Dead on Mars

Chapter 191 - Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Two, The Last Party Branch in the Universe
Chapter 191: Sol Three Hundred and Twenty-Two, The Last Party Branch in the Universe

Tomcat and Tang Yue sat in front of the computer for a full six hours until the sunset and the dark, starry sky arose. In these six hours, the man and cat didn’t even dare take a breath. Although the space station’s attitude adjustment was an extremely slow job, Tang Yue was unable to see any shrinking in angle with his naked eye, this stemmed from the fact that the United Space Station was facing the greatest crisis ever since its establishment.

In these six hours, the United Space Station had orbited Mars nearly seven times. Mai Dong could finally fix the Sun in the middle of a window—stabilization of the space station’s attitude needed it to be done in all three axes. The first x-axis was now stable. What was left was to resolve the tumbling along the z-axis.

“This is very problematic…” Tomcat’s paws hovered over the keyboard as it typed over the air without pressing down. “SPT276 doesn’t have enough degrees of freedom. The thrust is unable to fully align with the direction of spin. There will be additional velocity components.”

Tang Yue stared at the space station on the monitor. In short, the United Space Station was in an extremely complex state of motion after the collision. Orion II had nearly torn the space station apart. The latter’s center of mass had undoubtedly suffered a tremendous change. Worst of all, Tomcat lacked the effective means to make measurements. All it could do was adjust the engine’s thrust by trial and error.

“How much more propellant does SPT276 have?” Tomcat asked.

“27%.”

“We might not be able to completely stabilize the space station’s attitude.” Tomcat sighed. “Based on the present situation, and hoping that there not being any additional impetus, we will only be able to reduce the space station’s tumbling speed to 3°/s. That is the optimal solution.”

Once SPT276 was initialized again, it would be its final mission. After stabilizing the space station’s attitude as best as it could, SPT276 would be drained of all its substance, ending its historical calling. It was born in a manufacturing environment at the Kawasaki Heavy Industries. It was launched into space at the Tanegashima Space Center with the Hayabusa III probe by an H3A rocket. The farthest it had been was the asteroid belt two AU away. Its journey spanned four billion kilometers and it would eventually have its eternal rest on the Mars United Space Station.

Sunlight beamed into the window. This circular window was probably the only thing in the Crystal that maintained relative stillness with Mai Dong. The other things were slowly spinning. The random components that had been floating in the module had been put away by the girl, securing them to the walls and drawers. Together, they began tumbling along with the space station.

Mai Dong and the core module didn’t have any physical contact. She could maintain a straight line with the Sun and Mars, but this put her in a state of motion relative to the space station. Mai Dong inhaled gently as water vapor condensed on the glass visor. The core module’s walls were sweeping overhead.

The core module’s current temperature was –11°C.

The temperature control had been put out of commission. The Crystal’s temperature would decline drastically once it came to the back of Mars. It would slowly rise a little when it faced the Sun.

She held a straw in her mouth, taking a small sip to moisturize her dry throat.

The remaining three liters of water were all in the water bags of spacesuits. The two IVA suits in Crystal, each contained 1.5 liters of water.

There was a greater lack of food than water.

All Mai Dong had was two pieces of compressed biscuit. These two pieces had happened to survive because of Mai Dong’s work habits. As she had been tirelessly modifying Orion II, she often carried with her a wrench, screwdriver, and biscuits. Later, it became a habit, often having food in her pockets—a piece of biscuit in the pocket on each side.

These two pieces of biscuit had survived the disaster with Mai Dong. As for the rest of its own kind, they had long been scattered into the vast deep space.

“Tang Yue… do you hear me?”

The emergency communication system’s control panel swept past Mai Dong’s eyes. Only the red indicator light was blinking once every second. Tomcat’s speed reduction had worked. The space station’s spin had clearly slowed down.

“Yes? Lass? I’m here.”

“Can the space station be saved?” Mai Dong’s tone was very calm. “If it can’t be saved…”

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Don’t worry, it absolutely can! The space station can be saved. We will immediately stabilize the space station’s attitude!” Tang Yue hurriedly cut her off. “Tianzhou 37 is on the way! Just hold on. It will be able to safely bring you down! You have to believe the Party and the People!”

“You ask me to believe in the Party and the People every single time.” Mai Dong smiled faintly. “But there isn’t even a party branch here.”

“I’ll now develop Tomcat into a party member!” Tang Yue said. “This way, we’ll have a party branch. The organization has already studied and decided on a method of rescue! The lifeboat is coming! Tianzhou 37 will be reaching you soon!”

“But it will still take twenty days before it arrives,” Mai Dong said. “I only have three liters of water and two biscuits. It won’t last that long.”

“We will accelerate it! We will get Tianzhou 37 to ignite its engine and rush over at the fastest speed possible!” Tang Yue’s voice sounded very calm. “Right… Tomcat? The Party Branch Secretary is asking you. Get Tianzhou 37 to initiate its engine rockets. Speed it up!”

“I’ve already gotten Tianzhou 37 to turn on the engines.” Tomcat took off its earpiece and replied softly. “The estimated time of arrival is 251 hours, or in ten sols.”

“Get it to be faster! That lass only has three liters of water and two pieces of biscuit.” Tang Yue had a nasty look as he moved away from the microphone to prevent Mai Dong from hearing him. “Apart from the fuel needed for the descent’s anti-thrust, use up all the propellant!”

If he hadn’t deliberately suppressed his voice, he would have been yelling.

“There’s no need for you to remind me about such matters!” Tomcat returned with the same tone. “But how much propellant you use to accelerate means the same amount of propellant to decelerate! Otherwise, not only will the descent be impossible, even entering orbit will be a problem! Ten sols are the limit. Any shorter and it won’t be able to be captured by Mars’s gravity. It will brush past Mars, truly dooming everything.”

Tomcat had a fierce look as its fur stood on end. It was as though it had encountered a stray dog that was trying to steal its food.

Tang Yue and Tomcat stared at each other for quite a while before they each took one step back. Their quarreling didn’t help matters. The outcome wasn’t affected by the victory of either side. Tang Yue’s anxiety had gotten the better of him. Tomcat was right. Tianzhou 37 couldn’t accelerate without limitations. It needed to reserve enough fuel to carry out a deceleration to enter orbit.

Tang Yue pressed down on his forehead as he sat down. “Lass, there’s another ten sols. Just last another ten sols and Tianzhou 37 will arrive. Although the food and water are a little lacking, making it a little hard on you… you must have confidence.”

“Okay.”

“Apart from food and water, the greatest problem is the space station’s trajectory,” Tomcat interjected. “The explosion of Orion II’s propellant tank and collision has drastically lowered the space station’s altitude. This is the worst thing of all. Before long, the Mars United Space Station will plummet through the atmosphere.”

“How many more sols before that happens?” Mai Dong asked.

“It’s hard to tell. I lack the space station’s detailed orbit data. It’s impossible to make an accurate estimate,’ Tomcat replied. “Besides, the space station itself isn’t in a stable situation. Many components are on the brink of disintegrating. Based on the present situation, the remaining lifespan of the United Space Station is probably seven sols…”

Seven sols*?*

Tang Yue’s heart clammed up.

Tomcat stared at the monitor before finally adding, “…to eleven sols.”