My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

As winter turns to spring in the northern hemisphere of Mars, the prevailing wind direction at the latitude of the Ares 3 residential area also begins to change. As the winter wind flow gradually shifts from west to east to east to west, Mars' thin atmosphere brings a unique greeting to its guests.

As we all know, when it is winter in the northern hemisphere of a planet, it is summer in the southern hemisphere. Not long before the Ares 3 crew arrived on Mars, the gradual warming of the surface in the southern hemisphere triggered an unusually violent dust storm, so powerful that it even crossed the equator. Due to a series of unexpected consequences caused by coincidence, the unplanned landing of the Malaysian Space Agency's Amicitas spacecraft in the Martian environment further intensified the power of this dust storm, making it the largest dust storm in the history of Mars since the previous major volcanic eruption. The largest dust devil. The east side of the residential area, especially the location of Airlock No. , was directly exposed to the strong wind. Airlocks No. and No. , facing southwest and northwest respectively, narrowly escaped damage because they were protected by other structures in the residential area.

Since the Ares 3 mission was terminated and the Amicitas team crash-landed on Mars, two much smaller, faint dust devils have briefly visited the habitation. Smaller weather phenomena, such as the dust devils witnessed by the two Amicitas crew members on Sol 3 of the Ares 84 mission, are almost constantly battling wits with the residential area. As the weather in the north begins to warm up, this phenomenon often persists and washes away the east side of residential areas.

Under normal circumstances, this kind of phenomenon does not require any special precautions. The materials and assembly methods used in the construction of the habitat have been rigorously tested by NASA engineers on Earth and in simulated Martian environments. In particular, the canvas used to construct inflatable domes in residential areas can even withstand winds equivalent to a Category 6 hurricane in the Earth's atmosphere and remain standing. Even the abnormal giant storm on Sol only posed a relatively small threat to the residential area, while other storms were unable to shake it at all.

However, the scenarios used for the stress tests never considered the long-term use of Habitat Canvas in harsh environments, especially near seams with hard metal edges, beyond the maximum mission duration of the Sixty Day Plan. . Just as a person with unlimited time and patience can use a feather to grind a hole in granite, long-term repeated application of load near a specific location can drip through the stone, destroying certain materials that have been tested to withstand short-term impact but not diamond. Bad objects.

The dust storm on Sol 6 had created a tiny crack in the canvas structure, hidden beneath the two plywood plates holding Airlock One in place. The cracks will deform and twist every time the airlock is used, and will continue to shrink and expand as the airlock is pressurized and decompressed during operation. The last human residents of the settlement often passed through this area because it is near the rover charging station. The alien visitors prefer this airlock because it is a shortcut to the giant geode in Area E. Therefore, airlock No. is used repeatedly almost every solar day; in contrast, airlock No. is only used when going near the wreckage of Amicitas, and airlock No. is completely reduced to a storage cabinet.

It is completely impossible to detect this crack by visual inspection alone. A flange glued to it conceals it from the outside, and a metal spacer on the inside that clamps the canvas to the flange also completely conceals it. However, even if both ends are covered with thick metal, the air in the cabin can still penetrate into the thin Martian atmosphere outside through the multiple layers of canvas at an extremely slow speed of only a few molecules at a time. The leak is too slow to trigger the air regulator's pressure alarm. And because the ponies' spacesuits had been used to replace the cabin's oxygen synthesizer, the tiny amount of leaking air was quickly replenished. As a result, all security systems are ineffective, and residents in residential areas lose all opportunities to receive early warning and take countermeasures.

Even until the leak was detected by the most sensitive member of the alien crew, she was unable to identify it as a leak, and it was impossible to locate it. And she could only feel that the operation of airlock No. 1 seemed to make the situation worse. So the aliens responded to her concerns and deactivated the airlock. They then began to use airtight sampling buckets to transfer some of the materials in the living area that might be destroyed by the vacuum environment to a spacecraft with an independent air supply system.

But no matter how cautious the aliens were, all they had was a vague omen of impending danger—so vague that none of them even remembered to convey this warning to the real owners of the settlement.

Therefore, when he and his only alien companion who made the long journey returned to the residential area at the Martian dawn of Sol 88, they were unaware that the normally trusted airlock was now lurking a fatal threat.

