AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 82
ARES III SOL 84
“There it is.”
Fireball looked up from the section of landing strut he’d brought in the previous day. The storm they’d crash-landed into had ripped it off of Mark’s lander and carried it to the foot of the crater rim northwest of the Hab. It, along with a dozen antenna fragments and other odds and ends, had been the product of a coordinated salvage sweep led by Cherry Berry the day before. Dragonfly had pronounced it non-repairable, and so Fireball was left to carefully disassemble it into its hardware and scrap metal. “There what is?” he asked.
“Didn’t you notice just now?” Spitfire asked. “When the airlock was being pumped out?”
“What, do Cherry Berry and Dragonfly want back in?” Fireball asked.
“No!” Spitfire said. “The air current changed in the hab just now! And when the airlock was empty, it changed back!”
Fireball shrugged. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t feel a thing.”
“Ugh!” Spitfire waved a hoof at Airlock 1. “I’ve been wondering for days what kept bothering me, but now I know! There’s been something wrong in here, and it’s the air currents!”
Fireball spread his tiny wings and flapped them rapidly. His skinny torso stretched slightly, but his feet didn’t leave the ground. He stopped flapping and said, “I don’t feel much difference. Are you sure about this?”
Spitfire nodded. “Now I am,” she said. “I wasn’t before, but now I am. Now we just have to track down what’s changing the air currents in here.”
Fireball sighed and pushed his stool away from the worktable, leaving new furrows in the all-pervasive soil floor. “Okay,” he said. “How strong a change are we talking about? From what direction?”
“It’s just barely there,” Spitfire said. “Not enough to move a dropped feather. But I could feel it.”
“Blockage in the air ducts?” Fireball suggested. “Maybe there’s dust or something in the atmospheric regulator?”
“Hmmmm,” Spitfire thought. “I don’t think so. It feels like it’s coming… coming from…” The pegasus spread her own wings and took flight. She still had to flap her wings hard constantly to stay aloft, but she had a bit more control now, looking less like a frightened chicken than she had on their first day here. After two struggling loops of the Hab interior she landed where she’d been. “Shoot! I can’t tell where it’s coming from!” she said. “My flapping swamps it out!”
Fireball walked carefully over the dirt, through the rows of starter plants and over the ridges of not-yet-sprouted potatoes, to where Spitfire stood. “Hold your breath,” he said, and then he concentrated on his sinuses, forcing his dragonflame through them just so…
A thin gray stream of smoke wafted from his nostrils. It drifted slowly in the air, spreading thinly, until it got sucked up by one of the atmospheric regulator’s nine intakes. Spitfire studied the smoke, moving carefully around the edges of the slow plume, before shaking her head. “It’s no good,” she said. “I can’t see it. But I can still feel it.”
Fireball shrugged and let his flame lapse. The smoke stopped, and in a few moments the atmospheric regulator filters sucked it away.
“You don’t believe me, do you?” Spitfire asked sullenly.
“It’s not a matter of believing you,” Fireball said. “I just don’t know what to do about it.”
“But… but… nngh!” Spitfire stamped the dirt with one hoof. “Every instinct I have is telling me that something’s wrong!”
“Good,” Fireball said quietly.
“What?!” Spitfire was in the dragon’s face in a heartbeat, wings flapping like mad to maintain an unsteady hover. “What *gasp* d’ya mean *wheeze* by that?” she panted.
Fireball carefully put a clawed hand on her head and pushed her back to the ground. “My instincts always tell me everything is fine,” he said. “I try to ignore ‘em. But if your instincts are telling you something is wrong, listen.” He smiled a little and added, “I trust your instincts a lot more than I trust mine.”
Spitfire, wings folded again, gave this a little thought. Then she trotted to the suit storage area, plopped her helmet onto her head, and said, “Cherry Berry, this is Spitfire.”
“Go ahead, Spitfire,” Cherry’s voice replied over the suit comms.
“When you and Dragonfly come back from the cave,” she said, “could you use Airlock 3 to re-enter? The one by the ship, I mean?”
“Um… sure, Spitfire,” Cherry answered, her voice full of confusion. “Do you want us back now? We’ve barely left the base.”
