Die on Mars

Tang Yue pushed the sink on the shelf inward, holding the dropper in his hand. He used his thumb and middle finger to drip water on the green tomato leaves.

Taking care of the plants in Kunlun Station is also Tang Yue's routine work. Since the temperature control system in the station returned to normal, the tomatoes have grown vigorously. Tang Yue used almost all available containers in Kunlun Station and planted a total of fifteen Tomato plants and fifteen carrot plants are now clustered green and lush on the shelves, full of vitality.

Harvested tomatoes and carrots constitute Tang Yue's staple food, and are eaten with compressed biscuits. These vegetables provide enough vitamin C and carotene, the latter of which effectively alleviated Tang Yue's night blindness - when Tang Yue's night blindness was at its most severe, entering the crew Can't find the bed in the cabin.

"Hey... Little Thirteen, you look good." Tang Yue whispered to the tomatoes, "He's even taller than Twelve."

As usual, he named the tomatoes and carrots. This time, Tang Yue stopped using personal names. Unfortunately, the earliest batch of tomato seedlings died, so Tang Yue suspected that his naming was unlucky... Yang Dingtian, Zhang Cuishan and so on. There is no happy ending, so he now names them after numbers.

Tomato boss, Tomato boss two, Tomato boss three, Tomato junior four, all the way to Tomato fifteen.

Carrot is the boss, carrot is the second child, until carrot is fifteen.

In fact, Tang Yue originally wanted to name them Chen Tuan and Peng Zu, but he couldn't get enough names after counting them. There were really very few people in human history who could outlive Chen Tuan Ancestor, so he had to give up.

As for the pioneers who unfortunately died in the low temperature, Tang Yue set up tombstones for them on the Martian wasteland with a heavy heart. Yang Dingtian and the Wudang Seven Heroes will become the first batch of earth creatures to be buried on Mars. Tang Yue They engraved their names on alien stones, and then buried their corpses in tanks to turn them into fertilizer.

"Hey... Xiao Twelve's leaves are a bit yellow." Tang Yue pinched the tomato leaves.

"Is it lack of potassium? The soil fertility is insufficient. Then add a little more fertilizer..." The old cat sat in front of the table and slammed the table board with anger. "Damn HP! You're giving me a hard time again. I'm going to die today." I'm going to kill you alive! Tang Yue, I'm telling you, don't stop me."

"Oh, I won't stop you." Tang Yue turned around and glanced at the jumping old cat, and continued to water the plants.

The old cat and the workstation fall in love and kill each other every day. This is a constant drama.

Although tomatoes and carrots effectively replenish the number of carbon-based organisms in Kunlun Station, feeding them does not come without a cost.

The biggest consumer is water.

Tang Yue and Lao Mao calculated that on average, they harvested one kilogram of tomatoes and carrots, which required at least twelve liters of water. This was despite careful budgeting and strict control of water consumption. Seeing the precious fresh water flowing out, Tang Yue felt really distressed.

The fuel in the Eagle spacecraft's descent stage propellant tank has been fully used, and Tang Yue obtained 440 kilograms of fresh water. The only purpose of this water is to supply vegetables for growth.

"This batch of tomatoes has all produced fruit once." Old Cat said, "It will take some time for the next fruit to come."

"Can they really bear fruit again?" Tang Yue asked, "Don't we only have one crop of tomatoes a year?"

"Miss Ophiopogon japonicus said, she said these tomatoes have the ability to bear fruit for the second time. Zhongshu No. 11 is a specially cultivated variety. As long as the temperature and light are suitable and the planting methods are appropriate, they can harvest two crops within one earth year. "The old cat said, "Until it dies naturally in the second year."

Tang Yue pruned the tomato plants, removed the yellow and dead leaves, and buried them in the soil as fertilizer.

"Hopefully they will bear fruit again."

"If you think it's not safe, you can just bury them and let them ferment, then plant new seeds."

