"This last month, I tried to figure out why we weren’t in touch with Equestria. I was able to confirm a few things—there’s no jamming signal I can detect coming from anywhere in the system. I left a navigation probe a few thousand kilometers behind us—where we had our engagement with the Prospector. We’re still in perfect contact.”
“How do we know the sensors aren’t lying to us?” Applejack asked. “Cozy mighta… done somethin’.”
Twilight nodded. “I hardcoded a few modifications into the probe before I sent it. We’re reading the modified signal, not a standard sensor buoy. Antennas are working fine. I did pick up on a little radio static from one of the planets… but we can go over that later. For now, I’ve eliminated a local jamming signal. This leaves us with two possibilities I can think of for why we’re not reading Equestria."
She took a deep breath, then forged on. The others were watching her closely—no chance she’d lose them to boredom in a meeting this important. Even if they would never receive help from the homeworld, they had hall hoped to stay in touch with their loved ones. The time they were awake for the mission would be their last chance to talk to anypony with a normal lifespan who was still alive.
“We suffered structural damage when we entered the system,” Twilight said, holding up a printout of the Equinox in her magic. The entire forward plane of the ship had been highlighted in red, showing the places most severely affected. There were still entire engineering sections still open to hard vacuum, since Harmony’s Repast hadn’t given them the Titanium, they needed to make hull repairs. “It’s possible we passed through some kind of… structure, on our way into the system. Something permeable to visible light, but… not to radio. It could be blocking signals home.”
Spike shook his head once, frowning. “Something big enough to surround a whole system, but not strong enough that we didn’t turn to dust when we smacked into it?”
Applejack tapped one hoof on the table. “I agree with Spike. If ya could build that big, then you’d be buldin’ so strong we can’t even imagine. Equinox would’ve been Applesauce.”
“If we think so…” Twilight continued. “Then there’s only one other option. About four years ago, for unknown reasons, Equestria stopped transmitting. I’ve reviewed the radio logs… and those that survived confirm we are still sending our regular status reports.”
“What are the chances…” Fluttershy began, her voice timid. “Maybe there’s some way to block out Equestria you didn’t think of?”
Twilight shrugged. “Might be high. The Signalers use drives that don’t produce heat. They gave us instructions to build devices that don’t make sense. There may be kinds of magic they can create we just couldn’t imagine.”
“But we were talking to them before…” Fluttershy went on. “When we get out that far, we’ll talk to them again. Won’t we?”
“That’s… one hope,” Twilight said, speaking slowly. “It might happen. But that’s the decision we have to make now. I wanted all of you to be involved, since… now that the repairs are done, we need to choose a direction. I see two possibilities here, but if you’ve got any others, feel free to suggest.
“First choice, we could pick one of the planets and head in to investigate, like we planned before. It seems like the probe came from one of the inner planets, so that would be my suggestion. We’re not 100%, but it’s not like we’re making the interstellar voyage back to Equestria yet.”
“And what’s the other option?” Spike asked.
“What Fluttershy suggested,” she answered. “Assuming we dropped off the line with Equestria the instant we came into the system, we’ve been out of contact for almost five months. I’m sure we’re missing a lot, ad frightening a lot of ponies who only care about our welfare. We could fly out of the system, far enough that we reacquire the signal. Then we leave a sensor buoy to start recording everything Equestria sends, so we can come back here to resume our mission. On our way out again we pick it up, and we haven’t missed anything.”
“Those sound like options all right,” Applejack said. “But what’s the time on that second one? I might not be a navigator like you, but ah know… a few things. I know we burn most of our fuel just acceleratin’ enough to break gravity well with a star, yeah? Even flying out that little bit is gonna mean we have to refuel again before we make the return trip. I’ll assume it takes two months, like this time. Plus travel time out to wherever we’re getting the gas, call that two months more. So whatever number you’re about to give us, add four months.”
“Then… eighteen months.” Twilight admitted. “We were far from Proximus the last time we got an Equestrian transmission, and we have to fly back in once we’re finished.”
