Sol 189
“Good evening, and welcome to the Watney and Company Report. I’m Cathy Warner, speaking to you live from Johnson Space Center in Houston.”
Venkat sat a little uncomfortably in a chair just off-camera from Cathy, who spoke to the camera with her usual professional tones. Annie had not so much pulled strings as hauled hard on anchor chains to get the CNN crew on-site in less than twelve hours. Cathy had won the prize not just because CNN had the only hour-long show, five days a week, dedicated solely to Mars, but because CNN was the most likely news organization to give NASA a fair shake.
Which was good, because the main job of the day for every NASA manager was to sell a mountain of hooey to the American public, and that sales job required all the sympathetic outlets NASA could find.
“Today we finally learned why Rich Purnell, an ordinary worker in JSC’s Astrodynamics division, is so important to the lives and future of the castaways on Mars,” Cathy continued. “With the cryptic declaration that Rich Purnell is ‘a steely-eyed missile man’, the crew of Hermes executed a prolonged engine burn that eliminates any possibility of returning to Earth as planned two months from now.
“Instead Hermes will slingshot around Earth, picking up additional speed for a tight pass around the sun that will send it back to Mars, arriving there on Ares III Sol 551. If all goes well, this will allow the castaways to escape Mars almost exactly one year from today- almost eight months ahead of the previously scheduled Ares 3B mission.”
As Venkat sat, audio of Teddy’s speech earlier that afternoon played in his ear, as the video of that speech was spliced into the live video feed from the improvised studio in one of JSC’s many conference rooms.
“Rich Purnell was the worker most involved in exploring the ‘lifeboat’ option for using the alien ship and other parts from the Ares III landing site to escape Mars in case of dire emergency,” Teddy said. “He also plotted the orbital paths for the Sleipnir missions, and in the process he realized that Hermes could be diverted onto a path that would give it a flyby of Mars before returning safely to Earth again. This path would rescue Mark Watney and the shipwrecked aliens far earlier than any prior rescue plan.
“But the Hermes flyby, though ingenious, is the least difficult part of the plan. Being a responsible NASA staffer, Rich took a leave of absence to work on the problem in private, exploring the viability of modifying the Ares IV MAV so that it can escape Martian gravity for a rendezvous with Hermes, calculating required supply loads for Hermes and the rescued astronauts, and even consulting the alien science officer on Mars about possible use of their experimental Sparkle Drive to bring Hermes and all its crew back to Earth mere days after its Mars flyby.
“After the failure of Sleipnir 1 and the abort to orbit of Sleipnir 3, Rich came to us with his proposal. His proposal, of course, was full of risks- risks to the castaways and to the Hermes crew- and we had to evaluate in detail the level of risk compared to the risk of eight more months on Mars for Watney and his guests. Not wanting to raise hopes prematurely, we kept these evaluations secret until we could be certain of the decision.
“The final decision came late yesterday afternoon, after the Chinese national space agency contacted me directly to offer the use of the booster built for the Tai Yang Shen solar observatory. With this booster and the SpaceX BFR originally slated to refuel Sleipnir 3, we could guarantee sufficient food supplies to Hermes for the entire flight, even if the Sparkle Drive fails to bring Hermes home ahead of schedule.”
Venkat heard an unfamiliar voice- some reporter or other- break in to ask, “Wasn’t this experimental drive the reason the aliens were stranded on Mars in the first place?”
“Our contact with one of the shipwrecked aliens, who was a designer of that drive, allows me to state that the flaw that caused them to come here has been identified and eliminated,” Teddy said firmly. “The Drive might not bring them to Earth, but it won’t send them anywhere else. If it fails, Hermes will continue on its predetermined course to Earth, arriving 211 days after rescuing Mark and his friends.”
“You mentioned Tai Yang Shen,” another reporter said. “What is NASA giving the Chinese in exchange for this booster?”
“The Chinese are donating the booster in the name of saving people in need and in the hopes of establishing friendly relations with the first intelligent alien culture we’ve ever encountered,” Teddy said. “However, I am recommending to the Presidential Council on Space and to the House and Senate Subcommittees on Space Exploration that the Chinese space program be offered full access to our alien friends once they’re rescued, out of respect for their expertise and demonstrated willingness to cooperate. Also, we have asked China to submit candidates for taikonauts to join the Ares V and Ares VI expeditions.”
