Story #1
Survival Story:
SOL 232
Today was a day of uncertain outcome. Above all, it was important to stay calm; otherwise what would have happened today could have had a worse outcome.
Our heading was normal at first, but within seconds all of our sensors turned off and the temperature started to drop. The crew was surprised at this, as we had checked every sensor before we started out on our journey. I advised the crew members to stay calm, and to wait for an hour to see if the problem would fix itself. Within minutes the electricity was off and we had no control over the vehicle. Our trajectory was right, but we had no way to stop in case of an emergency. Without wind resistance to slow us down, we were going to crash. So I took action, I put on my suit and went to the top of the vehicle; and what I saw was frankly quite unbelievable. Our array of fuel cells had ripped off from the vehicle, and was still tethered to us by a small cable. It took a ton of effort to get it to stop dragging and pull it up onto the platform. Once it was up I looked ahead in our trajectory and realized that we were headed downhill, straight for a large field of rocks, turning the vehicle would cause it to flip onto its side. I scrambled for the cables, with only minutes left until our impending destruction I felt vibrations of the crew members panicking and trying every possible method to fix their problem. With our comms down and no way to contact them, I was left to continue fixing the problem on my own. I found some spare wires in a utility compartment; these wires were meant for the science equipment, but it would have to do. As I frantically tried to fix it, we hit a small rock and popped a tire; the beginning of our end. The craft started to rock back and forth franticly, and as I plugged in the last wire I was given a shock. I jumped at the scare and was slammed into the guardrail. With the vehicle rocking back and forth, and us picking up speed, I slammed the fuel cells back onto the holster, and the lights flickered, and then came on. Then the craft hit a rock and I was sent flying off the platform. I came to under the lights of the craft and my crew members standing over me, I started choking at the lack of air. I was then transferred into the craft and went into recovery.
After this situation I have to give credit to my crew members for saving my life, and I clearly would not be here today without them. Once we arrive back at base, they will assess the damage done to the craft and fix it if necessary.