Die on Mars

In the middle of the night, Tang Yue woke up with a start and reached out his hand from the bed to test the temperature.

He got up and put on his clothes, and opened the door curtain of the passenger compartment. The biting cold seeped in, and Tang Yue shivered violently.

Kunlun Station was dimly lit and quiet, and the communication system was still on, but Maidong was not in the Crystal cabin and must have gone to sleep.

A plastic greenhouse was propped up on the floor of the hall, and the plastic film was covered with blankets and fabrics. The bright white and dazzling light of high-pressure sodium lamps shone through the gaps in the blankets.

The computer on the desktop has a black screen, and the clock flashes red every second.

Tang Yue came over and squatted beside the greenhouse. Through the mist-covered plastic film, he could see the sink on the floor.

There are tomato seedlings planted in the tank, with white radicles buried in the soil and a delicate light green leaf standing tenaciously in the air.

Tang Yue stared at the tomato seedling for a long time and became fascinated unconsciously. He suddenly understood why Ophiopogon japonicus gave this vegetable a name.

He has always thought that he is a higher-order creature with intelligence, far away from the animal kingdom, let alone inferior plants, but this is actually a high hat that humans put on themselves.

Being on the wasteland of Mars, facing the entire universe alone, Tang Yue realized that he was no different from a small tomato seedling.

If the universe had supreme intelligence, would it think that Tang Yue was superior to tomatoes?

In the eyes of nature, life may not be high or low.

"As usual, I should also give you a name." Tang Yue said to the tomato, "What should you call it? Washington? Roosevelt? Kennedy? Or Nixon?"

"Yes!" Tang Yue thought for a moment and patted his thigh, "From now on, your name will be Zhang Wuji!"

The tomato seedlings were silent, not knowing what to think.

Another small bud that had emerged was named "Yang Dingtian" by Tang Yue.

Tang Yue leaned into the greenhouse, hugged the two water tanks tightly in his arms, and used his body to warm the tomato seedlings. He was worried that the heat emitted by the isotope thermoelectric generator and high-pressure sodium lamp was not enough, and the plants would not be able to withstand the severe cold on Mars. long night.

Tang Yue sat on the floor, hugging them, shivering and whispering: "Wuji, Wuji, you have to grow up quickly... grow up quickly, bloom quickly, bear fruit quickly, your master Golden Retriever Lion King Xie Xun is still in the hands of those old bald donkeys in Shaolin Temple, waiting for you to rescue him..."

The high-pressure sodium lamp cast the man's shadow on the plastic film. He hugged the sink tightly as if holding his own child. This was the only solitary light in the dark Martian desert, small but bright.

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"This is the United Space Station. Calling Mr. Cat. Please answer if you receive it... This is the United Space Station. Calling Mr. Cat. Please answer if you receive it."

The Mars Joint Space Station passed over the Ishidi Plain at an average speed of 3.5 kilometers per second. The high-gain communication antenna was pointed at the surface. The girl's voice was captured in the form of vibration by the carbon film in the electret, and converted into electric current in the electrode. , amplified and converted into high-frequency electromagnetic signals, which are broadcast toward the surface of Mars through antennas.

Vacuum cannot propagate sound, but fortunately, electromagnetic waves do not require a medium. They can carry information through the void and reach very far places.

Maidong pressed the earphone.

"This is the United Space Station. Calling Kunlun Station. Please answer when you receive it."

"Kunlun Station received it."

"Tang Yue, the satellite photo has identified No. 7750. We have searched an area of ​​15.5 million square meters and still found nothing. Do we want to continue searching?" Maidong said, "The cat cannot be found. Sir, the Chelome probe cannot be contacted either.”

"You definitely can't contact the Chelome because it needs to be shut down during transportation, so the old cat turned it off at the beginning and couldn't receive any instructions."

Tang Yue sighed.

"That cat must have eloped with a Martian stray dog. Maybe it even has a litter of kittens now... But we still have to find it. If that cat doesn't come back, I will have to get used to it. People get by.”

Today is the sixth day since the old cat disappeared.

To be honest, Tang Yue may not be able to live alone. He has food, fresh water, electricity, and two pots of tomatoes. As long as Zhang Wuji Yang Dingtian and Wudang Seven Heroes grow up, Tang Yue's bad blood The disease can be resolved and he can live for at least another year.

Tang Yue and Maidong both want to find the old cat. Although they may not be able to do anything if they find it, they still insist on seeing the old cat alive and dead.

"Tang Yue, how are your tomatoes doing?" Ophiopogon japonicus asked, "Have the temperature and light been fully guaranteed?"