The audio in Venkat’s ear faded out, and the spotlight came up on the table where he and Cathy sat. “For more detail on NASA’s new plan, I’m here at JSC to speak with Ares project director, Dr. Venkat Kapoor. Thank you for letting us be here, Doctor.”
“Always a pleasure, Cathy,” Venkat said.
“My first question, of course, has to be: why is this new plan, which has all the appearance of a Hail Mary pass in the fourth quarter, less risky than waiting eight more months for Ares 3B?” Cathy asked. “Especially in light of the report that the aliens have reinforced their underground farm to secure against cave-ins or blowouts.”
“It’s a choice between known risks and unknown risks,” Venkat said. “We know the risks of modifying the MAV to make it capable of escaping Martian gravity. We know the risks of an extended Hermes mission. But as Sleipnir indicates, and as incidents such as the Sol 6 storm and the Sol 88 Hab blowout make clear, the risks of Mark and his friends remaining on Mars and relying on resupply from Earth are unknowable. We don’t know when the next emergency will arise. If we know about a risk, we can plan for it and take precautions. But we can’t plan for the unpredictable. So, paradoxically, it’s less risky to take a risk.”
“One of these known risks is Hermes’s trajectory, which takes it considerably closer to the sun than any prior manned spacecraft,” Cathy continued. “In fact, NASA in the past has had a hard no-fly rule for any craft, manned or robotic, that might travel closer to the sun than Venus. Why are you ignoring this rule?”
“Hermes has multiply redundant heat and radiation mitigation systems,” Venkat said. “It’s required for the on-board reactor that powers the VASIMR ion engines. It also keeps the astronauts safe in case of solar flares during a normal year-long mission. These systems are unique in human space flight, and we designed them to endure the conditions Hermes will encounter on its flight- for precisely contingencies like this.”
That was a fib, and not a small one. Hermes’s flight path would push the safety margins of its magnetic field and hull shielding systems. They’d been designed to specifications that would let it endure the trip, not because NASA had ever imagined even in nightmares allowing the ship get that close to the sun, but because it was simple habit to err on the side of caution when engineering long-term space craft.
“Now, Hermes isn’t going to orbit,” Cathy said.
“That’s correct,” Venkat said. “It’ll be going too fast to brake for orbit. Also, if it orbited, it would lose its free-return trajectory to Earth and basically be stranded until the next Hohmann return window opens.”
“But since it’s a fly-by, that means that Mark Watney and his friends will have exactly one shot to catch them,” Cathy pointed out.
“Also true,” Venkat said. “But the MAV is a robust system, and we’ve checked out the modifications Rich Purnell proposed, and they check out.” Massive lie. The check had been only partial, and the numbers were fuzzy as hell. Purnell’s suggestions hadn’t gone much farther beyond “lose a bit of weight and strap all the pony engines to the first stage.” And Bruce Ng was too busy, first with Sleipnir 4 and now the stripped down cans with thrusters that would be the new Sleipnir 4/5, to do anything about it.
“But what happens if Mark and his friends miss the intercept?”
“The Sparkle Drive will be installed on the MAV,” Venkat said. “It’ll take the place of the five hundred kilograms of rock samples the MAV would carry from a normal Ares mission. If for some reason the MAV misses the rendezvous, they can use the Drive as a backup to either attempt a second rendezvous or limp to Earth. But that’s a contingency we’d prefer to avoid.” And that was the truth. The electrical batteries on the MAV were rated for only seven days of continuous usage. Starlight Glimmer’s report said that it would have taken a day and a half for their ship to go from their home to their Mars-parallel on the Sparkle Drive, when the two worlds were at closest approach. Earth and Mars would be very far apart when the time came to launch, and a direct line back to Earth would bring the lightly shielded MAV far too close to the Sun for anyone’s health.
“So what happens if the rendezvous misses and the Sparkle Drive fails?” Cathy asked.
Rich Purnell had estimated that a working Sparkle Drive was indispensable to a successful rendezvous, unless the MAV became radically lighter somehow. “We’ll spend the coming year doing everything possible to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Venkat evaded smoothly.
“One final question,” Cathy asked. “The timing of this maneuver and announcement, in light of surprising intransigence on the part of certain Congressmen, seems a little convenient for your purposes. Was there any connection between the stand-down at SpaceX and your decision to implement a mission that requires two resupply launches in three weeks’ time?”
