The Martians.
This is a one shot, I'm still publishing the other Mars story, but came up with this idea and it was nagging me to write it. Totally unconnected to my other story. As usual, all characters are the property of Weir. (Except Tim the waiter, I totally made him up) This is a not for profit exercise. Review please!
Melissa Lewis would never go into space again. Even if she survived, NASA would wash her out of the program for not follow the evacuation protocol. That she did follow it for the crew, but not for herself, would not matter. That said it really didn't matter anyway. There was almost no chance she would survive.
She reviewed the events in her mind. The storm hit and soon was at emergency evac/abort levels. On the way to the MAV, Mark was hit by debris. His life signs were gone. He was dead as far as the best systems ever designed knew. She gave Rick the order to launch if the MAV tipped further, and ordered the rest of the crew to abandon the search, but if Mark was dead, she had to know. All the crew was important to her, but Mark was special. If she wasn't married she would have never allowed Mark on the crew. As it was, she had been able to maintain a professional relationship and her attraction to him was never exhibited. There was nothing wrong with being attracted to someone, be it intellect, chemistry or just good looks, that was part of being human. How people acted on it and kept their emotions in check is what mattered. She didn't keep her emotions in check. She kept looking.
The MAV tipped, Rick followed his orders, but only after she gave them again. The blast from the first stage engines knocked her over, but the light from them illuminated the area around her and she saw Mark. The heat dissipated enough so that she wasn't fried by rocket exhaust, and she crawled to him.
A piece of metal had pierced the side of his suit and destroyed his comm link. Maybe he was alive. With a solid jerk she ripped the metal from him then quickly applied her patch kit to the hole. On earth they had practiced rescue techniques for fallen astronauts and against the wind she dragged Mark back to the hab. They had left the door to the airlock open, there had been no reason to close it, and once in she pressurized and dragged him the rest of the way into the Hab. There she went to work on stripping his suit from him. His stomach was covered with blood and she cut his thermal suit from him. Finding the wound she irrigated it, stapled it shut, hit it with instant glue to further seal it, then slapped a bandage on it. He was breathing and didn't appear to otherwise be injured.
Next, she got on the comm to notify NASA and the Hermes of their condition. The storm raged and she was exhausted. There was no reply. It took a moment to remember that it was an antenna dish that took out Mark, and she knew then what the problem was. At once she wanted to cry, but she didn't. She still had a crewman to save, and needed to get a plan to survive. A check of the time between Mark's failed comm link and the current time showed a passage of about thirty five minutes. With luck the MAV had not reached Hermes. She suited up again, and stepped back out into the storm.
"Hermes this is HAB, copy?"
"Hermes this is HAB, copy?"
"Commander? HAB this is MAV, copy?"
"Copy MAV, Lewis here. Status?"
"HAB, Commander, our launch angle was off due to the storm but we made low orbit. Am bringing the Hermes to altitude to dock. Four crew aboard. All well. Your status HAB? Signal is weak, high noise, read you 2 by 2 at best."
"Copy MAV. I'm outside on my headset. Antenna to HAB comm destroyed. I am alive and uninjured. Watney alive. Injured by stabbing wound to side by debris. Bleeding stopped, wound sealed and bandaged. Significant blood loss. Watney unconscious. Storm is not abating. Will contact in 10 hours. Get them to the Hermes Rick, you're in charge. Inventory food and supplies for a supply drop with OEP, Have Johannson get us a comm work around. HAB out, I'm going in."
"Copy HAB. Good to know you guys made it. We'll get you home."
Lewis returned to the HAB and went through the airlock again. It sounded like the storm would break the place apart, but it held. As she came in and removed her EVA, Mark was stirring.
"Mark, can you hear me?" She asked as she knelt beside him.
"Commander, the storm, did we get out?"
"No, but the crew did. The HAB's dish is gone but I raised them on my headset. They made a low trajectory orbit but Rick thinks he can get them to dock. I don't want to risk going out again in the storm so we will contact again in ten hours. Right now the headsets are the only way we have to communicate with them, but now they will be listening. If they had made it to the Hermes, well, they wouldn't have their EVA gear on and wouldn't know to tune it. So, well that is one thing that went right."
Mark tried to sit up but grimaced in pain.
"Woah, stay down, you need to rest, you lost a lot of blood. Can I get you anything?"
"Water. Lortab. Something to pee in."
