My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 217

ARES 3 solar day 215

"...But why? I still don't understand!"

"Berry, speak English, Mark is here, remember?"

"Okay. Why did Snape kill Dumbledore? How could he do that? I thought he was a good guy?"

"Berry, Snape made a magical oath before. Unicorns did this kind of thing about two hundred years ago. We didn't use this method much after that, because ponies found themselves being forced... …”

"What does 'forced' mean?"

"Just doing something really terrible against their will. Maybe Snape didn't really want to kill Dumbledore, but the oath forced him to do it in order to make Draco's mission go smoothly."

"But...but...I can't use English...Gah! Snape should be able to find another way!"

"What I don't understand is why Dumbledore let Snape kill him. Obviously he could have expected this result. But he did not try to stop it, but deliberately delayed time to prevent Harry from taking any action. By taking action, I missed the opportunity to save the situation! I don’t see what benefit this can bring him at all!”

The discussion of the plot ending of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince continued from the night before to today, and was in full swing in the back seat of the rover. However, Dragonfly had no enthusiasm for this, and moved step by step as far as possible towards Mark's driver's seat - while still maintaining the distance limit that she was confident she could bear, secretly praying, God bless me, please don't ask me if I have any questions. What opinions. It's best not to let me speak at all. Please, please, please.

She has basically determined that her magic power is almost exhausted, and she is extremely hungry for magic power at this moment. This time her hunger had nothing to do with love - most of the holes in her body had healed, and this aspect of her hunger was almost completely satisfied; yet she woke up that morning with an even stronger hunger, the kind that had nothing to do with her. The previous experiences were all completely different, a special feeling that could only occur on Mars. Unparalleled. And this hunger was approaching the limit she could bear. A part of her body couldn't help but want to capture the pony, dragon or human closest to her and squeeze out every drop of their love; the other part knew that even this would not improve the situation in any way, because simply Her love could no longer satisfy her desire.

This second consciousness has temporarily gained the upper hand in her body, but the parliament of her brain is going through vote after vote of confidence, and each vote is accompanied by the flight of one or two brain councilors.

Her first good morning this morning was a blurt, and she had to put a lot of effort into lying and simply attribute the incident to being in a bad mood after reading the ending of the sixth Harry Potter book. But after that, she kept as silent as possible. She has lost trust in herself. The next words out of her mouth might be the ancient changeling words "prey," "dinner," or "It's not about you, but the amazing nature of nature has decided that you're the special this time." Of course, these all refer to the same word, which is quite short if you don't count the long series of hisses at the suffix of the third statement, but it is actually because the ancient changeling language is basically the same as the random sounds made by primitive animals. There is no difference.

Presumably, a changeling that is hungry, angry, or frightened beyond its own tolerance can be equated with a primitive creature.

The group hug at breakfast didn't do much, but made it even more difficult to maintain self-control, because every instinct in her heart coveted the prey that offered her arms, tempting her to take advantage of this opportunity. Start killing. Given her current state of mind, she is very resistant to the arrangement of going to the Cave Farm with Mark, Berry, and Starlight Glimmer.

But she had to, and it was she who begged them to allow her to come in the first place. The reason why she wanted to beg was because there were many big things happening in Mark's place on this day: two supply aircraft were launched and approached the spacecraft that was flying close to the earth, and would fly to Mars carrying supplies and rescue. Everyone wants to know the latest developments at all times, and the horses in Friendship Cape are naturally very concerned. As the horse with the strongest English skills and the most proficient in Morse code in the team, Tingting should have stayed in the living cabin. But after her persuasion, Mark finally agreed to make another arrangement, and Berry and Starlight did not intend to oppose his decision. Therefore, the important task of relaying the live news from the living cabin to the cave naturally fell to Spitfire and Fireball. The two team members were at the bottom of the list in English and were half-familiar with sending and receiving codes.

The reason she had to come was that after several delays, today was finally the day when Starlight planned to resume the production of magic batteries, which meant that it would use two or three batteries in its existing inventory to power a magic field. Starlight to carry out work in it. According to her previous experience, this magic field should be able to temporarily relieve her hunger, allowing Dragonfly to remain safe and clear-headed for a while.

This worked the last time they made batteries. The problem is that thirty-two days have passed now, and the interval between the two previous magic field activities was shorter than twenty days. Even if her situation had really improved in the past few times, it seems that the effect now is obviously not as great as she hoped.

