My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

Hermes - ARES III Mission Day 132

"found it."

Martinez's words suddenly pulled Lewis' attention away from her terminal: "Where is it?"

"Area e," Martinez put the telemetric still camera into photo mode, "it left a trail that goes straight toward that, about three kilometers long. Point the lens here."

Lewis' hand quickly brushed over her terminal: "Area e? That's ten kilometers away from the east of the residential area! NASA's estimate is to the northwest of the residential area, which is beyond the error range!"

"I know," Martinez looked at the photo transmission and raised the corners of his mouth slightly. Even with Hermes's slow revolution speed, their observation time is only a few minutes. Mars' rotation will carry away the target area, which means the next opportunity to observe will have to wait until tomorrow. "Of course this thing didn't hit the ground directly. Someone must be manipulating it."

"Found it," Lewis said, "You are right, the impact marks are very deep, and the dark soil matrix is ​​exposed, which can be seen from a distance."

"Yeah, I thought so," Martinez replied. "It must be some kind of spaceship."

"It was once a spaceship," Lewis corrected. "No spacecraft built by mankind so far has been able to withstand such an impact and still survive."

"I don't think it was an impact," Martinez replied. "An impact creates a crater, like a meteorite. I think the pilot inside was trying to make a controlled touchdown and probably succeeded."

“How come you see?”

“There’s no debris scattered,” Martinez replied, “or not as much as a direct impact, whatever — just a little bit mixed in in the gully.”

"It doesn't exist," Lewis said, shaking his head, "How fast do you think they have to land to leave such a long trace?"

"I'm going to put this question to the nerds at NASA," Martinez said. "I can do the math on Earth, but what about in low gravity? What about one five hundredth atmosphere? I just You can rely on guessing, you know."

"I think," Lewis nodded, "we are flying out of range and sending geographic coordinates to NASA..." At this time, she glanced at something on the screen:

"Aim to the east of the landing site, about five kilometers due east, hurry!"

Martinez instructs the camera to do this, taking continuous high-definition photos. "Okay, it's done, what's wrong?" Suddenly, a photo with a resolution similar to that of a normally orbiting reconnaissance satellite caught his attention, and he quickly turned back the page: "What is that?"

Lewis tried to keep his camera focused on the area, even as Hermes seemed to be missing. "It's a rover," she gasped, "That's our rover!"

"Take it off," Martinez said. "No way," he studied the photo more carefully. "Is it true?"

Lewis watched the area disappear beyond the resolution and complained in frustration: "We are all trained to identify rovers from high altitudes," she said, "to optimize landing sites. That outline I can recognize it even when it’s burned to ashes.”

"If it is really..." Martinez's khaki face turned pale, "Oh my god, there can only be one person on Mars who can drive it now, and we all know who he is!"

Lewis leaned on his seat. "No," she said softly, "Johnson saw him being blown away. He had no vital signs. There must be survivors on that alien spacecraft. They drove the rover away from the residential area. .”

"They learned the rover's operating system?" Martinez asked. "Airbrake control, drive mode unlocking, everything?"

"Yeah, I know that's unlikely," Lewis said, "but there's absolutely no way Watney survived, so that's the only explanation."

Martinez looked at his commander's face and decided to put the matter aside for now. "I'll report it to NASA," he said. "Why don't you go to the gym to kill some time?"

"Not now," Lewis replied. "We may need to light a fire to maintain the current orbit. I will be responsible for controlling it."

"That's in an hour, Commander," Martinez said. "Go to the sauna. You'll feel better."

Lewis opened his mouth to say something, and then unbuckled his seat belt: "I'll be back in an hour," she said, "I'll leave the bridge to you."

Martinez nodded, watched her leave, and immediately racked his brains to think of how to report this thing that no one could believe to NASA...

...Actually, the question is what to tell NASA. Should you tell them: "Good news - we found Mark! To be precise, it's the 'Mark ghost' wandering outside"?

Moreover, Lewis may be right. In the desperate situation of a spacecraft crashing on Mars, aliens with sufficiently advanced technology could learn how to operate a rover in a short time.

But Martinez is sure of himself.

"Commander, you should understand what I am thinking," he thought to himself.

He was not writing a report to NASA, but an internal letter to Dr. Baker.

AMICITAS Mission Three - Mission Day 4

Ares III — Solar Day 8

Dragonfly was relieved when the gas released from the emergency gas tank filled the Amicitas cabin without leaks. They couldn't take off their spacesuits—the craft might be filled with air, but there was no heat, and the planet's surface was so well below freezing that even brief exposure meant frostbite.

The backup air tank and the hoof-operated pump used to refill the tank were both ideas from the Changeling space program, of which Dragonfly was very proud. Changelings always have clever ideas. The ponies proposed that the main air/water supply system should be installed in the mechanical cabin, because according to the theory that the impact always hits the nose first, the survivors in the rear of the spacecraft will be the safest.

