Chapter 41 - Sol Five, Eagle, Away You Go! (1/2)

Half-past eleven in the morning. While Tang Yue and Tomcat were on tenterhooks, the chance finally appeared.

The wind speed indicator first measured that there was a drop in the hurricane’s strength. Following that, the wind speeds began to fall. It fell from 43 m/s at a discernible pace as the number on the indicator changed every two seconds.

43.13 m/s.

43.02 m/s.

42.77 m/s.

42.54 m/s.

42.35 m/s.

42.07 m/s.

41.86 m/s.

41.42 m/s.

41.21 m/s.

40.69 m/s.

40.25 m/s.

39.44 m/s.

The wind speeds quickly broke below 40 m/s as the computer system began to issue alerts. From the speed at which the wind speeds were dropping, it could reach the safety threshold in the coming ten minutes. This might very well be the only suitable launch window. As for Tang Yue and Tomcat, they had already jumped off their seats. There wasn’t a need for the computer alert; they had noticed the first change in the wind speeds…

Tomcat pulled over a chair and sat in front of the work desk to wake the computer. In that short interval, the wind speeds had dropped from 38.12 m/s to 37.91 m/s.

Right on the heels of that, it went from 37.91 m/s to 37.22 m/s.

“Tang Yue, connect that data cable. Plug the red into red, white into white. Don’t mess up,” Tomcat said in a heavy voice. The computer screen in front of it had lit up.

“Got it!” Tang Yue’s nerves were tense. He cleared the messy cables in a frenzy and took a glance at the wind speed indicator. It was already at 36.08 m/s.

Tang Yue was delighted. The heavens have opened up to flood me with blessing?

Tomcat swiftly tapped the “Enter” key as the progress bar on the screen filled up in seconds, completing the connection with the lander’s computer system. A dialog window appeared on the screen: “Welcome to Eagle Lander.” It then entered the launch program of the Eagle.

“Tomcat, what’s happening?” Tang Yue asked. “Why is the wind speed dropping all of a sudden? Did the heavens hear my prayers?”

“This has nothing to do with heaven, much less anything to do with your prayers. We might be in a low-pressure zone of the hurricane,” Tomcat replied. “Do you know about hurricanes?”

Tang Yue nodded.

“A typhoon’s wind speed can exceed tens of meters a second, but its eye has zero wind speed. There wouldn’t be any wind there. This is because the eye only has strong updrafts. This phenomenon is determined by the laws of physics and mathematics. Therefore, all the hurricanes in the Solar System are the same.” Tomcat spoke quickly, but its paws were moving even faster. “The hurricane above us should be a huge cyclone. It has been moving slowly across the surface of Mars, and we might have entered its low-pressure zone. That’s why the wind speeds are dropping so rapidly.”

The wind speed had dropped to 35.11 m/s.

“Does that mean that the wind speed might fall beneath the safety threshold?”

Tomcat nodded. “It’s our only chance. The low-pressure zone in the middle of a cyclone covers a very tiny area. However, the hurricane moves at rapid speeds. We have no idea how long these wind speeds will last. It might be a few minutes, so we have to seize this window of opportunity. Once we leave the low-pressure zone, the wind speeds will rise again.”

The wind speed had dropped to 34.07 m/s.

Kunlun Station’s computer system quickly provided the prediction trend of the wind speed. The green curve trended down with random fluctuations and was predicted to reach a red line five minutes later—the safety threshold of 30 m/s. Although this prediction was only for reference, nothing worth mentioning, Tang Yue was still delighted.

“Lander’s launch initiated.” A gentle female voice sounded from the computer. Tomcat made every second count as it inspected the lander’s computer system. This was necessary before the launch.

“Computer system checks complete!” Tomcat muttered anxiously.