Dead on Mars Novel

“Tang Yue—! Tang Yue—!”

Colorful streamers and confetti fell as passionate onlookers on the sides of Michigan Avenue welcomed him as they broke into an uproar.

Tang Yue was sitting in a Porsche convertible as he held beauties around their waists, feeling extremely pleased.

As a heroic figure, who survived several hundred sols on Mars, he was immediately raised on a pedestal by the public and media when he returned to Earth. The tenacity and optimism expressed by Tang Yue during his predicament on Mars were considered a model example for the human spirit. In the words of some critics, he exuded what was a precious halo of humanity, and from that moment forth, Tang Yue began touring the globe giving inspirational talks.

He promoted everywhere that human culture was Mars culture, and to be precise, it was the Tang Yue spirit.

He even claimed that he would be appearing in the film, “Where is Home,” a joint production between China and America next year.

Tang Yue smiled as he waved at the audience, incurring the screams from a large group of young girls. Huge crowds turned out, no matter where he went.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Let me ask every one of you here a question…” Tang Yue raised his microphone. “Can those who haven’t heard of my story please raise your hand!”

Not a single person in the crowd, numbering thousands in strength, raised their hands. Tang Yue dropped the microphone smugly, as he gleefully leaned back. What was an international superstar? This was it.

“My hero…” A big-boobed babe with blonde hair and green eyes clung tightly to his body as her eyes flirted with him. “Come on.”

“Oh, sweetheart, are you sure you want to do it here…” Tang Yue smiled.

“Right here.” She pounced on him, her eyes adrift. “I can’t hold back anymore. I want to do it here, right now… They can watch for all I care.”

“Neither do I then.” Tang Yue smiled and came close. “I’m ready. Come on.”

The blonde babe caressed Tang Yue with her hands, sliding through his suit’s buttons before reaching into Tang Yue’s pockets. With flush, red cheeks, she pulled a vacuum-packed… spicy buffalo wings from New Orleans.

“My sweetheart, I can’t wait to eat these wings. They can watch all they want, take pictures all they want, and comment all they want. Is there anything in this world that’s more important than eating wings?”

Tang Yue closed his eyes as he opened his mouth.

The next moment, he felt a furry object stuff into his mouth, nearly smashing his front teeth away.

“Hey, sweetheart. Why are your wings so hard…” Tang Yue frowned as he opened his eyes in puzzlement. “No… M-m-m-m-maidong, listen to me explain…”

At some point in time, the blonde, green-eyed babe had turned into Mai Dong. The lady was holding a cat’s paw as she stuffed it straight into Tang Yue’s mouth.

“Explain? Explain this!”

Mai Dong cursed with all kinds of vulgarities as she raised her hand and slapped Tang Yue ruthlessly in the face.

Tang Yue instantly snapped awake as he opened his eyes, his body covered in a cold sweat.

Almost instantly, he saw Tomcat standing by his bedside with its paws up. It slapped him once more.

“Holy sh*t! Tomcat, are you sick? Why are you disturbing my sleep in the middle of the night!?” Tang Yue jumped up and went into a rage. “I was almost going to do the deed! You smacked me awake! My New Orleans buffalo wings! Return my wings to me!”

Tang Yue’s heart ached for the roasted wings that he hadn’t managed to put into his mouth. If he had known that he would be awakened, he would have long finished the wings.

“You’re finally awake?” Tomcat glanced at him coldly before throwing clothes and a blanket on him. “Wear them.”

Tang Yue trembled. Only then did he realize that the room temperature was abnormal.

He quickly put on the clothes, but with the environmental temperature almost at zero, he also draped the blanket over him. This gave him some warmth as he followed Tomcat out of the living quarters. The Hab’s lights were on, and everything seemed normal. Only the temperature made him feel as though they were in a frozen cavern.

“What’s this?” Tang Yue asked.

“Something happened to the OGS. The temperature control is malfunctioning.” Tomcat crouched on the floor as it held a screwdriver in its mouth while an open toolbox was beside it. Tomcat opened the OGS panel to inspect and repair it.

Tang Yue attempted to reach out, the air outlet of the machine was biting cold.

“When did you discover it?” Tang Yue trembled as he crouched down beside Tomcat, huddling close to it. He then craned his neck at the maintenance box.

“Just.” Tomcat focused its attention as it looked at the circuitry and panels inside the equipment cabinet. “The thermometer detected the drastic drop of Kunlun Station’s internal temperature to the warning threshold and woke me up. That’s why I came to wake you… I’ll inspect the OGS. Tang Yue, go check on the tomato seeds.”

Tang Yue nodded, turned around and moved the germinating bed down from the rack. Mai Dong had previously exhorted that the tomato seeds had to be in an environment with a temperature maintained at 25°C during the germination process, but with the ambient temperatures dropping to nearly zero, the seeds had no way of germinating if this carried on. Their grand plan of planting tomatoes would instantly be shattered.

Tang Yue hugged the metallic tray and entered his living quarters. He used his sleeping bag and clothes to wrap the germination bed rightly. The temperature here was higher than the Hab, but it wouldn’t last long. In a few hours, the living quarters would be equally as cold.

Tang Yue observed the sleeping bag in silence, as he tried hard to maintain the seeds’ temperature…

An incubator! I need an incubator!

Unfortunately, Kunlun Station didn’t have one.

What if there wasn’t one?

He had to make one!

Tang Yue turned to burrow into his living quarters, pulled the curtains to lower the dissipation of heat before rummaging for parts. It was not a simple task to produce an incubator with the few materials available on Kunlun Station.

“What are you doing?” Tomcat narrowed its eyes as it held a pair of tweezers in one paw while holding a volometer in the other. It was checking for the electrical malfunction.

“Making an incubator.” Tang Yue pulled open a drawer and found a cassette. He raised it against the light and inspected it. It was likely Thomp’s for the man enjoyed classical music. He liked to listen to music while playing it through a retro style. In his words, digital music had already lost its essence as music. It was only a bunch of data and signals. Only records and cassettes could replicate the original singer’s soul.

Tang Yue dismantled the digital clock on the table and took out its batteries before looking around. “I’ll need a heating element… Heating element… Tomcat, do you have a heating element? Just some old tungsten filament bulbs would do.”

“There are only LED bulbs.” Tomcat didn’t even look up. “Do you want that?”

Tang Yue shook his head. LED bulbs didn’t emit enough heat. They were unable to maintain a stable temperature in the incubator.

“Aren’t you trying to find a continuous heat source?” Tomcat turned its head and glanced at him. “Isn’t there one here?”

Tang Yue was taken aback.

…

Tang Yue stuffed the seeds wrapped in moist cotton into the cassette before pulling out a piece of fabric. He pulled off his clothes and tied the cassette to his tummy. Then, he put his clothes on and bound it tightly.

This was Tang Yue’s final solution—a human body incubator.

A heat source wasn’t only limited to tungsten filament or light bulbs; there was still Tang Yue.

A human’s body temperature was 37°C. Furthermore, it continuously emitted heat. This heat source was rather stable, and it could adjust the temperatures at any time. If the cassette’s temperature was too low, he could wear a few more layers of clothes. If the temperature was too high, he could just wear a little less.

“How is it?”

Tang Yue came close to Tomcat as he crouched down. In the past half an hour, Kunlun Station’s room temperature had fallen once again. Tang Yue could even see himself breathing out white mist when he spoke.

“Not optimistic.” Tomcat shook its head. “Switch on the emergency oxygenator. I will be shutting down the OGS cabinet!”