The next day.
Tang Yue drove the Mars Wanderer out with a small shovel and a plastic specimen box to collect soil.
Every once in a while, he would go out to dig for suitable soil to use as a substrate for the growth of plants. Now, it was not as difficult to create a soil substrate in Kunlun Station as it was for the first time. The mature soil mixture was quite fertile, and the microbial community had enough activity to be used as a fertilizer for fermentation. It was like adding a bit of old yogurt to fresh yogurt as a primer when making yogurt.
"Old Cat, how many liters of soil do I need this time?"
"Not too much. Do as you see fit."
Old Cat replied, "When Tianzhou 37 arrives, you won't need to rely on growing vegetables to provide nutrition for yourself. There are soft packs of yellow peaches and canned oranges on the spacecraft."
"Then what about Mai Dong … We have three seeds that are recovering according to plan. At the same time, five tomato plants have already started their second cycle of bearing fruit. How much fertilizer and soil should be used?
Mai Dong? "
There was no response in the channel.
Tang Yue patted the visor of the Bright Light Armour.
"We've entered the no-signal zone again?"
The communication system of the Joint Space Station had been damaged in the accident. Old Cat and Tang Yue had taken some time to try to repair it, but unfortunately, they did not achieve any results. Now, the communication link between the space station and Kunlun Station was rather unstable. When the space station was behind Mars, it could not receive any signal from Kunlun Station. This meant that half of the time, the space station would be in a no-signal zone.
During this time, the communication between Old Cat, Tang Yue, and Mai Dong would be cut off, and there was no solution. In Old Cat's words, the Joint Space Station and Kunlun Station could only communicate within visual range. If they wanted to communicate, they had to wait until the space station left the back of Mars and rose above the horizon.
But once the space station fell below the horizon, communication would be cut off again.
"Alright, then we can only wait for another half an hour."
Tang Yue sat on the ground facing the desert with a shovel and a box on his knees.
In front of him was an endless rocky beach, covered with a thin layer of floating sand. This layer of fine sand was very shallow. Part of it came from the transport of atmospheric activities, and the other part came from the weathering of rocks. Under the floating sand were rocks and soil. There was no vegetation and enough water on Mars, so it did not have a soil environment that had been transformed by the biosphere for thousands of years like on Earth. The soil here was dry and rough, a mixture of gravel and fine sand.
Under Tang Yue's feet, there was at least a meter of such soil.
It was only after arriving on Mars that Tang Yue realized how amazing the impact of living things on the environment was. According to Darwinian evolutionary theory, natural selection was the environment that chose the direction of mutation of living things, but in fact, living things and the environment affected each other. The reason why the earth could form the natural conditions it had now could be traced back to the massive proliferation of cyanobacteria 3.5 billion years ago.
If the cyanobacteria had not appeared at that time, Tang Yue might have been a nitrogen-breathing creature.
"Old Cat, can you contact the Joint Space Station?"
"I can't," Old Cat said, "China Telecom told me that the number I dialed is not in the service area."
"Telecom's signal is really bad."
Tang Yue pursed his lips. "Tell them to wait. When I get back, I will definitely transfer the number to the network. I will also file a complaint!
Call 95598 to complain! "
"95598 is the number of the State Grid. You are complaining about China Telecom but calling the State Grid instead. Are you trying to get the power supply bureau to cut off the base station's power?"
Tang Yue used a shovel to dig up the gravel and sand. Every time Tang Yue fetched soil, he would stick a small flag in the ground to save time. Mai Dong had taught him how to search for suitable soil and how to mix feces and soil to ferment. After spending so much time growing tomatoes and carrots by himself, Tang Yue had evolved from an electrical engineer to a qualified vegetable farmer.
He poured the soil mixed with sand and gravel into the box, closed the lid, and began to gently knock on the wall of the box. He shook it vigorously as if he was shaking a sieve.
The purpose of this was to let the small particles of soil sink. During the shaking, the soil particles would fall through the cracks to the bottom of the box, leaving the rocks on the top layer. Large pieces of basalt could not be used to grow tomatoes, so Tang Yue had to remove them.
Tang Yue opened the lid, grabbed a handful of gravel, and began the second round of soil extraction and screening.
His movements suddenly slowed down.
"Hey, Old Cat."
"Hmm?"
"I saw a small tornado."
"A small tornado?" Old Cat frowned.
Tang Yue nodded. A small cyclone was swaying slowly less than ten meters in front of him. It looked less than half a meter tall and was dyed light brown by the sand. It swayed from side to side and moved very slowly.
It was not the first time Tang Yue had encountered a tornado in the desert, but it was the first time he was so close to such a small tornado. These small cyclones were usually born on the sunless side of a sand dune and walked along the ridge of a sand dune or a hillside. They existed for a very short time, less than three to five minutes.
And they usually had a strange habit. The closer a person was to them, the faster they dissipated, so very few people could get close to them.
Seeing this thing on Mars was a bit like finding a seal basking in the sun on the Arctic ice sheet. Most people would look at it curiously. Of course, it did not rule out the possibility that some unlucky people who had accumulated grievances for a long time might explode on the spot and smash the back of the seal's head.
Tang Yue pushed the specimen box filled with soil into the cockpit of the rover and fixed it on the edge of the seat. He then took the remaining empty box down and threw it on the ground.
"Shh … Look, what did I find?
There was a small tornado that had strayed from the group!
We can try to catch it. A small tornado can provide us with energy for several days. They are rich in protein, and their nutritional value is six times that of beef. But it's not easy to deal with … Let's approach it slowly from the back. Be careful not to make any noise. "
Tang Yue sifted through the soil while talking.
"I caught it!
It's struggling very hard. We can cut off its head and remove its internal organs. The rest of its body can be eaten. Of course, if time is not pressing, we can roast it first. "
Old Cat: "Congratulations, Mr. Tang Yue. After struggling to survive on Mars for a year, your hard work has paid off. You've finally learned the Great Method of Inedia. You can obtain the energy to sustain your life just by drinking the northwest wind. From now on, I suggest you become the top predator on the Martian wasteland and hunt tornadoes everywhere."
Old Cat described a scene to Tang Yue: a man was running on all fours in the desert like a mad dog, chasing and biting tornadoes. His eyes were glowing red, and his saliva was dripping. He ran from south to north, from west to east, non-stop, day and night. He ran back and forth on the Isidis Planum three times a day.
Tang Yue: "Is this rabies?"
Old Cat: "The suggestion here is mad cow disease, dear."