SOL 22-HAB KITCHEN [Continued]

"You do? Does it involve what I heard you logging about earlier this morning?" Liv questioned, sipping her coffee, still slowly waking up. Sleep had been hard to come by, she didn't pass out until about four-thirty in the morning.

"Indeed it does young one," He grinned at her as he ripped open a ration pack, not taking the time to look at what kind it was.

"Let's just say that it isn't going to be easy. But, it's manageable."

After clearing the kitchen, moving everything around and taping up the circle that was the kitchen, they donned their EVA kits and set off for the Martian surface. Mark set off to the waste bin, set on gathering all of what was in it while Olivia started digging and filling empty large containers and pulling them back into the HAB. She could only bring a couple containers in at a time, and set them off to the empty space they made for them until they were needed.

She watched from afar as Mark ripped into the silver packages, dumping the waste into a bucket of water that had been filled from the water reclaimer. She was glad that she wasn't in that room, she thought as she watched him start to gag.

"Remember, this is your idea." She called to him from outside over her Com.

All she got was a rude finger gesture in response.

SOL 24; HAB KITCHEN

Spreading dirt around a marked out area was harder than it sounded. Well, at least for Liv. All she had to do was pour out the containers and carefully spread all the area.

SOL 25; HAB KITCHEN

More dirt and more pouring. Safe to say, Liv was sick of it already.

SOL 28; HAB KITCHEN

Finally, all of the soil had been placed in the area and carefully made even. Who knew that botany was so much goddamn work? Now came the gross part. Luckily Mark had the mind to warn her, so she grabbed her EVA helmet and shoved it over her head as he opened the lid to the container. And even with her helmet, she still could smell some of it, and dear jesus did it smell.

"Jesus fuck," She spoked out. "Please tell me it's going to go away?"

A sheepish grin.

SOL 29; HAB BEDROOM

Another dust storm. Granted this one was a small one, but it didn't stop Liv from getting lost in the flashback of SOL 18.

SOL 31; HAB KITCHEN

Today was planting day.

Liv watched from her place outside the kitchen, as Watney moved with precision and ease. He obviously knew what he was doing. She hummed softly as she moved back to her spot at one of the still empty lab tables, grabbing her laptop and pulling it closer to her. She had gone through the boxes of the Crew's personal items and grabbed the data sticks that they had brought with them. Lewis' had a bunch of 70's shows and music. Vogel's stuff was mostly in German. Beck just had a bunch of medical things. Johannsen's held shows from the early to late 2000s, which Liv would watch first.

Her own stick held music and her favorite show, Doctor Who. All 18 current seasons. She also brought a couple books with her. She left most of them on the Hermes, only bringing her favorites with her.

"At least we'll be set for a while!" Olivia yelled over to her crewmate, waving the data sticks in her hand.

SOL 36; HAB BEDROOM.

"The issue is water." Liv spoke, as she leaned back into her bunk, notebook in hand. The camera was already going, as she clicked her pen a couple times. "Mark and I already did all the math," She started, "we've created one-hundred and twenty-six square meters of soil. But each cubic meter needs forty liters of water to be farmable. So, we -more like Mark- has to figure out how to make a lot of water. Fortunately, I know the recipe. Take hydrogen. Add oxygen. Burn. Unfortunately ya know burn. I have hundreds of liters of unused Hydrazine from the MDV. If I run the Hydrazine over an iridium catalyst, it'll separate into N2 and H2…" She trailed off, jotting down on her notebook.

She watched as Mark started to set up everything in the HAB kitchen.

Science time.

Mark duct taped torn trash-bags to create a tent, which he used to cover his work table. He tore an air hose from one of the space suits, taped it to the tent, and hung it from the roof. He does something to vent pure oxygen from a tank, lights it with a spark from battery wires. Whoosh. Points the flame at the wood shavings.

So far everything was going good.

Mark holds the torch, starts the Hydrazine flow. The Hydrazine sizzles on the iridium and evaporates away.

It's working.

Mark checked his instruments. He and Liv watched the temperature,with Liv focusing on the instruments.

SOL 36; HAB BEDROOM [EARLIER]

Liv grinned as she pointed the camera to get both her and Watney into frame." Believe it or not, the challenge has been finding something that will hold a flame. NASA hates fire. Because of the whole "fire makes everyone die in space" thing. So everything we brought with us is flame retardant. With the notable exception of... Martinez' personal items. " Watney held up what looked like a cross as he picked up where Liv left off.

"Sorry, Martinez. If you didn't want me to go through your stuff, you shouldn't have left me for dead on a desolate planet. " She bumped into his shoulder, a grin on her face. She finished off the rest of the math as he started to shave down the cross into shards.

A thought popped into her head as she finished the equations.

" We should probably take into account the excess oxygen you'll be expelling as you do this." He nodded, and his eyes lit up.

"I didn't think of that."

SOL 36; HAB KITCHEN [PRESENT TIME]

And so their plan worked.

Sure the HAB heated up to a somewhat decent thirty four to thirty six degrees celsius. It honestly could have been worse, Liv noted as she grabbed her part of the ration pack. She wasn't one to complain.

SOL 40; OUTSIDE OF HAB

It was Liv's turn to clean off the solar panels for that week. She worked quickly as she could, using the machine to blow off the dust that had built up.

SOL 50; HAB BEDROOM

Another day, another science experiment. This time was focused on the rocks that she had collected that morning. She had cracked them open, and placed them on a slide, and carefully lowered it so that she could expect it.

SOL 54; HAB KITCHEN

A sprout.

Finally some proof that something was growing!

The female had excitedly woken up Mark, with an exclaimed "Come quick!" and practically dragged him to the small windows that they cut out.

"There's something growing!"

[EARTH; SOL 54; ARRLINGTON NATIONAL CEMERTARY]

"Our nation was blessed to have Mark Watney and Olivia Brooks serving in our space program. Both of their losses will be deeply felt, but the men and women of NASA will soldier forth, onward and upward, unbroken in the mission of their agency. In doing so, they honor the legacy Mark, and Olivia leave behind, and they ensure their sacrifice will not be in vain."

SOL 67; ARES III HAB KITCHEN

"What do you want to start tonight? We have Doctor Who and something that involves vampires?"