A week later.
The calendar had quietly turned to 2038.
January 2, 2038.
The second day of the new year.
Inside Mars City One.
"Professor, it's time." Wilson glanced up at the clock on the laboratory wall and reminded him softly, "Mercury is about to plunge into the Sun."
Lü Yongchang stopped his experiment and raised his head, looking gravely at the holographic image before him.
Like Lü Yongchang, every human in Mars City looked up at the holographic images before them.
The elderly Head Councillor sat in his chair, staring intently at the scene before him, a trace of pain in his eyes.
In the holographic image, a crimson fireball burned quietly in the darkness of space.
Beside the fireball was a tiny black dot.
It was Mercury, about to plunge into the Sun.
"Zero, zoom in on Mercury a little more," Lü Yongchang said softly.
The holographic image split in two. On the right was the Sun, now a red giant, and on the left was Mercury as it appeared at that moment.
The images had been transmitted from Earth, so strictly speaking, they showed Mercury as it had been five minutes earlier.
Extremely close to the Sun, Mercury had been scorched by its intense heat until its surface had completely melted. The once-gray planet had become a ball of lava glowing a dull red!
Time ticked by. As everyone watched, a dazzling light suddenly flared around the little ball of lava!
"It's beginning to touch the Sun's outermost atmosphere." Lü Yongchang sighed faintly. "Mercury is about to disappear."
"Yes, Professor." Zero's voice rang out in the laboratory. "Calculations indicate that, as the Sun's atmosphere slows Mercury down, it will plunge completely into the Sun in thirty minutes!"
"At that point, a fairly large solar wind storm will