Dead on Mars

Chapter 183 - Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Two, Reboot
Chapter 183: Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Two, Reboot

The next morning, Tang Yue and Tomcat informed Mai Dong of the news, moments after she woke up.

“Tianzhou… 37?” Mai Dong was surprised. “It’s still alive?”

Tang Yue nodded.

“Tianzhou 37 was launched before Earth disappeared, but for some reason, this spacecraft escaped the misfortune of vaporizing with Earth. Furthermore, it very accurately found its destination. It will arrive on Mars twenty days’ time, according to plan.”

“I recall that Tianzhou 37 is a cargo spacecraft.”

“Yes.” Tang Yue had spent hours to calm his excitement to make himself look composed, but he still wasn’t able to repress the joy in his eyes. “Just on food alone, that spacecraft has five tonnes worth. There’s fruit, vegetables, beef, fish, and even Australian lobster canned food!”

He handed the inventory list to Mai Dong.

Mai Dong began scanning through it.

“44 kinds of I-type food, 23 kinds of IM-type food, 9 kinds of NF-type food, 54 kinds of R-type food, 27 kinds of T-type food… It includes raisins, oatmeal, yogurt, preserved apricot, dried pear, Russian black bread, shrimp with mixed vegetables, steak, sausage pie, fish-skin peanuts, burritos, dehydrated mushroom soup, spaghetti bolognese… Wow, breading pudding, beef noodles, mushroom tenderloin… Wow—vegetable salad, diced meat rice…”

“Lass, your saliva… your saliva!”

Mai Dong wiped away her drool as her eyes turned feverish as they burned with a glint.

“Tang Yue, Mr. Cat, I… I’ve seen heaven.”

“Yes.” Tang Yue nodded. “That is heaven.”

Mai Dong hugged her plush toy, Ah Q, and buried her face into the furry dog’s stomach as she groaned. Soon the groan turned into laughter as she tumbled about inside the module.

“Fabulous! Just fabulous! This is great news!”

Tang Yue and Tomcat exchanged looks.

Tomcat shrugged. Your earlier reaction wasn’t necessarily any better than Miss Mai Dong.

Tang Yue cleared his throat. “Lass, the supplies aren’t the most important thing. Most important of all is that we need to change the landing plans. Tianzhou 37 has a very safe lander. You can come down on Tianzhou, and we don’t have to make Orion II descend.”

“Got it.” Mai Dong nodded. “That also means I just need to wait another twenty days on the space station.”

“That’s right,” Tang Yue said. “After Tianzhou enters Martian orbit, we will let it dock with the United Space Station. You can bring all you need into the spacecraft, bringing with you all the excess goods and those plants of yours together… Tianzhou has the ability to let you land safely. Furthermore, it will accurately land at Kunlun Station’s doorstep. I guarantee that the entire process will be very stable and safe.”

“Got it.” The girl’s black eyes darted around before she smiled. “But last night, you said we would be having dinner together tonight. Does that promise not count?”

“Of course it does,” Tang Yue said. “It will just be pushed back twenty days. When the time comes, I’ll entertain you with Australian lobster.”

“On account of the lobster…” Mai Dong grunted. “I’ll forgive you for standing me up.”

“Miss Mai Dong.” Tomcat moved over and pushed Tang Yue away. That put an end to the idle chatter for important matters were next.

“I’m here, Mr. Cat.”

“You are now aware of the present situation. As Orion II’s descent has been abandoned, we need you to switch off landing mode.” Tomcat crossed its paws and held them to its chin. It sat squarely as it looked at the operational state of Orion II on the monitor. The eight engines were in shutdown mode, but the Raptor-05 rocket in the middle was labeled red. “It’s indicated here that Orion II is beginning its second attitude adjustment. Raptor-05 is sending pulses at the moment.”

Mai Dong floated to the window and looked out.

At this moment, the United Space Station was located behind Mars. Orion II was carrying out an attitude adjustment. In Tomcat’s descent program, Orion II needed to carry out three attitude adjustments before officially beginning the atmospheric entry.

Looking from afar, the Raptor engines in Orion II’s dynamic module were blinking with a light-blue glow in the darkness. The blinking was like a beacon light or candlelight that was wavering in the wind. This wasn’t a normal job for the Raptor engine, but a pulse program Tomcat had designed. It would ignite the rocket at a graded frequency to save propellant. Methane was burning with oxygen and the exhaust was a bright blue color.

The Raptor-05 engine was nudging the spacecraft into slowly changing the orbit and attitude.

“Yes, Mr. Cat,” Mai Dong replied. She once again saw the control panel. “Orion II’s engine is in operation. Status is normal.”

“Shut it off,” Tomcat indicated.

“Directly?”

“Directly.”

Mai Dong opened her notebook computer, connected to the control system, and pressed the “Cancel” button.

“Mr. Cat, there isn’t any reaction.”

Mai Dong said as she pressed the button a few more times.

“Another bug?” Tomcat scratched its head. Mai Dong had pressed the button, but Orion II’s engine remained blinking. Clearly, one of the links that controlled the spacecraft’s engine from Mai Dong’s notebook had bugged out. After all, this wasn’t the default program of the spacecraft, but something Tomcat had written up at the last minute. It wasn’t odd for a bug to appear. “But it’s fine. Don’t worry. It’s just a small problem… Just reboot it.”

Rebooting could resolve 99% of all program errors.

The final 1% just needed multiple reboots.

“How do I reboot?”

“Use the circuit breaker,” Tomcat said. “Break the circuit for the control system. That’s the easiest way to reboot.”

Mai Dong pulled down the operator on the meter panel and after a few seconds, the control panel’s indicator lights dimmed. She then pushed the operator up to the end.

“Try switching off Raptor-05 again,” Tomcat instructed.

Mai Dong leaned onto the window as she held the notebook computer and pressed the “Cancel” button.

It worked this time. The computer screen popped up a notification window: Raptor-5 shut down. Landing Mode terminated.

Following that, a second notification window popped up: Orion II in ordinary flight mode.

Tomcat received the notification immediately as the nine engines on Orion II were labeled red.

Mai Dong clearly felt a tremor run through the cabin walls. This was the system igniting all the engines on Orion II. The propellant and oxidizers were burning intensely in the combustion chamber. The tremors had run through the space station’s truss all the way to Mai Dong. After canceling the descent, the Raptor rockets had to push the United Space Station back into normal orbit.

The girl looked out. In the dark shadow of Mars, the nine Raptor engines suddenly blasted out flames that could rival the Sun’s brightness and heat. Orange-red flames seemed to instantly light up the entire world.

Mai Dong floated in the warmth of the light as though she was seeing the setting sun the final moment before it set. The girl’s fair-complexion with the clear and distinguishable fine hair was dyed red by this picturesque scene.