Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

"drop!"

The buzzer sounded again.

The red light on the detector came on again.

Xia Wanyi numbly reached out and cleaned the mixture of ice and soil that had been spread out on the testing instrument.

"Still haven't found anything?"

Seeing Xia Wanyi's stiff movements out of the corner of his eye, Bai Yixuan gave a wry smile and asked over the radio.

Xia Wanyi sighed softly, reaching out to place the next batch of samples into the testing instrument, and shook her head, saying, "Not yet."

"How many meters underground are we now?"

Bai Yixuan slightly raised his eyelids and glanced at the LCD screen on the drilling rig in front of him.

"Counting from the ground surface, it's already 25 meters."

"25 meters?!" Xia Wanyi exclaimed in surprise. "They haven't even reached the actual ice layer at this depth?!"

Bai Yixuan shook his head with a wry smile and sighed deeply.

"I reckon we've made a wasted trip this time."

"Who would have thought that the surface filling at the bottom of this deadly crater is nearly twenty meters thick!" Bai Yixuan's voice was full of resentment. "I bet Professor Lü would be stunned if he knew this, wouldn't he?"

Xia Wanyi glanced speechlessly at the remaining five meters of drilling steel pipe.

"So, after all that work, we've only drilled down to five meters underground?"

Bai Yixuan chuckled awkwardly.

"Ahem...you could say that."

Xia Wanyi: "..."

Suddenly, Hong Fan's exclamation came through the radio.

"Captain! Stop chatting!"

"The drilling rig seems to have hit a layer of ice!"

Seeing the drilling pipe descending at a significantly slower rate, both Hong Fan and Bai Yixuan showed a hint of surprise in their eyes.

……

Twenty minutes later.

"drop!"

As always, the red indicator light shone mercilessly through the glass mask, illuminating Xia Wanyi's numb face.

She mechanically swept the dirt, now mixed with more ice, aside.

Seeing Xia Wanyi's actions, Bai Yixuan sighed deeply.

"Captain, what should we do now?"

Hong Fan straightened up, gently rubbing his aching lower back, and asked in a low voice, "Should we report this to Professor Lü?"

Bai Yixuan pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"It's not that bad yet."

"We've only drilled one hole so far, let's continue!"

"After all, Professor Lü said when we set off that this could be an extremely difficult and lengthy task."

……

Outside the Mars capsule.

Two "small moons" hang high in the Martian night sky.

Those are Phobos and Deimos.

Compared to the Moon, Phobos and Deimos are relatively close to Mars, at only 0.9 kilometers and 2.3 kilometers respectively, but they are much smaller, only one percent the size of the Moon.

Therefore, neither of them can often reflect sunlight onto the surface of Mars.

In some high-latitude regions, these two small satellites are not even visible.

As soon as he stepped out of the Mars capsule, Andrew instinctively looked up at the sky.

When he saw those two exceptionally bright large stars in the night sky, he was stunned and stood there.

"See, we're lucky."

"I actually saw both Phobos and Deimos at once!"

Andrew's eyes sparkled with excitement, but that excitement quickly turned into regret.

Unfortunately, the sunlight reflected by Phobos and Deimos, as well as the starlight from distant stars, cannot illuminate the somber darkness of Mars.

"Alright, alright, we can talk about sentimentality later. Don't forget, our oxygen supply is only enough to support three hours of extravehicular activity."

Bruno laboriously dragged the carbon dioxide absorption equipment and toolbox out of the circular gate.

"Andrew, could you please turn on the spotlights... I can't even see where I'm going!"

Bruno's jarring complaints interrupted Andrew's thoughts.

He turned his head helplessly to look at Bruno behind him, and then turned on the high-intensity searchlight.

The searchlight was very bright, but it only illuminated a small area in front of the two people.

In the endless darkness, this glimmer of white light appeared somewhat dim and powerless.

After setting up the searchlight, Andrew reached for the toolbox next to him, walked to the area where the air circulation equipment was installed, and skillfully removed the metal protective shell from the exterior of the Mars capsule.

"Joey, has the air circulation system been stopped?"

Just to be on the safe side, Andrew asked Joey, who was in compartment one, via radio.

Soon, Joey's response reached his ears: "It's stopped!"

Andrew closed his eyes slightly, and scenes from his training flashed through his mind.

After recalling the operating procedures, he picked up the tools one by one and slowly disassembled the air circulation equipment.

When he saw the carbon dioxide absorber, he was stunned and stood there.

The surface of the carbon dioxide absorber was covered with reddish sparks.

"The cause of the malfunction has been found."

Andrew said softly, "I guess NASA didn't seal it properly; the carbon dioxide absorber is covered in Martian dust."

"Tsk!" Bruno clicked his tongue over the radio. "I told you NASA couldn't be trusted!"

"What do we do now?"

"We don't even know where the seal is failing!"

Andrew's eyes were full of helplessness, and he sighed deeply.

"What else can we do? Let's install the replacement equipment today and wait for Houston's response."

As he spoke, Andrew installed a spare carbon dioxide absorber.

After restoring all the equipment, Andrew said again, "Joey, turn on the air circulation system and see if it works properly."

A few minutes later.

No response.

"Joey?"

Andrew's eye twitched slightly, and he spoke again, "Joey, are you there?"

The next moment, a panicked voice rang out in the headset inside the helmet!

"It's the same problem! The carbon dioxide absorption device is malfunctioning!"

Andrew's heart sank.

Could it be that Martian dust has already penetrated the equipment?

He took a deep breath and said calmly, "Joey, don't panic."

"It's possible that the replacement device is also broken. I'll try another one."

……

Having learned from the previous experience, Andrew's replacement this time was significantly faster.

Half an hour later.

"Joey, restart the air circulation system!"

A few seconds later, Joey's voice came through, trembling with tears.

"Andrew, it still doesn't work!"

"Carbon dioxide absorber malfunction!"

Hearing Joey's words, tinged with sobs, Andrew's heart sank lower and lower in the water, like a stone sinking deeper and lower.

Andrew's hands trembled slightly as he disassembled the air circulation device again.

This time, he raised his flashlight and carefully checked for the fault.

When a hidden gap and a fist-sized, crimson rock appeared before him, Andrew held his breath instantly.

It’s over.

These two words flashed through his mind.

"Gentlemen, we may be in trouble."

Andrew took a deep breath and said in a solemn tone.