My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 352

ARES 3 solar day 347

"I've been thinking about it recently - please don't make vulgar jokes about this matter, okay?"

After unexpectedly discovering that the writing written with a whiteboard pen on the workbench could (basically) be wiped clean, Tingting and Mark packed up their things and made a workbench, and drew version 2.0 of the rover saddle bag on the table. design diagram. (Starlight Glimmer has warned in advance that if anyone dares to touch the original white boards during this period, they will chop off the hoof that moved it.) The design of the new version of the saddle bag requires careful planning on their part; compared to The new version of the saddlebags that Mark had made when he drove to Pathfinder was expected to carry ten times more weight, and care had to be taken not to cause structural damage to the light and fragile rover pressure chamber.

"You mean you've been thinking about it," Mark repeated, "this?" He pointed to the finished and half-erased plan on the table.

"Indeed, but I was referring to something else." Tingting pushed away the table and sat upright, becoming serious. "Feihuo mentioned yesterday that we didn't plan to write a book during our stay on Mars. And my thoughts It’s: Why can’t it work? Someone should write a book to record all this.”

"It has nothing to do with me anyway." Mark was very sure. "I have a mission log to write. As long as I haven't forgotten it and can think of something worth recording, I will record it. And I will definitely have it after we all go home. I will write more research reports in a lifetime.”

"Heh. Then, maybe I can write it myself." Tingting thought for a while, "Of course it's not an official report. Those reports were written by Berry and Starlight. But maybe it can be a movie that my queen likes. kind of romance novel. A story about a beautiful human girl who falls in love with the alien stranded with her.”

"Human girl?" Mark was slightly surprised, "I'm not telling you, but this is your preference?"

It took Tingting a while to realize which preference Mark was referring to. "Oh," she replied, "well, no. Remember what changeling means? Shapechanger. For us, it's all about where there's more love for us to feed on."

"That's true, but you told me before that there is more than one queen in your area who is reproducing offspring."

"Yes, but most changelings have never considered combining with a lifelong partner or having a litter of insect babies. And the larvae are originally cared for collectively, so we can't have those like ponies. A warm little family.”

"Then..." Tingting could feel Mark's confusion boiling out like a fire boiling over a pot, "So what you're saying is that you don't actually have any preferences?"

Dragonfly sighed, "Mark, to be honest, in my opinion, your idea of ​​having preferences is as strange as your finding that I don't have any preferences. It's just that I think there is Miss Johnson on the cover of a book." A book with you on the cover will sell better in Malaysia than a book with you on the cover. Human women are just more attractive in appearance."

"Is this true?" Mark raised his eyebrows and asked, "Can you provide any proof?"

“How many times have you seen Daisy Duke half-dressed,” Dragonfly asked bluntly, “and how many times have you seen Bob Duke or Luke Duke half-dressed? "

"Well... maybe this example is not very appropriate," Mark gave up the argument, "but okay, whatever you want. I believe this book should be good. You and your cocoon left Jack and Janet, not because of her aunt's birth. She was ill but because she fell in love with Enos and eloped to Hazzard County.”

"What?"

Mark shrugged. "It was just a joke," he replied. "Don't you always ask weird questions about what would happen if Lewis's TV shows met?"

"Ah." That can explain it... Thinking about it more carefully, there is no explanation at all! "Wait, so what does this have to do with writing stories?"

"I always thought that's what you were going to do - write bad TV drama fan fiction."

Tingting didn't bother to cover up and just gave him a blank stare.

"Fanfiction. Fiction created by fans. Stories written about other people's stories."

"Oh..." Dragonfly subconsciously complained, "Your explanation is quite long..." This new concept was gradually established in the mind of the changeling, "Wait a minute, you are saying that you can really do this kind of thing. ?!"

"Millions of people do it every day," Mark explains. "The original author, or more often the company that funded their work, will be angry if they find out you're making too much money doing it, but there are a lot of people who are just pure Do this as a hobby. And I heard that a few of them eventually became real creators with their own original works.”

"Really?" Dragonfly asked, "because I know that once my queen tried to promote another version of the Hearth Warming legend, saying that there was a changeling that fought the wind monsters and forced them to stop, because she I want to keep all the love of those ponies for myself. You won't believe how angry the ponies were when they heard this story! I really can't understand it. Those who didn't know better thought we said the Creator was a changeling. Something like that!"

"Uh...so is he?" Mark asked tentatively.

"She's an Alicorn." Dragonfly corrected Mark. "It just proves that no one is perfect." She pushed her stool away from the workbench and jumped onto the dirt-covered floor of the habitation cabin.

"Wait," Mark asked, "where are you going?"

“I’m going to start writing a fanfic,” Dragonfly replied, “and I’ve thought of the perfect story about Jesse Duke and Boss Hog and the woman who ruined their friendship all those years ago The story of the meeting." Pause for a moment, put on smile No. 17 (shyly and triumphantly), "Sue Ann Nivens!"

"Sue Ann Nivens? Who is...wait, you mean the Sue Ann from Mary Tyler Moore? But she lives in Minneapolis!"

"People move, don't they?"

"Well, that's right, but... forget it, let's put it this way, it has nothing to do with me how you want to do it." Mark gave up the treatment, "But can we wait until we finish this matter?" He said meaningfully He knocked on the table and said, "After all, it's up to you to spit out this pile of stuff in the end."

"Don't those words just now count?" Dragonfly muttered to herself as she switched back to pony language.

"Sorry, I didn't hear what you said clearly?" Mark asked.

