AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 307
ARES III SOL 303
“We’re here.”
Starlight Glimmer looked up from the computer screen, where an image of Dragonfly’s now unoccupied cocoon sat in front of what seemed like an aura of rainbow light rendered in crystal. “Oh?” she said. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”
“What abou- oh,” Dragonfly said, looking over the unicorn’s shoulder at the screen and seeing the pic. “Tired of me already?”
Although the tone was teasing, Starlight Glimmer felt a shiver through her body at the words. “Don’t you ever think of going back into that thing,” she snapped, closing the image viewer. “And no, I wasn’t thinking about that.”
“Young ladies, don’t make me turn this car around,” Mark said. “Really, don’t. I may have to swap batteries anyway, so I want to make this trip worth the trouble.”
They had come ten kilometers east-northeast of Site Epsilon, to another volcano or hill or something- this one with two peaks, each considerably taller than the squat mound of Site Epsilon. Mark had parked near the base of the volcano, Rover 1’s battery back in its saddlebag for this trip, the RTG providing a surplus of heat for the interior of the rover. The side of the mountain sloped up gently ahead of them.
“Which way to the best source of salt?” Mark asked.
“I know a gem-finding spell, Mark,” Starlight said. “But no pony I ever met had a talent for finding salt in the ground. Sorry.”
Mark shrugged. “Eh,” he said. “Let’s just drive a bit farther, then, and see what’s on the other side.”
The rover crawled slowly but steadily up the side of the volcano, aimed directly at the saddle between the peaks. It took only a couple of minutes to reach the crest of the slope. The ground rolled away, and then the rover lurched as Mark slapped on the brakes. The ribbed wheels of the rover dug in to the loose dirt and rocks, slid a little, and then ceased all motion.
“Whoa,” he said.
“Not funny, Mark,” Starlight said.
“No, seriously,” Mark said. “Suit up. We need to go out and see this.”
Ten minutes later the three of them stood on the mountain, staring eastwards.
Unlike the gentle slope on the western side of the hill, the eastern face dropped away fairly steeply not far from where Mark had stopped. Below and before them extended a large bowl, interrupted by a tongue of plainsland jutting into the bowl from the south, a small mesa jutting up from the tip like a sphinx almost totally worn away by winds. And beyond this, beyond the bowl, beyond even the horizon, a long curved ridge rose in the hazy distance; the rim of a massive impact crater.
And in this one vista Mars appeared to be throwing its entire limited range of colors at the eye. The twin peaks of the mountain shone almost white with light-colored material that could be ejecta or could be ice. The mountain slopes were the reddish gray that dominated Acidalia Planitia. The bottom of the bowl, on the other hand, lurked in a shadowy near-black that not even the distant but bright noonday sun could lighten. The wind-gnawed mesa on the outcrop, by contrast, practically glowed rust-red in comparison, and the distant crater rim, softened by distance and the pathetically thin air, shaded into the pink.
And from a point just below the southern rim of the bowl, between the outcrop and the southern mountain peak, something sparkled.
Mark held out the arm with the camera on it, refocusing it to maximum magnification, watching the output projected onto the inside of his helmet. “Oh my God,” he gasped. “Holy shit. I can’t believe I’m seeing this.”
“What is it?” Starlight asked, her eyes following the line of Mark’s stiff arm. “More quartz?”
“Oh, it’s rarer than that,” Mark said. “What temperature do your suits say it is?”
“Um…” Starlight refocused her view inside the suit, to the readouts just below the faceplate. “One degree above freezing.”
“That’s what I thought,” Mark said. “The conditions have to be absolutely perfect for this to happen. Temperature within a one or two degree band. Air pressure near absolute peak for this planet. It must be a lot higher down there than it is up here.” His voice sped up and dropped as he continued, becoming a rapid-fire mumble.
“Mark, what is it, please?” Starlight asked.
“It’s water.” Mark’s pointing hand extended a finger. “We are witnessing something that no other astronaut is likely to see here for centuries- natural running water on the surface of Mars.”
“Is that really a big deal?” Dragonfly asked. “We could probably create a spring if we wanted.”
“From a scientific standpoint, not so much,” Mark said. “We’ve known about the probability of liquid water flows when conditions were right. When humans first made a serious effort to map Mars using space probe photos, they chose for an arbitrary sea level the altitude at which average air pressure would be high enough to allow liquid water under perfect conditions. And then we learned about perchlorates and their antifreeze effects, and saw water-triggered landslides on satellite photos. We knew it could happen.
