Chapter 1371: Under The Crack
“Cough…
“Calling station… Coordinates 15° south lat.i.tude, 128.1° west longitude… require support.”
There wasn’t a response.
The only noise from the communication channel was the disturbing electrical buzz.
It was pitch black. The [Contact Lost] icon flashed on the screen on his right arm, reminding him that he had completely disconnected from the station.
Also, he was at least 20 meters underground.
There was also hemat.i.te that increased the attenuation of electromagnetic signals…
“Sh*t…”
A trace of despair flashed in his eyes, but the flash of negative emotions was quickly replaced by a strong desire to survive.
There were still many people on earth waiting for him to return.
He couldn’t just die here…
He thought back to the survival knowledge he learned during his training at the Dzoosotoyn Elisen Desert. Fan Tong clenched his jaw and got up from the ground. After taking a deep breath, he entered the administrator pa.s.sword on his wrist-mounted computer and turned it off. The positioning system and communication module were useless now, so he had to conserve battery.
He was underground in Mars, in who knew how many meters deep…
Here, he could only rely on himself.
Fan Tong realized that he might miss the hot pot tonight. He gulped and took out a marker with special paint from the toolbox behind him. He found a spot on the wall of the cave and wrote down his location and some last words.
“I hope these last words will never be useful.”
From when he lost contact up until now, the base station should have realized a problem. They should have sent a rescue team long ago.
However, he did not expect too much from the base station’s rescue capabilities.
After all, as far as the engineering equipment was concerned, he really couldn’t think of anything that could help him climb up from dozens of meters underground.
He was still young.
He didn’t have to be a “sacrifice” for science yet.
After he prayed for his own destiny in his heart. Fan Tong then took off the folded multifunctional shovel and held it in his right hand. He turned on the flashlight on his helmet and began to move forward in the cave of rubble.
Although this might not be the way out, at least it was better than staying here and waiting for death.
When he thought of the crack that opened and closed overnight, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of urgency in his heart.
No one could guarantee that he wouldn’t be buried by sand or something else by tomorrow.
As for why he was here…
Everything began a few hours ago.
…
Mars Scientific Research Station
The quiet morning was broken by a piece of unexpected news.
“Independent decision-making power?” After listening to the captain’s explanation, Dr. Sun Wenzhe, who sat at the end of the conference room, frowned and asked, “In other words, we can decide whether to take action in the future?”
“Correct.” Liang Youcheng nodded. He looked at the other four teammates who were in the room and continued, “This is the choice made by the command center for us to make more flexible decisions. If you find any special clues during the extravehicular exploration, you can report it directly to me without waiting for instructions from the command center.”
Whispers were heard in the conference room.
From a researcher’s point of view, this was of course a good thing; it meant that they did not have to withstand a nearly ten-minute delay to communicate with the ground command center and could more flexibly engage in their own research topics.
However, the risks were difficult to ignore.
Captain Liang Youcheng gave a light cough, then looked at Dr. Fan Tong, the only planetary geologist at the scientific research station.
After a pause, he spoke.
“In addition, the priority of the ‘Outlier 128’ project has been raised to level A.”
“The ground command center has created a new work log code-named ‘128’ in our database. If you have any new discoveries, you don’t need to report to me, just use your personal terminal and update in your individual work log.”
“Individual work log?”
After Fan Tong calmed down, he asked seriously, “Can I ask, does this mean that when researching the project, I’m directly under—”
“That’s right.” Liang Youcheng nodded and said concisely, “From now on, your research will be directly under Academician Lu.”
Academician Lu?!
Fan Tong immediately had a surprised expression on his face. He subconsciously opened his mouth.
The three colleagues sitting next to him were also showing surprised expressions. After they snapped back to reality, they immediately cast envious gazes at him.
For an ordinary scientific researcher, being able to work under Academician Lu meant not only a recognition of academic ability; they were also able to tap into resources that ordinary people couldn’t imagine!
It was no exaggeration to say that this feeling was like winning a lottery—
No, it was even more exciting than winning the lottery!
The happiness came too suddenly, and it took a long time for Fan Tong to snap back to reality.
However, Fan Tong’s heart was also full of doubts. Although Professor Lu’s research covered a wide range of fields, he had never done research in geology.
Even though the fault structure could reveal a lot of valuable clues, why did it attract his attention?
This was just a trivial matter compared to the Mars landing plan itself.
“Academician Lu… Does he also study geology?”
Captain Liang Youcheng shook his head.
“I am not very clear about the specific situation. You’ll have to communicate with him. However, I think these minor issues can be ignored. Since Academician Lu attaches so much importance to the fracture structure, I think he might have found unusual clues.”