“Or we fly into the inner system. Flyin’ down, so far as space goes. How long would that take?” Applejack asked.
“Proximus A, four months. Three for Proximus B.”
“How is that even a choice?” Spike asked. “Eighteen months before we could do something we could finish right now.”
“There are ponies waiting for us,” Fluttershy said. “That’s, um… not the only number that matters. Eighteen months…how long would it be until we could send our first message home?”
“Seven months, ish,” Twilight answered. “We can’t be sure exactly how far we have to go. And… of course, we’re assuming the problem is on our end. As hard as it is to think about… maybe Equestria isn’t talking. The stowaway… Cozy Glow, suggested this was planned. Maybe the Listeners did something in Equestria. Maybe the space program… isn’t what it used to be.”
“Which is why there’s… one more thing we could do,” Fluttershy squeaked. “We could just go home. Turn around, and… go back. We already made contact. We could… compose a really great message, saying everything about us, send it towards the planet on a probe, and… be done. If we wanted.”
Did they?
1. Set course for Proximus A (Rocky, inhospitable world, 4 months)
2. Set course for Proximus B (Metallic, habitable world, 3 months)
3. Leave Proximus to place a probe (18 months round trip)
4. Return home (41 years)
(Certainty 150 required)
someone picked go home? not a good choice story wise.
I'm against the return home. I know I'm always saying I have faith in the aliens but consider this: If Cozy is right and they are hostile, we might just be leading them home. I want to know more about these aliens first. Also Rainbow Dash will be pretty pissed that she came all this way and slept through everything.
I have no logic to determine the right option past that. I just feel like we should contact Equestria. It is a huge waste of time, but what is our time table for this mission? Doesn't seem like there is one other than the natural lifespan of the crew.
Mission first. If the Listeners did something to Equestria and/or the space program, there's nothing you can do from here, except maybe ask the Signalers for help. If you're cut off from communication by something closer, it's probably set up by the Signalers (so contacting them properly could confirm that), and the time difference between leaving the system to email home or contacting the Signalers before emailing home is negligible compared to what the people back home can do about it.
Let's hope 3 months is enough for Spike to confirm that the device is a silicon-based computer.
And I wonder by how many orders of magnitude it outclasses the specs of the equinox' mainframe.
You dont abandone a mission becous of some homesickness soldier, to Proxima B.
Why can't we go to Proximus C anymore?
There we can find the missing components to fix the ship. Maybe we can even build a couple more landers, so we can explore without moving the Equinox itself (which saves fuel, time and doesn't put the crew in danger).
But given the options, I voted for Proximus B.
I vote for Proxima B. We don't need C since we're refueled. Time to get to the bottom of this.
"far enough that we require the signal" - did you mean to write "acquire the signal"?
"do something we could finished right now." - should be "finish right now".
Proxima B. Lets do what we came here to do.
As much as I appreciate Fluttershy's suggestion, there's no way we can go home now, we've come too far.
9311543
*reacquire
all
repetition remove one
titanium (also remove the comma)
and
finish
I say going to Prox B is the best idea. Once they get access to plenty of resources, they can simply build rockets to send a few communication buoys to the exterior of the comms damping bubble. That way, they can resume contact with home while also continuing the mission.
For the sake of the story, I vote for proximus B.
18 months is quite a lot, especially if it's for something uncertain.
Proximus A doesn't look like it has anything of value right now.
Going home... That's the end, I fear. 41 years is quite a lot, and I don't think Spike will be able to survive that again, after so little time. There's so much to see, so much to do, so much to learn. Even if it's a risk, I think it'll be worth it.
No way they're going home before milking this system for all it has. B they go now, and probably by the time Spike can get the thing working they'll even have better engines. Not FTL, but maybe non mass reactive drives. Things that don't need fuel as they do now, due example.
They simply staying and colonizing with Spike's help is always a possibility. Let magic find a way around genectic diversity and fill a whole planet with Kirins
Going home feels kinda silly at this point. No matter what's happening there, you will arrive too late to do anything about it. If the Listener creeps have launched some kind of coup, grand scale sabotage or what have you of the space program, there is nothing to be done about it by going home. From the sounds of how Cozy was bragging, it did seem like they had something big and undoubtedly stupid planned.
