Tang Yue passed through the airlock, left Kunlun Station, and closed the heavy hatch behind him.
The black desert unfolded before his eyes. The Isidis Planum was essentially a huge and shallow impact crater that formed 3.9 billion years ago. It had existed on Mars for a long time, but in 30 days, it would be covered by another huge crater.
Looking at the distant horizon, Tang Yue once again recalled his special training with Old Wang in the Gobi Desert, where they talked about the man named Peng Jiamu.
The desert at night suddenly had a fatal attraction for Tang Yue. He wanted to walk into the desert like Peng Jiamu and leave everything behind him. This would be an exploration with no return. It didn't matter where he went because he knew that he only had one destination.
Death might not be an endless wall, but a wasteland with no end. The so-called death was when on a cold winter night, you turned off the lights, opened the door, turned up your collar, and walked into the distant horizon with the warmth in your body, never to return.
"Tang Yue!"
Old Cat's voice sounded in the earpiece, interrupting Tang Yue's thoughts.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
Tang Yue snapped out of his daze. He was suddenly worried that he couldn't control his legs and really walked into the desert without a care. This kind of impulse was similar to a person standing on the edge of a cliff who always wanted to jump.
The Eagle lander's descent module still stood not far away, like an ancient tower under the starry sky. Another conspicuous thing was the Chelomey detector. Old Cat had dragged the Chelomey back and left it in Kunlun Station. This old detector was still working. After the temperature control processor was removed, the detector lost half of its functions, but it still tirelessly sent greetings to Earth every day.
Tang Yue took out a long shovel from the garage, walked around the lander and Chelomey, and said goodbye to them. Then, he found the grave he had dug for himself.
It was a shallow pit, just enough to accommodate Tang Yue lying flat. He picked up the shovel in his hand and deepened the pit. Old Cat said that the huge impact of the impact could completely tear him apart. In order to make it easier for Old Cat to collect his corpse, Tang Yue wanted to keep his corpse intact as much as possible.
He revised his will and saved it in Kunlun Station's computer. On the day of the comet's impact, the computer would send this letter to Mai Dong and Old Cat.
In his will, Tang Yue said:
"Death is an inevitable fate for everyone. No matter what kind of person you are, be it a rich man, a beggar, a politician, or a prisoner, you are all equal in the face of death. But this does not mean that death is not scary. If you ask me if I am afraid of death, there is no doubt that I am afraid of death.
But I have no way to explore the source of this fear — except for the biological instinct to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. The lonely life on Mars is actually worse than death, but I still fear death deep down in my heart. I try my best to survive, even though I know that even if I survive, there will be no good result.
A long, long time ago, I watched a classic movie called Buried Alive. I don't know if you've seen it before, but there was only one character in the movie, a person who was buried alive underground. He had to overcome his fear and despair in a limited amount of time, and use the limited tools he had to escape with his life.
I am actually a person buried alive.
But you can escape from the coffin, but you can never escape the universe. "
Tang Yue dug the grave pit hard.
"When I was a child, I read" The Lord of the Rings ". John Tolkien once said in the book that we can survive because of the indestructible courage of the little people when they fought against a powerful fate.
I think courage and fear are not impossible to coexist. A person can be cowardly, shy, greedy for life, but he can also be brave and fearless. In the long history of mankind, countless brave little people have moved forward dauntlessly for loftier ideals. This is the most glorious and greatest thing about human civilization — courage is born from fear. The brave are not fearless, but they overcome fear.
As the last person on this planet, at the last moment of my life, I ask myself, have I become a brave person?
I hope there will be a voice there at that time to answer:
Yes, you are very brave. "
Another shovel was suddenly inserted into the sand in front of Tang Yue. He looked up and found that the Old Cat had also come with a shovel.
"What are you doing here?" Tang Yue asked.
"Digging a grave," the Old Cat replied, digging out the floating soil from the bottom of the pit. It was expanding the edge of the grave.
"Why are you digging so big?"
"I can't lie down," the Old Cat said. "It's a bit cramped for two people."
"Go away, do you want to fight with me for the grave pit?
Can't you give me a single room?
You don't have to lie down here. Get out of here. "
"But I will come back sooner or later, so of course I have to occupy the pit first."
The Old Cat did not move. It continued to widen the pit, then threw away the shovel, jumped in, and lay down flat. It even patted the space beside it, indicating that Tang Yue should lie down with it.
Tang Yue was a little helpless. It seemed that he could not chase this damn cat away. He inserted the shovel into the sand beside him and lay down next to the Old Cat.
Lying on the ground with the Bright Light Armour was indeed very uncomfortable. The life support system behind him was big and hard. Tang Yue moved to make himself more comfortable.
Humans were truly strange creatures to wish for comfort before death. Tang Yue silently chuckled. This was akin to people who didn't wish for the rope to be stuck in their hair when they were about to commit suicide. This was because pulling at the hair was very painful.
He and the Old Cat opened their eyes and looked at the sky.
"Can I see the comet?" Tang Yue asked.
"I can see it," the Old Cat said. "But you can't because it's not bright enough."
"What does it look like?"
"A dim little light spot," the Old Cat replied. "Very, very small."
Tang Yue's body completely relaxed, and he felt like he was one with the earth.
He closed his eyes and let his mind wander freely through time.
He saw Homo sapiens chasing their prey on the African grasslands. The craftsmen of the Fourth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt used logs to drag huge stones to build magnificent pyramids. The scholars of the ancient Greek city of Athens strolled under the promenade. The soldiers of the Ottoman Empire used huge cannons to blast open the walls of Constantinople. Columbus's Santa Maria raised its sails in the Spanish port of Barros. Galileo put away his telescope on the tower and recorded the fourth moon of Jupiter on paper.
Human history flashed before his eyes.
Tang Yue opened his eyes and saw the Old Cat's paw on his mask.
"What are you doing?" Tang Yue turned his head.
"Are you afraid of death?" The Old Cat opened its arms. "If you are, I'll hug you."
"No need." Tang Yue pushed its paw away. "I don't know if it will hurt when I die. I'm afraid of pain."
"It should be a moment," the Old Cat said. "It's like holding a detonated nuclear bomb."
"Will I be vaporized directly?" Tang Yue frowned.
"You won't be vaporized directly from such a long distance."
The Old Cat said, "If it fell a few hundred kilometers closer, then you might have been vaporized directly in the impact … So this distance is the most suitable. If it was any further, it might not be able to kill you in one shot. You will die painfully from the loss of pressure and suffocation. It seems that you are quite lucky. If this is a death sentence, then your seat will be the VIP seat of the execution ground."
Tang Yue nodded.
"Then I have to thank God for giving me such a good seat. I have to thank his ancestors for eight generations."
"You're calmer than I thought. I thought you'd burst into tears."
"I wanted to cry, but that lass has already cried for me," Tang Yue said. "The tears I've shed in my entire life can't compare to the amount she shed today."
"We are going to die soon."
"Yes … We are going to die soon."
"As a materialist atheist, do you feel regret at this time?"
"Regret what?"
"Regret that you don't have a world after death to go to."
The Old Cat said, "If you are a Christian, you will probably comfort yourself that this is the road to heaven. If you are a Buddhist, then you can still hope for reincarnation. The Taoists may take this opportunity to immortalize and ascend. But in front of your eyes, there is only a blank void and darkness."
Tang Yue thought for a moment and shook his head.
He did not ask for religion.
He did not expect an afterlife.
He had a clear conscience.
He was not afraid of darkness.
Being open-minded and indifferent in the face of death was probably the last dignity left for human beings in this universe.