Dead on Mars

Chapter 144 - Sol Two Hundred and Seventy-Six, Crossing the River on a Paper Boat
Chapter 144: Sol Two Hundred and Seventy-Six, Crossing the River on a Paper Boat

“Ahh!” Tang Yue pointed at the screen as he turned around to shout to Tomcat.

“Why are you screaming? Is this a call to arms? Isn’t Lu Xun’s collection done?” Tomcat kept typing on the keyboard. “Call to Arms and Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk have been sent out, right? Mr. Lu Xun’s words of enlightenment have already been forever engraved in the memories of the Universe.”

“I’m referring to Munch’s The Scream!” Tang Yue clasped his cheeks with his hands as he mimicked the figure in the painting. “Is this real?”

“Are you dumb?” Tomcat continued typing. “The genuine piece of work is stored at the National Gallery and Munch Museum in Norway. It vanished along with the Earth. What you have is just a scanned photo.”

“I’m asking if this is a photo of the genuine piece.”

“Determine it yourself,” Tomcat said. “Look at the picture from different angles and directions. If the figure keeps staring at you, it means it’s real.”

Tang Yue straightened his body as he craned his neck to look at the screen from different angles. Moments later, he was alarmed.

“Oh my, it’s real! The figure is really staring at me… Damn it, it’s really creepy.”

Tomcat sighed.

In many matters, Tang Yue’s intelligence was definitely not the best in the world. Perhaps having a simple brain was the main reason he had survived to this day.

“Any picture with eyes that directs the gaze at someone standing in front of it will appear to you as if it’s staring at you from any angle. This is an optical illusion. It has nothing to do with its authenticity.” Tomcat held a piece of scrap paper in its paw. It was covered with equations and numbers that matched the numbers on the monitor. “Hmm… The ballistic coefficient doesn’t exceed 100 kg/m². This object’s damping ratio at a zero angle of attack is 1.86…”

“For real?”

“You can give it a try,” Tomcat said.

Tang Yue drew a cat’s face on a piece of paper and drew a pair of big eyes. Then, he moved the paper away from him as it moved it to the sides.

“Hey, it really seems to be the case…”

Tomcat couldn’t be bothered with Tang Yue as it continued its work, handling the complicated data.

The work involved complicated orbital mechanics and fluid dynamics. It needed an immense amount of calculation. Tang Yue and Mai Dong naturally couldn’t provide any help, so Tomcat busied itself with the work together with Kunlun Station’s computers. Tomcat was in charge of issuing the commands while the workstation would fire up all its cores and work without rest. As for Tang Yue and Mai Dong, they were in charge of recording the developmental history of the human race.

The history of art was a very complex subject. Before beginning, Tang Yue imagined that he just needed to write the story of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of an egg.

But when the references came into view, Tang Yue was astounded by the massive amount of information. Just the different art movements numbered more than a hundred. There was Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Neo-impressionism, and a huge bunch of names that he had never heard of.

Tang Yue scraped a few artist names such as Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Qi Baishi from his memories, but even that didn’t use up his five fingers.

He had to admit that he didn’t have any artistic genes in him.

“I have to compare their parachute deployment Mach numbers. This is 1.1. This is 1.77. This is… 1.57. When a parachute is deployed, the dynamic pressure is between 350 and 750.” Tomcat spun the pen in its paw as it muttered. “Then, their vertical descent speed is 2.4, 12.5, as well as 8.0…”

“Mass! Mass! Mass!

“Momentum! Momentum! Momentum!

“Speed!

“And density!”

Tomcat bellowed in frustration as it widened its eyes.

Numbers and equations ran through its mind.

It had told Tang Yue and Mai Dong that there was hope, allowing the latter to use Orion II to proceed with a landing, at the cost of abandoning the entire spacecraft, to bring her down. However, it was ultimately a crazy and bold plan. It was extremely risky and any tiny mishap would lead to failure.

In human aeronautical history, there had never been such an operation. Just the thought of it would seem ridiculous to a layman—a spacecraft with a mass of more than 400 tonnes was to descend into the atmosphere with merely reverse thrusters. This was only something that appeared in science-fiction movies.

It was no wonder that Tang Yue’s first reaction was that it was impossible.

However, Tomcat’s calculations supported this incredulous idea. It said that at times, its technique was crazier than anyone else.

This was the rigidity of mathematics and physics. Even if many believed it impossible and even if it looked incredulous, as long as it was permitted by them, there was a possibility of success. At times, the rigid laws of the Universe could force you into a corner, but at times, it was the safety rope that you relied on for survival.

However, Orion was ultimately not designed for atmospheric entry, and although Tomcat’s original calculations were supported, it was only theoretically possible. To go from theory to practice needed many steps and massive amounts of calculations and adjustments. There were also many problems that needed resolving.

Tomcat called it crossing a river on a paper boat.

Tang Yue asked what it meant.

Tomcat folded a piece of scrap paper into a boat and placed it on the table.

If you wished to traverse a wide and turbulent river, but only had a tiny paper boat to use, would you dare embark if the mathematical calculations said that the boat would ferry you across the river before it sank?

If they weren’t out of options, Tomcat would definitely not taken such a risky step. Orion II was that paper boat that could sink at any time. In theory, it could safely send Mai Dong across the river, but with a bit of wind or a few waves, it would face the danger of sinking.

“1, 2, 3, 4… The peak aerodynamic heat will reach 56 W/cm². Damn it. What’s the material on the surface of the reservoir? SLV-561? No, it’s not.” Tomcat shook its head. “OK, this process has ended. The flow computations are completed.”

“Hey, Tomcat. I have a question.” Tang Yue placed the piece of paper down.

“Speak.” Tomcat rotated the left monitor.

“If we follow your plan, allowing Orion’s speed to decrease to zero before it lands, there’s no way to land normally without any landing gear, right?” Tang Yue asked. “Orion will definitely crash. After the fuel is expended, it will smash into the ground. Then, what will happen to the Eagle?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, how do we deal with the final step?” Tang Yue asked. “Even if we successfully survive the first 120 kilometers, what about the last eighty meters? If we assume ideal conditions, and the depletion of Orion’s propellant is controlled perfectly, allowing Orion to successfully hover a centimeter off the ground, it’s still eighty meters tall. That’s thirty stories high. To come down from that height…”

Tang Yue’s worries weren’t without reason. Even though a height of eighty meters looked like a negligible number when it came to aeronautical numbers, it wasn’t something that could be neglected for a human. Falling from a height of thirty stories was death.

Tang Yue’s and Tomcat’s goal was to ensure Mai Dong’s safety. If Mai Dong couldn’t reach the ground safely, all their hard work would have been for nothing.

Having worked hard to overcome so many obstacles, they couldn’t trip up at the final step.

“I don’t need you to remind me.” Tomcat smacked its lips. “I’ve already considered it. A smart cat has no lack of ideas.”