So the best bet is staying right here, for better or worse, and to try and accomplish what you came here to do. The only way they can realistically help home - assuming something indeed has gone wrong at home - is to get alien tech and upgrade their ship beyond home's imagination.
Hopefully that would both allow them to get home faster, to prove the loonies wrong and, if need be, march every last one of them to the dungeons at alien gunpoint. If there is trouble back home, their hopelessly by-this-point outdated ship isn't going to make much difference. They need a new set of wheels first and foremost if they want to meaningfully interact with home.
I sure as well am not ready to call this story yet, lets go deeper down the rabbit hole, the sooner that ships repaired, the better
Equestria will keep monitoring for them, for decades if need be. Assuming things are OK back home.
Just to put it out there, if we take the 18 month detour to set down the probe to Equestria, that would give us more than enough time to fully thaw out the entire crew.
I'm gonna go with option 1, because not only would we hopefully get a better feel for the situation on Equestria, but by the time we return to the system, we'll have a full complement of healthy crew to take on whatever comes our way. Also, Spike can finish whatever he's working on.
Even if they somehow get their signal again, the time lapse will likely be too great for any exchange of information to be useful. If they get bad news, then that will severely hit morale. Continue with the mission.
9311622
Yes. I vote hardened rockets to punch through whatever Dyson shell and use to carry comm bouys. Meanwhile they they head to that terrestrial planet with the high metal readings.
So I'm a bit confused. They haven't heard from Equestria in four years, but they've only been in the system for five months (could have sworn it was longer). So it seems most likely that the loss of communication would be on the home end, wouldn't it?
Also, was Cozy Glow literally hiding from Spike for 41 years? Did the Listeners stuff her on the ship as a child (assuming her age relative to the Mane 6 at launch was the same as in canon)? Is she 50-60 now? Or was she also in stasis somehow and brought out automatically when they entered the system? Or maybe a hidden signal in the last transmission from home. Perhaps Fluttershy should look over those logs for secret embedded messages.
Okay, so they know that some or all of their radio gear/ship literally exploded, but they think the issue is the random space they happened to be in at the time of the explosion?? New option; build a very large radio telescope dish out of any handy metal and point it home from their present position. They're in deep space, far from anything with significant gravity, so the radio dish can be feather light and paper thin without causing problems, easing materials and manufacturing issues. With a big enough dish they should be able to hear background radio/TV broadcasts, and even their existing antennas should be able to pick up the background radio noise of their home star. So- first point their existing equipment at their home star and make sure there are no missing radio bands that would indicate a problem. If there are, check the radio to be sure its not the problem. Odds are their sun reads as normal which rules out blocking and interference, removing the need to travel for comms. The dish could be built twice the diamiter of their ship out of any metal while still only weighing a few hundred lbs. This lets them know what if anything was happening radio wise at home several years ago. A much smaller relay and some pointing gear will allow their link home to comunicate with them in system as they move off to their next destination. No need to travel anywhere for a link home : )
9311834
Didn't one of the earlier chapters mention that Cozy had made use of one of the back up cryo pods?
They've already been out of contact for years. A few more won't hurt. Let's go to the planet with metals and a breathable atmosphere. There's likely titanium in them thar hills.
As much as i'd like them to get the entire crew out and ready first, going somewhere with resources is probably going to be better for them.
Onward crew of the Equinox!
We're here, might as well go say hello. Onward with the three month trip!
That's 18 months wasted for something you can do nothing about either way. At this point, the only way to really have achance of learning what is going on is finding these alien's, so let's head to the most likely spat. (That said, Personally, I'd prefer to wait until the crew are all dethawed and un freezerburned.)
9311834
It hasn't been four years since they last received a message. They are currently about 4 light years from Equestria, so if Equestria had just stopped transmitting and the issue isn't on the Equinox's end, then they had to have stopped actually transmitting four years ago by that time. And yes, Cozy used one of the back up cryo pods for at least some of the trip.
