TRANSMISSION
CONTINUES:
September
22nd – 2016
My name is
Maria Harrison, Captain of the Zubrin, and I’m really quite terrified.
Didn’t
sleep last night. Couldn’t stop thinking about what we’re going to do today. Or
rather, what NASA are going to do today. I’m not a pilot or an engineer, so
NASA will be controlling the ship throughout the operation via remote control
from Earth. All I have to do is sit and wait.
While the
ship I’m trapped inside gets piloted TOWARDS an asteroid.
So, yeah!
Little freaked.
__
Ok,
asteroid is close. Around now it will start pulling the ship in naturally.
Gah!
Sorry, the rockets just fired, caught me by surprise. Guess NASA have started
their work.
Little
warning would be great next time, thanks guys.
__
This is
kind of interesting actually, at least if you can look past the abject terror.
Which I’m working on.
There are
six rockets on the outside of the ship. Two big ones at the back, one at the
front, and three forming a triangle in the middle. I know this, because, to
pilot the ship, NASA have dialled into the ship’s computer, so I can see which
buttons they’re pressing to fire them. So, you fire this one here, and then the
ship moves around here…
Oh, a
message from NASA.
“Ship in
position.”
Yay!
“About to
deploy reprogrammed processing units.”
Double
yay!
“Rear
doors opening in 30 seconds. Space suit recommended.”
Triple…
AAAAARGGH!
Oh no, oh
no, oh no, got to get the space suit ready, don’t want to eat vacuum and
explode.
Do people
actually… STOP THINKING! WEAR SPACESUIT!
__
Phew. Suit
on, oxygen activated.
The doors
are open.
…Wow. So…
I’m in Space. Kind of.
The five
units I reprogrammed have illuminated themselves, they look like giant green
balls of light now. The effect is not displeasing.
They’re
detaching themselves and floating down towards the asteroid. There, they’ll
start dismantling it into a more harmless size collection of rocks that’ll
either redirect thanks to changing mass, or burn up in Earth’s atmosphere
before they hit the ground.
One, two,
three, floating down. And there’s the 4th.
Hang on,
the 5th one is stuck. It can’t get out.
…Well, I
AM in a spacesuit. Why shouldn’t I free it?
Careful,
careful… ah here, it’s caught on this handle… got it!
Be free,
green light thingy!
…And off
it goes. Mission complete, the doors are closing.
__
Ok, NASA,
they’re out. Time to blast off!
__
I notice a
distinct lack of blast off. Why aren’t we moving?
Oh no.
Message from NASA, the remote control has stopped working. They can’t pilot me
out! I’m going to crash!
…You know
what, stuff that. Give me manual control.
__
No arguing
with me, NASA. MANUAL CONTROL, HOW?
__
Thank you.
Ok, no time to calculate thrust or anything. Let’s just hit the button that
says “FULL POWER.”
__
It’s not
working. We’re still being pulled in.
…hang on,
I think… yes! We’re moving! Away we go.
WOOOO!!!
WE DID IT! WE ESCAPED! WE SAVED THE HUMAN RACE! AND I HAVEN’T EAVEN HAD
BREAKFAST YET!!!
I’m like,
all kinds of awesome.
__
Well, that
was tough, but a job well done NASA.
…NASA?
NASA why
is that red light flashing?
__
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SEARCHING.
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LOCATED. 1
ENTRY. TRANSMITTING
September
22nd – 2021
My name is
Maria Harrison, Captain of the Zubrin, and this is my final entry.
Five years
today since we saved Earth.
Yay.
Also five
years since, in a desperate attempt to save myself from crashing into an
asteroid, I burnt up the last of the fuel. Which we needed to, well, to slow
down.
So, I
missed Mars. I missed most of the solar system.
I missed
home.
NASA
estimate that I’ll at my speed and course, I will hit another planet. In about
15 years.
They even
think it might be liveable. And they promise they’re going to work out a way to
get me home.
But, the
question that I’ve been asking myself over and over is: If I only had enough
fuel to slow down on approach to Mars, how was I going to get home in the first
place?
I don’t
think I was ever going home, NASA.
So, I may
survive this. I don’t know. But, either way, I’m done talking to you, NASA.
This will be the last time we speak.
My name is
Maria Harrison.
Goodbye.
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