But this time the tail of the spacecraft was hit first, cracking open the bottom shell of the spacecraft like an egg, exposing the mechanical cabin to the outside. The crystal oscillator of the life support system automatically shut down due to loss of pressure in the cabin. To make matters worse, the system used to receive air and water transmitted directly from Baltimore is powered by the Malaysian side, so it can only be restarted by the Malaysian ground command center. Without a communication connection, restarting the system is a fantasy. But the good news is that the airtight connection between the cabins - another changeling space project idea, even if it was a minotaur rather than a changeling who came up with it, thanks to him - is still intact. The living quarters, docking room and bridge are all able to trap air. And inspection of the damaged mechanical cabin showed that the main life support system and crystals were still intact, so they could restart as long as they regained contact with the horse country. Unfortunately this is the only positive news about the mechanical bay. The impact shattered the main crystal of the Sparkling Engine and destroyed the magic circle. The impact also damaged two of the three main thrusters, meaning that even with enough magic power, the thrusters would not be able to provide sufficient thrust for future use and would be extremely unsafe. A hole in the lower deck exposed a broken girder—meaning that, even if everything else was intact, the ship would never take off again.

Dragonfly couldn't see the monkey-like alien's face behind the reflective mask, but she could feel his mood, and she knew he agreed with her. As she drove slowly from the residential area, she kept looking at the stranger. After all, there was nothing else to see. This planet, at least this part, is flatter than Appleloosa, with only a few ravines intertwined into a network, and some random craters or hills to break up the monotony. (Of course, their spacecraft has successfully crashed directly into a certain hill, a flat round object about one kilometer in diameter, about eighty meters above sea level at its highest point, and mostly covered with floating soil.)

The alien chattered the entire time, although Fireball and Dragonfly couldn't understand a word of it. "balabala..." said over and over again for half an hour. Cherry Berry was relatively lucky, leading the way outside, so she didn't have to listen to his nagging. But overall, this alien seems to be too friendly, which goes against the common sense that Dragonfly understands. But she didn't pay much attention. As the spacecraft's engineer, it was her duty to show him around the entire spacecraft. The machinery room, where the damage was most severe, was their first stop. Now that the inspection was complete, they were able to pressurize the ship to inspect the inventory the ship was carrying, especially what was in the small freezer compartments (again, Pony's idea). The standard food packages were vacuum sealed to prevent spoilage, but It also has the side effect of having to store the contents in a near-vacuum and extremely low-temperature environment. But the ponies insisted on using the refrigerator to store fresh food brought from the ground to boost morale, and Dragonfly herself insisted that the freezer be airtight and insulated, because, as she said at the time, accidents could always happen. That way these items might be safe - they were probably the warmest things on board the ship by now besides the four crew members - as long as no one could open the hatch before repressurization was complete.

"The air pressure is 6 pounds per square inch," Dragonfly said, closing the air valve at the same time. "It's enough to work in the cabin."

"Okay," Cherry Berry nodded, grinning so much that it could be seen through the helmet, "I will take our visitors to help count the food inventory and check whether the magic battery is fully charged."

"Tell him to stay away from my sapphire," Fireball muttered. "Backup battery number two has been replaced."

Just as the monkey-like creature and CherryBerry walked past the hatch to the habitation module (left open to let in emergency air), Dragonfly trotted back to her workstation and opened her tool box. The magic lens (energy meter) relied on environmental magic to work, so the lack of response when she turned it on didn't surprise her, but connecting it to the magic battery might have done something. When she connected the wires to the second battery (the one she had retrieved from the mechanical bay), nothing happened. The battery was dead, if it still worked—the battery broke free from its anchor on impact and flew around the cabin. Starlight is able to more accurately detect the amount of magic in her surroundings, but she hasn't fully recovered from the magic loss, so Spitfire remains at the monkey's residence to care for Starlight. When the magic lens was connected to the AA battery, the indicator light flashed for a moment, the pointer only deflected a little, and then it stopped working. This meant that Battery 1 was charged to some extent - but only a little, so little that the energy meter drained two days' worth of charge in one fell swoop.

This...this is really bad.

There was only one way to solve this problem (run away from home), but since there was no safe place for Dragonfly to hide on the planet, she told CherryBerry instead.

In the living cabin, "Monkey" is carefully flipping through the instructions and flight manuals on the bookshelf, and putting them one by one into the two large plastic buckets he brought from his residence. Apparently he found them fascinating, as fascinating as the broken instrument panels and displays he found on the bridge.

At the same time, Cherry Berry was carefully taking out a small sealed box of fresh cherries from the freezer. Dragonfly didn't need a changeling to know that this pony was a glutton. After noticing her, the pink pony said, "So what did you find?"

