Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

“Cough...”

“Calling base… coordinates 15 ° south, 128.1 ° west… need support. ”

No response.

The only disturbing current murmur is coming from the communication channel.

Around him is a dark, five-finger blindness, and the flashing [signal loss] icon on the right-arm wrist mounted computer reminds him that he has completely disconnected from the base.

And the depth here is at least twenty meters.

There are also red iron ore around that can accelerate the attenuation of electromagnetic wave signals...

“Damn...”

A glimmer of despair flashed in the eyes, but that flashing negative emotion was quickly replaced by a strong desire for survival.

There are plenty of people on Earth waiting for him to return.

He can't tell here...

Recalling the survival knowledge learned during training in the Gulbantungut Desert, Fan Tong chewed his teeth up from the ground and took a deep breath before entering the manager password on the wristboard computer, shutting down meaningless positioning systems and communication modules in addition to increasing energy consumption.

We don't know how many meters deep underneath Mars...

Here, all he can count on is himself.

Thinking I may have missed tonight's hot pot, Fan Tong swallowed his mouth spit, bit his teeth out of the toolbox behind him with a special paint marker pen, searched the walls of this cave for a spot to meet, left a sign of his whereabouts and some last words.

“I hope these last words will never be used. ”

From the time he lost contact to now, the base should have spotted a problem, and no surprise rescue teams should have left.

However, he dared not expect much from the base's rescue capability.

After all, in the case of simple engineering equipment, he couldn't think of anything that would help him climb up from the ground without knowing how many meters deep.

He's still young.

I don't want to “martyr” science yet.

Praying for his destiny, Fantong then took down the folding multifunctional shovel and held it in his right hand, while turning on the self-powered flashlight on his helmet and beginning to tap forward in a rubble cave.

It's not necessarily a way out, but at least it's better to stay here and die.

Thinking of that crack that opened and closed like a timing switch, a sense of urgency could not help but arise in his mind.

No one can guarantee that he will not be buried in the sand or anything else tomorrow.

And why is he here...

It all has to start a few hours ago.

……

Mars Science Examination Station.

It was a quiet morning, broken by an unexpected message.

“Autonomous decision-making power?” After listening to the captain's explanation, Dr. Sun Wencher, sitting at the end of the conference room, frowned and asked, "That is, can we decide for ourselves whether to take action in the future? ”

“Yes,” he nodded, looking at the other four teammates sitting here, Liang Yucheng continued, "this is the decision we made at the command center to make more flexible decisions in this regard. If any particular clues are discovered during the out-of-class exploration, you can report them directly to me without waiting for the command center's instructions. ”

Whispering was heard in the conference room.

From the point of view of a researcher, this is certainly a good thing, at least it means that they can be more flexible in carrying out research topics in their hands without having to communicate with the ground command center for nearly 10 minutes.

However, the risks are equally difficult to ignore.

Faced with a chattering conference room, Captain Leung had a slight cough and then looked at Dr. Fan Tong, the only planetary geologist at the station.

Pause, he said.

“In addition, the ‘128 Anomalies’ project has been upgraded to level A. ”

“A new logbook, code-named ‘128’, has been created separately from our database at the ground command centre, so if you have any new discoveries, you don't have to report them to me, just use your personal terminal and you will find them updated in a separate logbook. ”

“Separate worklog? ”

With a slight unexpected look on his face, Fan Tong set his mind and asked seriously, "I can ask, does this mean that when studying the project, my direct responsibility changed from science base to...”

“Yes,” Liang said briefly and succinctly. "From now on, your research is directly responsible to Master Lu. ”

Master Lu?!

Upon hearing this unexpected name, Fan Tong instantly looked surprised and unconsciously opened his mouth.

The three colleagues sitting next to him also had a surprised look on their faces, and immediately after returning to God, they cast an enviable look at him.

For an ordinary scientist, being able to work for an academician means not only academic recognition, but also resources that are hard to imagine for the average person!

No exaggeration. It's like winning the lottery first prize.

No, it's more exciting than the first prize!

Happiness came so suddenly, it took a while to come back to God.

However, despite the excitement in his heart, Fan Tong's heart is equally full of doubt. Although Professor Lu's research is extensive, he has never heard that he still has research in geology.

Even though the fracture structure did reveal a lot of valuable clues, it didn't attract the attention of the big man, did it?

Compared to the human firing plan itself, it is only a trivial matter.

“Dean Lu… does he also study geology? ”

Captain Liang shook his head.

“It's not clear to me whether he's studied it or not, you can only communicate with him yourself. However, I think the problem at the end of these branches can be neglected. Since Master Lu attaches so much importance to the fracture structure, it seems that something unusual has been discovered. ”

Unusual clues?

If that's the case.

I really need to find a time to communicate with Master Lu...

