Tang Yue carried the solar panels onto the Mars Wanderer's cart. The RTG and batteries were all on the cart. Old Cat was about to go on a long journey. The latter did not need food supplies, but it needed sufficient power reserves. Tang Yue gave all the batteries that could be loaded onto the cart to Old Cat.
It was foreseeable that after Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I hit Mars, it would cause an extremely serious derivative disaster. Old Cat might be able to avoid the impact and earthquakes, but the large amount of material thrown into the sky during the impact would plunge Mars into endless darkness. The dust that would cover the sky would completely cut off the source of solar energy. This was the main problem that Old Cat had to face.
Therefore, Tang Yue put all the batteries on the cart. He was worried that Old Cat would not have enough power to replenish it.
Old Cat comforted him by saying that the density of Mars' atmosphere was low, and the wind was weak. The smoke and dust would not stay in the air for too long. At worst, it could shut down and go into hibernation mode to survive the darkest period. Just like the Chelomey Probe, humans could not go more than three minutes without breathing, but Old Cat could sleep for a long time to minimize its power consumption.
As the saying went, hibernation.
Tang Yue walked around the Mars Wanderer, patting the driver's seat and wheels. Old Cat and Tang Yue lacked the tools to repair the Wanderer, so the old car was still covered in bruises. When Old Cat drove it into the underground river ruins, the driver's seat was flattened and the windows were shattered.
The previous Wanderer was a husky.
Now, it could only be called a bulldog.
"You've worked hard too."
Tang Yue placed his palm on the body of the Wanderer. The car was originally painted light yellow and white, and it looked like a young man who had just started his career. But now, it was covered in sand, and the paint and coating had peeled off. Rough scratches ran from the front to the back of the car, and the young man had become an old man covered in scars. "From now on, follow Old Cat and leave this place. Go as far as you can. Travel all over the planet in your lifetime."
Tang Yue used a cable to tie up the solar panels. The front of the Stray Dog's head was dragging a cart which had bags of luggage of all sizes tied to it.
"Tie it tight."
Tang Yue pushed the batteries on the cart hard to make sure they would not come loose.
"Say goodbye to Kunlun Station, silly dog."
Old Cat was wearing an indoor spacesuit and sitting on a chair, holding the glass helmet of the spacesuit in his arms.
He turned his head and looked out the window at Tang Yue walking back and forth, quickly packing his luggage. Tang Yue went back and forth between the garage and the Wanderer again and again, pushing the heavy solar panels onto the cart.
"He's smiling," Old Cat said softly. "Should you smile when you say goodbye?"
"Mr. Cat, if he cries and says goodbye to you …" Mai Dong asked, "Will you still leave?"
"I won't leave."
Old Cat put the helmet on the table and answered without hesitation, "But that silly boy just doesn't cry. For so many days, every time I look at him, he smiles and tells me to hurry up and get out of here. Don't stay and die."
Old Cat clamped his head hard and slammed his forehead on the table. "As long as he drops a tear in front of me and tells me not to leave, I will rush out and tear down the wheels of the Wanderer, pull out the wires of the battery, tear it up, and swallow it. But he won't say anything. That kid just smiles and tells me to hurry up and get out of here. Don't stay and die."
"Damn it, can't he cry just once?"
Old Cat slammed the table and cursed.
"I'm a f * cking stationmaster, the stationmaster of Kunlun Station!
I'm an experienced senior assistant and guide of the Mars expedition team, and I've solved a total of 167 accidents!
I've saved the lives of 13 people!
To let a rookie die in front of me … I … I … Don't I have any dignity …? "
Old Cat turned his back, his voice trembling as he lowered his voice intermittently, his shoulders shaking slightly.
"Mr. Cat." Mai Dong was sad.
"Miss Mai Dong."
"Yes?"
"Sadness is the enemy of mankind," Old Cat said something that didn't make any sense. "It's also the enemy of cats."
"Cats can be sad too?"
"Yes, cats can be sad too."
