AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 559
ARES III SOL 548
“All right, Phoenix, good job,” Martinez’s voice called over the comms. “And congratulations, Dragonfly! That’s your tenth successful sim as pilot.”
“Thanks,” Dragonfly said. “I just hope I don’t have to do it for real. Too much would have had to go wrong by then.” She pulled herself out of the pilot’s flight couch, making room for Cherry Berry. “Thank you for indulging me, Hermes.”
“No problem, Dragonfly. Tell Cherry we have time for one more sim today.”
“Roger.” Dragonfly removed the human radio headset from her head and said, “You get one more go, boss. Then it’s time to disconnect the rover and move it to safe distance.”
“Thanks.” Cherry put the headset back on. “Are you okay to get back to the rover?”
“Sure!” Dragonfly felt a little offended. “I’m weak, but I’m not that weak, not yet.” Of course, she didn’t like that not yet, but she had to include it. There was no telling what would happen to her on the trip to Earth, assuming the queen and Twilight Sparkle didn’t find a way to rescue them.
“Okay, see you later, then.” Cherry settled into the pilot seat and said, “Rick, give us five minutes to reset the controls, and we’ll have one more go. Give us a tough one.”
Dragonfly didn’t wait for the response, not that she could hear it. She put on her suit helmet, crawled down the ladder into the MAV lower deck, and cycled through the airlock. From there it was another long ladder climb down to the ground. Once down she took it slow, walking through the ring of jumbo batteries and stepping over the long strings of cables.
And then there was the teeter-totter, balanced on a bit of framework pulled out of the Phoenix, and just in front of it, Sojourner. Dragonfly reached up and gently brushed a few bits of dust from the little rover’s solar panel. “Hello, little girl,” she said. “I hope you’re doing well.”
The little robot didn’t move; its orders were to remain in standby mode until new orders came. But to Dragonfly’s mind it exuded an aura of eagerness to do, to be doing.
“We’re leaving you a good rechargeable battery,” she continued. “And you’ll have a radio link to Earth. The gunk I put on your treads will probably break down and fall off in another week or two, once it’s done its job. And I polished up your lenses as much as I could. You’ve got a nice new mission ahead of you. I hope you enjoy it.”
Sojourner said and did nothing.
“Well, I probably won’t be by to say it again,” Dragonfly said. “So… goodbye, then. Have a nice life… or whatever robots have.”
Sojourner did not say goodbye back. Aside from the faint sense of being ready for orders, Dragonfly heard and saw nothing.
That over with, the changeling continued the walk over to the Whinnybago. She didn’t pause to say goodbye to Rover 2 or to the remains of Amicitas; she had no great attachment to the former, and she’d said her goodbyes to the latter months before. She just climbed the boarding ladder to the trailer, cycled through the airlock, and stepped onto the bridge- just, apparently, as Mark and Fireball were suiting up to go out.
“Hey, Dragonfly!” Mark said cheerfully, pausing to lean down and give her a hug, suit to suit. “Is Cherry about done with the sims?”
“They’re about to begin the last one,” Dragonfly said.
“Okay. That’s perfect,” Mark said. “Fireball and I are going to stage the Sparkle Drive and its batteries for installation. With Starlight’s help, it should only take an hour to cycle them through the airlock and secure them down on the deck.”
“Sounds good,” Dragonfly said, reaching up to undo her helmet latch. She looked around, noticing a lack of potted plant near the cockpit windows. “Where’s Groot?”
“In here,” Fireball said, pointing to the half-limp form of Mark’s spare suit. “We take Groot over to the ship today too. All personal stuff. You taking anything?”
Dragonfly shook her head. “No, just the medallion. I don’t need anything else to remember all this.” And that was pure truth. She would have liked to take Sojourner home, but back in Horseton the robot would be just a large, kind of ugly paperweight. Here it could still be useful.
Here it would be happier, part of her thought. The insane part.
“Okay, then,” Mark said. “Comm us if something comes up.” He carefully lifted the extra suit, while Fireball locked on his own helmet and picked up one of the batteries.
(There was a thing Dragonfly was looking forward to. Through careful effort Starlight Glimmer had managed to keep eleven of the mana batteries full. Eight would go into the rover, apparently right now. One more would be needed to do final top-offs of the booster system. The other two, Starlight had decreed, would be allowed to discharge their full loads, for thirty-eight minutes of magic field tonight and thirty-eight more tomorrow, and whatever the batteries remaining in the rover regenerated for the night before launch.
