Mission day 143
November 14, 2035
Kate Hoffman
A new day. I woke and was up and ready to face Mars! Wait, I'm on the Hermes? Then the previous day's events hit me like a train.
"AHAHAHAHAHAH"
"Watney, report! Do you read?"
"His suit has depressurized. I don't think he's gonna make it."
"Shoot….."
A wave of sadness, anxiety, and stress came over me, and I wanted to just wake up and discover that what happened was a dream, then continue sleeping peacefully, but I got up and dragged myself to the rec. I found the rest of the crew sans Watney in the rec already. The energy and morale levels are at a new low. There is a very awkward silence at the table and I broke the silence by saying,
"Sorry I'm late….overslept…."
I knew that it was rare for me to oversleep because I normally wake up along with Commander Lewis who wakes up first, but I don't think things will be normal for some time. I observed their reactions, Beck weakly smiled, while Vogel and Martinez just nodded. Lewis looked stiffly at her morning meal, and Johanssen didn't react and just sipped her black coffee with her hood covering her head. I got a random breakfast pack made my coffee, and sat down at the table. We ate in a very uncomfortable sullen silence, and then Lewis said,
"Everybody's schedule is cleared for the day, you can do what you want."
We nodded, and everyone finished their meal and dumped their meal packaging, and when out of the rec one by one. I stayed in the rec, trying to decipher each of my crew member's mental state. Martinez and Vogel seem to be coping relatively decently, be aware of symptoms of depression, Beck is probably holding back his guilt but still beating himself up because he is the one who said Watney was dead first. Johanssen seems to be depressed, I should be on the lookout for excessive exercise time as it is the way Johanssen burns steam. Commander Lewis is… oh my goodness, there is no other way to put this, walking guilt complex, I need to be very mindful, she seems to be the most heavily affected at the moment. And it only at the moment, what if they get worse, oh my gosh, no, no, no. Dammit, you're panicking, which leads to compromised thought process, which leads to stupid decisions that can kill you, especially in space.
I started brainstorming ways to boost moral without seeming like the incident doesn't affect me. This is going to be hard. So much for sleeping peacefully.