"Mark? What do you think?" Starlight asked, "Why did Dumbledore just let himself be killed?"

Dragonfly could feel that Mark was amused by the question - not because he thought the question was funny, but just happy. "It's better if I don't say anything," he replied. "I've read the next book, which you haven't yet, but it will be soon. We can talk about it after you've read Deathly Hallows."

"It's really disappointing to ride on the horse." Xingguang complained, "Dingting, you..."

"Rover No. 2, this is Amicitas." Fireball's rough voice echoed in the three pairs of headphones in the rover cabin, and was also transmitted to the simple quartz crystal oscillator Mark wore.

"Friendship, the commander of Friendship here," Cherry Berry replied, "Please speak English. Don't forget the rules."

Fireball roared in displeasure, but before he could say a few words in English/pony, Spitfire took over the topic. "News from NASA," she began to read aloud, "Sleipnir Four." It is a safe orbit. The aircraft passed the internal inspection. The lightning strike during the launch did not cause any malfunction. Everything is normal, and the Hermes handover is allowed..."

"Rendezvous?" Xingguang gave a hint.

"Everything is normal, the Hermes rendezvous is allowed to proceed," Spitfire pronounced each word carefully, "Thirteen seventeen Houston time. Sleipnir 5 is currently allowed to be deployed as planned. -The arrangement is from 氵...氵..." She finally lost her composure and cursed in a very irritable pony language, "This fucking smart name is not English at all, how can I report it in English?! This J-I-U-whatever How do you pronounce that thing?"

"Jiuquan." Mark actually understood the point of this complaint and interrupted, "In China." Then he made a series of strange noises with unknown meaning. If you are open-minded, you are willing to use pony language to make it far-fetched. The accompanying words probably sounded like "It's not your trap."

There was an extremely awkward silence after that. Unexpectedly, Tingting found it easier to speak. "Mark," she finally broke the silence, "remember we told you last time not to try to talk about small talk again." Horse talk? We really mean it."

"What did I say this time?" Mark sounded (and felt) frustrated and asked unwillingly, "Originally, I wanted to say 'it's not your fault'."

"It's better not to tell you." Ding Ting replied.

"How bad?"

"You don't really want to sleep with us," Tingting was still embarrassed to say some words, "Other than that... it's pretty bad."

"I'm going on," Spitfire said in a tone that meant everyone should shut up immediately, whether it was in English or Pony. "Sleipnir 5 is currently approved to be launched as planned from KWON at 13:03 Houston time. Hermes is currently granting... to... I will do this myself... to the page -Xinshi will reach its closest point to the Earth at 13:38 Houston time. All systems are currently normal. End of message."

"Friendship, the commander of Friendship confirmed that the message was received," Berry replied, "Good job."

"Looks like I have to teach you a few more lessons... Ouch!" Starlight rubbed her flank where Berry's front hoof had hit her hard, and quickly changed her words, "It's nothing, Feihuo, this Great time.”

Fireball could faintly be heard snickering on the other end of the communication line. "Wait until new news comes from Earth before continuing," he said, "Friendship's call is over."

Ponies' magic-based communication systems are incompatible with human electromagnetic radio equipment. The transmission range of the temporary radio antennas in residential areas that were previously hand-built according to local conditions could not cover the Martian horizon, so the maximum transmission distance was less than four kilometers. This means that the only long-distance communication device available to the Martian refugees now is the pony's magic radio, and it also needs to activate the presence spell onboard Amicitas to function properly. If there is no presence spell condition, the communication equipment on the space suit can only rely entirely on the wearer's own magic power, and the maximum communication distance is only about two and a half kilometers. However, the presence spell that requires power from a magic battery is not a fuel-efficient lamp, so in order to save the precious magic energy in the battery, each call lasts only a few minutes.

The final arrangement was this: Spitfire was stationed alone in the habitation module, while Fireball sat in the Amicitas module, which was so cold that he was shivering even in his spacesuit. Whenever NASA sends the latest live news on the Pathfinder dialogue, Spitfire will tell Fireball, let Fireball connect to the magic battery, activate the Presence Spell communication system, and then try to contact the others. Once a long-distance communication connection is established, Spitfire will report the message content on the radio and then shut down the entire system.

This communication process is incredibly complex, but it actually works.

"Okay," Mark said to them, "One push was successful, two more to go."

