MY MARTIAN. minsung

eight

[Sol 28]|

“So yeah, that's how that went. I basically just scienced the shit out of it.”

Jisung was giving his report to the HAB’s camera logs.

After completing his experiment the day before, Jisung had all but passed out. He'd barely made it to his bed.
His bed, his teammates' bed.

Whichever he landed on.

At this point, Jisung didn't care.

Or at least he was pretending like he didn't.

His friends' beds would smell like them, and that was quite possibly the only human-like contact he'd get for a while.
So yeah, it might matter a little bit if he accidentally slept on their perfectly made, definitely abandoned bunks.

Before he let those sad thoughts seep into his facial expressions, Jisung quickly ended the entry and started to get to work.

'Work', as in, today would probably be another rest day for him. He'd nearly made everything much worse, by overexerting himself yesterday.
But it had needed to be done.

A singular problem down, infinite more to come.

One step at a time, though, right?

The next most important thing he did would be to get in contact with NASA.

Once again snuggled up in one of his teammates’ hoodies, Jisung began brainstorming.

If someone had told him three years ago that sometime in the near future, he would be attempting to recall the history of Mars, whilst stuck on the planet itself, Jisung would've said that they were crazy.

But alas, here he was.

If he remembered correctly, there should be an old, abandoned communications lander by the name of Pathfinder, only 40 kilometers away from the HAB.

The small satellite would allow communication, and, if his theory that they were monitoring the area of the HAB though Mars’ satellite images, then they should've picked up on his presence by now.

It's not like he was trying to be secretive.

If anything, he was being painfully obvious, in the hopes of recognition.

That's how it always was.

Anyway, if NASA followed his lead to Pathfinder, they could work out how to receive the messages on their own.

But how could he get there?

40 kilometers wasn't exactly a walking distance, especially in his state.

The first Mars rover, Sojourner, could help.

But the battery was old, and Jisung was uncertain that it would last that long.

If he used the rover's heater, which he would need to do as to not freeze, it would cut the battery life in half.

Furrowing his brows in concentration, Jisung hunched farther on the desk, fiddling with a pen.

How could he make it last longer?

If he didn't use the heat, he would surely freeze to death.

Curse you, laws of thermodynamics.

Sighing heavily, Jisung laid his head down on the table top.

He needed to contact NASA as soon as possible.
But, at the rate he was going, it was doubtful that he'd ever find a means of getting home.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the depressing voice that was whispering these things to him, Jisung closed his eyes.

He just couldn't seem to stop the flow of toxic thoughts that were now constantly streaming through his once positive mind.

Jisung's eyes blinked open and he shot up faster than one would expect, a lightbulb going off in his brain.

Toxic.

If he remembered correctly, there should be a buried, highly dangerous, radioactive isotope, only a 5k away from the HAB.

If he wrapped it up and placed it in the backseat of the rover, it would warm him up significantly.

Albeit, not the safest idea, it was the only one he had.

The only one that could work.

The only one that could get him to the satellite that could contact NASA, which is the only thing that could get him home.

There was a possibility that he could go home soon.

If everything went well, that is.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

My older brother looked over my shoulder while I was writing this and saw 'law of thermodynamics' and asked if he could read my Mars fanfic. I dOnT thiNk hE kNoWs tHat iTs aN aCTuAL faNfiC aboUT mArS n sTuFf xjcxbhxhdbdj I pAniCkEd sO bAd.
And said no, obviously

And if you're wondering why Jisung keeps wearing everyone's stuff, and maybe(?) Sleeping on their beds, is because he's lonely and misses them. KinD oF like ..hmm. y'know how people will sometimes keep something of someone else's after a breakup or death or something, cuz it reminds them of/smells like them- iDk aM I eXpLaiNing tHiS rIGht??? Csnsjsnsks

NoW. If anyone is still reading this loNG A/N,
Go follow Imma_read_now and GracefulSouffle if you haven't already, and rEaD tHeiR bOoKs cuz wOWiE they are good.

ANd iM oUt