Dead on Mars

Sitting in the command module, Mai Dong heard the Orion II’s engine emit a deafening boom. The vibrations and sound traveled through the metallic frame and even the command module was shaking violently. A massive force pressed Mai Dong down on the chair as the Orion II began its reverse acceleration.

By using the Orion II as a driving force, it would allow the United Space Station to engage in an orbital maneuver. This was Tang Yue’s idea, but this attempt was overly bold and crude. They needed to lower the United Space Station’s orbit to 128 kilometers in a short span of 28 minutes. Instead of calling it an orbital maneuver, it was better off calling it a plummet.

However, they needed to control the space station’s plummet and allow it to precisely intercept the Eagle.

Tomcat stared at the computer screen.

It was monitoring the Eagle and the United Space Station’s situation simultaneously. Even though the lander’s computer was bugging out and control of its attitude was lost, its communications system was still in operation. It sent a signal back every two seconds.

The United Space Station was decelerating at high speeds as the Orion II’s power engines kicked into gear. The tugboat was beginning to push the floating platform to a designated sector where it would meet the dinghy with the supplies.

It followed a preset trajectory to lower its height, but Tomcat continued paying attention. The only rigid connection between the Orion spacecraft and space station was the APAS. The massive amount of thrust produced by the engine would be acted on the space station through the APAS. This was their only connection, just like the chain linking the tugboat to the floating platform.

Tomcat was extremely grateful to the engineers on Earth who had helped in the design. They had sacrificed weight to ensure that the APAS design was as firm as a ship’s anchor.

Now, the firm APAS connection might be the thing that saved Mai Dong’s life.

In the past decade or so, the United Space Station had never experienced such a violent orbital maneuver. Under normal circumstances, the adjustment of the space station’s orbit would be on the order of a hundred meters. It would use an engine to float about a hundred meters, taking a very long time at a slow speed, exerting very little pressure on it.

To reduce the height by 120 kilometers in half an hour was absolutely unprecedented.

The space station and Orion weren’t structures meant to bear stress. Their main bodies were a framework and solar panels, just like a put-together Lego toy. Such a structure on the surface might collapse under its own weight. A sudden deceleration and a lowering in height brought it immense stress, making it a harsh test and a challenge for the United Space Station. Tomcat didn’t know if the solar panels and Orion were able to ride it through.

Mai Dong clasped the armrest of her chair tightly. She was completely immobile from the acceleration forces, being pressed down to her chair…

The entire spacecraft was vibrating violently as though it would disintegrate at any moment.

“WARNING: HEIGHT REDUCTION!”

“WARNING: SPEED REDUCTION!”

“WARNING: LOSS OF POSTURE!”

The console deck began to produce sharp warning alerts. The robotic female voice repeated the warnings in the command module as windows kept popping up as they flashed in red.

The computer indicated that speed and height were rapidly reducing. The stress placed on the APAS, as the frame was rising rapidly, putting the space station at risk of disintegrating.

The pale Mai Dong clenched her teeth, almost unable to think normally. The intense vibrations made her stomach church. If not for the seatbelt holding her firmly to the seat, Mai Dong would have hit her head onto the console deck the moment the engine initialized.

She couldn’t control the Orion, and could only trust in Kunlun Station’s Tang Yue and Tomcat.

“Hold on! Hold on! Hold on… You must hold on for me!”

Tomcat clenched its paws. It could also see the alerts on the space station.

The vibrations happening in the space station and the Orion exceeded expectations. This was possibly because the two bodies were resonating with one another. As it was in a rush for time, Tomcat didn’t have the time to consider such minute details, but now, it was worried that the resonance might destroy the space station, taking Mai Dong’s life with it.

“Miss Mai Dong… can you hold on?”

“Yes… Yes…”

The girl gritted her teeth as she squeezed those words between them.

She couldn’t open her mouth or she would bite off her tongue.

The Orion’s engine spewed out flames extending more than ten meters. From a distance away, the United Space Station’s brightness was increasing as though it was Mars’s third natural satellite. Immediately following that, this satellite’s height and speed kept decreasing.

It was like a rock being thrown by someone. After it reached its apex, it followed a trajectory downwards.

Tomcat watched intently.

The blip on the screen was following a descending trajectory with precise accuracy. The facts proved that as long as the computer didn’t bug out, Tomcat’s designed orbital maneuver was rather reliable. On the other hand, the Eagle had already completed one orbit around Mars and was heading straight for the predetermined intersection point.

Tomcat stared at the height and speed of the United Space Station.

The two numbers were rapidly changing.

A height of 366.7 kilometers.

The Eagle was still 4,119 kilometers from the grappling point.

…

Tang Yue stood on Mars, feeling as though the wind speeds had dropped a little. This was because the noise from the wind had weakened… Of course, it might also be possible that his auditory senses had been affected as a result of his clouded mind.

The numbness in his legs rose to his torso. Tang Yue felt as though he had lost all feeling beneath his chest. He seemed to be suffering from severe paraplegia, unable to move his left hand as it felt stiff like wood. Every joint had rusted and needed a good oiling.

“A height of 325.8 kilometers! Attitude control rockets initiated! Space station’s attitude stabilize… stabilize!” Tomcat’s reporting voice echoed in the earpiece. “The Eagle is 3611 kilometers away from the grappling point!”

A height of 366.7 kilometers.

“The Eagle is still 3,207 kilometers from the grappling point!”

Tomcat’s voice sounded like the grinding gears in a watch.

“A height of 310.4 kilometers!

“The Eagle is still 2,989 kilometers from the grappling point!”

Tang Yue looked up at the darkness above him.

He knew that deep in space three hundred kilometers above him, two tiny spacecraft were arduously making their way to approach each other. The United Space Station was large, spanning billions of light-years. Yet, they had to draw out two trajectories that would meet in this vast void, with the slightest difference implying failure. This was the fate of the United Space Station, the Eagle, as well as Mai Dong’s fate.

Tang Yue pumped himself up as he took a deep breath before shouting at the top of his voice.

“Comrade RD-0172! Russia is vast but there is nowhere to retreat. It’s Moscow behind us!”

“Comrade United Space Station! For freedom! For equality! For all mankind!”

“Comrade Mai Dong! For the Party and the country! For Socialism with Chinese Characteristics! All the best!”

Tang Yue roared with his face flushed, yelling at the top of his voice.

Even though no one could hear his shouting in the dark world, what could an ant-like man’s solitary shouts in the Universe change?

In this mission that meant life and death, Tang Yue was the only spectator and cheerleader. However, he was powerless to change the situation or alter its outcome. His voice wouldn’t even go beyond five meters.

There might not be an even more foolish action than this in the world. A man was standing alone in desolation, making the laughable action of shouting in a hurricane-filled desert.

Yet, he shouted in an indomitable fashion, with unbending tenacity.

“Comrade RD-0172! Comrade United Space Station! Comrade Mai Dong! All the best—!”