(Eight sols before, Starlight had gone for a midnight potty break and found Dragonfly wrapped around one of the mostly-drained batteries, mouth sucking on one of the terminals. She hadn’t gotten angry, to Dragonfly’s continuing surprise. She’d just said, “Does that help any?” When Dragonfly had told her the truth- “not really”- she’d shrugged, gone into the head, and said nothing more about the incident afterwards. Embarrassment didn’t come easily to Dragonfly, but that had done it. Tonight and its thirty-eight minutes of not starving couldn’t come fast enough.)
She left Mark and Fireball to their work and walked into the habitat deck. It smelled, of course. Nobody talked about it, but everything about them stank, and nothing stank worse than the beaten-up sleeping rolls and bunk mattresses they’d been sleeping with since leaving the Hab. (Well, except possibly the inside of Mark’s space suit. All the other space suits cycled fresh air in and stinky air out. Mark stewed.)
Dragonfly kind of missed the Hab. She definitely missed the cave farm. But this cramped, smelly space, which was too hot in the daytime and too chilly at night? She couldn’t wait to leave it behind for good. This place was everything bad about surviving on Mars in one little space.
But it was where she could get a nap until lunch or whatever. She flopped down on the mattress pile and shut her eyes, trying to smell the emotions left behind by her crewmates instead of the sweat and other less pleasant body odors.
That was a mistake. Dragonfly hadn’t realized how much emotional leakage had stained the mattresses along with everything else. Feelings surged through her, followed by voices from the past…
“We are NOT having a Bad Day! I am going to land this ship and we are all going to be rescued and everything is going to work out just fine!”
“What is WRONG with you?? Are you TRYING to kill yourself?”
“You! Make these grow! Understand?”
“They HEARD us!!”
“Twenty… eight… FLIGHTS?”
“Cute is a matter of opinion, but crazy is a stone cold fact.”
“Maybe I imagined it. Maybe I’m crazy. Just ask anyone.”
“Yeah. But I’m crazy too. Else I wouldn’t be here with you.”
“Hey, Mark, get your bucking crystal on.” “One bucking minute, Starlight.”
“I trust your instincts a lot more than I trust mine.”
“Is it a mutiny when the crew is forcing the captain to keep giving orders?”
“Crunch, crunch, crunch.”
“Earth is sending a signal. They know Pathfinder’s here. They know I’m alive!!”
“Mars is not a nice planet and we all want OFF.”
“Shoot me like one of your Fancy girls.”
“Once upon a time, in the magical land of the ponies…”
“For you I bring… bacon!”
“It’s okay. You’re the strongest unicorn in Equestria. You’re the mightiest wizard on this planet. You got this.”
“You could say ‘got away with it’ was the unofficial motto of my people’s space program.”
“Mare down!”
“Mark.”
Hello, alien. What will you do?
“Haven’t you ponies figured it out yet? This is a Free Forever universe.”
“But a hero keeps going. A hero survives things that would kill most people. That’s all it takes: don’t die.”
“This is a job for science.” “Yep. Magic science.”
“Have I mentioned lately you’re delicious?”
“I’m so glad I’m dragon. No day job.”
“I don’t really like myself right now.”
“Earth needs more princesses.”
“Wow.” “Yeah, wow.”
“Launch me.”
“What’s a dragon gotta do to nearly die around here?”
“Maybe one day soon you can hope to achieve… unicorn cool.”
“I think you make your own magic. Everything’s a miracle.”
“Dragonfly? You all right?”
Dragonfly woke up. The others all stood over her, looking at her with various levels of concern. “Yeah,” she said, yawning and picking herself up. “What’s up?”
“You slept through us moving the rover,” Mark said. “And through lunch. We were beginning to get worried.”
“Did I sleep through the magic field?”
Mark smiled wryly. “No,” he said. “That’s coming up now. And dinner.”
Dragonfly stood, made a show of being well-rested, and made sure to place herself as close to the magic-projecting battery as she could manage. The mana washing through her body felt wonderful, after so little time with it for so long.
But her mind returned to her dream- the voices, the visions, the sights. The first view of the Hab, the day of the crash, the setting too-small sun sinking behind it as they trotted up. The first time they entered the crystal cave. The beauty spot on the next mountain over, the time they visited that. Dust devils. Sojourner. Starlight saving the cave farm. Spitfire destroying the giant storm. Fireball biting through a quartz crystal. Cherry Berry’s face as she brought them down safe from certain death.
