My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

"This kind of thing should never happen."

Venkat leaned over Mindy Parker's shoulder and tapped her computer screen with the end of his pen. At this moment, the screen was showing the direct consequences of the rupture of the living module the day before. That night, Mark modified the message he had previously piled with stones to: "Solar Day 88: Habitat module ruptured. Repaired. One crew member was injured. Food planting was hindered. Try to use Pathfinder to establish a communication connection." Now the entire NASA is Fully in post-incident analysis mode, Mindy leads the image analysis team, while Venkat has given himself the role of independent investigator.

Venkat quite likes his new role. Teddy wants their preliminary report by three o'clock this afternoon, which gives Venkat an opportunity to use his long-term scientific research training experience... and also gives him a good excuse to temporarily turn off his cell phone.

"What's wrong?" Mindy asked, "Is the air pressure not strong enough to lift the airlock?"

"That's not true." Venkat shook his head. "The air pressure in the habitation cabin is enough to drive the world's most deadly air cannon. If all the force of the escaping air is exerted on the airlock, the huge acceleration will be Just crush Watney and the white box movers into soup.”

Venkat tapped the screen again. "But the premise for this to happen is that the entire system is carefully designed for this, with a strong barrel, or at least a fixed pipe clamp. From the current situation, the airlock and canvas The anchoring system was still attached to the airlock. The surrounding canvas just ripped apart around it. We know that pressurized fluids will always seek the path of least resistance when escaping. It stands to reason that the escaping air would just tear the canvas apart , the airlock itself should remain in place and not be affected." He carefully studied the shape of the hole in the sagging canvas of the living cabin in the photo, "However, this time the canvas was neatly along the airlock. The outer contour tore open, accumulating enough air, and finally generated an acceleration of about twenty meters per square second. This was far from its full strength, but it was still much more violent than originally estimated. "

"It's not impossible." Mindy said.

"That's fine," Venkat admitted, "but even if we simulated this situation a million times it would never come out like this. I just can't believe it."

"Okay," Mindy said, "So what do we do now?"

"This problem has to be left to the engineering team to deal with." Venkat said, "After all, I am a physicist. But if Mark repairs the Pathfinder later and establishes a stable communication connection between us, obviously we will There will be a few things to do. We can tell him how to detect other damage to the habitat canvas and what to pay attention to. We can also let him alternate between using airlock two and three for each subsequent EVA. , in order to reduce the burden of the habitation module canvas."

At this time Venkat tapped the screen again. "Of course, this will be more helpful for future Ares 4/5 missions. We will spend many months retesting the connection between the habitat canvas and the airlock. We may need to redesign the airlock body, maybe replace it. The kind of stone anchors used to secure the habitable module to the ground. Although this won't help Mark, it may save the lives of astronauts during our future long-term missions." He stood up straight and looked over Mindy's shoulder. He stepped back and said, "Turn to the next picture."

Mindy advanced a few pages through a long list of images of residential areas. There are not many obvious changes in the next few still photos taken from different angles during the satellite flyby, but one of them captured a white hen walking towards the wreckage of the alien spacecraft near the habitation module. Another photo later captured three aliens - a tall boy and two other aliens in orange spacesuits - standing next to the exit airlock at the same time. "What's that red thing on Tall Boy's spacesuit?" Venkat asked, pointing to the photo.

"I can't tell," Mindy said. "The picture is only a few pixels in size. But if I had to guess, the red color is very similar to the color of our EVA space suit."

"Please turn to the next picture."

Mindy clicked the mouse and pulled out the next photo.

"What's that discoloration on the airlock?" Venkat asked.

"I don't know," Mindy said. "I noticed these photos when they were sent yesterday. But it's not like the satellite was malfunctioning. All the other photos taken by that satellite were normal."

Venkat pointed at the discoloration. "This small dot blocks the view, and it is impossible to see what is happening there." He said, "Is it possible that someone has hacked it? Is there interference from external forces?"

"As soon as the photo came in, it was directly displayed on the big screen on the wall." Mindy pointed to the main projection screen in the satellite communication room, "We all saw it at the same time. If anyone modified this photo , it should also be something done on the other side of the satellite."

"It's best to check the security situation with the IT department." Venkat ordered, "Next one."

The image on the display switches again.

"Great, we caught Mark!" Venkat said, "And the one he is carrying must be the white box mover. But who should be the orange one here?"

"There are not enough behavioral clues to tell the difference," Mindy said. "Leader and Wanderer look exactly the same from the track."

"So at some point after the airlock separated, one of them entered the airlock." Venkat muttered, "How did this happen?"

"Is there a problem?"

"It's a problem. We never got around to replacing those stupid safety glass helmets we used on Ares missions in time. When the airlock flew out, the impact was about the same as being hit by a semitrailer going 40 to 50 mph." It was almost a collision. There was no way Mark’s helmet could withstand such an impact. So when the airlock opened later, he would inevitably be exposed to the Martian atmosphere.”

