Dead on Mars

Chapter 29 - Sol Four, A Person Equaling a Billion People
The instant Tang Yue and Tomcat closed the airlock’s outer hatch, after crawling back to Kunlun Station, Tang Yue felt as though he had returned into the realm of the living… He had used up his last ounce of strength to seal the hatch before collapsing onto the floor.

Tomcat dragged him into the Hab’s hall before taking off the Radiant Armor’s life support system and pulling Tang Yue out of the EVA suit.

Tang Yue lay there slumped as he crawled towards the water trough before becoming motionless.

Tomcat didn’t even have the time to take off its IVA suit. It took a few steps towards the water trough and filled a cup with clean, pure water before helping Tang Yue up. “Drink this!”

Tang Yue opened his eyes as he smiled weakly. “That extravagant? Isn’t there a ration?”

“Stop talking.” Tomcat handed the cup to Tang Yue. “Drink it.”

Tang Yue tipped his head and downed the water. A refreshing stream flowed down his parched throat, through his esophagus, and finally into his stomach. Tang Yue immediately felt better. It was a rare instance for him to be extravagant, and for Tomcat to be generous. Leaning against the table as he sat on the floor, he panted faintly, his face somewhat pale.

“How do you feel?” Tomcat crouched down in front of him.

“My stomach doesn’t feel too good. I feel like vomiting.” Tang Yue held his abdomen.

“You are a little dehydrated. However, you can’t consume too much water in a short period of time or there might be risks of water poisoning.” Tomcat got up, went to the water trough and got another cup of water. It placed it on the floor beside Tang Yue’s hand and said, “Rest well. If you’re thirsty, drink this… but do it slowly.”

“Will I get water poisoning if I drink it too quickly?”

“No.” Tomcat shook its head. “But you might choke.”

It turned around and found a power plug on the wall before plugging itself in. With a beep, a green light lit up as Tomcat began recharging itself.

It had been busy all day, beating the sandstorm with winds traveling at more than forty meters per second on five round trips. Humans would have lost their lives, but Tomcat was Tomcat. It had miraculously managed to survive. Not only did it survive, but it had also rescued Tang Yue.

Tomcat was also exhausted. Tang Yue always imagined that robots didn’t feel fatigued, but Tomcat was a robot that knew how to claim to be tired. Not only could it get tired, it would pant. Tang Yue knew very well that beneath Tomcat’s furry appearance was metal. Its movements were a combination of electricity and motors, and not flesh and bone. Could it be that electric-powered motors would feel fatigued?

As Tomcat felt the warm electric current slowly infuse into its batteries, it closed its eyes and comfortably sighed.

“Tang Yue looked over in curiosity. “I’ve always wanted to know… Where is that socket of yours located? Is it… at the ass…”

Tomcat raised a plastic plate beside its hand and slapped Tang Yue in the face. Then, it responded with a series of expletives.

Tomcat dragged a long electric cable and began pacing around Kunlun Station.

With the goods already in place, what followed next was crucial.

The launch.

Success and failure were determined by this alone.

“Will the wind speed drop below thirty meters per second?” Tang Yue asked.

“No idea.” Tomcat shook its head. It scanned the computer display which indicated that the wind speed outside was at 35 m/s. It was a lot lower than 40 m/s before, but 35 m/s speeds were still equivalent to a Force 12 hurricane. For a spacecraft which was about to ascend, such crosswinds implied possible attitude failures.

The Eagle was designed to withstand super hurricanes with wind speeds of 50 m/s, but that was its limit. Tang Yue didn’t dare to try his luck on the lander’s capabilities. He only had one precious spacecraft which had precious supplies on board. If it crashed, everything would be gone. Although betting everything on one shot had the vibes of a male lead’s heroic actions in a movie, Tang Yue had already come to terms with him being a side character. It was fine if the main lead courted death, but side characters really only had death awaiting them if they did the same.

Tomcat said that the more ideal situation was 30 m/s. They could forget about hoping that the hurricane would end tomorrow. To be frank, the weather on Mars was highly unpredictable. A sandstorm could last a few days, but it could also wreak havoc for months. The old Opportunity rover had died from a sandstorm after its immense contributions.

Thinking back to the Opportunity, it was extremely hardy. Its designed lifespan was ninety sols, but it managed to survive tenaciously for more than five thousand sols, serving its mission by sixty times longer than expected. Tomcat felt deep respect for it, calling the Opportunity a legend in the world of robots, a heroic senior like China’s Zhang Sanfeng 1 .

However, even Zhang Sanfeng had fallen under the endless sandstorms on Mars. Over the nights lasting months, the Opportunity has drained its final batteries and had become a monument on the desert plains.

Tang Yue didn’t know when the hurricane would pass, but if the wind speeds could drop beneath 30 m/s tomorrow, it would be a relatively safe launching environment. Tomcat had confidence in sending the Eagle into orbit before docking with the United Space Station.

“If the wind speed doesn’t drop tomorrow,” Tomcat turned around and looked at Tang Yue, “do you still plan on launching?”

Tang Yue was stunned.

“You have to think it through. There’s only one Eagle. You do not have the luxury of trial and error.” Tomcat then said, “This is a gamble. It’s either life or death.”

Tang Yue felt the pressure, immense pressure… It was a gamble, but there were too many elements that influenced the outcome of the gamble. Tang Yue had placed all his bets—the Eagle and its hold filled with supplies for Mai Dong—on the table. And facing him was Mars’s unpredictable weather, the sandstorms with wind speeds of more than thirty meters per second, the condition of Eagle, and even the engineers who designed the lander back on Earth.

Every element determined life and death.

Mai Dong’s resources had been expended. She couldn’t even wait a day. The Eagle had to be launched tomorrow, but worst of all, Tomcat and Tang Yue had no idea if the weather would turn for the better.

What would happen if the wind speed didn’t drop?

Was he to continue the launch?

What if the launch failed? Not only would Mai Dong be dead, but the Eagle and all the resources on it would be destroyed as well.

Tang Yue yanked at his hair as he fell into a conundrum. On the one hand, Mai Dong’s situation made it pressing for him to launch the Eagle as quickly as possible, but on the other hand, rashly launching the spacecraft might lead to failure. Not launching it meant death, but a mistake in launching also meant death.

“That lady’s only chance of survival is that we have to launch the spacecraft at a suitable time, in suitable conditions,” Tomcat said. “Nothing must go wrong. Everything must align perfectly.”

“Is it possible?” Tang Yue muttered.

“Not possible, but it’s also possible.” Tomcat leaned on a table and said slowly, “In the past hundred years of human history, every space mission has been a conglomeration of such elements… We put the most suitable people into the most suitable spacecraft, then at the most suitable time, in the most suitable conditions, we launch it into space. Even the most ordinary transport mission of goods to the ISS was done with clockwork precision.”

Tang Yue was taken aback as he subconsciously said, “How grand.”

“Do you get it? That’s how we have been going about all this time. We find that only sliver of possibility in the impossibility. It might mean months or years of waiting, all for a twenty-minute launch window.” Tomcat crouched down and patted Tang Yue on the face. “Do not underestimate the grit in humans, punk. You are in terrible conditions now, but can you compare to Apollo 13 back then?”

“But… There’s only the two of us.” Tang Yue hesitated for two seconds. “Apollo 13 had the entire country’s experts backing them.”

“So what if it’s just the two of us?” Tomcat bared its teeth and prodded Tang Yue’s chest. “You can think of yourself as a single person, but you need to think of me as a billion people! Are you done resting? If you are done resting, get up! We will not sleep tonight… We have to find that last shred of hope hidden in the pile of impossibilities!”