My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 92

ARES 3 solar day 94

[11:18] JPL: Mark, this is Venkate Kapol. We have been following the movements of you and your extraterrestrial friends since Sol 8. Know that the whole world is cheering for you right now. Congratulations on successfully resurrecting the Pathfinder probe, and congratulations on your luck in escaping from death in a residential module leakage accident. We are now working on next rescue plans. Hermes will undergo emergency modifications and redesign for this specific mission, then carry a minimum crew to set off for you in the next Hohmann transfer window, and use the MAV of Ares 4 to carry all six of you back to Earth. At the same time, we are also preparing to provide you with food supplies.

[11:29] Watney: I'm glad to hear that. I don't want to sleep in a coffin. However, I need to clarify that none of this is the responsibility of my team members. My current situation is simply the result of a series of accidents. How did they react when they found out I was alive? Just saying hello here, "Hi, Mom!"

[11:41] JPL: Of course we want to know everything about your guests. After all, you know, now you are the first human being officially certified to have had contact with extraterrestrial life. But judging from the current situation, we must first ensure your basic survival needs. Tell us about those crops of yours. According to our previous estimated data, those food packages of yours can probably last you until about 300 solar days by yourself if you limit the supply to three-quarters of each meal. Judging from your current daily activity level, we do not recommend that you further reduce the amount of food you eat. Besides, we also know that you leave all your vegetarian food for the guests. How's the rest of your food stash doing? Do those crops you grow have any impact on them? As for your team members, they were actually the first ones to discover that you were still alive. To observe your activities, we kept them in orbit around Mars for more than a week. But we couldn't contact you by radio at that time, so we had to let them go back first. They are not willing to leave you, they are really forced by the situation.

[11:54] Watney: Those aliens are from a parallel Earth, at least presumably. Three of them were some kind of equid. They also carried large quantities of alfalfa seeds, which were used as breakfast cereals and were capable of sprouting. We have managed to convert a cave into an airtight, well-heated and well-lit greenhouse, with four hundred square meters of fertilized land planted with alfalfa and two hundred square meters left with potatoes. The first harvest is expected to arrive around 110 sol, but most of the potatoes produced will be used to replenish seed stocks, as well as restore the 120 square meters of cultivated land in the habitation module and inflatable tent. It is expected that the hay harvested in the first round will be enough to last us until the next harvest, or even twice as much; but after the explosion of the living module, I dare not make any predictions, lest I set a flag for myself. Besides, what does TM have to do with it? By the way, if something happens to crops, the vegetarian food left for aliens will probably be exhausted by 308 solar days. My food will be consumed on solar day .

[12:08] JPL: We will send a botanist to ask some detailed questions and review your work. Your lives are still in danger, so we don't want to take any more risks. We also understand your reluctance to make predictions, but no matter what, having data is better than none. Are all your guests really pure herbivores? In addition, please pay attention to your words. Everything you type is now broadcast live around the world.

[12:21] Watney: Look! There are tits here! (.Y.)

[12:28] HERMES: Mark, I can see that you haven’t changed at all. This is Lewis.

[12:35] Watney: Long time no see! It's such a pleasure to connect with you! How is everyone doing?

[12:43] HERMES: We're all good. I just hope we can come back to save you before. It is heart-wrenching to be so close and watch what is happening in front of you and to be unable to do anything about it.

[12:51] Watney: But you did your best at the time. With my life monitor disabled, your main goal is to make sure everyone else gets off the planet safely. You made the right choice. Now as long as all of you can get me home safely, I'll be satisfied.

[12:59] HERMES: Mark, this is Chris Baker. How are you doing?

[13:05] JPL: Please, Mark, please watch your words. Also, Hermes, a reminder, this conversation is not a dedicated line.

[13:08] Watney: I feel pretty good, just about ten pounds lighter. Now I take a regular dose of vitamin supplements every day in addition to meals. If I eat the redundant supplies sent by NASA by myself, it will probably be enough for five years. But I did consider letting the aliens eat some, especially after they started to eat alfalfa as their staple food.

[13:16] HERMES: You can try to reduce your activity a little bit. We have adapted to a daily diet of calories, mainly because the large amount of physical work on the schedule fully consumes the calories in the food. However, maintaining the original activity plan when eating in a restricted manner may run the risk of consuming too much of the body's energy reserves, making it susceptible to injury and disease. Also, is one of your friends injured?

[13:24] Watney: Right. It was one of the ponies. Her name is Starlight or something; we've never been able to find an English translation for her last name. Her right front leg was fractured—roughly where the humerus would be in a human body. The leg is now splinted, and she will have to stay in bed until at least 110 sol.

[13:25] JPL: By the way, Mark, we'd also like to get a detailed description of alien anatomy when the situation permits.

[13:32] HERMES: Mark, this is not a good situation. A fracture of the humerus has a host of complications. In addition, assuming her body structure is similar to that of humans, she will also need to maintain moderate exercise, otherwise she will be at risk of developing bedsores. Do you know whether the injury is an atraumatic fracture or an open fracture? Did the broken bone puncture the skin? Did you use the inflatable plastic parts from the medical kit? Its fixing effect is much better than that of splints.

[13:38] Watney: I have a bunch of photos here, and my journals. (Warning: I often have a bad mouth. And I can be a bit silly sometimes.) But you guys have to at least find me a way to transmit them.

[13:40] Watney: That sucks. I completely forgot about this. I'll go talk to Spitfire - she's the medic on their team - and see if I can use it. The fracture looks non-invasive and closed from the outside, but it feels very painful. She couldn't move her leg at all, but she still had sensation in the lower limb, so the nerves were probably not damaged.

[13:42] Watney: Okay, guys, it's almost two hours until lunch, and I've been in this crappy car all day. I'm very happy to be able to communicate with you today, but I think I have to leave it for now. You have to help me figure out a way for me to build a new antenna for the habitation module and use the rover as a relay so that I can transfer the conversation to the computer indoors. In addition, the problem of sending attachments (photos, videos, etc.) should be solved as soon as possible.

[13:50] HERMES: Lewis again. Pay attention to safety. When we all return to Earth, I'll buy you a beer. Hermes finished the call.

[13:51] JPL: Our best programmers are trying to figure this out right now. But I still have to warn you, the quality of our communication bandwidth is very poor, and the situation will get worse as Hermes gets closer to the earth. The video is completely useless, and you may have to compress the image files to less than 500KB each. Correction - each is less than 200KB. In short, the smaller the better.

[13:54] JPL: Yeah. Got it, Mark. Let's go get something to eat first. Tomorrow we will ask you how much is left in the communication system in your residential area, so that we can probably find a way to temporarily build a relay antenna. Additionally, we have some questions here about the alien spacecraft's communication system. You can prepare these contents before tomorrow. Kapol finished the call.

[14:07] Watney: Your request for lunch has been received and I’m happy to oblige. Watney finished the call.