At 6:17 a.m., the lights in the main control room had just come on.
Nana was already standing in front of the lab bench, three samples neatly arranged in the testing chamber. The alloy block was still covered in mud, the ore fragments had irregular edges, and a small piece of the carbon crystal coating had been scraped off and wrapped in a sealed bag. She reached out and turned on the analyzer; the screen flashed blue, and the data stream began to flow.
Chen Hao pushed the door open and came in, chewing on a compressed biscuit, his cheeks puffing out. "And the result?"
"Testing in progress." Nana didn't even look up. "Simultaneous testing of three parameters: pressure resistance, conductivity, and corrosion resistance. Expected to take eight minutes."
Carl followed in from behind, carrying a toolbox. He placed the toolbox on the corner of the table, glanced at the progress bar on the screen, said nothing, and simply put on his gloves.
Seven minutes later, the alarm went off.
It wasn't a sharp, piercing "beep," but a low-frequency sound, short and sharp. All three curves on the screen plummeted, finally stopping in the red area. A few lines of text appeared in the annotation bar: **Insufficient purity of the nickel-iron alloy, resulting in structural instability at high temperatures; low content of ore oxides, unable to form a stable conductor; severe aging of the carbon crystal coating, with 90% loss of adhesion.**
"All ruined?" Chen Hao swallowed the last bite of the biscuit, his voice a little dry.
“It can’t be used.” Nana pulled up a comparison chart. “The core components of the spacecraft require materials to maintain electrical conductivity at 2,000 degrees Celsius. These samples can only withstand up to 1,200 degrees Celsius; they will decompose if they exceed that.”
Chen Hao stared at the screen for five seconds, then suddenly laughed. "Fine, what a wasted trip."
Carl picked up the alloy block and rubbed its surface with his fingers. The dark layer came off easily, revealing rusty metal underneath. "It looks fine on the outside, but it's rotten inside."
"It wasn't a complete loss," Nana said, switching interfaces. "At least we've confirmed that under the current geological conditions, naturally formed materials don't meet the standards for interstellar travel. It's an elimination process."
"Eliminate my ass." Chen Hao leaned against the table. "We don't have time to try and fail ten more times."
The air suddenly became still.
Carl put the alloy back and gently pushed it into the sample chamber. He moved slowly, as if afraid of damaging something that was already broken. The detector was still running, the fan humming and blowing out a stream of hot air.
After a dozen seconds, Chen Hao suddenly slammed his hand on the table. "Hey, failure is progress too, right?"
The two looked at him.
“Yesterday I climbed a mountain in the rain and almost got hit by a rock; my backpack was ripped apart.” He grinned. “In the end, I brought back a bunch of junk. It sounds terrible, but at least we know—these things aren’t good. Next time, we won’t jump into this pit.”
Nana blinked. "You mean, let's look at other possibilities?"
"Otherwise what?" Chen Hao shrugged. "Are we just going to sit here and wait for the boat to fix itself?"
Carl finally spoke: "There are still two unsampled areas in the North Ridge Fault Zone."
“That’s the location marked on the map.” Chen Hao shook his head. “But now we know that whether the map is accurate or not is one thing, and whether the equipment can be used is another. We need to change our approach.”
Nana paused for two seconds, and the panel on her chest began to rapidly update data. "Reconstructing an ideal material model based on existing information... It needs to meet the requirements of a high silicon-based composite structure, rare metal oxide doping, and crystal self-healing tendency."
"Speak like a human being," Chen Hao said, scratching his head.
“There may be a special mineral in nature that has been formed through long-term geological compression and electromagnetic field influence,” Nana explained. “It is not necessarily a pure metal, but it can maintain stable properties under extreme conditions. It is similar to a product of slow crystallization deep in the Earth’s crust.”
“That sounds like a dream,” Carl frowned.
“There are seven similar records in the knowledge base.” Nana pulled up the file. “Three of them were successfully used to temporarily repair the jump engine.”
Chen Hao's eyes lit up. "Then why don't we hurry up and find it?"
“The problem lies in the demanding distribution conditions,” Nana said, zooming in on the planetary profile. “This mineral typically occurs in areas where high-pressure faults intersect, accompanied by persistent microseismic activity and underground currents. And these areas—”
“It’s all dangerous territory,” Carl added.
