Is There Life On Mars? (part six)

Note: This is the sixth part of the story Is There Life on Mars? If you missed the beginning, maybe you should start there (just click on the link.)

 

Day 186

The artificial gravity generator has failed! 

I don’t even know where to begin with what happened.

The spinning part of the ship just stopped working. But because of inertia, what actually happened was that everything in the entire ship started spinning. It was chaos!

It took three excruciatingly long hours for the pilots to stabilize us without going off course. In the meantime, everything and everyone was spinning and flying in all directions. I was one of the lucky ones. Everything was secured and locked in the garage. Only a few personal items flew through the room (including this diary). Now everything is stored in boxes when not in use. My mattress is now tied to a container with ropes and tape, and I have to strap myself to it when I want to sleep.

I’m really lucky that the cargo bay has retained much of the design from the earlier uninhabited ships that sent infrastructure to Mars and had no artificial gravity. I can attach most things easily, including myself.

I only have a few bruises from the incident. Yes, I was lucky.

It’s a different story in the living quarters of the general population.

“Chaos” is not a strong enough word to describe what happened there.

Everything and everyone was thrown in all directions at high speed. Most people suffered only minor injuries, but not everyone. At least three people were seriously injured. One is in a coma, and the doctors are worried. Movement on board is now officially restricted – the captain’s and Noel’s decision – so information travels more slowly than we’re all used to. 

There have also been two casualties. I’ll need some time to talk about that.

 

*****

Day 187

I didn’t mention everything in yesterday’s entry. Writing by hand for a long time in weightlessness is not easy. The notebook has to be taped to a container, and I also have to strap myself to it. Basically.

And I have to detach and reattach the notebook every time I turn a page. This is why some corners of the previous pages are a bit damaged.

 

What I didn’t talk about yesterday is the situation with the animals.

Let’s start with the chickens. They’re fine. They can even fly! They’re confused but happy. Except when they fly into the walls. Their coop is extremely nasty, though. Some of the cleaning bots that can work in zero gravity have been assigned to it. Turns out it’s a good thing they haven’t been laying eggs lately.

The cows are mostly okay. The two remaining cows were slightly injured, but they’re now secure in their launch and landing harnesses. They can’t move much (which is actually better for the one with the broken leg). They’re not happy about it, but they’re safe.

Feeding them can be a little tricky, but Becky says there’s no big difference; it’s not like they could move around freely before. We can still milk them, and suction machines have been collecting their poop and pee since the trip started, so the cowshed is mostly okay.

 

The pigs…

Oh God, the pigs…

 

 

If the human quarters are a state of chaos, I don’t know what to call the pig pens.

When the artificial gravity suddenly stopped, Henry was tending to the pigs. We don’t know exactly what happened, but we think he was crushed to death by eighteen pigs that were suddenly thrown against the wall. The same probably happened to the piglets…

Yes, we had piglets again about a week before the accident. There must be something wrong with the pig birth control. We had decided to keep the piglets alive this time. The vegetarians were really upset last time, and no one wanted to put anyone else in a worse mood than we already were. I’m not sure what the plan was for their food. I had stopped paying attention.

It’s a moot point now. The piglets are probably all dead.

Most of the adult pigs are still alive. Have you ever heard a frightened pig squeal? Have you ever heard an injured pig scream in pain? There aren’t many things that keep me awake at night. Those sounds do.

Add one to the other and multiply by 18 and you get what is coming out of the pigpen.

Sure, the sections of the ship are soundproofed, but even the best soundproofing can’t stop all the sounds.

And the soundproofing on board turned out not to be “the best.”

The next day, Richard went to see if anything could be done. Maybe Henry was still alive somehow. Maybe it was still possible to get the pigs and secure them in their takeoff and landing compartments. Richard wanted to do something, so he went.

 

Now he’s probably dead too. As soon as he opened the door to the pig area, a floating pig pushed another random pig. That second pig‌ hit Richard, who lost his balance and fell into the room. He instinctively grabbed the pig’s leg to hold on to something. That’s when another panicked pig bit him. We didn’t even have time to think about what to do when an upside-down pig floated to the door and “escaped”. The only thing we had time to do was to try to push the pig back in. We failed, so we rushed out the outer door of the security vestibule.

Yes, Joe and I were there.

What we saw inside was…

I don’t know how to explain…

 

I’m back. I had to take a break after writing the above paragraph. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go near a pig again.

What we saw inside…

Do I really have to report it here? Do I really have to relive it just to put it down on paper?

 

(to be continued)

 

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