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The Martian

I tested out the bedroom again. I used the same process as yesterday. This time it held. So is that good? I don’t know. That’s the shitty part of failure analysis. If the bedroom fails while I’m sleeping in it, I’ll die. How long will it last?

Hopefully, if it developed a leak, it’d be slow enough that I could react. But you never know.

After a few minutes standing around in my EVA suit, I decided to make better use of my time. I may not be able to leave while the bedroom is attached to the airlock, but I can go in to the rover and close the door.

Once I did that, I took off the uncomfortable EVA suit. The bedroom was on the other side of the airlock door, still fully pressurized. So I’m still running my test, but I don’t have to wear the EVA suit.

I wanted a good long test (I arbitrarily picked 8 hours) so I was trapped in the rover until then.

I spent my time planning the trip. There wasn’t much to add to what I already knew. I’ll bee-line to Mawrth Vallis, then follow it until it ends. It’ll take me on a zig-zag route, but mostly toward Schiaparelli.

After that comes Arabia Terra. Each crater represents two brutal elevation changes. First down, then up. I did my best to find the shortest path around them. I’m sure I’ll have to adjust the course when I’m actually driving it. No plan survives first contact with the enemy.

Mitch took his seat in the conference room. The usual gang was there: Teddy, Venkat, Mitch, and Annie. But this time there was also Mindy Park as well as a man Mitch had never seen before.

“What’s up, Venk?” Mitch asked. “Why the sudden meeting?”

“We’ve got some developments,” Venkat said. “Mindy, why don’t you bring them up to date.”

“Uh, yeah,” Mindy said. “Looks like Watney finished the balloon addition to the trailer. It mostly uses the design we sent him.”

“Any idea how stable it is?” Teddy asked.

“Pretty stable,” she said. “It’s been inflated for several days with no problems. Also he built some kind of… room.”

“Room?” Teddy asked.

“It’s made of Hab canvas, I think,” Mindy explained. “It attaches to the rover’s airlock. I think he cut a section out of the Hab to make it. I don’t know what it’s for.”

Teddy turned to Venkat. “Why would he do that?”

“We think it’s a workshop,” Venkat said. “There’ll be a lot of work to do on the MAV once he gets to Schiaparelli. It’ll be easier without an EVA suit. He probably plans to do as much as he can in that room.”

“Clever,” Teddy said.

“Watney’s a clever guy,” Mitch said. “How about getting life support in there?”

“I think he’s done it,” Mindy said. “He moved the AREC.”

“Sorry,” Annie interrupted. “What’s an AREC?”

“It’s the external component of the Atmospheric Regulator,” Mindy said. “It sits outside the Hab, so I know when it disappeared. He probably mounted it on the rover. There’s no other reason to move it so I’m guessing he’s got life support online.”

“Awesome,” Mitch said. “Things are coming together.”

“Don’t celebrate yet, Mitch,” Venkat said. “This is Randall Carter, one of our Martian meteorologists. Randall, tell them what you told me.”

Randall nodded. “Thank you, Dr. Kapoor.” He turned his laptop around to show a map of Mars. “Over the past few weeks, a dust storm has been developing in Arabia Terra. Not a big deal in terms of magnitude. It won’t hinder his driving at all.”

“So what’s the problem?” Annie asked.

“It’s a low-velocity dust storm,” Randall Explained. “Slow winds, but fast enough to pick up very small particles on the surface and whip them up in to thick clouds. There are five or six of them every year. The thing is, they last for months, they cover huge sections of the planet, and they make the atmosphere thick with dust.”

“I still don’t see the problem,” Annie said.

“Light,” Randall said. “The total sunlight reaching the surface is very low in the area of the storm. Right now, it’s 20% of normal. And Watney’s rover is powered by solar panels.”

“Shit,” Mitch said, rubbing his eyes. “And we can’t warn him.”

“So he gets less power.” Annie said. “Can’t he just recharge longer?”

“The current plan already has him recharging all day long,” Venkat explained. “With 20% of normal daylight, it’ll take five times as long to get the same energy. It’ll turn his 45 sol trip in to 225 sols. He’ll miss the Hermes flyby.”

“Can’t Hermes wait for him?” Annie asked.

“It’s a flyby,” Venkat said. “Hermes isn’t going in to Martian orbit. If they did, they wouldn’t be able to get back. They need their velocity for the return trajectory.”

After a few moments of silence, Teddy said “We’ll just have to hope he finds a way through. We can track his progress and—”

“No we can’t,” Mindy interrupted.

“We can’t?” Teddy said.

She shook her head. “The satellites won’t be able to see through the dust. Once he enters the affected area, we won’t see anything until he comes out the other side.”

“Well…” Teddy said. “Shit.”