My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 380

ARES 3 solar day 374

A switch's basic function is to connect two wires to complete a circuit - and only turn on when you want them to.

According to this definition, Mark used a small stone, two cables stolen from the abandoned engine room of Amicitas, and a long length of parachute rope that had been worn out by long-term wind and sun to the point that it could no longer bear any important load. To a certain extent, this device... should also be regarded as a switch.

As for the dragonfly, she thought it was more like the box traps used by retarded ponies to catch rabbits (and other creatures, including changelings). Every time she sees something like that it makes her furious; because (1) this kind of organization has no pretense, it's a naked trap, and any creature stupid enough to take the bait deserves it, and (2) even though it's obvious To the point where the trap does occasionally catch rabbits (and other creatures, including changelings).

But she still had to admit that even if this device looked so retarded, it was at least reliable on paper. The end connector of one of the cables is bent into a hook shape and suspended from the other cable (the end connector is shaped into a ring), balancing on a carefully selected stone. Any slight drag on the stone by the rope would cause the hook cable to slip and hang point-down on the contact ring of another cable. It's okay if it's not a perfect ring, but a perfect ring would be more ideal; the ultimate goal is to achieve contact between the two wires. Such a system would allow Tingting and Mark to move their firing positions approximately fifty meters away from the contact ring, and seventy meters away from the temporary rock pile where the test subject was suspended above the enchanted repulsion crystal array. s position.

The gap is seventy meters, or according to Mark, it is equivalent to "ten seconds of head start."

As long as the contact hook remains above the contact ring, the nine batteries used to drive the launch test can be opened safely without any impact; Tingting has just completed this step. "The launch pad is powered on," she announced on the communication channel. "Repeat, the launch pad is powered on. All batteries show full energy storage. Can launch."

At this time, Mark had also removed the nose cone and was preparing to connect a key wire to the small transmitter stolen from the northern weather station. "Ouch!" He cursed and muttered, "This signal is really strong! The signal transmitter has been powered on. The nose cone is being reinstalled."

Dragonfly scurried over and, using a bit of magic, began to twist the four bolts that held the nose cone to the neck of the inverted engine nozzle, while Mark began to tighten the fifth one. Once the transmitter is powered on, the countdown begins. In order for the transmitter's signal to be received by the satellites orbiting Mars, most of which are designed to only track the Earth's position, excessive current input to it will cause the circuit to overheat, and the cold climate of Mars can only delay it slightly. The process of self-cremation. After they start working, they must finish the work immediately and clear the area quickly.

"The message has been sent to Pony Space Agency." Starlight's reply came on the communication channel. She and the fireball are currently in the cave. She is inside the cave and the fireball is outside the cave. Fireball was responsible for filming the entire launch process with Mark's handheld video recorder, and the starlight in the cave would maintain communication with the horse country throughout the process.

"Message has been sent to NASA; launch is about to take place, data on standby." Cherry Berry and Spitfire were still in the residential area. Cherry Berry stayed in the habitation module to maintain communication with Mark and his people (although by the time they received this standby message, the launch had already ended). Spitfire sat on the original bridge of Amicitas and was responsible for running the presence spell so that their magic-driven space suit communication system could maintain the distance of 11 kilometers between the residential area and the flat land far east of Area E. Normal communication.

Usually when using tools while wearing a space suit, you must maintain a cautious and meticulous working attitude, plan every step of the operation in advance, and maintain sufficient patience. However, after being trapped on Mars for a year, both Mark and Tingting became somewhat lax about their precautions against operational risks; Tingting could always patch her space suit anyway, and Mark's space suit was so strong and durable that it almost seemed like it was for repayment. Designed like the Tusked Troll Baby, breaking it is almost impossible. In less than a minute, the bolts holding the nose cone were all tightened in place. "Confirm that the nose cone is tightened," Mark Hui reported, "Everything is ready. The launch pad staff are evacuating the launch area." He stuffed the ratchet wrench into the small tool bag on his spacesuit and turned to Lingting and said, "Begin de-assifying procedures."

Tingting has always liked Mark very much - not only because he is very delicious and never stingy in showing his emotions, even a little too much - but also because he is not as humorous as he thinks. "What?"

"Just run!" The weak gravity environment of Mars inevitably leads to a certain degree of muscle atrophy, but Mark still has enough strength in his legs to allow him to stride more than two meters while running at full speed. Dragonfly also learned to minimize the vertical movement and maximize the horizontal displacement when running like the ponies, so she ran to the other end of the cable in four seconds, and Mark It won't arrive for another three seconds.

"The launch team has arrived at the starting position." Mark accidentally lost his balance and fell to the ground while trying to brake and slow down. He immediately climbed up from the sand and held the rope. Then Tingting reported on the communication channel that they were in position. "On standby, awaiting final launch decision."

"Earth communications are normal," Berry began to shout, "Space suit communications?"

"Spacesuit communications are normal," Spitfire reported.

"Water and telegraph?"

"Report to air traffic control, water and telegraph are normal." Xingguang responded.

"Ground tracking?"

"Aviation control, the situation is normal." Fireball replied.

"Roger. Satellite tracking normal. Launch system?"

"Aviation control, the launch system is normal." Tingting replied.

"Aircraft system?"

"Report to command, everything is normal." Mark finally replied.

There followed a brief pause.

"Oh, right. Okay." Cherry Berry realized that it was her turn and continued to order, "The commander confirmed that everyone is ready to launch. Launch team, please decide when to launch."

Dragonfly turned to Mark and asked, "So how do you plan to come?"

Mark cleared his throat, "Count down from ten," he said, pinching the partially cracked and somewhat brittle changeling rope held in his space suit gloves, and started counting down, "Nine, eight, seven, "He stood up slowly and carefully, taking care to keep the rope slack to avoid starting the launch early. "Six, five, four," then he turned his back to the launch pad, facing the afternoon Martian sunlight and the flat ridge on the surface where Area E was half a mile away, and prepared to take off, "three, two, one!"

He pulled hard on the traction rope in his hand, tightened it and ran forward a few steps with it. Then he heard a thunder in the thin atmosphere of Mars, dropped the rope, turned around and ran, his bipedal gait trying to imitate a faster pony. Although the sun was shining downward at this time, a second shadow flickered in front of him.

Dragonfly, on the other hand, left the slow-motion Mark far behind and ran all the way, escaping straight to the airlock door of the cave farm.