“But this is a special moment. Everything has to be exactly right for this to happen. Not enough pressure, and water can’t stay liquid. Too cold, and it stays frozen. Too hot, and it boils away instantly. And here we are, at the right time, with everything perfect, to witness a waterfall on Mars.” He patted his arm with his free hand and said, “Which is why all of this is being recorded.”
Starlight shuddered hard enough for it to be visible through her space suit. “If water is as rare as that,” she said, “this really is a terrible planet.”
“Oh, I dunno,” Dragonfly said. “I mean yes, it does want us all dead, but this part of it reminds me a little of the Bad Lands-“ she said it with emphasis on lands- “back home, where our hive is.” She stepped a little closer to Mark. “We gonna go investigate closer?”
“No,” Mark said, shaking his head. “The slopes are too steep. I’m not putting the rover at risk any farther than this. Besides, by the time we got there it would probably be over.” Indeed, the glittering seemed to be diminishing far more than the slow movement of the sun in the sky could explain.
The human dropped his arm, flexing it a bit to relieve the stiffness from holding it in place for so long. “You know,” he said, “this is the sort of thing I signed up for.”
“Being stranded on a desert planet with five aliens?” Dragonfly asked.
“Well, not that part,” Mark admitted. “But think about it. We’re the first to see anything like that on this planet. Hell, we’re the first to stand on this spot, to see this view, to look over that horizon. Everywhere we go, we’re the first there. The first to touch that rock. The first to dig that soil. The first to see, the first to do, first, first, first!” He patted his arm and added, “And now we just have to get home with the news of what we found. That’s what being an astronaut is about.”
Starlight snorted derisively. “Yeah,” she muttered, “and I’m responsible for the first spaceship from my world to visit another world… accidentally.”
“Take your firsts where you can get them,” Mark said. “When you get home you’re going to be a hero for all of time, you know that?”
This time Starlight’s snort was even louder, more of shock than derision. “Me? A hero? For getting us stranded here?”
“For getting us un-stranded,” Mark said. “For giving us a chance to live long enough to be rescued. Without you and your magic there would be no cave farm, no food, and three dead ponies about a hundred fifty sols ago. Without Dragonfly you’d all be confined to the Hab or trying to make do with the spare Ares suits. I got the farm started, and Cherry got it really going. Without Fireball’s strength we couldn’t have moved the dirt or the crops. And without Spitfire watching over everyone, one or more of us would probably be permanently injured.
“We’re surviving, Starlight. We are going to survive this motherfucking planet. And just because we survived this planet for a year and a half, all of us are going to be heroes as long as memory lasts.”
“One thousand years is the traditional pony number for such things,” Dragonfly added.
Starlight flopped back on her spacesuited flanks, head down. “I don’t feel like any hero,” she said. “Cherry, sure, she got us down alive, and I don’t think anybody else could. And back home Spitfire’s all kinds of hero. Even Dragonfly here is a hero among the changelings.”
“Too true,” the changeling in question modestly admitted.
“But I’m a buck-up,” Starlight continued. “Yes, I’ve done a few things, but I cause more problems than I fix. We wouldn’t even be here if not for me- you’d be home with your crew, and we’d be doing, oh, I don’t know what. And I’m just scared all the time, trying to save myself, and trying to think of ways to keep everyone alive a little longer.”
"Which you're pretty darn good at, all things considered," Dragonfly replied.
Mark knelt and put a gloved hand on a pressurized shoulder, leaning into it so Starlight could feel it. “Heroes don’t have to be fearless,” he said. “They don’t have to be extraordinary. I’m not Neil Armstrong. I’m not even Chris Hadfield. But a hero keeps going. A hero survives things that would kill most people. That’s all it takes: don’t die. People are going to look at you, and they’re not going to say, ‘That Starlight Glimmer, she sure screwed the pooch a lot, didn’t she?’ No. They’re going to say, ‘How did she survive a year and a half in another universe? On an almost airless planet? Growing her own food? Building her own escape vehicle? I could never do that.’ That’s what they’re going to say about you.”
“Really?” Starlight Glimmer picked herself off the dirt. “And what are they going to say about you, Mark Watney?”
“They’re going to say, ‘Is that Mark Watney? I thought he’d be taller.’”
Pony and changeling snickered appreciatively.
“But seriously, I’ve been thinking about that,” Mark continued. “How do ponies treat their heroes?”
