Part II
"OH YEAH!" Mark crowed as he punched his arms in the air as best he could in the confines of his space suit.
Pathfinder had finally, after four days of waiting, oriented itself to Earth. And then there had been nothing for four more days. Mark had known exactly what that had meant right away. They had been able to send a triangulation signal, but nothing else. It meant they hadn't been ready to communicate with him, because they hadn't been watching him, because they had no idea he was alive. That meant there was no rescue mission in the works, no resupply on its way. NASA had only just started working on the problem that was Mark Watney, and they probably figured he was weeks, if not days from starvation, because they had no idea he had been using his mad botany powers to grow potatoes on Mars.
But now, NASA had their ducks in a row, and were properly communicating with Pathfinder. Mark was ready for them. The first thing they would see, in about twelve minutes, was his first message home in nearly a year, other than his giant rock message.
Growing potatoes, not starving. Spell with ASCII. 0–F at 21-degree increments. When message done, return to this position. Wait 20 minutes after completion to take picture (so I can write and post reply). Repeat process at top of every hour.
Below that, he had a crude diagram of the set-up he'd created for communication.
Of course, NASA didn't have to wait to receive the first image to start getting more, and the camera started panning around to take in its surroundings. About five minutes later, the camera came to rest on Mark's reply post, where he had a new message waiting.
Will need resupply by Sol 900.
With that, he waited, hoping that the camera was actually working, because otherwise he was screwed. Twenty-four minutes went by. Pathfinder panned a little to the left, a little to the right. It did that a few times before coming back to neutral. Mark took that to mean 'stand by'. Unless it meant, 'we're not reading you'... They were probably working out the details of his hexadecimal system though. Mark took it as permission to post his third prepared sign.
Crew had reason to think me dead. Not their fault.
Twenty-four minutes later, the camera wagged back and forth again. Mark put up his next sign.
I am in reasonably good condition. HAB is in good condition. I am planning possible journey to Area IV site.
Twenty-two minutes later, the camera did not wag, it started pointing to numbers around the circle.
Mark didn't have anything that would write in the near vacuum of Mars, so he drew the digit pairs into the dirt until the camera moved back to the neutral position. Mark took a picture of his scribbles and headed back into the HAB.
In spite of being ready for this, Mark didn't know the hexadecimal alphabet by heart, so it took him a few minutes to translate.
X-P-E-C-T-C-M-P-A-N-Y
"Expect company?"
Mark pulled out a new piece of paper and wrote, 'Expect company?!'
He was pulling on his helmet to go back outside with his message, when he heard it, a voice.
"Hello, is anyone there? I've got a pizza delivery for: I.C. Weiner." He felt a chill go down his spine.
"What?"
"I know, it's a terrible joke," said the youthful voice. "But I mean, it's really cold down there." Terrible or not, the boy was laughing uproariously.
"What the actual fuck?" asked Mark. Was this it? Had he finally gone mad?
"I know, I just blew your mind, huh?"
"Is this...is this a prank?"
"No, this is actually a pizza delivery. And haven't you noticed by now that we're speaking in real time?"
"Holy shit. We're speaking in real time. How in the hell? Wait, say 5, 4... 9, 6, 8... banana."
"5, 4, 9, 6, 8, banana. Real time!"
"You're the company I'm supposed to be expecting?"
"What?! They told you? Oh man, I wanted it to be a surprise."
"Well color me fucking surprised, I have no idea what's going on."
"Rescue mission, dude. And a pizza delivery. Anyway, I need to sign off, I'm about to make my final approach. But, dude!"
"What?" asked Mark.
"You're flipping alive!"
"Seriously, what the hell is going on?"
Radio silence.
Mark went outside and posted a new message.
'Expect company?!'
What the hell is going on?!
Thirty-four minutes of nothing later, twenty-two minutes after the top of the hour, the camera started moving again. Mark dutifully took down the message, and went inside to translate it.
R-S-C-U-M-S-S-N-T-R-N-O-N-T-R-N-S-P-N-D-R-H-I-R-O-H-A-S-M-S-S-G-E-F-R-M-V-K
It took him a moment to parse out: Rescue mission. Mark needed to turn on the HAB's locator transponder. Hiro has a message from Venkat Kapoor. Hiro, presumably being the ten year old boy who had been on the radio. He didn't need to do anything about the transponder, which was kept on for his rover expeditions.
Mark keyed up his voice log, because he needed to talk to someone, and the rest of the universe had apparently turned upside down since he had been left on Mars.
"Okay, so as far as I see it, there are three possibilities: First, that I was wrong, and NASA has had a rescue mission in the works since day one, somehow, and the astronaut only just sounds young as hell, and is twice as juvenile as Martinez, who was previously the most juvenile astronaut I've ever met. Second, I've gone completely mad, and have been hallucinating this entire thing. Third, some punk kid on Earth intercepted the Pathfinder signal, and decided to invent FTL communications just to mess with me. Oh, or fourth, aliens.
"So, one and three should be impossible. NASA doesn't have anything that could have reached me already, and I'm still reasonably sure they didn't know I was alive until I turned on Pathfinder.
"Now don't get me wrong, I fully believe that a ten year old could and would punk me by intercepting the Pathfinder signal. But FTL communication makes some bullshit paradox, or so I've been told, so it's probably impossible. Madness and aliens are both possible. But I don't know, I don't think aliens would come all this way to punk me. So, it's looking a little bleak for my sanity." He sighed. "Maybe I just wanted a conversation too much."
He sighed. He needed a response for pathfinder.
How is any of this possible?
He put his helmet back on and went outside to post it. Alright, so JPL didn't need to wait through the lag time, and could constantly take pictures, and he assumed they were, but the digital camera didn't exactly come equipped with a shutter sound so he wouldn't know how often they actually were taking pictures, or when they would actually receive his most recent message. Either way, he had at least nineteen minutes to wait before they would expect him to be ready for a message from JPL. He went back into the HAB so he could massage his temples. That seemed to be a thing to do when one was doubting his sanity. He paced about in the farm-dirt while he was at it.
There was still a part of him trying to wrap his mind around the idea of rescue, but it still seemed entirely impossible. Rescue, if it came, was well over three years from now, not today. Maybe he could expect a resupply probe soon, if NASA had been aware of the problem from the beginning, but not rescue.
That was when something big and round pressed into the side of the HAB canvas. Mark would deny later that he had screamed like a little girl.
"Hey Mr. Watney, I've got that pizza you ordered," said the voice.
"I did not order a pizza!"
