Dead on Mars

Chapter 105 - Sol Hundred and Eleven, 1/6333333 Intuition
Chapter 105: Sol Hundred and Eleven, 1/6333333 Intuition

Communication with Tomcat had been lost for sixty hours.

Tang Yue pulled another all-nighter. He looked haggard and his eyes were bloodshot.

Tang Yue and Mai Dong had used the terrain map to expand the search from the possible locations of Tomcat’s accident but found nothing. Mai Dong’s solution had failed, and they had no choice but to continue the brute force search. Tang Yue transferred the images he had finished with into a directory that already had more than 3,200 files.

No one knew where Tomcat was. It had vanished mysteriously just like the Earth. No sight of it could be found. After a nap, and with the passing of time, Tang Yue wore an earpiece, faithfully waiting for a message through the communications system, but there weren’t any messages, not even a comma.

The situation was turning grimmer, in the beginning, Mai Dong was the one consoling Tang Yue, but now, even she had fallen silent… The two buried themselves in the massive pile of images, and other than comparing the images, they had even stopped conversing. They didn’t even dare imagine what could have happened to Tomcat.

Mai Dong looked at the documents that filled her screen. The worst and most terrifying outcome could be buried in the millions of images, but none of them dared to mention it, afraid that the very mention of it made it a reality.

This was like a scratchcard lottery. The card in one’s hand could be scratched to reveal that Tomcat was safe and sound, or that Tomcat had perished along with the Wanderer.

Tang Yue huddled on the chair in front of the desk as he trembled under the thick blanket.

He had maintained this position for the entire night like a crouching statue. All Mai Dong could see was Tang Yue’s eyes and fingers moving every few seconds. He was like a koala bear, huddled into a ball to prevent any loss of heat. Kunlun Station maintained a temperature of –10°C, and the Hab’s interior was covered in frost.

The RTG was placed on the floor in the middle of the Hab, and apart from Tang Yue himself, it was the only source of heat. Circling the RTG were buckets of feces, something that, at present, Tang Yue no longer had the energy or time to bother with. At this point, the tomato-planting plans had to be pushed back. All he could do was place the RTG there and hope that the feces would ferment by themselves without much supervision.

“3277… 3277…” Tang Yue stared intently as he muttered as if he was chanting some scriptures.

He clicked on the mouse. “3278. Mai Dong, look at this picture. Am I seeing things? Why do I find this image a little odd?”

“There’s nothing wrong. You are seeing things.”

“What about 3279? My intuition as a man tells me that there’s something odd about this image.”

“My intuition as a woman tells me that it’s nothing special.”

“Alright, I’ll heed your advice. Your intuition is sharper than mine.” To be honest, Tang Yue, who was at the end his tether, even had thoughts of using metaphysical methods by letting Mai Dong use her woman’s intuition to randomly hit a spot on the map to see if she could hit Tomcat’s location, but it was infeasible due to the low probability. The corridor marked out by Tang Yue had an area of 190 square kilometers, and the area the Mars Wanderer covered didn’t exceed 30 square meters. For Mai Dong to randomly hit Tomcat, the probability was 1/6333333.

Mai Dong might try it all her life without randomly hitting Tomcat.

Tang Yue continued reciting. “3280… 3281…”

“Tang Yue, Tang Yue? Have some water and take a break…” Mai Dong was very worried about Tang Yue. He hadn’t slept for days, his hair was messy and he was growing stubble. He didn’t follow a set timetable and was extremely haggard. If this continued, Tang Yue might collapse before Tomcat was found.

“Okay.” Tang Yue nodded, but he didn’t show any signs of moving as his eyes were glued to the screen. “Mai Dong, any discovery over on your side…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Tang Yue broke into a fit of coughing as though he was a patient diagnosed with a bad case of tuberculosis. He held onto the table as though he was about to cough his lungs out.

The repeated coughing emptied the air in his lungs to the point of him not being capable of coughing any further. He opened his mouth, but the inability to replenish the air he had lost made his face flushed red.

“Sorry about that, I… I have to drink some water.” Tang Yue’s voice was hoarse as he waved his hand. With the blanket over him, he trembled as he sauntered over to the water trough where the RTG was. If not for the RTG, the water would have frozen.

Tang Yue got a cup, bent down, and carefully poured himself some water. The thin layer of water only managed to cover the bottom of the cup, and before he could bring it to his mouth, his frozen fingers slipped as the cup fell to the ground, spraying water everywhere.

“Holy sh*t! My water!”

Tang Yue hurriedly crouched down and sucked up the water on the floor, before picking up the cup and sticking his tongue in, while slamming the bottom of the cup… He really felt the pinch for he was only rationed to use 1.5 liters a day. It wasn’t even enough for his consumption, and he needed to use that amount of water for his hygiene too. Wasting even a milliliter of water was a heinous sin.

Years ago, the poet, Tao Yuanming, had claimed that for five bushels of grain, I bow like a servant. Now, just a milliliter of water was enough to make Tang Yue kowtow.

After confirming that he hadn’t wasted any water, Tang Yue stood up in satisfaction as though he had made a killing.

“Are… you okay?” Mai Dong was dumbfounded.

“I feel much better after drinking some water. I’m feeling refreshed now and filled with energy.” Tang Yue took a deep breath as the biting air made him choke, violently.

“Tang Yue, you need some rest!” The girl turned stern. “You have to rest! Leave the work to me. You! Are! To! Immediately! Lie down!”

“Fine, fine, fine. Wait till I’m done with this batch of photos and I’ll immediately get some rest,” Tang Yue glibly replied. “I know my body best. You don’t have to worry. I can still hold on.”

At sunrise, it was time for him to head out and move the solar panels.

Tang Yue hung the life support system on the wall, unzipped the Radiant Armor and bent to get inside. Without anyone to help him, just putting the Radiant Armor on and taking it off was a tedious affair. Tang Yue felt his joints frozen stiff, and the way he moved was like an elder with cervical spondylosis and a slipped disc.

Tang Yue clumsily put on the Radiant Armor and secured the life support system. After connecting all kinds of wires and checking that everything was okay, the green indicator on his wrist lit up.

He felt a lot warmer after donning the Radiant Armor as the air he breathed out condensed on the visor.

“Mai Dong, I’ll head out to move the solar panels. Continue the search.” Tang Yue waved his hand. “Inform me if you discover anything.”

“Are you really okay?” Mai Dong waved her hand as well.

“No problem! I’m pumped with so much energy that I can head out and run five kilometers!” Tang Yue smiled as he gave a thumbs up. He turned around, opened the airlock’s hatch, and walked out with in high spirits. He then tripped over the hatch’s edge and collapsed inside the airlock.

“Tang Yue!” Mai Dong exclaimed.

She saw the bulky figure collapse inside the airlock and it remained there motionless, with no signs of it standing again.