"It's okay." Tang Yue took a step back, clapped his hands, and looked at the plants on the shelf with a smile, "It's good to grow them like this. It's not easy for us... It's not easy for you and me, and it's not easy for them either. .”

The old cat snorted and shook his head, "I realize that since the earth disappeared, you have entered Bio-communism."

"Bio-communism?"

"Biological communism, or species communism."

“What is species communalism?”

"The central idea is probably that all living beings in the world are equal regardless of whether they are high or low."

"Why have I never heard of this thing?" Tang Yue asked, "Do you think all creatures in the world are equal? ​​Are there such people?"

"Isn't that what you are?"

"You can't count me." Tang Yue said, "I'm just an unknown carbon-based creature on an unknown, deserted planet."

"Then the last such person would have been Siddhartha Gautama."

"who?"

"Sakyamuni," said the old cat, "I have always believed that species communism is the ultimate sublimated version of communism. The upgrading of technology may allow humans to infinitely approach a communist society, but the ideas of human civilization will never reach that level. Species share this height... because on this height stands God."

"Only the gods who created the world will treat all their creations equally. There is a saying in the Tao Te Ching that 'Heaven and earth are unkind and treat all things as stupid dogs', which means that heaven and earth are impartial to all things in the world." Old Cat said, " I don’t think there are such intelligent creatures in this universe, because when you treat all life in the universe equally, then your thoughts must become as big as the universe - by then, you will already be the universe itself ”

Tang Yue was stunned.

"But you gave me inspiration." The old cat said, "To reach this level of thinking, there may be another way to go... When there is only you and a mouse left in the world, you and that mouse must be the best. Equally important.”

"Is this old cat philosophy?"

"Yes." The old cat nodded, "It's normal that you haven't heard of the term species communism, because I just invented this term."

Tang Yuezuo suddenly understood and pointed at the computer behind Lao Mao.

"Karl Heinrich Mekos, your computer has crashed again."

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"Mr. Cat, 001, 002, 023, 044 have gone out, 077 red light, 078 red light, MotorServo indicator light is out, and the hydraulic instrument is normal."

"Copy that." Old Cat instructed, "I will disconnect some of the electrical connections next. Miss Maidong, please enter the Silence cabin temporarily and be sure to close the door."

The girl nodded.

The last thing that needed to be dismantled was the control computer of the Eagle lander. Maidong removed the battery first. There is no need to throw away the battery. It can be connected to the power system of the space station for continued use.

Lao Mao cut off the connection between the Eagle spacecraft and the space station step by step, then closed various modules inside the Eagle spacecraft, and the lander fell silent again.

"Turn off the power."

"Turn off the power."

"Mr. Cat, does the entire control panel need to be removed?"

After the power was cut off, the light in the command cabin was dim and almost dark. Maidong held a flashlight and floated in the cabin.

"If you can disassemble it, dismantle it. We need to reduce the weight as much as possible."

Maidong took a screwdriver and a wrench and disassembled the huge center console of the Eagle lander bit by bit. Originally, the operating system of the Eagle spacecraft was as complex as a civil aircraft, with dense buttons, switches, and displays. Unnecessary extra weight and a potential hazard during landing impact.

"Be careful not to smash the glass. The fragments are difficult to clean. Remove them completely...Pry from the sides, yes, pry from the sides. That's the glue."

Laomao followed the video to guide Maidong's work. The camera was on the helmet of the girl's spacesuit in the cabin.

"After dismantling the Eagle lander, what should I do next?"

"After the lander is completed, we can build the Orion spacecraft. Remove all the excess weight from the Orion, mainly the truss. We need to cut off one-third of the main truss."

"Will it be very difficult?"

"No, you don't need to use wrenches and screwdrivers to disassemble the trusses. There is a universal docking interface between the trusses, just like the connection between train cars. To disconnect them, you only need to pull the gate."

"Huh? Mr. Cat, there's a switch here... it says 'Don't Touch Me'."

"Then do as it says, don't touch it." The old cat said, "Smash it."