Aliens. It was aliens.
"Well, you got me there. Can I come in anyway? I'm going over to the airlock."
Mark decided now would be a good time to put on his his helmet. Who knew what would be trying to come in.
"Why do you want to come in?" asked Mark.
"Because…um, well I actually do have a pizza, and we can't exactly eat it out here."
"Huh," said Mark. There wasn't anything he could do to keep the kid(alien?) out, other than by opening all three interior doors before the kid could get into one of them. Only one door could be open at a time, but otherwise the airlocks didn't lock, and could be accessed from either side with impunity.
"Cool," said the kid. Alien. Thing.
"Hold up," said Mark when he saw from across the room that the outer door of airlock two had opened.
"What is it?" asked the kid.
"What's your name?"
"Oh, right, forgot my manners. I'm Hiro Hamada. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Watney."
"Likewise," said Mark as, well, he couldn't see anyone in the airlock from where he was (he wasn't really a ten year old, was he?), but he could see the exterior door close, and heard it start cycling in air. Ten seconds later, it was done.
"I'm so embarrassed," said the short kid as he walked in. "My airlock's so much slower. Hey," he said, holding out his hand in greeting. In his other hand, he held a flat square box. "Bet you thought I was lying about the pizza."
Mark shook his hand in a daze.
"Well, I was actually lying. This is a flat bread, my aunt's famous for it. Some sort of fancy cheese, and fancy ham, and caramelized onions. It's frozen of course, but you've got a microwave, and I've got one of those Digiorno microwave crisper things, so we should be good…Oh hey, what are you growing?"
"Potatoes," Mark found himself saying.
"Dude sweet," said Hiro the total hallucination.
"How old- What the fuck is that?!"
"Woah, chill, it's Baymax."
Baymax had just entered the airlock, and it was more than tall enough to be seen through the small high window on the airlock door. It was holding a big box.
"I am Baymax," said a gentle voice in Mark's radio. "Your personal healthcare companion."
"He's a teddybear," said Hiro. "Hey, it's safe to take our helmets off, right? Why are we wearing helmets?"
"Uh, yeah, you can take your helmet off," said Mark.
The kid frowned at him, as though expecting some sort of trap. He checked a readout on his arm. It seemed to check out, because he undid the latches on his helmet as the airlock door opened to let in the Baymax.
"You can put that down on the table there, Baymax," said the kid, giving his helmet a twist. "Mind the plants."
Mark could see the instant the smell hit the kid, as he gagged, and his eyes bulged. He rammed his helmet back on.
"What the hell?" he demanded. "Oh, god, it's in the suit! It's in the suit!"
"That's the fertilizer," said Mark. "You get used to it."
"There is no getting used to that," said Hiro, who started hacking, as though something had flown into the back of his throat.
"You appear to be in distress," said Baymax.
"Yeah, I'm in distress, it smells like a sewer in here. We are not staying. Come on, I've got a microwave on the ship."
"We cannot leave yet, Hiro," said Baymax. "Hugh told us to remain in the HAB for two weeks before returning to the ship, in order to-"
"Hugh can go suck on a lemon," said Hiro, hugging the flatbread close to his body as though someone might take it from him and open it in the foul HAB air. "Alright, alright. How long do you think I can go without taking off my helmet?"
"I do not detect any harmful toxins or pathogens in the air," said Baymax.
"Hey, you have a message for me, right?" asked Mark.
"Oh yeah," said Hiro. "Baymax, play the message."
The robot's white plastic chest lit up with a video, and the familiar face of Venkat Kapoor appeared.
"Mark, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how amazed we all are back here on Earth. We don't know how you've managed to retrieve and activate the Pathfinder probe, but know that we were all very surprised to receive a phantom signal from what we thought to be a lifeless planet. Know that we have worked tirelessly to find ways to help you since we learned of your survival. Fortunately for you, Hiro here beat us to the punch by about ten months. Believing you to be alive, he tricked us into helping him build a concept ship for SFIT, failing to mention that he had already invented the engines and power source that would make it work. He launched without any authorization, and has refused to come home without you. And while we are loathe to pin a rescue mission on the shoulders of a fifteen year old amateur astronaut, well, he's likely your only hope of survival.
"Now, you may well be chomping at the bit to get yourself off of the planet, but do remember, Hiro has flown to you in an untested student-built ship, which is run by an experimental power source, and propelled by an experimental engine. We do not know what effects any of this may have had on his body, and so we would like you to wait for two weeks of assessment before approaching the vehicle for preflight checks and eventual launch.
"Hiro has a program that's going to update the HAB software so that you can communicate with his ship, and through it to Earth. If all goes well, then I will expect to hear from you promptly."
Mark finally took off his helmet. He caught the faint odor of the soil, but it was nothing to cry about. Of course, he'd had ample time to get used to it. He went and got a new pair of ear plugs.
"Stick 'em in your nose," he told the kid, holding them out.
"Eh," said Hiro, "I guess." He took in a deep gulping breath and pulled off his helmet again, sticking it under one arm, before ramming the ear plugs into his nostrils.
"That's only a little better," he said nasally.
"You get used to it," said Mark. He poked the kid in the shoulder.
"I'm real," said Hiro.
"You may poke me as well if you wish to ascertain my existence," said Baymax.
"Er, I think I'll pass," said Mark.
"We're really here," said Hiro, "and we're really here to take you home."
"Okay," said Mark finally. He grabbed the kid into a hug.
"Woah, alright," said Hiro. "Nice to meet you too."
Mark stepped back from the uncomfortable kid. "You are literally the first person I've talked to other than myself for the last ten months," he said. "I…I wasn't really ready…are you sure this is real?"
The robot suddenly hugged him from behind. "There, there," he said. "It will be all right."
"Robots hug now?" asked Mark.
"Baymax does," said Hiro. "Baymax, meet your new patient."
The robot took a step back, and Mark took a moment to take in the friendly looking robot.
"I will scan you now. Scan complete."
"What?"
"You appear to be: malnourished. I will help you in preparing healthful meals to meet your nutrition needs. Hiro, perhaps now would be a good time to start preparing the flatbread."
"Fine," the kid muttered, "we'll eat this deliciousness in the fart-house."
"I have also detected that you sustained a puncture wound to your abdomen, but this appears to have healed well, with no need for further intervention. I also detect high levels of adrenaline and cortisol, indicating that you are experiencing: stress. Treatments include: removing stressors from your life, hugs, long baths, and other relaxing activities. Would you like to learn how to meditate?"