"Three pushes? I thought there were only two supply ships this time." Berry asked.

“Sleipnir 4 has just entered orbit now,” Mark replied. “Sleipnir 5 will be launched directly from China, skipping the orbit entry stage, because Hermes will be almost overhead during launch. But Florida is on the other side of the world, so Sleipnir 4 must first be launched into orbit and make a few orbital turns before it flies in the right direction. After a few weeks in orbit, it will join Hermes at exactly the expected time Arriving over China.”

"I understand," Berry said thoughtfully, "Dingting, it's a bit like your first on-orbit mission."

Dragonfly didn't answer. That mission was her highlight as a pilot before she became a full-time engineer, when they were still using the old one-horse cockpits. However, although she was always willing to publicly show off her heroic spirit of not fearing death and surviving the desperate situation during the 21st CSP mission in front of everyone, now the hungry trapped beast in her body was struggling in the cage and was about to Escape made it very difficult for her to even maintain a superficial sense of normalcy, so naturally she had no intention of boasting about her glorious deeds.

"What's going on with the lightning?" Xingguang changed the subject, and Tingting silently expressed gratitude in her heart.

"Usually it is against flight regulations to launch when the cloud cover exceeds 20 percent," Mark explained. "However, the weather forecast in Florida that afternoon said there would be thunderstorms. I guess the storm may have entered early, and NASA decided We don’t have time to wait for the weather to improve and launch directly.” Holding the rover steering wheel in his hand, he shrugged and added, “This is not the first time NASA has chosen to take a desperate risk and launch in bad weather, but it has luckily succeeded.”

CherryBerry muttered in her native language, "Whether you say this in English or in Pony, it sounds very bad."

"Sorry, what did you say? I didn't understand what I just said." Mark asked.

Tingting found a stick in her heart and beat the monster in her head so hard that it fled. Then she realized that she could finally speak normally: "Let's put it this way, 'take risks' can be said to be the unofficial motto of our space project. "

"Seriously?" Mark teased, "Why is it exactly what I thought?"

The rover arrived at Cave Farm a few minutes later. Passing through two airlocks, the four of them arrived at their destination and were ready to start work. Cherry Berry and Mark first spent an hour walking around the farm, checking the remaining crops after the disaster and the growth of the transplanted cuttings, and regretfully cutting off the crops that unfortunately did not survive. On the side, Dragonfly and Starlight Glimmer arranged six sets of empty battery covers that were cleaned from the remains of the spacecraft's old Sparkling engine power supply battery array, and then went deep into the cave to search for suitable battery crystals. They also looked for food for the fireball, collecting about a One hundred kilograms of crystal fragments of various colors serve as food for the next month.

If Xingguang is a scientist, Tingting's task today is to be a bottle washer. She ran around carrying various objects, doing chores as instructed, leaving the key steps that required careful selection and precise cutting of crystals to Starlight. From many angles, this arrangement is very suitable for today's Dragonfly. Of course she can also use magic to move and process objects, but doing so when the magic energy in her body is extremely short is tantamount to seeking death. Even if she was given a magical environment with suitable conditions, she would not be able to achieve the control accuracy of starlight cutting crystals. So she happily took over the menial work, carrying a large pile of shiny stones from the cafeteria area back and forth between the cave in the back and the work area at the front of the farm, bathing in the escaping magic energy cast by the starlight from time to time. It also gave her temporary relief.

Of course, the little magic energy released by Starlight also aroused the trapped beast in her heart, making her even more thirsty than before, so she naturally accepted such a task happily: carrying a heavy load on rugged terrain. Staggering several hundred meters above her, away from the most likely potential victim around her. This heavy labor effectively distracted the trapped beast, allowing the dragonfly to ensure that it regained its self-control on the way back.

After they collected the required crystals, Starlight and Tingting's next task was to install the new crystal block into the battery case. This time it was inevitable to use a little magic, and Ting Ting couldn't refuse, but at least she got a magic battery to complete the task. She almost drained the battery in one go, but she still held back and completed her task, firmly fixing the three battery covers around the crystal. In the end, there was still some energy left in the battery, but it was probably only A quarter of the energy left after Starlight completes the same task.

