Tang Yue stared at the star on the monitor for a long time.
It was just a small dot of light, dim and far away, almost motionless in the image. It was hard to imagine that this was a huge object weighing 102 trillion tons, flying through the galaxy at a high speed of 70 kilometers per second, carrying the shocking energy of more than 5.2 trillion nuclear bombs.
From the looks of it, Tang Yue did not even believe that it could destroy him.
It was not even the size of his little finger, just a speck of dust in the vast universe.
Old Cat crossed his paws, sat on a chair, crossed his legs, and looked down, thinking about something. In front of him was a computer keyboard and a stack of draft paper.
"The Joint Space Station can't avoid the impact, and the chances of survival are too low. We have to prepare to take Mai Dong down." Tang Yue looked away from the monitor. "There are still forty days left, we have to hurry."
"Okay."
Tomcat gave a nonchalant response.
"The only thing we can use is the Eagle. Other than this, we don't have any other opportunities."
"Okay."
"The heat-resistant tiles can theoretically withstand the heat barrier, but stabilizing the attitude is a big problem. Without propellant and engine, the Eagle cannot maintain the correct attitude when it re-enters the atmosphere. It will definitely crash."
"Okay."
"Other than 'okay's, can you say something else?"
"Then don't bother me. I'm thinking about this problem."
Old Cat got up and left the chair, walked to the wall of the hall, and leaned against it.
"Tang Yue, Mr. Cat, here is a part of the history of Western philosophy. It has been organized, all the way to Chernyshevsky, Marx, and Engels, and a part of positivism, structuralism, and existentialism … Hmm?
Where's Mr. Cat? "
Mai Dong sent over a document. Even though the Joint Space Station and Kunlun Station were facing destruction, the recording work could not be stopped. Of course, this task was mainly given to Mai Dong, while the self-rescue work was carried out by Tang Yue and Old Cat.
Anyway, Mai Dong couldn't help. It was better to let her continue to record and organize the history. She would write as much as she could.
"Mr. Cat is facing the wall right now. Are you his wallbreaker?"
Tang Yue turned the camera around so that Mai Dong could see Old Cat. The latter was leaning his forehead against the wall with his hands behind his back, motionless.
"Mr Cat, Mr Cat?
The documents have already been sent over. "
"Alright, I've received it, but the Lord doesn't care."
Old Cat answered calmly without turning his head or opening his eyes.
"Mai Dong, when can you get out of the cabin again?" Tang Yue turned the camera back.
"Get out of the cabin?"
"Yes, we need you to check the heat-resistant tiles at the bottom of the Eagle," Tang Yue explained. "We're going to pick you up."
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Mai Dong was shocked at first, then she was stunned for a long time.
She bit her lip, and her gaze wandered for a moment before returning to the communication system. She flipped her hair.
"But … But the Eagle is already scrapped. Doesn't it have the ability to enter the atmosphere again?
Won't there be any problems if we take it down? "
"Yes, it's already scrapped."
"It can still be used even if it's scrapped?" Mai Dong was a little surprised.
"We found that its safety and redundancy design can support one more atmospheric entry. This is the only chance."
"Then … Then what about the engine and fuel?
We don't have a parachute, so how are we going to slow down … "
"Old Cat and I will solve any problems." Tang Yue interrupted her. "You're only in charge of executing. Can you do it?"
Mai Dong was still a little hesitant, but she was moved by Tang Yue's determined gaze. This young man had a wrinkled blanket draped over him. His face was thin, and his beard was unkempt. He looked like a malnourished homeless man.
But his eyes shone with a confident light and spirit. Looking into those eyes, even though you knew that there was a high probability of success, you still couldn't help but grab his outstretched hand.
Ever since Earth disappeared, Mai Dong never thought that she would be able to come down again.
The Eagle was just a single-use aircraft. From its designer to its manufacturer to its user, no one had thought of using it to enter the atmosphere again.
Because it was suicide.
One step forward was a bottomless abyss, and this man was shouting from below: Jump down, I'll catch you!
Will you jump down with your eyes closed?
Mai Dong stared into Tang Yue's eyes. She suddenly realized that she had never seen cowardice or fear in his eyes. Be it the disappearance of Earth or the death of the tomato, there were so many disasters and dead-ends. Tang Yue could feel disappointment and despair, but he never felt fear or cowered … What kind of person was he?
You saw him struggling to traverse the dark storm, roaring while carrying the communications antenna. You saw him sitting in the cold hall, holding the dead seedling in his arms with sorrow in his eyes. Now, facing the most terrifying natural disaster, with the comet about to hit Mars, Tang Yue was still struggling to get up in search of a final chance of survival. What was it that kept him going all the way until now?
Don't you know what fatigue is?
"Mai Dong, you have to believe in us."
"Of course I believe in you."
Mai Dong leaned against the wall and slammed her head into Ah Q's stomach. She let out a long sigh. "I really, really want to go down. None of you can understand what it's like to spend so many days in the space station."
The girl wrinkled her nose and thought for a moment before adding, "It's like hell on earth.
I really want to leave this sea of suffering as soon as possible. "
If the normal working hours before Earth's disappearance were included, Mai Dong had already lived in the space station for more than a year. She tried her best to modify the space station into a place suitable for living. She pasted brightly colored stickers in the bedroom and core module, hung plush toys and miscellaneous accessories, and played gentle piano tunes and light music on loop. She tried her best to reduce the cold industrial and mechanical feeling.
But no matter how she dressed up a bunch of pipes, she couldn't change the fact that the space was cramped and the atmosphere was stifling. The music couldn't drown out the omnipresent rumbling noises. The space station was ultimately not a place suitable for long-term living.
Sometimes, Mai Dong would float in the core module and look at the densely packed buttons on the control panel and the walls in front of her. She would feel like she was lying in a coffin.
The vast plains where she could run to her heart's content and the endless world could only appear in her dreams.
"Listen up, lass. Let's come up with a plan."
Tang Yue said, "Arrange the time. We need to leave the module again to check the heat-resistant tiles of the Eagle. This is our only hope."
"Alright!" Mai Dong nodded. "I'll leave the module again."
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To check the Eagle's situation, Mai Dong left the module to work.
After the last supply shipment was completed, the Eagle's upgrade had been docked to the Silent multipurpose module. This was the dock where the Orion spacecraft was parked, and it was the furthest from the Crystal core module. To facilitate Mai Dong's work, Tang Yue and Old Cat first had to relocate the Eagle.
They planned on disconnecting the Eagle from the Silent module and reconnecting it to the Hope experiment module.
"Old Cat!
Old Cat will operate the arm. Do you hear me?
Don't face the wall!
I'm your wall-breaker! "
"The Lord doesn't care."