"Um, no, I'm…I'm good."
Mark decided it was time to get out of his suit. If they were going to communicate through the HAB equipment, then there was no need for him to keep it on. The kid watched the flatbread while Mark disassembled his suit.
"So…you're fifteen," said Mark.
"Yep," said the kid. "Got into SFIT when I was fourteen. And then you died in the middle of my freshman year. But you weren't dead, only no one else believed me when I told them. NASA kept sending me fill-in-the-blank letters when I tried to reach them."
"So you built a space ship…"
"Yep," said the kid. He grinned. "It's really a crazy story."
!
Two weeks after Mark Watney's memorial service, Hiro went to his advisor's office with a proposal.
"Do you have time, Professor Wilder?" asked Hiro.
"Sure thing," said the Professor. "Have a seat. How are you doing? How're classes?"
"Classes are going great," said Hiro. "And I'm doing okay. I wanted to talk to you about my next project."
"Hiro, you just finished your freshman year project four months early. Don't you think you're jumping the gun a little?"
"Well, I think it's going to take more than one school year, so I want to start as soon as I can."
Hiro took out his document tube and drew from it the blue-prints he had been working on. He laid them out flat on the desk, and he and the professor laid down various paperweights to keep them from rolling up again. Professor Wilder studied them.
"These look incredible," he said.
"Thank you," said Hiro.
"It's a space ship though," said Professor Wilder.
"Yeah," said Hiro.
"We're a robotics program," said Professor Wilder.
"Yeah," said Hiro.
"Hiro, is this you breaking up with me?"
"Yeah," said Hiro.
"For the record, young man, this is not how you break up with someone."
"Sorry," said Hiro awkwardly.
Professor Wilder waved away his apology. "You're fourteen years old in your freshman year of college. I've had thirty year old's come in and change majors in the middle of their junior. Better now than later. Plus, I'm thinking you'll come back once you get aerospace out of your system."
"Er," said Hiro.
"So tell me about it," said Professor Wilder.
"Well," said Hiro. "I got to thinking, after everything that happened. You know. I mean, I know it wouldn't have done any good in this case. But imagine something goes wrong on Mars, and they need a rescue. But rescue's years away. Because space travel is slow and expensive. But what if it wasn't?"
Professor Wilder chuckled. "I suppose you've got the answer."
"Reactionless engines remove fuel from the equation. Quartzite reactors provide a compact and robust power source. Together, they mean you could travel through the solar system and beyond with constant thrust. And I'm not talking little baby ion engine thrust here, I'm talking a cruising acceleration of 1.2 g's. You could get to Mars in a few days."
"And you're proposing to make a ship with these technologies," said Professor Wilder.
"Well, no," lied Hiro. "They're still hypothetical tech. But only a handful of people are working on them. I want to make the ship of tomorrow that's going to use the tech, so people have something to look at, you know? The ship we'll zoom around the solar system in, if they just figure out reactionless engines and quartzite reactors."
"That's a nice pitch," said Professor Wilder. "Sounds way too expensive and overly technical, even if you're planning to stretch this out through your senior year. But let's go talk to Professor Webber."
Professor Webber was the director of the SFIT College of Aerospace and Astrophysics. She was the one who had held the memorial for Mark Watney.
"Miles," she greeted Professor Wilder. "What brings you to my side of the campus?"
"I've got a student who's interested in your program. He's got a project he'd like to pitch. This is Hiro Hamada."
"Yes, we've met," said Professor Webber. "I didn't think I'd be tearing you away from the robotics program though."
"Well I still love robotics," said Hiro. "And maybe I could still minor in it. But I've been thinking a lot about the space program lately, and I'd really like to contribute my part to it, you know."
Hiro went through his spiel again, and Professor Webber smiled and nodded along.
"Tell me about these designs," she finally said when he was done.
"It's designed for short missions," said Hiro, "so it's got a compact build. Not a lot of room to move around in. It seats eight, but it's designed to be run by a crew of two."
"So it can be used as a rescue craft," supplied Professor Webber.
"Right," said Hiro. "Now, it's designed for constant acceleration, so I've designed it with the expectation of artificial gravity in mind, with allowances for zero g at need."
"And what do you have here?"
"That's a berth for a medical bot," said Hiro, pulling out the separate design. "It's based on my brother's Baymax unit, but revamped for the realities of space travel. It would be capable of constantly monitoring the health of all crew, and addressing any concerns. I'm also envisioning using his hyperspectral camera to aid in ship diagnostics."
"Radiation protection?"
"I'm doubling up with a standard magnetic field generator," he pulled out the appropriate schematic, "and an interior layer of the same material the Ares HAB is made from."
"The generator's pretty small for the job it needs to do," commented Professor Webber.
"I can make it work, and I need the space."
The questions went on for a couple hours, with Professor Wilder excusing himself to return to his office hours. The best part of it was, Hiro had answers to every question. But eventually, the Q&A was over.
"Alright, well, with a good bit of polish and detail, these schematics would be a project in and of themselves. From a lesser student, I might even accept them as a senior year project, though clearly not from you. I'd accept them as a sophomore year project from you, with a lot more work. But you want to actually build this thing. The university has a lot of cash on hand for big projects like this, but not nearly enough. Not without denying every other student their stipends. The only way I could approve a project like this would be if you get a huge grant. And since you're going to need assistance from NASA anyway, that means you need an Oberfeld Grant. And, maybe Boeing or Krey Tech grants to cover all the little expenses not covered by the school or the Oberfeld.
"Basically, I'll accept you into my program either way; I'd love to have you. You'd probably have Professor Snyder as an advisor, and she could move you forward on your program. But if you want approval to build this Goliath of a project, then you need the money first. You're going to need letters of recommendation. I can write all about how excited I am about your work, but I can't comment on whether or not you would be dedicated to a project like this long term. Ask Professor Wilder to write you one. Are you on good terms with Professor Hernandez?"
"I think," said Hiro.
"Then ask her too. Get to work on your CV, if you haven't already. Include your work on the micro-bots and your rebuild of Baymax. And flesh out these schematics while you're at it. If you do all that, then you might just have a shot at the Oberfeld."
"Thanks Professor!"
"And check the deadline for the Oberfeld," said Professor Webber, "I think it's coming up soon."
"Will do," said Hiro, nearly jumping for joy.
"And Hiro. You're getting me excited for this project of yours. Don't let me down."
"I won't," said Hiro. "I promise, one way or another, I'm going to see this through."
!
