Dead on Mars

Chapter 188 - Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Two, Incredible Engine
Chapter 188: Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Two, Incredible Engine

The ventilation system began working as the exhaust fan sucked out the smoke from the core module. The air inside the module gradually became clear as the system once again had control over the Crystal after the reboot.

At first, Mai Dong wasn’t certain about the extent of damage the United Space Station had suffered. This was the second time the space station had been in an accident. But compared to the Eagle’s collision from half a year ago, that was nothing.

Orion II and the Eagle were different. The Eagle was only half a lander. It had low mass and slow speeds, but the Orion II was a gigantic spacecraft about the size of the space station. The result of its collision was the near destruction of the entire space station. The Crystal had survived thanks to its solid body, but apart from the Crystal, the United Space Station had almost nothing left.

Mai Dong wore an IVA suit and began shutting down the alerts. The system was probably at a loss having woken up to find itself paralyzed.

Most of the functionality in the space station had been put out of service. As the control panel had been destroyed, Mai Dong could only connect to the core module’s wireless network with her notebook computer. She then used it to control the computer.

“How’s the OGS?” Tang Yue asked.

Without a doubt, the OGS was a crucial part of the life support system. If anything happened to it, the situation would become extremely thorny.

Mai Dong shook her head.

“No good. The OGS is gone.”

The OGS was located in the Harmony service module. Mai Dong didn’t know what the situation regarding the other modules was at the moment. After the accident, all hatches were shut tight, but Mai Dong vaguely remembered that she had seen the Harmony service module being destroyed by a spacecraft fragment.

Regardless of its situation, the system was unable to connect to it.

Without the OGS, the air and water circulation in the space station would become a problem. Mai Dong could only activate the emergency oxygen system in the Crystal. This system was similar to the one on Kunlun Station. It used the thermal decomposition of perchlorate salts to generate oxygen and lithium hydroxide to absorb the carbon dioxide. However, it was a lot larger than the one on Kunlun Station. It was a cylinder the size of a water barrel.

To put it simply, it was an extremely large oxygen candle.

Each module was equipped with one in the emergency cabinet. After activation, it could generate enough oxygen to support six people for 72 hours. A rough calculation showed that it could work for 432 hours to support just one person.

That meant eighteen sols.

“Then what about the communications system? Can the communications system be restored? Can it establish a data connection with Kunlun Station?” Tang Yue asked.

“I’m trying…” Mai Dong pressed her back to the wall as she attempted to reboot the space station’s main communications system. “It doesn’t seem to work. The antenna was damaged.”

The notebook screen kept displaying “ERROR.”

There was another piece of bad news. The liaison system between the space station and Kunlun Station wouldn’t be restored to normal. They could only rely on the weak, emergency commlink to pass data. However, the emergency communications system was of terrible quality and the signal was rather unstable.

“Water… How much water do you have left?”

“Hmm… I still have…” Mai Dong replied, “Three liters.”

The United Space Station had lost all its water facilities. Now, Mai Dong only had three liters of water on hand. This was found in water pouches in two spacesuits.

Tang Yue sat in his chair.

Three liters?

What could be done with three liters of water?

Even though Mai Dong had survived Orion II’s collision, she was still far from safe. At present, the condition of the space station was still unsettling.

Tomcat was analyzing the space station’s condition. Through the emergency commlink, Kunlun Station had established a connection with the space station’s system. The latter had transmitted the data and Tomcat was going through the damage.

The situation was worse than it expected.

The United Space Station’s damage had exceeded 63%. In other words, more than half the space station was damaged. Excluding the inflatable module that they had docked, the space station had six modules originally. Four of them were lost. Amongst them, Silent and Harmony had their mechanical connection severed. They were both lost in space.

The Discovery experiment module and Hope experiment module had ruptured and lost pressure. The latter had snapped into two.

Only the Crystal core module and the space station’s central Hub CBM module remained firm.

The truss had snapped. The arm was gone. The eight solar panels were gone as well. Out of the other eight solar panels on the other side, only four of them could be connected.

The Crystal has two batteries.” Tomcat frowned as it pointed at the schematic on the screen. “Thankfully, the two batteries remain operational. The primary battery is at 40% charge. The secondary battery is at 60% charge. It can provide electricity to the computer, but only four of the solar panels are operational… What’s problematic is that the space station is spinning out of control. In such situations, there’s no way to effectively charge the batteries or establish a stable communication signal.”

The United Space Station was spinning out of control amidst plenty of fragments. Mai Dong had to lean her back to the wall while working to curb the influence brought about by the centrifugal force.

But this situation couldn’t continue for long. No one could survive in a constantly spinning space.

“It needs to be corrected!” Tang Yue said.

“The problem is that the space station lacks any dynamic system.” Tomcat pondered. “Orion II has gone. The space station itself doesn’t have an engine.”

In zero gravity, if there wasn’t an external force to change one’s movement, one was unable to do a thing. All the strength in the world would be useless as one continued spinning far into the distance for eternity.

Tang Yue thought of an idea. “Can we produce momentum by reverse releasing the modules?”

By releasing damaged modules in the opposite direction of the spin, it would generate a force on the space station. Force was mutual. This was a law determined by Newton years ago. It was something the entire Universe followed.

At this juncture, all Tang Yue could do was pray to Newton for his blessings.

Tomcat thought for a moment and did the calculations. “It won’t work. The torque generated is too weak. It would be insufficient to reduce the angular velocity.”

“Then… Let Mai Dong head out? Can she try nudging it manually?” Tang Yue was desperate. “Is there a Manned Maneuvering Unit for spacewalks that can produce a thrust?”

Tomcat continued shaking its head.

“Impossible.”

Tang Yue frantically looked around, scanning everything he could see, hoping to find the inspiration that could save Mai Dong’s life. He wanted to find a way to save the space station, but all he had on hand were these pathetic items. You can’t make bricks without straws.

“We need a source of power.” Tomcat stared at the monitor. “An engine.”

“Engine… Engine, engine, engine… Th-that… thing, is it still around?” Tang Yue suddenly slapped his head as he spoke so quickly that he began stammering, even to the point of nearly biting his tongue.

“What are you referring to?”

“That thing!”

“What thing?” Tomcat asked.

“That thing! That thing!”

“Name?”

“Damn it, I can’t remember its name,” Tang Yue said. “That incredible engine that can produce seventy Newtons of thrust!”