“Negative,” Spitfire said. “I’ll explain when you get back. But for now just humor me, all right?”
“I keep trying,” Dragonfly cut in, “but you never laugh.”
“Not funny, Dragonfly.” Cherry Berry cleared her throat and said more loudly into the comms, “Understood, Spitfire. We’ll use the back door coming home. See you at lunchtime.”
“Roger that,” Spitfire replied. “Spitfire out.” She replaced her helmet on her suit. “That should do it for-“
A brief hissing sound came from the direction of Airlock 1. In a couple of seconds it was over, and the sounds of Mark’s base machinery echoed unimpeded inside the Hab.
“… now…” she finished.
“Great,” Fireball muttered. “I guess we have a haunted airlock now.” Shaking his head, he walked back to the landing strut. Undoing nuts and bolts, at least, he understood.
“What do you suppose that was about?” Dragonfly asked.
“No clue,” Cherry said. “But she sure- hey, look at that.”
Dragonfly turned on her hooves to watch. “Aw, it’s just a dust-devil,” she said. “We have those all the time back at the hive.”
The two astromares from Changeling Space Program watched anyway as the small, slender whirlwind, visible only from its cargo of light fine dust and its effects on the dusty soil underneath, shimmied and twisted its way towards the Hab, sucked into the microclimate generated by the inflatable base’s waste heat. The closer it got to the Hab, the faster it moved towards it, until it practically collapsed, dropping its load of silt almost directly on top of Airlock 1.
For the briefest moment, the canvas rippled, and then everything was still once more.
With the show over, earth pony and changeling turned again and resumed their hike to the cave farm.
Should this feel ominous? This feels like it should... Airlocks should not hiss. Not unless there's a snake in it.
8738001 The hiss was the dust from the collapsing dust devil hitting the side of the Hab.
At some point, I'm going to have to get my hands on a copy of The Martian and read it.
I should also probably watch the movie too. Probably before reading the book so I can appreciate the film for what it is, rather than what I think it could have been.
Hope the con is going well for you! Come back with an empty van and full wallet!
That was a nice moment between Spitfire and Fireball. Cool that Spitfire seems to be noticing the Hab breach before it's a big problem. Mars flinging a dust devil specifically at the airlock that's breaking is ominous... It's building up enough power and hatred to start actually flinging stuff at specific weaknesses. (Or at least that's my hypothesis.)
hiss.... hisss.... mars sneks... hiss...
8738001
Airlocks should not make any noise other than the ones they make when you enter/exit.
Anything else is worthy of a mission scrub, because the mandatory hole that keeps you from death is making funny noises, and you should be super concerned. Doubly so if you cannot mission scrub, and your life depends on it not doing weird things.
Chekhov! Where did you leave your gun?
Anyone else finding the chapter buffer to be a dramatic part of this story in and of itself?
8738032
Here's a link to the free version
http://misc.bahamuttone.net/The%20Martian%20-%20Andy%20Weir.pdf
I just had this image in my head of the personification of Mars attacking them like sandstorm Imhotep in The Mummy. I'm kind of hoping something like that happens in the climax of this story now.
I had thought reading this that Airlock 1 had just outright failed, but that it deflated in the space within the airlock rather than tearing off the Hab behind the airlock.
The dust devil is interesting because it could be due to the Hab heat creating an updraft that draws wind towards the Hab. Could also be that Mars has enough magic to fling small things at them.
They now have warning the airlock is about to fail though, so they can take precautions. Pegasus weather senses are quite good.
8738055
Yes.
If you need an emergency, just have an equestrian suit failure at the hooves. They've been walking around without maintenance for a very long time, and those outfits were never intended for long wear.
I have the oddest feeling that Mars is now actively conspiring against them.
8738124
The cave provides about 4x the food supply that the Hab does, and twice as much as they need by itself. It's far more important to their survival than the Hab. Really the only significant thing it provides right now is electronics for entertainment and cooking.
The toilet isn't too helpful as they're using their waste to fertilize their crops. The space is smaller than the cave. The water recycler is helpful in keeping their total water usage down, but with the ponies life support system they don't strictly need it. Likewise with the oxygenator that he turned off completely.