Old Cat turned his back to Mai Dong. "If the poop scooper is gone, the cat will be very, very sad. It will wander around the place where the poop scooper lived again and again, then jump on the cat tree, hold a small dried fish in its mouth, and stare blankly at the empty room."
Mai Dong hugged Ah Q tightly in her arms. She didn't know how to comfort this sad cat. Cats were born to be lonely and cold like elves. If they were sad, they would lose their ghostly nature and become ghosts wandering in the world.
However, Old Cat was so fat and short that it couldn't wander around, and the orange cat had been expelled from the cat register.
Tang Yue stepped into Kunlun Station with the cold outside, taking off his Bright Light Armour. He had been busy all morning, moving the solar cells and the RTG into the car, and putting the hard drive that stored the history of human civilization into the car. These things had to be taken away by Old Cat, and they couldn't be destroyed together with Kunlun Station.
"Phew … I'm so tired. I've finally finished packing." Tang Yue poured a large glass of water. "How's the preparation?
Old Cat, can we leave now? "
Old Cat glanced at him. Tang Yue's tone was as normal as ever, as if nothing had happened. It was as if the person who was leaving wasn't Old Cat, but him.
"I'll sit here for a while."
"You said the same thing three days ago, and three days ago, you said the same thing three days ago. You've been sitting here until today, and in a few days, the comet will fall," Tang Yue said. "Sitting for one more second is one less second of walking."
"I know what I'm doing."
"What do you know?"
"I don't need you to remind me when I'm leaving."
"If I don't remind you, you can sit here until the end of time. Do you think you're Dharma?"
"Do you believe that I won't leave?"
"You dare?"
"Tang Yue, I'm telling you, I'm the actual Station Master of Kunlun Station, appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations!" Old Cat shouted. "You have no right to command me to do anything."
"The Secretary-General of the United Nations doesn't care about this. His appointment has no legal effect. Don't use a chicken feather as a token of authority. The Station Master of Kunlun Station is the commander of the mission, so the Station Master is Old Wang," Tang Yue said. "You're a cat."
"What's wrong with a cat?" Old Cat stared.
"The problem is that you're still a fake cat."
Old Cat suddenly suffered 10,000 points of critical damage. Tang Yue's stab was ruthless and accurate.
"A fake cat is still a cat!" Old Cat was furious.
"Since you're a cat, you have to be obedient."
Tang Yue stepped forward and hugged Old Cat's shoulders tightly. He said in a low voice, "Stop bickering. Go, old man. Hurry up and go. If you don't go now, it'll be too late … You can't save me, so why struggle?"
All the words that Old Cat wanted to shout instantly lost its voice. It fell silent.
No matter how hard Old Cat struggled, it couldn't save Tang Yue.
Stalling for time didn't help at all. The comet would eventually hit the surface of Mars, and no one could change this result.
"You're all gone … What's the point of my existence?"
"Mai Dong is still here," Tang Yue said. "Protect her."
Old Cat nodded slowly and hugged Tang Yue tightly. It took one last photo with Tang Yue in front of the camera, saying that it could be hung on the front of the car to ward off evil spirits. Mai Dong also took a selfie and sent it to Old Cat, saying that it was a souvenir.
Old Cat took a step back, put its legs together, stood at attention, and raised its paws to salute.
"Comrade Tang Yue, Comrade Mai Dong, Comrade UNMEP360037A, Senior Assistant and Guide Specialist Cat of the Mars Landing Project, I bid you farewell!
Take care! "
Tang Yue and Mai Dong's expressions were stiff, and they raised their hands to return the salute.
"Comrade Cat, Mars Landing Project Payload Specialist CNMEP390012C, Mechanical and Electrical Engineer Tang Yue, bid you farewell!
Take care! "
"Comrade Cat, Mars Landing Project Payload Specialist CNMEP390022C, Plant and Agricultural Ecology Technician Mai Dong, I bid you farewell!