No, she thought, I don’t need things to remember this place. I’ll remember it forever.
Even the parts I don’t want to.
And thus, we begin the final countdown. Three Sols remain...
So, if the pony suits can cycle out stinky air, does that mean that smells can be transferred between Equestria's universe and ours, or is this similar to the bloodletting, where the smelly air is pumped out and replaced with fresh air? My guess is the latter.
This has been a trip. And the best part is, it's still got a bit more to go. The quotes really brought it home, I don't mind telling you, I love this story.
Did anyone else get a little emotional from the quotes? I didn't, I just have a little dust in my eye.
A little over a week, huh? You know, the ending could always be sequel bait.
"What in the-- What was that!" Commander Lewis fairly flew into the MAV, which had been locked into the docking clamps in order for the test run of the Sparkle Drive to have a good connection to the rest of the ship. Hermes had bucked like a mule a few seconds ago, admittedly a weak mule, but any unexpected activity during a test was by nature bad. She tucked her legs up and tumbled so she could brace herself in a face-up orientation with the embarrassed unicorn who was still holding the ends of two bare wires that she had obviously pulled out of the Sparkle Drive a few seconds after it was fired up.
"Just a fleck of dust, probably kicked off the hull when we did that last maneuver before the test," said Starlight Glimmer. "The fail-safes worked perfectly, and I yanked the plug just in case." Starlight's eyes grew wide and she looked at the two wires, floating in zero gravity while still wrapped in her magical field. "Commander," she added in a weak voice. "Can you look out the porthole for me, please. Since you're closer."
"I don't know what kind of good it would do," said Lewis, although she still pulled herself over to take a look out of the narrow field of view afforded by the cheapskates at NASA. "We're a million miles from nowher--"
Below, glittering like a blue and green marble, floated an entirely impossible world, with unrecognizable continents. To make matters worse, the radio decided at that moment to turn on with a sharp crackle.
"Hey!" bellowed Rainbow Dash. "I thought we were supposed to go get you!"
So, no "aftermath" arc?
Man, can't quite believe we're so close to the end. It's been just about 10 months of daily updates. I'm gonna miss this, it's basically become my bedtime story that I read before going to sleep.
Are you going to start on something new afterwards, or continue working on CSP, or something else?
9219395
I thought you meant The final countdown?
A week from Wednesday? Aww, I was hoping to go straight on till New Year's Eve--Full year. Of course that would need a lot of stuff after sol 551. Being on Earth and so on that wouldn't mesh well if it is 70 some installments but was hoping for the full year all the same.
9219438
Georg, you do realize that you've basically just raised your hand and said, "I'll take it from here, thanks."
I think you can still make the late bus to Albuquerque if you start moving now.
9219395
Nah, it should be this song.
9219438
Alternate Ending Sequel, at least.
Damn, I've been with this story since right after it first started, and after nearly ten months, to think it's finally coming to an end... The feels, y'know?
9219484
Nah, too obvious. Besides, I was hoping for a sol 548 so I could specifically use that clip.
To them that stand here ever hence, we say thus:
When Mars barred our path, we made our own.
When Mars spoke death to our hearts, we lived.
When Mars cared only for our defeat, we triumphed.
We Endured.
Cherry Berry
Starlight Glimmer
Spitfire
Fireball
Dragonfly
Mark Watney
and Groot
Aw man I cant believe its almost over! This has been a great ride! Really touching chapter, Kris! I liked all the quotes, it was a good throwback to this whole crazy adventure. Im a little sad to see it ending (partly because we havent posted the cave song yet and Im regretting my procrastinating moments - BUT WE WILL FINISH) but also excited to see how it concludes. And since Changeling Space Program isnt done yet I know this wont be the last we see of Cherry and Dragonfly at least. :D Thanks for your dedication with this story! (AND TAKE A LONG REST AFTER, YOUVE BEEN AS SICK AS DRAGONFLY MAN)
Europe's The Final Countdown starts playing in the background.
9219438
I'm still looking forward to them using the Sparkle Drive to get to Earth and have Starlight show humans how powerful a skilled unicorn can be with a full charge. Either that or using the Drive catches the attention of pointy eared aliens who pop on down to say hello and welcome to the Federation- er, whoops, wrong crossover.
9219438
9219483
*in Palpatine voice* DO IT.
Wow, I mean yeah it’s almost done but it’s been quite the ride. And a whole lot of contact if someone wanted to read this from start to finish
Hello, Mars. We finally meet at last...
