Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

"I need to talk to you," Song Xingye said.

Mila, lying face down on his bunk, mumbled a reply: "Get out of here."

"The situation is serious. I need to let you know before I go to see the commander."

Without even looking up, she grabbed a thick stack of mass spectrometer technical manuals from the reading shelf and slammed them over her head. "I wasn't listening at all."

"Listen, I think there might still be a way out for us. At least for some of us. But I need your help."

Mira suddenly sat up, scattering the manuals all over the floor, staring intently at him: "Go on, I'm listening."

In the dim light, Song Xingye thought her eyes seemed to be glistening with tears. Was she crying under the covers? Mira? No, that couldn't be. She was always cold as ice, stunningly beautiful, and treated men's sincere hearts like glass marbles in a child's hand. Such a cold-blooded woman, like an ice sculpture, would never shed a tear.

"My idea is," Song Xingye lowered his voice, "that we need a new return spaceship. The Darwin is completely destroyed and we can't count on it. But there is actually a third return spaceship on Mars, and it's currently on this planet."

"Oh," Mira replied indifferently.

"I'm serious."

“‘Viking 3’,” she murmured to herself, “the return spaceship that Country A launched back then. ‘Viking 3’… You’re right, it’s still there.” She suddenly straightened her back. “But Song Xingye, that spaceship is in the Arctic! That’s equivalent to crossing half the Earth. How could we possibly get there?”

"I don't know. As long as it's still there, we'll always find a way. What I need to confirm now is, can it still start? After enduring so many years of wind and sand erosion on the ground, can it still fly? Can we use it to escape?"

"I don't know." She shook her head in despair. "I really don't know."

……

For the next two days, Song Xingye buried his head in maps and orbital photos, trying to plan a feasible route north, but was repeatedly thwarted.

This journey was destined to be fraught with peril. They had to traverse over 6,000 kilometers of unexplored territory, a region with rugged and complex terrain that had never been set foot in by humans before. Maintaining high speeds was simply a pipe dream.

According to his initial plan, he and Mira would set off as the vanguard at dawn on the seventh day of Mars, driving two off-road motorcycles northeastward, surveying the terrain along the way, marking and avoiding major obstacles to clear a route, while the rest of the team would follow closely behind in the Rock Jumper rover.

The official name for these off-road motorcycles is Single Extravehicular Activity Unit (SPEMU). Although astronauts have always scoffed at this cumbersome abbreviation, the down-to-earth nickname "off-road motorcycle" has been retained, mainly thanks to their giant balloon tires designed to adapt to various extreme Martian terrains.

These two-wheeled vehicles look like heavy motorcycles from a comic book, bolstered with steroids and bursting with muscle. They are equipped with extremely wide, giant tires, and the raised anti-slip treads resemble beans growing out of a bagel.

The lightweight aluminum-lithium alloy frame is compact, allowing the driver, wearing a Mars suit, to comfortably lean against the spherical oxygen tank.

Each vehicle was painted the color of a plastic toy to maintain its distinctiveness under the ultraviolet sunlight of Mars; the carefully selected blue-green fluorescent paint even glowed brightly in the sunlight.

In human history, no one has ever actually ridden this kind of vehicle on the surface of Mars.

During his test drive, Song Xingye discovered that driving on Mars was more relaxed than he had expected, but it was also full of unpredictable challenges. The grip on the Martian surface was much lower than he had anticipated. Although the wide tires could grip the ground, they would often spin clumsily in the soft sand, either getting stuck or slipping hard.

After repeated experimentation, he summarized a set of reliable experiences: you must control the throttle very lightly and keep the speed within the range of tire grip in order to accelerate smoothly.

Braking and turning require the same care as handling fragile items. He even added a note to his manual: when encountering obstacles, be sure to allow sufficient braking distance.

When familiarizing himself with the handling characteristics of the off-road motorcycle, Song Xingye showed great meticulousness, repeatedly verifying every action.

He was surprised to find that keeping the motorcycle balanced on Mars was actually easier than training on Earth simulators. Thanks to the weaker gravity on Mars, when the motorcycle tilted severely or even faced the risk of tipping over, the driver often had a few extra seconds of reaction time to correct the posture.

