AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 451
ARES III SOL 443
Dragonfly took a closer look at one arm of Fireball’s space suit. “Right elbow,” she said. “Outer layer fraying. Pass me the scope.”
The scope was a bit of improvisation using one of the arm-mounted cameras from a spare Ares suit and a small flashlight from Dragonfly’s toolbox. It worked much better than just holding an open space suit to the light or, worse, turning it inside out (a task which ranged from difficult to impossible depending on the part). A quick look at the Hab’s main projector screen, which had been set to show the scope’s video output, confirmed Dragonfly’s fears. “Worse on the inside,” she said. “The middle layers are probably damaged, too. I’ll have to patch that one inside and out.”
Starlight Glimmer had made her edict stick, all but eliminating the use of magic from the crew. This chore, however, was a vital exception; this was, in essence, the last chance Dragonfly had to patch and maintain the worn-out, scuffed-up pony space suits. That task required both surplus food and enough magic to replace what the changeling used up producing the quick-setting rubbery substance that acted as patches for the suits.
But in order to conserve the magic batteries, this time Dragonfly was going through all the suits and making a list of all the necessary repairs (aside from the obligatory re-soling of the suit hooves, which all of them needed). Only with a firm plan in mind would she go forward with the repairs, using as little time as possible while two magic batteries provided power for the operation. (To further save time and energy, Starlight would smooth scuffs and scratches on the helmets and visors at the same time.)
“I’ve been thinking,” Starlight said. “About how difficult would it be to install the radio from one of Mark’s spacesuits into one of ours?”
Dragonfly paused in her inspection to consider this. “Pretty tough,” she said. “We’d have to wear the batteries inside our suits, with the radios constantly on. The last thing we want to do is punch holes in our suits for control interfaces, so we couldn’t turn the radios on or off or switch channels on the fly. Why?”
“Well, Cherry Berry will need one for the launch,” Starlight said. “That is, if she gets the okay to fly the ship. Using Mark’s radios means we don’t have to activate the telepresence spell and burn mana. And I was thinking it’d be good for you to have a comm system that your body wasn’t actively sucking the power out of.”
“Look, last I counted, Mark had five space suits functional,” Dragonfly said. “He can’t wear two, but they’re still good for parts. He’s taking two functional suits with him on the trip. That leaves only three spare radios. There’s five of us.”
“Spitfire’s still struggling with English,” Starlight said. “And I won’t be scouting the trail with you because of this big suit patch.” She tapped her own suit, which lay on the table under the one Dragonfly had been inspecting. “And neither of us will have any significant role during the launch unless things go really badly. That leaves you, Fireball and Cherry, all of whom have important jobs either during the trip or the flight.”
Dragonfly still looked doubtfully at Starlight. “We’ll have to test the range,” she said. “The aerial would have to be somewhere inside the suit, too. Not in the helmet, either- too crowded. And I don’t know where we’d mount the microphone. And that all assumes the radios can be removed from those suits. What I saw looked really complicated, with that whole helmet and backpack assembly thing and-“
A small black rectangle clattered onto the worktable. A moment later, a cable flopped on top of it, followed by the clatter of a small radio aerial.
“Three minutes per suit,” Mark said. “They have their own built-in batteries good for four hours in case main suit power runs out. Need to scrounge some connectors to link the aerial and antenna cable. Microphone will have to be tied to the body- it threads through the helmet normally. No big problem.”
Starlight and Dragonfly watched as Mark walked over to the Hab’s spacesuit rack to pop another radio out of the unused suit harnesses.
“Is it me,” Starlight said, “or has he been getting more smug the closer we get to departure day?”
“It’s not just you,” Dragonfly said.
MISSION LOG – SOL 443
The ponies spent today on suit maintenance. We took advantage of the suit down time to pop three surplus suit radios out of the suits we’re going to leave behind (Johanssen’s, Lewis’s, Vogel’s) and put together a harness so that the ponies can wear them under their own suits. It was Starlight’s idea, and it’s not a bad one. The suit radios use very little juice and have four-hour emergency batteries built in, so recharging them from the Whinnybago system amounts almost to a rounding error in the energy budget.
But the work on suits got me thinking about my own suit, and one problem I probably should have given more thought to- specifically, air.
The rover will get all its air from the trailer. The trailer hitch includes electrical and air linkages that allow one rover to keep the other running in case of emergency. In this case we’re using it to let the magic pony life support provide air, leaving the original Rover 2 life support for emergency backup. But there’s a major problem with this- namely that this system doesn’t provide compressed pure O2 and N2 for my suit to recharge its internal tanks from.
My original plan was to just bring along tanks from the Hab. Twenty-five liters of compressed O2 and ten liters of compressed N2 would be more than enough for my suit, with plenty to spare for charging up the MAV’s life support tanks. But compressed air tanks aren’t all that lightweight. I’d much prefer to use much smaller tanks if possible. And I think I’ve figured out how.
I may have mentioned that the pony ship airlocks dispose of air by gradually venting it into space. Not so either the Hab airlocks or the rover airlocks. Our airlocks have high-power compressors that put the air into small holding tanks. Those tanks can then be uncoupled, swapped around, whatever. The practical upshot of this is that I can stash air from the pony life support link and use that to refill my suit tanks.
