Sol 511
AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 521
ARES III SOL 511
“Tell me again why we can’t just magic these bolts out?”
Dragonfly, hanging off the side of the flight couch, ratcheted away at one of the bolts holding it to the deck. “Oh, we could do it easy. And then tonight I’d come to you in your sleep, stick a straw in your ear, and slurp out your will to live. Again. Now I don’t think that’s such a good plan, but I could be persuaded.”
“Okay, okay,” Mark muttered. “Can’t a guy complain anymore?”
“Mark?” Dragonfly scrabbled around the couch, turning from upside down to rightside up so she could look Mark in the eyes. “Let me show you something.” She took the ratchet in her right fetlock, held it over one of the holes in her left foreleg, and dropped it in. She rocked her left foreleg back and forth a few times. The wrench rattled, bumped, slid, and slipped through the hole, hitting the deck with a loud clang. “Still wanna complain?”
“No,” Mark said, face a little green. “And by the way, could you never do that again so long as we both live?”
“No promises.” Dragonfly returned to her prior position.
Mark grunted and returned to working on the bolts on his side. There wasn’t a lot of room to work in. There wasn’t a lot of room, period. Six seats and consoles had been crammed into a space less than half that of the Amicitas bridge. In a couple of places astronauts boarding had to climb over someone else’s couch to reach their own, as things currently stood. Thus, the first step to all the other modifications on the inside of the MAV was to remove all but one of the existing flight couches. Then two of the Amicitas flight couches that had been rebuilt using the bases from the seats in Mark’s MDV would be installed, so that Cherry Berry, Starlight and Dragonfly could spend the afternoons running flight sims.
After that work would be divided. Mark and Starlight would perform the outside modifications. The sooner those were done, the more time they’d have for the magic batteries to regenerate. Meanwhile, Dragonfly and Fireball would work on the inside, using detailed pictures and diagrams sent beforehand by NASA to guide them through the process of stripping all the equipment- and only that equipment- on the weight-shedding list.
But that would be later. This was now, and right now the benches were taking a lot longer to remove than expected. Dragonfly didn’t want to admit it, but she was tempted to steal a battery so she could shapeshift into something that could actually reach into the small gaps, get the socket on the bolt head, and work the ratchet. A mechanically inclined tree octopus, maybe? A baby hydra? Sadly, taking on the appearance of Pinkie Pie didn’t give a changeling her abilities; otherwise that would have been Dragonfly’s choice.
“There,” Mark said. “That’s the last one on my side. How long on your side?”
“This one and one more,” Dragonfly said. “And then we have one more couch to remove. And then we have to get two couches in here.”
“Fireball, how long has it been?”
The dragon, fully suited except for his helmet, lounged in the MAV’s lower deck, leaning in the open inner airlock door. He checked the clock on his nav display, did a bit of mental math, and called up the ladder, “Two hours and forty-five minutes.”
“So, it hasn’t been a year and a half,” Mark said. “Just seems like it.”
“That sounds like complaining,” Dragonfly said. She really didn’t want to hear it. She was having far too much trouble with these bolts as it was. She felt like she’d just flown from Appleoosa to Horseton and back, and all she’d done was turn a wrench. Mark and Fireball had done the heavy lifting, which wasn’t all that heavy in Martian gravity.
Ugh. She had a problem, didn’t she?
She started removing the last bolt, ratcheting away at the far too secure fastener. She’d have to ask Mark or Fireball to finish torquing all the bolts she began, once they started installing the replacement couches. She wasn’t at all sure she was up to doing it properly, at least not after breaking loose all the bolts that had apparently been tightened by a yak.
She didn’t complain. But she did think. A lot.
“Okay, what did you want to talk to me about?” Cherry asked, once the two were alone in Rover 2, the one place they could be guaranteed privacy.
“I can’t be your sysop,” Dragonfly sighed. “You’ll have to get Spitfire to do it.”
