Carl's gloves rubbed against the metal wall of the equipment compartment, making a rustling sound. He squatted down next to the main circulation pipe in section B, the beam of his flashlight shining obliquely into the gaps of the connection nodes.
“Found it,” he said.
Nana's voice came through the earpiece: "Please describe the abnormal area."
“There’s a crack in the sealing valve body. It’s not big, but the leak is enough to break the system.” Carl placed the detector on it. “The pressure fluctuation matches the negative pressure curve we saw before.”
In the control room, Chen Hao leaned over the control panel, staring at the oxygen concentration bar. The number stopped at 18.6%, and didn't drop any further.
"At least it's not a ghost sucking out the air." He breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought we had an invisible roommate on the ship, just trying to steal our right to breathe."
“There are no signs of life,” Nana said. “All the sensors are working properly; the problem is with the aging hardware.”
Susan flipped through the old structural diagram, her finger tracing the location of the bottom tool cabinet. "The spare valve should be in the anti-magnetic cabinet. The mK-7 is a standard part; it must have been prepared before departure."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Chen Hao stood up. "I'll go move it."
"You just said your back hurts." Susan looked up.
"I'm more afraid of oxygen deprivation now," he grinned. "Compared to suffocating, back pain is like a worker's injury benefit."
The three walked toward the tool shed, the corridor dimly lit. An iron door was stuck in its track, half of it rusted shut.
"We have to pry it open." Chen Hao reached out and pushed, but the door didn't budge.
Carl took out hydraulic shears from his backpack and wedged them into the gap. With a forceful press, the metal made a screeching sound, and the door was pushed open a crack.
"It's done." He took a half step back.
The room was filled with boxes, thick with dust. Susan put on gloves and found a magnetic-proof cabinet labeled "Fluid Control Components" in the corner. Inside, two perfectly sealed mK-7 valves lay quietly in a foam tank.
“I was lucky,” she said.
"That means the ship hasn't completely abandoned us yet." Chen Hao picked up a cigarette. "Let's go, let's get the air circulating again."
Back in the equipment compartment, Carl had already removed the damaged valve body. The connector was rusted shut, so he soaked it in lubricant for three minutes before slowly unscrewing it with a manual wrench.
"The new valve is ready." Chen Hao handed it over.
Carl took it and installed it in place. Nana remotely connected to the temporary bypass pipe to maintain basic airflow. On the screen, the oxygen concentration briefly dropped by 0.2 percentage points, and the alarm flashed red.
"Don't breathe so heavily," Nana reminded her. "Your oxygen consumption is 30 percent higher than usual right now."
"I'm just nervous," Chen Hao said, slowing his breathing. "I'm in charge of supervising, and watching others fix the machines is more tiring than doing it myself."
"It's installed." Carl completed the final stress test. "No leaks after three pressurizations, the system can be restarted."
"Start it," Nana commanded.
The unit began to hum, and the green operating light illuminated. The main screen displayed that the oxygen concentration had begun to rise, with the curve slowly increasing.
“It’s back.” Chen Hao stared at the numbers. “18.7…18.8…It’s really going up.”
"System back to normal operation." Nana marked the event status, "Environmental crisis resolved."
"What about the food?" Chen Hao asked immediately. "Can the canned food still be divided? My stomach has been growling for ten minutes."
"The food management plan will be reinstated," Nana said. "The original distribution process can continue."
“Perfect.” Susan took out her tablet. “Divide the food into three boxes for four people, one can per person per day, and keep two extra cans for emergencies.”
"Cold?" Chen Hao frowned.
“The heater is broken,” she said. “It’ll have to stay like this until it’s fixed.”
“They even skimp on our meals,” he muttered. “This is worse than exam week.”
No one paid him any attention. The four returned to the main control area and moved the cans to the table. Susan used scissors to open the first box and counted the cans one by one.
“Nineteen cans per person, with two extra as reserves,” she announced.
Chen Hao took his share and touched the metal plate. "It's seven years past its expiration date. I wonder if eating it will give me diarrhea."
“It’s been sterilized at high temperatures,” Carl said. “As long as there’s no leak, it’s not a big problem.”
"If I lie down after eating, don't say I'm picky." Chen Hao tore open the packaging and took a bite. The jerky was hard and tasted astringent.
"Eat sparingly," Susan reminded them. "Who knows when the next meal will come?"
“I know,” Chen Hao chewed. “The next meal is at this time tomorrow, unless something else happens.”
No one responded. The three of them silently finished eating and put the empty cans into the recycling bin. Chen Hao ate the last bit, licked the grease off the inside of the lid, and then reluctantly threw it in.
"The spirit of thrift is commendable." Susan finished recording the allocation log. "Next, we'll take turns on duty and keep the system under monitoring."
"Can I take a nap?" Chen Hao leaned back in his chair. "I talked a lot just now. If I had kept my mouth shut the whole time, I would have saved a lot of oxygen."
“You can rest,” Nana said. “Your next shift is in two hours.”
He yawned, his eyelids almost closing.
Just then, a red warning box suddenly popped up on the main screen.
"Scanning of the forward route complete." Nana's voice changed. "A region of high-energy particle density detected."
Chen Hao suddenly opened his eyes.
"How far?"
"The distance is about 37,000 kilometers, and the estimated contact time is six hours and eighteen minutes later."
"How about taking a detour?"
"It can be avoided by deviating from the course, but it will delay the journey by at least forty-eight hours."
On the screen, a bright red area covered the path ahead. The label read: "Intense radiation zone, intensity three times the safety threshold."
"What will happen if we rush over there?" Chen Hao asked.
“The shielding effectiveness needs to be assessed.” Nana pulled up the protective layer data. “The current shielding rate of the ship is less than 40%, and direct passage may cause acute radiation reactions in personnel.”
“That means we can’t just force our way in.” Susan closed her tablet. “We have to make a decision.”
The room fell silent. Carl took off his gloves and wiped the sweat from his brow. Susan stood by the control panel, her fingers lightly tapping the surface. Chen Hao stared at the red stain, still chewing the last bit of cold meat.
"So now the air is fixed, and we've eaten." He swallowed the last bite. "But what awaits us ahead is a deadly cloud of radiation?"
No one answered.
Nana is loading a more detailed particle distribution model. Susan flips through the emergency manual to the radiation protection section. Carl stands up, preparing to return to the equipment bay to check the shielding interface.
Chen Hao raised his hand and looked at the skin on the inside of his wrist. There was a small red patch there, like a sunburn.
He scratched it.
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