Of course, it’s not perfect. My suit is designed to hold one liter of oxygen and two liters of nitrogen. The rover compressor can’t separate the two- that’s what the atmospheric regulator does in the Hab. So the suit will have to cope with an atmospheric mix instead of pure gases in each tank. I have no idea what kind of glitches that will cause.
But it saves a bit of weight- and, much more important, a ton of space in the rover. So that’s the plan I’m going with. I’ve passed on the idea to NASA, and they’ve given tentative approval, though they’re going to rush a ton of tests through to make sure it works before we leave here.
The ponies are rolling their eyes at me, but I don’t care all that much. I’m solving problems using good old human know-how and good old human-built equipment! Hell, if I only had a few more parts, I could probably convert the whole cave into a giant spaceship, which we would then use to escape Mars (after the inevitable first-person-shooter adventure in which we defend it from vaguely insectoid aliens and an insane AI).
Seriously, ever since we began work on the Whinnybago I’ve felt like a window pops up over my head to say ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! every time I fix something or solve a problem. It’s a damn good feeling. It makes me feel like I’m in control of my own destiny for a change.
Yes, I know Mars will find some way to leave me helpless and at the mercy of my currently annoyed pony roommates. But I’m a space pirate. I live in the moment.
Arrrrr.
So Watney's the Gamer now? I've heard stranger things.
Damn it, Murphy!
Just for that, Mars will find a way to make him lose an eye...
And Dragonfly is offended at the vaguely insectoid aliens! She doesn't dispute it's accuracy but still. It's not like it's the bad old days anymore...
I'm still going to predict that, to make up for the slavish dedication to physics, engineering, and a low magic setting, at SOME point someone will have to cut loose and blast the manifested Avatar of Mars in the face with a harmony laser
If making spacesuits was simple, cosplayers would be wearing them at conventions. Under the armor and fursuits.
Course, would be intresting to see if lightweight versions could be made for firefighters first?
Can the O2 suit regulator handle a 100% to 20% drop on that tank? Most stuff seems to have a barney over a few percent, even though Everest is barely survivable at 50% at that pressure?
No no no shit shit shit NO SMUGNESS ALLOWED THIS PLANET COULD STILL KILL YOU WHAT THE F WATNEY
Well, you never know; Dragonfly could always have a last-minute magic hunger spell again, and Sojourner could turn rampant after spending countless hours trying to analyze the magic crystals in the Cave...
In other suit-related news, are they also bringing along the spare suit's patch kits with them? I'm uncertain if they've exhausted all of them at this point, considering they have a magical glue-producing insect at their disposal.
Personally, if they're planning to leave behind the extra suits, I would have them try to salvage as much of the suit material as they could, and bring it along in case of emergencies (the sleeves, the back, basically the parts of the suit they can get the most surface area out of without having ragged holes in the middle). It's already been established in the book that Mark has a pair of shears in his tool kit capable of cutting through suit material, so they don't even have to waste magic on suit breakdown.
Oh Mark. XD Glad hes feeling more useful, at least! Hopefully he reigns in the ego before Mars and/or his roommates feel the need to smack it back down.
I want to see the ponies face when they see so many video games made about them.
To a surival game
then off to a fine runner game
then to an rpg
then to a action platfromer
then a dating sim
and so on
I wonder the AVGN nerd will still be alive in this world and then he get to make a video being all pissed at the new retro games made for old system
Love to see Mark so positive.
Less ego trip, more road trip.
9125051
Dear {PRINCIPAL NAME},
I represent Goshbigconglomico Productions, and we are interested in optioning the motion picture rights to the musical, based on the stage play, based on the movie, based on the novel, based on the dating sim, based on the action platformer, based on the rpg, based on the fine runner game, based on the survival game inspired by Mark Watney and his pony friends.
Please contact me at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
— {GOSHBIGCONGLOMICO PRODUCTIONS CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER}
9125077
and god knows how manying app games have been made by now
"for control interfaces., so we couldn’t"
"for control interfaces, so we couldn’t"?
"“We’ll have to test the range,” he said."
"“We’ll have to test the range,” she said."?
9125051
This is a thing that we could do. Any artists out there willing to produce graphics?
Watney: "Everything's going great now. What can possibly go wrong?"
Murphy: "Do you REALLY want an answer for that really stupid question?"
The Martian The game , by Hasbro lol
9125357
For a price, maybe.
9125368
That wouldn't be Milo Murphy, by chance, would it?
Well, at least he's in good spirits...
Achievement Unlocked your going to escape, Achievement unlocked..... Stop looking at the Ponies butts
Come on everypony Send me your best achievements
9125580
Achievement Unlocked: Tempt Murphy (nearly die after saying that everything is fine.)
Achievement Unlocked: Running on fumes (Survive exposure to mars atmosphere)
Achievement Unlocked: Supa Hacker! (Jury rig a fix from nonstandard parts)
Achievement Unlocked: Phone Home (Contact home base.)