Starlight Glimmer shrugged. “I live with the six biggest heroes of our time,” she said. “One of them is a princess, and even now half the ponies on the street don’t stop to look at her most of the time. If it’s not Sun-princess or Luna-princess, we don’t seem to get excited.”
“It is so different with humans,” Mark said. “The problem with becoming a human hero is, you can never stop. Do a heroic thing once and you’re a hero for life. That name I mentioned, Neil Armstrong? Huge introvert. He talked to machines more than he talked to people, given a choice. Very private, very mysterious. He was the first human to walk on the moon. And he never had a moment’s privacy after that until the day he died. He wasn’t allowed to do anything, to be anything else. He was First Man on the Moon, forever.”
Mark stood back up, dusting off the knee of his EVA suit. “And I think about that a lot. NASA is spending hundreds of millions of dollars and putting five lives in jeopardy just to get my worthless ass back to Earth. I owe them, and they’re going to collect. Test subject for life for space medicine. Spokesperson at any astronaut event they want. Teacher of the next generation or two of astronauts. I’ve got a job for life whether I want it or not.
“And that’s just the NASA side of things. Then there’s the public. When I get back I’m going to be known as the first guy to colonize Mars. My alma mater actually pointed that out to me in an email- that if you live there and grow crops there, you’ve colonized a place. I’m going to go through the rest of my life as the first Martian. And because of that, every Tom, Dick and Harry is going to think I owe them my time, my ear, my handshake, my endorsement. And they’re not totally wrong.”
He looked out over the bowl. The kilometer-distant waterfall had ceased, the water already vanished completely. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Ever since I really began believing we’d get out of here.”
A hoof touched his suited thigh- Dragonfly’s. “And how do you feel about being a hero?” she asked.
Mark took a deep breath. “I think it’s better than the alternative,” he said. “Now, aren’t you owed some magic-field time? And let’s see how much salt you can find on top of a mountain.”
The answer was: very little. They ended up going back down the mountain and halfway back to Site Epsilon in order to fill the salt box using Starlight’s gathering spell.
Mark needs to tell them the story of Apollo 13. Or even show the movie, the movie would be better. Book would be best. How for nearly a week, as far as nearly a tenth of the world was concerned, nothing else matter. Just three men in a nearly dead capsule, floating through the emptiness of space. Might make Starlight feel a bit better about herself.
Another great chapter, and was wondering when Mark was going to figure out the first Martian colonist thing. At least they aren't going to make him dress in a grey body suit with an over-sized head and abduct animals. :P
And no, I have nothing better to do with my time than sit on Fimfiction, constantly refreshing my 'favorite stories' page. :D
Gotta love how Mark manages to see the bright side of things even with an entire planet plus the laws of storytelling taking to the try and kill him.
Even when the the majority of everything is trying to kill him he can't help but stop on occasion and think to himself "The universe sure is an amazing place".
9000105
.... Same
I'm sort of curious what Log Horizon reference you were trying to add, if it's not something you're going to try to fit in later.
Even on a planet trying to kill them, Mark and gang still find wholesome moments like this.
That’s the reason I keep coming back to this story.
Keep up the good work! (Don’t overwork yourself. Take a day off if you need to Kris.)
9000105
I'm just on here pretty often this time of night... Waiting...
In regards to this chapter, you captured the moment about perfectly! I was there with them experiencing the moment in which the waterfall flowed. Thank you for sharing it with us.
And now an entirely different band of conspiracy nutjobs will point at that shaky cam video and say "SEE!?!? THERE IS LIFE ON MARS! OTHER THAN WHAT WE SENT AND MARK GREW!"
Say goodbye to being able to go anywhere public in peace, Mark!
9000111
I'm assuming it's something to do with the former leader of debauchery tea party and how she wanted to view amazing scenery and Shiroe had to make it happen... somehow.
9000111 9000133 The guild name "Log Horizon" is in-story Engrish that encapsulates Shiroe's motivation for gaming and for forming his own guild; to be the first to see and document what lies beyond the next horizon. It was a thing he experienced but didn't appreciate while part of the Debauchery Tea Party and only understood properly after the Catastrophe, on the rescue mission in the first book/first four episodes.
Kind of a sad summation of being a hero, but it makes sense to have a real understanding of what you're getting into when you say you wish you could be a hero (speaking to myself here). At least, a big-time hero like Mark is going to be. There's a lot of responsibility in that - because people LISTEN to you and hold you up as the standard. But there's a lot of potential for good in a role like that, if you're willing to put the effort into it.
