The second chapter of Mindy Park, Space Paparazzi. The story's gotten a great response, and it gives me the warm and fuzzies. It also helps my writing. Remember that! Anyways, a little insight, and we stray a bit from canon (Yay!) Enjoy!

We had a game plan now. Or, I did, sort of. The last three and a half weeks have been chaotic, to say the least. I had to meet with the Director of NASA, the Flight Mission Director, and the PR Director.

All of them are scary.

They all wanted to see who found Mark Watney. Boy, were they surprised to see me, a nobody from SatCon. Venkat is the most laid-back, but he won't stop checking in on me. I mean it. He's stopped by every day for the last week. Ugh.

On the Watney front, nothing exciting happened for a solid week. Lucky for me, he started working on Rover 2 a few days ago, stacking batteries and solar panels all over the place. But other than that, it's been boring. I thought about wearing my pajamas to work, but I didn't want to be called to a board meeting wearing Batman footie pajamas. It probably wasn't a good idea.

So here I am, holding my coffee like a newborn, and glaring at the bright screen in front of me. It's Sol 78 today. I'm on constant Watney Watch. He's been driving and modifying a several billion dollar rover, and dismantling another.

Lucky.

I'm a mechanical engineer, too! Not just a sleep-deprived nerd. Really! If he wasn't stranded on Mars, I'd be all for trading spots with him. Oh well.

It's like... I don't even know what time it is. 5:43 AM apparently. Mark's been working on the Rover for a few hours now. Last night he made a trip away from the Hab.

And oh boy, guess what he did.

He picked up the RTG. Of all the things to play around with, he chooses a nuclear generator. I'm not sure if I want to cry or laugh. I mean, sure, it's safe, and sealed, but it's still a radioactive isotope! If it breaks we'll have to name a crater after him.

He's using it for heat, (and probably power. It is a generator after all) so he doesn't use more power. He started moving a while ago, and he's not turning around. I leaned in and squinted at the screen. Yep, he was moving, probably around thirty kilometers away from the Hab, right now.

"He really tore into Rover one, huh?" Holy shit. Somewhere along the line Venkat appeared behind me. I jumped, just barely landing in my seat. He's lucky I didn't throw my coffee at him.

"Y-yeah, he did." I stuttered. The higher-ups still scared me, despite the constant meetings with the directors. It didn't help that he startled me, either.

Rover 1 was a shell of its former self. Watney plundered it for all it had, just like the MAV. I don't even want to know what he did with the Hydrazine. I shook that thought out of my head. It just ended with explosions.

"What has he done so far?" Another status check. The third one today.

"Not much, just working on Rover 2, really. He's on the move though." I answered. Sometimes Mark is exciting, sometimes he's not. I just hope he was working on communications.

I sure was.

I studied the satellites in my spare time, which was admittedly, a lot. You'd think they'd teach us about the satellites we're using, but they don't. Or maybe it's just because I'm not very high up on the hierarchy. I learned the receiving and transmitting types and frequencies, as well as the range.

I was technically a satellite operator now, since Director Sanders gave me full control over them.

I have control over everything from Odyssey to the MRO and some of the most advanced satellites in the solar system. It was pretty cool. I could transmit and receive from anywhere on Mars. But there was one, teeny, tiny, little problem.

There were no receivers.

The Hab didn't have any comms. All of them blew away on Sol 6. And the Rovers only had short range comms, to talk to the Hab. The MAV had long range communications, but that's gone too.

So in short, we were fucked.

But there was a way to talk to him. A very small chance. Minuscule. Improbable, but still a chance. It's pure guess work really, but there are several computers in the Hab that are full of information, which he's probably gone through. He would need to find one of the Martian Landers, one with a communication system.

Preferably, Pathfinder, located at 19.33N, 33.55W. That's only a 3 degree difference both North and South from where he currently is. It was several hundred kilometers, though. It took me three weeks to figure out the Pathfinder problem.

