"Press the F key to enter the tank … Ah no, enter the lander."
Tang Yue propped up its head. It was bored to death, and its expression was numb.
This was the eleventh simulation of the day. Old Cat had already gambled everything it could, from its own cat slot to the cup on the table. "I swear on this cup that the next test will be a success!"
However, even with such a high chance of success on Mars, Orion II was still unable to land safely. Old Cat was defeated time and time again, and the spaceship was destroyed every time.
"Mai Dong, remember this. Press the Tab key to summon the menu bar, and press the M key to open the map …"
Tang Yue was talking nonsense.
"I'll remember this. Press the Tab key to summon the menu bar, and press the M key to open the map."
Mai Dong also did a crosstalk.
Due to the repeated failures, with not a single successful landing below an altitude of 10,000 meters, Old Cat had moved on to a deeper level of modification and adjustment. It began to review its plan from the beginning. As it designed the program, it carried out the tests. Unknown profanities hung from its mouth as it typed on the keyboard like a machine gun.
As for Tang Yue and Mai Dong, the two listened to Old Cat and rested.
Mai Dong was taking care of the plants in the Joint Space Station. The tomatoes and lettuce were growing quite luxuriantly in the incubator. They were destined to be unable to be brought down from orbit and could only be left on the Joint Space Station. Without anyone taking care of them, Mai Dong did not know how long they could survive. The plant incubator could operate automatically, and the lighting and irrigation could be set in advance. If there were no problems with the electricity and water supply, they should be able to survive until they died of natural causes.
"Ah Chang, Ah Chang … You're dropping leaves again."
Ah Chang was also an old tomato plant. It had borne fruit twice, and even in its normal life cycle, it was about to reach the end of its life.
Mountain and Sea Scripture and Zhui were as old as Elder. They were all old creatures whose vitality had declined and could no longer bear children. However, Mai Dong still raised them.
In the space station where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, there was no longer any value in nurturing them. Old Cat had once suggested that Mai Dong cut off their source of nutrition and use their corpses as fertilizer.
But Tang Yue said that the meaning of life could not be quantified.
Letting them die peacefully of old age was the basic respect a carbon-based creature had for another carbon-based creature.
"We have to live with dignity. What do you think makes us hairless naked apes, tomato lettuce, and non-living things like stones and soil?" Tang Yue said slowly. "It's the inherent dignity of life."
Mai Dong adjusted the light in the incubator. If Mai Dong left the Joint Space Station, she would shut down all unnecessary facilities and reduce the life support system's power to ensure the survival of the plants as much as possible.
"I might have to leave you guys. Ah Chang, Mountain and Sea Scripture, and Zhui," the girl said softly to the tomatoes in the incubator through the glass. "You guys have to live well."
Mai Dong did not know if she could successfully land, but once she left the space station, it would be an eternal farewell.
Old Cat had once said that the comet's impact would destroy the space station. Mai Dong could only pray that the space station could survive, or at least hold on until the tomatoes and lettuce could die a normal death.
·
·
·
"Kunlun Station's earthquake and disaster prevention guide …" Tang Yue frowned as he looked at the list in his hand. "You wrote it?"
"Of course I wrote it." Old Cat stared at the monitor as he crossed his arms and crossed his legs.
"Based on this, we can save Kunlun Station?"
Tang Yue scanned the list. There were hundreds of action measures listed in great detail. He did not know when Old Cat had completed it. In the past few days, the latter had been focused on the landing of Orion II.
Multitasking was one of Old Cat's basic skills. It could use its front paws to do mathematics and its back paws to write history. Anyway, it was a cat, and no one said that a cat's back paws could not hold a pen.
"Based on this, we have the highest chance of saving Kunlun Station."
Old Cat said, "Tang Yue, you haven't seen what a comet with a diameter of thirty kilometers looks like when it hits the surface, right?"
"You say it as if you have."
"I haven't seen it either. To be precise, the creatures on Earth have never seen it before. The last batch of lucky people who witnessed the asteroid hitting Earth saw it. Compared to the behemoth we are dealing with now, it's just a little brother."
Old Cat shook his head. "But we have mathematics and physics, as well as the HP workstation. We can make predictions and estimates."
Old Cat pointed to the paper in Tang Yue's hand.
"If we are lucky, and the comet falls 2,500 kilometers away, then Kunlun Station will at least not be destroyed at the moment of impact … What we need to survive is a series of chain reactions and secondary disasters. What do you think is the most destructive secondary disaster?"
"Shock waves?"
"Oh, you can rest assured about this."
Old Cat waved his paws. "I think the energy of the impact can accelerate the airflow to Mach 8 or 9, but this is Mars. The atmosphere is too thin. No matter how strong the wind is, it can't blow Kunlun Station."
"Earthquake?"
“Bingo！”
Tomcat snapped its fingers. "That's right. Without tsunamis, earthquakes are the most destructive disasters. This collision will cause an unprecedented earthquake. It's definitely a brand new version that you have never seen before. The Richter scale that you commonly use is no longer applicable here. If you insist on using the Richter scale, then the earthquake at the epicenter should be 260000000000000000 on the Richter scale … Yes, that's right. Don't stare. It's 26,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Tang Yue's hand trembled.
He was still immersed in the sweet dream of reaching level eight or nine on the Richter scale.
"At the moment of impact, seismic waves will spread along the underground rocks. The speed of longitudinal waves is very fast. 357 seconds after the impact, the longitudinal waves will first reach our feet. The longitudinal waves are propulsive waves and will make the ground move up and down." Old Cat pointed at his feet.
"How big is the fluctuation?"
"I've done simulations."
Old Cat raised a toe. "Two thousand and five hundred kilometers away, the surface will move up and down by at least one meter."
"One meter?" Tang Yue's eyes widened. "It can shake Kunlun Station more than one meter high?
Then wouldn't Kunlun Station fall apart? "
Kunlun Station's floor was not in direct contact with the Martian surface. It was actually supported by a circle of six legs and was about a few dozen centimeters above the ground. Kunlun Station's frame was designed with cushioning and earthquake resistance in mind, but the designers and engineers definitely did not consider an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.6 trillion on the Richter scale.
"Don't worry. After the longitudinal waves, there will be shear waves. The shear waves are slightly slower than the longitudinal waves. They will reach our feet 625 seconds after the impact. The shear waves are shear waves. They will tear the ground from front to back, left to right, and tear the entire surface apart. I can't simulate this. Different geological conditions have different final results."
Old Cat said, "But one thing we can be sure of is that under normal conditions, Kunlun Station will definitely not be able to withstand this wave. It will definitely fall apart."
"What should we do?"
Kunlun Station was the home that everyone relied on for survival. If it was destroyed, then everyone would die.
"It's unrealistic to take it head-on. We can't go head to head with this universe. That's just asking for death … But five thousand years ago, Yu the Great taught us that it's better to channel than to block. The wisdom of our ancestors can be used anywhere."
Old Cat replied, "Since Kunlun Station will definitely fall apart, why don't we let it fall apart in advance?"
Tang Yue was stunned. He raised the "Kunlun Station Earthquake Resistance and Disaster Prevention Guide" in his hand. A large word stood out.
"Dismantle!"