"So, basically," said Mark, around the most delicious thing he had ever tasted, "you hustled SFIT and NASA at the same time."
"What can I say?" asked Hiro, pretending to buff his nails agains the flight shirt he'd worn under his suit. "Ex-bot fighter here, best hustler in town." Hiro wasn't eating anything. He had lost his appetite.
"How exactly did you get them to let you have an Oberfeld?" asked Mark.
"Well I got detained by the police once for betting on one of my fights, but they never charged me," said Hiro.
"Wow," said Mark. "So how long did it take you to pull two experimental technologies out of your butt?"
"Oh, I'd already invented them," said Hiro. "Just never told anyone."
"You just decided to sit on the biggest technological advances of the twenty-first century because..."
"Well, I invented my electric-propulsion engines years ago without realizing that they were the fabled reactionless engines that scientists and engineers were scratching their heads over. When my friends whacked me over the head with it, I decided to wait to use them in a school project. And when we developed the Quartzite battery for Baymax here, we agreed to wait to present it at the next SFIT expo."
"This guy runs on a quartzite battery?" asked Mark, nearly spraying Hiro with flatbread. "Isn't that overkill?"
"Eh, nothing's too good for Baymax," said Hiro. "He's not running on it now. NASA made me switch out for the superconductors that I'd originally built for him." It almost made him regret having forwarded all of his schematics to them.
"And…tell me again how long it took you to get here?"
"Three days," said Hiro.
"Three days," deadpanned Mark.
"One and a half days of constant 1.2 g's of acceleration, one and a half days of constant 1.2 g's of deceleration."
Mark felt like his brain was broken. "So um, not that I'm not grateful," he said eventually, shoving the last bit of flatbread into his mouth, "but why exactly did you do all this?"
"Because no one else would," said Hiro with a shrug. "No one else could. I mean, if NASA had gotten its head out of its ass sooner, I would have leveled with them, tried to work with them to at least send you a resupply. But they didn't. I mean, I know this is mad. I know there's a good chance I'll be in a lot of trouble when I get back. Just, someone had to help. And it had to be me. I didn't know you had time."
"I mean, you didn't have to do anything," said Mark.
"It felt like I did," said Hiro.
"Well, so, anyway, what's in the box?" asked Mark.
"Oh, we've got a month's worth of freeze dried food for two, year's worth of food tablets, some tools and spare parts, changes of clothes."
"Food tablets?" asked Mark.
"It's the most compact form of nutrition I could find. Not exactly filling, I know, but it'll keep a guy alive. I figured if there was a critical failure in my ship during landing, or if you decided not to accompany me home in my homemade space ship, it would tide you over until NASA could send another resupply or rescue."
"Good thought," said Mark. "But assuming there's nothing wrong with this ship of yours, I'm all for plotting a direct course home."
"Oh...that...well, the thing is, we can't," said Hiro.
"...What?" asked Mark.
"Yeah, well, North Korea tried to knock me out of the sky on takeoff. They didn't succeed, obviously, but they did knock out three of my engines. Wasn't hard landing here, and it won't be too much strain taking off, but I do not have the thrust needed to make a safe landing on Earth."
...
"Your spaceship doesn't have a back-up chute?"
"No it does not," said Hiro.
"So what's the plan?" asked Mark.
"I was thinking we could dock with the ISS, but no one wants my ship to try it's first docking so close to Earth's gravity well. So NASA's directed us to dock with the Hermes. It's still a ways from Earth, but hey, I've always wanted a tour."
"Well, a week ago, it was the most technologically impressive thing ever built."
"Sure, sure," said Hiro. "Of course, this is all assuming that I don't keel over from space death from my homemade spaceship."
"Assuming," agreed Mark.
"So," said Hiro. "You ready to get real communication back with Earth?"
"Kid, I nearly broke my back bringing Pathfinding here trying to get in touch with Earth," said Mark.
"I'll take that as a yes," said Hiro. He pulled a data stick from his pocket and tossed it to Mark. "It's plug and play. Plus there's a bunch of files they already sent me. They're password protected, so I'm assuming you know how to open them."
"Should be," said Mark. He walked across the HAB to the main computer, and plugged the data stick into it. The file loaded automatically and went to work reconfiguring the system to talk to Hiro's ship. It finished in about half a minute.
"Let's see," said Mark, having opened a chat box with Mission Control.
[11:18] WATNEY: This is Mark Watney. Calling home.
"That's it?" asked Hiro.
"Inspiration escapes me," said Mark.
"Here, let me."
[11:18] WATNEY: This is Hiro Hamada. Safe and sound in the HAB. Love you Aunt Cass.
No matter the tech, Earth was still eleven light-minutes away. It was going to take at least eleven minutes to send their messages, and another eleven for the reply.
"So," said Mark, "I suppose you built Baymax here, too."
"I built this current body, optimized for space travel, and packing some serious upgrades. But no, Baymax was my brother's creation."
"Oh yeah? Well you should send him a message too. Let him know how his robot's still looking after you."
"Oh, no. I um, I don't really believe in… prayer."
"Oh," said Mark. "Oh, kid, I'm sorry."
"You know, it is what it is," said Hiro. "I'm just trying to honor him, you know? He always wanted to help people with his life."
"Well, you're kind of taking that to something of an extreme," said Mark.
"Well, it hasn't killed me yet," said Hiro.
"…What happened?"
"He ran into a burning building to save someone who didn't need saving," said Hiro.
"You're still angry with him?"
"No," said Hiro quickly. "Well, yeah, sometimes. It was only fair, I guess. Our parents left him to practically raise me with our Aunt Cass. Now he's left me to try and carry on his legacy."
"Kid."
"Yeah?"
"Anyone ever tell you you're an overachiever," asked Mark.
"Well constantly for the last year and a half. First I had to rebuild Baymax, then I had to come and get you. I've been working my ass off. Oh! And these…you know, people who don't know me properly, they're all like, oh, he was a slacker until his brother died. They all think they're psychoanalyzing me. Like, they missed the part where I worked night and day to get into SFIT before all that. Or the part where my brother, you know, inspired me, before he died by like, working hard and doing incredible things."
"Sounds like it really bugs you," said Mark.
"Well it's like they're saying that the best thing my brother ever did was die and inspire me. But it was the opposite."
"That does sound messed up," said Mark.
"Yeah," said Hiro.
Awkward silence.
"So was your poo farm going to feed you indefinitely?"
