MISSION LOG – SOL 98
I’m a bit calmer today. I’m sorry to have dumped all my rage into my log entry yesterday. I’m just pissed that Venkat Kapoor tried to get Dragonfly to talk about me behind my back. And yeah, a big part of that is me being angry at somebody prying into my head. But Venkat has the right to do that, up to a point. The mental state of astronauts is really important, especially for long-term missions like Ares. Moral and mental stability are the main reason why I made it into the program at all.
But Venkat doesn’t have the right to bring Dragonfly into it. The ponies are not part of NASA. They’re not under his command. They’re visitors who didn’t ask to be marooned on Mars with me. And it’s not fair to take advantage of her like that.
I haven’t mentioned it, but the ponies can be really naïve sometimes. I think Dragonfly thinks she’s a great manipulator, with her puppy-bug eyes and her goofy behavior. But you’ll notice I still haven’t let her touch any of my tools. A human politician would tie her in knots, and the others would be even more easy prey.
So this morning, at breakfast, I had a talk with my guests. I had Starlight rev up that Google-translate spell of hers long enough to get across the core point. Basically I told them that NASA can’t force them to do anything, and if they feel one of Venkat’s requests is intrusive or suspicious, they should refuse until they’ve talked it out with each other.
I hate to admit it, but we humans can be thoughtless too.
Anyway, after breakfast I had to chat with Venkat again. The mini-antenna works. Once Rover 1 is rigged to accept Pathfinder’s radio relay, I’ll take Rover 2 out on a jaunt to see the exact range, which I suspect will be about four kilometers- just over the horizon. While I’m doing that, I’ll probably dump the RTG back in its hole. I’ve been too busy to deal with it, but just because it was one of my two warm and cuddly friends during the Pathfinder drive doesn’t mean I’m inviting it into my house where it can possibly bring us all that gift that keeps on giving, cancer. And Dragonfly will be happier knowing that Death Box has gone away again. She's already delighted that she no longer has to go outside to chat with Earth.
NASA’s got its trained botanists ready, and they started with basic stuff- how long did I let the shit and table scraps compost before I mixed them into the soil, what procedure did I use to mix composted soil with Martian regolith, etc. You know, all the stuff I went into excruciating, technical detail into the small hours last night writing up my official report. But they couldn’t wait for me to upload that, oh no. They want to waste my time answering questions now.
After almost two hours working on that, I finally got the day’s to-do list from Venkat. I get to take photos of the alien ship’s engines and thruster packs. Fortunately Dragonfly didn’t get round to replacing their good engine’s bell with the third bell they salvaged from our MAV. Today’s uploads were my botany report on the farming methods, a list of performance data for the alien ship engines as best we can estimate, and the photos of the engines and of the ship exterior, plus photos of the MAV base and of the MDV, both exterior and interior.
So I had to take a lot of photos, put them into a computer, and reduce their resolution to make them fit in the four-hour upload window. Fun times. I tried to get the equipment in the right mood- “give me resolute, now do charming, give me your good side, there we go”- but broken rocket parts just don’t make good fashion models. Maybe if I draped the spare alien parachute fabric over them? Must ask NASA if muu-muus are coming back.
Starlight Glimmer (she finally has a last name, yay!) is delighted that she can now communicate with NASA directly. She’s monopolized what used to be Vogel’s computer ever since her accident, writing up reports and translating their ship manuals. She’s constantly asking me for technical words. She says she’s almost done. I told her the top priority was the info about the ship radio. Of course she disagreed- she thinks her article about magic should be top priority. With my luck NASA will break the tie by demanding a translation of the pony medical manuals- which are the ones Starlight hasn’t worked on at all.
Anyway- time for English lessons. We’ve begun reruns on Electric Company. After that it’s Sanford and Son, which isn’t the same since Fred went to St. Louis and left Grady to watch over Lamont, as if he needed it. Redd Foxx really is the life and soul of that show. At least Esther is still around to steal a scene every episode or so. I think Dragonfly agrees with me, but Cherry still loves the show. She, Starlight and Spitfire had an argument the other night about whether unicorns or pegasi are the pony equivalent of “honkies.” Fireball broke it up by pointing out that, from a non-pony point of view, all ponies are honkies. And that was the last time the H-word got used in this Hab, at least so far.
