Die on Mars

"Eh? The comet will fall at a distance of...eight hundred kilometers...?"

The old cat nodded.

Tang Yue also nodded.

Maidong slowly retreated and hit the bulkhead behind him. It was hard to tell whether the girl's eyes were shocked or desperate at this moment. Her eyes were blank and panicked, showing the fear of a small animal. Maidong looked around, But she couldn't see anything clearly because her eyes couldn't find focus.

Woke up early this morning, Maidong was excited to continue working and perfect the landing plan, but Tang Yue and Lao Mao hit her in the face, knocking her unconscious.

"What will be the final result?"

Maidong asked cautiously, she still had the last glimmer of hope.

"Kunlun Station will be completely destroyed." Tang Yue replied, "The comet will completely wipe our location off the map, and no one will survive."

"Is there no other way?" Maidong looked at the old cat.

The old cat shook his head silently.

"Then what should we do?" Maidong was very helpless. She knew very well the consequences of the Tomcat-Tang-Mai comet. This was a natural disaster that could divide the geological era, and could destroy the entire human civilization if placed on the earth.

"Ms. Maidong, the Kunlun Station cannot escape. The outcome has been decided, but the Orion 2 spacecraft still has a chance. During the past period of time, I wrote two sets of flight control programs and stored them in the spacecraft's computer. , please connect to Orion’s control system now.”

Maidong followed his instructions and opened his laptop and connected to the computer of the Orion spacecraft through the wireless network.

Two switch buttons pop up on the graphical interface, one red and one blue.

"Miss Maidong, the red switch is for entering the atmosphere, and the blue switch is for leaving the orbit of Mars." The old cat explained to her, "If you press the red button, the spacecraft will enter the landing preparation mode. If you click the blue button, , then the spacecraft computer will perform the orbit change and detachment mission. We will not force or guide you to make any choices. The choice is in your own hands from beginning to end."

Maidong held the laptop in his arms. The choices given by the old cat were obvious and easy to understand. There were no whole lines of complicated code, only two square buttons, the one on the left was red and the one on the right was blue.

The girl raised her head and looked at Tang Yue, her eyes seemed to say: I am not afraid of death.

Tang Yue shook his head slightly and replied with the same look: I don't want you to die here.

Maidong stared at the two buttons on the computer for a long time. Two completely different paths and two completely different endings were now embodied in the form of buttons, placed in front of Maidong. If she pressed the red button, then Orion would enter The atmosphere of Mars, but at this moment, Kunlun Station is no longer a safe shelter, but a death trap facing destruction.

If she pressed the blue button, the Orion spacecraft would deorbit, away from the threat of the comet.

It's not that Maidong didn't think that if the Kunlun Station was really destroyed, she would simply drive the Orion 2 spacecraft down from orbit, and at worst, they would die together.

"I choose red..."

"Let's go." Tang Yue interrupted her, "Don't die here."

"I will die sooner or later."

"But don't die now." Tang Yue said, "You still have enough fresh water and food, and enough electricity and fuel. Leave here and go as far as possible. Don't come down... Don't come down. The only way is to come down." No hope."

"Wandering alone in the universe is more painful."

"Don't worry about being alone, you won't be alone, the old cat will be with you."

"Mr. Cat?" Maidong was a little surprised.

"There are still thirty-seven days before the comet impacts. I asked Old Cat to drive the Martian Stray Dog to leave Kunlun Station and run at the highest speed. Maybe we can reach a safe distance before the impact, so that Old Cat may survive. Its survivability is much better than ours." Tang Yue explained, "So even if you leave the orbit of Mars, you will not be wandering alone, there will be an old cat accompanying you in the solar system."

"Old cats and Martian stray dogs will bring communication systems and use the space station as a relay. If the space station is destroyed, they will use synchronous satellites. As long as the Orion spacecraft is still in the solar system, it will definitely be able to contact you and chat with you. When you talk about cross talk, the old cat will accompany you until the end."

Maidong was a little dazed, but Tang Yue had considered everything and let himself leave the low-Earth orbit and let Lao Mao leave Kunlun Station. This was a way to minimize the loss.

If the Orion spacecraft chooses to enter the atmosphere, the final outcome will be that the two people and the cat will die together thirty days later.

