Dead on Mars

Chapter 101 - Sol Hundred and Ten, The Heavens are Dead
Chapter 101: Sol Hundred and Ten, The Heavens are Dead

As Tang Yue mechanically clicked the mouse, the image number slowly went from 520 to 650 before reaching 770. Apart from moving the solar panels, he had practically stayed glued to the desk and computer. Time passed slowly in silence, as images kept flashing across the computer screen. Even though Tang Yue and Mai Dong had tried their best to do the identification, the analysis work of the photos progressed at a speed far slower than the photo taking.

When the Mars United Space Station passed by the Isidis Planitia for the fifth time, Mai Dong took another 1,400 photos. These photos were all stored on Kunlun Station’s computer and were ordered by their numbers in the directory folder that kept filling up with files.

Mai Dong suddenly jolted awake, realizing that she had unknowingly dozed off.

She yawned and saw that the screen was still showing a picture of the Martian surface. The time was 7:20 p.m., and it was likely that she had dozed off for about twenty minutes due to over-exhaustion.

Mai Dong did a count, it would be late at night over at Kunlun Station. She and Tang Yue had been analyzing the images from seven in the morning until seven in the evening. During this time, all she had eaten was two crackers. She hadn’t even had time to bother with the space station or the plants in the experiment module. Now, her eyes were aching, along with a throbbing headache and hunger pangs.

Up to that moment, they had lost contact with Tomcat for nearly thirty-six hours—it hadn’t even sent a single comma. The last time they had made contact with Tomcat was at the landing spot of the Chelomey, and it had reported that it had found the probe. There was nothing from it after that.

“Tang Yue… Do you have any results on your side?” Mai Dong rubbed her eyes which could hardly open. “What number are you at?”

“Nothing.” Tang Yue didn’t look up. “I’m looking through Number 781.”

“I have a few suspicious points here. Want to take a look?”

“Send them over.” Tang Yue knew very well that the suspicious points that Mai Dong discovered were likely a part of the natural landscape that didn’t go beyond the confines of sand dunes, mountains, or hills. However, he still held hope… At this point, it was as though they wished to identify a pixel as Tomcat. Mai Dong sent the image to Kunlun Station’s computer, and after a careful look by Tang Yue, it was as he expected. The suspicious objects were only sand dunes, ravines, or rocks.

Mai Dong hugged her Shiba Inu toy and tried her best to keep her heavy eyelids open. She flicked away the floating hair on her forehead and said, “How is it… Tang Yue? Any clues?”

“Nothing.” Tang Yue shook his head.

“Okay… It’s such a pity that there aren’t any.” Mai Dong slowly lowered her eyelids as she fell asleep once again in a second. Half a minute later, she jolted awake once again and blinked. “How is it? Tang Yue? Any clues?”

“Nothing.” Tang Yue’s eyes were peeled to the screen as he moved the mouse to drag the image. “You asked this question just a moment ago. Mai Dong… Mai Dong?”

Mai Dong didn’t reply for she was asleep once again with her Shiba Inu toy, Ah Q.

“Mai Dong?”

“Ah… Ah? Tang Yue?” The girl jolted awake as she looked around in a fluster. Only after making one full circle did she find the camera and screen. Clearly, she was still lost in her reverie. “How is it? Any clues?”

Tang Yue pointed at the corner of his mouth. “Saliva.”

The girl’s face blushed as she quickly wiped her saliva away.

“If you are really tired, have some rest,” Tang Yue said. “You’ve worked the entire day. That’s exhausting enough. Leave the rest to me.”

Mai Dong nodded as if relieved of a burden. She didn’t even return to her quarters to sleep. She closed her eyes and fell sound asleep in the Crystal module in just two seconds. Tang Yue smiled wryly and shook his head when he saw the girl’s exhausted and peaceful sleeping face. He then continued delving into the identification work.

…

“Good morning, Tang Yue… You didn’t sleep the entire time?”

Mai Dong was shocked. She had discovered Tang Yue sitting in front of the desk when she woke up, his posture looking identical to last night. In the past, she would wake up earlier than Tang Yue as there wasn’t any day or night on the space station. She slept according to a timetable, which made her waking time half-past five in the morning on Mars. As for Tang Yue, he typically woke up at six. Therefore, Mai Dong would have finished breakfast by the time she saw Tang Yue walking over sleepily in a blanket, resembling an ancient Roman.

But today, Tang Yue was up earlier than her. He had probably pulled an all-nighter without any rest after she fell asleep.

“Good morning, Mai Dong.”

Tang Yue’s voice was hoarse. Not only hadn’t he slept, he hadn’t even drunk a sip of water.

“What number are you on?”

“Number 1,429.” Tang Yue’s eyes were red and his hair was disheveled. “Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything.”

Tang Yue hadn’t taken a nap the entire night. He relied solely on a few sachets of instant coffee and pinching his thighs to keep awake. The instant coffee sachets were found at the bottom of a crate back when he was rummaging for supplies. God knows when they were placed there. Tang Yue’s eyes hardly left the computer screen. The only rest he got was turning his head to look at Mai Dong’s sleeping face. She had slept in the Crystal core module until daybreak, hugging the Shiba Inu toy tightly the entire time while sleep-talking.

Up to then, Tang Yue had finished going through 1,400 photos, which covered an area of 2,800,000 square meters. Having not slept for an entire day, all he had managed to complete was one-sixty-sixth of the mission.

Time was of the essence. He tried to clear the images on the computer while Mai Dong was sleeping. The Mars United Space Station had an orbital period of eighty minutes, so on average, it could sweep across Kunlun Station eighteen times a day. Mai Dong was only capable of taking 1,500 photos each time, and if she wanted to finish snapping all the photos, it required the Mars United Space Station to pass by the Isidis Planitia sixty-seven times.

That also meant that Mai Dong needed nearly four days to completely cover the corridor.

This was only the time it could snap photos.

The reading of them clearly took even longer.

They had now lost contact with Tomcat for forty-eight hours. If something really had happened to Tomcat, the earlier they found it, the earlier they could resolve the problem—even though it was impossible for Tang Yue and Mai Dong to do anything. However, they wanted to see the cat dead or alive. Only then would they feel at ease.

“May the Heavens… help us find Mr. Cat.”

Mai Dong closed her eyes as she pressed her palms together.

“If the Heavens were really protecting us, we wouldn’t be in this state.” The stubbled Tang Yue scoffed coldly. “God died when Nietzsche was born. The Heavens died at the instant Earth vanished. We are isolated and helpless.”

“Then may Buddha help us.” The girl raised her hands to her forehead. “Gatling Bodhisattva, please help us in finding Mr. Cat.”