Anyhow, after that we’re going to try Starsky and Hutch. I’m told it’s required viewing in every police academy since 2022. At least, that’s the only reason I can think of for why every cop I saw around the time I applied for the astronaut corps had these huge mustaches.
“Rich? Rich, are you in here?”
Mike wandered through the cubicle maze of Johnson Space Center’s astrodynamics department. Most of the workers had gone home for the day, but Rich could usually be counted upon to be a laggard. Under normal conditions Mike had to tell him it was time to go home about three days in a five-day week.
Conditions had ceased to be normal at NASA the day a Mars satellite spotted an alien ship about to crash-land on Mars. But even so, for the most part astrodynamics had escaped the rush of deferred-payment overtime most of the other departments had engaged in. The most work the department saw in a day came whenever JPL called for yet another rough approximation of the available trajectories for a direct boost to Mars using Delta-IX and Red Falcon boosters. Precise trajectories would take time, but the rough numbers JPL was using for ballpark estimates at this point in their design process could be done on a desktop computer in a couple of hours.
Sure enough, Rich Purnell was parked at his desk, idly ticking away at something or other on his computer. He hadn’t noticed the deep shadows outside the windows or the departure of practically all his coworkers. Mike was the only coworker whose name Rich recognized. The man barely recognized that a world existed outside whatever mathematical problem had his attention at the moment. He understood numbers and equations, and he didn’t understand people.
Rich was Mike’s problem child, but he was also the one he could dump any task on, no matter how hard or how difficult, and never get a complaint about working late and being forced to break previous plans, dates, or appointments. Rich never had any of those. In fact, Rich had never taken a sick day except when Mike had sent him home… and after the first time Rich returned the next day, still with a fever, Mike had learned to send him to a NASA doctor first. And vacations? Rich barely understood the concept, and he had something like six months of accrued vacation time, unused, on the books.
Mike had long since come to the conclusion that, if Rich ever got his own office large enough to have its own toilet and space for a cot, he'd never leave JSC.
“Rich?” Mike asked, finally getting his employee’s attention.
“Oh. Hi, Mike,” Rich said. “Is it time to go home? I lost track.’
“Yes, it is,” Mike said. “But I’ve got something I want you to look at when you get a chance. Fresh from Mars.”
That got Rich’s attention. It wasn’t quite fair to say that Rich had no idea that a universe existed outside his equations. He was very enthusiastic about the universe, except for the part of it that was Earth. His interest in his own planet was mostly limited to knowledge of its effects as a gravity well and the ability to manually dial the number of almost every take-out delivery restaurant within thirty minutes of JSC from memory.
“We’ve got some hard performance data on the alien ship,” Mike continued. “The aliens were looking into combining the remains of their ship and parts from the MDV and MAV landing stage into a sort of life-raft. Kind of like ‘Flight of the Phoenix.’”
“There’s no such thing as a phoenix,” Rich said. “Unless you mean the Phoenix lander, and that was a specially built space probe.”
Mike sighed and handed him the thick sheaf of printouts. He’d learned early on that Rich thought better when he had his data on paper, using the computer only for the actual calculations. Any information you sent him by email or on a transfer drive would end up on paper, so why not print it yourself from the beginning?
Rich began thumbing through the pages, looking at the rather grainy photos. His eye stopped at one point. “Two hundred ninety-two liters of hydrazine monoprop?” he asked. “That wouldn’t get the MDV aloft more than maybe a kilometer in Mars gravity. Thrust-weight ratios are too low.”
“We know, Rich,” Mike said. “But we want the numbers to prove it. Take a look at this, take your time, and get back to me when you have some answers.”
“Okay,” Rich said. As he held the papers in his left hand, still reading, his right hand reached for the phone on his desk. Mike recognized the number being dialed as the take-out desk for the Jimmy Chonga’s on I-45.
“Try not to stay up too late,” Mike said, stepping away from the cubicle.
Rich didn’t notice him leaving.
Hello Rich Purnell.
Hi Rich. Glad to have you. You'll fit right in.
Still hoping for something resembling fallout from last chapter, but I like the way Mark is approaching the situation at least.
