Sol 449
AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 457
ARES III SOL 449
[10:04] WATNEY: We just used the pony ship radio to do a final comms check with Hermes. Fireball is sitting in the trailer waiting for the response. We’re pretty sure we’ll get one, though, since we’ve checked the system five times in the past two weeks.
Almost everything is done. All the medicines, all the tools, all the remaining spare canvas, sealing resin and seal-strips have been loaded. One hundred twenty days of food is crammed into the habitat compartment of the trailer, including over 200 kilograms of pre-baked potatoes. We’ve bathed, cut hair, shaved, filed, done all the hygienic things we can. The last medical information went out over this chat and the pony water-telegraph yesterday. The suits are patched as well as we can manage. All that remains is to load the components for the Sparkle Drive and the seven tons of magic batteries we'll be hauling to Schiaparelli.
We've eaten our last baked potato crisps. We've played our last D&D session on the worktable. We've abused the decon shower and the Hab toilet for the last time. We don't have to worry about alternating between airlocks anymore. And when Fireball snores, we no longer have the luxury of going to his bunk and poking him until he turns over, because the bunks have seen their last night of sleepers.
The time has come to leave. This is the last message I’ll send via Pathfinder. When I shut down the Hab, Pathfinder shuts down too, probably forever. (But we’re taking Sojourner with us, since the rover computers have been modified to control the little rover as if they were Pathfinder. If we can manage it, we’ll use one of the spare radios from the MAV to allow a linkup from the rover to the satellite network around Mars, giving Sojourner and its replacement rechargeable battery an extended mission.)
It’s a little melancholy. I’ve been here for what amounts to fifteen months. For much of that time this place was the only thing between me and horrible death. And, of course, this was where I met the aliens who helped me survive those fifteen months. In this place we’ve eaten, slept, learned each other’s languages (well, mostly). Here we slew rampaging princesses and rescued dragons. Here we wept over the dead body of Albus Dumbledore, and again on the quay of the Grey Havens. And here we made plans, good and bad, to keep each other alive and semi-sane on this godforsaken world.
Maybe years from now archaeologists or historians or something will come back, put a dome over all of the junk we leave behind, and restore the Hab to its original operating condition. After all, this was the site where an Earth man first met intelligent alien life. But it’s a lot more likely that Mars will eventually chew up and swallow the Hab long before humans return. In fact, if we ever terraform Mars, the Hab will end up under over a kilometer of ocean water, which will do a lot more damage than the Mars of today could dream of.
But mostly today I’m thinking about the mission I never got- the mission that got cut short on Sol 6. Trips with Lewis and Vogel to the various geology sites. My botany experiments with Beck. Maintenance chores with Johanssen. And, after collecting half a ton of rocks and gigabytes of photos and movies, the Sol 31 shut down and departure to begin the seven month flight home.
I’m grateful for my new, 67% quadrupedal crew, but I still miss the one I spent years training with. And I hate it that this planet stole the mission we trained for from us.
I’ve already shut down most of the equipment- the heaters, the atmospheric regulator, the water reclaimer, the oxygenator, the air circulation fans, the lab equipment, even the lighting. Only the main computer and the main power system are left. And let me tell you, it’s damn quiet in here. The ponies are in their suits, minus the helmets. Every time they shift their weight, it’s like a thunderclap. With no fans or equipment running, Mars is a fucking silent place.
Sorry. I just turned this chat into a log entry. Hopefully someone will copy it over when they publish the book fifty years from now. In the meantime, let me finish on a more professional note.
Fertility Base mission complete on Sol 449. Final findings: large deposits of water ice confirmed not far below the surface, including methane hydrates and large amounts of perchlorate salts. Rock strata indicate multiple events of sedimentary layering of generally basaltic materials, either by repeat flooding or ocean deposits. Once purged of perchlorate contamination, the Martian soil at this site, high in potassium and phosphorus deposits, makes more than adequate material for cultivation once Earth bacteria and a minimum of proteins are incubated within it. Aside from the methane deposits, no obvious signs of an ongoing or extinct Martian biosphere were discovered. Finally, first contact was established with an alien civilization, studies of same ongoing.
