SOL 110

With a grin, Liv placed the final basket of freshly harvested potatoes on the table. Dusting her hands on her pants, she moved a lock of hair out of her eyes. Mark was out working on cleaning off the solar panels, leaving her to harvest the recent potatoes that had grown. She sat at the table, and started counting them.

The last few days had been the two doing a lot of repeated things.

Wake up.

Check equipment.

Talk to NASA.

Man the farm.

Make sure they don't somehow end up killing themselves.

Liv was glad that she wasn't by herself, and that she had Mark with her. He was honestly the only thing keeping her sane at this point. Surely she would of been losing her mind by this point if she had been by herself. Blowing out a sigh, she ran her hand through her hair, knowing that it would be time for another shower soon.

They were running out of shampoo.

"400, 401.." She hummed as she placed the last potato in the container, quickly writing down the number on the pad of paper. Liv moved quickly, placing the container back on its spot on the floor next to the other containers on the floor under the table.

Now that NASA can talk to them, they wouldn't leave them alone. Every day they wanted constant updates on the equipment, and Mark had to deal with people trying to manage his crops. She constantly shook her head whenever Mark ranted to her about them, saying how he was the best botanist on this planet.

"I just think it's funny that they're trying to tell you what to do when we're 45 million miles away." She had said with a grin on her face.

Since establishing connection with NASA, they had begun to receive data dumps, just like when they were on the Hermes. Most of it had been from family members-Liv had cried when she got the message from her mother and father- but a few were passed through that werent from family. The one that made her most excited was a letter from the President. Mark had been ecstatic when he received one from his alma mater. Apparently he had officially colonized Mars.

The last time Liv had talked to NASA, they had solved the weight problem with the Ares 4's MDV. Once it lands, they would ditch the heat shield, all of the life support and the empty fuel tanks. From there, they would take Liv and Mark with them to Schiaparelli. From what they had mentioned, they were working on figuring out the twos surface duties.

Cool.

Mark had mentioned to her earlier that morning that he would start to learn Morse code, just to have something if something were to happen to Pathfinder. She had to give it to him, it was a smart idea.

The sound of the airlock opening brought her out of her wandering thoughts, and a smile made way onto her face.

"Solar panels cleaned?" She asked as he started to take off the EVA suit.

"Cleaned and the people trying to manage my crops admit that i'm doing fantastic with them." Mark replied with a smirk on his face. "Also, NASA says that they have a couple emails for you, and maybe even a message from the Crew."

"Seriously?" She asked, surprise in her voice.

"Go find out, and stretch your legs. Take the rover for a ride." He spoke as he softly pushed her towards the airlock. Olivia laughed, as she moved towards where her suit was, making quick work of putting it on. With a final wave to Mark, she opened the airlock and step outside.

Probably should do an airlock check, she thought as she made her way to the rover, opening the door and climbing in. During their training, they had been taught on how to check the airlocks, once at the beginning of the mission and once towards the end. She would have to do a check and do any repairs if needed.

True to Mark's words, there were a couple messages for her once she started the rover and navigated through the emails.

Brooks,

I've already emailed Mark, and I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to write. I'm more than happy to hear that you're alive. As the person responsible for placing you in this situation, I wish that there was more I could do to help you. But, I have to give it to NASA for having a good rescue plan. We miss you up here on the Hermes. Rick doesn't have anyone to joke with, Vogel doesn't have you to talk German with. Beth misses having someone that gets her, and Beck just misses your sarcasm and energy. I miss you you a lot, and I can't wait til you and Mark get home.

Best Wishes,

Lewis.

Tears welling up in her eyes, Brooks started to write back her response.

Commander,

Pure bad luck and rather bad timing is responsible for our situation, not you and not the crew. You acted on the right call and saved everyone else. It must have been a tough decision. Any analysis of that day will show that it was the right choice to make. You got everyone else out safe and alive. Get everyone else home and Mark and I will be happy.

I miss the crew a lot as well. Send them my best wishes. Tell them to be on their best behavior or i'll kick their asses when I get back to Earth. I miss you as well Commander, it's honestly tiring keeping Mark in line. I'll never understand how you dealt with that.

Send them my love,

Olivia M. Brooks.

After sending it, the blonde leaned back in the seat, wiping at the tears that came out of her eyes. Running her hand down her face, she took a deep breath. Scrolling down, she saw the messages between Mark and Vincent, which Mark had told her to at least read his response, something about it being funny as fuck.

Mark,

Some answers to your earlier questions:

No, we will not tell our botany team to "go fuck themselves" I understand you've been stressed but we're in the loop now, and it's best if you listen to what we have to say.

The Cubs finished the season at the bottom of the NL Central.

The data transfer rate just is not good enough for the size of music files even if they were in their compressed formats. So your request for "anything, literally anything but disco music and olivia's angsty teenage music" is denied.

Also, an uncomfortable side note…. NASA is putting together a committee. They want to see if there was any avoidable mistakes that led to you and Olivia being stranded on Mars. Just a heads up. They may have questions for you both later on.

Keep us posted on your activities,

-Kapoor.

Mark's response was a couple lines down.

Vincent,

Tell the investigation committee they'll have to do their witch hunt without me or Liv. And when they inevitably blame Commander Lewis, be advise I will publicly refute it. I know the rest of the Crew would do the same. Also please tell each and every one of their mothers is a prostitute.

-Watney

[p.s and their sisters too.]

If she wasn't laughing before, Liv was laughing now.

She really was glad that she had him with her.

Blowing out a breath, she placed her helmet back on and headed back for the Hab, wanting to do the airlock test before she went to bed.