9312068
Well, on the plus side, the three month trip will be enough time to thaw out at least one, possibly two, more.
9311994
Ah probably so. Wonder what the trigger was to revive her? Timed, secret signal from Equestria, or something else?
9312399
Yes. Though spacing her would have been the far more prudent choice. I fully expect her to somehow, somewhere, somewhen cause yet more trouble down the line.
Proximus B is both habitable and likely contains trit, something needed for some repairs. BUT if that's the transmission source I wouldn't suggest mining it.
PB is the only logical answer.
Shouldn't Repast be Repost?
Also, mysterious comma that doesn't make sense, along with a capitalized T that shouldn't be there unless you have a special titanium we haven't heard of.
While I'm not too sure what to pick, I certainly won't pick to go home. All that effort and time wasted, and it'll still take 41 years. Not very logical.
Edit: I've picked "leave a buoy" because it won't change anything and I kinda want to.
I'm a little iffy going to Proximus B. But they need the metal to finish the repairs. Even if going to a inhabited planet might put them at risk. Also they may need the materials to finish Spike's little project.
The rocky planet might be to risky for the current crew. There's also the concern that the Equinox might not be any kind of ship to go to what's waiting back home. They may need a few upgrades to deal whats happening at home. If home is hostile, then the Equinox is the only resource they're going to have of a hostile world that has been possibly been marching forward as the Equinox has been traveling through space.
I get that Fluttershy would like to go home, but her suggestion makes NO sense. The ship is damaged, they at LEAST need to find somewhere to make repairs before risking a journey home. During which Spike would probably lose his mind and tear the ship apart to feed the 3D printer and finish his project. Then theres the likelihood that they HAVENT gotten what they needed and the whole trip is a waste. If they were just there to send a signal, they could have done that from Equestria; this is about making contact. Does she really want to go home to her family dead for nothing? Sorry if Im sounding crabby, it just feels like Fluttershy is being kind of dumb and not thinking things through at all.
Now the desire to contact home does make sense. But it just feels more sensible overall to go to Proximus and repair before any more long trips. And who knows what they might find to help them? Voting for Proximus B.
Well, I seem to have missed the poll, but I'll still explain why I am absolutely sure that swinging back out into (potential) comms range would be nonsensical: Even if Equestria is still there and listening, they can't possibly be panicking yet over loss of signal because the ship's (possible, unconfirmed) outgoing signal blackout hasn't reached them yet. The hard truth is that Equestria is GOING to get blacked out and the only thing Twilight can do is adjust how long they have to wait to find out she's still alive. Two way communication is completely out of the question. The only thing they are currently missing out on is status updates that they won't be able to collect until the mission is over anyway (assuming the probe can't relay successfully), so there's nothing they can gain for the purposes of mission success from those transmissions. (If, say, they figured out more about the Signalers back home, the ship won't know about it until it's all over.) The only exception is if they transmit something that is of crucial importance for the trip back that is somehow too time sensitive for them to get a repeat send of it in time, and I'm going to assign extremely low likelihood to that one.
Under those circumstances, it makes no sense to spend all that time basically just letting everyone know they survived the blackout, only to go back into the blackout. They'll just have to wait a little longer.
The lag time is too great anyways, no point focusing on reestablished comms (such as they are). It's not Mars after all...
Option 2: Head to Proximus B
I can tell Fluttershy wishes to go back, I imagine anyone would get homesick that far out, but I feel the mission isn't over yet. There are too many unanswered questions to simply let it lie.
If I remember correctly the radio signals originated from Proximus B, and along with a habitable zone containing raw materials that can be used to repair the hull integrity, Proximus B seems like the better choice to repair and complete their mission in one go.
There are obvious risks. Planet B might be where the probe came from, and we are still not sure of the Signalers intentions. Without decent weapons and our weapon specialist on ice, any aggression towards the Equinox would be hindered and most likely deadly. Hopefully by the time the Equinox gets to Planet B they can revive Specialist Pinkie, as her knowledge of geology would most likely help with acquiring materials for repairs.
Should just be "all"