Take care! "
Old Cat put on its helmet, took one last look at Tang Yue and Mai Dong, and turned to step into the hatch of the airlock.
"Kacha", the cabin door closed.
Old Cat was gone.
It would never come back.
Tang Yue's forced seriousness and calmness collapsed in an instant. He stepped back step by step and sat down on the chair.
"Tang Yue, aren't you going to send Mr. Cat off?"
Tang Yue turned his back to Mai Dong and shook his head.
"Mai Dong, do you know why I can't go out?
Because … because I'm afraid that if I chase after it … it … it won't be able to go … "
"Is it because Mr. Cat doesn't want to go?"
"It's … it's me, I … I don't want … to let it go."
·
·
·
Five minutes later.
With a click, Old Cat pushed open the hatch of the airlock. It was back.
Tang Yue and Mai Dong were alarmed. At the same time, they were overjoyed. They had the feeling of seeing Xu Yuanzhi return.
"Why did you come back?"
Old Cat's expression was serious. It was in a hurry and was covered in sand. It didn't answer Tang Yue's question. It didn't even greet Tang Yue and Mai Dong. It didn't even take off its spacesuit. It sat in front of the desk and turned on the computer.
Old Cat pulled up a photo from the computer. A young girl was facing the camera. She was wearing a blue uniform and a cap. She had a smile on her face and it looked like a ID photo. In the background was a control panel and various monitors. This was obviously the selfie Mai Dong had just sent to Old Cat.
She wanted to make it more playful, but she wasn't in the mood to do so.
"Miss Mai Dong!
Can you hear me?
Miss Mai Dong! "
"Mr. Cat … what's wrong?"
"Wait, wait, wait, don't say anything … This is the photo you just sent me, right?
This is the selfie you sent me just now! "
Old Cat's voice was trembling. Its paws holding the mouse were also trembling. Tang Yue and Mai Dong both realized that something was wrong.
"Yes."
Old Cat zoomed in on a screen in the background of the girl's photo. On the screen was a dark starry sky. It looked blurry in the photo. It was probably the observation image of the space station's telescope.
"Miss Mai Dong!
Is this the star-searching system of the Joint Space Station's survey telescope? "
Mai Dong didn't understand and nodded.
"You let the telescope track the comet?"
"Yes."
"Old Cat?" Tang Yue was confused.
"Shut up!
Don't say anything!
Don't interrupt me. "
Old Cat growled. It stared at the photo on the screen. "Miss Mai Dong, in this photo of yours, how many celestial bodies can you see approaching you?"
"In this photo, how many celestial bodies are moving towards me?"
Mai Dong didn't understand why Old Cat asked this. She turned on her laptop and pulled up the observation data of the survey telescope. "Isn't it obvious? There's only one. It's Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I … Wait, what's that?"
Mai Dong's last question surprised Tang Yue. He didn't know what had happened, but it was obvious that something unusual had happened.
"Yes, why is it here?
At this time, it shouldn't be in that position!
How is this possible?
This isn't its orbit! "
Old Cat trembled with excitement. It slammed its fists on the table. "Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, this is completely impossible!
It'simpossible！”
"What are you talking about?" Tang Yue came over.
Old Cat turned the computer screen around and showed the complete observation photo to Tang Yue. At first glance, it looked no different from the other photos taken by the space station's survey telescope.
Old Cat pointed to a bright spot on the left side of the photo. The halo was clearly visible through the telescope's lens and asked, "Do you know what this is?"
"A comet?"
Old Cat nodded. It moved its toes slightly. "What about this?"
Tang Yue was stunned. Upon closer inspection, he realized that there was another bright spot in the comet's halo. What was going on?
Was this also the comet's nucleus?
Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I had two nuclei?
"This … is also the comet's nucleus?"
"No."
Old Cat shook its head. "That's not the comet's nucleus. It's actually not inside the comet. It's just that the two are squeezed together because of the angle of the photo …"
Old Cat paused.
"That's Deimos."
