Dead on Mars

Tang Yue’s heart skipped a beat.

Tomcat had sounded confident during his briefing. But only the heavens knew if it was it puffing itself up at its own cost. As an electrician and a non-professional astronaut, he had attended classes on orbital mechanics… Even though the classes were completely Greek to him, with him spending most of the time dozing off, he remembered a few of the teacher’s words.

“Do not break the rules!

“Make sure not to break the rules!

“Under any circumstances, make sure not to break the rules!

“As long as you strictly follow the operational manual, the Orion and lander will be able to bring you home intact. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for us to collect your remains. This is because the strong winds in the stratosphere will blow you everywhere.”

What did the operational manual say?

Don’t touch any button.

However, Tomcat was clearly breaking the rules. Not only was it breaking the rules, but it was also overturning all the rules set in the operational manual.

Tang Yue erected the Orion model again. “An allowance of only 5°?”

“Yes, that’s based on my current calculations.” Tomcat held up the model. “As you know, Orion has to maintain its vertical orientation when entering the gravisphere. When it descends, the angle of attack cannot exceed ±5°. This is because the structure of the engine’s propellant reservoir tank is extremely weak. The thinnest part of the tank is only three centimeters thick. To maintain a normal shape, it needs the pressure produced from the combustion within. As an analogy, Orion’s reservoir is like a balloon filled with water.”

Tomcat began gesturing. “Clearly, we can’t let the balloon shake or it will burst—and we have four of such balloons.”

How firm did a grip have to be to rapidly descend while holding onto four swelling water balloons without bursting them?

Tang Yue wondered if the nine Raptor 10D engines on Orion was able to accomplish this goal. He had seen them before, and the nozzles were thick enough to accommodate an adult inside. Does such a thick object have such precise requirements of not deviating more than 5°?

This was no longer about hitting a hole in one.

This was nine golfers dancing ballet while hitting their clubs without falling down.

“It’s very difficult.” Tomcat didn’t mince its words. “The Raptor 10D isn’t meant for such an operation. It isn’t an attitude stabilizer, preventing it from reaching such a level of precision.”

“Are there any solutions?” Tang Yue erected the Orion model as he tilted it, trying hard to simulate what it meant to deviate by 5° in his mind.

“I can only try my best to raise precision. The rest is all luck.”

“Luck?”

“Of course. We’ll be leaving it up to fate.” Tomcat nodded. “Luck is extremely important in most situations. As the saying goes, it’s three parts intelligence, seven parts hard work… and the remaining ninety parts is up to luck.”

“Can’t you be a little bit more reliable?”

“And you are able to man this?” Tomcat rolled its eyes.

“Man!” Tang Yue cried out in exasperation.

“Alright, you can man it. Tell me how you will be resolving the problem of the engine? How do you maintain Orion’s attitude in the permissible range?”

“You…” Tang Yue nearly choked.

“Enough. We can still do our best over the control of the engine, but there are parts that are completely reliant on luck. For example, the composition of the truss and the strength of the interface. None of this is up to us. We can only pray that nothing happens to them,” Tomcat said indifferently. “To get Orion to do an atmospheric entry is, in essence, a bet. It’s not something with a high chance of success. Even if we can ensure that the spacecraft doesn’t have any problems, strong gust headwinds during the descent might doom everything.”

“Probability!”

“What probability?” Tomcat was taken aback.

“The probability that you’re best at. Can’t you calculate the probability?” Tang Yue asked. “What’s the probability of Orion II’s successful descent?”

Tomcat sat in its chair and looked at the monitor in silence before shaking its head.

“It’s impossible to count,” Tomcat said. “We are not trying to guess heads or tails, but trying to figure our way forward. Are you able to calculate the probability of a hole in front of you? We can only take one step at a time. If our luck is good, it will be firm ground, bringing us closer to our goals. If our luck is bad, and it’s empty ahead of us…”

Tomcat’s voice softened as it stopped speaking.

Tomcat was too formidable. That gave Tang Yue a misconception that everything was under control. In fact, they had too little things in their control. Just a loose screw on Orion could spell doom for the spacecraft, but no one knew where that screw was or when it would fall off.

Tang Yue cracked his neck and turned around to pick up the Radiant Armor and take down the life support system on the wall.

“You’re heading out?”

“That’s right.”

“Isn’t the work outside done?” Tomcat asked. “Why are you heading out again?”

“I’m heading out for stargazing.”

“It’s still not dark yet.”

“Then I’ll look at the twilight glow.”

“It’s too faint.”

“Then I’ll be flying saucer watching.”

“There aren’t any on Mars… Remember to snap a picture if you see one.”

…

“Tang Yue, are you skiving again?”

“I’m not. I’ve finished all the work. I’m almost done with the history of arts.” Tang Yue leaned against the garage door and sat in the sand. “It can be filed away after some slight editing tomorrow.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“I’m flying saucer watching.” Tang Yue looked into the sky as he gazed at the blue sky with his visor in place.

“Flying saucer?” The girl was astonished.

“Yes, I head out every day to look for flying saucers to feel a sense of purpose to life,” Tang Yue answered. “Although I haven’t seen one to this day, I believe that if I keep watching, the day will come when I do… My significant other is a heroic saucer that will one day visit me while spewing colored smoke.”

Mai Dong closed the control panel’s lid in the core module as she worked with Tomcat to adjust the computer system in the United Space Station.

“There’s a need to have something to look forward to in life. Otherwise, what’s the meaning of life?” Tang Yue said. “This Universe’s every day is different. No one made it a rule that the Earth wouldn’t disappear tomorrow, so no one made it a rule that a flying saucer wouldn’t land before me tomorrow. There is a tomorrow after tomorrow. Time is infinite. Just like if an infinite number of monkeys were left to bang on an infinite number of typewriters, sooner or later they would accidentally reproduce the complete works of William Shakespeare… Therefore, the appearance of a flying saucer is inevitable.”

“Let’s hope that such a day will come.” The girl laughed.

“It will definitely happen one day,” Tang Yue said. “In this Universe, as long as you believe, it will one day happen.”