Dead on Mars

Chapter 106 - Sol Hundred and Eleven, The Mother Who Urges You To Wear Thermal Underwear
Chapter 106: Sol Hundred and Eleven, The Mother Who Urges You To Wear Thermal Underwear

“Tang Yue?

“Mr. Tang Yue, what’s wrong?

“Tang Yue, wake up!”

When Tang Yue opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Mai Dong’s tear-stained face.

“Tang Yue, you’re awake? Are you alright?” Mai Dong was stunned before rejoicing and crying tears of joy.

She had been worried sick.

The past few hours could have been described as some of the worst few hours of her life. Mai Dong could only watch helplessly as Tang Yue lay there in the airlock, making her imagine that he had suddenly suffered from a stroke, a cerebral hemorrhage, or a heart attack.

From what she could see, Tang Yue was in urgent need of medical help for him to collapse, but the only person aware of that was hundreds of kilometers in orbit.

For an instant, Mai Dong wished to find a cellphone to call the emergency services but realized that she was marooned alone in space.

Mai Dong felt desperate.

She could only cry out Tang Yue’s name repeatedly, there was nothing else she could do. This was no doubt excruciating torture for the girl.

She believed that she was helplessly watching Tang Yue’s life slip away and that the man would lie there forever.

There was no one else on Kunlun Station, and the camera was fixed. If Tang Yue was to die in the airlock, his corpse would remain on-screen forever.

A white wall, a circular-shaped hatch, and a bulky white figure would combine to form this post-modern Surrealist picture of death as though it had been produced by the hands of a master like Salvador Dalí.

“I…” Tang Yue frowned.

“What happened to you?”

“I fell asleep.” Tang Yue sucked up the drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.

…

“How… How long was I out for?” Tang Yue had a throbbing headache. When he looked at the time on his wrist, the Radiant Armor’s control terminal indicated that it was twenty minutes to seven in the evening. He had headed out at around seven that morning, implying that he had been out for nearly twelve hours. It was likely a result of him working continuously for two days under intense stress. He was just too exhausted, and when he tripped when heading out in the morning, just the mere act of closing his eyelids was enough for him to fall asleep until he woke up.

Tang Yue had been in a deep sleep, so deep that Mai Dong’s voice had become hoarse from shouting through the earpiece. Yet, she had failed to wake him up.

While Tang Yue had a great sleep, Mai Dong had been sick with fear. Through the screen, she saw Tang Yue motionless on the ground, and that only made her believe that something had happened to him.

Tomcat had already disappeared silently, so if Tang Yue got into trouble, it would leave Mai Dong completely alone.

Mai Dong was on a space station that was four hundred kilometers away. Apart from reeling in anxiety, there was nothing she could do.

She had been desperately calling out Tang Yue’s name, but the latter lay on the ground like a dead pig. Furthermore, he lay there for more than ten hours. Mai Dong had searched through the entire space station, but couldn’t find anything that could be of help. Towards the end, she began crying out of anxiety. Being at the end of her tether, all she could do was hug Ah Q and pray for a miracle.

Tang Yue slowly got up as the Radiant Armor was flashing a warning light. It was unknown how long it had been issuing the warning. The life support system had long expended all its oxygen, and the main oxygen tanks had been depleted below the warning level.

Thankfully, Tang Yue hadn’t left Kunlun Station. He had fallen inside the airlock, and after the Radiant Armor had expended all of its oxygen, it detected that the surrounding environment had ordinary levels of oxygen. It then allowed the oxygen to flow in and out of the suit; otherwise, Tang Yue might have suffocated inside his EVA suit.

The sun had already set, and it was completely dark outside. Tang Yue had planned on going out to move the solar panels, but there was no need for him to do so anymore. He had slept the entire day, neglecting all his routine work. Thankfully, Kunlun Station’s battery reserves were sufficient. They didn’t have any problems lasting through the night.

The Radiant Armor’s energy was depleted, and it was now a thick and heavy gunny sack. Tang Yue sighed as he unsecured the life support system, took off the battery and oxygen tank before crawling out of the Radiant Armor. He then left the EVA suit on the wall to charge.

“Tang Yue, do you want to check on yourself?

“Tang Yue, I think your physical condition might not be too good. Why don’t you check on yourself?

“Tang Yue, are you losing bone mass? Are your muscles atrophying? Did you strictly follow the training schedule?

“Tang Yue?”

Tang Yue smiled wryly as he pressed his palms together and gave Mai Dong a deep bow. “Miss Mai Dong, thank you for your concern. However, why are you like my mother?”

Mai Dong’s nagging did sound like a mother who urged her son to wear thermal underwear. It was like a surround sound system.

“Scram, I don’t have such a useless son like you.”

The girl was taken aback as she turned her head away. Her eyes were still red, but her tone sounded brisk. Tang Yue had finally awoken, relieving Mai Dong greatly. She heaved a sigh of relief as the weight over her chest was removed. She was now able to joke with Tang Yue.

As Tang Yue stretched his limbs, he found himself starving. Hence, he got out a compressed biscuit from the crate to munch as he poured half a cup of water for himself. He then sat in front of the desk.

“Have you discovered anything from the images?”

“No.”

To be honest, Mai Dong hadn’t bothered with the photos for the past twelve hours. Neither had she had the time to take photos when passing by the Isidis Planitia.

“Beep—” It was the computer’s periodic reporting of time: 7 p.m.

Tang Yue’s heart sank as he subconsciously turned his head to look at the earpiece. Without any surprises, there weren’t any messages coming in.

The outcome he was most worried about had happened. They had lost communication with Tomcat for more than seventy-two hours. Based on the original plan, Tomcat should have returned to Kunlun Station by now. Tang Yue’s and Mai Dong’s last bit of hope had been snuffed out. They were still holding out hope that Tomcat’s lack of communication was due to damages in the communication system while it maintained its mobility. They hoped that the Mars Wanderer was still able to be driven and that it would return to Kunlun Station on time.

But three days had passed with the cat nowhere in sight. This meant that the damage wasn’t only to the communication system.

The situation was spiraling downward.

At this moment, Tang Yue had basically confirmed that something had gone wrong with Tomcat’s and the Mars Wanderer’s operation. It wasn’t unexpected and even though Tang Yue didn’t want to admit it, he still believed that there was the possibility of the utter destruction of the Mars Wanderer. Thankfully, he had yet to find Tomcat on the satellite imagery. All the spots that could lead to an accident had been searched, but they had found no signs of anything.

If Tomcat had really had an accident, where could it have happened?

An incredulous possibility surfaced in Tang Yue’s mind. Could it be that the cat had eloped with the Mars Wanderer?