AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 442
ARES III SOL 434
[09:13] HERMES: Morning, Watney. Lewis here. How’s your morning?
[09:30] WATNEY: Good morning, Lewis. Things are just delightful here. I’m enjoying actual food again and sharing bits of it with my friends, so only half my meals right now are potato. We’ve got everything loaded except the batteries at the cave, Sojourner, and Cherry Berry’s new little mascot, which is already sprouting roots. Have I mentioned lately that what they call ‘earth pony magic’ is an absolute miracle to a botanist’s eyes?
The only cloud right now is that Starlight has cut magic use completely. She intends to leave here with twenty-one normal magic batteries plus the fifteen jumbos all 100% full. So Dragonfly gets only three minutes a day of magic field time, Spitfire doesn’t get flying time anymore, and the rest of us have been told where we can stuff any special requests for spells.
Today we’re going out to the cave for an hour to check on things, and then I come back for last inspections and diagnostics on all the rover equipment and the gear from the Hab installed in the Whinnybago. It’s make-work for two weeks, really.
So we’re relaxing and enjoying our elbow room while we have it. On Sol 449 we shut down the Hab and transfer to the cave. On Sol 450 we do the final loading, and just before dawn on Sol 451 we begin about fifty sols of driving. Once we start out, we’ll be crammed cheek to flank at least until launch day. I doubt it’ll be much better once we get on Hermes.
[09:43] HERMES: I’m sorry to add an extra cloud, Mark, but NASA just spotted what looks like the first dust storm of the normal Mars storm season. It’s early, and it’s currently in far eastern Arabia Terra, but it appears normal so far. No destructive winds, no electricity, just more dust in the atmosphere than usual.
[09:55] WATNEY: Believe me, Commander, I’m not going to complain if Mars wants to be only normally malevolent for a change. Is the storm moving or growing?
[10:07] HERMES: Barely any movement- a few kilometers a day. Too early to tell if it’s strengthening. We’ll keep you updated. Once you turn off Pathfinder we’ll need you to use the alien radio at least once per day to let us know you’re all right and to receive new information as we have it.
[10:19] WATNEY: Roger. Once we’re rolling, the radio will be on from one hour after sunrise to one hour before sunset. We’ll make at least one transmission per day after we’ve camped for recharging.
By the way, since you bring up the Pathfinder link, Cherry Berry wants to know if there’s any update to the flight sims for the launch? She wants to train as much as possible before we leave, considering that we have free time.
[10:32] HERMES: I don’t know anything about that. Out of curiosity, though, how does everybody rate? I know you barely scored adequate on the most simple scenarios when we were training.
[10:43] WATNEY: Starlight never took the sim. Fireball completed the basic sims- control recognition, etc. Spitfire and Dragonfly have successfully completed the flight-rated sim package. Cherry Berry has completed all the standard and advanced missions.
[10:44] JPL: Sorry, Mark, but we’re still tweaking the MAV modification procedures, and probably will be right up until Sol 500. Also, we want to keep Pathfinder open for last-minute updates before your departure, so no more big data transfers.
Speaking of, be sure to bring all the video and high-res images you have on storage media. The MAV comms check out perfectly, and the triple-redundant system will provide plenty of bandwidth to send all of it to us long before launch.
[10:55] HERMES: Standard and advanced? How many do-overs on the advanced sims?
[11:06] WATNEY: No idea. Probably a lot. There were some days that Cherry lost her English after two hours of sitting in the MDV.
[11:09] WATNEY: Roger. In fact, since we have time, I’ll get some more footage of all the Hab systems and the cave. Beck, Vogel, sorry about this, but I’m clearing your personal drives for extra storage.
Quick question: do you want us to leave early? We could be on the road in four sols if you think an early start is justified.
[11:20] HERMES: We understand. Vogel says all his family pictures are backed up in his Hermes account anyway.
[11:32] JPL: No, keep to your schedule of Hab shutdown Sol 449, cave departure Sol 451. If the storm intensifies quickly we’ll just have you stay there and write off the Hermes intercept. If the storm remains as it is, we should be able to guide you around its leading edge with no trouble. But our worst nightmare is having it blow up into a 2018-level global storm with you stuck halfway between the cave and the MAV. We don’t think an earlier departure reduces the odds of that enough to make it worth the increased risk and discomfort.
[11:54] WATNEY: Well, that’s a cheery thought to end this conversation on. But I have another. Follow along with my logic, okay?
As we know, the US is signatory to international treaty that says nations can’t claim territory outside of Earth. That means the whole of Mars is legally international waters, except for temporary installations like the Hab or ships like the MAV. When we leave the Hab, we’ll be in international waters for the entire trip to Schiaparelli.