Really lovely chapter; I like the refreshing reminder of the parts of Mark's job that he really does love despite everything. And it's nice that Starlight got a pep-talk, esp. since in this universe, she never got to save all of Equestria from the changelings. She hasn't had that redemptive moment yet. Instead she got to be stuck on a planet that's trying to kill her for a year and a half.
All things considered, though, I bet Starlight would feel like, given this option or the one where she saves the whole kingdom in a couple of days, she deserves this one more. Not saying that's a fair reason to pick one but maybe it would give her some cold comfort? XD;;;
In other news, the real life Mars is completely covered in a planet-wide dust storm.
9000140
And even in the comments you manage to impress me by demonstrating you are a gentleman scholar with impeccable taste.
Since you mentioned the colors of the panorama, it reminded me of a thought that occurred during a re-listening to the original story.
WIth the atmosphere of Mars altering colors as we would percieve them on Earth, I have to wonder what hour upon hour of seeing the world in that altered pallette would do to the human eye and brain.
Would the human body make neuroplastic adjustments similar to what happens when wearing lenses that make the world appear upside down (after a time the upside-down image flips to appear right side up), or would it simply be something to adjust to when outside and away from white hab lights?
Just a rhetorical question for now.
9000141
Could be worse.
He could have used the definition of Hero that requires you to die. THAT's a downer.
9000140
Thanks. I was curious if it was a specific character reference or something along those lines. I wonder if they'll continue the anime at some point or if I'll have to look into the novels to get any more of that story. I did quite enjoy that take on the whole "sucked into the game" setup.
9000191 It's worth noting that my favorite Western movie of all time is "My Name is Nobody". Henry Fonda and Terrence Hill, each actor playing the American and Italian-spaghetti western tropes to the hilt. Terrence Hill's young "nobody" is trying to make a certain old hired gun into a legend. Step one, taking out the fifty-member Wild Bunch singlehandedly, is accomplished with the aid of some planted dynamite in silver studded saddlebags.
And then:
"All right, what next?"
"Well, now, you gotta die."
I don't mind the spoiler because, trust me, getting there is ALL the fun.
9000197 The two seasons of the anime cover all the released novels, although novel #9 ("Go East, Kanami!") got very short shrift, butchered down to one episode.
The next novel, volume 11, comes out in Japan this year after a five year wait. The author spent that time fighting (and losing) a criminal case for tax evasion. The unedited equivalent of up to volume 14 (of a planned 15-volume run) is supposed to be online if you know where to look... and can read Japanese.
And there's the "First to x" monologue... now we just need the commentary about maritime law, and we'll be golden
"she said it with emphasis on lands"
Hm. I wonder why?
that what family members are for, I know I am for my parents despite how often I tell them I don't know how to use 'X' program.
Mark is completely missing what is by far the moment important thing about this adventure he's on:
First human to make contact with aliens.
And in that regard, he's been a wildly successful diplomat. Nobody is going to care that he farmed the first Martian potatoes when he's the guy who answered the question for all time, are we alone?. Nobody's going to care that he was the first to see a Martian waterfall when colorful alien horses are foreign exchange students at the local university. And that's not even addressing how magic is going to change the technological basis of the human race forever.
The obvious future for mark is for him to become a diplomat. Right now he is by far the most knowledgeable xenobiologist, xenopsychologist and pony cultural specialist in their entire universe.
The same goes for Starlight and the others.
"First to bring a whole planet worth of people from an entirely different universe into our arms, as friends."
That might be worth a pair of wings.
Soooo. What's wrong with Starlight's magic, any guesses?
9000336
Probably the sun, in both cases.
And a Boeing 747's engines use enough jet fuel to burn the passengers inside to ash. What's your point?
And, assuming stellar mechanics for Equestria is anything resembling our own, forcing a star hundreds of times the mass of the planet to orbit the planet is safer than moving or rotating the planet via the same physics which allow all galaxies to be mutually redshifted despite being at rest in their local frames of reference?
Remember, when they ask where the internet button is, give them a shortcut to chrome/Firefox with its icon set to the internet explorer one. And turn off JavaScript.
9000519
Nah, all you need to do is install chrome or firefox, relabel it 'internet' and delete the internet explorer button. When they ask how to start the internet, you can just tell them to 'click the button called internet.' It'll stick much faster that way.
... and I never thought my job teaching computer use to elderly at a retirement home would be relevant here of all places.
Well Mark, I'm pretty sure Equestria has a pretty solid immigration system ...
