Die on Mars

"Guess how many pounds I've lost?"

"Thirty pounds."

"Unfortunately, I guessed wrong." Tang Yue lowered his head and glanced at the number on the scale, "I only lost twenty-nine pounds."

The old cat rolled his eyes, "What's the difference? If you poop one more pound, won't you lose thirty pounds?"

"Do you believe I can still lift something weighing fifty kilograms now?" Tang Yue lifted up his robe, bent his arms, and tried to flex his biceps.

Bathing in the warm spring breeze of the OGS cabinet, Tang Yue returned to the lifestyle of the ancient Romans, wearing shorts and a light robe.

The time when the temperature control system failed was a nightmare in retrospect. Tang Yue himself didn't know how he survived.

"Anyway, the gravity of this damn place is less than 40% of the Earth's, and fifty kilograms of stuff on the Earth only weighs nineteen kilograms here." The old cat said, "I suggest you not try to move that cabinet. In order to avoid breaking the instep, it will be very troublesome if it is broken. We don’t have enough medicine... You have to realize that your osteoporosis is about the same as that of a sixty-year-old man. The old man should not make fun of his body. "

Living in a low gravity environment for a long time, coupled with severe nutritional deficiencies, will severely affect the human body's movement system, resulting in muscle atrophy and calcium loss. Tang Yue has been alone on Mars for 270 days. Although he has been strictly following a physical training regimen, he has still lost 30 pounds.

He originally weighed 140 pounds, but now he only weighs 110 pounds, and his ribs can be seen on both sides.

"You have to be careful not to let your weight drop any further. If your weight is less than 90 pounds, it may have very serious consequences."

Lao Mao looked at the computer and tapped on the keyboard. On the screen was an open document with dense handwriting.

"Mr. Cat, in the history of the earth, what factors will determine the size of living things?" Maidong asked. She was reading the genealogy of biological evolution. Writing a biography of the history of the earth is also one of her and Tang Yue's goals. "I am reading Looking at the process of biological evolution over the past hundreds of millions of years, we find a very striking feature, which is that the body size of animals fluctuates periodically."

"Body size?" The old cat thought for a while, "There are many factors that influence this, including the oxygen content in the atmosphere, ambient temperature, food abundance, and the ecological niche of the animal itself. For example, for more than 300 million years, In the pre-Carboniferous period, the size of arthropods in that period was generally more than ten times or even dozens of times the size of modern times. For example, the famous giant-tailed dragonfly could grow to more than half a meter long... The main factor causing this phenomenon was the presence of water in the air. The oxygen content in the Carboniferous atmosphere was the highest in Earth's history, as high as 35 percent."

"If a certain kind of creature occupies the top of the food chain, if the climate is suitable and food is abundant, then their size will be significantly enlarged." Lao Mao then added, "In addition, animals in the ocean are helped by the buoyancy of water. To support their weight, they can grow to be larger than terrestrial creatures, such as the blue whale, the largest animal ever to live on earth, with a heart weighing a ton."

"The biggest blue whale?" Tang Yue interjected, "Where did you leave my New Zealand giant ichthyosaur?"

"Don't bring out folklore that doesn't have enough evidence to support it." Old Cat shook his head, "You can't have a curiosity-seeking mentality in the field of paleontological research."

"Why do cetaceans grow so big?"

"Because cetaceans are at the top of the food chain and can eat whatever they want. Except for some kind of two-legged apes with whaling cannons, they have no natural enemies." Lao Mao explained, "Their competitors, sharks, are within two hundred After being defeated and extinct thousands of years ago, no other creature can challenge the dominance of whales in the ocean."

"Big teeth?" Maidong had never heard of this word.

"Megalodon," the old cat explained. "This kind of shark is the most terrifying sea monster ever seen on earth. They are the pinnacle of aquatic predators and feed on whales."

"Can the Megalodon beat the Mosasaurus?" Tang Yue asked, "I've been thinking about this question for a long time. Which one is more awesome?"

“Mosasaurus is a very ancient and primitive marine reptile. Reptiles are not as adaptable to the marine environment as fish. Megalodon is a highly evolved predator. Every part of its body exists entirely for hunting. The only thing at the same time that could compete with Big Tooth was the equally huge super-toothed whale.”

"King Dragon Whale?" Tang Yue asked.

The old cat shook his head, "Melville Leviathan."

“The Megalodon was so awesome and finally became extinct?”