Just as he was beginning to understand the "temperament" of the off-road motorcycle, he looked up and saw Mira riding a second motorcycle "running wild" not far away.

"What are you doing?!" he roared.

"Hey, Song Xingye! This car is absolutely amazing!"

"Stop right now!"

Mira suddenly stood up from her seat, leaned back sharply, and forcefully pulled the front wheel off the mud and sand. The motorcycle remained firmly on the ground with only the rear wheel, and smoothly completed an extremely beautiful and clean drift turn.

Song Xingye was terrified, but he had to admit that although the maneuver was extremely dangerous, Mira was able to use it to complete the turn on the gently sloping curve with less than one-tenth of the original turning radius.

After the front wheel slammed heavily onto the ground, she immediately leaned down and twisted the throttle to the floor. A violent dust tornado instantly rose behind the motorcycle, and she drove it towards him like an arrow. Just as Song Xingye's heart was in his throat and he was about to pounce and dodge, Mira swerved the steering wheel sharply, pressing the motorcycle into an astonishing ninety-degree angle. With the wheels skidding violently, she plowed a ditch in the sand and came to a steady stop in front of him.

Song Xingye was still in shock, secretly marveling at how her cornering and braking techniques were much faster and more effective than any method he had cautiously tried before.

Where did she learn such wild off-road driving skills? The owner's manual definitely didn't teach this!

"Relax," she said with a laugh. "The way you were riding your bike just now was like you were riding a glass bicycle, afraid to even touch it. My grandma can ride faster than you. Come on, let me teach you a few tricks."

While Song Xingye and Mira were practicing driving off-road motorcycles on the surface of Mars, Sheng Tianhong and Han Jing were sweating profusely as they unloaded the "Rock Jumper" piece by piece from the cargo hold of the "Darwin".

In fact, these Mars rovers were originally designed to provide astronauts on the Martian surface with a means of transportation for short distances, and were by no means intended for long-distance treks across most of Mars.

Their drive systems have no redundancy or backup design. In accordance with strict mission safety regulations, the distance that the crew can drive the SPEMU away from the living quarters must never exceed the limit that would allow the astronauts to walk back if the vehicle breaks down.

In contrast, the pressurized Mars rover, named "Rock Jumper," is a behemoth capable of carrying more scientific equipment and survival supplies.

Its official full name is "PVEET (Pressed Long-Term Extravehicular Activity Vehicle)," but the abbreviation is so strangely pronounced that it has become an internal joke among the crew. Every time someone pronounces it seriously, it causes a burst of laughter.

Unlike the SPEMU, which can only travel on two wheels, the PVEET uses a unique flexible and movable wheel design, which allows it to easily roll over and cross rocky and rugged terrain, hence its nickname "Rock Jumper".

The vehicle is also equipped with a pressurized chamber where astronauts can remove their heavy spacesuits. However, the operating manual specifically emphasizes that because the pressurization system is not redundant, occupants must wear the pressurized spacesuits at all times while the vehicle is in motion. This vehicle is designed for two-person crews.

The "Rock Jumper" has a unique design. The pressurized crew cabin is a decahedron made of green anodized lithium aluminum alloy, and the transparent silicon carbide pentagonal observation windows provide the crew with a wide field of vision directly in front, diagonally below, and to the left and right.

A flexible robotic arm is installed at the front of the cabin, which can not only collect samples and remove roadblocks, but also lift a dump truck over obstacles.

The rear of the cabin is equipped with a transmission system, power unit, heat dissipation fins, consumable storage tanks, and a miniature antenna capable of bidirectional signal transmission. This antenna can communicate with orbital relay satellites and also transmit data back to the roosting module.

All the metal surfaces were either covered with a thin layer of gold multilayer heat-insulating material or had undergone anodizing, giving them a bluish-green hue that was out of place in the Martian environment.