Mark Watney is smart. Disturbingly so. Pathfinder dropped off the roster after it went offline in 1997. I bet it's still covered in sand. And hopefully, intact.

But if he goes where we hope he's trying to go, we'll be able to talk to him. Somehow. I've been working on a code with the technology department, since I came up with the concept. I was kind of like the designer, you could say, even if I didn't do much but drink coffee. Coding is boring, by the way.

What the code does, in short, is override the Rover's systems and update them, allowing Pathfinder to talk to it and vice versa. Now all we need is for him to find it. If I believed in God I would start praying.

"What are you thinking, Park?" Venkat's voice shook me out of my thoughts.

"I think Watney is going to Pathfinder. I hope."At his impatient stare, I continued.

"Mark Watney is probably the smartest person in Ares 3, if only by how resourceful he is. He has a map, and a good deal of information on the personal computers, too, so, Pathfinder it is. It's logical." Venkat sighed.

"How's this gonna work? Even if he finds it, he still has to haul it back to the Hab, fix it, and try to talk to us." I smirked at the director.

"Watney's no slouch. Engineers are remarkably good at fixing things, Mister Kapoor." He snorted.

"Smart ass." I don't know if that's good, but I smiled anyways. More images filtered onto the screen. Every few minutes I got an update. Watney was making pretty good time, considering he can only go twenty-five kilometers per hour. That could be a land speed record, actually. I'd need to check the record books

I scrutinized the images more, comparing them and trying to guess where he's going. I was officially stalking Mark Watney. Put that on my resume.

He was headed straight for Pathfinder. And they say blondes aren't smart. Venkat decided to rain on my parade. I should've seen it coming.

"Mindy, are you ready for the press conference tomorrow?" The what?!

"The what?!" I repeated my thoughts out loud. Venkat drove his face into his hand and shook his head.

"The press conference. You're in it." He stated. I felt my mouth drop in astonishment. And maybe a little bit of horror.

"You're joking." I was desperate. I've been to meetings, sure, but that's just with NASA. This will be broadcasted over the entire world.

"Don't stress out, Park. It'll be fine. You probably won't even have to say much." I sure hope so.

After a restless night in my apartment, I was dressed in my best, a midnight-blue suit-dress. It had a white collar that accentuated the blue in my eyes. It looked nice and business-like, not that it helped my anxiety any.

Beside me sat Annie Montrose, the Public Relations Director. She was an intimidating and vulgar woman at the best of times. I'm not sure why she's the PR Director. Further down the table sat Teddy Sanders, the Director of NASA. To his right was Venkat, who gave me a little wave. I smiled back.

I didn't like all the attention I was getting. I was the new girl at the table. Cameras clicked, people stared. The room was a dull roar of conversation. It felt like the walls were closing in on me. I've never been in front of this many people. I don't know if I can do this.

"Mindy, tell me about your plan to get Watney on communications." It was Annie.

"What?"

"How are you going to talk to him?" She demanded. It looked like she was trying to help, in her own, coarse way. Thank you! Huh, maybe she's not too bad.

"Well, first, Mark needs to make it to Pathfinder and back." The PR director nodded, lips pursed. "I think he'll be able to. He should be able to get Pathfinder up and running in a week."

"Really?" Annie's brows rose. She was actually impressed! I nodded slightly, the tension fading.

"Yeah, and from there it's talking to him with a swivel camera until we can find a way to tell him about the code we made." Annie smirked, and turned back to the front of the room.

"Now tell them that, it's show time." Shit.

I saw the cameras, and nearly fainted. Oh no. I didn't even know what we were going to talk about! We found him a while ago, and not much has happened since. Oh no. If they ask about him, I know the most. I'm the person they'll ask.

The words 'You probably won't even have to say much.' came to mind.

Venkat, you are a liar and I will find where you sleep.

I tried to direct my thoughts at him in a glare, but alas, it failed. The Director called for silence and began his announcement. I had trouble staying focused. I was too busy ignoring the fact that a bunch of reporters were recording everything we said.

