Chapter 1372 Under the Crack
"cough……"
"Call base...coordinates 15° south latitude, 128.1° west longitude...need support."
no respond.
The only thing that came over the comm channel was the disturbing electrical noise.
Surrounded by darkness, the blinking [Signal Lost] icon on the computer on his right arm reminded him that he had completely disconnected from the base.
Moreover, the depth here is at least 20 meters or more.
There are also hematite around it that can accelerate the attenuation of electromagnetic wave signals...
"Damn..."
A trace of despair flashed in his eyes, but that fleeting negative emotion was quickly replaced by a strong desire to survive.
There are still many people on the earth waiting for him to go back.
He can't explain here...
Recalling the survival knowledge he learned during training in the Gurbantunggut Desert, Fan Tong gritted his teeth and struggled to get up from the ground. After taking a deep breath, he entered the administrator password on the wrist-mounted computer and shut down the computer. In addition to increasing energy consumption, the positioning system and communication modules are meaningless.
This is the Mars underground at an unknown depth...
Here, all he can rely on is himself.
Thinking that he might miss the hot pot tonight, Fan Tong swallowed, gritted his teeth and took out a marker pen with special paint from the toolbox behind him, and found a solid place on the wall of the cave, leaving his Marks of whereabouts and some last words.
"Hopefully these last words are never used."
From the time he lost contact to the present, the base should have discovered the problem, and the rescue team should have already set off if there is no accident.
However, he didn't dare to expect too much about the rescue capabilities of the base.
After all, as far as those simple engineering equipment are concerned, he really can't think of anything that can help him climb up from an unknown depth of meters.
He is still young.
I don't want to "martyr" for science yet.
Praying for his own destiny, Fan Tong then took off the folding multi-function shovel and held it in his right hand. At the same time, he turned on the independently powered flashlight on the helmet, and began to grope forward in a cave of rubble.
Although the front may not be the way out, at least it is better than staying here and waiting to die.
Thinking of the crack that opened and closed like a time switch, he couldn't help feeling a sense of urgency in his heart.
No one can guarantee that the position where he is now will not be buried by sand or other things tomorrow.
As for why he is here...
It all started a few hours ago.
...
Mars research station.
The originally quiet morning was broken by an unexpected piece of news.
"The right to make independent decisions?" After listening to the captain's explanation, Dr. Sun Wenzhe, who was sitting at the end of the meeting room, frowned and asked, "That is to say, can we decide whether to take action independently in the future?"
"That's right," Liang Youcheng continued, nodding his head and looking at the other four teammates sitting here, "This is a decision made by the command center to allow us to make more flexible decisions. If you find any special clues during the extravehicular exploration, you can report directly to me without waiting for the command center's instructions."
There were whispers in the conference room.
From a researcher's point of view, this is of course a good thing, at least it means that they don't have to face a delay of nearly ten minutes to communicate with the ground command center, and can more flexibly engage in their own research topics.
However, the risks are also hard to ignore.
Facing the conference room full of discussions, Captain Liang Youcheng coughed lightly, and then looked at Dr. Fan Tong, the only planetary geologist at this research station.
After a pause, he spoke.
"In addition, the priority of the '128 abnormal points' project has been raised to A-level."
"The ground command center has created a new work log code-named '128' on our database. If you find anything new, you don't have to report it to me, just use your personal terminal , will find the updates in a separate worklog."
"Separate work log?"
There was a hint of surprise on his face, Fan Tong calmed down and asked seriously, "May I ask, does this mean that when I was researching this project, my direct responsible object has changed from the scientific research base to——"
"That's right," Liang Youcheng nodded, and said concisely, "From now on, your research is directly responsible to Academician Lu."
Academician Lu? !
Hearing this unexpected name, Fan Tong immediately had a surprised expression on his face, and subconsciously opened his mouth.
The three colleagues sitting next to him also showed surprise expressions on their faces. After recovering, they immediately cast envious eyes at him.
For an ordinary scientific researcher, being able to work under Academician Lu means not only the recognition of his academic ability, but also means that he will get unimaginable resources!
It is no exaggeration to say that this feeling is like winning the first prize in the lottery——
No, it's even more exciting than the jackpot!
Happiness came so suddenly that it took a while to recover.
However, although the excitement in his heart is true, Fan Tong's heart is also full of doubts. Although Professor Lu's research covers a wide range, he has never heard that he has research in geology.
Even if the fracture structure did reveal a lot of valuable clues, it wouldn't attract the attention of that boss, right?
Compared with the manned fire program itself, this is just a trivial matter.
"Academician Lu...does he also study geology?"
Captain Liang Youcheng shook his head.
"I'm not very clear about the specific situation. Whether he has studied it or not, you can only communicate with him yourself. But I think these trivial issues can be ignored. Since Academician Lu attaches so much importance to the fracture structure, it should be Found some unusual clues."
Unusual leads?
If so.
I really need to find some time to communicate with Academician Lu...
After the meeting, the work of the day continued as usual.