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 86

ARES 3 solar day 88

"We're finally here!" Mark cheered, looking at the brown bulge emerging from the horizon not far from Mars, "We're home! A warm home!"

Starlight Glimmer could hardly believe her ears when she heard this. "I thought Earth was your home," she said.

"Yeah." Mark said. At this time, his face suddenly turned pale - well, he looked paler than usual anyway. "Oh my gosh. Did I just say that living quarters are homes?"

"Correct."

"I have to get off this rover quickly."

"That's right," Starlight said firmly, "We all need to get off this rover as soon as possible."

This time Mark set off to drive the rover on the road shortly before dawn. To this end, he packed up all the solar panels at the last campsite on the way in record time and fixed them on the roof of the rover. Now, less than an hour later, he began to slow down, preparing to fall into the warm embrace of the residential area.

The surrounding scenery has changed a lot compared to the last time we set out. The engine nozzle of the MAV downgrade was missing. MDV has been moved a lot toward the residential area, and now only the edge of it can be seen beyond the No. 6 rover. The mess left by the storm on Sol has disappeared, but the habitation module itself remains unchanged, as if it has never changed in any way - it may look a little gray on the outside, but otherwise it is the same as Mark and Mark. The starlight was exactly the same as when it left twenty-two solar days ago.

The rover finally stopped. After Mark turned off all the rover's on-board systems, he immediately grabbed his spacesuit and quickly put it on with his long-term proficiency and urgency at this time. Starlight followed closely and dug out his space suit, turned off the life support system, waited for a moment, and immediately stuffed his hooves in to wrap his whole body.

Her spacesuit has perfectly withstood the harsh conditions of use. The rubber soles were starting to wear out—it was time to discuss a maintenance plan for the reinforced space suit with Dragonfly. However, the joints are still very solid, with no signs of fabric fiber wear, let alone any tears that might cause gas leakage. Starlight casually wondered if the other horses' space suits were still in good condition.

Mark sealed his helmet, turned on the life-support system of his space suit, and picked up his huge toolbox that had barely been opened during the entire process. Starlight was initially surprised by Mark's behavior of carrying items with him, but recalling the process of his interaction with the dragonfly, Starlight was not so surprised; she understood that those tools were his most precious treasures on this planet. .

Speaking of... After Starlight put on her spacesuit and activated the life support system, the almost exhausted magic battery was placed on her back. Then she tied the strap that held the battery in place, twisted her body to make sure the battery was safe, then nodded and said, "Mark, I'm ready."

"I've been ready for a long time." Mark stepped directly into the rover airlock and replied, "Let's go."

Starlight squeezed in from his side, and the inner door of the airlock closed behind them.

Spitfire put the remaining half of her breakfast bag into Mark's refrigerator, closed and locked the air-tight door. Counting the food in Fireball that ponies can't eat, the entire Amicitas supply currently only has nineteen food packages left. She calculated that the dinner the day after tomorrow would be the last meal from Equestria.

The crops in the cave are growing well, but the first large-scale harvest of alfalfa will have to wait until the next few weeks - and during this period, the ponies have no choice but to live on Mark's food. . Spitfire had already checked some of his food packages by finding a dictionary on the computer where Mark had shown them the TV show they were watching that night. After a while, she regretted her reckless behavior; at the same time, she also prayed that the first harvest would arrive in time, otherwise the taste of those Equestrian creatures would become a psychological shadow for her life.

This discovery also gave her more motivation to work that day. The plan was still to work at the cave farm as usual, but this time it was her turn to hike to the cave with Berry. By the time they return to their residential area, Mark and Starlight should have returned from their trip early, and then...

At this time, the air pump of airlock No. 1 began to roar.

Almost at the same moment, Feihuo felt that the airflow in the living area began to change in a subtle and uneasy way.

She took a quick look around the habitat. The others were all at a certain distance from the No. 1 airlock at this time; Fireball's quartz breakfast was about to come to an end, Berry was busy putting on the inner lining of the space suit, and Dragonfly was still sitting at the computer. Before trying to understand the few MDV drawings she found. Apparently they weren't operating the airlock.

Apparently Mark and Starlight came back early. They didn't use the spacesuit communicator to tell them the news - but there was no need, after all, no one was wearing spacesuits yet. However, Spitfire had chosen the right time early to put on his space suit and wait nearby, just to remind them to bypass the No. 1 airlock.