It happened that at this time, Tang Yue became more rational than anyone else. He and Lao Mao discussed many plans to ensure the safety of as many people as possible. The re-entry of the Orion spacecraft into the atmosphere has proven to be a dead end. Maidong's only Your only chance of survival is to get out of here.

Both the old cat and Ophiopogon japonicus have a chance to survive.

Only Tang Yue didn't.

He tried his best to promote the plan to leave the Orion spacecraft from Mars in order to save the lives of Lao Mao and Ophiopogon japonicus. From the most rational and objective point of view, this is undoubtedly the most reasonable response plan to prevent the last lone seedling of mankind from being wiped out by the comet. .

"There are still thirty-seven days until the comet hits... What about you? Tang Yue, what are you going to do during this time?" Maidong murmured.

"Continue our unfinished work. After all, there is still a lot of information waiting for me to sort out." Tang Yue smiled, "I want to devote my limited life to unlimited service to the people."

"I'll go down and help you." Maidong blurted out.

"You can help me even if you don't come down." Tang Yue refused.

"If we don't go on, won't all our hard work for a long time be in vain?"

"These efforts are there to keep you safe, and if your life is at risk then they must be scrapped."

"I don't care about threats!"

"I care." Tang Yue said calmly, "The ultimate purpose of letting you land is to protect you, not to let you die. Under the current circumstances, it is meaningless to come down."

"But I want to go down!" Maidong's eyes turned red, and she almost shouted, "I really, really want to go down, I really want to see you and Mr. Cat!"

It took a lot of effort for her to get to this point.

There is still one last step to go, how can we just stop?

The girl had an emotional breakdown.

Tang Yue's deliberate calmness was almost destroyed, but he tried hard to maintain his poker face and could not collapse or let his emotions influence his judgment. Otherwise, the two of them would probably cry into a ball across the screen, and then cry at the same time. The landing plan was unanimously approved.

"Life is very precious. Think about the plants you plant, try to live, and do your best to preserve the heritage of mankind - you are the most precious heritage of mankind, so you must protect yourself. In addition, we also There is so much work that has not been completed, and the glorious history of human civilization has not yet been fully revealed. It will definitely not be completed in more than thirty days. From now on, it will be up to you and Old Cat to complete it."

Tang Yue stared at Ophiopogon japonicus and tried to make his tone as relaxed as possible, not as if he was saying goodbye between life and death. However, he knew that leaving was a farewell and they would never see each other again in this life. Tang Yue could only give his best wishes for the future to this person. A girl who is about to travel far away.

"Of course, if you don't want to leave Mars, you can also try raising the altitude of the orbit...Old cat, can raising the altitude of the orbit avoid the influence of comets?"

"Forget it, it's not very safe."

"Okay, then let's leave Mars. No matter what, don't come down." Tang Yue looked serious, "Don't press that red button."

"You said... you wouldn't force me to make any choice."

"I'm not forcing you." Tang Yue was stunned, and then showed a lonely look, "I'm just asking you."

Maidong really wants to be willful.

No matter what Tang Yue said, she pressed the red button regardless.

She is just a young girl, and girls have the power to do whatever they want.

But a certain damn sense of responsibility bound her hands and feet. Maidong looked behind her. She could see billions of creatures on the earth and the glorious history of human civilization over the past ten thousand years. She felt that her life no longer belonged to her. As a human being, she has no right to exchange her life for what she wants.

It would be nice if she could be more unruly.

If only she were more fierce.

It would be better if she was more unreasonable.

That way, the moment she opens her laptop, she will directly press the red button, and she will go down regardless of whether the world will fall apart and humanity will be destroyed.

"Tang Yue, Mr. Cat." The girl's eyes were red and tears were rolling, "I...I want to hug you."

The old cat smiles.

Tang Yue also smiled.

"We also want to hug you, girl. We shamelessly say that we can only dream about it, but things in this world are not always what people want. Sometimes we can succeed, and sometimes we have to face failure. The God of Destiny It’s not always a six.”

Tang Yue sorted out his emotions, took a deep breath, and stood up straight.

"Comrade Maidong, the party and the people will finally give you a very difficult and difficult task, and I hope you will complete it."

"What?" Maidong asked subconsciously.

"Live with hope, be strong and optimistic, and live until the last day of your life."