Die on Mars

"Mr. Cat, your current straight-line distance from the Chelome probe is 32.78 kilometers." Maidong looked at the data on the screen, "The direction is accurate."

"The straight-line distance is 32.78 kilometers? But the actual distance traveled is probably more than 30 kilometers." Old Cat replied, "If you want to continue going down, I'm afraid you have to take a detour."

Maidong and Tang Yue were both stunned.

"Detour?" Tang Yue got up and typed on the keyboard, then sent an email to ask, "Is there anything stopping you?"

Ophiopogon japonicus also asked: "Is it a sand dune?"

"It's a sand dune, and it's a continuous sand dune. I parked the Martian stray dog ​​under the sand dune and was charging, but the slope of the sand dune was too steep, as high as one or two stories. I didn't think the stray dog ​​could climb over it, so We have to take a detour." Old Cat replied.

"How far is the detour?"

"I don't know, I'm trying to climb up the sand dune. Standing on a high place, I might be able to see the surrounding situation clearly and see if I can find a passage..." The old cat said, "It's surprising, this is not sand, but a rock. "

"rock?"

"There are rocks buried under the sand, very large rocks, each weighing tens or even hundreds of tons. I think they are basalts. They may be the product of volcanic eruptions more than a billion years ago, and then were eroded by wind. It has turned into what it is now." The old cat explained, "I have climbed up, let me see where to go...hell, this is not a sand dune, but a wall!"

Both people in the channel were surprised.

"wall?"

"This is basically a high wall piled up with rocks. It is completely buried by the sand, so it looks like a sand dune. But if you dig out the sand, you can see the rocks underneath, piled one on top of the other, just like bricks. Build it up." The old cat was very surprised. "I stand here and can see it stretching into the distance and disappearing over the horizon. I can't even calculate its length... It's amazing."

"Like the Great Wall?" Maidong asked.

The old cat nodded, "It's like an ancient Great Wall. Can you imagine a Great Wall on Mars?"

"Is it man-made?" Tang Yue asked.

"It may not be man-made. Although it looks like the work of some kind of intelligent creature, it may also be the result of glacial activity. Ancient glaciers transported rocks here, so these boulders are accumulated along the edges of the glaciers. The miraculous craftsmanship of nature sometimes far exceeds that of human hands." The old cat shook his head, "Do you know the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland?"

"What is that?" Tang Yue asked.

"A very peculiar landscape, located on the Atlantic coast of Northern Ireland. More than 30,000 stone pillars of uniform size and regular shapes are closely arranged into a stone embankment, stretching for thousands of meters. Each stone pillar is a regular hexagon. It looks like it was dug artificially." Old Cat explained, "But it is actually formed naturally. The material of the Giant's Causeway is basalt, which is formed by the sudden solidification of lava from volcanic eruptions when it encounters sea water. The reason why the stone pillars are six-sided The shape is due to the crystal structure of basalt...so the high wall we see on Mars is also likely to be a natural landscape."

Tang Yue was right when he thought about it. Natural formation is more likely. Wind erosion and water flow can sometimes create amazing miracles. How could there be artificial landscapes on Mars?

"I'm walking along this wall. Its highest point is more than nine meters, almost three stories high. Do you know what this reminds me of?" Lao Mao is waiting for the Mars rover to charge, so he is happy to share his experiences. Listen to Tang Yue and Maidong.

"What?"

"Beacon Tower." Old Cat replied, "If this wall is regarded as a product of a certain civilization, then this city wall has complete functions..."

The old cat leisurely searched for clues on the ancient wall. Those traces had been blurred by the long time, but the old cat used its extraordinary imagination and began to paint freely.

"I saw the beacon tower. There is such a high platform at regular intervals, which is perfect for lighting beacon smoke. There are also slopes to climb the city wall. The narrow ones may be for people, and the wide ones may be for people. It was used to load and unload siege equipment... Oh, there are also the ruins of watchtowers. I saw a very regular square platform. It was obviously used to station troops. If there was a foreign enemy attacking, the soldiers living here could go out to meet the enemy. ..." As the old cat spoke, his voice dropped, and he was speechless in the end.

Maidong and Tang Yue had stopped talking for a long time.

"Damn..." Old Cat was stunned for a long time, "Is this really a natural formation?"

No matter how miraculous nature is, it has the ability to pile hexagonal stone pillars into long embankments and cut rocks into high walls, but it cannot build beacon towers and watchtowers for you.

The old cat was startled.

"Mr. Cat..." Maidong said softly, "You...maybe you are standing on the ruins of an ancient civilization?"

"No, no, no, no! Impossible! This is impossible!" The old cat shook his head, "There have never been any intelligent creatures on Mars, let alone any civilization! Don't be misled by what I said before. These, in some cases, can occur due to natural conditions... What the hell is this?"

"What did you find again?"

"Ditch, long ditch, on the other side of the wall, there is a ditch, a deep ravine dug along the wall." The old cat frowned, "What did you think of?"

"Moat?" Tang Yue was shocked.

"It is indeed similar to a moat, but who can dig a moat for the Great Wall? These gullies have now been filled with sand. I tried digging..." Old Cat said, "This ditch is about four to five meters long. The width and depth are unclear, but it must be at least one meter. The length of this ditch is similar to that of a high wall, and the end cannot be seen at a glance.”

Tang Yue and Maidong were both shocked.

A high wall with no end in sight would be a world-famous and huge project on earth. How could anyone actually dig a moat for this wall?

"Is this ditch a natural phenomenon?" Tang Yue asked, "Is it formed by glaciers?"

"It's possible, of course it's possible! The relics left after the melting of glaciers, coupled with the erosion of flowing water..." The old cat searched his brain for reasons. He was wondering if there was any precedent for a moat formed naturally on the earth.

But it wasn't found.

When you eliminate all assumptions, no matter how incredible the remaining one is, it will be the truth.

The old cat sat down on the sand dune and looked at the high wall winding in the wind and sand, extending into the distance beyond its reach. It didn't know whether this was a masterpiece of nature or a legacy of an ancient civilization. If this was If it is really the work of intelligent creatures, then there is no doubt that it will be an extremely brilliant civilization.

What kind of civilization would build a world-wide wall on its own planet?

What the old cat saw were only ruins, but it is not difficult to imagine that when this high wall was built, it must have been a miracle that reached the sky.

The old cat has no way of knowing the truth. There is no relevant information in its database, but it can infer that in the long dark night before human beings were born on earth, the civilization on this planet may have established great and shocking wonders. In the long time that followed, although civilization perished, these miraculous creations still stood firm.

"What a pity..." The old cat sighed.

"Do you regret the disappearance of this ancient civilization?" Tang Yue asked.

"No, I'm sorry that the earth is gone and the Mars plan is interrupted." Old Cat said, "Otherwise, if we develop tourism here, wouldn't we make a lot of money?"