"The more awesome you are, the easier it is to become extinct." The old cat raised a paw, "You have to know that almost all large predators in the history of the earth starved to death in the end. Once the environment changes and there is insufficient prey, their food intake will be reduced. You can’t replenish your consumption if you eat it, so you’re very smart when you look at the blue whale… It’s an honest filter feeder, it eats from all directions with its big mouth, it’s so cute and cute, you don’t have to worry about hunting.”

Maidong nodded and sighed, "Now they have all disappeared."

"Don't talk about them, even the earth itself is history now." Tang Yue said, "From now on, there will be only seven major planets in the solar system. The earth will not even fart without the sun. It seems that the earth itself is actually important to the solar system. It’s not that important to us, it’s a shame we still took ourselves so seriously before.”

"Of course the sun can't fart. One of its farts can collapse into the orbit of Mercury." Old Cat said, "As for insignificance, in fact, all the planets in the solar system are insignificant. Stars are the protagonists of this universe. The mass of the sun accounts for 99.8% of the total mass of the solar system. , the remaining seven planets divide the remaining 0.2%."

"In addition, most of the 0.2% has been taken away by the gas giants. How much will be left for the earth?"

"How many?" Tang Yue asked.

"About 0.0003%, three parts per million." The old cat said, "To compare it to you humans, if a booger suddenly disappeared one day, how would you feel?"

Tang Yue thought for a while, "I will feel that my nasal cavity is suddenly clear."

"Okay, that's two or three hairs lost." The old cat changed the metaphor, "How can you feel?"

"The sky is falling." Maidong said.

"It is not necessarily true that there will be no impact if the earth disappears. It's just that we can't see this impact in a short period of time." Lao Mao said, "The impact is greater if the distance is close, the impact is small if the distance is far, the impact is small if the mass is large, and the impact is small if the mass is small. The impact is huge. The sun is too big to affect it, but smaller celestial bodies may be involved."

She and Tang Yue sorted out the genealogy of biological evolution on earth, which is a huge and complex framework. At first, both of them had wonderful imaginations, but when they actually started doing it, they realized how difficult it was. At first, Tang Yue thought about it starting from the Cambrian period, but now he is looking for regret pills all over the place.

From the Paleozoic Era to the Mesozoic Era and then to the Cenozoic Era, life on earth has been a bumpy road and has experienced five mass extinctions. The causes of each extinction are different, and the continuation and evolution of each type of organisms are different. The scope is so vast that ordinary people can hardly imagine it. , Tang Yue overestimated his ability and said we'd better be more detailed, or else we should be precise enough?

Three days later, Tang Yue: If we are too precise, we can’t get rid of the seeds. How about we be too precise?

Six days later, Tang Yue: It’s impossible to do anything if it’s too precise. How about we be too precise?

A week later, Tang Yue: I can’t even get it right, so why don’t we give it to Lao Mao?

So the old cat took over most of the work, which was expected. It knew that it was impossible for these two people to complete such a huge work.

In the past three months, two people and one cat have completed a total of more than four million words on the evolutionary history of the earth's creatures. It is a voluminous volume. Maidong and Tang Yue have completed one percent of it, and they believe they have played a key role.

They converted the text into digital codes, then designed a self-interpretation system and broadcasted it together. The amount of data was very large, but it was not the largest. Lao Mao also combined the famous paintings "Mona Lisa" and "Genesis" 》Converted into numbers, this amount of data is even larger. Of course, this is not the largest... The three-dimensional modeling data of Venus de Milo and the Discus Thrower is the largest. Mathematics is the most likely common language in the entire universe. , as long as someone can receive the signal, the code can be restored into text and images according to the self-interpretation system.

The manuscript is retained on the hard drive and remains in Kunlun Station.

Tang Yue and Maidong didn't expect to finish all the work. When they actually stood in front of the giant wall of earth's history, they realized the boundlessness of this wall. This was simply beyond the reach of human beings. , even old cats can't really complete it. This is a job with no end, and they can do it until the end of their lives.

Tang Yue has already told the old cat that even if he and Maidong are gone, the old cat will continue to record history. Anyway, it is idle when it is idle.

In addition to completing the two great masterpieces "The History of Biological Evolution on Earth" and "The History of Human Civilization", Tang Yue is also thinking about another crucial issue.

He was thinking about how to remove Ophiopogon japonicus.