Cherry Berry looked at the exhausted changeling. “Okay,” she said quietly. “I’ve worked with you for five years now. You speak English better than any of us- I think even better than Mark, these days. You know the systems. Spitfire hasn’t studied the systems, her English is barely tolerable, and she’s still in recovering health.” She looked Dragonfly in the eyes and said, “Are you really in that bad shape?”
“Yes.” Dragonfly didn’t hesitate. “A half-day of turning wrenches wrecked me, boss. We need me to keep doing it, or at least to tell Fireball what to do. But I just don’t have the energy to do that and put in the kind of hours I know you’ll want on simulations. And if I'm this weak now, how bad will it be in forty days when we launch? Spitfire's healing. I'm going the other way.”
Cherry Berry didn’t smell angry at the statement, nor particularly disappointed. There was a lot of pity (blech), but there was something else in there that Dragonfly couldn’t place the taste of, something she seldom encountered. “I remember,” the pink mare said quietly, “when you would limp in on three hooves, beat up and bleeding, and insist you were good to go.”
“Yeah. When it was only me,” Dragonfly said. “Changeling warriors don’t show weakness to anybody, not even their friends. Especially not their friends. But this is different. This time me lying could mean everyling dies. We’re going to pull eight G’s at maximum thrust. Healthy pegasi black out under those conditions, sometimes. Spitfire’s trained, and she’s a strong flyer, so she won’t. Me… better not take the chance.”
That strange emotional taste grew a bit stronger. “Okay,” Cherry said quietly. “I’ll talk with Spitfire. Will you be all right to continue work on the MAV?”
“I think so,” Dragonfly said quietly. “If I get too tired I can shuffle more work onto Fireball. He won’t even know I’m doing it.” She considered this, and added, “Well, that’s not quite right. He’ll think I’m doing it all the time, even when I’m not.”
“If that condition changes, talk to me or Mark,” Cherry said quietly. “Somehow, I don’t know how, we all got this far alive. I want us all to get the rest of the way alive and well. That includes you, okay?”
“Thanks,” Dragonfly said.
“Right,” Cherry said. “Let’s go get lunch. And then you get to help me coach Spitfire through control familiarization drills.”
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#HugABug
SHE NEEDS IT!!!!!
Are we shipping Dragonfly and Cherry?
Naaah, Dragonfly would know what that would taste like, right?
#hugabug
9180193
She has tasted both love and lust from Mark, so the mystery emotion is anyone's guess...
9180196 There are more kinds of love than just Eros. Consider that she might be tasting Philia or even Storge from Cherry, two she has likely never had directed at her before.
Has Dragonfly really never had anyone be proud of her before? Wow.
I can think of a few of reasons for an internal ladder, shower, and lavatory:
#HugABug
Hmm.
I thought Dragonfly might be tasting pride, Cherry being happy that Bug can realize she can't do it? Probably not, DF's probably tasted pride before, but I don't have any better ideas.
Dragonfly, you are just the best.
I don't remember if it was ever mentioned in this story, but what're the rules for shapeshifting here? Is the energy cost only in the initial change, or does it also constantly drain energy to maintain the new form?
Asking because I'm wondering about the feasibility of Dragonfly altering herself to be able to survive and work in a vacuum environment.
9180193
I sincerely hope NOT.
9180198
Storge seems unlikely, they've been working together far too long for something so impersonal. Agape perhaps? Cherry certainly seems the type, and an honest confession of limits would certainly stoke Agape.
9180198
9180196
I don't think its love, for a few reasons.
Firstly she would recognize love. In fact she would recognize love in all its forms. While Philia or Storge are rarer for a Changeling to hunt, its almost certain that the inflitrators have brought some of it back in the Bad Old Days when their was nothing else. Even if that wasn't the case....differing types of love wouldn't taste vastly different.
The difference between a Strawberry Soda vs a Strawberry milkshake vs actual strawberries maybe....