Now, there’s no one in the MAV to give us permission to board. Technically you could, Venk, but you’re millions of miles away. So in practical terms I would still be boarding and taking control of a ship in international waters, without the consent of the owner and against the original intent of those who launched her.
By my reasoning, that makes me a pirate. A space pirate! Arrrrr!
[12:05] HERMES: Watney, my commission in the United States Navy is still active. It would be my regrettable duty, under standing orders from the Department of the Navy, to arrest you for piracy. And if I’m not mistaken, those orders still allow for summary execution if communication with higher legal authority isn’t operational. I’m pretty sure the mount for Hermes’ cooling vanes counts as a yardarm…
[12:16] WATNEY: You take the fun out of everything, don’t you?
[12:18] JPL: I’d explain to you how stupid that idea is, Mark, but now I kind of want to see all the aliens wearing eyepatches and peg legs…
Can you even be hanged in zero-g?
Moment of silence for Opportunity
2003-2018
And now that we've brought up the worst-nightmare scenario on the chat, it's almost certain to happen.
9119063
Don't write Opportunity off just yet. The operators are still optimistic about it recovering once the dust clears.
The really interesting thing is that Equestria clearly wasn't a signatory on that document, and can quite lawfully claim all of Mars as their own (or at least the cave). This would (of course) necessitate Pinkie Pie to throw a "Welcome to Mars" party if anyone turned up there, which could be used as a way to actually locate Mars in inter-dimensional space. You just have to follow the pink pony!
9119060 With sufficient artificial acceleration, yes.
9119060
if the ship is under thrust then you have gravity of a sort and so be hanged
9119068
Nah, we'll get something worse.
That long stretch of clear warm skies still has me bloody suspicious...
9119079 Lewis sighed. "Well, the good news is that we rescued Watney and his alien friends. The bad news..." A certain missive from the Equestrians unrolled in front of her. "They've not only claimed Mars due to their and I quote, permanent habitat established with Equestrian vegetation, unquote, but they're charging us for littering. They want us to pick up our trash or they'll fine us."
9119060
Well the objective is to break the neck so slip on the noose and give a full force jump in the opposite direction while holding the feet. A bit complicated in micro- gravity to be sure so better to go with an old fashioned spacing or keel hauling sans space suit
Kris, you have your next fic already lined up.
Pony pirates. Get to it.
9119101 "Calm down, JPL. The fine for littering is apparently three lollipops. Now, the real problem is if we pay the fine we acknowledge their claim, and if we don't we start an inter-dimensional incident over littering."
On which sol does Mark shut down the Hab and start his journey in the novel? Does the film stay the same or change this, based on subtitles?
"write off the Hermes intercept" Does this mean they give up on being rescued and resign to die on Mars unless Equestria can arrive?
"When we leave the MAV" Do you mean the Hab?
9119101
Lewis is Melissa Lewis, a woman.
9119060 You can be hung in zero-g, but it’s weird and it takes even more time to die because there’s no gravity pulling down on your dead body.
9119060
I imagine you could hang someone, if you were creative about it. Like, say, spinning the noose like a centrifuge.
I love how you picked Cherry Berry to go on a voyage to space! She does seem like an adventure-y pony.
funny part is she'd actually be guilty of interfering with a international rescue effort and a first contact situation which are both high end war crimes.
the US navy has no legitimate authority in this situation do to a whole crap load of UN contingencies, Lewis would actually be doing worse then the piracy she'd be arresting mark for, therefore marks logic checks, hers doesn't.
9119144
The plan is if a Hermes intercept isn't possible to use the Sparkle Drive and for a direct return to Earth with the MAV. This is riskier and a much more cramped trip, so is the less desirable option. Just more so than dying or waiting for an Equestrian rescue mission. Mostly because all seven are showing signs of malnutrition and extended time in low gravity.
9119254
Oh right, I forgot about the Sparkle Drive bailout. All six of them plus the plant would cram into Amicitas? Or what's left of it?
9119101
9119113
There is a precedent. NASA was issued a fine for littering in Australia in 1974 when Skylab deorbited. Link.
9119263 That's not really a precedent. Australia was already established as its own country at the time, and NASA did drop a pile of stuff on it. Paying the fine only reinforces Australia as being the governing body of Australia. If there was littering on Mars by humans, under Equestrian ownership, them paying any fine would validate that they believe Mars to be owned by Equestria.
9119255
No, as I recall, the Sparkle Drive is to be attached to the MAV. The MAV gets them off Mars, and once in space, the Sparkle Drive would get them to Earth. That's the fallback plan, in case Hermes intercept is a bust.
