My Little Pony: My Little Pony The Martian

AMICITAS Mission Three – Mission Day 269

ARES 3 solar day 266

The team members put on their space suits and stepped into airlock No. 3, preparing to head to the cave to start a new day of important work. In the afternoons of the first two days, they carefully inspected the top of the chassis of the No. 1 rover and the lower surface of Amicitas, and removed most of the brackets and components. They then dug a hole deep enough for Mark to crawl under Rover 1 and let him reinstall the fasteners.

Today, the middle step will be carried out - placing Amicitas, or the wreckage of Amicitas, on the No. 267 rover, or the wreckage of the rover. All the work requires is three full magic batteries, a skilled unicorn, and a few bipeds that can push the hull into place while the unicorn takes on most of the weight and inertia. . After the spacecraft is in place, it is Mark's turn to hold the wrench and enter; the final connection will be completed before Sol at the latest, and then the mobile trailer can be hooked up and connected to the power supply and life support of the No. rover. system.

Of course, these efforts are just the starting point. The modification of the life-support system in the Amicitas cabin has not yet been completed - only the connectors have been installed on the pressure bulkhead that was once the habitation section of the spacecraft. After the life support system is fully installed, most of the solar arrays in the residential area will be moved from their original placement on the north side of the residential module to the racks on the top of Amicitas. The next thing to do is to rebuild the electrical system inside the aircraft, carry out the third round of cleaning in the cabin to reduce weight, and a variety of other problems. Then after all these tasks are completed, they will begin to modify the No. 2 rover.

In short, there are still a few weeks of work waiting for them in the future...but today they will usher in a milestone change, allowing Amicitas to complete the transformation from a dead spacecraft to a flexible trailer. Because of this, the team members' enthusiasm for work seems to be even higher today. As they discussed Thorin's death and the nature of the war, each one was also thinking about their role in the coming day.

Cherry Berry, the last one to leave the habitat, closed the airlock door behind her and typed in commands to start depressurizing the airlock. "But why didn't Thorin make peace from the beginning?" she expressed doubts. "If friends are more important than gold when he is dead, shouldn't they also be more important when he is alive?"

"The theme of this book is about greed and generosity," Mark replied. "Every villain is more or less selfish in some way. Thorin was seduced by greed, and he paid the price."

"Your statement is a bit oversimplified," Starlight Glimmer took over. "Thorin's death was not due to greed, but because he rushed directly into an army of goblins with only twelve other dwarves."

"At least they can finally be of some use," Fireball muttered as always, "ten alive. Being able to defeat many with less is considered a good warrior."

"But Beorn," Spitfire complained hurriedly, not even bothering to speak English, "he came to the rescue at the last moment? Are you kidding me? The only one who can really do this is Rainbow Dash..."

The air in the airlock is now very thin as the air pump continues to send air back into the habitation module, but it is still barely enough to carry sound. A slight pop caught everyone's attention, followed by a sharp, piercing burst of air. Everyone immediately lowered their heads and checked their space suits to see which one was the culprit.

"Oh, MD." Starlight Glimmer's voice was trembling, and then she added in English, "The life support system of my space suit has shut down in an emergency."

Mark jumped over the ponies and rushed to the inner hatch control panel, photographed the emergency override button, and then entered the command to repressurize. "Calm down," he said while operating, "don't move yet. Where is the hole?"

"It's at the patch," Starlight replied, "my upper arm." Mark followed the guide and found that the rudimentary patch formed by hardening of the black mucus that Dragonfly sprayed on the space suit almost half a year ago had broken into pieces. , the fallen fragments rustled on the ground in the airlock cabin.

"Okay...guy, okay, this problem is very serious," Mark took a long breath, "but fortunately it happened before the airlock was fully decompressed, not outdoors. This way we still have a chance to deal with it. .”