But now they have activated the airlock and are decompressing before entering the habitation module.

It was also obvious that none of them had received any previous warning to deactivate the airlock.

The air pump continued to roar, pumping the air from the airlock back into the living quarters. Spitfire stared intently at the canvas wall surrounding the airlock. Is it stretching? Did she witness the movement with her own eyes, or was her imagination making her see something false? At this moment, every inch of her instincts were shouting at her, reminding her that she and her companions were in imminent danger, fatal and imminent.

But she still tried to control her instinct to panic. She still couldn't quite trust her instincts. No horse but her could feel the draft, and the entire settlement was searched for possible leaks, but nothing was found.

And this residential area doesn't even belong to her. The man who knew the living area thoroughly was now only a wall away from the living cabin. If he didn't notice anything was wrong...

The white-hot ideological struggle in Fei Huo's heart suddenly came to an abrupt end. She felt an unprecedented strong current rushing towards her, causing ripples in the hair on her back.

She couldn't let her think about it anymore. No time to question, act now.

"Change the extravehicular suit!!!"

The outer airlock door opened. Mark and Starlight stepped into the small pressure chamber.

"Dressing done!"

"Dressing done!"

"Dressing done!"

"Dressing done!"

Starlight was startled by the burst of "dressing completed" that swept through the earphones. "Amicitas, this is Starlight," she replied, "Everyone, we understand your welcome ceremony, but shouldn't we at least wait until we are inside before we start the drill?"

"This is not a drill at all." Feihuo's voice came over the communicator, "Has Mark worn the crystal you made for him now?"

"Yes, he wore it. What happened inside?" Starlight looked up at Mark, who had just locked the outer door of the airlock.

"Mark, it's dangerous. There may be a hole in the habitat. Be careful."

Mark froze immediately. "Is there a hole in the living cabin?" he asked quickly, "Where is it? Wait, we will come in right away." He immediately reached out and pressed the button on the bulkhead opposite the small airlock, and air began to be pumped into the airlock. .

The canvas material of the Habitat Module is one of NASA's engineering marvels. It is reinforced by several layers of complex polymers and carbon fiber weaves, making this material unprecedented strength, thermal insulation, radiation reflectivity, and extremely light. Ares 3 crew members carefully assembled the habitat on Sol 1 using a similarly magical resin and quick-seal strips, creating an airtight seal even stronger than the canvas material itself.

Yet however incredible the properties of canvas itself, it is far from indestructible.

During the decompression process of Airlock No. 1, the two fibers near the previous crack in the canvas could not withstand the tensile force and broke apart, causing the gap in the braid to continue to expand. The remaining parts are still strong, firmly withstanding the force of more than 5,000 kilograms per square meter generated during the decompression process of the airlock.

However, just as the astronauts started the repressurization process, the airlock expanded again, causing the previously damaged canvas to relax for a moment. The air pressure in the cabin gained the upper hand almost at the same time, once again exerting force to pull on the remaining fibers in an attempt to tighten the canvas.

This back and forth was the last straw that broke the battered canvas. More fibers died heroically one after another, and cracks began to spread rapidly along the junction of the canvas and the airlock structure. This line of defense finally collapsed, and a large hole visible to the naked eye opened around the airlock flange under the pressure difference of 13.9 pounds per square inch.

In an instant, this crack completely separated the airlock from the canvas.

On Sol 88, the Ares 3 habitable module suddenly experienced explosive decompression. The air flow generated only lasted for a short moment, but it poured all the thunderous power onto the small metal tank called Airlock No. .

The airlock itself, along with the two unfortunate users, jumped into the air on the spot, leaping more than twenty meters in the air; then it hit the surface of Mars and rolled for more than thirty meters, continuously hitting the two flesh and blood bodies inside. , and finally slowly stopped.

Various systems in the living area detected a sudden and complete loss of pressure in the cabin and triggered emergency shutdowns. All circuit breakers tripped. All valves are closed. The power supply was immediately terminated.

The wreckage of the habitation module, which was in a mess and with no air at all, was in chaos.

The situation inside the airlock is much more serious.

Audio Log – Watney M. – Sunday 88

*start recording……*

Uh-huh... Ouch, my head... What the hell happened just now?

