Dead on Mars

Chapter 225 - : Sol Three Hundred and Thirty-Four, Goodbye, Kunlun Station
Chapter 225: Sol Three Hundred and Thirty-Four, Goodbye, Kunlun Station

“Airtight seal is working fine. Internal pressure, 42 kPa.”

Tang Yue turned the seal on his wrist as it produced a light click. The glove was locked in place, indicated by a green light.

“HUT fully operational. Shoulder joints a-okay. Elbow joints a-okay. Wrist joints a-okay. Lower limb joints a-okay. LTA fully operational.

“Life support system a-okay. Liquid cooling a-okay. Average heat dissipation, 300W. Internal temperature 22°C. Oxygen circulation at 17 l/min.”

Tang Yue tapped the control terminal on the back of his hand as the glass visor reflected figures that rapidly changed. Tang Yue reported them as they flashed past.

“Remaining battery capacity, 97%.

“CCA a-okay. Communications a-okay.”

He reached out his hand and pressed the opening button on the airlock hatch. A soft fan whirred into action as the airlock pressure began rising. Finally, it was in equilibrium with the Hab.

The bolt retracted as the hatch slowly opened. Tang Yue turned around and gave Kunlun Station one long look.

The Hab was tidied neatly, with the workstation chassis placed under the table. It had been switched off and its plug pulled. It had finally escaped the devilish claws of Tomcat. No one would squeeze everything it had again. The computer monitors were placed with their backs facing each other on the table. The chairs were lined up against the wall in a row, and all the paper had already been put inside drawers. The table was clean. Even the cups and clock were lined in a row, just like an inspection at a military retreat.

The OGS remained switched on, but it was running at its lowest power output. Tomcat had mentioned that it could last fifteen years, something Tang Yue wasn’t too sure of. However, as long as the OGS remained operational, all life on Kunlun Station would continue to survive.

The plants were sitting high on the racks. Tang Yue and Tomcat had used a rubber tubing to make a drop dispenser. The water inside Kunlun Station’s water tank would be drawn to water the plants. They had also filled the containers with soil and fertilizer, greatly broadening the tomatoes’ lifespans.

Tang Yue cast his gaze on the tomatoes with lush leaves. He paused at each plant for quite some time.

The most luxuriant one was First.

Beside it was Second.

There was Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh.

Daddy will be going on a faraway trip.

I’ll be going somewhere very, very far away, to fight a very, very difficult war. You have to take good care of yourselves.

Make sure to take good care of yourselves.

Be good.

“This is Mars Wanderer. Copy.” Tomcat’s voice sounded over the earpiece.

Tang Yue stepped into the airlock as the hatch closed behind him. With a click, it was sealed shut. Step after step, he walked through the six-meter-long cylindrical room before pressing the button that opened the outer hatch.

The air inside the room was rapidly emptied and the moment the hatch opened, Tang Yue said to the Martian land that greeted him, “I’m out. It feels alright.”

Tang Yue had already moved all the necessities onto the Mars Wanderer. Now, it was truly like Thomas the Tank Engine. Behind it was the geolab with food, oxygen, and water inside. Behind the geolab was a trailer that had solar panels tied to it. This was all of Tang Yue’s and Tomcat’s luggage.

Tomcat sat in the driver’s compartment to check on the Mars Wanderer’s condition. It was already in a bad state, with its front smashed flat. Its frame was warped and all the glass had shattered. The driver’s compartment was an airy broken shack. The only thing still usable was the steering wheel, accelerator, and brake. Tang Yue had seen manual tractors used by farmers in a museum, and he had mused that they gave off vibes of Dieselpunk. They were purely mechanical without any liquid crystal glass.

Now, the Mars Wanderer had also turned into a genuine manual tractor.

Tomcat stuffed the map underneath the dashboard and the letter in the sun visor. Then, it turned the steering wheel and pressed the accelerator, only to be stunned.

There was something in the glove compartment.

Tomcat took it out. It was a wooden frame.

It smiled and propped the frame up, carefully placing it on the Mars Wanderer’s dashboard.

…

Tang Yue buried a portable hard disk into a pit, the same pit that he had dug for his grave. In it was a copy of humanity’s developmental history while the original copy was stored on Kunlun Station. He had built a tomb for the departed human civilization before the sun rose. Amidst the darkness of pre-dawn, he shoveled the soil and buried the hard disk bit by bit before stabbing the shovel in.

Mars wasn’t the Moon. The footsteps on the Moon could be preserved for hundreds of millions of years, but the sandstorms on Mars would change the terrain. It was unknown how long this tiny tomb could last, but if everything went as expected, this shovel was the destination of humanity. Tang Yue took a step back and stared at the shovel’s handle before bowing.

“Tang Yue, the Sun is about to rise,” Tomcat reminded him.

“I know.”

Tang Yue circled around Kunlun Station and patted the Chelomey probe which was still sitting in the sand. It had its solar panels extended as its indicator lights blinked once a second. Even though it had been robbed of a temperature control chip by them, it didn’t seem to mind. Every day, the Chelomey watched the Sunrise and watched it set, just like an elder who had experienced the vicissitudes of life.

“We are leaving. I’m sorry we can’t take you along.” Tang Yue stood in front of the Chelomey. “Bid us farewell. Blink if you are saying goodbye.”

The Chelomey’s faint light blinked.

“Goodbye.” Tang Yue took a step back as he waved.

He passed by the garage, and inside were the stacked containers used to contain feces. Tomcat had even arranged them neatly. All the tools were stored away in boxes or hung on the walls. Tang Yue closed the garage door and pushed the bolt closed. Tang Yue had one last hug with the Descent Vehicle of the Eagle. It was this spacecraft that had saved Mai Dong back then.

Every day he went out on a stroll, he would often visit the Eagle to have an idle chat with it, talking about anything under the Sun.

The Eagle was an excellent listener. It never interrupted him no matter what he said.

From today on, no one would approach it to speak to it. Looking at it sitting alone in the barren desert, it was a mystery if it would feel lonely.

Tang Yue finally stood in front of Kunlun Station’s Hab.

For more than three sols, this had been his only home on Mars.

It had become a habit for him to finish his daily chores, return to sprawl against the chair, ordering Tomcat to pour him water. Tomcat would at times help him and at times stay on a chair opposite him, motionless. Any urging would only make it flare-up. As for Mai Dong, her appearance on screen was like a ghost’s. One never knew if she was there. At times, she wasn’t in the core module and at times, she wasn’t willing to appear within the camera despite being there.

Tang Yue reached out his hand, placing his palm onto the Kunlun Station walls.

For the first time, he felt regret that he had to don such a heavy, bulky Radiant Armor. He could only make contact with Kunlun Station via a few layers of airtight, temperature insulating material. If not for his gloves, he might be able to take in the smoothness, hardness, and warmth of Kunlun Station.

“We’ll be leaving.”

Tang Yue leaned his helmet on Kunlun Station’s wall as he closed his eyes.

“We’ll be leaving.”

Behind him, the Sun had finally risen above the horizon. Golden sunlight instantly tore through the mountains and desert, casting a shadow of Tang Yue’s torso onto the Hab’s outer walls.

“Goodbye.”