There was a box by Tang Yue's feet. This box was the express delivery he was about to deliver … Tang Yue huffed and puffed as he busied himself for half a day before finally delivering the first box to the foot of the Eagle.
But he was now faced with a problem.
Tang Yue raised his head and looked up at the lander above his head. The express delivery was by his feet, but the express delivery vehicle was more than ten meters above his head. How was he going to deliver the box?
Under normal circumstances, transporting goods into the Eagle's cargo hold required the cooperation of at least three people. One person would control the winch and crane on the spaceship, one person would be responsible for packing the boxes on the ground, and the third person would carry the goods up together.
But now, Tang Yue was only one person, and he had to do the work of three people.
Tang Yue lowered the gangway ladder.
Old Cat followed the gangway ladder down.
The man and cat looked at each other for a few seconds.
"What are you doing down here?" Tang Yue asked. "Aren't you inspecting the engine?"
"Is there something wrong with your brain?" Old Cat asked.
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Tang Yue followed the gangway ladder up slowly and struggled to climb into the cargo hold.
As he had to lift the goods up from below, the hatch at the bottom of the cargo hold couldn't be closed. The cargo hold was in a state of communication with the outside atmosphere, and Tang Yue had to wear an EVA suit to complete the work.
There was a small electric crane and winch in the cargo hold. The purpose of the crane was to lift the goods up from the ground. It could be electric or manual, and the maximum weight it could bear was 150 kilograms, which was about the weight of two Tang Yue.
The boxes packed by Old Cat weighed about 100 kilograms on average, which was still within the scope of the crane's ability.
Tang Yue threw the cable down through the hatch and dropped it to the ground.
"Damn it, this is too troublesome."
Tang Yue shook his head and carefully passed through the hatch and grabbed the gangway ladder. "We have to go up and down every time. Why can't they design a lift?"
"Can you eat the extra weight?"
Old Cat knocked on the lander fairing in front of him. Before he could do anything, the lander descended together with the gangway.
Old Cat was speechless.
"I have to go up and down with you every time. Why can't they design two gangways?"
"Are you going to eat the extra weight?" Tang Yue happily seized the opportunity to strike back at Old Cat.
On the ground, Tang Yue pulled on the rope that was hanging down from above and tied it firmly to the box. Then, he tugged hard to test the firmness of the rope.
It was very dangerous for one person to lift the goods alone. Because there was no one else to help, the goods were likely to sway in the air due to the wind. The swaying of a 100-kilogram box was as terrifying as a battering ram. Whoever it hit would be done for.
Therefore, Tang Yue had to be very careful.
He climbed into the cargo hold, poked his head out and looked at the goods below. After confirming that there were no mistakes, he flipped the switch of the crane.
The motor started to hum as the rope began to retract and pull the box up slowly.
"Old Cat!" Tang Yue shouted in the comms channel. "Be careful of that box!
It's a little shaky!
Don't get hit by it! "
There was no response in the comms channel.
Tang Yue was stunned. He lay on the floor of the cargo hold and poked his head out to look down.
Damn.
Old Cat had been smashed down.
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Old Cat stood on the gangway ladder. Half of his body was inside the maintenance opening of the fairing. Beside him were the creaking ropes going up and down.
Tang Yue was busy lifting the goods into the cargo hold. He went back and forth between Kunlun Station and the lander. He pulled a small cart and hummed a little tune as he piled the large and small boxes at the foot of the Eagle. Then, he moved them one by one into the cargo hold.
They had been busy for an entire afternoon. The sun was already setting in the west.
They decided to send a total of fifteen boxes of goods to the Joint Space Station. In total, they weighed more than a ton. Most of them were food. Of course, there were also some daily necessities and medicine.
Tang Yue basically split the goods in Kunlun Station in half. He kept half for himself and gave the other half to Mai Dong.
The man stood in the cargo hold with boxes piled up around him. It was packed to the brim. The Eagle's cargo hold wasn't big. In the previous Mars landing missions, the cargo hold of the lander was filled with scientific research samples. The weight of these samples was usually measured in grams or kilograms. This was the first time it was loaded with tons of cargo.
Tang Yue used nylon straps to fix the boxes to the floor and walls to make sure that they would not move around.
