Dead on Mars

Tomcat crouched in front of the OGS equipment cabinet, its paw grabbing a screwdriver while its eyes were peeled to the motherboard.

Tang Yue was crazily rummaging through the Hab before throwing a cup cover onto the table and sighing. “There’s nothing. I’ve searched everywhere possible. I can’t find any replacements… I’ve no idea where the old chip is. It was likely crushed, compressed, and taken back.”

All the trash that Kunlun Station generated went through the compressor before being taken back. This involved violently crushing the trash into pieces before compressing them to cubes of less than a meter in size. An intricate semiconductor chip had no means to survive the ordeal.

“What about other replacements?” Tomcat turned its head over.

“How would there be any other replacements?” Tang Yue shook his head. “In this crappy shack, almost everything is manual even the Gree Electric air-conditioners are considered high-tech products… Now, the only thing we can do is to see if we can find a processor that can be used from the workstation.”

Tang Yue and Tomcat began dismantling the computer.

The workstation wasn’t lacking in processors, but they were not necessarily compatible with the OGS cabinet’s temperature control chip. Every processor in Kunlun Station was highly specialized, making it impossible for any mix-and-matching. Tang Yue knew that and, although he didn’t hold much hope, he still needed to give it a try.”

“Can this be dismantled?”

“No, the computer won’t work without it.”

“What about this… Damn it, it won’t even fit! Tomcat, do you have an electric soldering iron and soldering tin?”

Tang Yue and Tomcat busied themselves for about two hours as they dismantled the workstation’s case, hoping that they could fix the OGS equipment cabinet using its parts, but the result was ultimately disappointing. However, that was within expectations—the OGS’s processor and workstation’s processor were completely different types. They didn’t even use the same connection.

Tomcat and Tang Yue sat on the ground, putting the workstation back together.

“It’s getting colder.” Tang Yue tightened his clothes and blanket, as he shrank his feet in. “What’s the temperature now?”

“–3°C,” Tomcat replied. “It’s still dropping slowly.”

“It’s really cold.” Tang Yue shivered.

“But the temperature here is 50°C higher than it is outside.” Tomcat rapped the table’s leg with a wrench. “Kunlun Station has already helped you retain most of the heat, but if this continues, the interior temperature will drop to –5°C by daybreak, and by tomorrow night, the temperature will drop to –15°C.”

Tang Yue shivered. If the temperature control couldn’t be fixed, Kunlun Station’s temperatures would continue declining. It would go from –15°C tomorrow evening to –25°C the following evening. He couldn’t imagine living in –25°C temperatures. It wasn’t even possible for plants to live under such cold temperatures, and all his plans for tomato planting would go up in smoke. He would have to be like an Eskimo, wearing the Radiant Armor for life.

Eventually, Kunlun Station would reach temperature equilibrium with the outside world.

The outside world’s lowest temperatures could go as low as –80°C, and that was a temperature Tang Yue had only seen in liquid nitrogen freezers. He didn’t believe that he could survive in one.

“Can the temperature control be fixed without the processor?” Tang Yue couldn’t just be a sitting duck.

“The processor is core to the temperature control system.” Tomcat inserted the PCU back into the motherboard’s socket. “The temperature sensor unit sends the information to the chip which responds by adjusting the temperature control. It’s the brain of the entire operation. Without the brain, the temperature control isn’t functional.”

“What if we replace it with the workstation?” Tang Yue asked. “If it’s just a simple automatic negative feedback system, the computer is completely capable of doing so!”

Thus, the man and cat began their attempts to connect the temperature control to the workstation. Tang Yue found scissors and some tape, while Tomcat held a soldering iron and tin solder. It cut open the interface of an unused data cable and retrieved the copper wires within.

They were making a very crude data connection interface. They would connect it straight to the computer’s socket, and then solder the two extremely thin copper wires to the motherboard’s pins. One of the wires was for data input and the other was for data output. Tomcat’s paws were stable like a skilled electrician.

With everything ready, Tomcat switched on the computer and launched the testing program. “Are you ready?”

Tang Yue nodded as he opened the OGS cabinet. “Begin raising the temperature!”

The two fell silent for a few seconds.

Tomcat stared at the screen and its raised brows slowly fell. “No reaction… It failed.”

“F*ck.” Tang Yue was very disappointed. He had wasted an entire night for nothing.

Inside the crude shack, which was the Kunlun Station, they only had a few machines that were more automated. On Earth, Tang Yue could randomly find a computer shop to fix the OGS’s temperature control, but on Mars, there was no way for him to find a simple chip.

Tang Yue found the cold getting to him as the clothes and blanket around him were failing. He returned to the living quarters and got out his sleeping bag before burrowing into it. He lay on the ground like a huge worm with his head exposed.

Tomcat held the processor and stared at it silently.

“Tomcat, do you know of Ötzi, the Iceman?” Tang Yue asked.

“Ötzi?” Tomcat answered, its mind preoccupied.

“It’s a very famous mummy from five thousand years ago. He died in the alps and his corpse was completely preserved in a glacier. It was later discovered in the 90s,” Tang Yue explained. “Ötzi’s cause of death was an arrow wound. He was struck in the shoulder, and was suspected to have died while fleeing. Therefore, it’s possible that he died in pursuit.”

“Okay.” Tomcat narrowed its eyes as it studied the chip in its paw.

“If the temperature control isn’t fixed, I’ll probably meet the same end. I’ll become a mummy inside a sleeping bag.” Tang Yue huffed as white mist shimmered under the faint light. “Do you think that I’ll be displayed inside a museum’s glass case a million years from now after being discovered by intelligent lifeforms. I might be called the Mars Iceman.”

“Impossible,” Tomcat replied indifferently without turning its gaze away. It looked somewhat in a trance.

Tang Yue was puzzled. Why was this loquacious cat suddenly so silent? Nothing seemed to pique its interest.

“Tomcat?”

“Shut up.” Tomcat’s pupils slowly dilated, reflecting the processor in its paw. “I’m not interested in the Ötzi Iceman or the Mars Iceman, nor do I care if you will be displayed in a glass case at a museum a million years from now. Furthermore, I don’t think you will be labeled as Mars Iceman, but Mars Icemonkey… I’m considering a problem, a very important problem.”

Tang Yue was stunned.

“What problem?”

Tomcat turned its head and placed the processor on the table. “How to fix the OGS’s temperature control.”

“But the problem is that it’s unrepairable. Didn’t we try everything?”

Tomcat turned its head over. “No!”

Tang Yue was alarmed. “What?”

Tomcat raised one claw. “There’s still one solution… the last solution!”