“We had faith that Congress would see reason once they were reassured that taxpayer money was being spent in the best way available to ensure the survival of Mark Watney and our alien visitors,” Venkat said. “Our decision to implement the Rich Purnell maneuver was based solely on our judgment of its probable success. Political considerations never entered into it.”
The only reason Venkat didn’t call that the biggest lie of the whole interview was, lying implied that you knew the truth. Someone else might know; he sure didn’t.
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Steely-eyed media man.
"Hail Mary pass in the fourth quarter"
Put the ball in Aaron Rodgers' hands for that
Yeah, this will make for some interesting times at NASA - externally smile at cameras and nicely explain how this was your plan all along, while behind closed doors there will likely be a witch-hunt for some heads to roll. Not to mention the PR disaster if it is ever leaked that NASA was actually against this plan and the Hermes crew essentially went rogue.
And I really, really want to see what the maretian crew has to say about this. What if they aren't exactly thrilled to take this Hail Mary? The Hermes crew may have floored the pedal, but that doesn't yet mean the plan is actually a go. This ought to be all sorts of interesting.
"after the Chinese national space agency contact me directly"
"after the Chinese national space agency contacted me directly"?
"Hermes has multiply redundant heat and radiation"
"Hermes has multiple redundant heat and radiation"?
"Well, the first missed day. Not on purpose; the hotel internet is acting up."
Ah, sorry about that!
8864252 Fair from NASA's point of view, anyway. MSNBC would be all over the waste, FOX would combine xenophobia with attacks on the current administration. The New York Times would demand NASA money be redirected to the military, and the Wall Street Journal would demand it be redirected to tax cuts. Etc. Etc. Etc. CNN is about the friendliest video outlet NASA could choose short of being interviewed by Scott Manley.
Does the Sparkle Drive work in atmosphere? Because NASA seems to assume it does, but then why is the ESA still using chemical rockets to send their stuff into space?
Also, does Rich win the Watney Prize? If so, I'll be very interested to know what he spends it on.
CNN being good....
8864329
Multiply makes sense to me. You pronounce the "y" as "ee" or "ie".
Great chapter as normal!
8864321
What do you mean by "their part"? NASA don't have a choice after Hermes chose to accelerate. Not following through dooms everything once it began.
8864353
...I'm not sure I follow, sorry?
8864321
The crew went rogue to rescue one of their own, so most of the blame would fall on Commander Lewis for this. Also, NASA has no choice BUT to follow through since Hermes is going too fast to enter Earth orbit, and any attempts at an override would endanger the crew, Mark and the ponies, and really put a lot of heat on NASA.
Welp, guess Venkat's off the suspect list.
I saw several comments suggesting a time travel delivered message last chapter, but uh... how and why? That would require the sender to have both: the full data for the maneuver AND Starlight's take on the time travel spell. Setting aside that she might not even be capable of it without the Map and scroll (and without a universal magic field, assuming she doesn't go back to Equestria first somehow to cast it, and now we're getting really complicated), how would anyone obtain both those key elements? Starlight has the spell, Rich has the maneuver (along with other NASA folks).
The only way is if at least Starlight somehow made it to Earth and found out about it. If they sent it to themselves from the future they have to have gotten it at some point in said future. So how else would future them get it, other than if they got to Earth and compared notes about the whole ordeal? I mean, the alternative... Email to Mars: "Mark, we're sorry, but all the other Sleipnir missions have failed. SpaceX, am I right? But check it out, here's this cool thing the Hermes could have done months ago! Man, if only we had a Dolorean, know what I'm saying? Hey, did we see in Starlight's notes that she can time travel? Damn, that's really something. I'll bet it has no consequences whatsoever. ...Well, sit tight; we'll get there eventually ;)"
Sending it backwards in time requires a damn good reason, even if it could be done, since you're talking fiddling with the past (something I imagine she's not super eager to try again), so we have to assume they didn't all make it. Other than that... how and why would Starlight (and whoever else) manage to send an email backward through time?
I'd still love if it was Teddy, just for the new dimension it'd be for his character... but no matter who, looking forward to finding out.
8864319
NASA has no choice, they need to resupply Hermes, and Mark+Co also has little choice, no resupply (went for Hermes) and no normal run, since Hermes will need full repair after this. So if Mark + Pony stay, they have to hope for ESA/CSP solving this for them.