But its not going to be like....chili and cheese.
This she didn't recognize basically at all.
Secondly, she has felt it before though....she made that clear. Rarely, but it is an emotion she has fed off. But at the same time, its not one she recognizes....which implies its almost always an emotion thats mixed with others. If its rarely encounted by itself, its harder to peal away everything else and understand what it is.
Thirdly, it got stronger when she was talking about why this time was different from previous flights. Love wouldn't do that.
If I had to guess its possibly a feeling of being proud of someone. I don't want to call it pride, because thats an emotion that refers you yourself, while this is, "Wow...she really has come far, and become so much a better person.' But I don't know what to call when you feel that about someone elses progress.
Cherry has witnessed Dragonfly grow quite a lot over CSP and The Maretain, and the feeling of progress when someone you care about has become a better person, has grown up, can admit, "No, I can't do this....I admit that, and I need help" Its a big thing.
And it is a feeling seldom encountered because in the wild it only really exists if someone has grown A LOT.
"and slipped through the hold, hitting"
"and slipped through the hole, hitting"?
9180219 I would argue that such a feeling (pride in another) would be either Philia or Storge, at least a form of them. Besides, changelings have always explicitly been about feeding off love, and from our bug here we know other emotions might modify the taste, but it is still love they feed off.
9180207
Ocellus keeps proving that a normal changeling can't really use magic in its base form (outside shapeshifting). (She always uses her mouth to write.) It has to take the form of a creature that does use magic. Apparently only their ruling class can do it without shifting.
Is there still time to submit questions?
"slipped through the hold" could work, but did you maybe mean "slipped through the hole"?
9180226
Ah, I'm not the only one who thought this was odd.
"After that work would be divided." Maybe a comma after "that"?
Maybe an "of" in "Are you really in that bad shape?" I'm not sure.
Do you (Kris) recall that art of the Amicitas bridge that Riverfox drew? It's pretty much too late now, but are those seats not accurate?
9180299
I'm not really sure what you mean here. Are you saying that she can only use magic spells if she first transforms into a unicorn? I get that, but don't see how it relates to my comment.
9180207
I don't think she'd need to change much. She already has the exoskeleton, as a bug. I wouldn't be surprised if she could function, even in her current state, untill lack of oxygen becomes a problem. As far as I know they never vacuümrated changelings.
9180227
An interesting idea, but as a counterpoint, I would raise Teachers.
A teacher can have a student for several years, or only a few weeks, and usually has no intention of seeing their students again after the teaching period is over. Exceptions do occur, where a teacher and student make friends and remain in contact, but over the lifetime of a teacher, many will teach hundreds of students, and remain in long term contact with possibly 10% of those max.
Now I maybe wrong, but I don't think a teacher feels what would be classed as Storge for even a majority of his or her students...maybe a few, and in some cases it will turn into Philia once they leave their class and become effective equals, but only a select few students would truly experience a connection with a teacher that could be classed as Storge type love. Especially if they are only teaching a 3 week course for example.
Yet can a teacher not be proud of the accomplishments of his/her students? I don't think Storge is required to feel pride in someones progress.
Likewise while they feed off love, their is no implication that their ability to taste emotions means they are actively feeding at the time. In fact we have seen Dragonfly sensing emotions that very clearly would not feed her, or could possibly poison her if she tried, like anger or sorrow. Given this, just because she sensed this buddle of emotions from Cherry does not imply she was feeding off them.
In fact, if love was there, I would argue she would have commented on the fact at least mentally, enjoying the tiny bit of extra food, or resisting her bodies's urge to take that tiny bit of food and try to pull more food out.
9180382 You seem to take a lot of words to give a basic example.
And I think you're wrong. There needs to be some bond for someone to feel pride, otherwise there would be not enough of a connection to feel prideful for.
9180301
Your asking Spitfire about English grammar based off Latin Grammar, when she speaks the first barely and doesn't even know the second?
