Die on Mars

Maidong put his hand against the glass and stared at the incubator, with a touch of green reflected in his dark and translucent eyes.

The first tomato seedling finally sprouted.

This little thing poked its head out of the culture medium at some point and quietly broke through the hard seed coat. The seedling was only a few millimeters tall, with two light green leaves and crisp white rhizomes. The air flow trembled slightly, and the girl's eyes became lively.

Maidong was surprised to find this little life during a routine inspection in the experimental cabin, and then he followed it and watched it floating here for a long time.

Ophiopogon japonicus has a small area in the Hope experimental cabin, and has planted a batch of Arabidopsis, tomatoes and lettuce in the incubator to verify the feasibility of plant cultivation during long-term space missions. The short-term potential of this technology The goal is to provide fresh vegetables to the astronauts, so that they can completely get rid of the evil canned food. The long-term goal is to build a self-circulating ecosystem in the spacecraft and provide technical reserves for future human immigration spacecraft.

However, the latter is obviously too long-term a goal. Human beings have never established any reliable small ecological circle so far. Maybe when the technological tree of controlled nuclear fusion comes out, a self-circulating ecosystem can Take the first step... But even controlled nuclear fusion is still fifty years away.

Maidong marveled silently.

The second life in the joint space station was finally born. This may be the third life in the universe. Ophiopogon japonicus was shocked by its fragility and beauty. She felt that life was really the most exquisite thing in the world. This little plant A small tomato seedling is less than one centimeter tall, but within its pea-sized body, there are hundreds of millions of cells working together. Water is pumped from the roots to the leaves, and light and carbon dioxide are participating in photosynthesis. Everything is in order. , just right.

Compared with this seedling, the United Space Station he was in was simply a rough and crude house.

She wanted to tell Tang Yue and Lao Mao the news immediately, but unfortunately, the contact was currently interrupted and there was no response to the call.

"I should give you a name..."

Ophiopogon japonicus slowly circled in front of the glass incubator, pinching her hair, "What should I call you? Xiaopang? Xiaoqie? Xiaoxi? How about Xiaolu?"

"Xiao Lu... Xiao Lu... Well, the name Xiao Lu is very nice." Maidong looked up at the bulkhead above his head and nodded leisurely, "Then it's decided, from now on, your name will be It’s called Runtu!”

The girl solemnly pointed at the tomato seedlings in the glass incubator, her dark eyes wide open and her expression serious.

Half a minute later, Maidong couldn't hold himself any longer and started laughing, holding his stomach.

The girl smiled and her voice slowly dropped. She was floating in mid-air, staring blankly at the seedlings behind the glass from a distance of one meter. Her eyes were lowered, and her eyes suddenly became lonely.

"Runtu, Runtu, thank you for coming to accompany me..." Maidong stepped forward and gently held the glass box, putting his forehead against it, "But we don't live long, so... you have to grow up quickly. Big, grow up quickly, you will grow so big that even the box can’t contain you, the experimental cabin can’t contain you, and the space station can’t contain you. Can you understand what I’m saying?”

Tomato seedlings quivered gently in the air currents.

"You nodded." Maidong smiled, "You promised me, remember you promised me!"

She gently pushed the bulkhead, passed through the door of the docking section of the cabin, and left the Hope experimental cabin. Maidong still had things to do.

She was going to write a suicide note.

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"Plan B! We need Plan B!" Tang Yue crawled out of the Mingguang Armor, sweating profusely, and his clothes were soaked, "Do you have a Plan B?"

The rendezvous and docking can only be attempted once, and the probability of success is less than 5%. This road will definitely not work.

They cannot gamble with Ophiopogon japonicus's wealth and life.

"Planbi? Planbi doesn't exist all the time." The old cat leaned on the chair, rolled his eyes, and thought to himself, I'm not a Doraemon. Is there something like Planbi that I can find in my pocket?

etc.

It does seem to be a robotic cat.

"But this road is absolutely dead! There can only be one rendezvous, and the probability of success is only 5%, 5%! My chances of graduating from high school and getting admitted to Tsinghua University are higher than this!" Tang Yue clapped his hands excitedly. Table, "Without Pulambi, what would we be doing?"

"The probability of successful docking is only 2.477% at most. Where does the 5% come from?" Old Mao spread his hands, "Also, I think your probability of getting into Tsinghua University is less than 0.5%."

