The comet was gone.
Tang Yue packed up, patted his butt, and prepared to go home.
"We managed to save our lives."
Old Cat and Tang Yue walked side by side, strolling on the sand. Above their heads was a sky full of meteors. A large number of tiny ice crystals in Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I drew a bright stream of light after entering the atmosphere. "At the most critical moment, I threw a six."
"If there is a god in this world, what is he doing now?" Tang Yue asked.
"Maybe he is stroking a cat," Old Cat said lightly. "I think God is a cat lover."
"Why isn't he walking a dog?"
"Because all the dogs in this world have perished."
"I suddenly understand the believers who believe in the existence of God. If I were a Christian and encountered such a thing, I would definitely kneel down and cry to thank the Lord for his grace and salvation. There will always be a million believers in this world who pray to God when they are in trouble. Of which, 999,900 prayers will be useless. But there will always be a hundred coincidences," Tang Yue said. "In the end, these hundred coincidences will be regarded as miracles."
"Survivor bias?"
Tang Yue thought about it and nodded.
"Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I hit Mars, and Deimos hit a comet. The probability of these two events is very small for us, but for the one above us …" Old Cat pointed to the starry sky above. "Whether the probability is one in ten million or one in a billion, it is meaningless. For the universe, everything is mediocre. This is the principle of mediocrity."
"The principle of mediocrity?"
"We think that it is incredible that Deimos hit a comet because the probability is too small. But in fact, the probability of Deimos appearing anywhere is equal. Its orbital eccentricity can change from 1.79 to 1.80, to 1.81, or to 1.82. Every result is mediocre."
Tang Yue asked leisurely, "We are mediocre too?"
Old Cat nodded. "Yes, you and I are both mediocre."
"This sentence sounds a little disappointing."
Tang Yue smiled. "You have to know that everyone once fantasizes that they are the center of the world."
Old Cat took off the helmet of the spacesuit, threw it into the air, and caught it with its paw. "There is no conflict between the two. If you want to sound more important, you can use the principle of human existence to prove it."
"Tang Yue, Mr. Cat, this is the Joint Space Station." Mai Dong's voice sounded in the earpiece. "Can you hear me?
Is there any problem with the communication? "
"The signal is normal. Lass, are you okay?" Tang Yue asked. "Was the space station affected by the comet?"
"Everything is normal in the space station."
The collision between Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I and Deimos had formed an extremely sparse ring in orbit 20,000 kilometers away — a ring in name that could not be seen with a telescope. Old Cat said that if the material fragments in the ring were evenly distributed in orbit, then the distance between two small ice crystals of more than a millimeter in size would be more than 4,000 kilometers.
Old Cat estimated that Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I had left 500 billion tons of material in Mars's orbit, most of which was thin gas.
This thin ring had no effect on the space station in low-Earth orbit. The only thing that might be affected was the Mars communication relay satellites. The three relay satellites were in synchronous orbit at an altitude of 17,000 kilometers, and Old Cat and Tang Yue were worried that they would be destroyed in the collision. Fortunately, their fears were not realized, and the relay satellites were still functioning normally.
"Lass, we are having a meteor shower here."
"Really?" Mai Dong's eyes lit up. "How big is it?"
"Very, very big."
Tang Yue took a deep breath. "This must be the most spectacular meteor shower that humans have ever seen. It doesn't come from a particular constellation … It's all over the sky."
The girl exclaimed in the comms. She couldn't see the meteors from the space station, and Mai Dong had never seen a meteor shower before. She couldn't imagine what the most spectacular meteor shower in human history looked like. This was the fireworks and fireworks that fate had bestowed upon them to celebrate their survival from the disaster.
"In front of the most stunning natural scenery, human language is always clumsy. Your brain capacity isn't enough to accommodate this world's greatest creation. Your vocabulary isn't enough to describe this world's most majestic power. You only know how to say big, very big, very, very big." Tomcat harrumphed. "Cats are different."
"What do cats say?"
"Cats say …" Old Cat answered. "Meow."
Tang Yue opened the hatch of the airlock, and Old Cat went in.
Tang Yue followed Old Cat into the airlock and locked the outer hatch.
Kunlun Station's lobby was lit up, and monitors were placed on the table. Two armchairs were casually tilted in front of the table, and it was still quiet and warm. Tang Yue stepped into the lobby, and it was as if he had returned home from a wet and cold winter night. He put away his wet umbrella and lit a fire in the fireplace. The steaming heat made his face hot, and the firewood crackled in the fire.
Tang Yue took off his Bright Light Armour, held a glass of water, and stood in front of the rack to fiddle with the tomatoes.
"My sons, Daddy is back alive." Tang Yue held a dripper and watered the tomatoes one by one. "Are you happy?"
"Tang Yue, Mr. Cat." Mai Dong asked, "What … What should I do next?
Do I still need to go down? "
The comet no longer posed any threat to the space station, and the Joint Space Station was currently in a relatively safe situation. Mai Dong no longer needed to force a landing.
"Do you want to come down?" Old Cat asked. "Miss Mai Dong."
Mai Dong nodded. "Yes."
"It's still the same thing. We will not force or guide you to make any choice. The choice is in your hands."
Old Cat said, "You can choose to continue staying in the space station, or you can choose to land, but I have to remind you … Miss Mai Dong, you have to consider the risks behind the choice you make."
Staying in orbit was undoubtedly the safest choice. Using Orion II to force a landing was extremely risky. Back then, Old Cat had decided to use this method because the impact of Comet Tomcat-Tang-Mai I would definitely destroy the space station. Under the pressure of the comet, he had no choice but to do everything he could to save Mai Dong. It was the lesser of two evils.
But now, the comet had left.
Mai Dong could completely treat the comet's arrival as an interlude. She would continue living the way she had lived in the past.
"But … But didn't our simulation test succeed?"
Old Cat sighed secretly.
They had planted a seed in Mai Dong's heart, telling her that there was a possibility of a successful landing, so this girl could no longer live the way she had before … Once you gave a person in a desperate situation a possible escape route, an illusory hope, a vague promise, then this person would no longer be willing to sit in the same place.
"Miss Mai Dong, the ground simulation doesn't explain anything. There have been so many accidents in history. When has there ever been a ground test that didn't succeed?
But the accident still happened. "
Old Cat said, "Since the threat of the comet is no longer there, there is no need for you to take this dangerous path."
"I …"
"I agree with Old Cat."
Tang Yue stood in front of the shelf. "The landing of Orion II is too dangerous. Girl, you don't have to gamble with your life."
"What if I insist on going down?" Mai Dong bit her lip. "Would this decision be very selfish?"
Old Cat was startled.
Tang Yue was also startled.
They all laughed out loud.
"No, no, Miss Mai Dong, you have the right to make any decision and bear the corresponding consequences. This is just a choice. There is no right or wrong. No one can blame you." Old Cat said, "If you insist on coming down, then we can only start the landing plan."
Tang Yue finished watering the tomatoes and sat on the chair with a blanket draped over her.
"A new day is coming again. I'm really happy for the Sun."
"Why?"
"Because it can see me again. I think the Sun will be relieved when it sees the comet leaving the orbit of Mars. It will also say that Tang Yue will rise as usual tomorrow."