AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 501
ARES III SOL 492
Cherry Berry took the sample box full of water and began washing off her space suit, beginning by splashing her forehooves in the plastic bin.
The Hab had had an advanced air filtration system that scrubbed dust particles out of the air and a full decontamination shower. Amicitas had had neither, and there wasn’t space or weight allowance for them in the Whinnybago. After a couple sols of driving, Mark had noticed the buildup of dust in the trailer and had insisted, using graphic and detailed accounts of the potential inhalation hazards of perchlorates and regolith, on efforts to get the dust out of the trailer again.
The solution relied heavily on one of the few resources the ship had an endless supply of: cold water. Suits would get as much of their surface as possible washed off, leaving aside only those spots which might be hurt by getting wet. This would be done in the airlock, so that when the last suit was cleaned, someone with a dry suit could suit up, open the outer airlock doors, and quickly sluice out the airlock floor before the water froze or evaporated.
It was Cherry’s turn to do it this sol, and she was already worn out. The Martian sky had already returned to its normal pink tones, and there had been a large, rocky ridge to overcome. (Mark said it was an ancient riverbed, which seemed crazy to Cherry; since when did riverbeds bulge up from the surface? Mark had said something about concretion, but Cherry wasn’t interested unless the concrete was a royal highway leading straight to the MAV.) Cherry wanted lunch, followed by several hours of immobility.
So when she saw, through the open inner airlock doors, Spitfire suited up in her own spacesuit and doing stretching exercises, Cherry Berry’s nerves grew just a little bit more frayed. “Spitfire,” she said quietly, “what are you doing?”
“I’m going out for a trot as soon as you’re done,” Spitfire said. “Don’t worry, I’ll wash out the airlock when I get back.”
“The heck you are,” Cherry Berry said.
“Cherry? Spitfire?” Mark, his freshly heated food pack in his hands, leaned over the second row of flight couches. “Something wrong?”
“We’re fine, Mark,” Cherry said in English, forcing a smile.
“Yes. Fine. All good,” Spitfire added.
Mark didn’t look like he believed it, but he shrugged and sat down in one of the seats to eat his meal.
Cherry ground her teeth. She’d have to keep her voice soft and sweet, considering how much Equestrian Mark understood. “Spitfire, go put that suit away and eat your lunch,” she murmured.
“What’s the problem?” Spitfire asked. “I completed the week of rest. My head only hurts a little, and my joints don’t hurt at all anymore. I’m better. And I need to get some exercise so I can build my strength back up.” She tossed her head, adding, “And don’t talk to me about relapses. I’m the mission medic. And so long as I don’t go flying or rip my suit, I’m safe to begin moderate exercise.”
Cherry’s teeth grit a little harder. “I’m not worried about you having a relapse,” she lied. “But your suit is compromised all to Tartarus. Dragonfly fixed it up so you’ll have it for brief EVAs, but the more you take it outside, the weaker the patches will get.”
“It’ll hold up for half an hour of trotting!” Spitfire insisted, not bothering to keep her voice low. “If it won’t, then Dragonfly needs to do the job over!”
“Is somebody calling my name?” The changeling herself strolled out of the habitat deck, trotting up to where Mark sat eating his lunch. “What’s all the noise?” she asked him in English.
“Well,” Mark said, “Spitfire wants to go outside for a run. Cherry Berry doesn’t want her to because she’s afraid Spitfire’s suit might blow out at the patches. And neither of them wants to make a scene about it in front of me. At least not Cherry.”
Cherry Berry blushed. So much for keeping voices low. And apparently Mark understood even more Equestrian than she’d thought.
“Come on, commander,” Spitfire moaned. “I’ve been stuck in here for over a week. I need to get out of here for a little while or else I’m gonna buck some heads.”
“You can put up with it a while longer,” Cherry said. “Look at Dragonfly. She’s been in here just as long as you have. And she’s holding up just fine.”
“Are you kidding?” Spitfire asked. “Dragonfly spent two months in a cocoon. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t get claustrophobia.”
“Excuse me,” Dragonfly said, a little miffed. “I was asleep for those two months, thank you. I get cabin fever about as much as the next bug.”
“Anyway, it’s just half an hour.”
“Sure it is,” Cherry said. “And what happens if the patches fail when you’re out there? You could asphyxiate in seconds if it’s a bad leak.”
“So don’t let her go out alone,” Dragonfly suggested. “Send someone with her carrying one of Mark’s emergency patch kits. They’ll work just as well on our suits as on his.”
“See?” Spitfire said, grinning. “No excuse left! C’mon, bug, let’s go for a run!”
“Yeah, no,” Dragonfly said. “You’ve heard of the law of conservation of energy? Well, I’m conserving mine, and that’s the law.”
Cherry Berry cleared her throat. “Fireball?” She called out. “Could you come here a moment?”
“Huh?” Spitfire’s face scrunched up inside her helmet. “What do you want Fireball for?”
Fireball walked onto the bridge still crunching on a sliver of quartz. “Yeah?” he asked.
“Please suit up,” Cherry said. “Spitfire needs a backup for her EVA. She wants to get out of the ship for a while.”
“Don’t we all,” Fireball muttered.
“No, not really,” Dragonfly corrected, radiating innocence.
Spitfire looked at Fireball, then at Cherry, pleading in her eyes. “Commander, please, not Fireball,” she begged. “He’s even slower than Mark is. If I have to stay close to him, I won’t even get beyond a walk! Can’t you send somepony else?”
“His suit is intact- well, more than anyone else’s- and more to the point, it’s dry,” Cherry pointed out. “The only other dry suit right now is Starlight Glimmer’s, because she’s been using Dragonfly’s for scouting duty.”