Hope we get to see Starlight do some talking with NASA now that they don't have to trudge to the rover for every chat.
No such thing as a phoenix? You just heard there Is A Unicorn, A Pegasus, A dragon, AND Magic On Mars. I think nothings off the table at this point. Right, Philomena?
I'm sure he misses the other warm and cuddly friend napping with him. Kind of want to see it happen when Starlight gets healthy and for Dragonfly to get jealous.
And for a picture to be taken of it and somehow be sent to NASA ( bad Dragonfly )
NASA: Um, Mark, is there something we need to know?
I love this stuff. It's going to be interesting seeing what can be done with the rocket as well as the science response to all the alien equipment and new physics.
Hello Rich Purnell
Very smart of Mark to take Dragonfly out of the communication exchange, that eliminates NASA’s only true lead inside his head, which is benefitial to both Mark and Dragonfly... although I would like to see Mark talk with Dragonfly about the time she turned into a human, that could become quite the interesting conversation
heaven help us if rich and twilight and/or moondancer ever meet, we may never see them again.
He's made a rather critical mistake here. Being a great manipulator usually means that they don't recognize you're manipulating them, but that isn't always the case.
If you try for a scenario where they don't realize you're manipulating them, there's always the danger they'll recognize it later and be upset by it. In this case she's gotten over the danger of him realizing the manipulation early, and he still feels fine with her. This means he'll object less to manipulation than he would if he found out later.
It can also make you complacent. Many don't seem to realize that emotional manipulation can still be effective even if you know what they're trying to do.
Dragonfly has so far achieved all the goals she had in mind with Mark. Even including him accepting her feeding off him, which could have been a big problem for some people.
8764348 https://www.jimmychangas.com/ -- Apparently they don't deliver in 2018. In 2035, who knows?
I've never eaten there. There's not a ton of Mexican or Tex-Mex that I like, and a lot of it actively hates me back.
8764350 First, Dragonfly hasn't been taken out of the loop at all. Second, she's still avoiding telling Mark or Earth that she can change. She's probably regretting that moment she showed off when the battery was rigged for field effect.
8764271
Well, I didn't mean to imply that they haven't earned their accolades, but more to point out that any other insanely powerful beings out there that, unlike Celestia and Luna, feel like subjugating others or demanding obedience or reverence toward their "right" as gods can't do a thing to force the weaker populace to acknowledge them as such.
In other words...
"I am a god! Bow to me!"
"You are not my god."
... and when that world is bereft of life and only ash and fire remain and the stereotypical, wrathful being has only the roaches to keep itself company... it still will not be a god.
You know, because roaches can't talk. Normally.
Salutations, Rich Purnell.
This is inevitable bureaucracy we can all relate to, but you'd hope NASA would be a bit better at keeping a lid on that kind of thing given the limited resources and uplink time
Hello, Rich Purnell.
Oooh, just one more day until the interdimensional chat time.
I wonder if Queen Chrysalis is going to be annoyed that someone tried to order one of her bugs around. Dragonfly is her peon dammit!
8764373
I understand that was a moment of weakness on Dragonfly’s part, but at some point Mark is going to start questioning who he saw.
8764447
considering the circumstances? Chrysalis would actually thank JPL for that, because she could start scheming against NASA. I voted for Trump, but I wouldn’t mind having Chrysalis as President... everyone gets free hugs!
Here comes Gravity Tracer?
Lets hope their water telegraph dont freeze up like my neighbours overflow just did, at a balmy minus 9 C.
8764461
Evil bug Queen > Donald Trump
Ship! Ship! Ship!
8764474
Twilight would have an anurism
8764477
She'd probably have worse if she knew that the RTG warm-and-fuzzy is because it's emitting cancer-beams...
8643567
Doesn't saying "Neeeeeeeeerd!" mean the same thing?
I do so Hope that he's underestimating the ponies. I dislike when people forget that, for all they're quite pleasant and altruistic, they're not stupid and they live in Equestria, where everything is trying to kill you.
8764380
There's an interesting plot bunny in there though. Usually religious reaction to ponies on meeting earth in fics doesn't go beyond apathy at best or 'rawr! devil spawn!' at worst, but we have many religions, both dead and existing, where gods are responsible for moving the sun and moon. Learning that such beings actually exist? That's going to spark at least a few groups into starting, reviving or editing religions.