A good half an hour passed during my little daydream. The Director's tone snapped me out of it.

"And now for the questions. Are there any?" Of course there are. They're reporters, this is their job.

"Director Sanders!" One of the reporters called out. "Who is the new member of the board?" I really hope he doesn't mean me.

"Mindy Park. She found Mark Watney, and is now tasked with keeping track of him and communicating with him." Thanks, Teddy. Way to put the pressure on me. I felt myself start to panic and suddenly, I'm very happy we were sitting.

"Miss Park!" A new reporter called out. This time it was directed at me. Oh no. "How do you plan on making contact with Mister Watney?" I took a deep breath, and put on my business face, leaning into the microphone. I'm ready for this. I've been practicing in the mirror.

"At the moment, Mark is travelling towards the site of Pathfinder." So far, flawless. "From then, we assume he will take the lander and rover back to the Habitation Module, and try to communicate with us. We'll need to collect everyone who's worked on it, since it was lost in 1997." The reporters listened intently; the sound of cameras clicking was the only noise.

"Mark Watney is a very competent mechanical engineer. We think he will be able to fix Pathfinder and from there, it will be a game of charades. The only moving part on Pathfinder is the camera. So, we will be forced to use very simple terms and commands to talk. Mark will be leading the conversation. And it will be very, very slow." I took a breath, clenching my hands in my lap.

"Our commands take around thirty minutes to get to Mars, so we hope Watney will be patient and cooperate, until we can send him the code to use Pathfinder as a conduit to Rover 2, where he will be able to write messages and receive them. It's just a matter of time until he talks to the world." The room was hushed. I swear my heart stopped.

And then the noise came. Cameras flashed so much I felt like I was under a strobe light, and reporters were nearly yelling at us, asking for more. I'm very happy I did my makeup today. It covered the bags under my eyes.

I was exhausted. I let out a shaky breath, attempting to make all of my stress leave with it. Annie turned to me.

"Jeez, Park, with that kind of talking, I'd think you're trying to steal my job." She drawled. It made me feel a little better. "I guess you're officially part of the clique."

"The clique?" Annie nodded. I didn't like the smirk on her face. Not a lot of people do, it means bad things.

"Yep. Apparently you're important to them," She gestured to the gathered crowd. "Now you're going to be involved in more and more meetings, considering you're officially the Lead Satellite Controller." I turned the name card around.

Mindy Park, Lead Satellite Technician

That's a bit of a stretch. It sounds good, though.

"Don't think this takes you off of full time Watney Watch, though."

"I wouldn't dream of it." I quipped. "Speaking of, I need to get back to SatCon." I stood to leave, looked around, and then sat back down. A veritable sea of people blocked my way.

"How on Earth do I get through all these reporters?" Annie scoffed, grabbed my arm, and suddenly we were on the other side of the room, near the exit, Annie having weaved through the crowd like thread through a needle. Did we just teleport? Annie just gave her patented smirk.

"Change your clothes, Park. A dress like that shouldn't be worn around casually." Annie barked. I just nodded, still dumbstruck. The PR Goddess dove back into the crowd.

I walked into the parking lot, doing my best not to fall on my face from the four-inch heels I was wearing. I barely made it, catching myself on the side of my car. I drove quickly, trying to avoid the traffic

Houston traffic was hell. Unadulterated hell.

My keys were in my hand as soon as I stepped out of the car. I really, really want to sleep. It was going to be a few days until Mark retrieved Pathfinder, and even longer to talk to him.

That was something I was really excited about. Meeting 'The Martian' would definitely be something I'd write home about. I may have saved someone's life. Maybe this job wasn't so bad.

I decided not to head back to SatCon. I think Watney'll be okay without me for a little while. Right now, I need sleep, and lots of it.

Come here, bed.

Hey, all. I thought this chapter was a good bit of insight on Mindy's early performance, being thrust into the hierarchy, and being able to do her thing. Read, Review, Criticize (but not too harshly!), and I'll talk to you all next chapter!