Dead on Mars

Chapter 98 - Sol Hundred and Nine, Please Don’t Tremble
Chapter 98: Sol Hundred and Nine, Please Don’t Tremble

Mai Dong placed her eye on the eyepiece as she slowly adjusted the magnification knob. The optical tracking system in the Discovery module was a laborious piece of equipment. It was formerly used to help in the Orion’s rendezvous, and after the Canadarm70 came into service, this system was practically left defunct. The Canadarm70 could directly grapple the Orion spacecraft and engage in a precise dock. There was no longer any need for such primitive optical tracking.

The Mars United Space Station’s orbit was three hundred kilometers from the surface. At this distance, it found it difficult to lock onto a target. Just a few millimeters difference meant a world of difference for the photos. A slight shake of the camera could mean a deviation of nearly a hundred kilometers. Besides, the region Tang Yue had carved out for the sweep was only 95 kilometers long. This also meant that a tiny tremble of Mai Dong’s hand could result in the camera’s field of vision being thrown far away.

The girl slowly twisted the knobs, moving angle by angle as she adjusted the optical tracking system’s direction. The ravines that covered the Martian surface quickly swept through her vision as the numbers that diffracted from the eyepiece jumped rapidly. The computer used green numbers to label the target’s exact longitude and latitude location which was then projected onto the eyepiece by laser diffraction. Mai Dong lowered the camera’s magnification to the lowest setting. This way, the field of view would be at its widest, making it suitable for her to find a target.

In the Mars Wanderer’s vision, there were only dark-red sand dunes and black shadows that intersected one another. She couldn’t see the Mars Wanderer or Kunlun Station. Those targets were too tiny, far exceeding the resolving power of the human eye… There was once an urban myth that the Great Wall of China could be seen from space, but in fact, the Great Wall was only four to five meters wide, far below the resolving threshold of the naked eye. If astronauts really wished to see the Great Wall from the International Space Station, the latter probably had to install high-power light bulbs at night.

“12.54°N and 87.0°E… 87.0°E. This is Kunlun Station’s location. Then, the Chelomey is…” The girl found the Chelomey’s landing spot with the corresponding longitude and latitude. The last time Tomcat had communicated with her was at the Chelomey’s landing spot, so she could use it as her starting point for the search.

Based on the Mars Wanderer’s speed, it could be inferred that Tomcat advanced about thirty kilometers a sol. They had communicated with each other twenty-four hours ago, which meant that Tomcat’s likely location was within a thirty-kilometer radius from the landing spot.

Mai Dong split Tang Yue’s rectangle into six regions, with each region about thirty kilometers in length. She planned on searching region by region.

The area around the Chelomey was given priority.

“Mai Dong?”

“Yes, I copy. I’m familiarizing myself with the system…” Mai Dong’s eyes left the eyepiece as she pulled out the keyboard tray to correct the numbers. “This system is a little old.”

The optical tracking system in the Discovery was indeed an ancient piece of equipment. It used a straight-through optical pathway. It didn’t have any fiber optics, display, or elaborate servo control. If the Dawn module wasn’t damaged, Mai Dong could have used its surface remote sensing system and scanning the region would only require her to enter a few numbers and a few mouse clicks. The camera would then auto-focus and the images would automatically be transmitted to the computer. There wouldn’t have been a need for her to do so much manual labor.

“Is it done?”

“Yes.” Mai Dong pricked up her brows as she gave a cunning smile. “You should be confident in me… What kind of person am I?”

She tried adjusting the magnification to find a rock patch in her field of view. Then, she aimed the crosshairs at the rock before pressing the button.

The photo appeared on the computer’s display and the girl scrutinized its clarity. She leaned in as she squinted to verify the reliability of the system, so she had randomly taken a photo of a target. Mai Dong then tapped the keyboard to switch photos.

Hmm… there are some double images. Is it because of the focal distance?

Mai Dong shook her head as she adjusted the camera again before testing the system by continuing with the photo taking. After repeatedly comparing the resolution of the pictures, she adjusted the equipment bit by bit.

The exposure was too long.

The image can still be sharpened a little.

The resolution can still be raised a little… Raised just a little…

Mai Dong adjusted the equipment in her hand like an experienced photographer as she constantly strove for perfection. The United Space Station would pass by the Isidis Planitia once every eighty minutes, so to save time, Mai Dong wanted to take as many photos as possible during every window.

The Mars United Space Station silently streaked across its orbit as it gradually approached the Isidis Planitia.

“Lady, where are you now?”

“I’m approaching the area above Isidis Planitia. The optical tracking system is ready. It’s estimated to enter an effective scan zone in a minute.” Mai Dong kept her eye peeled to the eyepiece as she took a deep breath. All the details had been adjusted to their optimum state. She stared at the diffracted parameters from the eyepiece instead of the images which were rapidly sweeping past, as all the images looked the same—an image of a desert. Only the parameters were capable of telling her if she had locked onto her target.

In a certain way, Mai Dong was blindly tapping. She couldn’t see the target she was looking for, and could only press the shutter based on the location data.

“Tang Yue,” Mai Dong suddenly called out.

“Yes?”

“Do you know what’s on my mind now?”

“What is it?”

“It’s very magical. It feels like Mars is a giant microbe, like germs or yeast cells. And I’m using a microscope to observe this huge microbe. This feeling reminds me of laboratory lessons in college when I studied the specimens on a microscope slide. Its cell membrane’s protein and phosphate groups…”

A giant microbe? Tang Yue was taken aback. Wasn’t this an oxymoron?

“I’m serious. It doesn’t feel like I’m using a telescope to observe a celestial body, but using a microscope to observe a huge…” The girl paused before finding the word. “Life.”

Tang Yue shook his head. He was unable to experience what Mai Dong was feeling from Kunlun Station. All he could do was to drag the solar panels around. To him, Mars was just an endless land of saline-alkali soil. The Chinese proverb, “we can never know the true face of Mt. Lu because we are located within its environs” was apt. If he were on the solar panels in near-obit, he might have understood what the girl was saying—Mars wasn’t a dead and silent celestial body, but a life with a strong pulse.

Of course, with Tang Yue’s artistic flair and lofty thought processes, he would likely have called it a mud egg.

“There’s another twenty seconds before entering the effective scan zone. I’ll be cutting off comms.” Mai Dong took note of the computer’s alert. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck.”

Mai Dong took out her earpiece, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

Don’t tremble.

Please don’t tremble.

Mai Dong silently said to herself.