Die on Mars

According to Lao Mao, in order to withstand the strong earthquake that swept across the entire northern hemisphere of Mars, Tang Yue had to dismantle the Kunlun Station, break it into pieces, use softness to overcome strength, avoid its sharp edges, and then rebuild the Kunlun Station after the earthquake passed.

Tang Yue has never tried to dismantle the Kunlun Station. It is true that this big tent is of modular design. The designers at that time must have racked their brains to reduce the weight of the main structure of the Kunlun Station and greatly reduce the complexity. Otherwise, On the seventh landing mission, the crew may not be able to put it together with just their hands.

But engineers on Earth may not have considered dismantling it.

Kunlun Station is a permanent base. Once it is established, it will stand until it is completely abandoned. No one ever expected that it would be dismantled.

Tang Yue put on the Mingguang Armor and went out, walking around Kunlun Station. The circumference of the main station was more than fifty meters, and the vertical outer wall more than two meters high was printed with huge blue letters "KunLun Station". Above that was the pot The covers are like inverted domes. Their main material is fiberglass-reinforced PEEK engineering plastic, which feels smooth and solid. According to the maintenance manual, the strength of the outer wall of Kunlun Station is four to six times that of steel, but its quality is One-tenth of the latter.

This outer wall is the main structure of Kunlun Station. They are very thin, only a few millimeters thick. But 80% of Tang Yue's survival is attributed to this paper-thin wall. The outer wall ensures the air tightness of Kunlun Station. It isolates most of the strong radiation, blocks out all the harsh environment on Mars, and supports the scientific research station together with the internal aluminum alloy frame.

Inside the outer wall is the foam insulation layer and airtight layer. If it needs to be dismantled, all of these must be removed.

"Battery, OGS cabinet, and water tank, these are the most important things." Tang Yue stood on the sand far away, with the bright starry sky above his head. The sky had darkened. They had been doing simulation tests all day today. As time passes by failure after failure, "How can we ensure that they don't go wrong?"

Old Mao squatted on the chair, "The battery and OGS cabinet are easier to deal with. After the power is turned off, just wrap it up and throw it into the garage to put it away... As for the water tank, it's best to remove it in advance and put it outside to freeze. If it becomes a big piece of ice, you won’t have to worry about water leakage.”

"The water tank won't freeze and crack, will it?"

"There is quite a lot of extra space in the water tank, which cannot be broken." Lao Mao said. "In the past, Kunlun Station was closed during mission intervals, and the excess water in the water tank was also frozen."

"Then the tomatoes I raise will probably not survive."

"I'm sorry too," said the old cat, "but we can't protect ourselves. We really can't find any way to protect them. Plants are too fragile. Once they leave the protection of Kunlun Station, they will definitely die. You can only make them die more." valuable."

"Chop it up and ferment it as fertilizer to provide nutrients for the new seeds. I think they will agree."

"I am homeless." said the old cat. "Have you heard of the legend of Abandoned Mother Mountain?"

"what is that?"

"It is said that a long time ago, in a deep mountain village in Shinshu, Japan, because they were too poor to support too many people, every elderly person over seventy years old would be taken to the mountains and abandoned by their families." Lao Mao explained. "Old mothers will be carried up the mountain by their children in the winter when it snows heavily, and then stay in the mountains silently waiting for death, so that mountain is called Abandoned Mother Mountain."

"Is there such a thing?" Tang Yue was surprised, thinking that if this happened in China, which values ​​filial piety, it would be unreasonable.

"When survival resources are extremely scarce, the organized abandonment of old and weak individuals is a necessary measure taken by biological groups in order to continue." Old Mao said, "Have you ever thought about it, in the legend of Abandoned Mother Mountain, the absolute Most of the very old people may have gone up the mountain voluntarily because they want to leave their resources to their new children - and when the children grow old, they will also go up the mountain voluntarily to make room for the birth of the next generation."

Tang Yue was silent for a few seconds.

"What a sad story."

He didn't know whether this was extremely cold or extremely tender, whether it was extremely rational or extremely emotional.

"This batch of tomatoes dies, and the next batch of tomatoes will be born." The old cat whispered, "Every life is extremely important, and only life can hold up life."

Tang Yue sat down and looked at the black desert in the distance. The bright Milky Way rose behind the sand dunes and spanned the entire sky. The ancients said that it was a big river in the sky, but Tang Yue felt that it was more like a zigzag on the dark sky. The jagged cracks are like a bottomless abyss, from which countless stardust falls.

It is rare to see such a starry sky on the earth, which reminded Tang Yue of the night when they lit a bonfire in the Lop Nur Desert. He and Lao Wang picked up dried poplar euphratica and camel thorns, lit them and sat around to keep warm. According to Lao Mao, the starry sky on Mars is very similar to that on Earth, but there are subtle differences. For example, there is no star on Mars’ celestial sphere that always hangs in the north like Polaris.

Tang Yue glanced at the thermometer. The outdoor temperature had dropped to minus 20 degrees Celsius.

The old cat opened the door of the airlock and walked out, shaking his hair in the cold and thin air.

It walked to Tang Yue's side, lay on the sand with its arms as pillow, and crossed its legs.

"Is the test completed?" Tang Yue asked.

"In the eighteenth simulation test, I successfully landed Orion 2 to an altitude of 3,700 meters." Old Cat looked up at the night sky. "Unfortunately, the workstation went on strike. I am restarting it."

"Almost successful?"

"It's almost successful." The old cat shook his legs leisurely. "I have reorganized the control program of Orion and corrected 873 errors. We will be able to successfully land it in the simulation test tomorrow."

"How sure are you?"

The old cat nuzzled towards the Milky Way.

"Then wish us good luck." Tang Yue raised his fist.

"Wish us good luck." The old cat bumped his fist with him.

Tang Yue also lay down, leaning against the old cat, resting his arm on the back of his head. He subconsciously searched for the location of the earth, but there was still only a deep sky there.

"Do you know what star that is?" The old cat pointed to the night sky with his toe.

"have no idea."

"You should have learned."

"I forgot." Tang Yue was very cheeky, "I learned it, but you didn't even look at the year and month it happened. You have forgotten it a long time ago."

"That is Ursa Minor, which is the constellation Ursa Minor. The star on the handle of the spoon is Alpha Ursa Minor. Its Chinese name is Gouchenyi. On Earth, it is more commonly known as Polaris." The old cat pointed to the starry sky, a Name them one by one, "The constellations that can be seen on Earth can also be seen on Mars. This big cross is Cygnus, Cygnus, this very bright star is Deneb, and its opposite five sides The shapes are Cepheus and Aquarius..."

There is no light pollution on Mars, there is no moon, and even the atmosphere is very thin, so the stars are very bright under a clear night sky. Tang Yue can see more than 3,000 stars with the naked eye. They are like diamonds spread out on velvet by the gods. , emit a dazzling light.

"What are you thinking about?" asked the old cat.

"This world is so beautiful," Tang Yue said, "but also so cold."