Dead on Mars

“This is the Mars Wanderer. United Space Station, please reply if you copy.”

“This is United Space Station. I copy you. Good morning, Mr. Cat.”

“I’ve discovered the Chelomey probe. I repeat, I’ve discovered the Chelomey probe. The lander is intact, but the rover is nowhere to be found, but it should be within a few kilometers of this area. I plan to find its location. Will the United Space Station be able to provide any assistance?”

“Probably not, Mr. Cat,” Mai Dong replied. “I’m unable to establish communications with the rover. The high-precision telescope and camera on the space station is in the Dawn module, and have already been damaged along with the module.

“Darn it!”

Tomcat had finally arrived at the Chelomey’s landing spot on the third afternoon. It had found the half-buried lander that appeared the size of a circular table across the plains. The black metal shell and the silver thermal-insulating material looked extremely striking in the orange-yellow background.

The probe’s solar panels were unfolded with a layer of sand over them. Perhaps the hurricane from three months ago had swept away most of the sand, allowing the solar panels to see the light of day again. The computer had then managed to be recharged, awakening the probe from its long slumber.

The Chelomey probe arrived on Mars in two parts—the immobile lander and the mobile rover. The lander was a descent platform in charge of carrying the tiny rover. It remained in a folded state within the rocket’s fairing, with the rover encased by the solar panels. Only after a successful landing were the solar panels opened up to release the rover.

The rover had disappeared. Even though Tomcat guessed that the tiny guy couldn’t have gone far, it had no means to find a tiny rover in an area spanning kilometers without the help of the space station.

“Mr. Cat, how’s the rover’s situation?”

“I’m checking.”

Tomcat stood beside the probe with a plastic sheet wrapped tightly around its body, making it look like a Bedouin nomad.

It removed the sand from the Chelomey, sweeping it clean bit by bit as the probe slowly appeared in its original form. Tomcat felt that its actions were like that of an archaeologist as it carefully brushed away the soil from an ancient tomb. It too was discovering a lost artifact of a vanished civilization.

After cleaning away the dust, Tomcat saw one of the probe’s indicators blinking. Even though it had been eight years, the Chelomey remained brand new, as though it had just left the laboratory yesterday. Even its screws were bright and clean. In the arid and oxygen-lacking Mars, the antiquation of a machine was greatly decreased. It was able to be preserved for many years in such an environment.

Tomcat saw the Chelomey once again. The last time they met was when they were back on Earth.

“Buddy ol’ Pal… we meet again. You haven’t changed the least.” Tomcat sighed as it sat beside the probe. “Do you know your home has blown up?”

The Chelomey stood there silently in the desert.

“Aren’t you going to say something after hearing such sad news?” Tomcat turned its head. “If you feel sad, blink.”

The probe’s indicator light blinked once.

“I knew you were sad.”

To meet one of its own kind on this remote planet was like running into an old friend in a distant land. Be it Tomcat or the Chelomey, both of them should’ve been happy. A wanderer in a foreign land was likely to have endless things to talk about when meeting a friend from the same country, and this old friend had brought it news from home—good and bad of all kinds, including that its home had blown up.

Chelomey had been sitting here alone for eight years to the point of being forgotten by its creators. Under normal circumstances, it would be sitting there perpetually for eight years, eight decades, or even eight centuries, until the end of time.

If it wasn’t because Kunlun Station’s temperature control processor was broken, even Tomcat wouldn’t have come looking for it.

“You’re asking me how it blew up?” Tomcat muttered. “Neither do I. It just vanished, without leaving a single trace. The reason is unknown… It isn’t a gamma-ray burst, quite impossible. That wouldn’t have happened if it were a gamma-ray burst.”

“Those people from your hometown?” Tomcat muttered. “Don’t you feel any resentment for them to throw you here? If you ask me, I think they have long forgotten you… Ah, no. Even if most people have forgotten, there will always be someone who remembers you. The guy who personally wrote your programs, the one who screwed those screws in your wheels, the ones who worked day and night to gather funding for you. Those people are your parents, and you are their child. How could they forget their child?

“However, they have all vanished.

“Have you seen anything interesting over the past eight years while standing here? For example, did you see something like a huge battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron?” Tomcat sat beside the probe, looking far into the distance at the bleak and lonely terrain.

Mars was truly a boring world. At a glance, there wasn’t a place to focus one’s gaze upon.

“Thankfully, you are myopic. You might be disappointed if you could see this world in its entirety.”

Tomcat sat on the ground as the sun slowly passed over its head. The breeze swept up the tiny particles of sand and landed them on Tomcat’s body. It shook away the dust that had landed on the plastic sheet wrapped around it.

It wasn’t in a rush to move. The Mars Wanderer had already been drained of its batteries and had stopped two kilometers away. It was being recharged, and Tomcat had to wait until the evening before continuing to advance. It would drive the Mars Wanderer over and load the probe onto it before finally heading back.

Being a machine as well, Tomcat actually wished to find the rover and bring it back. it didn’t want it to be left alone in the desolate world all alone, but the rover was long gone. The scientists from Roscosmos had installed a powerful motor on it, allowing the rover to drive like a sports car on Mars. To this day, it maintained the Guinness record of being a transportation vehicle that had the fastest speed on an extraterrestrial planet.

Back then, the leading expert of the Chelomey project had said, “Our probe is to exceed the Americans in every way. Speed is just the beginning!”

It was believed that the next aspect would be the aspect of firepower.

Tomcat weighed the pros and cons and had no choice but to abandon the rover. Kunlun Station was still awaiting its return to swap the temperature control processor. Not a second was to be delayed.

“I’ll be taking you with me, to Kunlun Station.” Tomcat turned its head and said to Chelomey. “It’s because…”

Tomcat hesitated. It didn’t know how to explain itself. It felt wrong to say that it had made this trip solely to rip its components out. It sounded nefarious, like an illegal peddler who sold organs.

“It’s because there’s a patient with a serious case of uremia. He’s in desperate need of a new kidney, and you are the only match in all of Mars.” Tomcat quickly found a grand and aboveboard reason. “That’s why we have to invite you over to save him. We hope you can donate your kidney to someone who needs it… It’s not like you need it, right?”

The Chelomey stood there silently in the desert.

“If you agree…” Tomcat said. “Blink your indicator light.”

The probe’s indicator light blinked once.

“Hahaha, I knew you would agree!” Tomcat patted the Chelomey probe happily. “You are such a kindhearted probe. You live up to being a magnanimous Slav…”