Die on Mars - Chapter 251

c249 Day 340 (2) Emperor Penguins in the Desert

“It would be nice if we could light a bonfire.” Tang Yue put the stones together one by one and piled them on the ground, like a small mani pile. “When Lao Wang and I were training in Taklimakan, we would often pick up some We used dead branches of Populus euphratica and camel thorns to make a fire. There is a big temperature difference between day and night in the desert, and the temperature drops sharply as soon as the sun sets. We wrapped ourselves in woolen blankets to warm ourselves up by the fire.”

“It’s a pity that we don’t have anything combustible on hand.” Old Cat picked up a stone and placed it gently on the pile of stones. “There is not enough oxygen either. Every oxygen molecule in this damn place is precious.”

“You know, old cat, through the bright light armor, I sometimes feel that I am far away from the world.” Tang Yue threw the stone, “I have never really touched this land, and everything I see is also far away from me.” Wearing a glass mask, who knows whether this is true or false?”

“Even if you don’t wear bright light armor, everything you see and touch are just nerve signals. They are essentially electric currents between cells. Are what you see, touch, and feel necessarily real? Human beings Your brain is trapped in a closed body, relying on nerve endings all over the body to sense the outside world.” Old Mao shrugged, “Strictly speaking, you are not actively understanding the world, but passively acquiring information.”

“The problem of brain in a vat?” Tang Yue thought for a while, “It’s too philosophical.”

“This is actually not a philosophical question,” said the old cat, “but a very rigorous biology, physics and psychology question. Before Darwin, Pasteur and Jung completely understood the human brain, Mr. Kant Let’s sit aside and have afternoon tea first.”

“Some people always say that science will reach its end when it develops into philosophy, and philosophy will reach its end when it develops into theology.”

“I suggest that people who say such things should go back to the drawing board and reinvent themselves.” Old Mao continued to add stones to the pile of rocks. “Integrate rigorous empirical knowledge, repeatable experimental verification, and universal methodology with the nonsense of magicians.” Twelve years of compulsory education have all been wasted by confusing them with nonsense words.”

“In the difficult journey of humankind’s understanding of itself, Mr. Darwin and Mr. Huxley are undoubtedly the heroes in the charge, Mr. Freud and Mr. Jung can also be regarded as powerful backup, and Mr. Kant and Mr. Rousseau formed the offensive. The city’s ladder – As for Mr. Aquinas, it’s time for his mother to call him home for dinner.”

“Well I know you’re a cat who despises theology.”

“No, I have never despised theology.” Old Cat shook his head, “Really.”

Tang Yue expressed doubts.

“I have never denied the important position of theology in human culture.” Old Cat continued to raise the pile of stones. “On the tower of human history, every brick is indispensable. If you want to forcefully remove one… …”

The old cat gently pinched a stone and jerked it.

There was a crash.

“It just comes crashing down.”

Tang Yue looked at the stones scattered on the ground and suddenly smiled.

“Why are we talking about this?”

“You were the one who started it.” The old cat spread his paws.

“Sometimes I feel that I am a philosopher, the only one and the last philosopher in the world.” Tang Yue leaned back and looked up at the sky, “Then I thought again, the universe is so big and broad, how can one person’s thoughts It’s really too small… Is thought really as great as the starry sky?”

“When man thinks, God laughs.”

“I can already imagine some old man with a white beard throwing away his crutches and rolling on the floor laughing.”

“I pictured some old cat with a white beard rolling around on the floor laughing.”

Tang Yue and Old Cat chatted for a long time. Tang Yue said that they needed a bonfire. He was right. If they could light a bonfire, then this lonely and cold desert night would probably become warmer. .

“Wait a minute.” The old cat got up and returned to the Mars Stray Dog’s experimental cabin. He came back a few minutes later, bringing a small light.

Old Mao half-buried the light bulb in the sand, then turned on the switch. Tang Yue’s and Old Mao’s faces were illuminated by the dim light.

“Solar emergency lights can continue to work for two hours after being fully charged, but the brightness is not very high.” Old Cat said, “Do you feel a little warmer?”

“The temperature inside the Mingguang Armor is twenty-five degrees Celsius.” Tang Yue sat cross-legged on the ground, looking at the small light source in front of him, “I’m not cold.”

“Then I’ll put it away.”

“Wait.” Tang Yue stretched out his hand to stop it and looked up at the dirty cat face. “It’s better to keep it. I feel a little warmer.”

A person and a cat sit together around a dim light. The orange light is wrapped by their bodies in a small space. The solar emergency light is not stable and occasionally flickers, making it look more like candlelight.

“I feel like we are two emperor penguins.” Tang Yue said.

“Emperor penguin?” asked the old cat.

“Emperor penguins will gather together when a snowstorm comes to resist the bad weather.” Tang Yue explained, “Most creatures in the world can only resist external aggression if they gather together.”

“But this is a desert.” The old cat said, “How can there be emperor penguins in the desert… Think about this scene: Penguins walk in groups on the sand, staggering, and they climb to the top of the sand dunes. , and then put your belly to the ground and surf on the sand dunes, it was really hell.”

“No.” Tang Yue waved his index finger, “We are the emperor penguins in the desert.”

The old cat was stunned for a moment, and then he understood what Tang Yue meant. They were emperor penguins trekking in the desert. The fat black and white birds could not fly. They had difficulty moving on land and were clumsy and slow. They could only adapt to the cold of the polar regions. In a low-temperature climate, there is only a dead end in the arid and hot desert – except that Tang Yue, the penguin, was wearing a space suit and carrying enough water and ice on his back. He had to use ice to cool himself down as he moved forward, and he walked hobbled , the more ice cubes are used, the less ice cubes will be used.

Where can emperor penguins go on a planet full of deserts?

Tang Yue imagined the lonely and helpless emperor penguin looking around in the desert, staggering forward, leaving a line of shallow footprints. Before it died of thirst, could it survive in the middle of the vast uninhabited desert? Found a refrigerator?

Emperor penguins look for a refrigerator in the middle of the desert.

Tang Yue thought silently.

Is the former incredible, or the latter more whimsical?

“Did the charging time of Mars Stray Dogs take longer today than before?”

“Yes.” Old Cat replied, “Since yesterday, the charging time of Mars Stray Dog has been significantly extended. This is because the intensity of sunlight is weakening.”

“The sunlight is weakening. Is it due to the season?”

“It’s because of the season.” Lao Mao said, “We are gradually entering summer, atmospheric activity is beginning to intensify, the air is becoming turbid, and the light flux is reduced.”

Tang Yue sighed.

“Can stray dogs survive to the finish line?”

“No problem.” Old Cat replied, “We only have sixty kilometers left. We will reach our destination in two days. Even if Mars is going to be destroyed, there is no rush for these two days.”