My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

Venkat stumbles into Teddy's office. This time he was the last one to arrive; Teddy, who usually sat behind the desk, stood up uncharacteristically, while Anne couldn't hide her anger and paced from one end to the other in the large office. The disheveled Mitch looked worried. Instead of sitting on his sofa, he ran to occupy Venkat's usual spot against the wall. "I was arranging today's tasks for Mark just now," he asked quickly when he saw this, "Is there any emergency?"

"It's those guys from Congress." Teddy gritted his teeth, looking like he wanted to spit on the ground and trample on the words he said, "The Space Exploration Subcommittee of the House of Representatives has just issued an order to investigate the previous relationship between Sleipnir 1 and Sleipnir 1. A special committee was established to conduct an in-depth investigation into SpaceX's operations following the failed launch of Probe 3. Apparently their chairman was not satisfied with the way SpaceX handled the internal investigation. However, they also ordered SpaceX to immediately stop all activities until the election of committee members was completed. Can be restored to operation."

"How could this happen?" Venkat took a breath, "Stop the work is absolutely unavoidable! Whether it is to replenish fuel for Sleipnir 3 or launch Sleipnir 4, we must rely on them to provide it. Thrusters! It would take other suppliers several months to produce thrusters with thrust that meets our requirements, and it’s impossible to meet delivery!”

"I know that." Teddy replied, "There are already planes waiting on the tarmac of Ellington Base. I need to emphasize to every committee member that these boosters will continue to ensure the safety of our trapped people on Mars. importance."

"The minority committee member at the top is really a fool," Anne interjected. "I guess the purpose of his joining this committee is to criticize NASA. He always thinks that we are wasting money and should use the funds instead." Use it for meaningful expenses such as battleships, tanks, and reconnaissance balloons.”

"And even the mainstream opinion is not all on our side." Teddy replied, "But public opinion is still strongly supporting Watney, especially Pony. I will use this advantage this time to seize the opportunity. , to salvage at least two more SpaceX thrusters from the committee."

Mitch cleared his throat, "How long will this take?" He asked with concern, changing from his usual "it's none of my business what you think" attitude.

Teddy shrugged. "We can only stay with us until the end," he said. "We must get these thrusters no matter what, and they must be obtained within three months to be of practical use."

"What's their expected delivery date?" Mitchell asked in a more serious tone.

Venkat responded before Teddy could, "The fuel supply for Sleipnir 3 is simpler, it will take about three weeks if nothing unexpected happens; but we need to prepare a round for Sleipnir 4." A new Falcon Heavy takes seventy-two days."

"The time will be very tight," Mitchell continued, "There is basically not much room for adjustment. Teddy, should you reconsider..."

"Don't mention the Elrond project again," Teddy refused flatly. "The decision has been made and cannot be shaken. Mitch, we only have Sleipnir IV plus Ares 3B as a way to go. Now we must Do whatever it takes to make your vision a reality.”

The NASA director said as he picked up his briefcase, "Everyone, we have to move on no matter what, just as if nothing happened this morning. Regarding Congress, I hope everything will be back to normal before tomorrow afternoon." On the right track. Xiaowen, go and communicate with Bruce about the situation. JPL has almost used up all the spare parts inventory to build the first three Sleipnir supply aircraft. Now they have to build the fourth aircraft from scratch. As a result, those suppliers It’s still slowing down progress. Try to find ways to stimulate their enthusiasm for work.”

Venkat nodded, "I'll try my best."

"Annie, I need you to do everything possible to save SpaceX's public image." Teddy continued to assign tasks. "We have to ease the pressure of public opinion on their side and turn the blame to Congress. Try to win the sympathy of voters and never be soft."

"Nonsense, otherwise what do you think I'm doing all the time?!" She responded angrily.

"Mitch, you should continue to analyze the launch data records of Sleipnir 1." Teddy finally ordered, "In addition, prepare your team for Sleipnir 4 to ensure the launch of KSC The Taiwan team can be ready immediately after the delivery of the rocket and aircraft."

