Dead on Mars

Orion II’s landing project came to a halt.

Mai Dong listened to Tang Yue’s advice and gave up on descending. However, she didn’t leave Mars’s near-orbit. A spacecraft’s orbital maneuver didn’t need much time and there were still more than thirty days left until the comet arrived. Mai Dong wished to stay until the final moment.

Tomcat had the same excuse as well. It said that it was a robot with steel for bones. It didn’t need oxygen or supplies and was insensitive to the changes in the environment. Therefore, it too could push back its departure and spend more time with Tang Yue.

Tang Yue frowned. “Don’t tell me you guys are staying behind to have an internecine outcome with me… Ah no, live and die together?”

Tomcat shook its head.

Mai Dong also shook her head.

The human and cat looked at Tang Yue as though he was in need of hospice. It made Tang Yue feel as though he was a terminal patient that didn’t have long to live. Tang Yue was agreeable to everything and he ate and drank freely. However, Kunlun Station really didn’t have anything nice to eat. Tang Yue was so sick of compressed food. Just the sight of it made him want to vomit.

Lord Cat had lowered itself by serving tea itself. This was completely unimaginable in the past. In a blink of an eye, Tang Yue had become the lord.

“Ear.”

Tomcat would move over.

Tang Yue smiled as he ruffled the cat’s ears.

However, Tang Yue didn’t have the mood to enjoy life. He needed to seize every second to complete the remaining work he had. It was a race against time. He wanted to produce a complete record of human civilization before the comet landed… Perhaps there would be missing information or mistakes, but at the very least, there would be an ending.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. These eight document folders have been sent to Mai Dong. The remaining twenty documents are still being edited.

“OK! The information has been queued for broadcast.

“Has the information on The Translation Movement in the Nahdah been completed? Tomcat?”

“It’s already done. A total of two hundred thousand words.”

Ever since he had known the day of his death, Tang Yue had seemed rather relieved. Even though he had no means to change the ending or escape, instead of sobbing and lamenting his poor fate, he might as well direct his strength into his work. He wanted to use the limited time he had to serve the people. Tomcat’s calculation of the precise time of the comet’s impact was 37 sols 5 hours and 37 minutes. It also meant that there were 55060 minutes or 3,303,600 seconds.

3,303,600 seconds. That was the amount of time that Tang Yue had to live.

He had set a countdown and time passed as the numbers counted down.

In this limited period, every additional character he typed left an additional two more bytes for the Universe.

“Tang Yue.” Tomcat sprawled on the table and turned its head. However, its hind paws were rapidly typing on the keyboard underneath the table.

“Yes?”

“I can stay behind to accompany you. As long as you give the nod, Miss Mai Dong and I will stay behind with you.”

“The two of you need to leave,” Tang Yue said without a thought.

“There’s no need for you to shoulder the responsibility towards humanity by yourself. Furthermore, you now represent all of humanity. You have the right to make any choice.”

“I’ve already made my choice.”

“Is the heritage of civilization more important than civilization itself?” Tomcat asked.

“To be honest, Tomcat, if this were Earth, and I knew that I still had thirty-seven days to live, I would definitely settle in my family and friends first. Then, I would do everything I had always wanted to do and not leave any regrets. However, I’m on Mars.” Tang Yue laughed. “I once thought of going up to the Burj Khalifa to do a bungee jump, but you should give me the conditions to do so.

“From a very young age, our teachers taught us the need to have a collective sense of honor. What’s that? It’s when in school, you represent your class. Outside school, you represent your school. Outside the country, you represent the Chinese,” Tang Yue said. “If I’m on Mars, I’ll feel like I’m representing all of humanity. Therefore, I would unknowingly straighten my back… There might not be that many great people in history, but when they are pushed to that spot, they too would turn into a great people.”

“Hard times create heroes?”

“I’m not discussing serious questions about politics or history,” Tang Yue said with a smile. “I’m not a hero or a great person. I’m just saying that Mars is too boring, so I need to find something to do. I can’t just sit idle and await death, right? This has nothing to do with responsibility.”