If the hab explodes the main risk is that a 1 minute suit up time is still too slow for the catastrophic failure Watney suffered. So they could die immediately. If they survive that then they can probably salvage the electronics from the hab and relocate it all inside the cave. Rely on the relayed light to power the solar panels to run the TV and microwave. Though any LCDs would be completely destroyed the rest of the computers should be fine. Maybe NASA will have vacuum hardened at least some of the monitors?
Amusingly a microwave should work even in hard vacuum, and survive exposure just fine.
8738072
Yes! But only if Cherry doesn't die when her biplane made of salvaged rocket parts crashes.
8738066
Woohoo!
Still gotta watch the movie first...
8738153
I'd recommend reading the book first but to each his own. This is more done in the spirit of the book, and Kris really nailed it. The style of it is close enough that it's almost like the original author (Andy Weir) decided to take up pony fanfiction.
rip everyone
mars is so emo even the sand hates everything
am more worry about there mental health if anything else, the guy is lucky he got the dragon bug and ponies there with him but study of shown even for years at a time can make problems down the line.
i can tell already that in a 2 or 3 years they're going to suffer some kind of PTSD of living on a world where death can come out of tine air. hell if not for him no longer being alone he would have suffered PTSD in the 1st year and panic attacks and many more.
...... oh god plz they won't go to a ponit where they have a ball with a face on it and calling it Wilson
8738005
Does dragonfly still have a pretty big love problem? Because if so she might crack....
Yes... More chapters horse word slave... We hunger...
But seriously I hope you're enjoying pushing yourself like this... I don't want you to suffer for our entertainment. I wish I had a source of income. Not being able to donate for this story makes me feel bad...
8738171
"I hate ponies... They're fluffy cute and colourful. And they get everywhere." -Mars probably.
8738182
Mark Watney is basically the psychological Juggernaut. He smashes your puny human psychological issues. Almost 2 years alone, over a year without even text messages with other humans, and he still manages to stay saner than most of us. So Watney will probably come through this with no real problems whatsoever given it's easier psychologically than what he had to deal with in canon.
If anypony, I'm betting on Cherry Berry or Starlight for psychological break down. Dragonfly is a changeling, emotions are a food problem for them not a psychology one (I suppose for them it would be an eating disorder?). Dragons are a mostly solitary species unlike humans or ponies, so if anything Fireball will have issues from being around people too much. Spitfire has insecurities, but her military discipline is pretty strong, so I doubt she'll crack first. Cherry Berry and Starlight both feel responsible for the crew's current circumstances.
8738224
Well, in the original it's told through his logs. He may be having a tougher time than he's letting on. You get a moment of that when the airlock breaks and he says something along the lines of "fuck it, Mars can just kill me for all I care." Also the logs themselves help. You notice how he talks to them like he's talking to someone in the future reading them? They're his companion. Basically a high tech Wilson.
8738162
Not sure where to find said book. Is it worth the read ? Eh probably on kindle not sure
If I am not mistaken, no one was paying any attention to the canvas, and from what I've been taught, one only mentions things like that for a reason.
I sense foreshadowing, and it does not bode well...
8738072
You rang?
8738055
You missed a t there.
Edit: Come on, people, "buffet!"
Tough crowd...
8738246
Someone down below linked a free version. I heavily recommend reading it. It's a wonderful read.
Oh dear.
Kind of a side trip here. But if anyone likes Deathbattle, the next fight is Raven from Teen Titans vs Twilight Sparkle. Please tell me we are not going to be seeing Twilight get her head ripped off.
Now back to the story.
Still a very good story. I eagerly wait for more.
8738252
Have you seen the movie? If not, I won't spoil it.
8737952 i look into how many sols into 4 years and is around 1422 sols, so is there going to be time skip or going to make one chp par day?
This track is probably going to be relevant soon...
Well, let's see.
Hab designed to last 31 sols.
In book it breached at sol 119 due to a strain in an airlock.
So, if this strain exists in this universe, it should endure... 6-8 pressurisation cycles per sol per person, 6 people first 6 sols, one person for 113 sols, that makes 900-1200 cycles.
Now, there's 6 people in the hab, assuming same usage, airlock should endure the maximum of 33 sols.