"Nothing." Dragonfly jumped back on the stool, "Then let's go through the list of all the items to be packed in the saddlebags and taken away..."

Mission Log – Solar Day 347

Our plan to retrofit rover 2 has just made a breakthrough.

One of the problems we ran into was we were trying to minimize the extra weight in the trailer. Even when unloaded, it weighs about fifteen tons, and the designed emergency load of the vehicle chassis is only ten tons. There was no way we could reduce the weight without sacrificing the solar panels or living space; and the sole purpose of the trailer was to provide enough living space for the six of us. But not an ounce more weight in the back than necessary.

Unfortunately, it turns out we have a lot to put behind. Once we leave the cave farm, the only source of energy to recharge the magic battery appears to be our own life force - and that energy will be blocked by the Hab's canvas or any material with adequate radiation shielding capabilities. Therefore, in addition to us, we have to carry in the trailer at least seven batteries needed for the sparkling engine and a few spare batteries reserved for other purposes. If all nineteen of our current ordinary batteries were taken on board, the weight would be approximately just over a ton—and it would also occupy nearly two-thirds of cubic meters, which is almost as precious a space in the cabin as the load capacity.

And then there's food. As we move forward, CherryBerry, Firefly, and Dragonfly will lead the way in front of the rover, helping to scout the road and warn us of obstacles out of sight, so they will need more food than they currently eat every day. There are a lot more hay and potatoes, about a kilogram. Our current goal is 1.5 kilograms—closer to the caloric and nutrient requirements of a complete daily meal ration for a single astronaut. However, this is 1.5 kilograms per person, so the four combined would need to last a hundred solar days - a total of 600 kilograms of food. Potatoes can be carried in the rover's saddlebags, but alfalfa cannot. Based on our previous findings, freeze-dried alfalfa is too unpalatable to eat.

So that's at least close to two tons that must be stored in the trailer - of course, plus our weight when we park the car. The combined weight of the six of us wearing spacesuits is more than half a ton. And we had to carry a little extra food for the dragonflies, which would come in handy in case a space suit or something needed to be carefully patched up with bug vomit. The weight has increased again. And that's not to mention the fact that we're going to find a whole bunch of other stuff that absolutely must be in the car, probably including more batteries... unless we can find more storage somewhere else.

"But Mark," you may want to ask at this time, "where is the cabin of the No. 2 rover?" My answer is: It is already full. The interior cargo hold holds my stash of tools. The passenger seat was removed to make room for two hydrogen fuel cells from the living area to boost electrical energy storage. We will also bring RTG to keep the rover warm (as for the trailer, it will mainly rely on the air provided by the life support system for heating). The last bit of space left in the pressure chamber may be left for medical supplies and other useful items brought from the living area that cannot withstand vacuum preservation or are randomly scattered on the surface of Mars...

...Of course, there is also the driving crystal of the Shining Engine; it is not that big, but there is absolutely no way to replace it once we are on the road. There was little hope that we would find another crystal cave on the way.

So what exactly is in the saddle bag? Of course it was the pile of potatoes we decided to take with us on the road. We were able to pre-bake some potatoes for the trip and once we got to Schiaparelli power was no longer an issue and we were able to use the microwave. (Add another fifteen kilograms...sigh.) There are also a bunch of extra parts and scrap metal removed from the alien spacecraft, which may be useful when modifying the MAV. According to the new version of the launch plan, there is a high probability that it will not be used, but it is better to bring it than not to bring it. Plus some remaining food packs, including seven emergency food packs per person that I set aside for the MAV flight, which will be needed if we need to fly directly back to Earth; and fourteen solar panels, which are used every day After the mileage is over, set it up outside the car and put it away before setting off the next day.

The final priority is the fifteen giant magic batteries and the three target crystals needed for their repulsion propulsion enchantment. Each giant battery weighs two hundred and eighty kilograms, and the three target crystals add up to a total of forty-five kilograms, so the final total mass of all crystals is approximately 4.3 metric tons. For comparison, everything else adds up to less than a ton.

The summary is - the mass of the cargo exceeds five tons. The cargo racks and cargo bags on the roof of the rover are designed to bear a maximum load of only half a ton.

But the good news is, we don’t have to carry the full weight of the saddlebags on the rover roof. Our original modification plan included pylons carrying three Pony spaceship engines (total mass 4.5 tons) extending from the vehicle chassis below the rover's pressure chamber. Although we no longer need to carry that 4.5-ton load on the road, we can still build the pylon as usual. We can attach the saddlebags to those racks and let them bear most of the load. To add some extra carrying capacity and balance the load, and as a redundancy in the event of damage (which is quite likely), we'll still get some straps and tie them around the roof a few times.

The design we made for the load-reducing support frame is pretty good, and we're sure there will be enough scrap metal in the alien spacecraft to use as raw materials. After installation, the total weight of the No. 2 rover will increase by about two hundred kilograms, but in order to allow me to roll up my sleeves and concentrate on driving Mars’ first semi-trailer truck through some extremely dangerous terrain beyond imagination, I don’t have to worry about the rover. The cost of the pressure chamber suddenly rupturing is negligible.

I just told Tingting about this matter, and her reply was just, "Bell[1], you can say whatever you want." The low collective status is simply self-evident. Unfortunately, none of the team members liked watching Clint Eastwood movies. Otherwise, I can at least hope to work hard to raise my status to Clyde's level.

[Note:]

1. Bear: The chimpanzee pet of the protagonist in the show BJ and Bear.

2. Clyde: The gorilla who appeared in two Clint Eastwood movies.