Way Down We Go
Way Down We Go by Kaleo (AKA the Logan trailer song)
"What's going on?" Mark asked, staring wide eyed at the blank screen.
"I think this is good." Beth replied, her full focus on her task.
"This really doesn't seem good." Mindy said, forehead crinkled in worry and anticipation.
The lights in the room came back at full power, the back up generator turning off as the main power come back online. Then the screen showed a single string of numbers. Beth smiled "Oh trust me this is good." She turned to Annie "get the FBI on the line, we got an address."
Beth leaned back cracking her knuckles as she did so, not only had she found them but she had copied all their work onto a different server and then infected their screens with a nasty virus so that they would freeze until it was undone by her. That would teach them to mess with her friend.
"And in recent news the group responsible for hacking NASA and releasing Mark Watney's logs and medical records have been arrested by the FBI. It seems the group was felled by their own hubris, thinking they could hack NASA's press conference and getting caught in the act by Ares 3 astronaut and Assistant Head of Cyber Security of NASA, Beth Johanssen. From the information given to us by the FBI it seems that they go by the name "Veritas" which is the Roman goddess of Truth and have been linked to many other hacks including the Apple hack, which revealed the plans for the next Iphone; the Sony hack last year; and the attempted hack on The White House just last month. More on this story as information becomes available. Now for the weather with..."
Mark smiled at the TV as he packed his life back into boxes with Martinez' help. He knew Mindy was doing the same next door. Unfortunately, even though the culprits had been caught that didn't change the fact that his address was known by the Press and they both needed to move ASAP, their apartments were burnt.
"Hey Mark, this isn't yours is it?" Martinez asked a grin plastered on his face as he held up a pink NASA shirt he'd found in between the couch cushions.
"Oh no, that's Mindy's."
"Oh I already guessed it was Mindy's. That wasn't a good question, a good question is 'What's Mindy doing taking off her shirt in your apartment?' "
Mark stopped packing and turned to his friend "Oh come on Rick, it's not like that."
"Well then what's it like? Explain it to me."
Just then Mindy walked in the apartment and saw the two men kneeling on the floor not packing "Come on guys we don't have time to mess around, we need to get packed." She took in the shirt Martinez was holding "Aye! Is that my shirt? I've been looking for that, I forgot I left it here."
"Speaking of which," Martinez asked sweetly, too sweetly, "why is it over here anyway?"
"My washing machine was on the fritz a while ago and it ended up turning my white NASA shirt, pink before completely giving up so I brought my stuff here to wash and then we ended up watching a movie. Where'd you find that?"
"In the sofa."
Mindy nodded, "That makes sense."
Mark asked "So what brings you here anyway?"
"Oh I was just making sure your guys were on task. I figured if Melissa isn't here someone has to keep you two in check."
"Excuse you!" Mark exclaimed, mock offended.
"Is that anyway to talk to your superiors!" Rick added just as fake offended.
"This man right here is a father, he is very responsible."
"And this man right here colonised a whole planet, how's that for 'on task'."
"Okay okay don't get your diapers in a twist you big babies!" Mindy laughed. "You two are unbelievable." She surveyed how much progress they had made in packing up. "And it seems I was correct in checking on you. I've packed double the amount of boxes by myself and you should see Beth, she's like a machine."
"Yeah that girl's like Monica." Mark laughed.
"Who?" They both asked.
"From Friends. You know. Monica Geller. Sister of Ross Geller, best friend of Rachel Green, wife of Chandler Bing."
"Dude. That show is older than you!" Martinez slapped him on the back.
"Only by a month!"
"Really?" Mindy asked, sceptical.
"Friends ran from September 1994 to 2004, I was born in October of 1994 so yeah, Friends is only a month older than me."
"Why do you even know that? Actually I don't want to know; I'm going back to packing, make sure you two do the same." Mindy gave a small wave that Watney knew was definitely meant for both of them but she only looked at Mark as she exited the room. Mark told himself it was for no other reason except convenience.
"You saw that right?" Rick asked, eyebrow raised in a fake-sleezy way.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You are so blind! Did you not see Mindy totally eye-fucking yo-"
"-HEY!" Mark cut him off and promptly changed the topic of conversation "How has the Ares IV thing been going? We haven't talked about it in a while!"
Martinez rolled his eyes at the obvious subject change but decided to indulge the other astronaut "Yeah it's been good. I obviously passed the physical and mental have cleared me so far although they have a red pin in my alleged survivors guilt."
"Is it the same doctor as before?"
"Um well I actually have two, one with Dr Shields just to make sure I'm not screwed in the head over our Ares III debatable and one with Dr Gate for all the standardised tests."
"Are you gonna mess with Dr Gates again? I mean last time was pretty fun."
"I don't know man. I mean when we did it we were all gonna mess with the guy but the new crew, they're all nervous that it's going to get called off if everything isn't perfect. Plus I'm the Commander so I think I'm gonna play it straight this time."
"That makes sense. Probably for the best as well, you don't want that guy giving you a bad review as payback."
"Ha, I hope not!" Rick guffawed as he placed a bunch of Mark's electronics into a box "Oh and get this, our mission isn't actually Ares IV, it's being called Ares V because technically speaking Ares IV had to be cancelled as you used their MAV."
"So what? They're just skipping the fourth mission?"
"Well Ares V will be exactly like Ares IV, and we'll even be able to pick up that box of research you had to leave behind which is pretty cool - but yeah, they're skipping the fourth manned Mars mission."
