Tang Yue and Old Cat crawled back to Kunlun Station. The moment the outer hatch of the airlock was closed, Tang Yue finally returned to the human world. He squeezed out the last bit of strength in his body, locked the hatch, and collapsed on the floor.
Old Cat dragged him back to the main hall of the station, removed the life support system of the Bright Light Armour, and pulled Tang Yue out of the EVA suit.
Tang Yue collapsed on the floor, crawled two steps in the direction of the sink, and stopped moving.
Old Cat didn't even have time to take off the EVA suit. It walked quickly to the sink, filled a glass with pure water, and turned back to help Tang Yue up. "Drink it."
Tang Yue opened his eyes and smiled weakly. "So extravagant?
You don't need to ration it? "
"Don't talk." Old Cat handed the glass of water to Tang Yue. "Drink it."
Tang Yue raised his head and drank the water in the glass. A refreshing coolness flowed through his dry throat, passed through his esophagus, and went straight to his stomach. Tang Yue suddenly felt a lot better. It was rare for him to be so extravagant, and it was rare for Old Cat to be so generous. Tang Yue leaned against the table and sat on the floor, panting slightly. His face was a little pale.
"How do you feel?" Old Cat squatted in front of him.
"My stomach doesn't feel so good. I feel like vomiting." Tang Yue held his stomach.
"You're a little dehydrated, but you can't take in too much fresh water in a short period of time. Otherwise, there's a risk of water poisoning."
Old Cat got up and went to the sink to get another glass of water. He placed it on the floor beside Tang Yue's hand. "You should rest well. If you're thirsty, drink this glass of water … but don't drink it too quickly."
"Will the water be poisoned if I drink it too quickly?"
"No." Old Cat shook its head. "But you might choke."
It turned around to find the plug of the power cord on the wall and plugged it in. "Beep —" A green light flashed, and Old Cat began to charge.
It had been busy the whole day, braving the sandstorm of 40 meters per second to deliver supplies five times. If it was anyone else, they would have died. But Old Cat was Old Cat, and it miraculously survived. Not only did it survive, but it also rescued Tang Yue...
Old Cat was also very tired. Tang Yue had always thought that robots would not get tired, but Old Cat was a robot that would complain about being tired. Not only would it be tired, but it would also be tired to the point of panting. Tang Yue knew very well that under Old Cat's furry appearance, it was actually copper skin and iron bones. Its movement relied on electricity and motors, not muscles and bones. Could it be that motors also get tired?
Tomcat felt the warm electric current slowly enter its battery. It closed its eyes and let out a long sigh of relief.
Tang Yue curiously poked its head out. "I've always wanted to know … for you, where is the hole for the plug?
It's … it's the chrysanthemum … "
Old Cat picked up the plastic plate beside it and slapped it on Tang Yue's face, blocking all the profanities that followed.
Old Cat dragged the long cable and paced back and forth in the Kunlun Station hall.
All the supplies had been delivered, and the next step was the key.
Launch.
Success or failure depended on this one move.
"Can the wind speed be reduced to thirty meters per second?" Tang Yue asked.
"I don't know."
Old Cat shook its head and glanced at the computer screen. The anemometer showed that the wind speed outside was thirty-five meters per second. It was much lower than the previous wind speed of forty meters per second, but a wind speed of thirty-five meters per second was still equivalent to a Category 12 typhoon. For a spacecraft that was about to take off, such a strong crosswind could mean that the spacecraft's attitude was out of control.
The Eagle was designed to withstand a super hurricane of 50 m/s, but that was its limit. Tang Yue didn't dare gamble with the lander's performance limits. He only had this one precious spacecraft, and it was filled with precious supplies. If he were to crash it, he would be left with nothing. Even though staking everything on a single throw had the heroic spirit of a male lead in a movie, Tang Yue had already recognized that he was just cannon fodder and a passerby. It didn't matter if the lead was courting death, but a passerby courting death would only lead to death.
Old Cat said that the ideal situation was thirty meters per second. They did not expect the storm to stop tomorrow. To be honest, the weather on Mars was unpredictable. A sandstorm could pass in three to five days, or it could wreak havoc for a few months. Back then, the meritorious probe Opportunity had died in a sandstorm.
Back then, what kind of person was the Opportunity? Its life was extremely tough, so tough that it was indestructible. Its design lifespan was only ninety Martian days, but it stubbornly survived for more than five thousand days. It had exceeded its original lifespan by sixty times. Even Old Cat was convinced by it, saying that the Opportunity was a legend in the robot world and a hero like Zhang Sanfeng.
However, Zhang Sanfeng had also fallen in the endless sandstorm of Mars. In the long dark night that lasted for a few months, the Opportunity had exhausted its last bit of power and turned into a monument in the wasteland.
Tang Yue did not know when the storm would pass. If the wind speed could drop to thirty meters per second tomorrow, then this would be a relatively safe launch environment. Old Cat was very confident that the Eagle would successfully enter orbit and dock with the Joint Space Station.
"If the wind speed does not drop tomorrow," Old Cat turned around and looked at Tang Yue, "are you still going to continue the launch?"
Tang Yue was stunned.
"You have to think carefully. There's only one Eagle. You don't have the chance to make a mistake," Old Cat continued. "This is a gamble. Either you live or you die."
Tang Yue felt the pressure, the immense pressure … This was a gamble, but there were too many factors that could affect the outcome of this gamble. Tang Yue had bet the Eagle, its cabin full of supplies, and Mai Dong's life on the gambling table. Opposite him was the unpredictable weather on Mars, the sandstorm of more than thirty meters per second, the state of the Eagle, and even the engineers who had designed the lander on Earth.
Every one of them was a matter of life and death.
Mai Dong's supplies had been exhausted. She could not wait another day. The Eagle had to be launched tomorrow, but the worst thing was that neither Old Cat nor Tang Yue knew if the weather could improve.
What if the wind speed did not drop?
Should they continue the launch?
What if the launch failed?
Not only would Mai Dong lose her life, but the Eagle and the supplies on it would also be destroyed.
Tang Yue pulled his hair fiercely. He was caught in a dilemma. On the one hand, Mai Dong's situation forced him to get the lander launched as soon as possible. On the other hand, launching the spacecraft rashly might lead to failure. They would die if they did not launch it, but they would also die if they launched it wrongly.
"That girl's only chance of survival is that we have to launch a suitable spacecraft at the right time and in the right state," Old Cat said. "We can't make any mistakes in any aspect. The timing, location, and people must be perfect."
"Is that possible?" Tang Yue murmured.
"Impossible, but it's also possible."
Old Cat leaned on the table and said leisurely, "In the past hundred years, every space mission has been like this … We put the most suitable people into the most suitable spacecraft, and then launch at the most suitable time and in the most suitable state. Even if it's just an ordinary ISS cargo mission, it's as precise as a clock."
Tang Yue was stunned and said subconsciously, "How noble."
"Do you understand?
That's how we've always been, searching for the only possibility in the impossible. Sometimes, we'll wait for months or even years just for a twenty-minute window. "
Old Cat squatted down and patted Tang Yue's face. "Don't underestimate the tenacity of humans, kid. No matter how difficult your situation is now, can it compare to Apollo 13?"
"But … there are only two of us."
Tang Yue hesitated for two seconds. "Apollo 13 had a country's experts supporting them."
"So what if there are only two of us?"
Old Cat bared its teeth and poked Tang Yue's chest. "You can think of yourself as a person, but you have to think of me as a hundred million people!
Have you rested enough?
If you've rested enough, then get moving!
We're not going to sleep tonight … We have to find the last hope buried in the impossible! "