8864389
Multiply was used as an adverb. At the nuclear plant, critical systems were multiply redundant, meaning there were several copies of the same system, or subsystems that could perform the same task, though possibly not as well. Also called defense in depth, which would be a watchword at NASA.
Good thing Hermes had the AWE35 communication module fail when NASA attemped the remote takeover?
The Martian except ponies are there
8864389
"Multiply" is correct because the heat and radiation mitigation systems have multiple redundancies. "Multiple" would mean there is more than one set of heat and radiation mitigation systems.
"The systems are multiply redundant" vs "The systems have multiple redundancies". Same meaning, different wording.
borgmephitis was saying how it's pronounced. To reiterate: the ending is pronounced like "plea", not like "ply".
We'll just chalk up the missed day to unplanned technical noncooperation.
Of course CNN has continuous coverage of the situation on Mars. Remember how much time they spent on that missing Malaysia Air flight?
8864387
The Amacitas actually had the third-generation Sparkle Drive. And it's been six months since. Considering it has the potential to replace the bulky, expensive, single-use boosters they're currently using, there's little reason not to.
So... Mitch didn't send the Purnell Manuver, and it seems Venkat didn't either. PLEASE tell me Teddy sent it, because that would be the most epic 180 I've ever seen.
Eugh, hotel internet. I know the pain, brother
The question grows even stronger, though: WHO SENT THE PROCEDURES TO HERMES?!
When you published this, it was 1:33 AM in UTC-12:00, the last timezone to get to a particular date (admittedly, that timezone is uninhabited, but there still could have been people on ships passing through it). As I've happened to catch chapters being published later than that in my own time zone, I think it still counts. Besides, I remember a while back there was a day where you accidentally posted two chapters, so even if you don't count this one, you've still effectively maintained a rate of a chapter per day.
8864444
I guess it it more the fact tht the sparke drive produces 0 thrust. As such an ascent to space without boosters will accumulate a lot of "negative" acceleration due gravity that will cause problems.
8864530
I considered that, but even the anemic magical thrusters of Amacitas would be able to bring it to rest relative to Earth in a matter of a few minutes. Or alternatively they could simply translocate to a position where their preexisting velocity would be of use, such as giving them a boost towards orbital velocity.
8864404
For this instance, it would be the same spell Twilight used in 'It's about Time' to create a stable time loop?
1: Get maneuver.
2: Get Rescued.
3: Get time travel spell from Twilight.
4: Load Rich's procedure on Flash Drive.
5: Pop to the past.
6: Upload flash drive to an email and send it in the two or so minutes of back-in-time Starlight has.
2: Get rescued...
All it takes for anyone with knowledge of time travel being functional is the will to follow through. "We WILL be saved. And when I find out what saves us, I'm going to go back in time and ENSURE the method that saves us will be executed."
It's the same trick Harry Potter used with the ... time... turner.
And what books have they been READING?!
8864340
He's an employee. He's not eligible.
8864588
Oh well. It would have been interesting to see how much take-out 25 million dollars would buy.
8864591
Why? NASA has already "told" him he can't leave and they'll give him all the clothes and takeout he wants... What more does he need?
8864605
I'm starting to think Rich and Twilight would get along like a house on fire.
8864612
So, highly destructive, releasing noxious fumes, and killing anyone caught in their midst?
8864627
That's a pretty accurate description. If Rich has been living in his cubicle for the last few weeks, I'd say he's got the noxious fumes handled. Twilight obviously has highly destructive down pat. Rich might object to the killing people part though, because people bring him food.
Seems to me like there's a very good backup for that scenario: the pony-assisted launch of the MAV will surely be a big enough spell to help the ponies trace the dimension and send in their own rescue-ship.
8864552
There are a few points:
1: I considered that, but even the anemic magical thrusters of Amacitas would be able to bring it to rest relative to Earth in a matter of a few minutes.
No. Rest is the LAST thing you want relative to the planet. There is still the thing called gravity. Magical thruster are clearly described as not powerful enough for normal lift-off. they are perfect for course correction or momentul alteration over longer periots, but for "rest relative to Earth" inside the earths gravity well it would requite enough thrust to bring it into space to begin with.