Mark Watney, senior NASA personnel on Mars, signing off from Fertility Base. Sirius 8 is rolling.
[10:32] SYSTEM: WARNING- PATHFINDER LOS- ATTEMPTING TO REACQUIRE
[10:33] SYSTEM: REACQUISITION OF SIGNAL CANCELLED BY EXECUTIVE OVERRIDE
The cave airlock opened, releasing a smell none of the six castaways had smelled for longer than they could remember- the smell of pollen.
“Wow,” Mark whispered, as he, the ponies, the changeling and the dragon looked across the array of color flooding the farm.
The flowers had bloomed- not just the cherries, but all the flowers. Tiny pips of dark purple dotted the upper portions of the alfalfa plants. Pale white and lavender flowers towered over the ground-hugging potato plants. The fresh-grown leaves on the cherry trees seemed almost crowded out by the masses of white and slightly pink blossoms that drooped in cascades almost down to the cave floor.
And along the walls of the cave, where they had been cultivated by Starlight Glimmer, patches of the rainbow crystal enchantment shifted colors back and forth, some pumping trickles of water up from the rear of the cave, others giving off tiny pinpricks of light and heat. The as yet uninfected crystals, still (for now) the vast majority, still reflected the sunlight beamed in from the collector crystals, still glittered with reflections of the riot of color, still magnified the beauty of the moment.
“Yeah,” Cherry Berry said. “Wow.”
And although they spent most of the remaining day exploring and recording the event with cameras, it was a long, long time before any of them had a word to say beyond, “Wow.”
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I would be surprised if Dragonfly didn't have a special goodbye to say to the hab, particularly after her previous communion with it.
Alright chums let's do this.
We're going on a road trip!
Little surprised this entry wasn't bigger. It is a big event day in the story. This is it for the Hub.
9126957
Now onto discovery family.
... I think you mean tha Hab
9126962
I was so tempted to make that joke myself.
RIP The Hub
I was all ‘
it’s all happening now!’ and then came the ending.
Liquid pride
Aw
, the cave farm's saying something along the lines of "good luck and/or goodbye" in spectacular fashion.
All rise! Salute Hab and Cave!
I love that discovering alien life is relegated to a single sentence at the end of the report.
It's like. "Hey, I'm a botanist/geologist, fauna isn't my concern."
Terraforming Mars is a hilariously bad idea, and I don't know why so many otherwise sensible people seem to take it seriously.
ROADTRIP. ROADTRIP. ROADTRIP. ROADTRIP. ROADTRIP. ROADTRIP. ROADTRIP. Rescue here we come.
9126973
And also a promise to Mars.
I am The child for four mothers and two fathers.
From my three pony mothers I have the gifts of light, water, and air. All pried from your grasp to give me a place to grow.
From my changeling Mother, I get deception and mutability. To hide, adapt, and take what I need once they leave me.
From my dragon father I get my hoard and greed. What is mine is mine. What is yours in not mine, yet.
From my human father I get stubborn life. The stubbornness to take the lifeless desert and the barren mountain and keep striving till they bloom.
I am here. Oh Death, where is thy sting?
9127014
wonder how mars will respond
that's beautiful
9127014
I wish I could fave comments, because this is pure literary gold.
9126989
It would be both a herculean task, and not very long lived if we tried to do it with our current technology and science; the atmosphere would need to be massively replenished of it's pressure, and an artificial magnetosphere would need to be created around the entire planet to keep solar winds from ripping the atmosphere away as they have done to Mars in the past.
Pony magic would be quite the game changer in that regard; though they'd still need to locate, and transport, a ludicrous quantity of Nitrogen gas if they want to create an Earth like atmosphere on Mars.
Now this chapter - was better than good.
I wonder if Dragonfly said goodbye to the Hab.
Plus Cherry's tree branch and...….you never said what other keepsakes the others are taking with them. I hope someone took a sample of rainbow crystal.
The Cave Farm says farewell. The feels.
Farewell Fertility Base, and we thank you
9126973
That was some good writing. But for me, no prose will ever top the simple statement of "I am here."
I am here. How you feel about that doesn't matter because it's true, and it will continue to be for as long as it can.
What is the meaning of this and why does it fill me with fear?