……(silence)

Gan, are you kidding me? !

Well, since my suit is recording, I'll take this opportunity to sort things out. Mars just sent me a well-prepared "Welcome Home - Grass Mud Horse" gift package, and when I was already at the door of my home, the leak from the habitation module confused my face. And the "leak" here included sending airlock No. 1 flying a full fifty meters, while Starlight and I were somersaulting like socks in this giant dryer drum. I just wiped a trace of blood from my forehead, because when I was flying with the airlock, I accidentally collided with the inner cabin door, and the wise safety glass mask on the spacesuit took the brunt of the impact and shattered directly.

The good news is that my spacesuit still has enough air supply—it has built-in oxygen and nitrogen tanks—to fill the entire airlock. The bad news is, I can hear some kind of hissing noise coming from somewhere, and I hope it's just Starlight's spacesuit leaking air. But if not, we're in big trouble.

Let me see what's going on with my suit's gas tank...well, we're in big trouble. My spacesuit is still inflating. This means there is a small crack somewhere in the airlock. The reason why I am sure it is a small crack is because if there were a big crack we would have burped a long time ago.

I can still hear their conversations on the ponies' communication channels. The place on my chest that holds the crystal communicator battery that Starlight made for me is now very painful. I guess I hit something when I rolled just now - maybe it was my arm. But I don’t feel too bad at the moment, and I probably haven’t had much damage to my muscles or bones.

Now I can hear Berry talking. It seemed like she was in charge.

Berry, I'm Watney. Phew, I'm Mark. The glass on my helmet was broken, but I figured I'd be fine.

I do not know. let me see. Starlight? Starlight, are you still awake?

oh. Oh, that's bad. Berry, Starlight was carrying her battery when the living module exploded just now.

Dragonfly, can you understand? Okay, please help me explain to Berry. Starlight had the battery with her just now. When the habitat module exploded, we were tossed around in the airlock. The tether holding the battery to her body shifted and hit her in the leg. The metal from the battery chipped a hole in her spacesuit. And I guess her leg is broken. Besides, she has fainted now. Already unconscious. Just passed out.

Yes, there was a hole in her space suit.

And the airlock is still leaking.

It leaked. It means a hole was broken. Either there's a hole somewhere that's leaking air, or I have another dragonfly hiding in here.

No, that's not what I meant. There isn't really a dragonfly here, it's just that I can hear the "hissing" sound all the time.

Look, I gotta find that leak before my suit's air supply runs out. I also had a hole in my space suit.

Indicator light? The indicator lights on the Starlight space suit are all green.

How is she? real? That's good. Then I'll turn off the air supply to my space suit now.

What? Okay, I'm waiting.

oh. Okay, I'd better keep it on then. But in this case I have to find the leak as soon as possible.

No, I don't want to wake Starlight right now. We were all hit hard just now. If her leg was broken, it would probably be more difficult for her.

OK Then I'll turn off my crystal now. I will contact you again when I have something to discuss. Mark finished the call.

All right. I have to move faster. Starlight's life depends on what I do next. If the air pressure here drops too low, her suit's life-support system will automatically shut down. I had to find a way to fix that leak before my suit air supply tank ran out.

OK. So how do I find the leak?

I need some sort of visible steam. And the only thing I can think of that fits the bill is cigarettes. Do I have anything on hand that can burn?

Hair. My hair, and the hair on Starlight's body. But I didn't want to disturb Starlight unless I had to, so I just used my hair.

First I have to take off this spacesuit.

*End of recording*

"Berry, I found the magic battery!" Fireball poked his head out from behind the canvas of the mostly collapsed living cabin and shouted.

"We are not deaf yet and can hear you." Berry responded, "Good job. Dragonfly, where is Mark's helmet?"

"I need to find a complete space suit for him now." Tingting's figure was hidden in a pile of collapsed canvas and support columns near the bunk. "Even if we know that his helmet is broken, it doesn't mean that the rest of the space suit is No damage. And he'll need more air, too."

"That makes sense." Berry replied, "Feihuo, how are the first aid preparations going?"

"There's nothing I can do now, unless I can find a way to move Starlight to a safe location." Spitfire was walking through the big hole left behind by the original airlock. "I'm just holding the medical kit, but I still have to take it with me. Go back to the spaceship. There should still be air there." Before she could wait for Berry's permission, she half-ran and half-jumped out, disappearing into the dim light of the Martian morning.

