The Martian by Andy Weir

power supply. My conclusion was “Fuck it.”
    There’s no need to have a continuous power supply. When Battery 1 runs out, I can get out, unplug Battery 1 and plug in Battery 2. Why not? It’s a 10 minute EVA, once per day. I’d have to swap batteries again when charging, but again: so what?
    I spent the rest of the day sweeping off the solar cell farm. Soon, I shall be looting it.
     
     
    LOG ENTRY: SOL 65
     
    The solar cells were a lot easier to manage than the battery.
    They’re thin, light, and just laying around on the ground. And I had one additional bonus: I was the one who set them up In the first place.
    Well, ok. It wasn’t just me. Vogel and I worked together on it. And boy did we drill on it. We spent almost an entire week drilling on the solar array alone. Then we drilled more whenever they figured we had spare time. It had been deemed mission critical. If we fucked it up and broke the cells or rendered them useless, the Hab wouldn’t be able to make power, and the mission would end.
    You might wonder what the rest of the crew were doing. They were setting up the Hab. Remember, everything in my glorious kingdom came here in boxes. We had to set it up on Sols 1 and 2.
    Each solar cell is on a lightweight lattice that holds it at a 14 degree angle. I’ll admit I don’t know why it’s a 14 degree angle. Something about maximizing solar energy. Anyway, removing the cells was simple. Then it was time to stack them on the rover.
    I considered removing the rock sample container. It’s nothing more than a large canvas bag attached to the roof. Way too small to hold the solar cells. But after some thought I left it there, figuring It’ll provide a good cushion.
    The cells stacked well (they were made to, for transport to Mars), and the two stacks sat nicely on the roof. They hung over the left and right edges, but I won’t be going through any tunnels so I don’t care.
    With some more abuse of the emergency Hab material, I made straps and tied the cells down. The rover has external handles near the front and back. They’re there to help us load rocks on the roof. They made perfect anchor points for the straps.
    I stood back and admired my work. Hey, I earned it. It wasn’t even noon and I was done.
    I came back to the Hab, had some lunch, and worked on my crops for the rest of the sol. It's been 39 sols since I planted the potatoes (which is about 40 Earth days), and it was time to reap and re-sow.
    They grew even better than I had expected. Mars has no insects, parasites, or blights to deal with, and the Hab maintains perfect growing temperature and moisture at all times.
    They were small compared to the taters you'd usually eat, but that's fine. All I wanted was enough to support growing new plants.
    I dug them up, being careful to leave their plants alive. Then I cut them up in to small pieces with one eye each, and re-seeded in to new dirt. If they keep growing this well, I'll be able to last a good long time here.
    After all that physical labor, I deserved a break. I rifled through Johanssen’s computer today, and found an endless supply of digital books. Looks like she’s a big fan of Agatha Christie. Beatles, Christie… I guess Johanssen’s an anglophile or something.
    I remember liking Hercule Poirot TV specials back when I was a kid. I’ll start with The Mysterious Affair at Styles . Looks like that’s the first one.
     
     
    LOG ENTRY: SOL 66
     
    The time has come (ominous musical crescendo) for some missions!
    NASA gets to name their missions after gods and stuff, so why can’t I? Henceforth, rover experimental missions will be “Sirius” missions. Get it? Dogs? Well if you don’t, fuck you.
    Sirius 1 will be tomorrow.
    The mission: Starting with fully charged batteries, and having the solar cells on the roof, drive until I run out of power, and see how far I get.
    I won’t be an idiot. I’m not driving directly away from the Hab. I’ll drive a half-kilometer stretch, back and