9000378
I must second this. It's darn odd just how cavalier this story is about...
Well, first contact.
With three different species of alien at that, one of which has members of three clearly distinct races with wildly different abilities on-board.
I mean, even if you don't buy the magic angle and think it's just a crap translation on either sufficiently advanced tech/biology or even freakin' psychic powers, it's still darn odd how the Equestrians cuteness have made more splashes in-story.
I do get that getting them safe takes priority, but would be really nice if there was at least one of those Earth PoW chapters where the 'OMG, we're not alone and the freaking multi-verse just got proven!' aspects got a bit more lime-light.
...
That being said, though, the Mars water-fall and Mark's reaction to it this chapter was a really neat bit of science content.
Cherry Berries thought on seeing that big crater. I could get a Lot of very Large Cherry Trees in there, especially with a magic dome over the top to keep the air in.
At least the geography wasnt such that Mark and crew could make their way to the outcrop, only to find a Trig Pillar on top of it.
I didn't volunteer, I was drafted... at home... at work... at conventions... >.<
9000387 Wrong how? There just wasn't any sodium chloride in the soil on top of a mountain, that's all. They had better luck back down on the flatlands.
there is so much truth in this chapter.
stop step back and think for a second, what is a hero?
did they set out to be a hero ?
or did life just throw them in to a place that totally sucked and they stayed alive.
or is it the person that is tired hungry and just plan pissed off to the point that they just don't give a shit about shit and just does what needs doing?
i remember that line from the Tv show M.A.S.H
9000378
9000534
9000532
God help poor Mark if Earth wants to make him ambassador of mankind.
On the other hand, Mark might volunteer to go to Equestria to escape from NASA, fans, the media, etc.
Cue post-Mars Mark Watney enjoying anonymity in Equestria as most ponies are only mildly curious and much more polite than humans.
Beautiful moment, beautiful character interaction. I just worry about what Mars may think of these aspirations...
9000336
I suppose it depends on whether you ascribe to the idea that magic is just an aspect of the universe that science doesn't understand yet, or that magic is something beyond natural law. One definition I've always liked was, "magic is power driven by will." With the implication that its very nature supplants natural law. The Japanese "A Certain Magical Index" universe has it as a dichotomy with magic and science being mutually exclusive; magicians and espers vying for dominance. Though, their explanation of a strong belief in a 'personal reality' and imbuing it on actual reality as the basis for esper power always hinted of magic to me.
9000625
I mean there was that little episode with Pin the Antenna in the Watney, and then she was thinking about something magic related at the beginning of this chapter. It also may be a good time for Starlight to break down, narrative-wise. I think this is building up to something.
So I'm just speculating. I don't expect you as an author to confirm or deny it.
Can we add this to the list of things we'd like to see artwork for, please?
This was a really magical chapter
9000763
Possibly something like
”diediediediediediediediediediedie”
9000805 Ugh. Pardon me for going to rewrite that paragraph now to get rid of the "was" infestation.
Just wait until you have a connection with enough bandwidth to start sending back all the audio and video you’re collecting, Mark; you’ll have Chris Hadfield wanting to shake your hand! Besides—you never had a chance to be the first Canadian to perform a spacewalk, anyway; you’re from the United States!
Shouldn't this be "by accident"?
9001023 I've seen and heard both used, but "on accident" is a ruralism for the most part, so I'll change it.
except Spike The Brave and Glorius.
9000805
Yes. I just did. (PM me if you're curious.)
9000534
Agreed. But on top of that, there is the proof all mythical beings Humanity once dreamed of actually existed all along, just not in Earth.
...except Magic, of course. Turns out there was an actual Earth Magic Field powered by life and awaiting to be discovered.
9000530
Are they nicer than teachers? maybe I should change to that. (naw it's not THAT bad...some days it feels like that though)
I’m not even Chris Hadfield.
*inhales*
THIS IS MAJOR TOM FROM GROUND CONTROOOOL
9001231
"Nice" doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm sort of a pseudo-grandson to most of them. I cannot walk away without pockets filled with all sorts of treats after a visit to the main home.
The price is lots and lots of patience. Not only are computers strange and new to them, they also learn very very slowly, and things that seem completely obvious to you and me (hold shift to type a ?) are completely alien to them.
9001253
YOU REALLY WEAR THE PAPERS
Now wearing an author hat, traveling hat, entrepreneur hat, publishing hat, and now a tech support hat (forever). Good luck with that.