After that, it finally came to the part that Dingting had been waiting for for a long time - to be honest, she had been looking forward to it; she and Xingguang set up the Yamibu Ladder, connected two new batteries that had been recently filled, and then added the remaining three new batteries. Plug them into the circuit together so that Starlight can use all batteries at the same time during the enchantment process. After finishing, Dragonfly took a few steps back, away from Starlight and the battery that was about to be activated, just in case.

The starlight activated the Yamanbu Ladder device, and the pure magic energy flashed and slowly rose from the root of the antenna, gradually covering the entire cave. The surrounding colors become bright and unrestrained, and the millions of crystals embedded in the cave walls convey this bright color, dancing with joy. Several other batteries, whether full or exhausted, also reacted. The enhanced magic energy in the surrounding environment gradually attracted and gathered on the exposed electrodes, sputtering out dazzling brilliance.

At this time, everyone's attention was attracted by the fantasy picture in front of them. Only Tingting noticed that the air around him and the spacesuit became significantly dimmer compared to the bright environment around him.

Starlight continued to arrange the light show, calmly guiding the magic energy into one crystal after another, and imbuing each crystal with the strongest enchantment within its power as quickly as possible. The magic field generator on the side continued to pour huge amounts of magic energy into the air at an astonishing speed, releasing in just a few minutes the energy that had been accumulated over the past few weeks. It takes about ten minutes to complete the enchantment of the six crystals. After that, Starlight will close the magic field as soon as possible, leaving the remaining magic energy for emergency use.

Tingting naturally knew this, but her mind was not on this right now. Most of her thoughts were wandering away. The urgent need for magic disappeared, and she couldn't help but indulge in this sense of relief. In a way, this feeling was like the most intense colic she had ever experienced in her life suddenly dissipated, and the pain retreated, allowing her to return to a calm state of nothingness. It can be said that Dragonfly is now as relaxed physically and mentally as a fish in water, just like the dew that comes after a long drought.

If the magic energy dissipated into the surrounding environment during the casting process is compared to a drizzle of rain, and the output of the magic battery when used to levitate an object is compared to the trickle of water flowing out of a knotted garden hose, this is This specially arranged unnatural magic field is like a pool, a lake, allowing the dragonfly to immerse itself in the endless magic that should be born with it, and continuously drown the beast within.

Her body felt like it wanted to transform, eager to try its disguise again and take on everything in the world. Her inner nature had been suppressed for a long time, and now she was eager to find a breakthrough to release it. Of course, if you do this in front of Mark now, there will be a big problem - he will immediately report this incident to other humans, causing them to panic like ponies before in the "dark old times that no one misses" - -But there was a small part of her heart that was just intoxicated by the sweet magic, indifferent to everything else, enjoying the world returning to its familiar appearance after the magic returned.

However, Dragonfly was not dazzled by the momentary incredible satisfaction and stability in her senses. She noticed the darkness surrounding her, and remembered the reason why most rocket surfaces were painted white or plated with a layer of reflective metal; black absorbs heat. Black absorbs everything. Her body has become a black hole that is constantly devouring magic energy, absorbing the magic that permeates the surrounding air at a speed visible to the naked eye. If anyone noticed this detail, she would be in big trouble.

And based on her previous experiences, she also knew that the moment the energy field was shut down or the energy was exhausted, it would be extremely painful. She would need to recuperate in the magic field for several hours, maybe even several days, before she was completely back to normal. Those few minutes were just enough to - hopefully - allow her to stall for the moment and fend off the catastrophe of complete collapse. Therefore, although Tingting still fully hopes to enjoy this hard-won good time that is insulated from pain, she still has to cheer up and be mentally prepared to face the inevitable return of this continuous torture with an iron will - Considering how bad she was this morning, things could only get worse from now on.

So she just stood aside quietly, watching Starlight enchant the fourth piece, then the fifth piece, and the sixth new battery. The electrodes of the new battery shimmered in the environmental magic field created with each wave of energy gushing out of the Yamanbu Ladder, proving that the enchantment was successfully completed.

Then Starlight's hoof stretched towards the battery pack switch that generated the magic field, and Dragonfly silently gritted her teeth and prepared to face whatever might happen next.

The wild scream that she burst out involuntarily after the magic field dissipated was really unavoidable, because the sharp contrast between the presence and absence of magic in an instant was so clear that it exceeded her ability to restrain herself mentally. The sudden interruption of the magic power made every corner of her body burst out with screams of earth shattering; the beast in her mind rushed towards the steel cage fence where it was imprisoned, protesting to give back my magic! Give me back my magic!