"You need to get over the poo," said Mark. "And no. For one thing, potatoes aren't quite a complete nutrition. Now if I had a never ending source of butter... Well, I've been supplementing with the original meal packs, which are overloaded with the missing nutrients. But that's not the limiting factor in this case. See, with the space I have available, I can only grow about 1100 calories a day. Which you may notice is a fair bit less than what I need to survive."
"Still though," said Hiro, "I was expecting to find you half starved when I got here. That was another reason why I brought a bunch of food, in case we had to wait for you to get your strength back before takeoff."
"Is this your way of saying you're starting to appreciate my poo farm?"
"Ew, no," said Hiro.
"Mark," said Baymax suddenly, "I believe now would be a good time to continue your meal. Could I interest you in: beef stroganoff, or veggie lasagna?"
"Stroganoff, if you know what you're doing," said Mark.
"Do not fear," said Baymax. "I am proficient in the cooking of dehydrated meals."
"He really is very versatile," said Hiro.
"Apparently," said Mark, watching the robot tear open the pouch of food and pour it into a bowl before adding water, stirring, and setting it to cook in the microwave.
They still had over fifteen minutes to wait for a response. They didn't talk of anything of great importance while Mark ate, and Hiro was cajoled into joining in the meal with the lasagna.
Finally the reply came.
[11:42] NASA: This is Venkat Kapoor. I don't think NASA and JPL have been this anxious and excited since the moon landing. The world is watching with bated breath for your every update. Our every resource is dedicated to bringing you home. Please send a video message."
"How's your bandwidth?" asked Mark.
"Not much better than what you had before," groused Hiro.
"Oh, poor Hiro! Only able to make a slightly better radio than NASA could."
"Shut up. And I could have made a better one if I'd had more time... So why are they wasting the time for a video message first thing?"
"Oh, they don't trust you," said Mark as he typed. "They want to make sure they're actually in contact with me."
[11:42] WATNEY: This is Mark. Our video message will come soon. Hi mom! Also, sorry Ms. Cass, for stealing your nephew.
"Why do you think they don't trust me?" asked Hiro.
"Well A, you're the best hustler in town, and they know it now, so of course they won't trust you. Not that they necessarily doubt your intentions, but definitely whether you'll follow directions to stay in here two weeks. And B, they only just got Pathfinder to work before you got here, which means they worked their butts off to get their message, for me to expect a message from you from Venkat, in under the wire. Because they wanted me to know right away that I wasn't supposed to just leave with you."
"Lame," said Hiro.
"Come on, smile for the camera."
!
"So one of the big questions on everyone's mind right now is what's been going on in your head? Because I think we can all agree that you're in a pretty unique situation."
"Well, it's not just any one thing," said Cass. "I'm terrified, of course."
"Well what parent wouldn't be?" asked Ellen.
Cass had been surprised when Fred had shown up at the Cafe with a lawyer in a three piece suit. Hiro had broken the law, whatever his motivation, so, they had explained, it would better for him to have legal representation sooner rather than later. One of his mandates to her had been to start managing public perception of Hiro, and that was how she found herself on the Ellen DeGeneres show.
"I learned that about parenting pretty quickly when they first came to live with me. Hiro was always far too clever to keep up with, and clever boys get into all sorts of mischief. I've been stress eating like crazy lately. But I have to admit, I've been feeling a lot of pride and amazement. Amazement with what he's accomplished, but pride that he's using it to put everything on the line to help someone he's never met."
"What do you think's motivating him?" asked Ellen.
"Well, I think part of it's a family legacy," said Cass. "His parents were medical researchers. His brother Tadashi built a medical helper robot to make health care more accessible to people. I think Hiro has really internalized this sense that he's supposed to use his gifts to make the world a better place."
She had been encouraged to talk about how Tadashi had died. She couldn't bring herself to yet. She didn't know if she could in the future.
"Hiro must have really idolized his big brother," said Ellen.
"Oh, he still does," said Cass.
"Now I was with you back stage when they released the audio from Hiro's Martian landing. But can we listen to that again?"
"Oh, any reminder that he's doing well is a good thing."
"Let's play the clip," Ellen told the production crew.
"Hiro Hamada to Mission Control. I have slowed my descent to ten kilometers per hour. I am two-hundred meters above my landing site. Preparing for soft landing."
"Five kilometers per hour."
"Setting down now. Mission control, I have landed. Powering down the engines. Powering down flight systems."
"Flight systems are powered down. All systems remain in optimal conditions. I am reading no structural instability in the ship. Please provide reassessment of exterior conditions."
The lag time here was cut out.
"Mission control to Hiro Hamada, we are showing clear conditions on the Martian surface. We are receiving your suit feeds clearly. The HAB is 729 meters from your position. You are cleared for EVA."
"I am entering the airlock now."
"Opening the airlock door… Descending the steps now…I am standing on the surface of Mars." Here, he paused to chuckle. "I'd like to mark this momentous occasion by thanking all of the SFIT professors whose dedication to their students helped to make this possible. NASA, for their incredible support both before and after launch. My friends, for providing technical and moral support. Alastair Krey, who saw something incredible, and decided to help make it happen. The countless students who came to lend manpower to my project, who worked as though you were building a true space ship. Without all of you, I don't think I would be here today. And Aunt Cass, I know that right now you're probably wishing I was the kind of fifteen year old who spends his days playing video games, but thank you for giving me the home and family that I was able to thrive in. You always raised me like your son, and I hope I've made you proud."
"Alright, Baymax has joined me. I've powered down everything but the communication system. We are prepared to walk to the HAB after an external check of structural stability."
"Wow," said Ellen. "Even hearing that again, it's incredible."
"It is," said Cass, wiping a tear from her face. "I think I'm just relieved at the moment that he's going to be on solid ground for the next two weeks."
"Every step of the way, it must be nerve wracking. Especially the reason why they want him to wait those two weeks."
"Oh, that I'm not worried about," said Cass.
"You're not?"
"I'm not. The thing is, when Hiro was little, and he was first inventing things, it was hit or miss, whether it worked or not. It was incredible either way, but, you know, incredibly bad in some cases. But as he's become older, I've learned to have a lot of faith in the things that he builds. Hiro built that ship to save a life. Those engines, that reactor, they're not going to hurt him. He built that ship to withstand cosmic rays; it'll withstand them. No, what keeps me up at night is the thought of meteor strikes, or you know, some solar flare. Something random and destructive from space, that he can't foresee or protect against."
"Well, talking about signs that he's doing okay, I'm hearing now that they have sent messages from the HAB, and it's good news. Let's take a look."
It showed up on the screen behind them looking like a cell phone text message.
