sucked out all the khaki transparent clear liquid with a syringe, and poured it into the water glass.

Next, there was a muddy biscuit paste left in the measuring cylinder. At this time, medical gauze came in handy. Tang Yue covered the mouth of the measuring cylinder with multiple layers of gauze to make a simple filtering device. Then he inverted the measuring cylinder and filtered the remaining The remaining solution is drained out.

This process is very slow. It takes about an hour for all the free water to drip down. Tang Yue has no clamps and relies on hand-held equipment. He has to maintain one posture for a long time, so his back is sore and he has to stop to get up and rest in the middle of the activity. hands and feet.

Gravity stripped away most of the free water, and a large ball of wet mud was left in the measuring cylinder... Tang Yue poured the mud onto gauze, wrapped it in gauze, and then wrapped it in waterproof material. plastic film, then hold it with both hands and squeeze it hard, and the final moisture will flow into the cup along the gaps in the plastic film.

Tang Yue didn't want to waste any fresh water, so he tried his best to squeeze out the water in the biscuit batter and knead it into various shapes like dough.

The final result was a ball of odd-shaped flatbread and 300 ml of brown solution. Judging from the results, Tang Yue's efficiency was quite high. He poured in more than 300 ml of fresh water and filtered out three One hundred milliliters of vitamin C solution is not wasted. Of course, this solution must not only contain vitamin C, but also other water-soluble ingredients in the compressed biscuits.

Tang Yue breathed a sigh of relief. The initial trial production was a complete success. If it weren't for being outdoors and unable to open the mask, he would have wanted to taste the taste of the muddy water right away.

There were still quite a few biscuits in the sink. Tang Yue cheered up. He wanted to extract all the vitamin C before dark.

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(Author Jun’s gossip:

I had nothing to do and was browsing the bookshelf, and accidentally found a few old books. I saw Liu Wenyang's "One Day in Prison" and couldn't help but read it again. With Liu Gongzi's talent, if he had not died young, he would now be in the science fiction literary world. I'm afraid I can stand side by side with Da Liu.

There is also Heinlein's "Puppet Master", a classic alien invasion theme. The author and I want to write about Star Wars or something, tsk tsk. )