Dead on Mars

Late into the silent night.

Tang Yue had his eyes open. In the darkness, he was unable to see his own hand in front of him, yet there was a dark red light blinking. It was the digital clock beside his pillow.

He reached his hand out to pick up the clock to take a look at the time. The numbers on the LCD were 3,284,429. The number was changing every second.

Faint light seeped in through the gap between the curtains in his cabin. He could barely make out the sound of keyboard typing—Tomcat was still working overnight. Today, Tang Yue had only slept five hours while Tomcat hadn’t rested at all. All of them wanted to finish as much work as possible before the comet hit.

Tang Yue threw the clock to the side and pulled his blanket up to cover his face. He closed his eyes, hoping to just fall asleep, but he just couldn’t.

The clock bounced onto the bed as the light of the countdown blinked through the gap in the blanket.

In the past twenty-plus years, Tang Yue had never experienced such a moment. He could clearly sense the passing of time… It slowly and silently passed through the night, like flowing sand or river waters. It was like a neutrino that barely interacted with any other matter.

In classical physics, time was a description of change in matter. It was a set of agreements based on human experience—not something material that could be touched or energy. However, thermodynamics had used the concept of entropy to describe the passing of time. This scale was objective and measurable. It wasn’t an illusory quantity created by our sensual and psychological experiences. Entropy always increased in the Universe; therefore, time could never be reversed.

Tang Yue took a glance at the countdown.

3,284,352.

“Mr. Cat… I…”

There was the faint sound of a girl’s croaking voice outside. It sounded like she was sobbing.

Mai Dong never cried in front of Tang Yue. Even though she and Tomcat knew that Tang Yue was about to die, the human and cat continued their day-to-day living and work. Mai Dong still introduced the plants she reared to Tang Yue, described the stars she saw with the telescope or grumbled to him that the incubator had malfunctioned again. But in fact, this lady wasn’t someone good at hiding her inner feelings. Her smile would suddenly turn down as her eyes welled with sorrow.

Tang Yue pulled off the blanket as he draped some clothes over him and came out of his living quarters.

The Hab was dimly lit since no lights were switched on. The only light source was the computer monitor on the desk.

“Can’t sleep?” Tomcat asked.

“Yeah.” Tang Yue pulled a chair over and sat down. He glanced at the comms. “Where’s Mai Dong?”

“She fell asleep after crying,” Tomcat replied. “She’s trying to find a way to save you, but nothing works. She ended up wallowing in despair once again.”

“This lass sure is obstinate.” Tang Yue smiled. Even though Mai Dong looked like a weak, frail girl, she was quite a stubborn person… This could be seen from her determination to join the Mars landing project. Everyone had advised her against it, but Mai Dong clenched her teeth as she crossed the Rubicon.

She was prone to crying, but she was also stubborn. After crying and wiping her tears, she continued forging forward.

“She really wants to save you,” Tomcat repeated.

Tang Yue was taken aback. “I know.”

There were very few things in the world that left one so obstinate, so unyielding even in the face of death. It either had to do with whether one could live on, or had to do with why one lived on.

“However, you have no idea how crazy she is. Miss Mai Dong even suggested using the space station or Orion II to slam into the comet to change its trajectory,” Tomcat said. “The lass is really bold and spirited. She is willing to pay any price to achieve her goals.”

“What’s the result?”

“Impossible,” Tomcat replied. “I told her that it was impossible. Be it Orion II or the United Space Station, the mass is just too tiny. It will be far from sufficient to change the comet’s trajectory.”

Tang Yue nodded. It was what he had expected.

Orion II and the United Space Station didn’t have a combined mass exceeding a thousand tonnes. However, the comet’s core mass exceeded 102 trillion tonnes. The former’s mass was a hundred billion times smaller than the latter. The ratio was even more ridiculous than the difference between an ant and a whale. How could an ant’s collision change a whale’s direction?

However, this ant was the only trump card that Mai Dong and Tang Yue had in hand.

“Are you unable to sleep because of anxiety?”

“No.” Tang Yue shook his head. “I only want to watch the sunrise. After all, I only have thirty-six more times to see it. Each one counts… Thirty-six sols later, the sun won’t see me again. I’m feeling sorry for it.”

“Apart from watching the sunrise, don’t you wish to try out any of the other novel ideas you once had?”

“Such as?”

“Such as defecating outside with your pants off.”

Tang Yue jumped in shock. “I’d still like to live a few more days.”

“Then you can choose to pull your pants down and defecate at the instant the comet lands…” Tomcat said. “This will help in maintaining the integrity of your remains.”

“Why?”

“When you bend your body, your buttocks will face the comet’s landing point. You will be using your body’s strongest part to withstand the most intense shockwave. This is like a spacecraft’s reentry module’s thermal resistant belly. Think about it, don’t you see the resemblances? Your glutes will have pulses running through them as the blast streams down your back. This will significantly reduce the forces your body has to experience.” Tomcat spoke nonsense.

Tang Yue was left agape.

“Then why don’t I just dig a pit and lie in it?”

“That’s clearly because a prone position isn’t cool enough,” Tomcat said. “Since you will die, you might as well die in a way that will surpass the ancients and galvanize the world… It’s just like the eruption of Mount Vesuvius years ago. There was the man in Pompeii who wanted to masturbate just before his death. The volcanic ashes immortalized his heroic position in the rivers of time. People later noted that he ‘held on to the end’ and died ‘holding his loved one.’”

“If you died lying down, people who dig you up will only say: ‘Oh, this is a person who died from the comet hit.’

“But if you were to raise your ass against the comet, people who dig you up will say in amazement: ‘Heavens, this guy was offering his ass in welcoming…’”

“Stop!” Tang Yue cut if off. Who knew what sort of sacrilege Tomcat would say if it was permitted to continue on. What the heck did Old Wang teach it?

“I’ll be heading out to see the sunrise.”

“There’s still another three more hours before sunrise.” Tomcat pointed at the airlock’s hatch.

“Then I’ll head out now to wait.”

Tang Yue got up, took down the Radiant Armor from the wall and climbed into it. Tomcat came to help him as Tang Yue struggled to get into the EVA suit’s helmet. Tomcat helped pull up his zipper, installed the life support system, and patted the Radiant Armor’s limbs. The green indicator lights lit up one after another, indicating their operational states.

“I’m leaving.” Tang Yue patted Tomcat on the shoulder.

“I hope to see you return.” Tomcat shrugged. “Good luck.”