After another minute, the airlock was repressurized. The team members stepped back into the habitation module and quickly peeled off their spacesuits as soon as they entered the door. Spitfire and CherryBerry escort Starlight to the bed to calm down while Mark checks her space suit. The changeling slime that should have been strong and strong after drying was now brittle and brittle; every time he touched the patch, more fragments of the surface peeled off. The patch shattered, revealing a gaping hole that had been accidentally torn open when the previous habitation module leaked. In an irregular crack about five inches long, each of the five layers of fabric of the space suit was clearly visible.

"What should I do?" Fireball asked, "Can you fix it?"

"Maybe." Mark took this opportunity to take a moment to carefully examine the texture of each layer of the space suit. There was something that felt like rubber sandwiched between them - he remembered someone once telling him that these were also made from the mucus secreted by the bug horses. There is also a thin layer of metal-looking stuff inside, a thinner layer of mesh, and thick canvas lining both inside and outside. "I can use some canvas from the inflatable tent of the habitation module, add some resin, and put a patch here - both inside and outside, both to protect the starlight and to pay attention to the cracks. But the longer she uses this spacesuit, , the crack will gradually lengthen, and eventually the patch will also crack. I don’t want to take this risk.”

"Without a space suit, there's no way to EVA." Fireball said gloomily.

"I know that," Mark asked again, "But then again, aren't you an EVA expert? What do you think you should do if you want to repair the space suit?"

"Cool," Fireball replied bluntly, "Once the space suit is damaged, the mission is cancelled. Even if the space suit looks like it may leak, now you have to go home immediately. It needs to be checked before every EVA."

Mark was stunned after hearing this, "I remember the last time I saw you inspecting the space suit was..." After thinking about it, he couldn't remember the last time he saw anyone other than Tingting doing the pony space suit. When did you pass the complete inspection?

Fireball shook his head. "None of our space suits passed inspection," he said. "Not a single one was left behind. So what can we do?"

What should I do? "Okay," Mark decided, "this day came earlier than I thought, but it seems it's time to see how it works."

“What works well?”

Mark ignored Fireball's question, put Starlight's space suit on the workbench, and walked towards Starlight, who was standing up straight in a human posture and stretching out his front hooves to maintain balance and sit on the edge of the bunk. "Are you in the mood to try EVA again?" he asked.

"Uh, no problem," Starlight replied, "I was just a little scared." She shuddered as she said, "Well, it was actually quite scary just now. But I guess you know this feeling, right?" ?" She rolled her eyes, not the way a human would roll her eyes, but the facial twitching of a horse in extreme panic, "Feel the air rushing past the skin and flowing towards the damaged area, feel the space suit loosening as it loses pressure. Hanging on my body, I heard the alarm sound and knew that I was completely doomed this time.”

"Uh...no." Mark hesitated. "The antenna that pierced my space suit also hit me and knocked me to the ground. Under the double blow of the collision and sudden loss of pressure, I almost immediately I fainted. I actually don’t have much memory of this process. I just remember that when I woke up, my space suit’s oxygen concentration had exceeded 90% due to bloodletting - the bloodletting here refers to my carbon dioxide When the filter is full, the suit will release bad air and pump in fresh air."

"Oh." Xingguang stood up slightly on the bunk, "Tell me more about it."

"Okay," Mark continued, "I woke up to three different alarms. My nitrogen tank was empty, my oxygen reserves had dropped to critical levels, and my eyes were covered in high concentrations of gas in my space suit. The oxygen stung painfully. My own blood had gathered around the antenna stump and resealed the hole in the space suit. My consciousness was a little blurry at the time, but I quickly realized that if I couldn't return to the habitation module right away, , I’m dead.”

"But our suits came with emergency patches and some sort of valve. I pulled the antenna out - and you better believe it, I was in so much fucking pain - and I put the emergency patch on On the breach. It was just a small hole, so it was easy to cover it. Then I closed the valve to stop the leak, staggered back to the habitation cabin, entered the cabin, and enjoyed the normal air again."