Lewis stifled a laugh and returned with all that was requested and a local anesthesia from the med kit. While he drank from one liter bottle, she injected around his wound. The bleeding had stopped thanks to the staples and glue so she rinsed it with peroxide and changed the bandage while there. Then she gave Mark another liter bottle, this one labeled "R. Martinez" for him to relieve himself in.
"Remind me to give that back to Rick when we get out of here. Speaking of which, how are we getting home?"
"Mark, I have no idea. We are off script now. There is no contingency for this as far as I know, other than.."
"Shooting up enough morphine before we starve?"
"We're a long way from that. Hermes can load up the orbital escape pod and Rick can remote it to us. That should buy us another three to four hundred days, and if everyone rations, maybe four fifty to five hundred. Plus we have about a hundred and fifty days food here already. So that is six hundred and fifty days, at full rations, maybe eight hundred at three quarter."
"The Ares IV won't get here for four years at least, that is 1400 to 1500 days. They will find us dead."
"No, they won't. The Ares IV presupplies will start launching in six months or so and get here in fourteen. They can land a resupply here. We'll make it Mark. We're not going down without a fight. But we are going to have to take care of the HAB, the reclaimator, oxygenator and CO2 scrubber in the mean time."
"Okay. I'm in. I didn't feel like dying anyway." Mark smiled as the drugs kicked in and he drifted off to sleep.
Mars had little atmosphere so the storm was completely unpredictable. It should have been impossible to occur. Wind storms on Earth were areas of low pressure, but all of Mars had low pressure. This weather mass had enough air in it to move dirt and cause damage and logically had a higher air pressure than the rest of the planet. As a result, it dissipated quickly as the atmosphere sought to level out. A few hours after it had began the wind died down and the HAB stopped feeling like it was being blown apart. Only then could Commander Lewis get some sleep.
On Earth all of NASA was having a nightmare. Houston knew of the evacuation and the MAV launch but the MAV's communications to Earth were limited until they overheard the conversation with Lewis via the link to the MAV in Hermes, and they only heard the astronauts on the MAV speaking. Efforts to contact the MAV directly had failed, but Mission Control finally switched over the comm in Hermes to repeat messages to the MAV. The MAV launch had occurred just as the Hermes was on the "dark side" of Mars, away from Earth and ground communications would normally route through the HAB and then to Earth via a satellite, but of course the HAB could not broadcast. That the MAV could not communicate directly via the Hermes until it got there was an oversight. It too was to broadcast to the HAB and be rerouted to Houston.
It took Rick almost a day to link up the Hermes and the MAV and once docked Beth went to work re-engineering the communication systems to allow the Hermes to communicate on the headset channel and to establish communications with Houston, now thirteen light minutes away. In that time they spoke with the commander twice, getting updates on Mark, who looked to survive his injury. The first message to Houston was from Rick as acting commander.
"Houston be advised, Hermes Actual. Emergency abort evacuation has occurred. Watney injured. Commander Lewis rescued Watney and returned to the HAB. Launch occurred on Lewis command due to MAV tipping in wind. Lewis and Watney now stranded. Martinez is acting commander at present and speaking. Lewis uninjured. Watney has blood loss and non lethal wound to side. He was unconscious and bio monitor damaged. Lewis ordered all to MAV while she searched and set critical angle. Once reached MAV launched on her verbal command. Low orbit obtained. Hermes brought to MAV, now docked. Four astronauts aboard. Lewis requests resupply via planetary escape pod, rigging for descent now. Will provide approximately five hundred days rations in addition to that on sight now. Can supply more at your command if resupply to Hermes in route is possible. There is currently no known way for Lewis and Watney to leave surface prior to Ares IV. Await reply and instructions. Hermes will continue in orbit until resupply plan developed and executed. Return launch window gives us twenty days to develop. Hermes actual, over."
"It will be twenty six minutes before we hear anything, and longer before we hear anything useful. Have you got the commander yet?" Rick asked Beth.
"Its almost time. About ten more minutes until our next appointment."
"K, keep me posted."
"Rick?"
"Yes Beth?"
"You're going to do fine. We're all behind you. Understand?"
"Thanks Beth. I just wish.."
"I know. Right now wishes don't matter. The crew will follow you. Its going to be alright. Its Mars against Lewis and Watney. I wouldn't bet on Mars, would you?"
"No. No I wouldn't."
"Hermes MAV, this is HAB, Lewis, do you copy Rick?"
"She's early. Open the link to Houston and copy them in." Rick said, before opening the channel to the commander.