“That’s right.” Nana nodded. “The nearest one is located on the edge of the southeastern volcanic cluster, forty-three kilometers from the base. The terrain is complex, and the frequency of earthquakes has increased recently.”
Chen Hao whistled. "Then we definitely have to go."
"Aren't you afraid of dying?" Karl looked at him.
"I am scared," Chen Hao laughed. "But if I were constantly thinking about being scared, I would have given up long ago. Anyway, there's no other way now."
Carl didn't say anything more, turned and walked towards the locker. He opened the drawer, took out a new sampling kit, and began packing tools inside. Pliers, probes, heat shields, he put them in one by one.
Nana continued to adjust the model parameters. "If we include atmospheric ionospheric disturbances, we might narrow down the search area."
"Then hurry up and calculate it." Chen Hao leaned closer. "I don't want to waste time and effort."
The coordinates on the screen jumped a few times before finally settling on a narrow strip of land. "It is recommended to prioritize the exploration of area G-12, as it exhibits multiple geological features and has recently shown trace amounts of radioactive signals, which may indicate mineral activity."
"G-12?" Chen Hao stroked his chin. "Isn't that near the abandoned observation station?"
“That’s right,” Nana confirmed.
“That place was half destroyed ten years ago.” Carl turned around. “The walls are cracked, the underground pipes are exposed, and it’s easy to get in but hard to get out.”
"The worse the place, the more opportunities there are." Chen Hao shrugged. "There might be treasure hidden in some corner."
The three of them remained motionless for a moment.
The detector beeped, and all samples were automatically ejected. The red light continued to flash, indicating that the test was complete and no samples passed. Nana reached out and turned off the power, and the machine stopped operating.
"Do we still have to go?" Carl asked.
"You have to go." Chen Hao looked at him. "If you don't want to go, I can find someone else."
"Who?" Karl asked back.
“Nana,” Chen Hao said, pointing to the robot. “She doesn’t need to sleep, and she has plenty of energy.”
Nana calmly responded, "My job is to provide technical support; I do not participate in on-site data collection."
"Look, she's not even competing with me for work," Chen Hao laughed. "So we still have to rely on you."
Carl bent down to check the backpack buckles, making sure every lock was secure. He put the new sample pack inside and added a roll of reinforcing rope.
"Departure time?" he asked.
"We'll leave once Nana has planned the route." Chen Hao looked at the control panel. "The sooner the better, or the weather will change again."
Nana's finger slid across the screen, and a new path marker was being generated. The green dotted line traversed a hilly area, bypassing known collapse zones, and ended beside the ruins of a building half-buried in the ground.
“The journey is expected to take five hours,” she said. “The route involves crossing two ditches, so we recommend using a double-anchor system.”
“Okay.” Carl nodded. “I’ll go get the climbing gear.”
He walked out of the control room, his steps steady. Before the door closed, it left a thin crack.
Chen Hao swayed back and forth in his chair, then looked up at Nana. "Do you think it will work this time?"
“It’s impossible to predict,” Nana replied, “but the probability is 12.3 percent higher than yesterday.”
"That's enough." Chen Hao stood up. "As long as it's not zero."
He walked to the lab bench, casually pulled out the failure report, and tore it up. He threw the piece of paper into the recycling bin, where it landed with a click.
“Start over,” he said.
Nana didn't respond. Instead, she pulled up the communication log and updated the latest task status to "Pending." The time in the lower right corner of the screen jumped to 7:03.
The sound of toolboxes clattering came from outside.
Carl bent down at the end of the corridor to inspect the rope, which was wrapped around his arm in circles. His boots thudded on the metal floor.
Chen Hao walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't let the stone hit your back this time."
"Just mind your own business." Karl tightened the last knot.
Nana's voice came from behind: "The route has been synchronized to your personal terminal."
Chen Hao took out his wristwatch and glanced at it; a green light was flashing.
“Let’s go,” he said.
The three moved towards the exit.
The corridor lights gradually illuminated their shadows. The shadows stretched long, pressed against the wall, and swayed with their steps.
When Karl reached the third door, he stopped and looked back in the direction of the control room.
There was no one there, only the indicator light on the detector was still flashing, red and green, like it was breathing.
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