"He looked like he was fine," Mindy said. "Maybe he was quick enough to open and close the airlock door before he got decompression sickness."

"Maybe." Venkat looked in disbelief, "But how did he do it? His message reported that someone was injured. Judging from the picture, it should be a white box mover. But we have a problem with this helmet. I've known about it for several years. But we just haven't been able to apply for replacement funding." He tapped the screen again, almost piercing the photo, "This is good, we will definitely get funding now! This is the kind of accident we’ve been trying to prevent with shatterproof helmets!”

"But we can't confirm that Mark's helmet was really damaged in this incident." Mindy pointed out, "The only thing we can confirm is that the living cabin was damaged. Mark and his four guests are fine, and Mark also guided They went through the habitation module restoration process.”

"But we can at least make some reasonable guesses." Venkat said, "For example, the red spot on the tall boy's space suit. You said before that it looked like the color of our EVA space suit. Then we might as well assume that it is true It's our space suit. So that means Mark's suit was damaged in some way. Maybe he patched it up temporarily to make it last until the aliens sent him a new suit. He pointed to the five unknown colored spots around the hatch in the airlock on the screen, "That's what I'll write in the report first. This is the most accurate guess we can get before we start testing."

"If Pathfinder can fix it, we can go directly to Mark," Mindy said.

"That's true." Venkat replied, "But judging from his recent luck, I can't vouch for this." He then compared the misfortune of the rupture of the living module with what he was wearing at the time of the accident. The luck of the space suit, said, "Do or die, it must be one or the other."

Mission Log – Solar Day 89

We are not doing any repair work today. What happened yesterday affected us much more than we realize.

I basically didn't sleep well last night. We have actually been repeatedly trained on how to repair the habitation module before, just to prevent similar incidents from happening. So I led my helpers through the step-by-step repair process, using spare Hab Canvas with new weatherstripping and resin materials for proper reinforcement. We also pressure-tested the repairs to ensure all possible leaks were eliminated. The current habitat has become extremely sturdy. But even so, I would still wake up in the middle of the night, broke out in a cold sweat, and always worried about another explosion.

But what woke me up this fourth time was not PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) or anything like that, but some kind of sobbing sound.

Berry's English has come a long way since Starlight and I set out on the road to find the Pathfinder, but she still only knows a little bit about it. I guess Starlight's enthusiasm for learning new vocabulary and correct grammar is spoiling me. But the two of us managed to have a long, calm conversation in the darkness of the predawn hours. She still blames herself for causing the accident by failing to do her duty to warn us of a possible leak. I tried to reassure her that this was just an accident, but she just wouldn't accept it.

Now the impression that Berry gives me is more and more like Lewis. I can't even imagine what Lewis is feeling right now. She must have thought that she killed me because she ordered me to be abandoned and evacuated. But no matter what Lewis thought, the thought in the mind of the alien pony in front of him should be roughly the same. I was sure that Lewis would not burst into tears in front of all of us; so Berry also chose to swallow her tears and wait until everyone fell asleep before releasing them alone. After experiencing the threat of almost losing Starlight and me, her heart could no longer bear it.

Eventually everyone woke up one by one. And it was almost almost time to wake up, so I decided to have everyone gather next to the Starlight bed to hold a post-accident impromptu inquiry meeting. I think this is the best way to let Berry free herself from her inner self-blame and help everyone regain the motivation to move forward.

Most of the dialogue is in English. Starlight can already speak fluently, and Dragonfly is not much worse than her; but the remaining three can still only speak words one by one, mixed with sentences from Lewis's TV shows to communicate from time to time. Occasionally our conversation would be interrupted suddenly, and Starlight or Dragonfly would step in to explain in a flurry of pony language.

The first part of the inquiry mainly reviewed what I learned yesterday, but also enriched some details. Berry still insists that they knew there was a problem with the No. 1 airlock several days ago. However, other members of her team disagreed. They agreed that they had found no clear signs at all. Feihuo had indeed had strong suspicions in the past two weeks, but he had been unable to find any evidence. Fireball insists that they only decided to deactivate airlock one out of "an abundance of caution" - that's not what he said, I added. Tingting has been repeatedly emphasizing that none of them could predict the occurrence of this accident in advance.

They were not wrong either. The seal where the habitat canvas connects to the airlock will be covered on one side by a flange holding the canvas in place, and on the other side it will be covered by a locking liner. As a result, a small crack may form under the cover of these two pieces of metal, completely invisible. Once in the clamped state, the gasket is theoretically no longer allowed to be removed - the airtightness needs to be maintained here, so why try to weaken a carefully designed seal? At the same time, the surrounding metal and resin will slow down the possible air leakage to the greatest extent, so that it will not reach the level that can trigger the air conditioner alarm.