2: You don't just want into space. First step is to get into orbit and for that you need a lot of speed. Speed which the Sparkle drive doesn't provide in itself. Sure, you can teleport "up" then let yourself accelerate via falling and jump again until you have the speed, But that takes ~15 min freefalling without atmosphere (well... actually longer since this takes the gravity at sea-level) crossing every satelites/space-junkes path following by altering your position so that you fall over ther planet. Such a monuver takes some precision to get the orbit right.
3: potential problems with the collision control. Depending on how the sparkle-drive acts towards a dense atmosphere. Mars may be within the limits, while Equs isn't.
4: Safety? Somewhat? Sure a rocket is danagerous, but controlable. Should the SD malfunction after a few jumps, then you are screwed, while malfunctioning (and not instantly exploding) rockets can be saved. Falling straight down with a few km/sec can't be saved, even with more powerful conventional thrusters unless your are halfway to the moon to begin with. (Or turning into a fireball was the aim of your mission)
8864573
Nah, that spell couldn't go back that far, unmodified, even with Equestria's magic field. Twilight remarked: "Spike, only Star Swirl the Bearded could do something like that, and even his spell just went back a week!" (Cutie Re-Mark, Part 1). I'm not even sure she'd have time to send an email with the original spell: "It says you can go back once, and it only lasts for a few moments" (It's About Time). Future Twilight wasn't in the past very long with that spell. It'd probably take a lot of power even unmodified, let alone strong enough for what they need here... but since this is time travel we're talking about, there's all the time in the world (any of 'em) to build up said power. So sure, it could be done. In theory, it's a stable time loop. But...
I'd hardly call them reading Potter a slam dunk argument here. Harry Potter is too blasé about time travel... Rowling had to 'author's saving throw' her way out of that one and destroy all the time turners. The MoM controlled them all, of course (because they were so good at keeping things under control), and so then when they were all destroyed, boom, no more time travel that could potentially deus ex machina her stories. Yup, no one could possibly make one or cast the spell that they have built into them. Just the one time... yep... hey look over here, it's Voldemort! Don't pay attention to time travel any more, no no! ...
Anyway, based on more than just that, I'm hoping it's not how this goes. It shouldn't be that... well simple's not the right word. Risk free? As it stands some character made a really gutsy, dramatic decision that could end tragically. If it's Starlight from the future all along... meh. Of course, if that is the way this goes the author is free to tell me to go buck myself. ...Well, he's free to do that anyway; I've had worse. Lastly, if it is her, we absolutely won't be allowed to find out until they're successfully saved, to preserve the dramatic tension. And at this point, if we aren't told before then, we'll figure on this as the solution and the tension will pop like a soap bubble anyway.
8864647
Better: Sparkle Drive acts up and they become stranded in Equestria's space.
Years later.
Two figures lay sprawled on the Equestrian grass, talking and laughing merrily. One was human...
Okay now that pony versions of rick and morty are cannon we just need them to portal to mars and get everypony home safely
8864689
1) You pointed out the problem of negative acceleration. I pointed out that it would be easily overcome once they got far enough away, which they quickly would.
2) Why would they need to get into orbit? From what I understand when it comes to spacecraft, orbit is used to maintain velocity and conserve fuel. Unless they was planning to rendezvous with something in orbit, there would be no need to do either because their fuel is literally limitless and their velocity is basically irrelevant.
And if they wanted to enter orbit, they wouldn't need to do any of that complicated gravity-assisted acceleration; run the Sparkle Drive to gain some distance, then accelerate back towards Equus using their magical thrusters. It would take less than an hour, consume no resources, and allow them to enter orbit at the point of their choosing.
3) That's silly. Unicorns already teleport around on Equus's surface all of the time, and that's the whole basis for the Sparkle Drive. If there was an issue inherent to simply teleporting in atmosphere, ponies wouldn't be able to do it so casually.
4) The Sparkle Drive would take all of 2 seconds to reach Lower Equus Orbit. That's not nearly enough time to reach dangerous velocity.
8864695
Of course, we wouldn't be told it was Glimmer pulling this, that would be kept under wraps because not even Glimmer would know for sure. But there are shades of foreshadowing, and the theory DOES hold enough water for this to work.