Although the priority of the "128" project has been raised to A level, and he is now directly responsible for academician Lu himself, but the work that needs to be completed still has to be completed normally.
After driving the Mars rover to the water source and making sure that the drilling equipment was still working normally, Fan Tong continued to take samples from several deposits marked on the map.
After finishing these things, today's work is over.
Considering the weather information forecasted by Xu Fu, there will be a sandstorm passing through this area in the afternoon, Fan Tong didn't waste any time, started the Mars rover and began to return to the base.
Unfortunately, the sandstorm arrived five hours earlier than expected.
When he had just set off for less than two kilometers, the overwhelming red sand had completely blocked the view outside the car window, and the visibility was less than two meters.
Fortunately, this regional dust storm will not last long.
For the sake of safety, Fan Tong didn't rush to brave the sandstorm, but drove the Mars rover to the mountain range less than one kilometer away from him, and found a leeward side along the terrain contour line on the map. place to stop.
The raging sound of scratching outside the window finally subsided a little.
Compared with the wilderness, this is a good temporary haven.
Speaking of which, this mountain seems to be called the gate of hell?
Judging from the rough outline, it really looks like the entrance to hell.
Thinking of this, Fan Tong turned off the engine, and prepared to wait quietly for this "light rain" to pass. Just when he was thinking about whether to do something to pass the boring time, he suddenly caught a glimpse of an unusual shadow from behind the heavy red sand.
At this glance, he couldn't move his eyes away, and he sat up straight from the downed seat.
"Fuck? Why are you here?"
He murmured something softly, and a trace of disbelief was written in his eyes.
It was a fracture about ten meters long, imprinted there like a scar.
"How can this be……"
When he and Sun Wenzhe came here yesterday, they drove more than ten kilometers around the edge of this mountain range, passing through this area!
If there is such an obvious earthquake crack here, there is absolutely no way he would miss it!
Could it be...
Like the fractured structure that suddenly disappeared, did this thing grow recently?
Without hesitation, Fan Tong immediately turned on the vehicle communication system and reported the situation to the base.
"Call the base... coordinates 15° south latitude, 128.1° west longitude, the disappearing fracture structure reappears... repeat, coordinates 15° south latitude, 128.1° west longitude..."
no respond.
"Day! Is it because of the sandstorm?"
After swearing, Fan Tong hung up the communication system, pushed open the car door and jumped down, walking to the side of the fracture with stumbling steps.
The density of the atmosphere on Mars is very low. Even if there are more than a dozen sandstorms, the lethality is far less exaggerated than that depicted in the movie The Martian.
However, this does not mean that this dust storm is not dangerous at all. First, the impact on vision is one aspect, and secondly, the sand on Mars is similar in composition to hematite, even compared to some iron-rich ores on Earth. Iron content is also high.
For radio, it is simply a dimensionality reduction blow.
Walking to the side of the broken structure, Fan Tong glanced down.
The laser ranging shows a depth of about 20 meters...
Because of the sandstorm, even with a flashlight, the visibility at the bottom is still not high. If you want to know what's going on below, you can only go down and have a look.
It is best to collect a few more rock samples and go back for lithology analysis.
But thinking of this, a trace of hesitation flashed in his eyes.
or……
Or wait until the sandstorm is over?
But if this crack just disappears...
Thinking of the independent decision-making power mentioned by Captain Liang Youcheng before, Fan Tong finally gritted his teeth and made a decision after some ideological struggle.
If you just go down and take a look, there shouldn't be any problem.
At most one minute, I will withdraw myself.
Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated. After setting the automatic sending program on the rover, he got off the rover and went to the trunk, and took off the safety rope hanging on it.
As he had practiced countless times, he fixed the buckle on his waist, and then came to the side of the scar-like broken structure.
Thinking that the secret behind this will be revealed soon, Fan Tong couldn't help feeling a little excited.
"Come on, let me see what secrets are hidden underneath..."
Muttering in a low voice, he took a deep breath and carefully lowered down the edge of the rock wall.
All went well at first.
Following the safety rope, he slowly descended to the bottom of the fractured structure.
However, the moment the soles of his boots touched the bottom, the feeling of stepping on dead leaves soon came from the soles of his feet.
As if a certain switch was touched, the silty ground collapsed down.
Looking at the bottomless abyss, Fan Tong instinctively felt a little nervous.
or……
Forget it today.
However, just when he was about to retreat and climb up along the safety rope, the originally solid rock wall suddenly seemed to be touched by a certain mechanism, shaking like an earthquake, and moving towards him at a speed visible to the naked eye. closed in the middle...
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(For some children, don’t worry about this being too forced and that being unreasonable. If life is well-organized like a textbook, everyone’s college entrance examination will be 750. To make a digression, if the switch of my writing spaceship is broken, a group of people will be on the road I almost couldn’t come back, but the astronauts found a pen that hadn’t been thrown away, and luckily connected the switch. Did I have to pour a pot of blood on me? Well, this is the story of Apollo 11. )