"It's growing very well." Tang Yue turned off the decontamination system, opened the door of the airlock, and stepped into the hall of Kunlun Station. "Do you want to take a look? You are an agricultural expert, can you give me some advice and guide the work? "

Tang Yue took off his Mingguang Armor, put on his clothes, and rubbed his hands happily, as if he wanted to see his infant son.

"Look, hurry up. The temperature outside is too low. They can't stay here for too long."

He lifted up the plastic film, took out the water tank from the greenhouse, wrapped it in a thermal blanket, and moved it in front of the camera.

Ophiopogon japonicus also came closer. She could see five green seedlings planted in the brown-black soil. She couldn't judge their growth through the screen, but judging from the green color, the seedlings were indeed full of vitality.

"Let me introduce to you. The oldest and best growing one is the eldest brother. His name is Zhang Wuji... Look at its leaves."

Tang Yue pointed to Maidong one by one.

"This one is Song Yuanqiao, the one with a slightly whiter color is Yu Lianzhou, the one next to it is named Yu Daiyan, and the last one is Zhang Songxi... There are also Zhang Cuishan and Yin Liting, but they are in another pot. "

Maidong nodded slowly.

She originally thought that Tang Yue's name-naming skills would be higher than hers.

Now it seems that he is also a waste of names.

"How long will it take for these little guys to grow up?"

"If you can ensure the temperature and light, they will be able to bear fruit in two months at most." Ophiopogon japonicus replied, "Those tomatoes you have are all very good varieties, and they are the same model that I grow on the space station. .”

Tang Yue held the water tank in his arms and turned around, lifting the seedlings up. He seemed to have seen the green stems and leaves and the bright red fruits.

Tang Yue had never thought that planting tomatoes would be an exciting thing in his life. For the first time, he understood the mood of the old farmers who stood on the ridge of the fields and watched the crops in the fields harvest.

"That Zhang Wuji plant seems to be a little crooked. You can straighten it." Ophiopogon japonicus pointed to the water tank, "to avoid poor root development in the future."

"OK."

Tang Yue stretched out his fingers and gently pushed Zhang Wuji.

With a very subtle "snap" sound, Zhang Wuji's most conspicuous and pleasing green leaf suddenly broke and fell on the soil.

Tang Yue and Maidong were stunned.

"What's going on?" Maidong asked, "Did you use too much force?"

Tang Yue's face became serious and he waved his hand to signal the girl not to speak.

He immediately moved the sink back to the greenhouse and nervously checked on Zhang Wuji. He knelt on the floor and gently touched the young tomato sprouts with his fingers.

It doesn't feel right.

Tang Yue increased his strength slightly and pinched the stems and leaves of the seedling. He soon discovered that the tomato seedling was hard and brittle, and did not look like normal cell tissue when pinched.

Tang Yue held his breath and tried to peel off the seedling's skin with his nails.

The moment he peeled the seedling apart, his heart suddenly sank... The fracture was very rough, and you could even see tiny ice particles. All the water in its body had long been frozen. This seedling looked green, but it wasn't. It was because it was full of vitality, but because its body was fixed at the moment of greatest vitality by low temperature.

It's like fruits in the refrigerator.

Tang Yue quickly checked the other seedlings in the water tank, including Song Yuanqiao, Yu Lianzhou, Yu Daiyan, and Zhang Songxi. It turned out that every one of them was exactly the same as Zhang Wuji, and no one was spared.

I guess it will be like this. The distance between several seedlings is only a few centimeters. If one plant freezes to death, the other plants will have the same result.

Tang Yue pulled them all out of the soil and put them in the palm of his hand. The corpses of Zhang Wuji and the Seven Heroes of Wudang were cold. They should have been dead for a long time, maybe a few hours ago, or even last night. Stiff.

The ultra-low temperature condenses the water in their bodies into ice in a very short period of time. The expanding ice crystals will destroy all cell structures. These plants are already dead.

Tang Yue put down the sink in panic and went to look at the other sink to see if Yang Dingtian and Zhang Cuishan were still alive.

"Tang Yue? Tang Yue...how is the situation?"

Maidong looked at the man who suddenly collapsed on the floor, as if he had lost all his strength.

Tang Yue was silent as he held all the dead seedlings in his hands. His eyes were blank and he couldn't find the focus. He didn't understand what went wrong. He had obviously taken very complete insulation measures, but he didn't know Why do these little beings freeze to death? How could this happen? how so?

"Tang Yue?"

Tang Yue turned his head, said nothing, and smiled slightly at Maidong, who's heart suddenly shrank.

Tang Yue's eyes were complicated, seeming sad, helpless, and hopeless.

That look seemed to say: Look, girl... I really tried my best this time.

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(Author Junxiao: Bixin’s interaction lasts until the end of the book, and is effective for a long time.)