"And there will be electricity there," said Dragonfly. "Those batteries are always charged. They should last for several hours."

"Okay. Fireball, bring me the magic battery. How's the charge?"

"It looks like about a third of the way." Fireball said.

"Okay. Once Tingting finds Mark's new space suit and helmet, it's up to you to get it. Tingting, you'll go to the spaceship for me later. Make sure we have enough room when we come in. We have to think as soon as possible. Find a way to move Starlight and Mark here."

"Okay." Dragonfly responded, "Fireball, can you come over and help me? It's a little difficult to take the space suit off the shelf. I can't unplug the charging cable."

"Wait a moment. I'll come over after I attach the battery to Berry."

"This is Spitfire."

"Feihuo, please tell me something." Berry said.

"I've brought the medical kit to the Amicitas crew airlock," Spitfire said. "Just a reminder, we may need Fireball and Mark to help lift Starlight up this ladder."

"Got it. Dragonfly, do you think you can mend Starlight's space suit?"

"Sure if it's just the fabric fibers that are damaged. But I can't do it in a vacuum. Plus I'd have to use up a food packet to create enough goo to patch it."

"Can you use fireball?"

"Hey!" Fireball was unhappy.

"Fireball, do you have something to say?" Berry asked.

"It's nothing, sir." The dragon's attitude softened instantly, "I'm sorry. It's become a habit."

"As long as the gem particles are not too big," said Ting Ting, "I can accept it."

"Just take the bucket labeled 'Ruby Burrito with Coal Cocoa Fudge Filling.'" Fireball put the weather-beaten and worn-out magic battery on Berry's back, tied the straps and replied, " Most of them are small particles and powder.”

"No problem. Are you still dealing with the boss?"

"I'm sorry he doesn't have the guts. Fireball, get that space suit. We are going to save Mark and the others."

Audio Log – Watney M. – SunDay 88 (2)

This time I really have to say thank you to Tingting. If she hadn't been fumbling here and there trying to do things before, which scared me out of the tool protection obsessive-compulsive disorder, I wouldn't have thought of taking the tool box with me when I left the rover, and naturally these tools wouldn't have appeared in my mind. On hand. Fortunately, the tool box was not damaged in the tumbling, and the tools inside were all intact, so I had a pair of scissors that could be used to cut off a few locks of hair, and a flashlight that could produce sparks after being disassembled.

If I hadn't brought a toolbox...well, then I might have had to rip a few wires out of my suit to start the fire. Plus I might have to take off Starlight's helmet and bite off part of her temple hair. But with these tools, things are much easier. Of course, my next operation may endanger both of our lives, so the tools I have on hand may actually help me get further on the road to hell. In short, it is not as good as God. It’s a mixture of joy and sorrow. It’s really a mixture of emotions right now.

Anyway, this is my current plan. I've completely closed the nitrogen transfer valve on the suit, so it's now pouring pure oxygen into the airlock. And the higher the oxygen content in the airlock, the easier it is for my hair to burn. I removed an LED from the flashlight and found some short wires from the tool box. Now every time I turn on the flashlight there is a small spark. This is enough. With enough oxygen, a spark can ignite almost anything.

The problem is, the scenario I just described is also the same as Apollo 1. That's not the result I want.

Starlight just groaned. I think she will wake up soon. I have to act quickly, the suit's gas reserves are depleting very quickly.

Wish me good luck...

*End of recording*

Starlight Glimmer opened her eyes. Her head hurt. Her horns felt more painful. And her right front leg...

Starlight opened her eyes again. This time she tried not to think about her legs.

In the end, she couldn't hold it back.

After an unknown number of minutes, Starlight opened her eyes for the third time, just in time to hear Mark behind her curse: "It's terrible! This is already the fifth time!"

"Mark?" She tried her best to cheer up and asked in a hoarse voice.

"Starlight, don't move." Mark said sternly, "When I signal you, turn off the air supply to your space suit and hold your breath. This is the top priority."

"What happened?" Starlight asked.

"Starlight, is that you?" At this time, another voice came from her ears.