"What?" Tang Yue stared.

"What do you think? Do you think I underestimated your high school academic performance?"

"No, no, no, I'm not saying this. I have a 5% chance of being admitted to Tsinghua University. This was said by my high school teacher. His original words were, 'If all the eight million candidates across the country handed in a blank test, Tang Yue, you There is a 5% chance of getting into Tsinghua... I mean, what’s that 2.477% in front of? Wasn’t it agreed that the matching success rate is 5%?”

"I told you before that there was a 5% chance of success, and that was after successfully entering the parking orbit. Now even the first step into orbit has failed. Do you still think there is a 5% chance of success?" Old Cat Said, "What do you mean by what your high school teacher said? Why do you only have a 5% chance of getting into Tsinghua University when the eight million candidates across the country have submitted a blank test? What about the remaining 95%?"

"You mean, we only have 2.477% of hope now?" Tang Yue was surprised, "The remaining 95%? The remaining 95% must be the Ministry of Education issued a statement saying The results of this exam are invalid."

"Yes, we only have 2.477% hope left." Old Cat nodded, "Can the college entrance examination results be invalidated?"

"If only one person named Tang Yue in the country finished answering the questions, and everyone else turned in blank papers, if you were the Ministry of Education, let alone invalidating the exam, you should commit suicide by committing seppuku..." Tang Yue sat on the chair, he He didn't want to talk to Lao Mao about this stupid topic about the college entrance examination anymore. He knew that he would never be able to get into Tsinghua University in his life.

If he could get into Tsinghua University, why would he go to Mars to work hard? Enough support? He has long gone to Wall Street to enjoy the decadent capitalist life of the upper class.

Tang Yue slowly covered his face.

The odds of success are getting lower and lower.

What is the concept of 2.477%?

Tried a hundred times and succeeded less than three times.

Old Mao stared at the computer on the workbench and was silent for a few seconds. "You have to understand our current situation. The Eagle spacecraft failed to enter orbit and is about to crash. There is not enough propellant, contact is interrupted, and there is no guidance. This kind of The situation is basically a dead end at any time, a 100% dead end, with no possibility of a comeback... This 2.477% success rate is already a miracle."

Tang Yue was stunned for a moment.

What Lao Mao said was indeed correct. The 2.477% probability was not too low, but too high... Tang Yue suddenly understood this and his scalp suddenly became numb.

The Eagle spacecraft failed to enter orbit, lacked propellant, lost contact, and had no guidance. Any one of these factors was enough to ruin a space mission. So many unlucky things came together to allow Tang Yue to catch up. According to Common sense is absolutely that there is no life in ten, they should have failed long ago, but why is there still a glimmer of hope of 2.477%?

There is something supporting this weak hope, like the last candlelight in the dark night, which stubbornly refuses to be extinguished despite the wind and rain.

"What is it?" Tang Yue raised his head.

The old cat turned his head, "Huh?"

"What is it? What is our final hope of 2.477%?" Tang Yue asked, "What maintains the final success rate?"

The old cat leaned forward, raised a paw and pressed a few keys on the keyboard. A window popped up. Tang Yue came over to take a look. Above was the main structure of the payload bay of the Eagle spacecraft, a huge first-level The rocket engine and propellant tank have been thrown away, which makes the lander look more than half shorter. What remains is the command module, cargo compartment and upper stage rocket.

Lao Mao circled a box with the mouse and marked the nozzle at the bottom of the cargo hold for Tang Yue to see.

The RD-0172 rocket is produced by the Russian Power Machinery Research and Production Consortium.

Solid and reliable stuff.

This is a very small rocket. It is a very inconspicuous link in the entire huge Mars landing mission chain. It is only responsible for the safety and maneuverability of the payload bay.

If the Raptor 3D and 3C rockets of the Eagle spacecraft are powerful cruise ships, then RD-0172 is undoubtedly a small sampan. But now that the cruise ship has sunk, they can only rely on this small sampan as the last lifeboat... ...Fortunately, this small sampan was built by a fighting nation known for its violence and solidity. With the dual blessings of Vodka and Emperor Puxian, the sampan may also be used as a tug!

"Without this engine, our success rate would be zero." Old Cat replied, "It is the last 2.477%!"