Your best bet would be to ask Starlight, who could run them both through the Translation spell and see which makes more sense....even then its possible they will both come up with the same response as in this case its possible for English to have 2 words for the same thing that ponies only have 1 word for.
Or the reverse could be true, and ponies have 3+ words for varying different sized flocks of Pegasai. Its entirely possible that in Equestrian the number word, (a couple, few, several, lots) merged with the plural....or they are like several languages on earth which have a singular, dual and plural form of each word.
9180360
If her chitin and eyes can hold up in a vacuum, she'd just need to seal up her orifices with goop. Maybe transform an extra opening to interface/connect with life support for air. A small life-support backpack's much easier to work with than a cumbersome suit.
I was going to complain, haha, about how Dragonfly is really not fun to be around and hasn't been for awhile, but that honesty at the end was really nice. I really like her growth.
I'm still doing it, though. I get that she's in an awful place and she's really stressed, but she's not the only one, and stopping other people from managing their stress, via complaining or joking, hinders them without really helping her. And I get that she can't help that she doesn't manage stress the same way, but with her nominally in charge of morale you'd think she would be better at balancing that. Of course, I realize that since she can sense their emotions she knows she isn't being too hard, but she still seems like a wet blanket just reading it.
9180219
I think, in English, pride in others is still just "pride". Or rather, you'd say it like "I'm proud of you."
9180386
Ok, I suspect we are at an impasse here, but I am curious what form it takes, so let me ask a clarifying question.
So, literal example time.
A student starts the semester, and appears to their new teacher to be irresponsible, talking in class, getting bad grades, and the like. The teacher sets themselves for a hard 6 months trying to deal with this. It isn't the first time they have had to deal with this, and they love the job of teaching and have no desire to leave the profession. They only have this student for 1 lesson, 2 hours, 5 times a week, in a class of 22, one of many the teacher is in charge of every school day.
However the student surprises the teacher. For whatever reason, and limited teacher imput (after all, 22 students to watch over. Obviously really good and really bad students tend to get extra attention, but still) the student turns their life around, gets their shit together, and finishes the Semester with 90% score. Not perfect but massive progress.
After this semester, the teacher looses contact with the student, and they know this will happen. Its not the first time and its not the last.
SO, the question is, come report writing time:
If the teacher notes on this student's turn around, you say they must have a Storge-like relationship to feel pride in the student's progress. If this is the case, what feeling will a teacher who loves the JOB not the student, will feel when looking over the documented turn around of someone they are teaching?
Or do you believe a Storge like relationship MUST develop in this case.
9180390
Personally I think a weak, maybe even leaky, forcefield holding in a 0.1 ATM of pure oxygen could be more mana efficient than transforming. Backpack wouldn't work if bug is a bug, for they absorb oxygen by skin, and can not transport it internally.
9180400
I doubt a teacher would feel pride at all in that situation. You were quite clear that it pretty much wasn't the teacher's doing that got the student to boost their grade. If the teacher didn't do anything, why would they feel pride?
To feel pride, you need to have investment. For an object that would be time spent making/shaping it. For a person that would be time spent forming a bond with them.
9180397
You are probably right. If I had to guess why I am uncomfortable using the word in this context, its probably the whole, "Pride is a Sin" nonsense. English gives pride an association with arrogance.
But then, overall, English kinda sucks at emotions. It lumps them together way to much. (The 1 word for love is the worst offender, but the 1 word describing surprise (with extra words requring to determine how you are surprised) and the one word for Paranoia (with extra words to explain how justified it is) bothers me.)
9180301
Most of Roman myths (and all the most important deities) originated in Greece and got adapted and modified transitioning to Latin and then being subject to Latin grammar. In Greek, it's Pegasos. The -us ending is distinctly Latin and so the plural form follows Latin rules.
Another potential question for Mark:
What was your favourite retro (pre-2018) video game back here on Earth?