"As ordered." Miche remained quiet, but his tone took on a different color.

"I'm sorry that today's meeting has to end early," Teddy said, "but I'm going to be late." Without another word, he strode out the door, leaving behind several other executives in the office.

Annie only stayed for a moment longer than Teddy. "I have to rush out some manuscripts right away," she said before leaving. "It's great. It's really a good opportunity for me to show off my skills." Then the room became full of excitement. Only Venkat and Mitch were left, looking at each other.

Mitch broke the awkwardness by speaking first, "To be honest, what are the prospects for Sleipnir 4?"

Venkat shook his head. "The current progress bottleneck is the landing buffer system." He responded, "The landing airbag is made of the same material as the habitat module canvas, but in order to build the first three Sleipnir aircraft, our contractor has handed over all the inventory to JPL The canvas material manufacturing process involves a chemical production process that cannot be accelerated; they had just finished repairing the skin parts of the Ares 4 habitat module, so now they had to start from scratch again. JPL would have to wait until a month before they could get the Srepny The Er- landing airbag and deceleration parachute materials must be assembled by yourself. And this does not include the man-hours required to process the aircraft body, assemble electronic equipment, manufacture thrusters and other various matters. Mitchell, this time The schedule is really tight. Not really tight.”

Mitch nodded, "It's pretty much what I thought. Well, we'll be ready when the time comes."

"Mitch, I know you will," Venkat replied, "but you have to promise me not to break too many knuckles, okay?"

Mitch accidentally rubbed his knuckles. "You mean like Teddy just did?"

"We still have to continue to focus on completing our mission." Venkat said, "And our current mission is to prepare for Sleipnir 3 and the subsequent Ares B mission. But speaking of which, I still have to talk to Lockheed Let’s talk about how the construction of the new MAV is progressing.”

"Then I have to talk to the SpaceX engineers," Mitchell replied, "but this time I have to be as tactful as possible."

"You also know," said Yue Wu who was buried in the stack of books, "there is a reason why we usually don't use magic to build houses. It is much more convenient to build them directly with materials such as wood, bricks and steel."

"It's useless to say this now." Ning Xin said, "Anyway, we are not asking Xingguang to build a house. We just want her to continuously generate a house on a surface with an area of ​​about 58,000 square meters. Just a layer of tight, flawless quartz crystal about an inch thick."

Twilight Sparkle's old classmates from Celestia's Academy for Gifted Unicorns gathered with Sunburst in the largest research room in Friendship Point. Spike on the side would burp from time to time, spit out a stream of green flames, and condense them into books one after another, which would instantly appear in the minds of Moon Dancer, Sunset, or Twilight, and remotely request the princess to read the book in person at the Royal Library and Archives in Central City. Find the collected books.

"Only fifty-eight thousand square meters," Colgate couldn't help laughing, "it's so simple!"

Tian Qin opened the page in front of her and said, "Twilight, what we are looking for now is a spell with Alicorn power level." She hesitated for a while, "Will a spell of this level really be recorded? ?”

"We have no choice," Twilight replied, "If Mark's people are right, their cave farm may be in danger of collapsing at any time. Without the farm, they have no food and no way for them to rebuild. The magic battery is recharged. So I will never give up until I find a solution!" She closed a book that she had rummaged through and found nothing. "Speaking of abilities, Starlight is the most powerful in Equestria after all. It’s a unicorn. Don’t forget that she was able to fight me to a draw before, but that’s not a guarantee.”

"Girls, it's useless to be busy chatting," Ning Xin had to emphasize again, "We have to focus on our current work. The entire cave is made of silica, right? It's just not in pure crystal form."

"Basically, the inside is lined with a layer of quartz crystal," Twilight replied, "But it's not a single crystal, and the cave wall supporting it is still loose and porous, just like the inside of a general geode."

