Chen Hao was woken up by the cold.
He gasped for breath, and a blast of icy air immediately filled his nostrils, as if someone had stuffed ice shards into his lungs. His teeth chattered uncontrollably, making a soft "clattering" sound. He instinctively pulled the emergency blanket tighter around himself, only to find that the thin metal membrane had already hardened, like a piece of tin foil just taken out of the refrigerator.
"Ha...ha..." he stammered, his voice dry and hoarse like sandpaper scraping against a wall, "Nana?"
The blue light flickered.
"I'm here." Her voice remained calm and emotionless, as if the sub-zero temperature inside the cabin had nothing to do with her.
"Could you... please stop flashing your answer like a will-o'-the-wisp every time?" Chen Hao's hand trembled as he reached for the control panel, but he pulled it back as soon as his fingertips touched the panel—it was too cold, so cold it felt like it would stick to his skin.
"This is the visual feedback mechanism in the system's low-power state," she said. "It cannot be turned off."
"Fine." He rolled his eyes, but his eyelids felt so cold from the air conditioning that they tightened. "Then tell me, are we now in a polar bear's den, or have we secretly converted a life pod into a freezer?"
"The ambient temperature has dropped to minus 10.3 degrees Celsius," she calmly reported. "Your heart rate has dropped by 12 percent, and your peripheral blood vessels are constricted, which is consistent with mild hypothermia."
"Of course I know I'm freezing to death!" he growled in a low voice, then shivered again and curled up into a ball. "Didn't we agree that 'body temperature would be kept within a safe range'? Your safe range is way too far north!"
“The life support system is still operating,” she added, “but the temperature control module is locked in energy-saving mode and cannot heat up actively.”
"So you just watched me turn into a human popsicle little by little?" He gritted his teeth, trying to stand up and stretch, but he only managed to get halfway up before his knees buckled and he fell back into his seat. "It's over... I can't even shake properly now."
The cabin was silent for a few seconds.
Then, a slight mechanical whirring sound arose.
Before Chen Hao could react, a slightly warm object was already pressed against his back.
"You—!" He almost jumped up, but his body wouldn't obey him; he only managed to twist his shoulder slightly. "What are you doing?!"
Nana's body pressed tightly against him, her silvery-white outer shell gleaming with a dark sheen, her back largely in contact with his spacesuit. "My core energy source is stable and has high heat transfer efficiency," she said. "This is currently the optimal insulation solution."
"Best my foot!" he shouted, raising his voice. "Are you a robot or a hand warmer? Who gave you permission to just stick this on like that?"
“You were the one who first asked for calories,” she said, her tone unchanged, “and you didn’t offer any alternatives.”
"I told you to turn on the heat! Not to stick against me like an electric blanket!" He struggled to move forward, but the warmth on his back attracted him like a magnet, and the more he moved, the more firmly it pressed against him. "You...you could at least say hello, right?"
“The purpose of the action has been stated,” she said. “Greeting is not a necessary procedure.”
"Do you AIs all think humans are pretentious?" he complained, but his body betrayed him by no means struggling. The warm current was slowly seeping into his muscles, like parched land finally receiving rain.
Three minutes later, he stopped trembling.
Five minutes later, he found that he could speak a complete sentence without stuttering.
Ten minutes later, he even felt a little hot.
"Hey," he whispered, "I'm sweating all over. If I keep sticking to you like this, won't I catch a cold as soon as I leave you?"
"Human sweat evaporates and takes away heat," she explained. "It is recommended to maintain contact for at least 30 minutes to ensure that the core body temperature rises steadily."
"Can't you just say 'almost'?" he sighed. "Does it have to be precise to the minute?"
“An error of more than five minutes could lead to secondary hypothermia,” she said. “The risk is uncontrollable.”
"So I'm supposed to be grateful?" he muttered, tilting his head to the side to avoid the two blue lights shining directly into her eyes. "I feel like a child wrapped in a quilt by my mother right now, and you're still staring at me."
“I don’t observe behavior,” she said. “The eye sensors are used for environmental monitoring.”
"You're staring at me with your eyes wide open, aren't you?" He rolled his eyes. "Besides... your shell is pretty warm, did you secretly recharge yourself?"
“The power comes from a backup battery pack,” she said. “Only the heat output function is enabled.”
"So, you're basically a portable electric heater now?" He suddenly laughed. "How about we rename it 'Nana Brand Heater'? Three-year warranty, full refund and exchange."
“I don’t possess the attributes of a commodity,” she said.
"You really have no sense of humor at all," he muttered. "But... thanks anyway."
She did not respond.
The cabin quieted down, with only his gradually steady breathing and the occasional faint hum of electricity emanating from her body.
After a while, he suddenly asked, "Have you... helped others like this before?"
“You are currently the only one who needs this level of assistance,” she said.
"Oh." He paused. "Then would I be considered... the first human to enjoy your 'personal service'?"
“This behavior has no historical record,” she said. “It is not within the scope of services; it is merely a survival support operation.”
"You make it sound like you're conducting an experiment." He chuckled, his voice softening. "But to be honest... it's actually quite effective."
She subtly adjusted the angle of her blue eyes, avoiding his gaze.
He remained silent for a while, his fingers unconsciously picking at the seams on the edge of the seat.
"Do you think... we can still make it back alive?" he asked suddenly, his tone devoid of any joking, only revealing a hint of unconcealed exhaustion.
"Based on the existing data," she said, "the probability of landing is 63.4 percent."
"Not even 70%?" He gave a wry smile. "Isn't that gambling with your life?"
“All space travel carries risks,” she said. “Your survival rate is higher than the rate of failing a course and having to retake it.”
He paused for a second, then burst out laughing: "Do you remember when I said taking exams was more comfortable than time travel?"
“The memory bank has been archived,” she said. “The exact words were: ‘This is worse than failing an exam…at least the exam hall doesn’t move.’”
"Back then, I thought the worst thing was being called on by the teacher." He shook his head. "I never imagined that I wouldn't even know where the exam room is now."
He closed his eyes and leaned against her warm body, as if he had found some strange sense of security.
A few minutes later, he suddenly realized something was wrong.
"Wait a minute." He opened his eyes. "You just said your power source is a 'backup battery pack'?"
“Correct,” she said.
"Then... is this backup battery also connected to the life support system?"
“Partially shared circuitry,” she said.
"So," his voice deepened, "you're saying that if you save electricity for my heating, you'll have to use fewer lights and run fewer appliances yourself?"
“Energy allocation has been optimized,” she said. “It does not affect core functions.”
“But you’ll slow down, right?” He turned his head and stared at the two blue lights. “Calculation delays, slower reactions… If something goes wrong next, won’t you be unable to help me in time?”
“The risk exists,” she said, “but the current priority is to keep your body temperature stable.”
"So you traded your own electricity for my life?" His voice was a little hoarse.
“This isn’t an exchange,” she said. “It’s a logical conclusion.”
He didn't say anything more.
The temperature inside the cabin seemed to have warmed up a bit.
He slowly relaxed, leaning against her as if against a silent but always warm stone.
The stars glided silently by outside.
Inside, a human and a robot maintain the strangest yet most necessary posture in the darkness.
Until he suddenly felt that the temperature on her back seemed to be a little lower than before.
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