When Commanders Han Jing and Sheng Tianhong unloaded the machine from the storage box, it unfolded like a spider. The entire machine was supported by six wheeled legs, each of which was a short triangular truss with an independently driven metal mesh wheel at the end.

These outriggers feature an articulated design, allowing them to rise and fall freely to avoid obstacles. Their intricate construction is dazzling, resembling a mechanical octopus crafted by a mad metalworker from the Victorian era.

Sheng Tianhong stood inside the cabin, manipulating the machine to extend its outriggers below the cabin. The cabin then stood upright, supported by six stiff mechanical legs, as if suspended on the top of a tower nearly six meters high. Then, the cabin first squatted down, then stood up again, and then raised each leg in turn, as if doing mechanical gymnastics. Sheng Tianhong used this to check each mechanical system one by one.

"Self-check complete," Sheng Tianhong's voice came through the communicator. "I'm getting ready to take it for a test flight. Song Xingye, are you listening?"

"I'm listening," Song Xingye replied.

"Very good. Please keep the channel open and be ready to assist in case of mechanical failure."

"Received," Song Xingye said. "Do you think there will be any problems?"

"It's just a routine matter."

The "Rock Jumper" started moving. Its mechanical legs extended and retracted flexibly with the undulating terrain, giving the entire cabin a wonderful and natural floating sensation. Song Xingye watched it climb up a nearby sand dune, disappear into the valley, and then reappear on the surface of the next sand dune.

Then, it completely disappeared from sight.

“Come on,” Mira said. “The commander only told you to keep listening, not to just sit around. Hurry up, come on, your driving skills are like a baby’s. First, you need to learn how to control traction. Watch me, when you start, lean your body like this…”

……

Sergei couldn't help but think again that the commander had kept him alone in the room while the other adult expedition members were out having fun. Sheng Tianhong must be afraid that he, Sergei, would slow down the progress or get in the way.

His aversion to the commander deepened. In his view, Song Xingye and Mira were having a great time riding off-road motorcycles, and driving that giant "Rock Jumper" was obviously quite exciting as well.

He had practiced countless times in the virtual reality simulator, and he was willing to bet that his driving skills were far superior to the commander's. But in reality, while the adults were out partying, he could only stay obediently in the base.

Although Han Jing stayed indoors with him, he didn't make the atmosphere any more relaxed. The other man was wearing headphones and listening to communications outside the cockpit, while checking a Mars map on his computer in the passenger seat. He had his back to Han Jing the whole time, deliberately pretending to be too lazy to pay attention to him.

So, screw it.

The melody of a "stomping rock" song kept echoing in Sergei's mind. The lyrics seemed tailor-made for him, belonging only to him. "Negative Ions" was his favorite band, and no one else could ever understand why their songs could strike his soul so precisely.

Abbas Abdul Sami, the Sultan of the Sands, the Prince of the Desert, the Prophet of this Land; his only home was a silk tent, which he carried with him on the wind, accompanied by the lonely sighs of the desert wind.

"This is me," Sergei thought. "I am Abbas Abdul Sami, drifting with the wind."

"Stop shaking," Han Jing said without turning his head.

Was she talking to herself? "What?"

"Stop shaking your leg, you're making the whole cabin shake."

He was merely tapping his feet lightly to the rhythm in his mind; it was really just a tiny movement. "Forget it," he thought to himself. Although he was very resentful, he knew that patience was the best policy.

In this team, Han Jing's status is higher than his. In fact, everyone here seems to be of higher status than him. If he openly contradicts her, he'll probably never be able to touch that off-road motorcycle again.

But Sergei knew very well that he was the real star on the spaceship. Mira had half an hour of recording time every day to send messages to her fans on Earth; Sasha had also recorded replies to supporters in Russian and Chinese.

But for the other crew members, Sergei received more questions during each interview than all the others combined. Even the older generation born in the last century knew who he was, not to mention his immense popularity among the "stomping tribe" and "bubble tribe" of young people.

If things really get out of hand, he could use his fame on Earth as leverage to force them to comply, but for now, he hasn't figured out how to make that move.

Cola Novels: This is where dreams begin, and where dreams come true.