9119294
Right, thanks for the reminder.
Now I want a short story where first generation space pirates and space navy are trying to execute their captives traditionally- the Navy because regulations and the pirates for fun (or the captain is crazy) and failing repeatedly to the point they comm each-other to discuss zero-G ragdoll physics because what they're trying isn't working out.
wait if magic come to earth are we going to see hoover cars! like F-zreo at high speed at mach 1!
9119060
You float by the neck until dead.
9119325
Could take a while, especially if he can reach food and water
I have this mental image of Mark floating around, unable to reach anything but what Martinez floats his way. And Martinez sending him nothing but potatoes and alfalfa
9119090
envisions a scene not unlike a hung body being spun around on a ceiling fan
9119079
Mars' worst nightmare: becoming pony territory.
I love it!
Shouldn't that be, 'when we leave the Hab'?
Also, if anyone can complete the advanced sims it's Cherry Berry. She is basically Yuri Gagarin, Gordon Cooper and Neil Armstrong, all rolled into one earth-pony package.
No need for a yardarm. While there likely aren’t any space barnacles, there ought to be plenty of dangerously sharp edges and pointy bits on the outside of Hermes to make keelhauling an option.
9119342
No need to envision it, here!
9119375
"Darlings, red is so last season. No, it simply won't do. Winter colors are in, so we're going to need the entire planet redone in dark pastels. Twilight, dear, could you help me hang up these curtains? Even a cave deserves to look fabulous!"
9119375
even better after the ponies claim the planet .... they award it to watney for services to pony kind .... he can rename it planet bob.
Now I'm trying to think up Pirate-y names for the crew. For starters, I got Cherry as Red Leg, since if she did have a peg leg, it would (naturally) be made out of cherry wood
9119060
It would be very difficult, but that's alright, they can walk the airlock instead
Mark Watney: space pirate.
Really has a certain ring to it, ya know?
Under Rules Of The Sea, wouldnt a MAV be Salvage? Given the origional use of it hasnt even occured yet and the program has been altered that much it might not be used otherwise now?
Then again, if its not exactly scrapped but in a similar situation, Mark can complain about not having Any Whiskey, never mind Galore?
I think if someone wanted to really troll Mark, theyd have a certain song secretly loaded onto the MAV for launch, to go with this Disney Theme Ride.
As The Bear Said.
This was lovely to see, the piracy suggestion was my favourite bit of the movie
So, it having been a while, does that mean the crew really got away with not causing another storm when they did the test launch? Or is that tied into what’s brewing now?
9119060 With sufficient artificial acceleration, yes.
9119144 In the book Mark starts the trip on Sol 449, exactly one hundred sols before the rendezvous. As for writing off the Hermes rendezvous, the reasoning there is that the cave is still growing food and thus can sustain the crew longer if necessary, but once they leave it their supplies of both food and electricity are critically limited. Without solar power to recharge they don't make it to Schiaparelli in time anyway, so if there's a reasonable possibiity of that NASA would rather just keep them where they'll be safe short-term while they think of a new long-term escape plan.
9119385 Good catch.
Can you please just make the storm as a normal one (by Mars terms)? Checkovs hub items are cool and all, but they get repetitive if overdone.
9119193
Interfering with a first contact scenario is an actual war crime? Interesting.
9119520
I think the result of the test launch was actually the unusually clear weather they had for a while? Not totally sure but that was what I understood. Maybe they could launch another one before they leave to give themselves some travel time.
Poor Beck and Vogel. Stuck in space, for way to long, and potentially months more. and now they have to do without at least a significant portion of their personal files, just so that NASA can have more drive space sooner. How about they bring whatever media they are storing this stuff on underway? Very few things beat sneakerware.
Or are they just gonna transcode their movie collection to 720p instead of 12k lossless (Or whatever they have). Maybe i could live with that.
Dragonfly the space pirateling!
Martian Pirates We!
9119060 Of course you can! "The Last Jedi" showed us you can drop bombs on another ship in space, so why not!
(God damn, that movie was awful...)
9120519 Watney's got their sneakerware (flash drives) and is deleting those. Beck and Vogel have backups on Hermes.
9120937
The bomb bays had artificial gravity. Sure, they wouldn't actually be "falling" anymore once they cleared the bay, but the bombs would still keep their momentum until they hit whatever they were "dropped" on.
The moment Mark gets to Hermes, he's summarily executed.
End of story, roll credits. Unless, you want to write about the international outrage that's bound to occur, and about what happens to the Equestrians and co.
...
That doesn't sound fun, the execution part.
I still wonder, what IS this 2018-level storm that has been referenced twice?