Die on Mars

"This is Mars Stray Dog, United Space Station. Please reply when you receive it."

"I'm United Space Station, that's it, good morning Mr. Cat."

"I have discovered the Chelome probe, repeat, I have discovered the Chelome probe, the lander is intact, the rover is missing, but it should be within a few kilometers, I’m going to search for its location, can the United Space Station provide assistance?”

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Cat." Maidong replied, "I can't get in touch with the rover. The high-precision telescopes and cameras in the space station are all in the Dawn module and have been damaged along with the module."

"What the hell."

On the afternoon of the third day, the old cat finally arrived at the landing site of the Chelome probe. It found the half-buried lander. The thing landed on a flat ground, only as big as a round table. The black metal shell and silver insulation material stand out against the brown background.

The detector's solar panels are in an unfolded state, covered with a layer of sand. It seems that the storm three months ago swept away most of the sand and dust, allowing the panels to see the light again and allowing the computer to recharge, allowing the detector to recharge. Awakening from long sleep.

The Chelome probe came to Mars in two parts, the immovable lander and the movable rover. The lander is a landing platform responsible for carrying the compact rover. When inside the rocket fairing, the lander is in a folded state. Wrap the patrol device with a battery panel. After successful login, the battery panel opens and the patrol unit is released.

The patrol device could no longer be found. Although the old cat estimated that the little thing could not run far, without the assistance of the space station, it could not search for a small detector within a radius of several kilometers.

"Mr. Cat, how is the status of the detector?"

"I'm checking."

The old cat stood next to the detector, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, like a dusty Bedouin.

It pushed aside the sand and soil on the Chelomei and cleaned it bit by bit, and the original appearance of the detector was gradually revealed to the old cat. The old cat felt that his behavior was like archaeology, just like archaeologists using The brush carefully cleans the soil from the bronzes in the ancient tombs. It is also excavating the relics of a vanished civilization.

After cleaning up the dust, Lao Mao even saw that a certain indicator light on the detector was still flashing. Even though it was an old guy from eight years ago, the Chelomei was still as new as if it had just left the laboratory yesterday, even the screws They are all smooth and clean. On the dry and anoxic Mars, the aging rate of the machines is greatly slowed down, and they can be preserved here for many years.

The old cat saw the Chelome again. The last time they met was on Earth.

"Old man...we meet again, you really haven't changed at all." The old cat sighed and sat down against the detector, "Did you know that your hometown was bombed?"

The Chelome stood silently on the desert beach.

"Why don't you express your feelings when you hear such bad news?" The old cat turned his head, "If you are sad, just flash your lights."

The detector's indicator light flashed.

"I knew you were sad."

Meeting another compatriot from the Earth on this distant planet can be regarded as meeting an old friend in a foreign land. Whether it is the old cat or the Chelome, you should be happy. A wanderer living in a foreign land meets an old friend from his hometown by chance. There should be endless things to talk about. Old friends brought him news about his hometown, good and bad, and some told you that his hometown was bombed.

The Chelomei stood here alone for eight years, even forgotten by its builders. According to the normal plot, it should continue to stand like this for another eight years, eighty years, and eight hundred years. The sky is falling apart and the earth is falling apart.

If the temperature control processor at the Kunlun Station hadn't been damaged, even the old cat wouldn't have come looking for it.

"How did it explode, you ask?" Old Cat murmured, "I don't know how it exploded. Anyway, it was completely destroyed. Not even a trace was left. I don't know why... It wasn't a gamma ray burst, no. It could be a gamma ray burst, and gamma ray bursts can’t be played like this.”

"That group of people from your hometown?" Old Cat continued to murmur, "They left you here alone, don't you still hate them? You want me to say that they have forgotten you a long time ago... ah no, even if you are big Most people have forgotten you, but there will always be people who remember you, the person who wrote the program for you, the person who screwed the screws on your wheels, the person who stayed up all night to help you get funding, those people are you. Parents, you are their child, how could they forget their own child?"

"But they have all disappeared now." The old cat said gloomily.

"You have been here for eight years. Have you seen anything new? For example, the battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron?" The old cat sat side by side with the detector, looking into the distance and seeing everything. The place is lonely and desolate.

Mars is really a very boring world. Wherever you look, you can't even find a place where you can focus your attention.

"Fortunately, you are short-sighted. If you could see the whole world clearly, I'm afraid you would be disappointed."

The old cat sat on the ground, with the sun passing slowly over its head. The breeze lifted up the fine sand and fell on the old cat. It shook the plastic sheet covering the outside and shook the dust off.

It is in no hurry to act. The Mars Stray Dog's power is exhausted and it is parked two kilometers away and is being recharged. The old cat will not continue to act until night, drive the Mars rover over, install the detector, and finally return. Mansion.

Out of humanity as a machine, the old cat actually wanted to find the patrol device and take it back with him, so as not to leave it alone in this desolate world, but the patrol device had already disappeared— Scientists from the Russian Space Agency equipped it with a powerful motor, which can allow the rover to race like a racing car on Mars - it still holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest speed of human transportation on extraterrestrial vehicles.

In the words of the original Chelome mission chief expert, "Our detectors must surpass the Americans in all aspects, and speed is just the beginning!"

It is believed that the next aspect may be firepower.

The old cat weighed it up and had to give up the search for the patrol device. Kunlun Station was still waiting for it to go back and replace the temperature control processor, and it could not delay for a minute.

"I want to take you out of here to Kunlun Station." The old cat turned to the Chelome and said, "Because..."

The old cat hesitated for a moment. It didn't know how to explain its reasons. It couldn't say that it came here specifically to pick off your parts. That would sound like it had evil intentions, like a black-handed trafficker who illegally bought and sold organs.

"Because there is a severe uremia patient at Kunlun Station who is in urgent need of kidney replacement. You are the only suitable candidate on Mars." Old Mao quickly found a great reason, "So we have to ask you to go To save people, I hope you can donate your kidneys to those in need... It’s useless if you want that thing anyway, right?”

The Chelome stood silently on the sand.

"If you agree..." said the old cat, "just flash the indicator light."

The detector's indicator light flashed.

"Hahahaha, I knew you would agree!" The old cat patted the Chelome detector enthusiastically, "What a warm-hearted detector, worthy of the generous Slavic nation, haha..."