I think the name you used previously was Red Falcon.
8764336
WATNEY: I can explain the last photo upload, I promise.
JPL: No explanation required. Medical teams have been notified that you were feeling a little horse.
8764373
It helps that both times she changed, Mark was not in a position to truely appreciate what was happening,
8764608
The camera probably caught it though .
Heya, Rich, good ta see ya.
The naive thing goes both ways, Mark. Liking those cherries in the cave? All those scientists whining about magic? Yeah, the two worlds are similar but hardly the same. Also.. politician is your example of savvy manipulator? Have you seen a debate lately? A scary number of them are idiots. Still, I guess that's true of most any blanket example.
As I recall from the book, the limiting factor in making Hydrazine was hydrogen availability. However with unlimited water, can't they effectively make hydrazine at whatever the limit of the conversion plant is?
I kinda hope Rich comes back with "It will work, if the magic engines are fired at the same time, the ship drops a half ton, all the ad hoc conversions are on the nose, absolutely nothing whatsoever goes wrong, and no one sneezes."
8764373
I've occasionally wondered about that, but my impression at the time was that Mark didn't understand what he was seeing.
8764734
I think I'd rather it come back that there's no possibility of it working, and then the ponies do it anyway.
8764726 Mark never made hydrazine in the book. He was un-making it to harvest its hydrogen. And, at the end, he electrolyzed the resulting water to get the hydrogen back to make more methane fuel for the Ares IV MAV.
8764594
8764535
I find it quite funny how the only plan spacex has for Mars that hasn't been canceled is the BFR. No falcon/dragon craft will ever deliver anything to Mars and their only real target would break the story completely.
I just powered through this whole thing in about a day and a half sitting at work and I'm loving every second of this. And your author's notes and the technical details you share (while sometimes way over my head) are fascinating. I was sad that I've reached the end currently but keep up the great work. Probably one of the best sci-fi fics that I've ever read on here.
8764300
If they have ~600m2 (or more in case of high losses) of solar crystals for their 600m2 farm, then yes for the most part of the day.
8764370
i like it but here's the weird thing about humans they don't have to be there with you to control you.
we can do that with just using ads songs video games and art. hell now video games are using skinner box tactic to get your hard earn dollar now.
Hi Rich, hope you don't take this personally but I want you to find it impossible to help until Cherry gets the trees producing cherries by the bushel. Just do we can see all the "experts" at NASA/world run around screaming at the impossibility of the pictures sent
Richard Purnell is a steely-eyed missile manDid... did Fireball just develope a racial slur?
8765310
yup she sure did........ atlaset she didn't say the n word or on earth she going to be facing so many barrel if you know what i mean
8765310 Develop, no. Pick up from a sitcom set in Watts in the 1970s, possibly.
8764461
Bookhorse for president! We're gonna need a magical flying unicorn to fix this mess anyway...
8764455
I imagine she might try to pass it off an an illusion that can't be held in a non-magical field at all, and thus not any kind of threat. He wasn't aware enough to recall her doing that when he was injured in the rover.
Still, the ponies would likely tell if she didn't. They don't want to have Chrysalis' agents being given free reign, after all. Starlight does not buy into the changeling hype, and she is slightly better than Dragonfly at English. She might spill the beans. The only reason she wouldn't is if it threatened Dragonfly's safety. But once that isn't a concern...
8765463
exactly my point my friend, it will come out eventually, raises that’s really would play out well if they get to Earth. Dragonfly would be Cheif Diplomat, since she knows Equish and can lead relations while in a human form.
8765452
Starlight would work better than Twilight, since Starlight knows how to deal with communist countries (she is a reformed one, so she would lead UN Peace Talks)
Hi, Rich. I look forward to seeing what improbable scenarios you concoct this time around.
And yeah, ponies definitely qualify for honkydom in Equus's greater geopolitical context.
8765482
Imagine her giving the speech she gave Crystalis to the communist nations instead.
SG: I know what it's like to lead by fear and intimidation. And I was wrong. Etc etc.
Adorable little ponies speech was super effective.