Die on Mars

Maidong rushed into the core cabin and grabbed the headphones.

Her heart was beating fast, and her hands were shaking with nervousness. Maidong was afraid that the noise just now was just a small bug in the computer, and in fact there was no radio signal at all... The girl put on her headphones, held her breath, and listened carefully. .

A few seconds later, there was another "di-" sound, the waveform on the screen jumped, and Maidong's heart suddenly contracted.

The computer did not make an error. It was indeed a radio wave, and it was a very regular radio wave. The space station received a strange signal. It was like Morse code, flashing every few seconds. It looked like someone on the oscilloscope. of electrocardiogram.

Ophiopogon japonicus was overjoyed. This was obviously not noise, but a meaningful electromagnetic signal.

For more than a hundred days, she has had little hope in her heart, staying here day and night, listening to sounds and movements from all directions. Now she finally has the result, although she doesn't know where this radio wave comes from or what it contains. What is the information, but it is likely to come from intelligent creatures, and more likely from humans, such as the Orion 1 spacecraft or other remaining human spacecraft, or even the earth.

The girl's tears immediately welled up.

In the endless darkness, she finally saw a ray of light.

"Mr. Cat! Tang Yue!" Maidong wiped away his tears and immediately contacted Lao Mao and Tang Yue at Kunlun Station, "Mr. Cat, Mr. Cat! I received a radio signal!"

Old Mao and Tang Yue at Kunlun Station were startled and jumped up from their chairs.

Radio waves?

"Who sent it?" asked the old cat.

"What did you say?" Tang Yue asked.

"I don't know yet, but the signal is very clear and continues all the time!" Maidong was very excited. "I will send you the results and you can see what they are."

Lao Mao and Tang Yue nodded, feeling both doubts and shock in their hearts. They nervously held on to a little extravagant hope, but did not dare to demand too much... If there is really a radio signal, where does this signal come from? Has the long-lost Orion 1 spacecraft reappeared? Or some other man-made spacecraft came back from the dead? Maybe this radio wave will become the turning point of everything and allow Ophiopogon japonicus to be successfully implemented?

Maidong turned the signal over, and Lao Mao and Tang Yue eagerly grabbed their headphones. They stared at the computer screen and stood listening for a long time.

"How is it? How is it, Mr. Cat?" Maidong asked eagerly, "Mr. Cat, Tang Yue? What is it talking about? Is it Morse code?"

Old Mao didn't speak, and neither did Tang Yue.

One person and one cat stood on the floor, their faces solemn and motionless, like stone statues.

"Mr. Cat...Tang Yue?"

Tang Yue took a deep breath, took off his headphones first, and smiled at Maidong on the screen, "Maidong, this may be an amazing result."

"Really?" Maidong's eyes lit up, "So what are these radio waves saying? Who sent it? Is it a human being? Is it the Orion spacecraft?"

The old cat took off his headphones and said slowly: "It's a pulsar."

The girl was stunned.

Tang Yue turned his face away and sighed. He and Lao Mao had just realized that this was an electromagnetic pulse emitted by a pulsar. The pulsar had a very short rotation period and would emit electromagnetic radiation like a rotating lighthouse. , that’s why this signal is so stable and regular. This radio wave does not come from humans, let alone the Orion spacecraft. It does not contain any information... It is just a natural phenomenon in the universe.

The discovery of a pulsar is indeed a big academic achievement, so Tang Yuecai said that this signal can only be an academic achievement at best and has nothing to do with human spacecraft or anything.

"This is a pulsar with a rotation period of about 0.3 seconds, and the space station received its signal." Old Cat sat on the chair, staring at the screen, and the signal on the oscilloscope beat regularly and periodically.

"Such as...if it's a pulsar, why are we only receiving its signal now?" Maidong's voice trembled, and she refused to give up hope, "It should have always been there..."

"It has indeed always been there." Old Cat nodded, "This pulsar should have been recorded a long time ago. The communication system on the space station will directly filter it as background clutter. You may hear its voice again. It’s because you adjusted the computer before, which is why only you heard this signal and we didn’t, because Kunlun Station is still blocking it.”

The girl's face turned pale little by little. She had indeed adjusted the computer and communication system of the space station before, and this signal was only heard after the adjustment.

Based on the electromagnetic wave characteristics, Laomao quickly retrieved this pulsar from the database of Kunlun Station - numbered PSR-J1078-2416, which is more than five million light years away from the solar system.

This is a real deal.

"It turns out...it's just a star..."

Maidong lowered her eyes, and the joy in her heart instantly turned into a huge burden, which almost crushed her.

"Ophiopogon japonicus..." Tang Yue struggled to say something, but he found that it was useless to say anything at this time. This was just a false hope. They exposed this illusion, but at the same time they also destroyed the hope in the girl's heart. Gotta smash.

Tang Yue wanted to give her a hug, which might make her feel better, but he couldn't even lend her a shoulder due to the distance of 400 kilometers.

"I understand...Thank you, Mr. Cat, Tang Yue. I'm a little tired and want to take a rest. Goodbye."

Maidong took a deep breath, lowered his head and floated away from the camera's field of view, slowly passing through the interface of the core cabin. The girl's heart was empty, she didn't want to say anything, she just felt so tired, so tired, even turning around I feel tired every time I think about it.

She knew the source of the radio waves, which came from a star more than five million light-years away.

Five million light-years away, unimaginably far away.

She can receive sounds from millions of light-years away, but cannot find the Earth that is so close.

What's the point of searching so hard for so long?

Maidong opened the curtain of the bedroom and slowly opened the sleeping bag. His movements were mechanical and stiff. A small Shiba Inu doll floated over and bumped into the girl's hand.

Maidong was stunned.

She smiled palely, raised her hand to grab it, and pinched it, "You're here to greet me again..."

Big tears welled up from the girl's eyes. Maidong finally couldn't bear it anymore. She hugged the stupid Shiba Inu toy and cried loudly. She never cried like this when the earth disappeared, but sadness will never stay away, let alone disappear. It will only hang far behind you. When you are tired of running, it will catch up and engulf you. .

Maidong accepted her fate at this moment. The last slim hope in her heart was finally shattered, followed by deep sorrow and despair. She accepted the fact that the earth disappeared, the Orion spacecraft disappeared, and everyone disappeared. , no one will come to save her anymore, all her relatives and friends, and her entire life will be wiped out.

The girl's cry echoed in the space station, but in the lonely and dark deep space, even the cry could not escape this small space.