Dead on Mars

“First, we need to dismantle the damaged Dawn experiment module.”

Tomcat used the mouse to circle the module at the end of the United Space Station. The Dawn module was still connected to the Crystal module, but it had long been abandoned, with its power and control completely severed.

Mai Dong carried a notebook in her arms as data cables floated around her. She squeezed herself between layers of control panels as her face was illuminated by the screen’s white backlight.

“Mr. Cat, the hatch is completely sealed. The system’s self-checks are done. Everything is normal in the space station and Orion II.”

“This is Kunlun Station. I copy you five-on-five.”

“Countdown to igniting the generator,” Mai Dong reported. “Raptor-02 on standby. Three, two, one… Ignite.”

The space station trembled slightly as Mai Dong looked up. The tremors were being transmitted from the cabin walls to the data cables as the forces passed through the long black power cables. The floating paper and pen slowed down significantly. They continued floating gently in midair, with almost zero interaction between the items and the space station while in zero gravity. In a certain sense, they were all non-interacting bodies that moved at an average speed of 3 km/s.

Orion II’s rocket engines were once again ignited as it nudged the space station slightly into a spiral. This was an attitude adjustment meant to detach the Dawn experiment module.

“United Space Station’s roll completed. Attitude stable. Raptor-02 switched off.” Mai Dong switched off the engine. “Mr. Cat.”

“OK, well done. You are now a very skilled spacecraft pilot, Miss Mai Dong.” Tomcat nodded. “The arm is in place. All stations be on standby… Detaching mechanical connection.”

Just as Tomcat said that, Mai Dong felt the core module tremble slightly. This meant that the Dawn module had officially detached from the core module. Following Tomcat’s severing of the power and controls nine months ago, the final mechanical connection was also severed. This pioneer module, that had existed from the United Space Station’s beginning, had finally completed its historic mission in life, and could now retire in peace.

The arm swept past the windows, with the Dawn module attached to it, as Mai Dong watched it disappear behind the solar panels.

“Mr. Cat, have you released it?”

“It has been released. It will continue orbiting Mars for about three months,” Tomcat said. “Then, it will crash into the atmosphere.”

The girl closed the notebook computer in her hands and pulled out the data cables. Not far away, the arm began folding.

“Will I still be able to see it in ninety minutes?”

“What I know is that it will definitely return, but Miss Mai Dong, you might not be able to find it… After all, it’s just too small.”

Mai Dong nodded in silence.

The first step pertaining to the modification of the United Space Station had been completed.

“Next, we will modify Orion and the United Space Station! After removing the Dawn module, the spot left behind will be used to attach the Orion spacecraft. It might sound simple, but the same work will take at least half a month in Earth’s orbit.” Tomcat paced about on Kunlun Station, its mind highly focused. As it ensured that the logic was flawless, it described the steps involved.

“In Orion II’s central module section, apart from the command module, there are seven other sections that need dismantling.” Tomcat sat in front of the desk as it held a monitor, showing the schematics to Tang Yue and Mai Dong. “The best plan is as follows: First, remove the α service bay section in the central module, connecting it to the Crystal module. Second, remove the β service bay section, and connect it to the Hope module. Finally, the γ service bay section will be connected to the Discovery module!”

Tomcat moved its hind paws on the screen as the touch screen gave the outcome of the connection.

According to Tomcat’s plan, the United Space Station would have an additional nine sections after the modification.

“Why are the Orion section bays using Greek letters? Don’t they have their own names?” Tang Yue asked.

“Of course.” Tomcat glanced at him. “I’ve just forgotten them.”

“What about the airlock?”

“Without a doubt, the airlock needs to be dismantled first before the docking.” Tomcat looked at Mai Dong. “This will take significant amounts of time. It will be tedious and will require many EVA trips, Miss Mai Dong.”

“Okay.” Mai Dong nodded.

“We need to make every second count.” Tomcat held the monitor. “The four remaining section bays on Orion are inflatable. We will empty out these four section bays and pressurize them, before tying them to the hull of the Eagle lander.”