"The Hab exploded," Mark replied. "We're now trapped in the airlock, and the airlock is still leaking." Then she heard the sound of a pair of scissors, "Okay. The sixth one." Try. Suit air supply shut off. Starlight, start holding your breath now."

"Starlight, if you are awake, please respond." The voice in her ear said.

Starlight was confused by the conflicting instructions, and finally decided to listen to the guy she was in the same room with. She reached her left front hoof under her body and flipped the off switch of her spacesuit's life support system. She held her breath after that, trying her best to endure the pain in her ears that was gradually caused by the drop in pressure in the airlock.

Then there was silence, which continued to spread to the surroundings, so quiet that Starlight could hear the heartbeat in her ears.

"Done!" Starlight heard Mark's boots hitting the airlock floor, "Starlight, breathe! Air! Now!"

Starlight turned on the air supply to her suit again. An alert sounded in her headset; the suit's system detected that the ambient air pressure had dropped below standard. But with her collaborative air supply with Mark's spacesuit, the air pressure quickly returned to normal levels within seconds, and the alarm stopped.

"Amicitas, this is a star-studded place." There was no need to remain silent anymore. She came out of the suffocating silence and said, "I woke up. But the process was not pleasant."

"Report the situation." Berry said straight to the point.

"My right front leg hurts so bad," Starlight said. "I think it's broken. It was hit by a magic battery. I can feel the air flowing through a tear in the spacesuit at that location now. Mine My head hurts a lot too, but I think the helmet seems to be in good condition. The airlock is still leaking, but I think Mark is trying to figure it out."

"I know, Mark told us just now." Berry replied, "How much is left in your magic battery?"

"It's less than 10%." Starlight said, "We used most of it when we retrieved Mark's robot, and I used it once or twice to use the translation spell. You know, I'm always trying to find ways. Learn Mark’s language.”

"Understood. Listen, what follows is the key point." Berry said, "Can you put up a barrier for about a minute to keep the air in the airlock from escaping? In this way we can give Mark A new space suit has arrived. We can also get you another battery - it has 35% energy in it."

The sharp sound of Mark tugging at the gray tape from the toolbox echoed through the airlock, drowning out all other sounds for a moment.

"I think it will work," Starlight said, "but you don't need to bring another battery. I can't cast a repair spell on this space suit while I'm wearing it."

"It's okay. Dragonfly said she could mend your suit. Have you heard about changeling slime before?"

Hearing this, Starlight suddenly had the strength to moan again: "I guess I'll be more familiar with him in a few minutes."

Before Berry could reply, Mark spoke; Starlight heard his voice coming from the earphones and the air at the same time, arousing echoes in her ears. "This is Watney," he said. "The sealing of the gas leak is now complete... I mean I stopped the leak. Are you all okay?"

"We are all fine." Berry replied cautiously in English, "We have a plan. We will rescue you on our spaceship. The starlight will tell you the details. Okay?"

"Okay." Mark said, "I'll shut up now and you can talk."

"Okay. Thank you." Berry immediately switched back to pony language, "Starlight, when I send you a signal later, you will use the airtight barrier to seal the position of the inner door of the airlock. Then you will Tell Mark to open the door. Fireball will hand Mark a new spacesuit, and Dragonfly will come in with him. She will patch your spacesuit to make sure it doesn't leak. Then Mark and Fireball will You move all the way into Amicitas. The ship's power and gas supplies are still functioning, and Spitfire will splint your legs as soon as you get there. Once we're all safely inside the ship, we'll discuss what's next. What to do."

"I got it," Starlight said, "I'll explain it to Mark."

Mission Log – Solar Day 88 (3)

Today had been a long and extremely difficult day, but it could have been far worse.

I used up two-thirds of the spare cabin canvas I had on hand, but the big hole in the original position of airlock No. 1 has been patched up. Starlight did tell me that with a full magic battery, she could completely fix the leak in the airlock, but that might take weeks. And we need to plug the hole in front of us now, so we can only plug this hole first. Maybe we can put the No. 1 airlock to some use someday, but for now we can only make do with the remaining two airlocks.

