MY MARTIAN. minsung

thirty four

[Sol 110]|

“So today I'm just gonna go get some soil samples, y'know. I mean… might as well continue the research we first came to do, right?”
Jisung had donned his space suit once again, ready to go out, as he was starting to get tired of simply being inside all day.

“I have with me…. A few sample cups, like the ones you have to pee in at the doctor's office. I also have some duct tape, because honestly, what can't duct tape fix? And I need it to seal the lids on the  samples, so yeah.”

He chuckled, slipping the tape and cups into separate compartments of his suit. A tiny camera was fitted into the helmet of that specific suit, Jisung discovered. It hadn't been activated before, because there was no reason for it to be. Now, it could keep track of him outside the HAB, instead of stuck at a desk.

“This video journal is a little bit earlier than a month, only a few days after the last one, actually. I just thought that it might be important to show y'all this, since you love research so much.”

A feeling, much like the one from the day that he'd gotten stranded, made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Still, he ignored it, continuing with the plan.
His stomach churned with an unidentified mistrust as he proceeded, collecting environment samples from the area around the HAB.

Jisung only grabbed a few, however, before his increasing sense of dread nearly made him double over, and he made the choice to head back to the HAB.

The walk back was fine.

He entered the airlock, perfectly okay.

Everything was fine. Until it wasn't.

The screen lock next to the inner door flashed red, beeping 'airlock malfunction’ over and over.

“I don't know what's happening!” Jisung shouted, trying to open the inner door manually. Just as he felt a shift, the whole containment tube that he was currently standing in was bathed in red emergency lights.

The outside air ripped through the thin, filtering walls of the airlock. The destabilization of pressure sent the entire airlock flying, torn off of the main HAB. Jisung tumbled around on the inside of the containment cylinder, suddenly sympathizing with all of the articles of clothing he had washed in his lifetime.

As soon as the airlock came to a rest, Jisung tried to sit up.

“Oxygen level: low. Oxygen level: low” an automated voice repeated over and over from somewhere inside his suit, not at all helping his growing headache.

“I know, I know.” Jisung wheezed out, not being able to open his eyes, let alone focus on the current emergency.
He tried to take a deep breath, but nothing was there. His head spun, and he felt as if the walls were closing in around him.

“Oxygen level: critical. Oxygen level less than 9%”

Unable to speak anymore, Jisung brought his hand to his helmet, feeling around for what might have caused the oxygen leakage.

He struggled, and hit the side of his helmet, trying to knock some sense into himself. He just wished that his eyes would focus, so he could get out of there.

Jisung rubbed his thickly gloved hand over his visor, attempting, once again to locate the breach. Just as his fingers found a dip in the normally smooth glass, vision found its way back into his eyes. As soon as he could see the extent of the damage, Jisung began rummaging around in his pockets.

It was here, it was here, it was-

It had to be.

Finally he grabbed the duct tape and hurriedly ripped off a long strip, pressing it firmly against the crack. Immediately, he could feel the difference in the air. One more piece of duct tape, and Jisung was beginning to think again. With the thoughts, came the freezing cold that had managed to slip in through the gaps in his suit helmet. He shivered, clambering shakily to his feet.

Just as he did so, a horrible thought occurred to him.

No. No no no no no.

Jisung pried open the 'inner’ doors, that he'd been trying to earlier, with ease, aided by adrenaline and shock. His feet seemed to be miles ahead of his still-sluggish thoughts, carrying him over to where the airlock had been before.

A gaping hole was left in the side of his HAB, leaving the cold, martian atmosphere to flow through it freely.

There were no inner airlocks within the HAB, except for the dorms and kitchen, which meant that-

No.

Jisung gulped painfully, making his way through the wreckage of his once-shelter. The electricity had gone out, leaving it cold and dark. Despite knowing exactly what he was going to find when he entered the greenhouse, it still didn't make it any easier.

His plants, his beautiful, life giving, scientific breakthrough plants, were dead. All of them.
Flash frozen by the horrible, deadly atmosphere of a place that humans weren't even supposed to be on, let alone grow things on.

Jisung fell to his knees on the ground near one of his potato plants. He tried picking it up, and it's delicate, frozen leaves crumbled in his hands, into a million tiny pieces.
“My firstborn…” he whispered, still feeling woozy. He tried to take a deep breath, but then realized that he didn't even have that much air left to begin with.

Jisung hauled himself to his unsteady feet, and forced himself to walk away from his once-great achievement.

On his way out, he grabbed another suit, helmet and all. Jisung folded it up carefully, and brought it over to the rover before hopping in it.

Afterall, where else could he go? The rover was right there, plus it had a week's worth of fresh O2 at the ready.

Soon, he was settled in the driver's seat once again, twisting off his mangled helmet.

Inhaling deeply, he forced himself to not throw up, merely focusing instead on the continuous in’s and out’s of the oxygen in his body.

When he was ready, Jisung let out a sad exhale, tapping 'on’ the rover's tablet.

RVR: Houston, we have a problem..

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

Big oof moment

I thought I'd double update, since a lot of the prior chapters have been kinda short.

Can we get an f in the chat for Jisung's plants-

Skkskskskdndkdksm ily bye