Dead on Mars

Chapter 60 - Sol Five, Five Seconds That Can Give Birth to Ten Thousand Stars
Badump…

Badump…

Badump…

Badump!

Mai Dong could clearly hear her heartbeat as her heart hit again and again inside her chest, tenacious and forceful.

Logically speaking, sound couldn’t be transmitted into the surrounding vacuum. The Universe was supposed to be a dead silence, but Mai Dong could actually hear a lot of sounds—her heartbeat, the sloshing of water in her in-suit drink bag, the rustling of her hair against the inner lining of the helmet, the static in her earpiece, and the humming sound from the EVA suit’s life support system, as well as the vibrational noises from the arm’s operations.

These minute movements were inaudible under ordinary conditions, but the silent background accentuated them. Together, they sounded like a symphonic medley.

Speaking of which, the Universe wasn’t silent. The vacuum wasn’t completely devoid of matter. It was actually filled with radiation, energy, and particles that were naked to the human eye.

From neutrinos to microwave background radiation, there was energy everywhere. Gravity was also producing ripples in space. If humans were able to sense these things, the Universe would appear like a boiling pot. The background radiation would be like the bottom of a red-hot pot, while the quantum energy fluctuations were bubbles that rose up and burst on the water surface.

The Universe was a radio station in which no one spoke. It was constantly filled with random white noise.

This was actually a noisy world.

Mai Dong stood at the end of the arm, as she held the shackle of the safety tether. The white Eagle was rapidly burgeoning in her sights as though it was a train approaching her.

At this moment, the Eagle only had its ascent portion. The command module and the rocket engine added up to about five meters. Mai Dong could see the small circular emergency hatch on the command module which was used by astronauts to escape in an emergency. There was another one behind the Eagle.

Under normal circumstances, the passengers would exit from the passageway at the bottom of the command module, entering and exiting from the space station’s APAS. The emergency hatch was typically not used unless there was a fire in the module. These two hatches were connected to the spacecraft’s body via pyrotechnic fasteners. If an accident happened, the passengers would be issued with an emergency command for evacuation. The hatch would be sent flying far away, which was to say that the hatches couldn’t be closed once they were opened.

In an inoperative state, the emergency hatch was bolted down to the spacecraft and extremely secure as it didn’t have any complicated hinges or locking mechanisms. It simply used an explosive method to open it—simple and brutal.

What Tomcat wanted was simple and brutal. The lander had already proven that the more complicated something was, the easier it was for a problem to occur at critical stages with its buggy computer.

Reality had proven that the simpler things were, the more reliable they were in emergencies.

There was a handle by the emergency hatch. After Tomcat thought through the matter, it felt that there were only two spots where the safety tether could latch onto the Eagle. The boundary of the APAS actually allowed for the safety rope to latch on, but Tomcat suspected that the APAS was unable to withstand the immense tension.

After the safety tether latched onto the Eagle, Tomcat would immediately reel in the rope and pull the lander back, reducing its relative speed to zero. This was like using a rope to stop an eight-wheeler that was sliding forward. The process would result in immense tension. For safety purposes, Tomcat naturally decided to latch onto a capstan or the bumper instead of the car plate.

Tomcat finally used the APAS as a backup choice. If Mai Dong failed to catch the emergency hatch, the next choice would be the APAS.

“Ten seconds.” Tomcat’s voice sounded in Mai Dong’s earpiece.

Mai Dong slowly held her breath.

“Five seconds.”

The Eagle was just inches away.

Seeing the massive machine silently fly over was counterintuitive. Mai Dong subconsciously felt that something was pushing at it.

Tomcat stared intently at the screen.

It had opened the arm’s camera, allowing it to see the figure in the EVA suit. It could also see the approaching Eagle.

The lander was already very close.

But it wasn’t the time.

The relative speed between the Eagle and the space station was 6 m/s. This speed was too high. With the lander being more than ten tonnes in weight, the kinetic energy it possessed while moving at 6 m/s was terrifying. Even without a direct impact, just being brushed by it would be fatal.

The train hadn’t entered the station. Tomcat was waiting.

It was waiting for the lander to enter the big circle with a radius of seventy meters—the operational range of the arm.

“Three seconds!”

The Eagle flew by Mai Dong’s eyes like the head of a train rumbling past the commuters waiting at the platform.

The train was in the station!

“Arm is at fixed length! Commencing roll! Countdown of five seconds—!” Tomcat suddenly slammed the keyboard as it roared, “Mai Dong—!”

The arm received the command as its gyroscope firmly locked in place! The motors were initiated! It was like a remote arm used when filming movies. It moved in the same direction as the Eagle, its directionality already locked. The path it would take was a very strict straight line. In the next five seconds, Mai Dong and the Eagle’s relative speed would be zero!

Mai Dong leaned forward as she tried her best to reach the lander’s outer shell. The emergency hatch was right before her eyes, almost at arm’s length. As long as she grabbed onto it, she could be holding onto the Eagle. She would be able to seize her fate in her hand!

But the girl was suddenly taken aback.

She wasn’t about to touch the Eagle.

She couldn’t reach it.

Mai Dong’s arm was too short. There had been a slight error in the measured distance and angle. This error was a negligible five centimeters. In ordinary situations, this could completely be understood. After all, she was human and not a machine. A tiny error didn’t matter in the big scheme of things.

But at that moment, Mai Dong’s hand was five centimeters from the Eagle.

At times, life and death were separated by just five centimeters.

…

As the arm moved in synchronization with the Eagle, they were moving on that circle with a radius of seventy meters. The arm would soon not keep up with the lander’s speed. There were only five seconds when they would move alongside each other.

How long was five seconds?

The lungs could relax and contract twice, breathing in 600 milliliters of air.

The heart could beat five times, pumping 375 milliliters of blood.

The brain could imagine the voice and expression of a lover, commanding the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland to produce dopamine.

Sound could travel 1,500 meters.

The Earth would have moved 150 kilometers.

Light would have traveled 1.5 million kilometers.

The Universe would have expanded by 150 million light-years.

Five seconds in the Universe was sufficient to give birth to ten thousand stars. A person could fall in love with another person given five seconds.

Or they could make a decision.

How many history-changing decisions in the world were decided in five seconds?

“Mr. Cat!” Mai Dong shouted through gritted teeth. “Release the platform’s lock!”

Tomcat was alarmed, but it didn’t say a word as it immediately removed the lock. “Lock released.”

The girl clasped the safety tether tightly as she used all her strength as she faced Mars, the vast deep space, and the Eagle before jumping!