On Sol 1, it took four people almost a full day to assemble the habitation module. Fortunately, I didn't have to start from scratch this time; most of the objects, including the heavy equipment, didn't move very far. Airlock No. took most of the impact during the explosion, and the rest of the scattered debris were small items, such as a few markers we had used to draw on the whiteboard. I checked four of the unsealed pens; every one of them was useless. Their pen caps were not airtight and could not withstand the invasion of the Martian atmosphere and simply dried out. Luckily we still had backups, the pens had not been opened, and the bundle we had brought with us on this trip was still usable.

I also have to thank the ponies for their foresight, especially Spitfire. She was the first to notice that something was wrong, at least that's what Berry Berry told me. The others did not expect that the airlock would be launched soon, but they still moved a lot of materials to their spacecraft out of caution that might not be able to withstand the Martian atmospheric environment, including most of their medical reserves. There's also unused alfalfa seed; that's a big plus.

But having said that, by the time we confirmed that the repaired canvas could be successfully sealed, the habitat module had been exposed to the Martian environment for about seven hours. This is long enough to kill all crops on farms in residential areas. It's possible that some bacteria can survive in the bottom layer of the soil, but we won't know for sure until several days later. However, the alfalfa plants originally planted were dead except for the roots at least, and the potatoes were all dying. The newly planted potato tubers were already beginning to sprout. Day, this is a huge waste.

But this was not a fatal disaster. We also have a cave farm. Most of the cultivated soil remained in the habitat, and only the loosest soil was blown out. These soils will be much easier to recover from than if we were to start over from scratch. We had those spare alfalfa seeds and could wait until the first cave farm harvest to take out some of the potatoes and replant them in the residential area. But this incident can be considered a heavy blow anyway.

Except for the computer that Tingting was using at the time (it flew about ten meters directly into the living cabin and fell heavily to the ground, smashing the display screen) and the water recycling machine in the living area, every piece of equipment survived. That sudden decompression. For the water recovery machine, my guess is that the burst may be caused by frozen pipes. That's less of a problem: I have a lot of hoses on hand specifically designed to fix problems like this. Everything else is working fine, so I'm still writing this on a computer that uses residential power.

The most serious problem is Starlight. Spitfire had done her best to splint Starlight's broken leg, but there was nothing else she could do. We don't have a serious doctor here who can properly treat her injury. Apparently, ponies have some magical special medicine that can speed up recovery, but according to Spitfire, the effectiveness of the medicine has dropped a lot here, and it cannot reach the level it should be at all. She was placed on forced bed rest - completely unable to move - for at least three weeks. Fireball and I would be responsible for carrying her to and from the bathroom for the next few days, and I can assure you that the three of us were looking forward to it.

And speaking of Starlight's spacesuit...well, at least it's airtight now. I was lucky enough to witness Dragonfly create the largest and blackest lump of phlegm in the world, and apply it directly to the hole in the Starlight space suit. The spacesuit's position is now very secure - the thing hardens almost as soon as it is applied. Starlight told me that the substance would permanently fuse with the suit and, in her words, "...become irreparable even with magic." Apparently there are spells that can repair broken items. However, its scope of action is limited. If I understand correctly, using the repair spell on the space suit rashly when it is covered in mucus will only further damage the repair and tear out a bigger hole.

So even if Starlight later returned to being able to get out of bed, her spacesuit would never be able to handle any heavy physical labor again. In addition, the duration of her EVA should be compressed to the shortest possible time. Continuing to use her spacesuit now violates safety regulations, and if it is damaged beyond repair, Starlight may die here. We can't take that risk.

I need an explanation for why Dragonfly has the ability to repair space suits, one that doesn't involve the word "magic." But I don't have time to listen now. I also want to get the water recycling machine fixed before I go to bed tonight so I can start trying to fix the Pathfinder tomorrow. Even if this job is finally possible, it will take an extremely long time; so I have to put everything else in front of me aside for the time being.

Anyway, now it's time to wrap things up: Today is the worst day I've experienced on Mars since Sol 6. But the situation could have been much worse. As a result of our collaborative efforts, we safely rescued Starlight from the airlock and completed within a few hours repairs to the habitat that would have taken me days alone. The residential farm is finished, but we can still find a way to restore it - and at least some of the alfalfa will still be edible, although the taste of freeze-dried alfalfa is probably not flattering.

Mars’ move failed to defeat us today. Life will continue until the unknown tomorrow.

By the way, I taught Spitfire how to say "change extravehicular suit" in English. From now on, I decided to participate in their spacesuit drills.