"HAB this is Hermes Actual. We read you five by five commander. We have a bit more power now, currently on the Hermes and conducting supply inventory. Copy?"
"Copy Hermes Actual. Read you three by four. You're clear enough. Thanks for getting them out Rick. Mark is healing nicely and is moving about the HAB now. I would put him on but there is some pain and his demeanor is grumpy and his language inventive. Spirits here are much better now that we know you're safe though. Any word from Houston? Over."
"I wish we could have waited Commander, you know that. We just sent Houston our first message from Hermes, waiting reply now. You are currently ghosted to them so watch your language. How are conditions there? Over."
"I gave the order Rick, you did your job and followed it. Get the crew home safe and we're happy. HAB is safe and undamaged. Antenna lost at present, judging from it's post it is probably not repairable. Rover Two is not damaged but One seems a complete loss. Have cleaned solar array of dust and power at one hundred percent. Life systems undamaged. Mark requests in the resupply you send his data stick and directions for rigging a new antenna for main comm system. NASA, if you can hear me, please provide instructions there. Also he requests his seeds, mister and other materials for the research he was to do on the way home. Should be in a box with his name on it in the lab. Also any vinegar or acetic acid. He says there is a gallon of vinegar in the mess, but I've never seen it. He says he wants to try to garden with Martian soil on Mars in the HAB since we're going to be here anyway. Once comm and any other repairs are made we will continue with the other planned research. It looks like we will have time. Over."
"Copy that. Tell Mark we should have plenty of room for that. I'm not sure where he will plant a garden though. Over." Rick said with a laugh.
"He claims the HAB, and says he has figured out a way to hydrate the soil. I'm not sure I want the details of that though. Food shortage you know about. Water is fine so long as the reclaimator works and Mark should be able to keep it going. Send down all the EVA suit lithium cartridges you can. Will wait for Houston reply."
Over the next several days NASA took the basic ideas that Lewis had come up with and developed a long term rescue plan. Basically everyone would ration food, Hermes at about 80% and Mars Station as it was now called, at about 75%. The next pre supply to Mars would be a resupply to Lewis and Watney, and more would be shuttled out to Hermes as they began their slow down to Earth. This would stretch things to allow Mars Station to survive until Ares IV rescued them, probably with a MAV modified to travel overland. Mark suggested that if the resupply sent hydrazine they could use the captured CO2 to make fuel in the MAV lander that remained after the launch, making it possible for the Ares IV MAV to simply siphon fuel already waiting for it. They would only need to bring a hose with the proper fittings and that should be easy enough to do. There was concern about landing a volatile substance along with the other supplies, but it was figured that a separate lander could carry the hydrazine during the resupply and this seemed like a reasonable idea. It turned out that it actually worked.
A month later Hermes was on its way, the resupply pod from Hermes had been expertly landed by Rick about two kilometers from the Hab, and a make shift antenna adorned the MDV that was still stationed a hundred meters or so away. Also Mark was using the hydrazine and LOX to make water in the now plastic lined work area of Rover 1, which had otherwise been wrecked by the storm. A small electrical spark ran through a capacitor attached to its battery, providing the necessary spark every few seconds as an IV rig wrapped in insulating material made of spare Hab canvas and duct tape slowly dripped LOX onto a pan of hydrazine.
"Mark, if you blow up the work area on rover one, do not ask me about doing this on two, or anywhere else" was Lewis's only instructions. While Mark worked on making water from LOX and hydrazine, Missy would collect more samples of dirt, rock, and air particulates and catalog them. Protocol was for astronauts to always work in pairs but that wasn't possible when there were just two and they were on different projects, but they always stayed within sight of each other and chatted back and forth across the comm system. Mark didn't mind working with the commander outside in EVA suits, but in the HAB he found her presence distracting. She was the same age as him, and just insanely hot. Plus she had a wonderful personality and wasn't stupid. He could talk to her about anything and was growing closer to her with each day. Still, to act on the attraction and feelings he had for her would ruin the next four years of his life with awkwardness. So he avoided seeing her in her nearly skin tight indoor work uniforms and found it easier to deal with her in an EVA. At least her butt didn't demand his attention that way. Truthfully, he felt like he was the luckiest guy on the planet because if he had to be stranded, he was stranded with Missy. Every time he thought this it reminded him that he was the only guy on the planet, so he expanded it to the solar system. "Whatever" he thought.