CherryBerry's voice caught the alien's attention, and he turned to face her. Tingting felt a wave of consternation wash over him, and she heard his voice coming through his and her spacesuits, sounding like "Wubba yuck?" Softly but firmly, he bent He reached down and took out the transparent plastic box containing the cherries from the commander's hoof, raised it and looked at it at eye level.

"Jairease! (Oh my god!)" Dragonfly thought the "monkey" was saying, "Buddy gumby Jairease? (Are these cherries?)" He opened the box, ignoring Cherryberry's loud protest, He took out a cherry and played with it between his thumb and index finger through a layer of space suit. He then pressed a few buttons on the front of his suit, then raised his hand to unbuckle his helmet and took it off with one hand.

"What is he going to do to my cherries?" yelled Cherry Berry, "They're going to freeze! They'll get soft when they thaw!"

Tingting was shocked that there were more important things than Cheerilee. The temperature inside the Amicitas cabin is the same as outside—about twenty-five degrees below zero. Only a fool would expose himself to such an environment just to eat a cherry. He chewed and closed the box. "Isha jairee," he muttered. He swallowed the cherries, spit the seeds into one of the buckets, and then added: "Goal!" He shook his head, returned the box to Cherry Berry, put the helmet back on, locked the seal, and restarted. Life support system, "Weerhebuckum goal. (Okay, we have to go.)"

Without wasting any time, Cherry Berry quickly took out the two cherries boxes from the freezer and put them into the second plastic bucket, "You actually... you... you... you cherries thief !" she said angrily. "Monkey" didn't pay any attention to her. Instead, he knelt down and looked at the small freezer. He pulled out another gadget inside - a box of sapphires. He tossed them into one of his buckets without looking, followed by five packaged sandwiches, a small birthday cake (Pinkie insisted on being wary of "birthday emergencies"), and finally a salad. He took them all out and examined them carefully. "Luscious, (lettuce,)" he murmured, "Mommapo. Googumbra. Mabre garrot? (Tomato. Cucumber. This thing is probably a radish?)" and placed a salad next to it. “Slaa. Fuggum goal slaa.” Another, “Afafwa spous. Chess lye girf!!”

Then Dragonfly felt that the alien's expression changed from shock and suspicion to fanaticism and almost crazy enthusiasm: "Spous. Afafwa spous. Afafwa fuggim SPOUS!! (Seeds. Alfalfa seeds. There are actually alfalfa seeds here!" !!)”

There was also a half-dozen unseasoned alfalfa sprout salads in the freezer—the ponies all liked them, but they all liked different flavors. The alien took them all and quickly threw them into the plastic bucket and put the other salads back. He closed the bucket, double-checked that it was tight, and lifted it up, pulling it quickly with the help of the planet's incredibly light gravity. "Gummon!" he yelled. "Weega taco." !Arrieup! (We have to go! Hurry up!)"

Cherry Berry looked at Dragonfly, "Do you think we bumped into a retarded alien or something?" she asked.

"I think I'd better store the air in the emergency tank," said Tingting, closing the freezer door again, "If I don't leave, I won't be able to catch up."

Log: Sun Day 8

Today I saw their spaceship, bright pink, with 1950s-style wings and heart-shaped coverings on the windows. It looked like a beautiful princess who had arrived on Mars. I could feel the hormones in my body roaring to death after experiencing an overdose of cuteness.

No cute thing could bear to be ravaged like that.

The craft glided across the ground for several miles before crashing into Area E. Area e is a mud volcano, or so we think. If everything goes as planned on Sol 28, this will be the last geological survey of our mission. Lewis, Vogel and I will conduct geological and chemical exploration and soil sampling. There is also a larger mud volcano ten kilometers northeast of Area E, but that is beyond the scope of the rover.

Now, in addition to looking like I was puked on by a cute bear, I also noticed that it might resemble some sort of cross between a cartoon rocket and a spaceship. I don't know how it works - there's nothing in there except the living quarters and the engine, and there aren't any fuel tanks in sight. I guess that's because their technology is advanced enough. When I read about that kind of thing in books, I often thought it was nonsense, but now that I see aliens every day, I can naturally accept it.

Of course landing on Mars would be very disruptive. The skin on the back of the ship wrinkled like an accordion as it rubbed against the ground, and two of the three engines were crushed and damaged. It wasn't much better inside. The airtight compartment at the rear, which seemed to be the warp engine section, had a four-foot-long and one-foot-wide crack along its long axis. By the light of my spacesuit, I could see through it to the Martian soil. To make matters worse, I could see that a metal structure had been snapped in half, its tail hanging loosely, with one side half a foot higher than the other. You don't need an engineering PhD like I do to know that this ship is extremely unsafe even to fly.