Keep in mind that while the old starswirl spell is short in backtrack AND duration, it is not beyond the pony powers that be to adjust things. They are ALREADY tweaking spells. Between the round table of harmony, Twilight and Starlight's brilliance, Chrysalis' likely spoilered involvement from whatever she gets out of CSP, access to a spell that does a short time hop, knowledge that a long-period time travel spell can function, potential future access to human super computers... The means, the brains, and the power all exist to execute the idea. And the reading of Harry Potter can easily plant the idea.
And the most important part is that they have more than a reasonable enough amount of time to complete the spell. Starlight's time travel shenanigans against Twilight are proof enough that multi-year time hops are possible. So, even if it takes them years to create a variant of the time travel spell that is effectively 'X years back in time for 10 minutes in a room' they would need to upload a flash drive and pop an email during night shift, they have plenty of time. And with working mana battery crystals that Starlight can use to make MORE mana battery crystals to make-
YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITONAL PYLONS!
-more mana battery crystals... Even getting a power source is trivial, as the only limiting factor for that will be time. Assuming they go to Earth, Starlight can make a battery, then make more batteries, and as her power stockpile keeps growing, she can just manufacture more at a time. It's borderline Von Neumann. And this doesn't even assume they figure out how to do mana conversion from electricity and make solar panels do the job, speeding the charge process even more.
Great... now I'm imagining the Ponies as magic Protoss. They can't stay in our universe without
pylonsmana batteries to keep the magic field near them charged.Chrysalis is going to discover StarCraft... Isn't she?
EDIT: (And apologies if I repeated and agreed part of what you said. I skimmed too fast.)
8864759
Heh... to quote myself, from the comment you just responded to:
So yes, I don't disagree with what you're saying, although at this point we're well beyond 'the spell Twilight used'. That spell has set limits, so we need a new one in the same family, based on probably the same principles, that breaks its limitations. We have Fire, we need Fire 4. As you say, we have the right team for that.
Well, reasonably she needs something to do since she hasn't sworn a vendetta against Starlight in this continuity.
8864759
i recently read a silly story where Twilight and Chrysalis were playing Starcraft, Twilight using Protoss and Chrysalis using Zerg.
and Twilight won, partly because Chrysalis kept forgetting to build more Overlords!
8864404
Not true. The time traveler only needed to know the first burn of the manoeuvre, NASA knows the rest. IF it is a time travel message, I would put money on twilight sparkle. She is desperate enough at this point.
8864409
8864424
Ah, ahh, okay, thank you! Sorry about the confusion.
8864404
Hmm well as long as the timeline stays consistent you have non problem so if Starlight once in earth discover that she sent the message back she has just to do that
8864741
for 1+2:
Quote from chapter 1
So docking to a spacestation, which would either need constant full throttle thrust 24/7 or is in orbit.
Orbit is not to keep velocity. Orbit is to maintain your height. The main force that you have to deal with is and will be gravity. You have to counteract it all the time or plumet back to the planet. So how to counteract it? either via constant thrust or by entering orbit, whos centrifugal force counters gravity.
If that were the case, then they wouldn't have ended on mars in the first place. There is no difference between a micro asteroid for a space ship and a fly for a unicorn. It also assumes it is the same type of teleport. Considering there are never 2 super sonic booms when a unicorn teleports, we can asume they do so by switching place with the matter in the target location. (otherwise they would displace the air at one end and create a local vacuum at the other)
But with the SD having a problem with the micro asteroid in it's way, that kind of teleport seems to be unlikely or at least can't teleport the matter in the target area back. Most likely due unpredictable power consumption, since the computer wont have the time to calculate the needed power to teleport the matte in the space Amicia wants to appear in.
Again, that point is mainly for the needed orbit to dock at the space station. Said spacestation travels at ~8km/sec (ISS rounded up) tangential to the planet. You can't reach that speed with "low-power" thrusters unless you use the acceleration from dropping down after a SD jump. Otherwise you have to constantly compensate 1G on top of your acceleration, which again means your thaumic thrusters have enough power for liftoff on their own...
8864967
The reason they ended up on Mars is explicitly because they removed/forgot to include a safety feature in the teleport spell that it normally comes equipped with, one which prevents the spell from going higher than three dimensions when it auto-dodges when exiting teleport. The spell matrix in Sparkle Drive considered 5th dimension to be just as valid of an evasive maneuver as simply dodging to the left, and off it went.
Was that Cherry Berry in today’s episode?!?!?!