Dead on Mars

Mai Dong reached out to press the button on the panel, as the words “PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST” appeared on the computer screen.

After a few seconds, the screen indicated: “Please complete the following questions.”

Mai Dong took a deep breath.

Long periods of dull, solitary life led to psychological problems in humans. Therefore, every member of the Mars landing mission needed to undergo a psychological test at fixed intervals. In the past, this test was administered by the team doctor, Maxwell, but with Mai Dong, the only person left on the space station, all she could do was self-administer the test.

One’s mental health was equally as important as one’s physical health. In the first few Mars landing missions, the monitors on Earth had belittled this problem. Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov had once spent 437 consecutive days aboard the Mir space station, circling the Earth about five thousand times while maintaining a normal mental condition. Therefore, scientists believed that from the experiences gleaned from extended space station missions, it was enough for a Mars landing.

But the reality later proved that Earth’s space station and the Mars mission were two entirely different matters. Traveling deep into space overturned one’s mental state in a manner that far exceeded the scientists’ imaginations.

In the first few missions for the Orion I and II, several astronauts began spontaneously exhibiting mental problems. The worst-case was during the third flight of the Orion I. On the return journey, American payload specialist, John Yang was diagnosed with depression. He was unable to work properly and even attempted to inflict harm on himself. He was hospitalized after returning to Earth.

In John Yang’s words, “Only when you leave Earth’s orbit do you realize that you are sliding towards a bottomless abyss.”

Subsequent Mars missions began compelling astronauts to have periodic psychological tests, as they placed mental health on the same level as physical health. The team doctor would also be trained in psychiatry.

Meanwhile, the selection of members began leaning towards people like Tang Yue.

Mai Dong’s mental condition had always been very stable. Her curiosity towards deep space far exceeded her fear. She had enjoyed watching the stars from a young age. At the age of ten, her father bought her a 200m reflecting telescope. The young lady would spend every night on her balcony looking at the moon and Saturn. From a young age, she had been engrossed with the grandeur and vastness of the Universe. This longing, buried deep in her heart from a young age, was the impetus for her participation in the Mars project.

“Next, you will see an image. Please follow the instructions.”

Mai Dong tapped the button on the screen and began answering.

The test consisted of more than a hundred questions, involving various aspects. It wasn’t a pure psychological test, as it included a number of math and physics questions. It tested the astronauts’ mental condition, thought and logical processes, and wit.

“Mai Dong, we have mixed the shit evenly!” A particular nightman’s voice sounded in Mai Dong’s earpiece. It was truly a killjoy.

“What do we do next? Just bury the seeds in it?”

“No,” Mai Dong answered Tang Yue’s questions as she pressed the control panel’s buttons. “That’s the final step. Before that, we still have plenty of work to do… Next, we have to let the fertilizer ferment.”

“Ferment?”

Tang Yue and Tomcat held their breaths.

“Do you know about compost?” Mai Dong asked, “Hot compost.”

“Heard of it.”

“Under normal conditions, human feces cannot be directly used as fertilizer. They need to be processed by mixing them with straw, hay, and silt. Then, it will be fermented at high temperatures to kill any parasitic worm eggs and weed seeds. It will let the feces undergo bacteria decomposition, turning into a humic compound,” Mai Dong explained. “Thus, Tang Yue, your feces need to undergo fermentation to become fertilizer. That way, it will allow the plants to absorb it better.”

Tang Yue placed a container of feces by the side of the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG). It constantly emitted heat, and its surrounding temperatures were the highest. It could maintain above zero degrees Celsius, making it most suitable for microorganisms to grow.

In fact, Tang Yue wasn’t sure how much bacteria was left in the container of shit. After being dehydrated and cooled, the vacuum-packed feces were in fact in a nearly bacteria less environment. However, it couldn’t be said to be clean. This rationale was the same as having bacteria killed in a high-pressure washer. Even though all microorganisms were killed, no one wished to have this stain their clothes.

Tang Yue found something to cover the container before finding a piece of plastic to bind it tightly in layers. People not in the know might even imagine that he was hiding a treasure.

If someone were to steal this treasure of his, they would definitely be in for a surprise when they opened the container.

“Ordinary compost needs about half a month to ferment. Tang Yue, you will have to control it on your side,” Mai Dong said. “Once the fertilizer is fermented and ready, you can use it to plant tomatoes.”

The conditions on Mars were crude. Making compost like this on Earth was unrealistic. Everything had to be done simply.

“How will I know when the fertilizer is ready?”

“Taste… Ah, no—you can look at its color and size. If the color turns black-brown, and the volume reduces to about a third from what it was, it means the fermentation is almost done,” Mai Dong replied. “However, the temperature at your side is overly low, and there’s no oxygen. Only anaerobic organisms can live, so the conditions are suitable for fermentation… Therefore, I don’t think you need to follow it to the tee. Waiting a few days would do.”

Tang Yue nodded.

“While the first container is fermenting, you can continue creating other fertilizer,” Mai Dong continued. “At the same time, you can also begin pretreatment on the seeds.”

“Got it!” Tang Yue got up and thanked her in all seriousness. “My dear agriculture expert, Comrade Mai Dong, thank you for your guidance!”

Mai Dong smiled silently.

She finished her test, gently pushing the wall and floated away from the control panel. From afar, she looked at that screen.

The psychological test was over, and the screen would soon give her the results.

This was a complicated form that indicated various indicators and numbers. Mai Dong didn’t understand the jargon, so she went right to the end of the report.

It was a colored column with a bright green color at the top and a dark red color at the bottom. It was a graded color chart that depicted the most objective state of one’s mental health. All the data would be processed by the computer and made into a diagram. The closer the pointer was to green, the healthier one was. The closer the pointer was to the red, the more dangerous it was.

In every previous test Mai Dong took, she was in the bright green region, indicating that she was an optimistic person.

The girl’s gaze swept the colored column. This time, she didn’t find the pointer indicating her in the green region.

Mai Dong slowly scrolled down and found her pointer in a yellow region.

On it was a line of red text.

“Dear Miss Mai Dong, your mental and psychological state is unstable. There are signs of mild depression. Please seek advice from a psychiatrist to prevent the situation from worsening.”