The pain had not subsided, but she could no longer feel its presence. When her consciousness returned, she discovered that besides magic there were other key matters that urgently needed attention. For example, the faces of the two horses in front of me are full of concern. "Dingting, are you okay?" Mark asked.

This question was far more important than usual, and the moment of silence before Dragonfly answered the question was more than just a way to regain her self-control. The pain is still unbearable...but that's how she usually comes, isn't it? Her desire for magic power was still there...but her hunger was not as strong as before. So overall she'll probably be fine...at least for a few more days. But it was obvious that she would not dare confess her current situation to her only source of food. "Get rid of the magic... it's too difficult to remove." The few words that came out of his mouth were uncharacteristically heavy with a changeling accent. This is not a good sign, she thought to herself, something big is going to happen.

Of course she wasn't the only one who noticed this anomaly. "Can we help?" CherryBerry asked. "You sound really bad." Things got even worse. Berry has lived with changelings for many years, and with her rich experience, she is all too familiar with the characteristic calls of sick changelings.

I can only lie, Tingting thought to herself. Break the rules and tell an unprecedented lie. "It'll be fine in a few minutes," she said, trying to keep her tone as normal as possible, "I just hope... I hope it can take a little longer."

"Hmm." Starlight gestured and counted on the empty dirt surface next to them, "Based on the past magic energy consumption rate, if we use a battery with normal enchantment and full charge to create a magic field, the stored All the energy can be used to power... uh... about thirty-seven minutes. The batteries in the habitat can collect an average of four percent of the energy per day - closer to six percent now with crops and methane here on the farm. Before the leak, the daily collection rate could barely exceed seven percent, but we still have to take the worst-case scenario as the standard."

"Starlight." Tingting wanted to interrupt her thinking.

The unicorn didn't notice. "So twenty days of magic energy production can last for thirty-seven minutes. In other words, if a battery is used to generate a magic field for twenty-four and two-thirds hours every day..."

"Starlight!"

This time Xingguang finally raised his head, "What's wrong?"

"What are you doing?"

"Calculate how many batteries we need to power an ambient magic field equivalent to the energy intensity of a single battery without consuming stored magic energy."

"Too many," Dragonfly shook her head and replied, "I can guess the result without doing calculations. The production capacity of twenty batteries is only enough for thirty-seven minutes a day. It takes hundreds of batteries to ensure that the magic field continues. Operation."

Starlight hesitated for a while, but finally insisted on calculating the result, and then sighed. "It costs six hundred and forty dollars. But as long as we have twenty-two batteries, we can run the magic field for at least half an hour every day." She paused for a moment and reconsidered, "Strictly speaking, it should be twenty-eight dollars. , because those six batteries have to be reserved no matter what and only used to make new batteries.”

"And now we only have fourteen plus a battery with half the capacity," Dragonfly sighed again, "Then how long will it take for us to make so many batteries?"

Starlight's hooves carved into the soil for a while, and finally replied, "If everything goes well, it will take another fifty-one days."

All right. In this case... maybe she can survive it. That's right. During this period, there will be intermittent battery production for two to three days. After that, she will be able to get through the difficulty by replenishing regular and quantitative magic energy every day, and it may even allow her to fully recover.

While Tingting was concentrating on this point in her mind, the small part of her mind that had been idle for a long time in the "dark old times" but stood on stage to take charge of the situation many times after the launch of the space project spoke again. : Are you the only one suffering? Don't forget that ponies rely on magic to survive, too. And what about fireballs? When was the last time you saw him breathing fire? How does he feel now? Have you ever thought about how it is possible that you are the only one enduring torture?

Dragonfly realized that she didn't. Accustomed to Starlight's exhaustion after every spell cast, she often turned a blind eye to Starlight's exertion. Feihuo and Berry seemed to have no signs of pain and everything was normal, but wouldn't they hide their feelings? As for the fireball, as long as he could bear it, he would never show weakness. In this sense he is identical to the changeling.

But I just didn't dare to say it. I didn't have the courage to tell them how bad my situation was... even though they were suffering in silence.

I don't have the guts.

Tingting felt that she heard a deep sneer from RTG who had been carrying out the water and heat circulation pipe and had been neglected for a long time in the corner next to the airlock. The god of death laughed at her because she didn't dare.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Berry spoke English slowly, fearing that she would make a slip of the tongue, "We can reopen it for a while."