Every hour or so Mark shut off the drip by closing the tank valve and once the small explosions stopped, turned off the power to the spark. After a few minutes the interior of the work area was well below freezing and the water in the air condensed into ice which he collected into a sealed container and started the process over. The container was essentially a high end cooler that held thirty liters and was made for soil and rock samples. It was sealed to keep dust from escaping, but it also kept the ice from sublimating into the low pressure atmosphere. He was filling it about every two trips, and in a week had enough water to begin bringing dirt in.
The dirt was first treated in the work area with a mixture that was mostly water with a capful or two of vinegar. When it touched the soil the perchlorate reacted with the acetic acid to produce nitrogen, nitrous oxide in trace amounts, water, magnesium and chlorine gas. This last would have been a problem of course but it was why he was treating it before he brought it into the Hab. Since he was in an EVA suit it didn't effect him, and once released into the vacuum he was working in, he could just open the work area air lock and vent it into space. Then the now treated soil could be brought in and even in Mars gravity it weighed a lot.
Mark had studied the previous mission's findings on the soil and knew that if he just dragged in soil and let the Hab heat it, they would both be freaking killed by chlorine gas. This was pretty much known since the soil was first sampled by Phoenix Lander decades before. Why Rick thought he would just bring dirt into the air he and Lewis were breathing without removing most of it first was beyond him. Didn't anyone read about the dirt on this toxic planet other than the botanist?
Lewis and Watney enjoyed working together and enjoyed each other's company. Lewis became very informal in the command structure as there were just the two of them and they had plenty of time to get the work done. Each day they had to give updates to Houston as to their condition, what they had eaten, water supply and a myriad of other things and compiling those reports took too much time. Lewis began delegating some of it to Mark, but then it served to take up too much of two people's time, so she began sending the very basics every day with a more detailed report every three. Down load times were horribly slow but when not communicating messages back and forth with Houston and Hermes, they used it to load entertainment. Every other day became movie night and of course they had the material on their data sticks to share.
That wasn't useful as Mark's was full of metal, punk and techno thrillers, while Missy's was full of disco, seventies tv and romcoms. Still out of boredom they shared and expanded their individual tastes. Mark had rearranged the cots so they had something of a sofa in front of the main screen they used to view things on and it was during one of those occasions, about a month after the Hermes departed, with dirt covering most of the floor that Mark asked.
"Are you doing more samples tomorrow?"
"Probably for the morning, why? Are you going to be in Rover One again?"
"No, I'm going to be seeding the soil with night soil and planting seeds. It might get smelly in here. For a few days. Sorry."
"Uh, what is night soil and why will it get smelly?"
"Uh, poop. With bacteria from Earth and some dirt from Earth. The soil needs the poop for nutrients and the bacteria to break it down so the plants can use it."
"You're spreading shit all over the Hab Mark? I don't remember approving that."
"The garden won't grow without it. The smell should die down once its mixed in the soil."
"Oh, okay, uh"
"I hope."
"You hope?"
"Well, interplanetary farming is a new and exciting field of study. There is bound to be some trial and error." Mark grinned.
"You owe me Mark."
"Already do, you saved my life, remember?"
"That was my job. Filling my living space with excrement and bacteria is above and beyond the call of duty."
"Buy you a beer when we get home?"
"Not enough. You have to take me dancing too."
"Your music or mine?"
"Mine. Your's sucks."
Missy spent most of the next day collecting samples while Mark mixed the soil and planted. The odor was horrible and the oxygenator worked overtime to separate out all the new chemicals it was exposed to. By the time Missy returned it had died down to just below vomitus levels. Mark was just finishing up his weekly video conference with his parents over the private channel that was discretely monitored and never recorded when Missy returned. He helped her carry the sample containers in, although most were simply stacked outside the airlock, then she unsuited and when the air hit her she nearly threw up.
"Jesus Watney! What the fuck have you done?"
"Its better than it was, trust me. I over did the watering of the soil and once it dries back up the odor should die down. And soon we will have fresh vegetables."
"Remind me to recommend that in future missions the botanist be located in a separate Hab. Preferably on Phobos. Or Saturn."
Missy got cleaned up and then sat down for her weekly meeting with her husband Bob. Mark went to his bunk and closed the curtain to give them some privacy. While he waited for them to finish talking, or whatever they did, he read.
Fifteen minutes later he heard Commander Lewis crying and went to check on her.