“But Cherry…” The former Wonderbolts commander, for all her experience and maturity, had trouble keeping the whine out of her voice.
“Have a nice bit of exercise,” Cherry said, using a bit of Ares III discarded clothing to wipe down her hooves. “And don’t forget to wash out the airlock once you’re done.”
give them what they want, without actually giving them what they want, how very changeling of you Cherry.
In Cherry's view, is exercise of the kind Spitfire wants permanently off the menu for her during the rest of their time on Mars (because of suit breach risk), or just until Spitfire's had a bit longer to recover?
9161952
Permanent, breach is too high of a risk
That's actually really fascinating about the river beds.
9161973 That's what I was thinking, but then I remembered the suggestion of swapping suits; would that change the picture?
9161980 It is!
9161984 It's partly pretext. Cherry is more worried that exertion will cause a relapse. It probably won't, though Spitfire will be a lot more sensitive to changes in air pressure for the rest of her time on Mars. But eventually Spitfire will wise up and arrange to swap out suits with Starlight or Dragonfly...
If they're feeling cavalier I guess they could attach a hose to a valve leading out of the pressure vessel and use Mars as the biggest vacuum cleaner ever...
I don't really blame Spitfire here. In the same situation, I think I'd be at risk of absolutely losing it, trapped in such a small space all that time.
9161637
Wow... Equesteia is really hurting for professional actors huh?
Also, I was more curious about the Hollywood version.
9161942
And Chrysalis will never hear a word about this. She'd never let Cherry live that down.
At least Mark hasnt had to pull out the Earth method of preventing you from doing Anything.
Red Tape.
Hey, Fireball is the mission EVA specialist...
9162110
And Mark shows that while human mouths might have trouble speaking Equestrian clearly? Human ears and brains have less trouble understanding it when a native speaks it.
No more speaking Pony for the players to plot against the Dungeon Master.
Which makes me wonder, what will game time look like on the Hermes?
9161952
Temporary, she's clearly just worried.
I performed yesterday's chapter! Please enjoy. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/450571904462618624/488564549168005140/Sol_489_traveling.mp3
Edit: A downvote? Really?
Mark's definitely picked up the language with remarkable speed, considering that he couldn't actually have been sure of what they were saying most of the time.
9162110 9162201
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9162033
Hmm OR it would be a Changeling Inc production, the cast is made by just three guys [you know, to make allowance for scenes with more than one character on screen] and everyone looks exactly perfect but is OOC like hell ^^
9162324
Oh, sixth circle of bureaucratic magic. This is harsh.
9162324
Dare I inquire whence this foul writ came?
9162493
A car lease agreement template, edited slightly to reflect the change in the “vehicle.”
9162510
Nice!
Assuming our good friend Murphy doesn't pop in for a visit (and let's face it, he will) what sol would you estimate that everyone makes it to the MAV?
9162324
I think that will do nicely, Bernard.
Yes, Minister.
9162324
Engine capacity?
9162657
I was pressed for time before the coffee shop closed. Fixed it.
Weird, Usually you do Equestrian language in italics, not the other way around as you did here.
9162317 He can't give exact translations, but he can pick out enough words to get the general sense of a conversation.
9162692 If I use two languages in the same chapter, the language that gets the less use in that chapter gets the italics.
9162324
9162110
9162480
This has reminded me...
Bureaucracy
Pegasi are not good indoor pets. Consider a unicorn if you live in an apartment.
In any case, fairly smooth driving for now, which makes me wonder what Mars has planned for its next move.
9162662
But suits have engines. Though thrusters are inneffective on surface, they are count as engines. And they using suit main power to work.
There should be maximum thrust, specific impulse for vacuum, specific impulse for 1 atmosphere (of planet of manufacture).
9162927
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQK_XZG84uHuH1PpEIx0Fw1fhmo1CF4ZxvGP-CPLo6ByOsWRORXyA
Mars: "Still working on it."
9162510
I don't own a car, so I have never read one of those.
9162324
Ack! It's my only weakness: CONTRACT LAW
I performed this chapter, Sol 492. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/450571904462618624/488852787220840475/Sol_492.mp3
9163220
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/450571904462618624/488853453024788481/Montgomery_Burns_Still_working_on_it.mp3
9163223
Ah, but if you wish to purchase a car instead of leasing it, there’s completely different contract you need to sign!
Snrk, yep, that's the buggy law.
... Why do I feel that Fireball will be going extra slow?
9163751
One would think that buying a product at advertised value would be relatively straight-forward...
Leave it to dealerships to complicate things unnecessarily.
My favorite part of this is that Mark totally understands a passable amount of Equestrian. He's gonna be such a good ambassador to the pony world in the future. ;D (Though not if he can help it.)
9163751
Contract? Only thing I know about signing to buy a vehicle is the title, generally after handing over some cash for it...
9162657 Each Equestrian space suit is rated for one horsepower.
Exhumed river channels exist on Earth too. They're not as big here as they are on Mars, and most surviving examples are the recent former paths of extant rivers whose courses have changed over time, but they do still exist. There are also some examples on Earth of similar structures formed when lava flows or volcanic ash deposits filled dry river beds or other valleys, like this plateau upon which an airport was built in St George, Utah.
In related news, Mark's knowledge of Equestrian keeps improving, and they can't pull that "talk in Equestrian so he won't understand" anymore
Sassy bug!
Its funny some people can stay in there house/room for a long time if they have a chose BUT ones it get taken away... All bets are off...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Funny... I can keep myself busy in my house all week long if im free to leave. The moment i can (hurt back or leg last time) i totaly hated staying inside...
Life is full of compromises, but unfortunately compromises often don't cut it.
But one had to do with what they got.
Has ESA considered trying to send magical energy through the life support system?