Sol Four, Becoming a Mummy on Mars

With the final crate on its back, Tomcat trudged into the sandstorm.

From that moment forth, there wasn't any radio communication.

About an hour later, Tang Yue couldn't bear it any longer. Tomcat should have long returned ago.

According to their agreement, Tang Yue was to retract the safety rope if Tomcat wasn't back in Kunlun Station after one and a half hours. One and a half hours was a red line. If Tomcat hadn't returned safely at this point in time, it likely meant that something had gone wrong.

He decided to pull Tomcat back.

Tang Yue began retracting the rope, but as he did so, the feeling that something amiss grew in him. This was because there wasn't any tension on the rope. Tang Yue anxiously pulled back the rope and it returned like a thin snake from the pitch-black sandstorm outside. A coiled pile lay on the floor in the airlock, but what returned wasn't Tomcat, but a loosened locking mechanism.