Unusual clues?
If that is true…
Then I have to take some time and communicate with Academician Lu…
After the meeting, their day continued as usual.
Although the priority of the “128” project had been raised to level A, and he was now directly responsible for Academician Lu, he still had to complete his normal tasks.
He drove the rover to the water source and made a loop to confirm that the drilling equipment was still working normally. Fan Tong continued to conduct sampling surveys at several mineral deposits marked on the map.
After finis.h.i.+ng these things, his work for today was over.
According to the weather information forecasted by Xu Fu, a sandstorm would pa.s.s through this area in the afternoon. Fan Tong did not waste any time; he got in the rover and started to return to the base.
Unfortunately, the arrival of the sandstorm was five hours earlier than expected.
After he had driven off for less than two kilometers, the overwhelming red sand had completely obscured the view from the rover window. The visibility was less than two meters.
Fortunately, this regional sandstorm would not last for long.
For safety reasons, Fan Tong did not rush into the sandstorm. Instead, he drove the rover to the side of the mountain less than one kilometer away from him. He found a leeward along the topographic contour on the map and stopped there.
The scratching sound of the sand raging outside the window was finally reduced a little.
Compared to the wilderness, this was a temporary haven.
Speaking of which, this mountain seems to be called The Gates of h.e.l.l?
Judging from the rough outline, it really does look like an entrance to h.e.l.l.
Fan Tong turned off the engine. He was prepared to wait quietly for the “light rain” to pa.s.s. Just as he was wondering whether to do something to kill time, he suddenly caught a glimpse of an unusual shadow from behind the red sand.
His eyes couldn’t move away; he sat up straight in his driver seat.
“The f*ck? Why is it here?”
There was a hint of disbelief in his eyes.
There was a fracture about ten meters long, printed on the ground like a scar.
“How is this possible…”
When he and Sun Wenzhe came here yesterday, they drove more than ten kilometers around the edge of this mountain range and pa.s.sed through this area!
If there was such an obvious earthquake crack here, he definitely would not have missed it!
Maybe…
Like the broken structure that disappeared suddenly, did this thing grow out recently?
Without hesitating, Fan Tong immediately turned on the on-board communication system and reported the situation to the base.
“Calling base station… coordinates 15° south lat.i.tude, 128.1° west longitude, the disappeared fault structure reappears here… Repeating again, coordinates 15° south lat.i.tude, 128.1° west longitude…”
There wasn’t a response.
“Sh*t! Is it because of the sandstorm?”
Fan Tong closed the communication system. He opened the rover door and jumped down. He walked to the side of the crack.
The atmosphere density on Mars was very low. Even if the sandstorm was strong, the lethality was far less than the depiction in Mars movies.
However, this did not mean that the sandstorm was not dangerous at all. First of all, the impact on the field of view was one aspect, and secondly, the composition of Martian sand was similar to hemat.i.te. The iron content was extremely high, even compared to rich iron ores on Earth.
This was deadly for radio transmission.
Fan Tong walked to the fractured structure and glanced down.
The laser ranging device indicated a depth of about 20 meters…
Because of the sandstorm, even with a flashlight, the visibility at the bottom was still not high. If he wanted to know what was going on below, he could only go down and take a look.
Preferably, collect a few more rock samples and go back for lithology a.n.a.lysis.
However, a slight hesitation flashed in his eyes.
Maybe…
Wait until the sandstorm is over?
But what if the crack disappears…
Fan Tong thought of the decision-making power mentioned by Captain Liang Youcheng. Fan Tong finally clenched his teeth and made a decision after some hesitation.
If he just went down and took a look, there shouldn’t be any problems.
He would stay there for at most one minute.
He no longer hesitated. After setting up the automatic messaging program on the rover, he got out of the rover and went to the trunk, then took out the safety rope.
Just like he had already practiced countless times, he fixed the buckle to his waist and then walked to the scar-like fractured structure.
Fan Tong thought about the secret that was about to be revealed. He couldn’t help but feel excited.
“Come on, let me see what secrets are hidden underneath…”
He took a deep breath and carefully descended along the edge of the rock wall.
Everything went well in the beginning.
He slowly descended to the bottom of the fractured structure.
However, the moment his boots touched the bottom, he felt as if he was stepping on fallen leaves.
The silty ground collapsed downwards.
Out of instinct, Fan Tong’s heart became tense immediately.
Maybe…
Not today.
However, just as he was about to retreat and climb up along the safety rope, the rock wall suddenly seemed to have been activated by a certain mechanism. It shook like an earthquake and moved at a staggering speed, closing the crack above him…