Dead on Mars

Before actually facing death… you will never realize what death means.

This was the jinx, Tang Yue, had said to Mai Dong at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Earth before the launch.

Back then, Mai Dong had sincerely nodded her head. Although she didn’t know what he was getting at, she still treated it as advice a senior was giving her and kept it to heart.

Even though Tang Yue was just trying to act cool.

At that moment, Mai Dong extended her hand as though she could touch Death.

The golden rays of sunshine landed on the girl’s fair cheeks. As though moving at a slow speed discernible to the naked eye, Death was as reticent, soft, and silent as the sunlight.

Mai Dong raised her head and looked out of the window. Being inside the Crystal core module, she could see the huge, thick girder overhead. It looked like the arm of a super tower crane, with all sorts of complicated and jagged machinery attached to it. Those twisted components were exposed to the vacuum, and they were clearly cutting edge technology of the twenty-first century; yet, it gave her the retrospective feelings of the nineteenth century’s steam engines and driving cranks.

Further away were the broad solar panels. They were arranged neatly in rows, like gigantic paddles in ancient warships. As the sunlight gradually rotated away, a huge shadow was cast on the pearly-white walls.

This was the Mars United Space Station. It was hundreds of kilometers away from Earth.

The girl was floating alone in space a few hundred kilometers away. She was probably a wanderer, who had gone the furthest in human history to leave home, and now had no home to return to.

Just five days ago, her life was different.

She was only twenty-five years old. She had graduated with a Bachelor’s degree at Zhejiang University. Before leaving Earth, she had just obtained her Master’s degree at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Before applying for a doctorate program, her advisor had advised her to participate in the Mars expedition and make long-duration space-related technology—the hottest topic in scientific research at the moment— as her research focus. Then, she could use it as her doctoral thesis. With the Mars exploration project becoming a more serious endeavor, many problems involving long and even ultra-long space missions came to the forefront. Fields such as space medicine, physiology, and other topics had become hot topics for research.

This was similar to the Apollo project from the previous century. With a massive space project costing billions of dollars, it could set in motion the progress development of research and industry for the entire nation or even the entire world.

Biology, chemistry, environmental science, and material science were completely aroused.

Mai Dong’s research focus was on the ecosystem in microgravity. This was a topic that involved many topics. It was a difficult subject, but it held great meaning. Few people in China worked on this topic, and Mai Dong wished that she could produce some results.

Frankly, she didn’t need to go through this suffering. Participating in a Mars expedition mission was dangerous and the conditions were harsh. It might seem romantic heading out to space at first glance, but once the novelty had worn off, life became extremely monotonous. Furthermore, the round-trip alone took two years. It was akin to being imprisoned and separated from society for two years. For a young lady, it was a waste of her youth.

Mai Dong had many seniors and juniors, but none of them thought of heading to Mars. Everyone chose simple and relaxing research topics. They planned on publishing a few papers with high impact factors, hoping to write a good thesis before graduating.

Who would be that silly? To give up a comfortable life and risk one’s life to head to the godforsaken red planet? What happened if the spacecraft malfunctioned and one couldn’t return?

Give up one’s life for science?

If you had such lofty thoughts, why aren’t you volunteering?

Finally, Mai Dong contacted the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center by herself and participated in the selection and training.

This seemingly weak and naive chick passed the tests with shocking resilience and grit. She succeeded in being selected for this Mars mission and became Tang Yue’s colleague.

The instant she knew she had been selected, Mai Dong was overjoyed.

She would receive a small laboratory for herself in the Orion and United Space Station. It would be for her to place her incubators with a batch of seeds.

In the half-year journey towards Mars, Mai Dong took care of these frail seeds on the Orion. She watched them sprout, bloom as they reproduced generation after generation.

Mars originally planned on using the collected data to finish her thesis and apply for a PhD after her return.

Without any surprises, Mai Dong would have returned to Earth half a year later, successfully obtaining her PhD and graduating.

How beautiful.

Mai Dong gently placed her hands on the keyboard as she began typing. She wrote the salutation.

“Dearest Miss Mai Dong…”

She had decided to write a letter to herself.

Since the letter had nowhere to go, she might as well write it to herself. It was a will written to herself, for herself.

“Dearest Miss Mai Dong,

“Good morning. It’s the eleventh sunrise of the day. The sun is bright and life is good, except for my hungry stomach. The space station is playing the piano piece, ‘The Sound Of Silence’…”

Mai Dong looked up as the glass windows reflected the girl’s pale, thin face. Her pitch-black eyes were as clear as day.

She smiled, imagining that behind the window was another her, and that she was writing to the Mai Dong behind the glass. Likewise, the other Mai Dong was also writing to her.

“… I always knew you were a clever, beautiful lady. To be honest, I’ve never met another peer as excellent as you. You are perfect in every way, far greater than everyone around you—by a large margin.”

The girl giggled as she felt a little embarrassed. The words appeared a little narcissistic, but since it was written to herself, she didn’t mind praising herself.

“… The space station is still unable to contact Kunlun Station. The sandstorm continues raging, and I’m worried about Mr. Tang Yue and Mr. Cat. I wonder what’s happening to them? Has the Eagle been successfully launched? Regardless of the final outcome of the plan, I wish that they live in peace. Mr. Tang Yue is a good man; Mr. Cat is also a good man… a good cat. They take very good care of me.”

Mai Dong paused.

“… I’m watching from a few hundred million kilometers away, and the Universe is really unimaginably large. Mr. Carl Sagan once said: ‘We are star stuff. You are alive right this second. That is an amazing thing. You have the pleasure of living on a planet where you have evolved to breathe the air, drink the water, and love the warmth of the closest star. You’re connected to the generations through DNA—and, even farther back, to the universe, because every cell in your body was cooked in the hearts of stars.’”

Mai Dong penned each word in her letter as time silently slipped away between her fingers. The space station circled to the back of Mars as the sun set once again. Mars’s horizon was like a massive mountain that rose up.

The girl exhaled silently.

“The sun has set again. It will rise again in an hour …

“Dearest Miss Mai Dong.

“The Universe is infinite, so is time.

“In this vast space and endless time, being able to share your life with you was the best thing in my life.”