Dead on Mars

There were less than thirty seconds before the first-stage rockets were detached.

Thirty seconds later, the Eagle’s two Raptor 3C engines would expend all their propellant. Then, it would detach from the payload capsule of the Ascent Vehicle. Following that, the lander would enter a stage of powerless flight. Once it entered this stage, the Eagle would fly according to its inertia. It was like a rock that had been thrown out. The commands sent by the Kunlun Station would be useless.

You might face a free-falling rock and shout, “Fly! Fly!” But that rock would be powerless to do so no matter how hard it tried.

Seconds ticked by on the computer screen’s timer.

The green light on the top-right corner of the screen had turned red. It didn’t flash for prolonged periods of time, indicating that too much time had passed since the Kunlun Station had received a signal. The last time the Eagle reported its position was two minutes ago. This was like a child heading for the front lines in war. As parents, Tang Yue and Tomcat could only stay at home, burning with anxiety as they hadn’t received a letter in a month.

180 seconds after the Eagle’s launch.

There were less than twenty seconds before the first-stage rockets were detached.

Without any incident, the lander should be 280 kilometers above the Martian surface while it moved at 3000 m/s.

Tomcat stared at the predicted trajectory on the screen. All that was left was a tiny part of the dotted line.

The dotted line’s end was the orbit insertion point.

The Eagle’s parking orbit’s insert point was at the apoapsis. This was the highest spot in the entire orbit at 350 kilometers from the surface. The two Raptor 3C rockets would send the payload capsule into the apoapsis point with a speed lower than the orbit speed. Following that, the first-stage rockets would detach, making the lander a powerless chunk of metal. This metal chunk would go from the highest point of 350 kilometers to the periapsis at 150 kilometers. Like a free-falling body, it used gravitational potential energy to convert into kinetic energy.

Then, it would go from the periapsis of 150 kilometers back to the apoapsis like a roller coaster, turning the kinetic energy back into gravitational potential energy.

This was the parking orbit of a lander as it drew out a huge ellipse.

“Let the tempest come strike harder!” Tang Yue’s yells came through Tomcat’s earpiece. In those few seconds, the idiot had gone from Lung Ying-Tai to Yu Guanzhong to Gorky’s “The Song of the Stormy Petrel.”

“I know you are very worried,” Tomcat said, “But please act normal while feeling anxious.”

“I’m using the wisdom of our forefathers to soothe my agitated heart. Isn’t that normal?”

“Then please recite the Incantation for Purifying the Heart Spirit.”

“Incantation for Purifying the Heart Spirit? Incantation for Purifying the Heart Spirit… Supreme Terraces of stars, respond and transform without stopping! Expel evil and restrain demons, protect Life-Destiny and guard the body! Wisdom is bright and clear, the Heart Spirit is peaceful and tranquil. The three Ethereal Souls are everlasting, the Corporeal Souls are not dying nor declining!” Tang Yue chanted each and every word with great aplomb. This fellow was wearing the Radiant Armor as he held up the antenna set, yelling amidst the hurricane. He resembled an antagonist from some demonic sect. “For thus was so ordered!”

Tomcat silently held its forehead. It didn’t know that Tang Yue really knew the incantation; otherwise, it would have asked him to recite the Diamond Sutra.

“No news from Lil’ Eagle?”

“No.” Tomcat shook its head. “Why are you so naggy like an old mother? You must have confidence in the lander… Shouldn’t parents trust their own children? You have to believe that the Eagle is an obedient daughter.”

“Obedient daughter?” Tang Yue was taken aback. “No, no, no. Lil’ Eagle is obviously a son.”

“Why must it be a son?” Tomcat asked.

“Of course it’s a son!” Tang Yue said. “Who would bear letting her leave if it’s a daughter. Have you seen any family let their daughter head for the front lines?”

As Tomcat entertained Tang Yue with his nonsense, it stared intently at the screen.

Normally, the Eagle wouldn’t have any problems. To Tomcat, the launch’s greatest problem was the hurricane. However, they were lucky enough to have the low-pressure zone past over them, resulting in the wind speeds dropping below 30 m/s. Wind speeds at that level couldn’t affect the lander at all.

But when the Eagle and Kunlun Station lost communications, the former had risen to a height of twenty kilometers. It was no different from being in a vacuum. The atmosphere was extremely thin and almost devoid of activity.

This also meant that it was basically a perfect launch with the external environmental factors negligible.

There were less than ten seconds before the first-stage rockets were detached.

The computer was already beginning to count down.

The green light on the top-right corner suddenly flashed as Tomcat’s eyes focused, its pupils constricting. It roared, “Shut up, Tang Yue! Stop your f*cking nonsense! Move the antenna back one degree! Raise the angle by 15 degrees!”

“Roger that!”

Kunlun Station had suddenly captured a faint signal which Tomcat had acutely noticed. It made Tang Yue turn back the antenna and make slight adjustments.

The signal gradually strengthened as the curve that was clinging close to the x-axis suddenly changed. It was like the last jolt of a dying person’s electrocardiogram. The data transfer speed went from a few bytes a second to several kilobytes a second. Although this speed wasn’t enough for any video calls, it was enough for an update.

“Tang Yue, hold it!” Tomcat roared.

The data transfer speeds were fluctuating, going from a few bytes a second to thousands of bytes a second. It was slower than the Earth’s oldest internet speeds, but Tomcat remained nervous and excited.

Kunlun Station and the Eagle had once again established a weak connection. It was a weak kite string that extended more than 200 kilometers as it wavered in the sandstorm with wind speeds of 40 m/s.

The computer’s timer was still counting down.

Five seconds before the first-stage rockets were detached.

Zero seconds before the first-stage rockets were detached.

Tomcat was taken aback.

Zero? Why did five suddenly jump to zero? What happened to four, three, two, one?

Before Tomcat could react, a warning sign appeared on the screen. A huge red exclamation mark blinked frantically—the preset trajectory was different from the Eagle’s actual numbers!

Tomcat looked at the data sent back by the lander.

The first-stage rockets had detached.

It was at a height of 285 kilometers.

285 kilometers? Tomcat widened its eyes. The first-stage rockets have been detached, so how can the lander’s height only be 285 kilometers?

According to the preset flight, the Eagle should have been at 350 kilometers after the first-stage rockets were detached!

The computer had detected the mismatch in the Eagle’s reported numbers and the preset path, so it had terminated the countdown and sent a warning.

This was akin to the end of the extremely hard and bitter battle at Stalingrad. Official notice had been sent that the war was over, and you waited at home for your son, believing that he was on a train on his way back home after a triumph victory, having successfully retreated the battlefield.

Just as you were sharpening the blade to slaughter some livestock to happily welcome back your son’s glorious return. You received a letter from your son, telling you: “Mama, Papa, I’ve been caught by the Nazis and will be executed soon.”

Holy f*ck… What happened to the successful retreat from the battlefield? Weren’t you on a train back home?

As a papa, Tomcat wore a look of confoundment.