"Okay, then how do we remove those pores?" Ning Xin responded, "Starlight used the 'Door Curse' to seal the cave in the first place, right?"

"That's right," Twilight said, "but that spell is basically impossible to cast when the target location is invisible, and to recast the spell, the original spell must be lifted first, which may lead to caves. Risk of leakage."

"Okay, then is there any other way to make quartz have sealing properties?" Ning Xin asked.

"High temperature and high pressure deep in the earth's crust can also be used." Yuewu, who was flipping through the information, blurted out without raising his head.

"That's not possible," Zhiri shook his head like a rattle, "That level of heat will directly explode the permafrost above the cave, right?"

"Can the rock growth spell work?" Tian Qin suggested, "Should the Pai family know something about this aspect?"

"The Pi family has never used unicorn spells," Twilight replied. "They have always been quite proud of selling their 100% natural cultivated rocks."

"Gan, who has tried to use magic to cause crystals to grow?" Tian Qin was a little crazy, "otherwise, what's going on with the Tree of Harmony? And your castle? There must be a certain horse who can understand this. The secret!"

"I have never thought about it in this direction," Twilight replied, "Well, actually I did have doubts at first, but there were always other things to deal with at that time, and I have always believed in the Tree of Harmony. It can be self-contained, so this field has never been well studied.”

"Absolutely," Colgate muttered, "all this trouble just to fix a few holes in the stone."

The turning pages of the book continued to rustle, but it was obviously less than before Colgate spoke.

Spike, who looked slightly tired at the side, burped again and grabbed a book floating in the air with one claw, "Friendly Neighbor's Advanced Wall Repair Technique. Who wants this book?"

"I guess it's Twilight," Sunri said casually as he was immersed in reading Flois du Rose's The Dark Side of the Wall.

Twilight didn't respond.

"Twilight? If you're okay, could you please stop sending books for a while? I have to drink some water," Spike burped normally, and then added, "And I need to take some antibiotics." Acid.”

"That's right, we just need to fix the hole," Twilight suddenly said, "Colgate, you are really a genius!"

"Award after award," Colgate said modestly, "I don't have any skills to be the social secretary of Central City's elite..."

"We don't need a transformation spell at all!" Twilight began to get into the role. "We don't need to make the crystal grow and melt or anything! We went in the wrong direction from the beginning! We just need a spell that can repair the holes. That’s it—just make the hole disappear! That’s it! It’s that simple!”

"A spell to eliminate holes?" Yuewu stopped and thought carefully, "How about Ruyue's rat-repelling technique?"

"Or what about Songxiang's Qingmingling?" Ning Xin also made suggestions.

"How do you mend Midnight Blue's shame socks?" Zuri added.

The ensuing glare made him suddenly aware that he was the only male in the room besides Spike. "You," Tian Qin asked on behalf of the rest of the group, "where did you find this spell?"

"Does Xingguang know?" Colgate was beaming at the side, hinting at something.

"No, it's much easier!" Twilight was obviously not interested in this, and quickly used a spell to sweep the books off the table, and piled them neatly in three rows in the corner, almost flush with the ceiling. She was helpless and continued to shout excitedly, "Just use the Four-leaf Sage's instant foundation technique! When the earliest buildings in Central City were built in the past, the Four-leaf Sage only used ordinary soil as the foundation. It was just a spell that eliminated the tiny pores between the soil and rocks! But the soil foundation finally reached a strength that far exceeded that of cement! This is one of the reasons why the central city has been able to fly across the foothills of Canter Mountain and remain standing for thousands of years! "She took out the ink bottle and parchment, and a quill danced rapidly on the paper, "And I'm sure Starlight already knows this spell!"

Then all the unicorns just stood aside and watched quietly as Twilight wrote rapidly, weaving a brand new hybrid spell on the spot. After a while, Spike blurted out: "So, you have used up all those books, right?"