Dead on Mars

Chapter 235 - Sol Three Hundred and Thirty-Eight, Don’t Abandon Me
Chapter 235: Sol Three Hundred and Thirty-Eight, Don’t Abandon Me

Fifth sol after leaving Kunlun Station.

Tang Yue walked briskly across the desert, but it was more like a stroll. As he walked, the sunlight drew out his long shadow. Tang Yue would often walk around after sitting for too long. After all, the Mars Wanderer wasn’t fast. It would simply follow closely beside him at the same speed as his walking. Tomcat sat in the driver’s seat and had its hind legs crossed.

“I think you should learn how to use the sextant to determine direction. It’s a very practical technique. I actually did not agree with the removal of this technique from your training,” Tomcat said. “Even if there’s no way to do it as precisely as me, you will be able to determine your rough location.”

“Don’t I still have you?” Tang Yue narrowed his eyes as he imagined a line drawn in front of him that extended into the distance. He was following that line forward. “You just need to confirm it. Your observation precision is far higher than my naked eyes. If I were to do the navigation, I’m afraid I’d throw myself into a ditch.”

“I’m saying when I’m not around.”

“Why wouldn’t you be around?” Tang Yue turned to glance at Tomcat.

Tomcat was taken aback as it leaned back into the seat and pondered for a few seconds. “I’m saying… I’m saying that in the event that I’m not around? Learning more skills can’t be wrong. It won’t hurt after all. From today on, in this darn world, you will always encounter situations where you can’t find someone to help you.”

Tang Yue was puzzled, unsure why Tomcat was suddenly mentioning this.

How many more days did he have in his life?

Why would there be a situation that required him to obtain help from others and not find any?

This was akin to telling a terminally-ill patient with only three days to live that he ought to study and enrich themselves to lead a better life in the future.

The dying person would probably sit up in fright.

Future?

What future?

“There’s no future.” Tang Yue looked down at his feet. “Every step taken on this path is one fewer step to take.”

“You are a man. I forgot who said it… To a man, there are certain wars in this world that require you to face it alone.” Tomcat didn’t reply to Tang Yue directly as it continued speaking, its body shaking with the vehicle. “No one knows what the future entails, but no matter what happens, even if you are the only one left, Tang Yue, even if you are alone… I hope that you can recognize the correct direction and continue proceeding down firmly.”

Tang Yue was somewhat alarmed before he smiled. “To say something like that, does it mean Lord Cat is going to abandon me?”

“No, I’ll accompany you to the final moment, as best as I can… If you don’t abandon me, I won’t abandon you. Even if you abandon me, I won’t abandon you.” Tomcat shook its head. “Come on up. That should be enough for an after-meal stroll. We need to speed up.”

Tang Yue leaned against the Mars Wanderer, raised his foot onto a step, exerted his strength, and burrowed into the driving compartment. Once he was in the front passenger seat, Tomcat floored the accelerator and began speeding up.

“The atmospheric monitors are beginning to sound alerts. The density of the carbon dioxide is rising.” Tang Yue prodded the control terminal on the back of his hand. There was a tiny exclamation mark blinking. The emergency oxygen system only lasted a maximum of forty hours when used for a single person, but in fact, it hadn’t reached that figure. Tang Yue was using the third canister. At this moment, the oxygen candle had reached the end of its life.

Tomcat took out a brand new emergency oxygen generator (EOG) from behind the seat, patted Tang Yue’s shoulder, indicating that he faced his back to it.

“This is the fourth one.”

“Yes, the fourth one.”

There were only a total of six units of the emergency oxygen generating system. They had already used half of the oxygen.

Tomcat removed the lock and removed the expended EOG from the Radiant Armor. The expended oxygen candle felt hot to the touch to the point of scalding. This was because the decomposition of the alkali metal perchlorate salts was an exothermic reaction. Of course, Tomcat didn’t care about that.

“Humans have a natural fear of suffocation.” Tang Yue took the expended oxygen candle from Tomcat’s paw. He slowly fiddled with it. “When on Earth and on Kunlun Station, I’ve never felt that oxygen was a valuable resource. The most worthless thing in the world is air that can be found anywhere… But when you package it and tell me that every use means one less of it, I can’t help but feel worried and horrified.”

The EOG had English instructions on its surface. There were also tiny diagrams. Tang Yue did a simple sweep of it, but only remembered the word “Oxygen” from it.

“I don’t need to breathe, so I probably can’t empathize with you.” Tomcat removed the safety catch of the EOG and pulled the switch.

“Then imagine oxygen as electricity and the oxygen candles as batteries,” Tang Yue said. “If you were left in a world that doesn’t have any electricity generators and you only have one last battery in paw, with every bit used meaning one bit less, can you understand now?”

Tomcat held the EOG and considered for two seconds before inserting it into the Radiant Armor’s interface.

“Roughly, but I will switch myself off when I only have a little bit of power left.”

Tomcat finished installing the brand new EOG and carbon dioxide collection canister.

With a click, the Radiant Armor indicated that the EOG had been installed successfully. The helmet’s ventilation system began working, blowing air rich in oxygen into the helmet. Tang Yue took a deep breath before looking at the control terminal. The carbon dioxide in the EVA suit had dropped to a normal level.

“Tomcat.”

“Huh?” Tomcat tightened the carbon dioxide collection canister and began inspecting the Radiant Armor’s life support system.

“It’s impossible to fight this battle alone. If you aren’t beside me, I won’t even be able to swap the oxygen generation system and the carbon dioxide collection canister.”

“Not necessary,” Tomcat said. “You can swap it yourself inside the experiment module.”

“Then there’s no way for me to drive the Wanderer alone. It’s not something I can deal with. It goes on strike at random.”

“You are a mechanical engineer. You can fix anything. It’s part of your job.”

“Then… Then I have no way of navigating. I’m unable to determine the correct direction alone.”

“That’s why I hope that you can learn to use the sextant and read the stars. As long as you learn that, you can head in the correct direction.”

Tang Yue fell silent. Every reason he came up with didn’t hold.

“Tang Yue, you have to believe that if you are strong enough, the environment can’t defeat you. Loneliness cannot defeat you. This world cannot defeat you either, regardless if you are just one person…” Tomcat finally said, “you will still be able to reach your destination.”

“I can’t not have you,” Tang Yue said softly. “Without you, I won’t even be able to continue down this path. So, don’t abandon me.”

“Why would I abandon you?” Tomcat was taken aback as it sighed. “I’m existing because of you.”

“Then regardless of the path in the future, you have to stay by my side and walk with me to the end.”

Tomcat nodded.

“No matter what lays ahead, I’ll stay by your side and walk with you to the end.”