Even so, I spent a few minutes examining the torn metal structure and was shocked. Those aliens built their spaceship like a tank (not meaning air tank or water tank), I mean as long as they put some tires on the thing, on the top With a turret attached, it can be used as an armored vehicle. I found a small piece of fallen metal casing and carefully hooked it out of the crack without ripping my suit on the jagged edges. I'll use Vogel's chemistry lab to analyze it when I have time, but for now I can say that this is an alloy I never remember seeing - it looks like steel, is as light as aluminum, but is lighter than Both are tough.

This may explain why the rest of the ship is so well-preserved and the other two areas are airtight. There is no power supply, but the aliens have an artificial emergency air supply system to deal with this situation, complete with a manual airlock. After we resealed the door to the mechanical cabin, they opened a valve to let a small amount of pure oxygen into the cabin. It's still cold as hell - Mars is mocking the ship's insulation - but at least there's oxygen.

I only had a cursory glance at the controls, but everything looked distinctly Apollo-era, or possibly early spacecraft-era. There were only two very small computer screens, but a bunch of digital gauges. Most of the gauges are simple mechanical dials with a bunch of switches and buttons.

The strangest thing is that there are two joysticks, one for the driver and the co-pilot. How do aliens use hooves to use joysticks? And it’s still in Strong Bad style, with boxing gloves on!

But like I said, I only had a cursory glance. I noticed that five of the seven seats were severely damaged, which suggests that the emergency crash protection system, similar to the energy-absorbing zones on your car, absorbs a lot of energy in a crash to protect the pilot. Two seats were intact, and judging by the number of alien guests and the fact that there were no creepy mangled alien corpses on the ground, I assumed they were empty to begin with.

But when I saw their pantry, I knew nothing else mattered.

Like NASA, the aliens also brought a small freezer to store comfort food for the crew. While we were there, NASA sent us some refrigerated Idaho potatoes and planned to cook them around the 16th or 17th for a fresh Thanksgiving dinner. In Alien's case it's a basket of rocks (seriously, does Puff really have to show off his masculinity like this on a daily basis? "I eat rocks for breakfast, I'm strong! I'm not trying to be metaphorical!") and a pile of rocks. salad.

An earth-style salad with vegetables from the earth.

Sakura has cherries on her butt because there are real cherries where she comes from. I stole one from her (you better believe it pissed her off), took off the helmet and ate it in this goddamn cold spaceship. (Hey, I looked at the space suit readings. If 6 pounds of pure oxygen per square inch was good for the Mercury 7 mission, it was great for me. But think again, also on Apollo is within the allowable range, so it may not be an appropriate benchmark.)

These are the tastiest cherries I’ve ever tasted, and speaking as a botanist, this is expert opinion.

Not just cherries, but they also have garden salads with lettuce, cucumbers, potatoes and the like, and buckets of coleslaw. I couldn't believe it - how on earth could aliens from another planet have the same vegetables as us? (My remarks may be inappropriate, they are herbivores, which may be a bit racist. Mark Watney, interstellar diplomat, that’s me.)

Then I noticed the rest of the salad... was simply alfalfa sprouts. It would not surprise me at all on Earth that alfalfa is a preferred food for horses because it is perennial, produces forage multiple times a year, and has the highest net nutritional value known. Within tolerance, it is very tolerant and can be grown in different climates as long as it is cared for. If alien horses were to carry whole grains, it would make sense that they would also prefer alfalfa. (Of course, I could be wrong. I can only imagine the alien kid whining, “I hate alfalfa! I want cupcakes!” and the mom saying, “You can’t have dessert until you finish your meal! And, you’re done with your homework. ?”) But the point is, these are fresh alfalfa sprouts, as fresh as the ones in the supermarket today, and they’re sealed in an incubator. This means they may still survive. So I stuffed them into a sealed sample box and rushed to the airlock.

I coaxed and coaxed them to get out of the spaceship - God, it was so hard to wait for the bug and the dragon to operate the device to recover the emergency air! If this happens again, I'd rather bring a can from my living area to use. Once we were on the rover, I drove back to the station, and Sakura sat on her bucket of cherries, looking down on me the whole way.

The first thing I did after I went back to charge the rover was to unpack the alfalfa sprouts. There were almost fifteen pots of alfalfa sprouts, and they still smelled fresh and sweet even after being in the container for so long. I cleaned them carefully, took out the earth soil for the experiment, and planted them all carefully. If this works...if it works, we might have a chance to survive until Ares 4 or the alien brothers come to save us, and we'll see it in seven days.

I'm supposed to ration my food parcels, but today is a special situation. The ponies carried dozens of their own food packages into another bucket, so we were sharing a meal instead of - you know - separate meals. For myself, I earned a meal of mashed potatoes and Salisbury steak with green beans.

I gave Sakura my cherry pie and she just forgave me.