Mark had begun telling the story while crouched, staring straight into the starry eyes; now he stood up, pulling aside his tattered space suit underwear to reveal a small, ugly scar on the upper part of his left hip. "Then I had to be a doctor to treat my own injuries," he continued. "In order to deal with the accident of the team doctors, we all received first aid training. We used disinfectant and had four stitches - I think this is better than being pricked by an antenna. It hurts more. At least I have an impression of these." He grinned and adjusted his clothes. "After everything was completed, I was terribly tired and sore all over. I was glad that I was still alive, but I didn't expect to live long. I found that the MAV had thrown away I was even more sad when I flew away." He smiled broadly, "Then you met me for the first time."

Starlight looked at her front hoof, which had been in an inflatable cast for weeks. "I can't imagine," she murmured, "being so traumatized, almost losing your life, and then being left completely helpless like that. It sounds..." She shuddered just to imagine the experience. .

"Fortunately, I'm not alone," Mark said with a relaxed attitude, "Now...do you feel better?"

"Maybe," Starlight said, "Then what do we do next?"

The original emergency plan had always been to borrow Johnson's spacesuit, because that spacesuit was the smallest and closest to the size of a pony. But now that the time had come, it was discovered that Starlight could not be stuffed in; her body was obviously much larger than Johnson's torso.

In the end, they ended up using the largest space suit abandoned by the Ares 3 mission, Vogel's space suit. Of course, the limbs are ridiculously long, but anyway, because of the huge difference in body anatomy between apes and equinoids, it would be impossible for Starlight to walk in a human space suit, so naturally it doesn't matter. Her torso is slightly thinner in diameter than Vogel's, but much shorter in length - which is a good thing, because without the extra room, the helmet wouldn't be able to accommodate the horns on Starlight's head anyway. .

Starlight Glimmer climbed into the suit, sealed it, and successfully pressurized it. In this regard, this plan is considered a success.

That's it, anything else is terrible.

"That's stupid," Starlight grumbled. "You have to carry me like a sandbag. I can barely see outside. I can't work outdoors dressed like this!"

"Of course not," Mark explained. "There's a spacesuit at Cave Farm that's in good condition but not in use. It'll be a little baggy for you, but at least it's designed for your body type."

"Dingting's space suit?" Berry was unhappy, "But what will she wear if she comes out?"

"She's going to fix this one," Mark walked over to the damaged spacesuit with its broken patches, "and we need her to get started soon. Because you guys will too," he pointed at the pile of spacesuits they'd taken off next to airlock three. "The boots and other necessities will need to be refurbished soon. Otherwise they will start to fall apart like this." He twisted the damaged patch on the starlight space suit and broke off a piece with a crisp sound. " I don’t think they’ll last much longer than this one.”

Transcript – Radio Communication – ESA Spacecraft AMICITAS ＜-＞ NASA Deep Space Communication Network

(Note: The message with the same content was sent to the ESA Maltimore Center via hydraulic telex with slight modifications.)

AMICITAS: Friendship calls to Houston. Friendship calls to Houston. We will be moving to the cave next solar day, here is the report. Repeat, Friendship calls Houston. We will be moving to the cave next solar day, here is the report. Repeat, Friendship calls Houston. We will be moving to the cave next solar day, here is the report.

The report begins. Starlight's spacesuit leaked in the airlock today. Without the intervention of Dragonfly, long-term repair cannot be achieved. We're using Vogel's spare space suit to transport Starlight to the cave. After this, Starlight will use Dragonfly's space suit. The backup space suit proved unable to adapt to the pony's anatomy.

We will spend the night in a cave tonight, trying to fill the cocoons of dragonflies with magical energy. We will use all, mind you, all existing batteries to power a magic field projection device until all energy is exhausted. According to our estimates, the current reserves can support operation for approximately fourteen hours. We hope this method will be enough to wake up the dragonfly so that work on maintaining the suit can begin.

Until Dragonfly wakes up, all work related to the Sirius project is suspended.

If the data transmission can be completed before 267:14 Sol 14 Habitat Time, we will contact via Pathfinder, otherwise we will still use radio communication. Repeat, contact will be restored at : residential zone time.

Friendship communication completed.