This is Mark Watney. Calling home.
The audience cheered. Cass clapped her hands together as though sending thanks to a celestial being.
"Oh," said Ellen, "and here's one more."
This is Hiro Hamada. Safe and sound in the HAB. Love you Aunt Cass.
Another text bubble, a different color, like a multi-chat.
"And here's the response NASA's sending back."
The ellipsis of a text-in-progress showed up on the screen for a moment before being replaced by NASA's message.
This is Venkat Kapoor. I don't think NASA and JPL have been this anxious and excited since the moon landing. The world is watching with bated breath for your every update. Our every resource is dedicated to bringing you home. Please send a video message.
There was more applause from the audience.
"That's swell," said Ellen. "That's really swell."
"Oh, I'm so happy right now," said Cass.
"Now I'm getting the impression he's a bit of an Auntie's boy."
"He's a good nephew," said Cass. "Mind, he's responsible for more than his fair share of grey hairs."
"Well I don't see them," said Ellen. "I don't believe it. This kid must be an angel."
Cass laughed.
"Well, hey, we were talking about things he's built, I understand you've brought a video with you today," prompted Ellen.
"That's right. From his presentation of his freshman year project," said Cass.
"Now this got some buzz at the time, too, didn't it?" said Ellen.
"It did," said Cass, "well, I'll let everyone see for themselves."
"Let's take a look," said Ellen.
The video was set in a small lecture hall. There was a panel of three professors sitting in the front, with an assortment of students behind them.
"Hello, I'm Hiro Hamada, and this is my presentation of my freshman project, Baymax 2.0. Baymax was an invention of my brother Tadashi's. He's a health care companion robot, capable of diagnosis via hyper-spectral camera, manual assistance with numerous health care and day-to-day needs, first aid, CPR, and defibrillation. Let's take a look."
"Ow," he said. From the red case on the floor next to the lectern, Baymax quickly inflated and took in his surroundings.
"Hello, I am Baymax, your personal health care companion. I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said, 'Ow.' On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" An illustration of the pain scale lit up on his chest.
"I'd say a one, right now, Baymax."
"I will scan you now. Scan complete. I am detecting signs of neck strain. Common possible causes include improper computer use and poor sleep positions, such as when you sleep in your computer chair. Recommended treatment at this time is a warm compress to the back of your neck. I can prepare one for you, or I can use my hand to act as one." He held up his puffy white hand, which started to glow red.
"Thank you, Baymax, but that won't be necessary. I've brought you out to demonstrate your capabilities for these people."
Baymax turned to the audience. "Hello," he said with another circular wave.
"In creating this new version, I focused primarily on adding speed and utility," said Hiro. "In a health care emergency, prompt assistance can mean the difference between life and death. Though he retains the same default settings for movement in day-to-day activity, he is capable of becoming much more nimble and quick in emergencies."
Hiro turned to Baymax. "Buddy, could you get me my backpack from over there."
"Certainly, Hiro," said Baymax, shuffling off of the stage, and then up the steps of the lecture hall to where Hiro had left his bag at the top row. Once he had it in his hand, Hiro interrupted him.
"Alright, Baymax, I need you to pretend that that bag is a bandage, and that I have a hemorrhaging patient here at my feet."
Baymax suddenly deflated to about 50% of his capacity to reduce air-resistance as he launched into action, swiftly leaping down the aisle steps and back up to the lectern before placing the backpack at Hiro's feet.
"Alright, Baymax," said Hiro, laying down on the ground. "Now suppose I have just received a neck injury, but dangerous conditions mean that you cannot wait for a bodyboard. You need to get me out ASAP while keeping me from being injured worse. Show them how you'd get me out of the room."
Baymax paused to scan Hiro before carefully positioning him for transport, cradling his neck deftly, before scooping him up and running from the room, bobbing about in such a way as to reduce any shock from his movement from transferring into Hiro. In a flash, he was out of the room.
Moments later, the two walked back in to some applause.
"Now, Baymax has always been capable of basic first aid care, but I have included in some upgrade attachments for immediate treatment of life-threatening injuries and conditions. Baymax is now capable of providing pharmaceutical assistance in the event of stroke or seizure. He is also capable now of suturing wounds, even hemorrhaging arteries. I have here a medical simulation of a severed femoral artery. Baymax, please render assistance," Hiro said as he activated the simulation.
The lifelike device began squirting blue liquid through the simulated injury at the splatter shield. Baymax went to work, faster than the eyes could really see, his fingers opened up to reveal various fine tools. A small clamp darted into the wound and stopped the bleeding while a shear cut through the jeans worn by the simulation, exposing the injury. More even finer appendages swarmed out and sutured the artery, and then the wound, before a small syringe stamped down quickly, delivering a local anesthetic.
Hiro stopped the timer he had started as Baymax began wrapping the wound with bandages.
"Five seconds," he said for emphasis. "That's a life and a leg saved."
Now there was big applause from the excited audience.
"Guys, I am just getting started," said a grinning Hiro.
The video stopped.
"Wow!" said Ellen.
"I say it a lot," said Cass, "but I am so proud of those boys."
"That's incredible," said Ellen.
"And the goal is for there to be a Baymax in the home of every person in this country and beyond who needs in-home care."
"Every one," said Ellen.
"Within five years," said Cass.
"That would be a life saver," said Ellen. "Literally. And a robot would be a lot more cost effective than a lot of the services available now."
"The goal for Baymax, of both Tadashi and Hiro, has been for greater accessibility to life-saving and palliative care, and to allow people to maintain their independence in their own homes."
"And he seems so friendly too," said Ellen.
"He really is. Would you like to meet him?"
"Would I! Isn't he on Mars though?"
"Well," said Cass. "The…robotic consciousness…that Tadashi built, and that Hiro has been working with, and that you met in Hiro's presentation, is on Mars. But Hiro made a space faring body for him, and left version 2.0 behind. He also left a copy of the base Baymax programming for future development and production."
"Well let's bring him out," said Ellen.
From the side of the stage, Baymax walked out, waving to Ellen.
"Hello, I am Baymax, how can I be of assistance?"
"Well would ya look at you," said Ellen. She turned to her audience. "Isn't he something?"
"Hello," said Baymax, waving to the audience.
"Now Baymax, I understand that you actually give very good hugs," said Ellen.
"That is correct. I was built with a warm huggable exterior," said Baymax.
"Could I have a hug," asked Ellen, holding her arms open.
"You may," said Baymax, stooping down to hug Ellen.
