My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

"This was a tough call," Teddy said at the beginning of the meeting. "I decided to abandon the Rich Purnell maneuver. We will continue to prepare for the launch of Sleipnir IV and continue to prepare for Sleipnir. Neil 3 will be refueled once. Hermes will return to Earth to dock with the space station and undergo modifications."

Everyone here was silent. Mitch Henderson leaned on the edge of the sofa and clenched his fists from time to time, Anne Montrose was taking notes on her phone, and Bruce Wu was still slumped in his chair as usual.

Venkat is personally a little disappointed with the decision. Indeed, Rich Purnell's plan is risky, but letting Mark Watney and those aliens continue to stay on Mars is even more dangerous. "I don't mean to talk too much," he asked, "but can you tell me your reasons?"

Teddy sighed. "It's mainly a decision I made after weighing the risks. Currently, the six of us on Mars still have a stable source of food, and more food supplies are on the way; if something goes wrong, they also have multiple shelters. It's available; it's extremely limited, but we can at least be able to communicate with them; even if these circumstances could change unexpectedly at any time, they are not in immediate danger for now."

"However, Rich Purnell's maneuver plan will directly put all the Hermes crew members in danger. Some components may be damaged due to not being properly repaired; propeller failure may cause the orbit change maneuver to fail, leaving them Trapped in space; radiation shielding or heat exchange systems could fail on approach to the sun, killing the entire crew; and if the resupply mission fails, they will starve to death, and our rescue targets will not escape the same fate."

"In addition, the success of this plan completely depends on the Sparkling Engine. Even for Pony and the others, this is just an experimental propulsion system. We know nothing about it, and even it can It’s still unknown whether it can operate in our universe.”

"Rich Purnell's theory is fine," Mitchell fumed, "and the report sent by Watney also mentioned that Starlight Glimmer has used teleportation many times, so obviously the Flash Engine can run in our universe. .”

"But this will still increase unnecessary risks." Teddy still shook his head, "If Hermes' orbit does not enter near the sun, or Watney's food supplies are in danger, or the Sleipnir 2 mission If it fails, the situation may be different. And I also understand that the situation may change in the future. When the situation becomes urgent to a certain extent, Rich Purnell's maneuver may actually be the best policy; but considering the current situation between Watney and Alien Our friends have no worries about food and accommodation, and can communicate with us every day. Even if there is a chance that the rescue can be completed seven months ahead of schedule, I have no reason to let the other five people enter danger again."

"One thing you haven't considered," Mitchell's voice was slightly hoarse, "It is true that Watney and the others have no worries about food and accommodation on Mars now, and they can communicate with us every day, but the point is that they are on Mars, who Knowing what tricks this planet will play next will make them dizzy."

"That's true." Teddy readily admitted, "But the environment in space is equally dangerous, and the situation is not much better; and the known risks of Rich Purnell's maneuver have exceeded the risk of continuing to survive on Mars. It’s clear which risks are better and which are worse.”

"Leave aside other aspects for now, did you ask for the opinions of the team members when you made this decision?!" Miche's words began to rattle, "The extensive training we have prepared for them over the years is to enable the smooth execution of the mission. . They have now become top experts in understanding and dealing with various risks. Don’t they have the ability to weigh the risks of Hermes and Mars?!”

Teddy just shook his head, "Do you need to guess what they will choose?" he said, "No matter how big the risk is, they will definitely not refuse. The reply they give will inevitably be motivated. But in We have to have someone here who is responsible for keeping things tight, and that responsibility ultimately falls on my shoulders.”

"Whether you do it or not should ultimately depend on their wishes," Mitchell insisted, "and you didn't even fulfill your obligation to inform them."

"In any case, the final decision is always in my hands." Teddy replied, "But having said that, we have no intention of completely abandoning Purnell's plan. I still hope that we can build a new MAV in time to land in Ares 3 location, but if we were to let Mark travel overland to Schiaparelli to use the Ares 4 mission MAV, it would have allowed Hermes to leave two months earlier. Bruce, Venkat, your team needs to start working on the rover modifications Plan; in addition, in order to safely deliver all six of them to their destination, food supplies must be prepared during the journey and within fifty days after arriving at the venue."

"Once we complete the refueling, we can redirect Sleipnir 3 to Schiaparelli for landing." Bruce responded, "This way we don't have to worry about food supply at the end of the journey."

After hearing this, Teddy still shook his head, "The risk is still too great." He analyzed the pros and cons of the situation, "As long as Mark stays where he is now, he can maintain food cultivation before departure, but once he leaves It is equivalent to directly giving up this food source. If he only carries the food supplies needed for the journey, there will be no buffer room if he fails to get food at the destination, which is completely unacceptable." He finally concluded, "The food supplies will still be sent to Asidaria as originally planned, leaving Mark to handle them on his own."