Following the adjournment of the meeting, the day's work proceeded as usual.

Although the priority of Project 128 had been raised to level A, and he was now directly responsible for the change to Master Lu himself, the work to be done had to be done normally.

A circle in the Mars car to the water source confirmed that the drilling equipment was still working and Fantong continued to conduct sampling surveys at several deposits marked on the map.

After all that has been done, today's work is over.

In view of the weather information forecast by the Xufu, a sandstorm will pass through the area in the afternoon, and Fantong did not waste time, launching a Mars cart to start sailing back to the base.

Unfortunately, however, sandstorms arrived five hours ahead of schedule.

When he had just left less than two kilometres earlier, the covered red sand had completely shielded the view from the windows, with visibility less than two metres.

Fortunately, however, this regional sandstorm will not last long.

For security reasons, Fan Tong did not rush up against the sandstorm, but drove the Mars car to the side of a mountain range less than a kilometre from him and stopped at a leeward along the topography and other elevations on the map.

The raging scratches outside the window finally attenuated a little.

This is a good temporary haven relative to the wilderness.

By the way, does this mountain seem like a gateway to hell?

From the contours of that unfinished edge, it's kind of like the gateway to hell.

So thinking, turn off the engine Fan Tong and be prepared to wait quietly for this "light rain” to pass. Just as he was wondering if he wanted to do something to bore him, he suddenly glimpsed an unusual shadow from behind that heavy red sand.

At this glance, his eyes became immobile, and the whole person sat upright from the fallen seat.

“Shit? Why are you here? ”

He whispered in his mouth and wrote an incredible thing in his eyes.

It was a fracture about a dozen meters long, just like a scar stamped there.

“How is this possible...”

Yesterday, when he and Sun Wenchel came here, he drove a dozen kilometers around the edge of this mountain range, passing through the area!

If an earthquake crack like this were here, he would never miss it!

Is that...

Like the fracture structure that suddenly disappeared, did this thing only grow recently?

Without hesitation, Fan Tong immediately turned on the on-board communication system and reported the situation to the base.

“Call base... coordinates 15 ° south, 128.1 ° west, faded structure reappears... repeat, coordinates 15 ° south, 128.1 ° west..."

No response.

“Shit! Was it the dust storm? ”

Speaking coarsely, Fan Tong hung up the communication system, pushed the car door and jumped, burying his gait next to the fracture.

The density of the atmosphere on Mars is low, and even with a dozen levels of sandstorms, the lethality is far less exaggerated than the movie Mars rescued.

This does not mean, however, that the dust storm is not dangerous at all. First, the impact on the field of vision is one aspect, and secondly, the sand of Mars is similar in composition to the red iron ore, even higher than the iron content of some of the rich iron ore on Earth.

For a radio, it's a downbeat.

Next to the fracture structure, Fantong glanced down.

Laser range display depth is about 20 meters...

Because of the sandstorm, even with a flashlight, the visibility at the bottom is still low, so if you want to know what's going on down there, you just have to go down there.

Best to collect a few more rock samples and go back for a lithological analysis.

However, to think of it, a slight hesitation flashed in his eyes.

Or…

Or wait till the dust storm is over?

But if this crack just disappears...

After some intellectual struggle, Fan Tong finally bit his teeth and made a decision.

Just go down and have a look, it shouldn't be a problem.

One minute at the most, I'll pull myself back.

Thinking about it, he stopped hesitating and, after setting up an automated messaging program on the Mars car, got off to the trunk and removed the safety rope that hung on it.

As has been practiced countless times, he fastened the lock to his waist and came next to the scar-like fracture structure.

Fan Tong's heart was excited to think that the secret behind this was about to be revealed.

“Come on, let me see what secrets are hidden down here...”

He whispered in his mouth and took a deep breath, carefully descending along the edge of the rock wall.

Everything went well at first.

Along the safety rope, he slowly descended to the bottom of the fracture structure.

However, as soon as his soles touched the bottom, the touch of stepping on the dead leaves quickly came from the soles of his feet.

Like touching a switch, the powdered sandy ground collapses downward.

Looking at the bottomless abyss, Fanton's heart instinctively created a slight tension.

Or…

Forget it today.

However, just as he was about to beat back the drum and climb up along the safety rope, the original solid rock wall was suddenly as if it had been touched by an organ. While trembling like an earthquake, it closed in the middle at a visible speed of the naked eye...

-

(Some children don't have to deal with this every day too forcibly, that doesn't make sense. If life is organized like a textbook, everyone's college entrance exams are 750. To put it another way, if I wrote the switch of the ship was broken, a group of people went up to the sky and could barely come back, and the astronaut found a fountain pen that had not been thrown away. Luckily, I connected the switch, didn't I have to pour a pot of dog blood on me? Well, this is Apollo 11's story.