Achievement Unlocked: Xeno-gastronome (Eat an extraterrestrial food)
Achievement Unlocked: It's so FLUFFY! (Pet a Pony without getting kicked)
Achievement Unlocked: You're a Wizard! (Solve a science problem with magic)
Achievement Unlocked: Mad Scientist (Solve a magic problem with science)
Pirate Captain Watney: Achievement Hunter. Because the only thing better than spiting Mars through survival is spiting it through survival and a high score.
i mentioned this before, but i think it's worth repeating:
someone used the new mission maker of KSP to re-create The Martian.
it's called "the Dunatian".
(Duna is the KSP equivalent of Mars)
love the chapter.
Achievement Unlocked: ------------------ fill in the blank hear.
What’s the plan for the other rover once they start the trip? Is the healthy rover pulling the one that’s become a trailer and carrying the ship? Or is the intact rover being left at the hab, and only the one with the ship on it is going to Schaperelli?
Could they run the antenna down the tails of the suits?
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Actually, while they doing maintenance of their suits, they can use parts of Ares suits to reinforce and strenghten Amicitas suits.
Like, armored vault suit, but armored spacesuit.
9126008
There is no intact rover. Both rovers was used to make Sirius Tandem Rover that includes Sirius-Ares Tugrover and Sirius-Amicitas Power-trailer.
Tugrover was repurposed for maximum travel distance and includes extra accumulator battery and hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell battery.
Power-trailer, on the other limb, using it's roof surface to install photovoltaic solar panels, and holds inside food stocks and main life support systems, as well as living space and auxiliary systems.
9125699
Acchievement locked : The New Kirk (Acquire the affections of all the female aliens.)
And you know any game humans make is going to go there:
Acchievement locked: I Put A Spell on You! (Sleep with Starlight Glimmer)
Acchievement locked: That's An Academy Record! (Sleep with Spitfire)
Acchievement locked: Popped Cherry! (Sleep with Cherry Berry)
9126434
That one goes so well with your avatar
9125304 They wouldn't have been moving all that fast if falling from so short a distance in the AG. The instant they left the field, they would cease to accelerate. It would make them even more idiotically slow than they already were. A moving ship would pass beneath them before they could impact.
Here's a brilliant idea: MISSILES!! THEY WORK IN SPACE!!! And guess what, we can even build them in the real world!
So why use a technology that's clearly inferior when a much better one is obvious?
9126434
And this is why I roll my eyes at the fandom a lot.
But I also have one that popped into my head because the voice of James Earl Jones demands it.
Achievement: No. I, am your father. (Sire a Centaur. Name him Tirek. Send him back in time.)
EDIT:
Now I want ponies to take the Star Wars films back to Equestria, and force Tirek to watch them from his cage in Tartarus.
So...Mark is happy. How long til Mars kicks him in the crotch? Or, when they engage the Sparkle Drive, is it going to warp them to Bucephalous? Nother great great entry, BTW!
9126434
Acchievement locked: What is your fantasy? (Sleep with Dragonfly)
9126616
Acchievement unlocked: One Of Us! (Induct an alien into an earth fandom)
Talking of rolling eyes... you know there's gonna be a bad route...
Acchievement hidden:Nope. just Nope. I'm not doing this.
9126559
The director wanted to recreate a WWII bombing run over occupied Europe in space, because—space. It’s not complicated. What’s complicated is rationalizing it in a way that’s internally consistent with the Star Wars setting. We know guided missiles are available; the Battle of Coruscant in Episode III featured them prominently, not to mention those used to take out the bridge of the Raddus just a few minutes later in Episode VIII. The bombers probably were intended for hitting terrestrial targets but were all the Resistance had left. Even Leia thought sending them in was a horrible idea!
Smug smug smug.
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What is this, day six of this conversation?
Mark? Are you okay? You’re acting... goofier, than normal.
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He's just having as much fun as he can before he's summarily executed, no worries.
Time for the last sprint to the adventure highest difficulty area. May luck and skill guide em all hope.
Great chapter!
Foamy the Squirrel did a rant about unlocking achievements.
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Achievement locked: Buggy Buggering (sleep with Dragonfly)
Achievement locked: Really Bad Dragon (sleep with Fireball)
I know this is the wrong game but I really think of gladOS with an army of mantis men and ant lions on mars fighting them.
I thought up a way the 'magic trampoline' launch system could be made safer on the equestria side , basically make a gun out of it a second set of crystals make a tubular force field to hold the ship with maybe some kind of detachable boom arms to hold it centered, the barrier and thrust would halt when the craft reaches escape velocity and the booms would eithe retract or disengage and from there flight as normal
Space Pirate for life ♡
after the inevitable first-person-shooter adventure in which we defend it from vaguely insectoid aliens and an insane AI).
this reference feels familiar... anyone mind elaborating?
11147063 Marathon or Halo, take your pick. (Though the Marathon series actually involved Mars's moons being remade into giant colony ships...)
O no... Mark Watney break the 4th wall again! He becomes self aware and h@× our c0mput€r$!
Skynet, just in space! Spacenet is borrrn!!!
Mars and Murphy just high five one another...
This story would be a great Steam game 👍