As the discussion began to delve into the details of modifying the two Ares rovers for this long journey of more than 3,000 kilometers, Venkat also took a moment to observe the figure sitting on the sofa in the office. A stout colleague. Mitch's face looked a little ferocious at the moment - giving the impression that he was about to chew a galvanized iron nail. But the point is that he is not only angry, but also thinking crazily about something in his rage. Maybe there was a perfect storm brewing in his mind.

After considering it carefully for a while, Venkat decided to keep silent about it and ignore what he had just seen. Then it happened to be his turn to lead the discussion. What was brewing behind Mitchell's wide-eyed glare was completely forgotten by Venkat.

However, after the meeting, Mitch and Venkat walked out of the office together. Watching the door of Teddy's office close, Mitch immediately said: "He has forgotten how urgent our situation is. The explosion of the residential module is already a thing of the past for him."

"He was worried that Hermes might be the one responsible for the explosion," Venkat replied. "His job is not easy either."

"So you are planning to side with him?" Miche changed the topic.

"I think both sides are reasonable." Venkat replied, "And in this situation where the outcome can be guessed, I really won't ask the opinions of the Hermes team members. But don't rush to conclusions yet. I don’t think I agree with what he did.”

"Then you plan to choose Rich Purnell's plan?" Mitchell asked again.

"I don't know," Venkat replied, "I do want to do it, but if I become the director of NASA and Teddy is just the leader of the Ares project, the situation may be different."

"Can you stop rambling? Can you please speak calmly and give me a direct answer?"

Venkat stopped and thought for a while, and finally replied: "I think Hermes can complete this mission without experiencing serious danger. At the same time, I also agree that it is us who want Mark and his friends to leave Mars as soon as possible. The top priority. But my only concern is getting them all safely to Schiaparelli - not just Mark and the ponies, but also the food they need, and all the necessary equipment to modify the MAV .This is the real challenge, but I believe we can always do it."

Then he continued to move forward and said: "So in general, I agree, we should be able to choose this option. But the decision-making power is not in our hands."

"You're so damn right," Mitchell continued, "Melissa Lewis should have made the decision. Considering the special circumstances of this mission, Watney and Cherry Berry should also have made the decision. right."

"I can't say it so absolutely." Venkat added, "It's definitely impossible for me to order Lewis to stay in space for another year and a half, and it's even more unthinkable to give an order to Berry and his team. I think so. But the initial decision-making authority is a completely different topic. Who decides whether the risks of a new mission are within the acceptable range for us? That decision can only be made by us, Mitch. Here, us……"

"Why can't you understand?!" Mitch roared and passed Venkat, striding towards the stairs.

Venkat was still waiting for the elevator quietly. There were quite a few floors passed by as he walked from Teddy Sanders' office to the ground floor. He just hoped that Mitch could calm down as soon as possible during this long time on the stairs and not do anything that they would regret in the future. silly things.

Mission Log – Solar Day 183

We didn't watch much TV tonight because I, the guests, were busy all night debating whether the Elements of Harmony would work on Dolores Umbridge.

Since readers can most likely find a copy of Harry Potter on their own, I won’t go into much background on this series of works here; and the Elements of Harmony are a series of magical artifacts that have the ability to eliminate the evil of the target object. The ability of strength. Starlight Glimmer describes them as "a magical energy of friendship created by the emotional bonds of a group of ponies who are very close to each other", and Dragonfly describes them as a "rainbow magic sledgehammer". They have been used to save ponies' homes on at least three occasions.

Most of the discussion was conducted in English, but towards the end of the discussion Spitfire and Fireball simply couldn't bear the staccato conversation and switched back to pony language. Both Berry and Spitfire insist that the Elements of Harmony (hereinafter referred to as "elements") have the ability to eliminate Umbridge's cruel bitch ability, while Dragonfly and Fireball claim that "bitch" is Umbridge's default attribute. One, the elements can only banish her to the moon or directly turn her to stone.

Starlight stayed out of the discussion for most of the time, seeming uncomfortable with the whole topic. When I asked her why, she just mentioned something about herself being a "Umbridge who is reforming her evil ways", and then refused to communicate further.

This is a bit strange. If I were to choose a guest who has the greatest contrast with Umbridge, it would be...well, the first one to bear the brunt should be Berry, because her scheming is almost on the same level as a puppy; but Starlight No matter what, it is at least second place. I just can't imagine her being a perpetrator. It may take her a while to disarm, but I'll ask her again when I get the chance.

Also, by the way, I noticed this morning that I only had three bacon breakfast wraps left. This is naturally not a good thing, but it gave me some inspiration...