·
·
·
Deimos, Deimos.
It was the smallest moon in the Solar System. It was more than 23,000 kilometers away from the surface of Mars and had a diameter of more than 12 kilometers. In Greek mythology, Deimos was the son of Ares, the god of war, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. This tiny moon orbited Mars at a speed of 1.35 kilometers per second, completing one revolution every thirty hours.
Because it was so small, its presence was extremely insignificant. Occasionally, Mai Dong would discover the tiny speck flitting across the deep space twenty thousand kilometers away. It was extremely inconspicuous in the background of the bright stars.
"I don't know why it's here. Deimos' orbital inclination is 0.93 °, and its eccentricity is 1.79!
This has completely deviated from its orbit. How did this guy fly here?
It can't and shouldn't be here at all! "
Old Cat typed furiously on the keyboard. "This satellite has been operating steadily in its orbit for billions of years. Why would there be a sudden change?"
The workstation was operating at full capacity. A huge amount of data was being transmitted from the space station.
Old Cat muttered that it was impossible as it stomped its feet impatiently.
It was building a model, a model that accurately predicted the trajectory of the comet. Tang Yue and Mai Dong watched nervously.
"We have never considered Phobos before, because its orbit is not in the same plane as the comet, and its orbital period is wrong, too. When the comet hits the surface, this little guy should be hiding behind Mars and enjoying the cool air!"
Old Cat was very excited. It spoke as fast as a machine gun. "This is the result that humans have observed for the past hundred years. There hasn't been any change!"
"But the Joint Space Station's observations and Miss Mai Dong's photos just told me that its orbit has changed … Damn it, this guy is derailed!
How is this possible?
Who can easily change the orbit of a 1.8 × 10 ∧ 12 ton behemoth?
Who can move a mass of 1.8 trillion tons?
Could it be that there was some unknown force that gave it a push in the dark?
Or is there a problem with Mars itself?
No … that's not right … "
Old Cat muttered to himself. He was shocked by his own speculation.
All the clues gathered in its mind, interlocking with each other, and it finally got the answer.
Its eyes slowly widened.
It was not some unknown power.
Neither was it Mars.
"The movement of the celestial bodies in the solar system is a chaotic system. There are too many factors that affect it and it is impossible to predict accurately. A slight move in one part will affect the whole situation. A 600,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Tang Yue and Mai Dong were stunned.
The two of them didn't dare to speak. They were worried that they would disrupt the Old Cat's train of thought. It had only been five minutes since it left the house, but it had already rushed back. It must have been for something very important.
The mathematical model was completed.
Old Cat hit the enter key.
The code went out, and the computer screen dimmed. The comet's orbit was represented by a blue line. Mars was still a big red circle. At this distance, the Kunlun Station's computer could already predict the comet's flight path very accurately.
"Tang Yue!
Miss Mai Dong! "
"Hmm?"
"Hmm?"
"Let's roll the dice. Do you think we can get a six?" Old Cat asked.
On the screen, Comet Tomcat moved slowly, drawing a blue arc.
"What's the probability of getting a six?" Tang Yue asked.
"Very, very small. It's even smaller than the probability of the comet hitting Mars," Old Cat answered.
Tang Yue smiled.
"The problem is that the comet is about to hit Mars."
"Yes." Old Cat nodded and grinned. "The comet is about to hit Mars."
At that instant, Tang Yue looked up. He could sense a powerful force and pressure coming at him from deep space. Tang Yue had never experienced such a moment where he could clearly sense the existence of Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I. It was as though someone had opened up a god's view for him. He could see the gigantic comet's core tumbling and evaporating in deep space, leaving behind a thin trail of water vapor and carbon dioxide.
Tang Yue suddenly understood why some people believed in mechanical fatalism. The universe was a huge machine. The solar system was a flywheel, and Mars was the gear on the flywheel. The comet was the crankshaft or connecting rod that moved back and forth. Everything was in precise operation.
