Dead on Mars

Chapter 193 - Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Three, Predator at the Top of the Mars Desert Food Chain
Chapter 193: Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Three, Predator at the Top of the Mars Desert Food Chain

The next day.

Tang Yue left on the Mars Wanderer, taking with him a shovel and plastic sample box for soil samples.

Periodically he would head out to dig suitable soil meant for the plants’ substrate. Now, the creation of soil substrate for planting in Kunlun Station wasn’t as difficult as it originally was. The already fermented feces were used as fertilizer due to the sufficient number of activated microbes. It was like adding some old yogurt to fresh milk when creating yogurt as a primer.

“Tomcat, how many liters of soil do I roughly need this time?”

“Not much. It’s up to you,” Tomcat replied. “After Tianzhou 37 arrives, you won’t need to rely on planting vegetables to provide nourishment for yourself. The spacecraft has soft-packaged canned peaches and oranges.

“What about Mai Dong… We have three seeds that are planned to be activated. There are also five tomatoes that have begun their second round of fruit-bearing. How much fertilizer and soil would be sufficient? Mai Dong?”

There was no response over the comms.

Tang Yue smacked the Radiant Armor’s visor.

“She entered the no-signal zone again?”

When the United Space Station’s communications system had been destroyed during the accident, Tang Yue and Tomcat had spared some time to attempt a repair, but it was unfortunately fruitless. The present commlink between the space station and Kunlun Station was still rather unstable. When the space station was behind Mars, it wasn’t able to receive Kunlun Station’s signal, which meant that for half a day, every day, the space station was in a no-signal zone.

During such times, Tomcat and Tang Yue would lose communications with Mai Dong. Furthermore, there was nothing they could do to ameliorate the situation. In Tomcat’s words, the United Space Station and Kunlun Station could only communicate with one another when there was line-of-sight. If they wished to communicate, they had to wait for the space station to circle around the back of Mars and rise from the horizon.

However, once the space station was below the horizon, the communications would be severed.

“I’ll have to wait another thirty minutes.”

Tang Yue sat in the desert with the shovel and box on his legs.

Ahead of him was an endless rock patch that was covered in a thin layer of sand. It was mostly transported over by atmospheric activity while the rest was a result of rock weathering. Beneath the sand was rock and soil. Mars didn’t have any vegetation cover or sufficient water. Therefore, it didn’t have the soil environment brought about by an ecosphere over the span of millions of years. The soil here was dry and coarse, a mixture of gravel and sand.

Under Tang Yue’s feet, there was at least a meter worth of soil of the same type.

Only on Mars did Tang Yue realize the staggering effects life had on the environment. Darwin’s theory of evolution believed that natural selection determined the evolution of creatures, but in fact, creatures and their environments were influencing each other. The reason Earth could form the natural conditions of the modern-day could be traced back to the mass proliferation of blue-green algae 3.5 billion years ago.

If blue-green algae hadn’t appeared, Tang Yue might not have been a creature breathing in oxygen.

“Tomcat, can you contact the United Space Station?”

“No,” Tomcat replied. “The subscriber you have dialed is not in service.”

“It’s really because of the bad signal.” Tang Yue curled his lips. “Make sure to let them know that I’ll be lodging a complaint about them when I’m back! I’ll report to the authorities by dialing 95598!”

“95598 is for electricity and the Internet. Why are you lodging a complaint to them instead of the mobile company? Are you hoping that they will cut the station’s power?”

Tang Yue used the shovel to dig away the gravel and sand. He extracted soil from a particular spot every time. He would erect a tiny flag, saving him the time to search for it. Mai Dong had already taught him how to find suitable soil and how to mix feces and soil to cause decomposition. Having spent so much time personally planting tomatoes and carrots, Tang Yue had already transformed from an electrical engineer to a qualified farmer.

He poured the soil mixed with gravel and sand into the container. After closing the lid, he gently hit the container walls and shook it forcefully like he was rolling a die.

The motive for doing this was to let the tiny particles sink, and when doing so, they would fall to the bottom of the container through the gaps in the gravel. This would leave the gravel as the upper layers. Large pieces of basalt couldn’t be used for planting tomatoes, so Tang Yue needed to sieve them away.

He opened the lid and grabbed a handful of gravel. Then, he began a second round of soil extraction and filtering.

His actions suddenly slowed down.

“Hey, Tomcat.”

“Yes?”

“I see a small typhoon.”

“A small typhoon?” Tomcat frowned.

Tang Yue nodded. A small swirl ten meters in front of him was sweeping by. It didn’t look more than half a meter tall and had been dyed light brown by the sand. It kept wobbling and moved at an extremely slow speed. This wasn’t Tang Yue’s first time encountering a typhoon on the desert, but this was the first time he had been in such close proximity to a small one. This kind of small typhoon was typically born behind a sand dune’s sun-facing side. It would follow the sand dunes and mountain ridges and last for a few short minutes.

They usually had a strange feature. Once anyone approached, they would dissipate even faster. Therefore, few people ever had any close contact with them.

On Mars, seeing them was like seeing a sea lion sunbathing in the north pole’s ice. The typical person would give it a few curious looks, but one couldn’t exclude the possibility of someone with pent-up anger suddenly smacking the back of the sea lion’s head.

Tang Yue pushed the sample container filled with soil into the Mars Wanderer’s driving compartment and secured it in the seat. He then brought the remaining empty containers down and threw them on the ground.

“Shh~ Look, what did I discover? There is a small typhoon that is alone. We can attempt to capture it. One small typhoon can provide us with days of energy. They are rich in protein and a single unit of a small typhoon contains more protein than beef. However, it is not easy to deal with. We should approach it slowly from the back. Be careful not to make any noise.”

Tang Yue muttered a meme from back on Earth as he filtered the soil.

“I caught it. It’s struggling vigorously! We just need to twist its head once and we can then pull its innards out. The other parts can be eaten raw. Of course, if time isn’t tight, we can first roast it.”

Tomcat was taken aback before it rolled its eyes. Congratulations Mr. Tang Yue. After arduously surviving on Mars for nearly a year, your efforts haven’t been in vain. You have finally gained enlightenment and acquired inedia. You can obtain the energy to live by simply drinking the wind. From this day forth, I suggest that as the predator at the top of the Mars desert’s food chain, you should go about hunting typhoons.

Tomcat painted a scene for Tang Yue: A man running on the desert with all his limbs like a dog chasing after a typhoon. His eyes were red and drool gushed out from his mouth. From south to north and from west to east, he would chase unceasingly. In a day, he would run across the Isidis Planitia thrice.

“Isn’t that rabies?” asked Tang Yue

“Sir, it’s more like mad cow disease.”