Chapter 77 - Sol Hundred, Picasso’s Full Name (1/2)

Mai Dong turned off the psychological test. The computer had warned her to seek advice from a psychiatrist, but the advice was of no value. She was the only one on the United Space Station, so who could she turn to?

The girl adjusted the temperature in the Crystal module as the space station had entered the shadows of Mars. A pencil slowly floated across her eyes. Without any external forces exerting on it, it would continue moving in a straight line until it hit the wall. Mai Dong reached out to flick it, sending the pencil in another direction.

Mai Dong turned around to leave the core module, passed through the passage connecting the modules and entered the Hub APAS module.

The Hub was a nearly spherical module. It was located in the middle of the United Space Station, and a crossroad. It had the most APASs and was in charge of connecting the other modules.

On the left was the Hope experiment module, and on the right was the Discovery experiment module. Ahead was the Harmony service module.

All of Mai Dong’s plants were planted in the Hope module. It came with a fully-equipped microgravity vegetation incubation system, with a total of twelve incubators, and each incubator having eight units.

Due to the restrictions of the environment, the plants cultivated in the space station couldn’t be grown the same way on land—planted in soil with water and fertilizer. To get the plants to grow normally, the space station needed a set of complicated cultivation equipment. The equipment was spearheaded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in which they referenced former space cultivation systems from the Americans and Russians, before enhancing it with socialism with Chinese characteristics.

For growth in a microgravity environment, the delivery of water and nutrients was crucial. In a weightless environment, liquid didn’t flow freely. It would only float about like a ball due to surface tension. Therefore, engineers needed to use special negative pressure perforated tubes to deliver the nutritional fluids that would flow into the plant’s substrate by osmosis.

The final outcome was a rather complicated piece of equipment. This tiny space-greenhouse was split into several main modules. The computer automatically controlled the delivery of light, water, and temperature.

Mai Dong had planted eight tomato plants, twenty-three lettuce plants, and seventeen potato plants in the United Space Station. The species were high-quality specimens specially chosen on Earth. They grew fast and had a high chance of survival. All the tomatoes had borne fruit, and the ones that developed the fastest had ripened. Mai Dong picked the ripe tomato and store it in a refrigerator.

There were still about five tomatoes that hadn’t ripened. They were green with hints of red. They hung heavily in the glass box and were a joy to look at.

Mai Dong enjoyed staying in the Hope module. She found it the liveliest place in the space station as it was filled with vibrancy. Although the plants couldn’t speak, they were definitely whispering to one another in a manner humans couldn’t detect. Mai Dong closed her eyes and felt as though she could hear their voices. Such voices were filled with the vibrant nature of life.

At times, Mai Dong would play music to the tomatoes and potatoes. She had heard that soft, gentle music aided the growth of plants… Her gentle maternal instincts had nothing to act on, so all she could do was give it to the speechless plants.

Mai Dong opened the incubator and carefully inspected the growth of the lettuce.

“Hmm… Ah Chang, you need to grow a little longer. Classics beside you has already borne fruit.”

Ah Chang was a tomato’s name.

Likewise for Classics.

Mai Dong had given every plant a name. The first tomato seed that sprouted was name Runtu, the eldest brother.

Ah Chang was the fifth tomato seed that had sprouted, so he was the fifth brother.

Classics was the sixth.

The tomatoes in the space station were a big family with eight brothers. Since tomatoes were hermaphroditic plants, they were brothers if Mai Dong said so.

The youngest tomato’s name was Zha, an animal like a badger created by Lu Xun.

…

Kunlun Station.

Night had already descended and the stars were bright. Without any man-made light pollution, one could see the grand Milky Way across the surface of Mars.

Without the series of problems, Mars was indeed a place that provided the soul with a catharsis. Some people said that Kunlun Station was the closest spot of human society to the Universe. Others said that heading for Kunlun Station was a pilgrimage. There were indeed people who participated in the Mars missions with such ideas.