Thinking about Ptolemy's geocentric theory, the rotation of the planets was a set of equal wheels on top of each other. The structure of each wheel was just like the meshing gears. This set of seemingly complicated theories actually embodied the simplest and simplest mechanical mathematics at the bottom.
Would Deimos save their lives?
Tang Yue did not know.
"Throw it boldly!"
The big blue spiral gradually approached Mars on the screen. The result was exactly as the workstation had predicted. It would fall on the plateau of Syrtis Major and destroy everything.
Tang Yue clenched his fist.
Mai Dong hugged Ah Q tightly in her arms.
Suddenly, a white line appeared at the edge of the screen. It was the orbit of another celestial body!
The tiny Deimos entered everyone's vision. Old Cat had never included Deimos in the previous calculations and predictions because it was excluded from the beginning. The position of a satellite in a fixed orbit was the best predictor. Based on the available data, the computer could infer that Deimos had no effect on the comet in just a second.
Deimos had been in its orbit for billions of years, and no one knew that it had quietly changed its position.
The flying speed of Deimos was much slower than that of Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I, but the white orbit was still extending slowly. Even a blind man could see that if it continued to fly like this, it would block the comet's path.
Tang Yue squeezed Old Cat's shoulder, and Old Cat pressed its paw on the back of the former's hand, signaling him to calm down. But Old Cat himself could not calm down, and his legs were shaking under the table.
The two men and the cat stared at the two lines on the monitor. This was going to be the scene of a space car accident. Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I was a heavy-duty truck that was speeding at seventy miles per hour. It was out of control and was about to crash into the residential area across the road. Deimos, on the other hand, was an oblivious Chery QQ that was slowly driving over from the intersection. Whether the two men and a cat in the residential area could be saved depended on whether the Chery QQ could crash into the Mercedes-Benz truck.
This possibility was another comet hitting Mars, but Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I had become the victim.
Hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it, hit it!
Hit it hard!
Hit it hard! Hit it hard!
Tang Yue clenched his fists, and his face was red. He was like a spectator watching a match on the field. The score was tied, and there was still half a minute before the end of the game. But his player had already dribbled the ball and broke through the enemy's defense, entered the enemy's penalty area, and kicked the ball. If the shot was successful, it would be a kill!
Mai Dong buried her face in Ah Q's stomach and did not dare to look anymore.
Tang Yue did not know how much time had passed. It could have been just ten seconds, or it could have been a few hours, or it could have been as long as a year or even a lifetime. At the moment when the two tracks met, there was a beep. A large amount of data burst out, and a red pop-up window jumped out.
IMPACT！
At the moment before the end of the game, his player had kicked the ball hard!
A kill!
Within two seconds after the collision, the computer gave the result. Deimos, the Chery QQ, had caught up from the side and interfered. To be honest, Deimos was also very confused and innocent. He didn't know how he was hit by such a huge object. It was really a disaster from the heavens.
Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I collided with Deimos at a very small angle. As a result of the collision, the orbits of both sides changed, just like two billiard balls colliding. Momentum was conserved, and both sides changed the direction of their speed at the same time.
Deimos was pushed hard, and his orbit became a large oblate. The nucleus of Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I was pushed away from Mars by the reaction force. Its closest distance to Mars was raised to more than 10,000 kilometers, and it brushed past Mars.
Old Cat pushed the computer and chair away, turned around and hugged Tang Yue tightly.
"Hahahahaha, we did it! Hahahaha, we did it!
Tang Yue, Miss Mai Dong, we can live!
Hahahaha! "
"Hahahahaha!
Hahaha, we can live!
We can live!
Mai Dong, we can live! "
The man and the cat hugged each other, crying, laughing, jumping, and jumping.
·
·
·
Half a month later.
No one witnessed the real collision scene. When Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I collided with Deimos, it was a sunny day on Kunlun Station. The Joint Space Station was located on the back of Mars, and as a precaution, all the solar panels and heat sinks were retracted to prevent the debris from the collision from posing a threat. In fact, the space accident happened 23,000 kilometers away, and the debris from the collision could hardly threaten the space station.