“But the remaining time isn’t enough for you to complete all the work.”

“So be it. In the words of the Chinese philosopher, Hu Shih—don’t be afraid of the infinite truth; there’s always joy in every step taken.” Tang Yue was very open-minded. “Besides, aren’t there the two of you? Both of you can continue and finish the work.”

Tomcat leaned back into the chair as its hind legs typed rapidly.

“I saw the will you wrote.”

Tang Yue paused. He knew what Tomcat was referring to. Back when Tomcat drove out to seek out the Chelomey probe, it had fallen into an underground dried river bed. Tang Yue had been alone in Kunlun Station and his physical condition had been terrible. To ensure his safety, he had written a will and left it in the station.

“After the impact, if I’m still able, I’ll come back.”

“To collect my corpse?”

“I can’t have your corpse strewn over the desert. If you are unfortunately reduced to pieces, I’ll find them all and set up a tomb for you.” Tomcat’s voice was very calm. Tang Yue wore a calm expression as well. It was as though they were talking about someone that had nothing to do with them. “So it’d be a good idea if you could install some positioning device on your torso and limbs. That will make it more convenient to find you. I don’t want you to end up like Osiris.”

“Osiris?”

“The Lord of the Underworld in Egyptian legend. Legend says that he’s an Egyptian pharaoh who was killed by his brother and his body was split into fourteen pieces,” Tomcat explained.

“That cruel?”

“Therefore, I wish that your corpse doesn’t get reduced to pieces. If the fragments are smaller than a fingernail, it will be too difficult to gather them.” Tomcat shrugged.

Tang Yue shrugged as well.

“What kind of sight would it be if a comet with a diameter of thirty kilometers smashed down?”

“It will be big,” Tomcat said.

“How big? As big as an E?”

“Very, very big. If you are near enough, it will occupy your entire vision. If you stand underneath it, you might even believe that the sky was collapsing… However, the comet’s impact point will be about a thousand kilometers from Kunlun Station. The computer just did another more precise calculation of the impact point,” Tomcat answered. “You will see it burning as it streaks overhead before landing near the horizon.”

“What will happen at the instant of impact?”

“I’m not sure either. But you can imagine the outcome of five trillion atomic bombs exploding at the same time.”

“How much time do I have left after seeing it hit land?”

“The shockwave will reach Kunlun Station within twenty seconds.”

“In that case, I’ll still have the time to express my thoughts. I can say something like ‘Ah! Holy sh*t,’ then describe to you the spectacular sight of the impact.” Tang Yue did a count with his fingers. “Twenty seconds. Considering how I can say two words a second, I will have a total of forty words to say. ‘Ah! Holy sh*t, this is freaking awesome. The comet is huge! The flames are brighter than the sun. I’m telling you that it’s definitely the greatest regret not to see it with your own eyes. The smoke columns that are produced are at least hundreds of thousands of meters tall. They completely blot out the sky and sun’… No, that won’t work. I’ve exceeded my word count.

“Then what about this: Ah! Holy sh*t, this is freaking awesome. The comet is huge! The flames are brighter than the sun. I have to tell you that it’s definitely the greatest regret not to see it for yourself. The smoke columns that are produced are at least hundreds of thousands of meters tall. They completely blot out the sky and sun…’ No, that won’t do either. There’s too much nonsense. It’s not succinct enough and there’s too little useful information.”

Tang Yue shook his head.

“Ah! Holy sh*t, this is freaking awesome. The comet is huge! The flames are brighter than the sun. The smoke columns that are produced are at least hundreds of thousands of meters tall. They completely blot out the sky and sun…”

“You have never seen a comet collision before. What’s the point in thinking of your speech now?” Tomcat sighed. “I think when the moment really comes, the forty words you have will be…”

“What would it be like?”

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Let me take a breath! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Let me take a breath! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!”