9219504
And Groot
9219483 No, I'd go start raving bonkers trying to crank a chapter a day. A chapter a week almost killed me way back when.
9219513 9219515 Now feel the power of this fully operational unicorn!
9219395
Every complex molecule catches fire in transit, right? So it wouldn't still smell the same on the other side.
It says something about how emotionally invested I am in this story that the first quarter or so scared the daylights out of me.
Only days away from launch and Dragonfly went EVA solo? Even if it was a short distance that just feels like begging for an accident of one color or another. Fortunately for her, the author wasn't thinking along those lines.
Perhaps I'm overthinking and overreacting.
I hope everyone makes it.
Thank you for writing this wonderful story, because of this fic I finally watched the Martian.
"“Mark.”
Hello, alien. What will you do?"
Were those supposed to be italicized?
9219504
that bring up one part of my mind how many kids will be born with those type of names now like "Hi my name is fireball matt. the other guy say. oh cool your name is that aline thats awesome!"
So many memories. I wonder if Dragonfly's 'insanity' will remain in Equestria, or if it will be too noisy.
9219574 No.
9219478 The story runs as it runs, and it has plenty filler enough. The climax is demanding it be written.
9219506 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SnGU6Jtxc0
I'm giddy for the last chapter
9219586
To wit, I say, behold:
Fireball Matt is a perfectly reasonable name.
9219438
Like Cogwheel said, when Kris finishes this story, you should just write a sequel yourself. I'd read that.
9219506
I'm just brimming with ideas!
9219549
Fixed.
Just don't end it like Star Trek Voyager.
They get home and... the end! No follow-ups at all.
9219622
Huh. Thanks!
Breathe, It's nearly over
Now laughing friends deride
Tears I cannot hide
So I smile and say
With a lovely flame's rise, smoke gets in your eyes
Smoke gets in your eyes
all our love and magic for Dragonfly!
9219684
It'd be great to have them visit somewhere truly alive, like a forest of some kind, maybe they can find a strong magic field to heal dragonfly and teach humans 'how to unicorn'. Getting home is cool, but what about the new discoveries? Equestria? The oncoming bug invasion?
THE STORY MUST GO ON
The song that I feel should be played when they are off of mars and on Hermes safe and sound is Mal's Song, but that's just my personal opinion. I can't wait for them to leave the gods damned Death Rock, when they are back on Earth, they should send another rocket to shoot mars in it's ugly face.
#HugABug
I have to admit, I do want to see a bit post rescue, with everyone getting home and maybe some culture exchange. Then again the original book basically ended with Mark getting back on board (and the film with one following scene on Earth), so following that style it would be the logical place to end with the ponies getting home.
Still this has been an amazing story, and I'm so glad I've been able to come along for the ride.
Memories saved to Dragonfly.
On reaquiring Equestria magic field, Memories will be saved to Permanent Hive Storage.
Kevin Was Here.
That was a good one.
And you'll overcome it with your friends, just like you always have and always will.
9219574
If I remember correctly, the first is starving Dragonfly calling Mark before draining him, and the second is the universe? talking to Dragonfly. Both would be italicized in normal text, and since you can't italicize something twice...
Dragonfly reminds me of that one budist monk who has spent way to much time fasting and meditating on the mountain top.
Im already grieving that the end is nigh, I have no idea how sad I'll be when this story ends. Though it's not done yet, so I will continue to be, eager for more.
I think the quotes was a very clever and appreciated addition.
9219465
Same here. And though the orginal CSP is not done, an aftermath arc would feel like I squelched an unknown yearning.
9219438
That would be one hell of a cliff hanger. I would personally be very interested in that sequel.
9219504
Beautiful.
9218680
You my dear fellow, have a fantastic memory, I completely fogot about that.
9218680
You my dear fellow, have a fantastic memory, I completely fogot about that.
9219533 I think that was Earth, actually. Mars is just "Die die die die die die die die die die die..."
Dragonflys recapitulation reminded me a bit of the season 5 intro of babylon 5.
9219387
BTW, a lampshade/homage. In the book, Mark goes "If it was a Hollywood movie, we would have a scene of hugging and tears, but instead everyone was professional, doing their part, tending to my injuries..." etc. Then in the movie they exactly have a scene of hugging and tears.
9219504
WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE? MARS LET’S SEE YOU GRIT THOSE TEETH!
Seriously, that message left behind is Kamina Approved.
9219938
Yeah, it sort of did. Still, I find it amusing that Earth is curious about the ponies.