"Wow, you really are warm and huggable," said Ellen, squeezing him tight. "Hey, does anyone else want to give a hug to Baymax?"
More than a few people from the audience got to hug Baymax, but then the big moment came when the video message from Mars arrived.
"Hello Earth," said Mark, and there were loud cheers from the audience. He had an arm around Hiro's shoulders. "Hello JPL and NASA. Hey mom. Hey Dad. It's really good to be able to do this again. I'm a little overwhelmed, so um, I'm going to let this guy take over."
"Hey Earth. Love you Aunt Cass. Doctor Kapoor, Mark is farming potatoes in his own poo, and that is only awesome from another planet away. Please let me come home now."
Mark started laughing. "That's the message you want to send home?"
"It stinks! Here, let's show them," said Hiro. He picked up the camera, and panned it around the HAB. "Every available square inch is covered in 'night soil'. That's brilliant. But it's also torture on my nose."
"I can barely smell it," said Mark.
Hiro gave a close-up of the ear-plugs in his nose. "I can still smell it."
"Oh, and Aunt Cass, your flatbread was delicious," said Mark.
The video stopped, and the audience kept laughing.
"He's a character," said Ellen.
"That's my Hiro," said Cass. "I wouldn't have him any other way."
"And I'm still wrapping my head around these potatoes," said Ellen. "These last few days, the word's consistently been that there's no conceivable way for Mark Watney to not be starving right now. It's basic math, we've been told. No one's said, hey, he could be farming potatoes over there."
"And I'm relieved," said Cass, "because aside from the fact that Mr. Watney's doing a lot better than we all feared, it just means that we've got these two great minds up there, working together."
"That's right, two remarkable people. And now, we're getting the live feed of NASA's response, though Mark and Hiro aren't going to be seeing it for a while."
The video came up, with a smiling Doctor Venkat Kapoor standing in Mission Control. The people around him were still laughing about the message that had just been received.
"I'm glad to see that you're both in high spirits. The next few weeks are going to be very busy for the both of you, but I know that you're up to the challenge. And Hiro, I'm sorry, but you're advised to get used to the smell. Observe proper hygiene practices, and stick to pre-prepared foods. Mark, I don't think you'll have any problem doing the same, you're probably sick and tired of potatoes by now."
"And there you have it, folks," said Ellen. "Earth is now in full contact with Mark Watney for the first time in ten months."
More applause.
"And now we have the very special opportunity to send a message to Mars ourselves. How does that sound?"
The audience loved the idea.
"I'd like that," said Cass.
Ellen addressed the camera. "This is Ellen DeGeneres calling Mars. Hiro, Mark, we're taking this opportunity to send you all of our love," the camera panned around to the screaming audience before coming to rest on Ellen and now Cass, "and to send a special message."
"Hiro," said Cass, "you are still so grounded. But I love you, and I'm so proud of you. And I know that you and Mr. Watney are going to work together and come home, and I can't wait. Mochi misses you too."
"The whole world is rooting for you," said Ellen. "And you're both welcome on the show when you get back. Though Hiro, that's pending the end of your grounding."
!
Mark reached out and touched the screen where Venkat had just been in NASA's reply message. He started sobbing suddenly.
Hiro's eyes bugged out in surprise. "Um," he said.
"I'm okay," said Mark, leaning hard on the desk, as though his legs would no longer support him otherwise.
"Are you though?" asked Hiro awkwardly.
Baymax was quick to go next to Mark and wrap an arm around him. "There there," said Baymax. "It will be all right."
"I just, I've been alone for so long," said Mark.
"Not anymore," said Hiro.
"I know," said Mark. "You came for me."
Hiro sighed and walked to Mark, wrapping an arm around him beneath Baymax's.
"It's like they said," said Hiro, "you've got the whole world on your side now."
"Yeah," said Mark.
They stayed there for a minute while Mark regained his composure.
"Alright," he finally said. "Let's get you unpacked."
"Sure," said Hiro. "And Baymax, now's a good time to run some scans on the HAB."
"How does he scan things, by the way?" asked Mark.
"Hyperspectral camera," said Hiro.
"How's that efficient?" asked Mark.
"Quantum computing," said Hiro.
"No kidding?" asked Mark. "I didn't think anyone was playing with Quantum outside of CERN, Google, and a few labs."
"My brother and I made our own prototype a few years back," said Hiro. "Tadashi really ran with it at-"
"Oh no," said Baymax.
"What is it, Baymax?" asked Hiro.
"Immediately return to your EVA suits, please. I have detected an instability in the HAB fabric."
"Come on!" said Hiro to Mark, as he rushed to his suit, glad that he'd been able to further innovate a more accessible suit design.
"How bad is it?" asked Hiro.
"I do not have the programming needed to fully assess the severity of the instability," said Baymax, who had rushed to help Hiro into his suit.
"Where is it?" asked Mark, who was no slouch about suiting up himself.
"It is adjacent to the seal strip of airlock one," said Baymax.
"I'm good," said Hiro, sealed in his suit. Baymax went to help Mark finish his own suit assembly as Hiro went to examine the airlock. Data flowed from Baymax to Hiro's HUD, highlighting the source of the instability. A camera in Hiro's helmet zoomed in on the area, and displayed on the screen on Hiro's arm. Hiro could only just make out where there was a gap in the carbon fiber mesh that was built into the HAB fabric. Hiro sent the data to NASA.
"Here it is," Hiro said to Mark, who had come to join him, pointing to the tiny spot of canvas and then the image on his display.
"Yeah," said Mark, "that's a ticking time bomb."
"I've sent the info to NASA," said Hiro.
"I'm reducing HAB atmosphere to 80%, said Mark. "As I do, I want you to reduce the airlock pressure to the same."
"Got it," said Hiro.
Mark started working the controls, as Hiro prepared for his part.
"Pressure down to 97%," said Mark.
"Matching that," said Hiro.
"94%," said Mark.
"Right," said Hiro.
In that way they brought the two compartments down to 80% of one atmosphere, significantly reducing the strain against the weakness in HAB fabric. Mark went to communicate their actions to NASA, while Hiro continued examining the area of instability. With NASA updated, Mark set about fiddling with the CO2 settings for his plants.
"What do you suppose NASA's going to want us to do?" asked Hiro.
"Probably to just cover both sides with more seal strip and coat the seams with extra resin," said Mark. "And then, to stop using Airlock 1."
"Make's sense," said Hiro. He turned to Baymax. "Hey, buddy, while we're waiting, could you give the rest of the HAB a thorough examination?"