“As airbags.”

“Yes, as airbags for the lander during the landing process.” Tomcat nodded. “At this step, Orion II’s central module will only have the command module that will bear the responsibilities of control and communications during the landing…”

“Tomcat. It’s all red again!”

“Change it.”

“The current angle of attack is 12° 37′ 55”. Do I reduce it by one arcsecond?”

“Yes!”

“There’s a data overflow.”

“Smash it!”

Once the modification work for Orion began, the lack of manpower instantly showed itself. Kunlun Station’s HP computer and the space station’s computer were running at full speed with all cores utilized. Every monitor in front of Tang Yue had figures and numbers depicted on them. He recorded the numbers with pen and paper.

Tomcat paced about on Kunlun Station, like an animal trapped in a zoo enclosure.

With a pen in one hand and the other hand on the keyboard, Tang Yue worked busily as if he was having a convulsing fit.

“Tomcat, Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I’s first prediction is out!” Tang Yue suddenly stood up and waved the scrap paper in his hand.

The space station’s survey telescope had finally gathered enough data for the workstation to carry out a computation based on the observations. It had made a preliminary prediction based on a remote distance of 1 AU.

“It will hit the northern hemisphere,” Tang Yue said.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Tomcat pulled a chair over and pulled out the prediction results. The simulation in a visualized format was very easy to understand. A terrain map, with different colors, was shown. Red represented highlands and blue represented flat plains. There was a blinking red circle on the Martian surface that was blinding.

“This is the comet’s landing zone. Based on all the data gathered to date, the computer can only be precise to this level.” Tang Yue maximized the Martian terrain map as his hand trembled slightly.

The workstation indicated Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I’s possible impact zone. It was a massive ellipse with a semimajor axis of 3,000 kilometers and the coordinates of the center of the ellipse being 18°N, 45°E.

Tomcat fell silent for a moment.

“This zone is too wide. It nearly covers half the Arabia Terra and the entire Terra Sabaea highlands.” Tomcat pointed at the map. “Look, we are located in the Isidis Planitia. West of us is the massive Terra Sabaea highlands. You have to understand that it’s 4,700 kilometers in width. Further west of the Terra Sabaea is the Arabia Terra. Its east-west length spans 3,000 kilometers.

“The center of the ellipse is in the middle of the Terra Sabaea, but its semimajor axis is 3,000 kilometers. That also means that Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I can land anywhere in this area exceeding 28 million square kilometers.”

Tang Yue stared at the red ellipse for quite some time before extending his hand to point at the tiny plains on the map. The latter was also in the huge ellipse, meaning that the comet could also smash right into Kunlun Station.

“Kunlun Station is inside this circle.”

“The Isidis Planitia is just too small. What we are looking for isn’t the probability of the comet hitting the Isidis Planitia… The prediction zone’s center is 2,500 kilometers from Kunlun Station. If it happens to land at 18°N, 45°E, then Kunlun Station will be destroyed.” Tomcat’s voice was low. “Kunlun Station’s survival depends… on it being more than 2,500 kilometers from the impact point.”

“That also means that if the comet lands west of the ellipse center, Kunlun Station will be able to escape the disaster,” Tang Yue said.

Tomcat nodded. “If it lands east of the center, then Kunlun Station’s distance from the impact point will be less than 2,500 kilometers. Everything would be over.”

“A fifty percent chance?”

Tomcat slowly nodded.” Roughly speaking, it’s fifty percent.”

Tang Yue looked up and took a deep breath. “In that case, Kunlun Station has a calamity circle over it. What we will be watching out for is how this circle shrinks. If it shrinks to the west, Kunlun Station will be fine. If it shrinks to the east, we will be embroiled in an apocalyptic calamity.”

“That’s right. Continue collecting observation data.” Tomcat pressed down on Tang Yue’s shoulders. “We will need to see in which direction the circle shrinks.”