Mark made a sound of acknowledgement, unsure how to continue the conversation.
"So when are you going back to Chicago to see your parents?"
"I honestly don't know. I mean when my last visit got cut short I said I'd come back as soon as everything cooled down but then..."
"...it just got hotter." Rick finished for him. "Well it seems now that the hackers were arrested this whole thing might actually cool down. Right?"
"I don't know Rick. I mean everything's still out there. I'm still a drug-addicted, depressed, post traumatic stressed, ex-astronaut and that's the thing that made people care about me at all. I was supposed to be an American hero, a symbol of how strong America is and look at me Rick. I'm a mess."
"Mark. You are, without a doubt, the strongest person I know. Stronger than Lewis, as tough as she is; stronger than Teddy; stronger than Annie, and they're all tough as nails. Those guys are all made of steel, they bend, they break, and you can melt them back down and put them back together but they're never quite the same. You- you're made of elastic. You bounce back. And maybe you're a little stretchier but you're still you. I'm not saying this in a way that puts pressure on you to be the exact same man as you were before Mars because you're not and you shouldn't have to be; I'm saying this as your friend who sees you drowning in your sorrow and will do anything and everything he can to pull you back onto the shore. You were alone on an entire planet for more than a year, Mark, believe me when I say you're allowed to be effected by it. To be honest if you weren't I'd be worried."
Mark looked at him, eyes wide like a saucer "I'm elastic huh," He gave him a watery smile "then what if I snap? What happens when I reach the point of elasticity and I don't bounce back?"
"Then I would do anything and everything to put you back together. I'm here for you Mark, the whole crew is."
Mark didn't answer for a moment and then he started hesitantly, "You know... there's something that I never told anyone. Not even Shields. When I was on Mars, in The Hab, I would hear these voices. And I always knew they weren't real because I knew I was alone, but they sounded so real, they sounded like you guys and I'd have entire conversations with them when I was in a different room, but the moment I tried to seek them out they would disappear and I'd be so desperate to get them back, to talk to anyone that I tried to give myself a concussion. Took just enough drugs to start hallucinating." He was shaking like the room was -4°C (24.8°F) and his gaze had torn itself from Rick's and was fixed on the ground by his feet.
Rick panicked for a second. He was a good friend, but he wasn't the one you went for when you had emotional problems. He was the guy who helped you when you were stranded somewhere after a date gone wrong or if you needed cheering up, he wasn't the guy you dumped your physiological problems on, he didn't know how to deal with that. He had the sudden image of some old song called 'How To Save A Life', for some reason it had been one of his mother's favourites, what if what Rick did and said right now was the thing that made Mark wake up tomorrow and decide to drive off of Fred Hartman Bridge or something equally as deadly. Rick opened his mouth to speak, they had been sitting in silence for several seconds now and after a reveal like that, that's not something you wanted, he fought down the urge to crack a joke about how they were sharing their feelings. Now was not the time. "It's okay." 'God he couldn't think of anything better than it's okay?'
"But it's not! Aren't you listening? I went crazy up there!"
"Mark, humans are social animals, it's normal for our minds to do that when we're alone. I know it's not really comparable but during those 10 days in isolation training I would just say all my thoughts out loud. When we got out, I forgot I couldn't do that any more and I wound up in some awkward situations because of it. It doesn't mean you're crazy. It just means your brain is doing what it's supposed to do."
Mark looked up from the floor but he didn't say anything, instead choosing to continue packing in silence.
"Watney, I know I'm not the best at this kind of stuff but... you know... if ever you just want to talk, my metaphorical door is always open."
"Thank you Rick. That means- You have no idea what-" Suddenly he was cut off by a sob and it took him a couple seconds to realise they were coming from him.
Rick looked up alarmed to find Mark crying; like actually properly, honest-to-God, tears-streaming-down-his-face crying.
"Fuck. Fuck, I don't know why I'm crying." Mark choked out as he wiped away the tears rushing down his face which were quickly replaced by new ones.
"Hey, it's okay." Rick said moving closer to him and laying a hand on his shoulder.
"This is so stupid. I'm sorry." He said even as he leaned into the touch.
"There's no need to apologise Mark."
"I know- I just- I'm sorry." Watney buried his head in the crook of Martinez' neck as sobs wracked his body. "God, this is so stupid."
Rick didn't reply. He just pulled Mark into a hug and rubbed his back softly. Suddenly Mark pulled back and Rick let go, figuring Watney would be uncomfortable about all this but rather than awkwardly trying to get back into a conversation, Mark searched frantically for something in his pocket. He pulled out a single blister pack pill case. He popped it through the thin metal foil that was keeping it fresh and went to swallow it but Rick grabbed his wrist to stop him "Hey, Mark come on, you don't need that."
The other astronaut shook him off, quite violently, enough to shock Martinez into letting go, "Yeah I do Rick because that's just how fucking pathetic I am. Some hero I turned out to be, huh." He swallowed the pill dry. "I think it's best if you leave."
"Mark-"
"Please!" He inhaled tiredly "Can you just go?"
Slowly Rick got up "Mark?" He tried one last time. He didn't want to leave mark right now in that state he was in but he knew Mark didn't like being treated like he was on suicide watch either. And the man wanted him to go.
"Please." Mark whispered. And as Martinez closed the door behind him he didn't hear the quite whisper, barely louder then his breath "Please don't leave me alone."