So I told them: If I was the only one present at that time, I would not have been able to predict that this accident was coming. What happened this time was just bad luck. Just like the disaster that trapped me here was pure bad luck. I don't think Berry will buy it after hearing this. I guess it will take time to slowly accept it. What's worse is that the rest of her team thinks so too.

Anyway, I know this has been long enough. I changed the subject and asked a few other questions about how Berry reacted after the incident. And the stories they told were mostly the same. At that time, Berry took control of the situation almost immediately. She organized the team within seconds and combined all their available resources to implement a solid plan to rescue Starlight and me from the damaged airlock. As a commander, she can already be said to be the most benevolent and righteous person.

But I still don't think we can really convince Berry. But I think she would feel better if she could hear our heartfelt words. By the time we had breakfast, her mood seemed to have improved a lot. She even gave me a portion of her food today. It looks like a fried burrito; but instead of meat, it's filled with cherries and cheese. It’s far from truly delicious—after all, this burrito isn’t the kind of food that’s meant to be sealed in a vacuum package for long-term storage—but it tastes pretty good. I originally planned to give half of it back to her, but she insisted that I eat it all.

After the meeting, each horse seemed less than happy to go to work. So as a NASA base personnel senior staff member and the King of Mars, I declared the day off for the entire day. No one has to work anymore. I took out all the remaining computers and started an online game of Hearts. (This game is pre-installed on the operating system. In addition, you can play card games and Minesweeper.) After that, we watched the TV series and followed several episodes of Sanford and Sons. The ponies' English is barely adequate for the show, but sometimes they have to ask Starlight to translate a few sentences, or ask me to explain a series of issues related to race.

So we spent a completely uneventful day. I hope we all have a good night's sleep tonight, because tomorrow we will definitely have to get back to work. Moreover, Xiaoma and the others will run out of their food pack reserves tomorrow.

But I actually gained something today. I finally figured out what Ting Ting was all about. It started with Fireball asking Dragonfly if she wanted another bag of his food for lunch. I was almost getting used to that bug not eating all the time, so I asked subconsciously. Soon I found that Tingting was reluctant to talk about this topic, but this time I insisted on letting her give a positive answer, so I got the answer I wanted.

It turns out that dragonflies are actually the most amazing creatures in this entire habitat. She doesn't need to eat real food, except for a few nibbles here and there and a drink of water. In fact she feeds on - you won't believe it - she feeds on love. Now I kind of understand why she always acts like a puppy around me: she thinks she has to do this to get enough food.

However, Dragonfly not only looks like an emotional alien from Star Trek, but it is also a 3D printer that can look real. NASA did consider sending a printer to meet the mission's needs, similar to the one they use on the space station, but then decided that it was not worth wasting precious cargo capacity for a limited use in the mission. Okay, so I don’t have a 3D printer here, but obviously as long as I give the dragonfly an appropriate amount of food as raw materials, I will have an unlimited supply of various slime and gum materials on hand, everything you need.

We spent a long time chatting in the afternoon, and the dragonfly stayed close to me almost the entire time. The strange thing is that in the end, it was Tingting who took the initiative to push me away. I initially thought it was because of the smell on me - I hadn't been able to fix the water recycling machine, so the shower didn't work either. But even if Tingting and everyone agree that it is indeed necessary for me to take good care of my personal hygiene, this is not the real reason why she wants to keep a distance from me.

Obviously, it would be quite dangerous for a insect horse to absorb too much emotion from a certain host too quickly, and Dragonfly didn't want to knock me down because of its gluttony. She also said that if I find myself feeling tired or in a state of “not wanting to do anything” (feeling depressed), I need to be more vigilant. And if I find that I can't think straight at all and am always thinking about her, that's a wake-up call.

All right. So Dragonfly is a mind-catcher, and the ponies have now learned the English word for "parasite." Having said that, I found myself thinking about teaching all the time.

But instead of worrying about a giant Euglena that figured out how to use tools, I knew where I should be spending my energy instead of fighting the cold, hostile, dehumanizing planet outside the canvas dome. To be honest, I really want a dragonfly pillow, so that I can hold it like a teddy bear and fall asleep every day when I think about how long it is until the next time we die suddenly due to the damaged canvas of the habitation module.

Then I thought about it, why not get a flying fire pillow. Dragonfly might be able to fix the leak, but Spitfire could also give me a warning in advance.

Ha, I'm not kidding! If I could copyright all their images and license them to toy companies for production, I could become a billionaire overnight. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a cute alien pillow in your hand?

Anyway, we are all tired now and it's time to go to bed. I'll fix the water recycling machine tomorrow, and then it's time to start figuring out how to wake up the Pathfinder. Now…good night and sweet dreams.