"I have taken the liberty of doing so already," said Baymax. "I detect no further instability in the HAB fabric."
"Great," said Hiro. Then he had a sudden thought. "Oh, jeez, I hope they don't tell Aunt Cass about this."
"Well, it's public information," said Mark.
"Right," said Hiro. "She'll have a fit."
"Well, we'll have to let her know that you've now officially saved my life now," said Mark.
"Oh hey, yeah," said Hiro with a grin. "I thought I was going to get back to Earth, and everyone would have been like, 'Oh, he could have waited for a resupply probe with his potatoes.' In their face!"
"I'm glad my hypothetical doom makes you feel better," said Mark.
"It does, really," said Hiro. "Those potatoes really put a cramp in my style."
"I know, you won't stop complaining about them," said Mark.
"Hey, I already said that they're awesome," said Hiro.
"Well, I am the best botanist on the planet," said Mark.
Hiro snickered.
"Oh, you like that one?" asked Mark. "What if I told you that you were the tallest fifteen year old on the planet?"
"Now that sounds good," said Hiro.
"But you've messed me up now though," said Mark. "I was building a record for 'longest spent alone on a planet.'"
"Yeah, I don't think anyone's going to be beating ten months anytime soon," said Hiro. "You might just keep that record in perpetuity."
"Hope so," said Mark. "I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Oh, and I've been first to so many places."
"Heh, yep," said Hiro.
"First to recover a Martian probe, first to grow crops on another planet, first to drive long distance on Mars."
"You've been putting a lot of thought into this," said Hiro.
"I've had a lot of time to think," said Mark. "Meanwhile you're setting all your own firsts and records."
They chatted about Martian records until an alert from the computer terminal told them that they had received a reply from NASA.
12:41 [NASA]: Reduce HAB and AL pressures to 80%. Remain in your EVA suits. Hold for further directions.
They had clearly sent the message before Mark had told them they were going to do just that.
"Called it," said Mark.
"How long until they tell us to slap some seal strips on it?" asked Hiro.
"There's probably hours of committee meetings before they get back to us with more."
When Hiro asked Mark how he wanted to spend those hours, Mark replied with, "Listening to something that isn't disco music."
Hiro queued up the latest alt-rock to play over their suit radios.
"Who's this?" asked Mark.
"The Blind Birds," said Hiro. "They're new."
"New is awesome," said Mark, taking a seat on his bunk. "So hey, tell me about North Korea trying to shoot you down."
"Dude, it was sick!"
!
The word had come down three days in that they were not going to actually dock with the Hermes, and Hiro's ship would not be coming home. Instead, they would be doing an EVA over to the Hermes. Basically, though they had not found anything wrong with it, NASA was treating Hiro's ship as though any part of it could cause a critical failure in the Hermes. This included Baymax, and so Hiro would only be able to bring his green chip with him. The ship meanwhile, would be sent back to Mars to act as an orbiter.
What they would be able to bring with them was rock samples, and Hiro had been put to work with helping in the cataloguing and sorting of the samples. This was his third official work task assigned by NASA after the fix of the HAB fabric, and the subsequent full assessment of the HAB. At least those first two jobs had had some urgency behind them. Rocks were boring. There was a reason Hiro had never taken an interest in geology.
Every evening, Hiro took the time to go over the schematics and controls of his ship with Mark, who was to be his co-pilot on the journey to the Hermes. Fortunately, Mark was a quick study. Hiro also spent time preparing a program to take care of his ship after they had rendezvoused with the Hermes. He didn't have what he needed to make the ship an autopilot, but he could have it communicate with what was left of Baymax once the green chip was removed. The yellow chip already acted to enable Baymax to be Hiro's co-pilot. Hiro was upgrading it to let the robot fully man the ship with remote commands from NASA.
Hiro found that he did not really have the patience for life on Mars, though part of that was NASA not letting him do anything fun. He started every morning with a full physical exam, which should have been quick, but wasn't. Because after a scan from Baymax, NASA was having Mark confirm everything by manually checking Hiro's vitals. The information was all sent back to Earth for analysis, though so far Hiro remained in fine health.
Afterward, there was a reconstituted breakfast, which almost managed to taste like real food. Hiro found that powdered eggs were an abomination, although microwave sort-of-pancakes weren't too bad. After the facsimile of breakfast, they got to work, with Mark running HAB maintenance and EVAs, while Hiro was studying, recataloguing, and storing rock samples.
Hiro was stuck inside the HAB, because, again, they didn't trust that his suit was adequate for protection from the cosmic rays that bombarded the relatively unprotected Mars. Mark had spare suits, but not even Johansen's would properly fit Hiro's small frame. So while Mark went on EVA's, even when Hiro's own work was done for the day, Hiro stayed inside.
They spent a good bit of time enjoying modern media in their down time. Mark was overjoyed to have something other than the ancient TV and music he had been subsisting on. He still managed to be disappointed that Hiro hadn't brought any of his own cultural touch-stones. For himself, Hiro was glad to catch up on some of the cultural zeitgeist he had been missing out on recently.
A week in, Hiro helped Mark harvest his potatoes, which had the effect of making everything smell about ten times worse. They had both agreed though that in the event that they wound up stuck on Mars, they would need to keep the farm in production, and so they farmed. Hiro was just glad for an ample supply of sterile gloves.
Hiro found himself wishing that time would move faster. NASA had made Mars boring. The only saving grace so far was that Hiro had been given permission to get the Sojourner rover working again, and he amused himself by tinkering with the antique. The decision had come down that they could bring it with them on departure, though Pathfinder would remain behind.
Two weeks passed like molasses crawling down the side of a port-a-potty. But pass they did, with Hiro receiving a clean bill of health.
"Alright," said Mark when they got word from NASA. "Lets get to work."
!
They traveled to the ship at night, again, in fear of Hiro's exposure to cosmic rays. They took the rover, allowing them to bring everything they didn't want to leave behind, including the rock samples, the food, and Sojourner.
To start with, they ran hyperspectral scans of the ship, confirming again that there was no damage from the landing. They entered the ship, and Hiro powered the different systems up as he started going over the controls with Mark while Baymax stowed the gear. When everything was booted up, Mark started relaying their status to NASA.
They worked through the night, running diagnostics and manually checking various systems, as per NASA instructions. With dawn approaching, they returned to the HAB to nap through most of the day. The next night they returned to complete pre-launch checks and preparations. Shortly after the Martian midnight, they launched. It was time for Mark Watney to leave Mars.
Hiro went along too.