Old Cat observed with a telescope and found that the debris was much less than he expected. After all, Deimos and the comet did not collide head-on, but passed by at an angle. Deimos was a large rock with a diameter of 12 kilometers, and its density and hardness were far higher than the loose comet nucleus. This collision was like an egg hitting a rock — but the bigger one was the egg.
The main components of Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I were water, methane, and dry ice. The broken dry ice quickly evaporated under the sunlight.
Indeed, evil people needed to be dealt with by evil people. Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I I was such a huge celestial body that humans could no longer handle it. They could only leave it to the heavens.
The space station and the Orion spacecraft were ants and whales to the comet, but Deimos was another whale, and only a whale could shake a whale.
Night fell.
Tang Yue and Old Cat went out to see the comet.
Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I tripped over a rock at the doorstep of Mars, and this saved Tang Yue's life, as well as its own. The comet brushed past Mars at an extremely close distance, and then it crossed Mars' orbit at a speed of more than 60 kilometers per second, continuing to head towards the Sun.
Tang Yue was lucky enough to see the most spectacular comet of this century. Other than probes, no one in human history had ever seen a comet at such a close distance. It dragged two long cometary hair behind it, and the light almost covered the entire sky. The vaporized gas in the comet's nucleus was ionized by the solar wind, emitting blue and red light, like the skirt of a goddess.
At this moment, nothing in the world could overshadow her brilliance and beauty. She was the most dazzling girl on the dance floor, attracting the attention of everyone.
"Strictly speaking, we are now inside the comet."
Old Cat leaned against the wall of Kunlun Station, sitting on the sand, and said leisurely, "The comet's head is hundreds of thousands of kilometers in diameter, and its tail is millions of kilometers long. The entire Mars is actually inside the comet."
Tang Yue sat beside Old Cat, looking up at the comet in the sky.
"How long will it stay here?"
"The orbit of Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I is a parabola. It will stay in Mars' orbit for more than a month before leaving from the other side of the Solar System, never to return."
"It's not coming back?"
"It's not coming back."
"It's a pity …" Tang Yue rested his head on his arm. "I think …"
"What's a pity?"
"It's a comet that we named ourselves, and it has even come to the Solar System. This means that we are fated to meet it. It's not easy to be fated to meet something in this vast universe. It would be great if it could come back to see us in the future, even if we are no longer here."
Tang Yue felt that he had formed a certain connection with the comet that had nearly destroyed everything. This connection was illusory. It was only because it had come to the Solar System, and it was only because he had named it. But even such a weak connection was especially precious in the vast Universe. It was so precious that he could ignore his hatred and sorrow and easily reconcile with it.
"Your divination skills are not up to par yet," Old Cat suddenly said.
Tang Yue was stunned.
"The last time you did a divination, the divination was' not good '. You said that' not good 'meant a great omen."
Old Cat said, "In fact, 'not good' meant that there was no way out, but that things were not over yet. There was still hope in despair, and there was a glimmer of hope after a dead end … The Great Immortal Cuttlefish in your hometown likes to eat cuttlefish, but you always send him cuttlefish. Obviously, he didn't teach you his real skills."
Tang Yue was taken aback.
"Is that so?"
Old Cat nodded.
"But these are not important anymore."
Tang Yue propped himself up and walked towards the desert. Then, he stood under the starry sky and waved his hands, shouting at the comet that was gradually fading away, "Hi —!
Goodbye —!
Bon voyage!
Goodbye —! "
"Goodbye —!"
Old Cat sat lazily, watching the young man waving goodbye to the comet under the stars in the distance. Tang Yue's small back fell into the Old Cat's eyes. He stood alone on the sand dune and talked to the universe. Old Cat didn't know whether the light shining on Tang Yue at this time was the brilliance of the stars or the light of the intertwining of humanity and divinity.
Suddenly, meteors fell like rain overhead.