This certainly played into Ting Ting's hands; her thirst for magic almost drove her crazy. But she had to keep everything semblance of normalcy. Whether she is afraid of her threat or concerned about her safety, she can no longer release any signals that will cause concern to the group. "It's okay," is certainly not the truth. "It's just that things are bad today." At least this sentence is indeed true.

The starlight turned to Cherry Berry again, "The next harvest will be in four days. Do we have to re-seed the affected parts of the farm by then?"

Berry nodded, and Mark added, "Here's the plan. Sun day 219 is hay, sun day 223 is potatoes."

"I suddenly remembered something," Starlight tentatively made a suggestion, "We have never observed the effects of earth pony magic when it runs in the magic field. This may be a good idea. Especially if you are going to Also try to plant those transplanted cuttings.”

Berry was skeptical. "It won't hurt anyway," she replied, "but to be clear, I'm not a farm horse. I don't have the talent. Don't...what should I say...don't expect too much."

"I think this will be good for everyone." Starlight stretched and shook off the fatigue that was gradually creeping up. "By the way, it seems it's time for us to have lunch. Shall we go?"

The four of them were about to put on their spacesuits and go back outdoors, when Dingting felt Mark put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "There is a tradition in the astronaut team," he lowered his voice deliberately to ensure that only she could hear, "we will hide all kinds of minor illnesses and try not to let the mission doctors find out, because the mission doctors are our biggest enemies. They He always likes to prevent astronauts from going to space. But as astronauts, we cannot hide important things, because astronauts with serious physical problems will put all team members in danger." He squeezed her shoulder again Walking away, "I'm sure you can see the difference."

Oh, Mark, thought Tingting, if only you could understand.

But you must not know this.

will never.

"Rover No. 2, this is Friendship." When lunch was about to end, Fireball's voice suddenly sounded in the rover. The food was cold and the environment was crowded, but at least to Ting Ting, it seemed unexpectedly familiar and friendly. The trapped beast in her heart finally exhausted all her strength and fell asleep, and she could act silly and cute as usual, but she was always careful not to use excessive force. After the brief display of weakness just now, she still had to look at least a little sickly.

"Friendship, the command of Friendship is here," Berry replied, "Please speak."

Spitfire's voice intervened. "NASA sent a report: Sleipnir 5 was successfully launched. When the secondary thruster was shut down, it showed rendezvous with Hermes. Haha, I finally read it correctly this time. The time was twenty-five hours and seven minutes. Sleipnir The rendezvous with Hermes on the 4th is in progress, and all systems are working normally. It will rendezvous with Hermes in 24 hours and 16 minutes. Hermes to the page - 蠠十 - Well, it sounds about right - two points from the perigee Ten minutes later, the heading is normal, all systems are working normally, there are no obstacles in the route - why are these monkeys in MD so disgusting in their language - and the flight path is smooth. End of message."

"For your hard work, I'll give you a B+, but I'll drop you a grade if you add any subjective opinions." Starlight commented in pony language.

"Girls, can we stop for a while?" Berry looked helpless and maintained order in English. "The message has been received. Thank you Friendship."

The fireball went offline, and the four astronauts in the rover breathed a sigh of relief. "Today is worth celebrating," Mark said, trying to liven up the atmosphere in the cabin. "Who wants some dessert?"

"Where did the dessert come from?" Starlight asked.

"The desserts served on the dining car today are:" Mark pointed to the cargo hold at the rear of the rover, "potato cold cuts... alfalfa cold cuts... today's special meal is..."

"Mark, I've said it fifty times, it's not funny at all." Starlight said this, but Tingting could feel that she was not telling the truth.

Maybe things will get better after all.

On the other side of the solar system, Hermes is flying past the parent star, using the billions of tons of planetary mass to gradually accumulate a tiny momentum growth rate. It also has a subtle but crucial impact on the flight trajectory. The gravity of the universe throws it diagonally. sun.

Not far in front of Hermes, about a few thousand kilometers away, there are two much smaller objects flying inertially. In the next day, they will slowly and cautiously move towards the huge object along their trajectories. The spaceship sets off.

For the first time in a long time, people on Earth rejoiced and celebrated with great fanfare at the good news of the successful Ares project.

Hermes, on the other hand, is drifting away.