My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 469

ARES 3 solar day 461

"Friendship, this is Hermes. You are almost through the gap on the south side. If you can, please turn directly east now. This will allow you to move towards the center of the main channel of Maworth Valley. Received Please reply, over."

Starlight Glimmer, who was sitting in the former Amicitas co-pilot's seat next to the fireball, pressed the send button and responded, "Friendship received it. I understand and obey the order. Over." Then she switched the earphone signal from the spacecraft radio to the spacesuit magic communication channel. Conveying the news, "Mark, Hermes has confirmed that we are now entering the valley. The main entrance is due east of us."

"As expected," Mark replied in the No. 2 rover cabin, "Berry, did you hear what I just said?"

"Mark, we received it," Cherry Berry's voice on the channel added, "We are still clearing a few large rocks blocking the road, but after you pass this last narrow pass, the road ahead will become It’s a lot more open.”

Their ten-day relaxing drive across Mars' northern lowlands came to an abrupt end at the end of the previous day's drive. In fact, it cannot be said that they were completely unprepared for this - NASA had already warned them of this possibility through the mouth of Johansson on Hermes - but it was clearly displayed on the low-resolution map that came with the rover's computer. At the entrance to an open river valley, they were a little surprised to see mountains of flooded earth and rock debris blocking their way.

They stopped not far from the mountain and took some photos. NASA has not been able to determine for the time being whether the mountain that stretches almost across the entire entrance to Maworth Valley is the remaining earth and rocks deposited after a flood swept through it, or whether it is moraine accumulated by a long-lost glacier. The answer will not be revealed for at least another forty days, but they also sent Mark and Fireball to collect a lot of image data, which is enough for a group of astrogeologists to debate this for several years.

The consequence of this is that the mobile home doesn't leave until later the next day. Part of the reason for the delay was that the projection of the mountains blocked most of the early morning sunlight, but mainly because they had to wait for the communication window with Hermes to open; although there was an eighteen-minute delay in communicating back and forth, Hermes was much more accurate. The Mars map and the onboard direct link to the Mars rover network remain indispensable and critical guidance for their journey.

For example, their clairvoyance allowed them to understand that although the southern passage sandwiched between the mountain system and the outer edge of the ancient river mouth was narrow and contained a lot of loose gravel, it was a more direct way to bypass the obstacles. According to the information provided by Johnson, in comparison, the other path on the north side is twice as long as this one, and it is not much wider. In fact, judging from the results, their entanglement between the two routes may have only increased their worries; including the time they wasted waiting for Hermes' reply, the ten-kilometer journey still took an hour and a half.

But the hardest part is over - at least victory is in sight. "Berry, I saw the narrow angle you warned me about," Mark ordered, "Fireball, prepare to turn thirty...!"

"Exactly thirty," Fireball held the Amicitas flight control stick and pointed it straight at the corresponding mark on the turn indicator that Mark had previously installed.

"Okay, return to zero!"

"Zero position." Fireball saw the rover slowly driving past a boulder so large that the top was almost flush with the observation window of the spacecraft cockpit on the trailer. He couldn't help but ask, "Boss, how big is the stone you removed?" "

"Don't ask." The earth pony, who served as a terrain scout, was not in the mood to chat.

"Minus ninety, prepare, three, two, one, turn!" Mark ordered again.

Fireball immediately pushed the joystick to the far right and replied, "Minus ninety."

"Continue...keep...return to zero!"

Fireball straightened his direction and replied, "Zero position."

"Okay, great," Mark finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Now the road ahead is smooth. Once we are farther away from the mountain pass, I can turn due east and move forward at full speed."

"Where is the east?" Fireball asked, "The sun can't be seen behind."

"Oh, indeed, I forgot that the sun should be quite high right now." Mark thought for a while, "But I can see Spitfire's space suit here. This is the only thing in my field of vision that is white. That Berry Berry , I’ll just follow Fei Huo, what do you think?”

"Mark, no problem. We can all move in sync now. Where are we going?"

"Uphill. We need to find a flat and gentle slope. Starlight, can you contact Hermes for me and ask for details? By the time they reply, we should have already traveled eight or nine kilometers."

Starlight subconsciously nodded in agreement, then remembered that Mark couldn't see her in the rover cabin, and quickly replied, "Okay."

"It's quite a struggle to go up the river." Fireball beside her couldn't help complaining.

"At least it's much easier than trying to navigate by ourselves." Starlight said and switched the earphones back to the radio. "Hermes, this is the Friendship," she called. "We have now left the passage and are heading towards the station at full speed. Heading due east. According to our estimates, we should be about nine kilometers further east by the time we receive your reply. Please provide us with the best route up the river valley based on the expected position. Over."

Then Starlight switched her earphones back to her space suit and heard Mark say this, "So, after all this time, you are finally willing to talk to me?"

"It's up to you, Mark," Starlight, who was about to lose her temper, roared again, "Will you let me use that apprentice wizard character?"

"No, why are you still talking about this?" Mark wailed from the other end of the earphone, "I banned all the wizards in the campaign because I thought you would be worried if you were always upstaged by Granny Weatherwax. It won't be easy. If there is a serious magical problem in Lanko, and a wizard is involved in some way, she will definitely take over the situation. There is no room for negotiation. That's what the books say .”

"Tiffany Archie wouldn't let this happen."

"Starlight, how could I allow you to go to Tiffany Archie with such a junior role?" Mark, who was desperate, almost begged her for mercy. "If you really want to use magic, choose a wild mage head office."

"Mark, I tell you, I have to choose a wizard." Starlight had no intention of compromising.

"Dingting interrupted. I just want to tell you that the road ahead is clean and there is no shadow of any stones. There are no obstacles of any kind for several miles (klicks and klicks). Not even a stone can be found. . (Nary a rock.) The boulder is conspicuously inconspicuous.”

"I know, Miss Bookbag Dropper." Mark replied angrily.

"Mark, how much longer do we have to drive today?" Berry asked at this time, "Normally we should have parked almost an hour ago."

"I'm going to cover seventy kilometers," Mark replied. "We won't set off tomorrow with a full battery, but we can figure out how to take shifts. Assuming there aren't any other major obstacles later - or at least With advance warning and no long detours - we should be back on track by the time we leave Maworth Valley."

"Mark, your assumption is a bit bold." Starlight commented.

“Of course we have to consider the big picture,” Mark said proudly. “After all, Mars is not a small planet.”

"Since you have such a big plan, why are you so cautious about the role of the wizard when planning the campaign?!"

"Starlight, stop talking. We're tired of hearing it." Spitfire's first words on the radio were also his last words today...

...but not entirely.

"Then, do you still talk to me?" Mark asked tentatively again.

Starlight just stared silently at the side of the mountain that was gradually moving away from them outside the cockpit.

"That's no." Mark asked and answered his question intelligently, and then their deadlocked conversation truly fell into silence.