Dead on Mars

Chapter 21 - Sol Four, Taking off the EVA Suit, Buttocks Go First
“Tomcat—!”

Tang Yue yelled through the intercom again.

“What is it this time?” Tomcat stood on the accommodation ladder of the Eagle as it frowned.

“This f*cking crate is too, too, too heavy! I can’t move it alone!” Tang Yue grunted as he exerted strength.

He had to move crates while wearing the Radiant Armor inside Kunlun Station. It was practically an impossible mission. In a bulky EVA suit like the Radiant Armor, he couldn’t even bend.

“Think of something yourself!”

“Tomcat, you are f*cking inhumane!” Tang Yue cursed furiously.

“I’m not a human to begin with.” Tomcat shrugged before it continued checking the lander’s rockets. “I’m only a cat.”

Tang Yue was exasperated. To be honest, Tomcat really didn’t have the time to help him. The Eagle needed to be launched very soon, so they were both terribly busy.

Tang Yue needed to move the items while Tomcat needed to check on the spacecraft. The work on their hands piled up like a mountain, so there was no spare time to help the other.

Due to the lack of manpower, every second counted.

Tang Yue’s third attempt to bend his back to move the crate failed again. He had no choice but to take off the Radiant Armor to make another attempt.

“Tomcat!”

“What’s up with you again?”

“There’s no way I can move this while wearing the Radiant Armor!” Tang Yue panted. “Help me get out of this thing!”

“Do it yourself!”

It was not possible to remove the EVA suit alone. This was because the suit’s entrance and life support system were all on the back. Wearing and removing it required a second person’s help.

But for emergency purposes, Kunlun Station had designed an automatic EVA suit removal system… This system was installed on the wall and looked like a metallic claw. When the EVA suit needed to be taken off, all Tang Yue needed to do was put his back to it and let the claw latch onto the life support system, allowing him to take off the turtle shell.

“Radiant Armor Separation Sequence. Step one. Turtle shell has been latched on!” Tang Yue grunted as he wore a solemn expression.

With a cranking sound, an indicator LED lit up. This indicated that the life support system had been fully latched onto.

“Radiant Armor Separation Sequence. Step two. Turtle shell removal!”

Tang Yue pressed the buttons on his wrist to disconnect the life support system from the Radiant Armor before removing the straps, allowing him to fully escape the massive shell.

“Begin separation!”

Tang Yue sprawled onto the ground as he slowly squirmed, raising his buttocks bit by bit.

This wasn’t because Tang Yue was letting himself go to kiss the ground when there was no one around. This was the separation pose he was used to… As the Radiant Armor’s opening was at the back, Tang Yue’s different poses in his repeated attempts to separate himself finally made him decide that letting his buttocks move out first was most convenient.

Tomcat had once commented that this pose was somewhat like a turtle taking off its shell.

When the other members of the research team were around, Tang Yue would never dare do something like that.

With four men sneering around you, would you sprawl on the ground and raise your buttocks?

Have you thought of the outcome?

Tang Yue burrowed out of the Radiant Armor and immediately felt as light as a feather. He jumped up and turned around to move the crate. He opened the airlock and moved the crate to the end of the airlock before returning to the main hall to don the Radiant Armor again.

He couldn’t directly open the outer door of the airlock or the loss in pressure would instantly kill him.

Tang Yue had to wear and remove the Radiant Armor each and every time, making it a huge hassle.

However, this wasn’t something he had a solution to. He needed to don an EVA suit to leave Kunlun Station. This wasn’t something he could be perfunctory about. Otherwise, he might die before he had even launched the resources.

A few minutes later, Tang Yue returned dressed in the Radiant Armor. He opened the outer door to the airlock and pushed the crate with all his might out of Kunlun Station.

Tomcat was by the Eagle checking the Ascent Vehicle’s second-stage rocket.

The Ascent Vehicle had a total of two rockets. The first-stage rocket comprised of two Raptor 3C liquid oxygen-methane engines. The first-stage rocket’s function was to propel the Raptor off Mars’s surface and enter near-orbit. After two hundred seconds, it would use up all of its propellants and separate from the package at the top.

The second-stage rocket, the rocket at the top, was a Russian RD-0172 engine. Its function was to safely ensure and change trajectories.

In order to reduce the weight, the lander didn’t come equipped with an escape tower. Therefore, the only thing that could provide safety to the command module was the stage-one engine. Once a problem arose while Eagle was being launched, the rocket at the top could immediately separate along with the command module.

If the Eagle was successfully launched, the function of the rocket at the top would be to change trajectories and help the command module dock with the United Space Station.

Neither of the two-staged rockets was permitted to have any errors.

If the first-stage rocket was to fail, the Eagle would end up crashing to the ground.

If the second-stage rocket were to fail, the Eagle would fail to dock with the United Space Station and become space trash that floated in near orbit.

Tomcat had to be extremely meticulous.

Thankfully, liquid-fueled rocket engines were nothing overly complex. In essence, the basic structure of a liquid-fueled rocket was a pump combined with a combustion chamber and a nozzle pipe. The pump would send the propellant into the combustion chamber where it would ignite and spew out from the nozzle pipe. It was simple and crude other than it being something of single-use. Therefore, Tomcat was still able to deal with it.

If the thing placed before him was an engine for a space shuttle as complicated and intricate as an F119 afterburning turbofan engine, with several afterburners and boosters, perhaps Tomcat would be at a loss.

After all, it wasn’t an engine designer.

“Tang Yue!” Tomcat shouted.

“What?” Tang Yue was pushing a small cart towards the lander as he looked up.

“I’m short of a No. 7 pentagon key wrench.” Tomcat stood on the accommodation ladder and looked down at Tang Yue who wasn’t too far away on the ground. “Help me bring it over!”

Tang Yue was taken aback, thinking, Tomcat, to think you actually need my help?

You finally have to succumb to my whims!

Tang Yue sneered inwardly.

“Get it yourself!” He cleared his throat and said categorically, “Can’t you see I’m busy? How would I have the time to get you some key wrench?”

“You aren’t getting it?”

“Nope!” Tang Yue thought, Watch me teach you a lesson!

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Tang Yue said ruthlessly. “If I were to help you get the wrench, I’ll read my name backward in the future!”

“Fine.” Tomcat nodded and smacked its paws. “So be it. I don’t have any opinion on that. But without the wrench, I won’t be able to finish the subsequent work. I’ll continue when you bring the wrench for me.”

Tang Yue was taken aback.

“I won’t be responsible for delaying the launch,” Tomcat continued. “That lass’s life above us is in your hands. It’s up to you!”

“You!”

“What about me?”

“You’re impressive.”

Tang Yue fiercely pushed the cart forward before obediently turning back to get the wrench.

“The wrench is in the second cabinet underneath the table! Take note that it’s No. 7!” Tomcat shouted behind him. “Remember that, Yue Tang!”