"[10:33] SYSTEM: REACQUISITION OF SIGNAL CANCELLED BY EXECUTIVE OVERRIDE"
Whatever happened to Slepnir? I thought they were supposed to get resupplied at the Hab? I remember in the earlier Sols that they were planning a trajectory for resupply at the Hab.
Farewell Fertility Base. We give our greatest gratitude for thy sacrifices and struggles to sustain and protect your charges.
Farewell Cave Farm. Though you have been brought into this lifeless barren world. Your growth and beauty is a testament that your caretakers have done their mission admirably. Life from lifelessness.
Why was the communication overriden a minute later?
Poor Hab and Pathfinder.
Rest well our loyal and faithful hounds.
Game Over.
9127014
Dang but that made me cry.
9127175 Because Bruce Ng knew there wasn't any point in letting the DSA keep searching for the Pathfinder signal if Pathfinder was shut down.
9127146 It just means that Mark just told Earth he was shutting Pathfinder down, so there was no point in listening for more signals from that source.
9127183
Ah thank you! Mark would have copy of the logs anyway to finish the mission logs. Well brought to the Hermes anyway.
I hope we see Mark doing either a pirate hijacking the ship or something like that.
9127149 Sleipnir 2 will arrive at the Hab roughly forty days after the Hermes flyby, i. e. a little too late.
9127214
Something that I have been wondering for a while, how much control propellant does the probe have? Surely it has the ability to make course corrections in flight. Could it be redirected to encounter Hermes, or just moved to another Ares site, it could be used as a pre-supply.
9126973
God speed mark whanty
9127241 Not nearly enough for such radical maneuvers. It can't accelerate to match Hermes' velocity, nor can it speed up enough to get to Mars forty days quicker (never mind a hundred forty).
We've all been following this story for so long, at some point it became less of a story and more of an experience. And with this, its finally setting in that we're coming close to an end. While Mark and the Equestrians will no doubt have countless adventures after this (not counting the two months of travel left to go), its really starting to feel like the end.
At one point in the story, I became so invested that when I started to feel a bit stale of it, I told myself, "No. If they can deal with it for close to two years, so can you." And I have almost religiously followed this story to where it is today. While this story isn't some life changing experience or a grand adventure fit for shelving with the likes of Tolkien or Shakespeare, it's certainly a story that has had pain, joy, loss, gain, and so much more.
I'll happily follow to the end of the journey and for years after. To Mark Watney, Cherry Berry, Starlight Glimmer, Spitfire, Dragonfly, and certainly not least, Fireball, I salute each of you and wait for the chance that you can eat a pizza. It will be a glorious day indeed.
9127214
So basically the Slepnir missions are useless?
9127285 Not exactly. If two of the three Sleipnir missions had launched cleanly, the Rich Purnell Maneuver almost certainly would have been rejected. But one blew up not far off the pad, and another aborted to LEO, leaving an uncertainty that opened the door for Rich's idea to at least be considered.
Yeah, Wow is pretty much the right response for that.
I hope someday the ponies would be able to get down to Earth at least some time before their leave back to their own world.
9127014
I've seen a story worth reading about a fence post. A Martian garden has plenty more going for it. Someone get Admiral Biscuit on the line for that one...
And on that day, Mars raised its great hand not to claw at the interlopers, not to shake its fist in anger, but to salute a worthy adversary.
9126980
And besides, the aliens aren't even from Mars.
9127146
Mark turned it off.
I look forward to this final (maybe?) arc of the story, where Mark and the gang just wait for the MAV and Hermes. I salute all of you, and hopefully another arc comes in space when they come back to Earth.
What a gorgeous sendoff by the cave that kept them alive to the people who kept it alive. Now THERE is a shot Id love to see someone more talented with color than me capture in art. <3
9127105
The rainbow crystal seems like the sort of thing that could end up kickstarting human magical research.
Damn, this chapter powerful. Kudos, really.
I hope they got practical and polinized the plants to give them that little more chance of survival. It'd be awesome
Then as one final FU to Mark, Mars finds a way to blow up the cave and the hab after they leave.
Mark looks back as it happens.
Mark: D'oh
9127539
No, IT IS THERE!