If the boxes rolled around during liftoff, they would change the center of gravity of the spacecraft and could cause the launch to fail.
"Mr. Tang Yue?
Are you there? "
"Yes."
Tang Yue grabbed the cable of the crane and took a deep breath. He pulled up the supply box hanging below. "You're awake?"
The girl nodded and yawned. "I'm awake."
Mai Dong had spent most of her time sleeping on the space station. This was to conserve energy and last until Tang Yue and Old Cat delivered the supplies.
Thinking about it now, Old Wang's actions were really thoughtless. The Jiuquan Center was also thoughtless. They had left too little food for Mai Dong, and this was a very serious mistake.
If Old Wang had left a few more days of food for Mai Dong, Tang Yue would not have been in such a hurry. However, this thought was purely hindsight. The food left in the space station was enough to last until Tang Yue returned, but who could have expected that Earth would disappear and Tang Yue would not be able to return?
"I just had a dream. I dreamt that Earth had returned. I took a spacecraft back to Earth …" Mai Dong said. "The people at the Center made a lot of delicious food to welcome us. There was beer, roast duck, cola chicken wings, braised meatballs, mutton, braised pork, and many other delicious things."
"What a good dream." Tang Yue was silent for a few seconds. "And then?"
"And then I was woken up by hunger." The girl's voice softened.
"How much food do you have left?"
"I still have three hardtack biscuits and two sandwiches," Mai Dong answered. "But this is tomorrow's food … Can I eat it?"
Tang Yue felt a little heartache. It was the twenty-first century, but Mai Dong still spoke as if there was a famine.
"No."
Tang Yue steeled his heart to stop her. "You have to leave this food for tomorrow, or you won't be able to maintain your stamina tomorrow."
"Oh." The girl nodded. "Then I won't eat it."
"We have already packed the supplies and sent them to the spacecraft. Everything is ready. They will be sent to you tomorrow." Tang Yue comforted her. "Hang in there for a little longer. Hang in there for twelve hours!
The packages have already been packed and sent to the spacecraft. They will be sent out in twelve hours. Girl, hang in there for a little longer. Carry on the indomitable spirit of revolution!
Comrade Mai Dong! "
"Mr. Tang Yue, what you say is really interesting." Mai Dong smiled and hesitated for a while. "Mr. … Tang Yue?
I have a question. "
"Hmm?"
"I … I've been thinking … What if it fails?"
"Fails?"
The girl nodded. "What if the launch of the Eagle spacecraft fails?
I … Will I die here? "
"Don't talk nonsense!" Tang Yue interrupted her very sternly. "Can't you look forward to something better?
With me and Old Cat here, how can it fail?
Female comrades just like to let their imaginations run wild. Mai Dong, you clearly don't have enough ideological awareness. How can you have such a pessimistic tendency towards the great cause of revolution? "
"I … I'm sorry."
"Are you a party member?" Tang Yue asked.
"Yes."
"Comrade Mai Dong, you are now one of the only two humans left in the entire universe. The mission given to you by the organization is to survive well and do your best to live optimistically."
Tang Yue looked serious as he fixed the box in his hands.
"So you can't have any negative thoughts. You can't have any pessimistic thoughts. We promise you that tomorrow's launch will be a success."
There were ten boxes in the cargo hold. The supplies at the foot of the Eagle spacecraft had been transported up, leaving five boxes in Kunlun Station.
Tang Yue climbed into the command module. He decided to rest and recover his strength before moving the remaining boxes over.
Tang Yue raised his head and looked around. Suddenly, he was stunned.
"Old Cat!" Tang Yue lowered his head and shouted.
"Hmm?"
"Why do I feel like the weather outside is about to change?" Tang Yue looked through the porthole and tried his best to look at the sand dunes in the distance. There was a faint cloud of dust rising.
Old Cat was stunned. He immediately put down the flaw detector in his hand and climbed up. He stood beside Tang Yue and looked in the direction he was pointing.
In just a few seconds, the light outside the window had dimmed.
This was not because the sun had set, but because the amount of dust in the air had greatly increased. The light flux had decreased.
"Is the weather about to change?" Tang Yue asked.
Old Cat's expression changed immediately.