So it's way past the time for it to break, tho if mission went as planned, for 31 sols, everything would be fine.
Anyway, bad news for Watney and his cute friends: at sol 84 they're all dead for at least a month and a half.
8738426
Eh no, the airlock is big enough that you don't need to go through the airlock individually, that would take forever when the normal crew was there. They also aren't going in and out that much. They're usually only going through the airlock twice a day. Once going out to the cave, once coming back. Why would you expect them to be going in and out constantly and individually?
In the novel Watney spends whole days without leaving the hab at all. What did it in was after he got Pathfinder working and he kept having to go outside many times a day to check messages, first by observing them in motion, then after by checking the rover computer. It ended up being over 10 cycles a day for about 3 weeks before it finally blew.
mmmm I wonder that she says video game console........
Time for Changeling Duct Tape reinforcing? that transfers teh stress back, but at least a bit at a time, the hab can be converted, reinforced?
Or they can Moses out to the cave.
In the words of Mark Watney, “Fuck you, Mars.”
Hopefully that sand pile will give them a visual on the leak or something. Or they never use the airlock again, cause with six there instead of just one it’s a lot less likely they’ll all be suited up when it goes boom.
8738501
Even if we cut the usage drastically, say, by 3 times - they still need to visit the cave and salvage the parts - the airlock would still be on the verge. I say 90 sols tops.
Good, you have to remember-those characters are the enemy. It's your duty as an author to make the journey terrible for them,lull them into false senses of security before you strike with a new problem.
Oh boy. Wild, malicious weather. Because that's what the crew needed; Mars turning into an undead Everfree. This'll be real fun. (Though at least they don't need to worry about oxygen intoxication... hopefully.) And with the back-and-forth to the farm, the airlock's probably seeing a lot more use cycles. Let's just hope someone can properly alert Mark or figure out the problem before it literally blows up in their faces.
Does it? I don't know much about habitation on Mars but if the Hab was leaking enough heat to cause a climate around it, I'd think whoever designed it's insulation did a bad job. With an air leak yeah there's a problem but for a working Hab without the leak, ideally wouldn't the insulation keep the heat inside the insulation buffer.
Cold outside( every temp between ( Warm inside
The cave bleeding heat would definitely make sense, and with a leak in the Hab maybe, just not sure.
I once saw a snow devil in a sand pit near my house. It was a very calm, cold day after a... I think the 3rd round of snow that year (one of the coldest NJ winters we'd had, in fact) and the sun's uneven heating of the pit created just enough of an imbalance that a proper vortex whipped itself up and travelled from south side of the pit where sunlight met shadow to the north and fizzled about halfway across.
The strongest dust devil I ever saw was at my old school in Chesterfield. It was as wide as the driveway and strong enough to pick up small stones and whip branches off of a maple tree it crashed into (and which disrupted it).
The longest-lasting one was also the smallest I've ever seen. It emerged on a very warm November afternoon back in about 1987, I think, after a thick morning fog broke over central Jersey farmland just north of Ft. Dix at the home of a family named the Hogans, where our new church gathering was temporarily holding services. The ground was grassy and moist, so the presence of the vortex was only at first revealed by leaves at the tree-lined edge of a field shooting suddenly high into the air. It moved slowly and lasted for almost 10 minutes, and I was able to just walk along side as it moved over the grass, giving me a perfect view of its vortex diameter (about a 6-inches at ground level). It's a strange sensation to go from absolute calm to sticking your hand into the vortex and feeling 40-50 mph winds in only a narrow whirling column. I wish I'd had some talcum powder or flour to spray into it. That would've been a fascinating sight.
8738281
Sounds hard to find I. Nearly two thousand comments
8738739
It's literally in the comments for this chapter man.
8738055
Turn in next week , same fimfiction story same fanfiction channel. - brought to you by hayburger-
On a side note. They run out of entertainment in less then a year so yeah they bored
8738426
In the original it wasn't just wear and tear. Mark blew himself up whilst making water. Which put more strain on it.
8738772
Hopefully they get some new entertainment by then via probe. It'll be a bit jarring for the Equestrians though. All their human cultural experience up to that point will have been stuff from 60 years ago.