9180205
Respect. I don't think anyone in the past felt actual, genuine positive respect to her. (at best respecting her as a potential threat.)
9180402
Actually, I'm pretty sure they do. They breathe in through spiracles and transport it through the tracheal system.
The question is how much like a bug Dragonfly actually is. I'm pretty sure she has lungs. A diffuse respiratory system wouldn't allow for proper speech.
One design proposed for SSTO vehicles uses a large toroidal fuel tanksurrounding a spherical fuel tank, in whats called a Cone or Plug rocket design, where the engines are either a torus or ring of small thrusters set around the outer waist of the vehicle and use the vehicle body as part of the thrust system. For Earth launches a variation is possible to use the design as a SCRAM engine that physically larger than the vehicle, but without the mass, using the supersonic airflow to form most of the engine.
Wow, some of this stuff is Old. Cone Plug Motor Patent
A trick with rockets is that like the human, its best to keep the mass as high as possible so that the torquing correction by the engines at teh bottom can react faster. If the Skylab trick is used, maybe the large central airlock upper was actually used as a fuel or even hydrogen store tank on the way down, and so its now empty because its been converted to launch fuel?
If the core lock is that big as well and below, using it in Earth orbit could expect it to be last stage escape pod, floatation etc.?
9180489
SCRAM cannon, anyone?
Huh! Looks suspiciously like the beginnings of the aerospike engine design.
Mars still hasn't done with them yet
9180301
9180387
9180414
I'm pretty sure the plural is "pegasusususeses", as per canon.
Anyone able to guess what cherry's strange emotion is? My guess is that shes proud of dragonfly for being wise and sensitive enough to know her limits and care about the safety of everyone else above her own love of danger, but I wanna hear other input.
we need to find a way to help Dragonfly or she is not going to make it.
Best bug! Nooo! Emergency hugging is needed!
9180207 I'm treating it as an ongoing mana drain, with a spike for the initial change and then a lower steady draw to maintain the form.
9180204 And I can think of one extremely good reason not to do it the way the movie does it: decoupling stages.
9180397 Dragonfly's in a bad place, and not just in the sense of being on Mars. But more to the point, she no longer feels like she has to be the clown all the time.
You say "sadly," Dragonfly. The rest of the multiverse breathes a sigh of relief. Especially the bits containing Pink-Sothoth.
In any case, here's hoping magic consumption ends up lower than expected, for the bug's sake.
9180204
Well, Kris, Soyuz ships of model which sole function is just to reach ISS have it... well, it's paired with cargo bay, but it is there. Why? Emergency. It doesn't take much space.
Note, that one of the reasons that many in Roskosmos and about do not believe that USA reached the Moon is that NASA never designed proper plumbing for ships and flight suits, not to mention EVA suit. "What used now," they say, "is _our_ design". Sanitary issues in closed compartment are far more important. You have to have means to get rid of dead skin, etc. All that stuff is source of infection, is poison or allergen, not to mention a danger to air scrubbers.
PS. That aforementioned hole was exactly near the lavatory... figures...
9180613
One more step to becoming Bug Princess.
9180632
reminds me of another of my favorites, "shifting melodies": in that story, changelings came in many different colors, and Pink ones could match Pinkie's abilities. they could also feed on Happiness as well as love. one runs an ice cream parlor.
and Violet changelings liked to feed on Lust! yes, they had a sexy club in Las Pegasus.
9180709
When I first saw that, I assumed the area he cleaned up in was some kind of hardshell core of the Ares IV mission base that was sent on ahead. Or could that be part of the decent stage and used for the first few sols while the base is being inflated and set up? Heck parts of it might even be removed if it is in the decent stage and moved into the base for more efficient mass use.
I'm kind of confused about what emotion Cherry could have been feeling that Dragonfly wouldn't recognize. She should have a pretty good idea what most emotions are, good and bad.
9180826 It's respect. Changelings in general, and Dragonfly in particular, don't get a lot of that.