Chapter 1374 Search and Rescue

Mars.

above the surface.

Driving the spare Mars rover arrived at the destination, and two scientific expedition personnel in spacesuits quickly jumped out of the car.

"We have reached the target location..." Looking around, Han Kangyu's face was full of solemnity, and he opened the communication channel to report to the base, "Dr. Fan was not found nearby, nor his Mars rover."

The coordinates here are 15° south latitude and 128.1° west longitude, which is the location declared in the last message that Dr. Fan sent before disconnecting.

But don't call it human.

Even the tire marks left by the Mars rover cannot be seen here.

Soon, a calm voice came from the communication channel.

"It may be that he moved to another location while avoiding the sandstorm, and the positioning system produced an error under the influence of the sandstorm... search the nearby area."

"yes."

After receiving Captain Liang Youcheng's instructions, the two immediately set their sights on the nearby mountain range called the Gate of Hell. If it is to avoid sandstorms, it is undoubtedly the best choice compared to the sand dunes in open areas.

Thinking of this, the two immediately took action, and they found new clues.

"The rover is here..."

The Mars rover used by Dr. Fan was found next to a steep rock wall. Ming Wenzhe opened the door and looked in, frowning slightly, "There is no one in the car, and the toolbox is not there."

After hearing the sound, Han Kangyu immediately walked to his side quickly, looking at the empty driver's seat, cold sweat suddenly rolled down his forehead.

He punched a tire as tall as a person, and he couldn't help cursing.

"Damn... where did this guy go?"

He is the deputy captain of the scientific research team going to Mars. If something happens to someone on Mars, he and Liang Youcheng will bear the brunt of the responsibility.

Of course, compared to a living human life, taking responsibility and so on is a trivial matter.

If someone dies here, it will undoubtedly give those people with ulterior motives who are jealous of China's achievements an excuse to attack them, and it will undoubtedly be a heavy blow to the entire Mars colonization plan!

And now, they don't even know what happened to people.

At this time, Ming Wenzhe, who was standing at the door of the car, suddenly spoke.

"There is a possibility."

Han Kangyu immediately looked at him and asked.

"What's possible?"

"According to his message on the Mars rover...before he lost contact, he should have witnessed the disappearing fracture structure near here. Considering that there was a sandstorm at that time and the visibility outside the vehicle was not high, the location where the crack appeared should be far away from here. Not very far."

Seeing the gradually ugly expression on Deputy Captain Han's face, Ming Wenzhe was silent for a while, and continued to utter the guess that was hard for everyone to accept.

"But now, the cracks are gone."

"You mean, he jumped under the crack by himself, and then the crack closed quickly after he went down?"

Ming Wenzhe nodded silently.

"It can only be like this."

Although he knew that this was the most likely scenario, Han Kangyu couldn't help but complain.

"What kind of structure moves so fast, and it can... close in an instant? There is no chance of climbing up?"

"I don't know, I'm not engaged in geological research," Ming Wenzhe said with a bitter expression on his face, "To be honest, I feel that this place is a bit evil, is it because it is called the gate of hell? Why don't we give this mountain Just rename it."

The communication module of the two of them opened the public channel.

Liang Youcheng, who was standing in the communication room of the base, had been listening to the communication between the two.

After thinking for a moment, he gave the order in a deep voice.

"It's useless to be anxious now."

"Boldly guess, if the crack randomly appeared around the 128 anomaly point, there should be a large free space below this area. From this perspective, Dr. Fan who fell has a high probability of being alive. Of course, I am not an expert in this area, and I can only say that everything is going in the most optimistic direction.”

"Extend the area and search along the edge of the mountain range. If he is still alive, he will definitely not be sitting there waiting to die. Maybe he has already gone to the opening of the next earthquake crack to wait for rescue."

"In addition, I will apply for support from the ground command center."

"...regardless of the final outcome, we have to bring people back."

It may not be difficult to drill a rock on the surface of Mars to get a core, but it is still quite difficult for the existing conditions of the Martian colony to dig through a rock formation more than 20 meters deep and fish people out from below.

There may be such engineering equipment on the moon, but it is impossible to have it here, so the only way they can do is to apply for support.

In fact, it is just a comforting statement to say that it is an application for support.

Even if the support from the Moon Palace really came all the way and brought reliable excavation equipment, all they could do was collect his body.

Listening to the captain's instructions from the communication channel, Han Kangyu clenched his fists and remained silent for a long time.

Finally, he let go of his fist and sighed.

"...It's the only way to do it now."

Ming Wenzhe suggested, "I would like to apply for permission to use the optical observation module of Xu Fu."

Liang Youcheng: "It has been assigned to you, and we will help you to watch for new ground cracks nearby. Remember, if you find that... abnormal crack again, you must not act rashly, especially prohibiting downward exploration! "

"Regardless of his current situation, we cannot afford a second loss."

...

The moment Liang Youcheng sent back the situation on the scene and the distress message to the earth, the entire ground command center had already entered a state of emergency due to the sudden situation.

An astronaut is missing!

Such a serious incident happened less than a week after the colony module landed. This is not just a simple aerospace accident, but also a serious political accident.

Now the whole country is still in the atmosphere of celebrating the complete success of the manned fire.

If this matter gets out, where will they put their faces on the fire office?

in the office.

Hearing the on-site situation reported by Director Chang, Lu Zhou was stunned.

Although he had considered the possible risks of this "128 anomaly" research project before, he never expected it to appear in this form.

Did the crack close when people went down?

It sounded like it had been "eaten" by something alive.

After a long silence, Lu Zhou couldn't help asking.

"Is the person still alive?"

"Life or death is uncertain," Director Chang continued with a bitter expression on his face, "The problem now is that the Mars base has sent a signal for reinforcements, but even if we send rescue now, I'm afraid it won't help. "

This is indeed a problem.

Even considering the most optimistic scenario, the supplies on Dr. Fan Tong's body can only last about three days at most. Even if their Queqiao is now departing from the Moon Palace, it will take at least two weeks to reach Mars.

This does not discuss whether the problem can be solved after going there.

After all, the environment on the moon is completely different from that on Mars. Engineering equipment tailored for the moon may not be perfectly compatible on Mars.

After thinking for a moment in his heart, Lu Zhou made a decision and said.

"Don't send reinforcements for now."

"But--"

"I know what you're worried about," Lu Zhou continued calmly, seeing the worry on Director Chang's face, "but the most taboo right now is that we mess up ourselves."

"Since it is only missing now, and our astronaut has not been confirmed to be dead, let's not make this matter public for now."

"In the meantime, let our outposts on Mars use all available resources to search for missing astronauts."

"If it still turns into an irreparable situation..."

"I will take all responsibility."

Hearing this sentence, Director Chang's shoulders shook, and he looked at Lu Zhou in disbelief.

After a while, he nodded with a heavy expression.

"……yes."

The office door was closed.

In the spacious room, only Lu Zhou was left alone.

Listening to the sound of footsteps going away outside the door, Lu Zhou sitting behind the desk was silent for a while, finally sighed softly, and turned his attention to the smartphone on the desk.

"Xiao Ai."

The signal light flickered slightly, and a message appeared on the screen.

【Master, are you calling me? o(〃'▽'〃)o]

"You should have heard the conversation just now, right?" After a pause, Lu Zhou continued, "Connect to the 'reptile' for me to search and rescue the missing astronauts."

In less than a second, the dialog box filled with reliability popped up again.

【Yes, master! ()】