She was just across the main room, on the other side of the garden, her face down on the desk weeping in front of the small comm screen was used for messaging. The screen showed the NASA logo and message number which indicated that the message session was over, and she had turned the camera off.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Mark asked as he knelt beside the chair she was seated in.
For a minute or so Missy just cried, then looked up, her face covered in tears, and gasped "Bob wants a divorce. He says five years isn't what he signed up for." Missy gasped then threw her arms around Mark and cried on his shoulder.
Mark had no idea what to say. He had never really liked Bob but figured the Commander must have so it was none of his business. That he had hurt her so badly made him really hate his guts, but he couldn't really say that either. Anything he could think of to say was just wrong, so for once he stayed quiet and just let Melissa Lewis cry.
"I need to lay down." Missy finally gasped.
"It's time to knock off for the day anyway, you want me to get dinner?"
"Not hungry. Besides, I would just throw up."
"Hey, its going to be okay. You're Melissa Lewis, you can survive anything."
"No Mark, the smell in here is what would make me throw up. But you're sweet. Thanks. I just need to lay down and cry myself to sleep. I... We'll talk later." Lewis said as she got up and went to her bunk.
As she closed the privacy screen the comm beeped.
"Waiting for daily report." Houston said.
"Plants planted. Dirt dug. We're fine. Bad day. Don't ask." Mark typed as the only report for the day, instead of the nearly three pages of data that was protocol.
Nearly a half hour later, as Mark read a Clancy novel and ate his evening rations the comm beeped again.
"Copy that. Understood. We may have more info on relief plan tomorrow. Report in AM your time as normal. Houston."
Mark went to his bunk, worried about his friend and commander, and knowing there wasn't a damn thing he could do. He tried to sleep but only tossed and turned. The night was silent except for the circulation fans and Melissa's weeping.
"Mark?" He heard whispered when he finally nodded off.
"Hmrumph" He replied, then remembered that he could only speak English, "Yes Commander?"
"I... I'm sorry to disturb you, I know you must be exhausted, but can I come in? I, uh... I need a favor."
"Sure, anything."
Missy slid back the privacy screen and Mark could see she was a wreck. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face showed her emotional exhaustion. On the other hand she was practically naked, wearing only the standard underwear for women on a NASA mission that looked like a sports bra on top and tight running shorts on the bottom. They were not supposed to be sexy, but basically anything on Missy Lewis was in Mark's eyes. In one hand she had a pillow and in the other the standard sleeping bag that everyone slept in unzipped like a comforter.
"I, don't want...l don't want things to be awkward but I could really use a friend right now. I really don't want to be alone, can I sleep with you?"
"Absolutely."
"I... I'm not,.. I don't want to have sex or anything, will you hold me though? I really just... I should leave you alone, I'm sorry." And with that she broke down in tears again.
"Hey, sure, I understand come on. I totally get it. Come here. Please."
Missy gave in to her original thoughts and crawled in bed, but lay on her side facing away from Mark. She pulled the bag over her, as did Mark, and he laid his over her. Mark lay one arm across her midsection and another under her neck and slid close to her.
"We've been together since my last year at the academy, all through my service and Caltech. He.. he was always supportive until... When I got accepted to asscan, we did an egg harvest. When I got back we were going to do in vitro and have kids because... well it doesn't matter. By the time I get back no one will want to have kids with me."
"Bullshit. You're a warm, wonderful person. Any guy would be lucky to share life with you. Stop that, stop it right now, there is a whole planet of people who want you back. Stop letting him make you feel bad."
"You're sweet. You know, of all the guys on the mission, you were the only one Bob hated."
"Really? Why?"
"Oh... geez I should think before I talk."
"You don't have to tell me, its okay... sort of unexpected, I mean, what did I ever do to Bob?"
"Well, I don't want to make things awkward so maybe I should keep that to myse..."
"We're in bed, in a celibate relationship, almost naked, fifty four million miles from home and the only people on the whole planet. Exactly how could it get any weirder Commander?"
"Uh, by me telling you that you're the exact sort of man I'm attracted to. Is that weird enough for you? And don't call me 'commander' anymore. I'm Missy."
"Uh. You too."
"I don't call myself 'commander'."
"No, I mean, you're the exact sort of woman I'm attracted to. Smart, confident, dry sense of humor, gorgeous. It's a rare combination."
"You mean that?" Missy asked as she rolled on her back and looked toward him."
"Yes."
"Okay, I was wrong before. This is awkward." She said as she faced him and they kissed.